v1.1.8 Release

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Sammy2

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v1.1.8 Release

#1

Post by Sammy2 » Mon Jun 19, 2017 11:40 am

[enhancement] now have the option to download channel logos from Schedules Direct right into your guide. EPG123 will download, crop, resize, and save in the .\logos folder automatically. Currently logos are saved at 225×75 pixels which may change in the future or allow the option for 96×42 pixels. The initial build of the logos can take some time to process so be patient if you have a lot of channels you are downloading.
So, is it now better than MCL XL? Is the database complete for all channels in the lineup?

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#2

Post by IT Troll » Mon Jun 19, 2017 1:30 pm

Sammy2 wrote:So, is it now better than MCL XL? Is the database complete for all channels in the lineup?
Well, MCL XL does have the grid resizing options, which are very nice.
Posted on June 6, 2017 by garyan2
18 June 2017: I lied, one more quick release. I wasn’t expecting this one.
You, the developer, wasn't expecting it? :crazy:
Are you a Recorded TV HD user or want to give it a try? Check out the new community-made update; Recorded TV HD v2.1.1

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#3

Post by Sancho » Mon Jun 19, 2017 1:50 pm

I'm curious about how this new release will interact with MCL XL. I'm definitely keeping the latter for the grid resizing. I assume Gary will clarify, but if anyone's tried it...

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#4

Post by garyan2 » Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:05 pm

IT Troll wrote:
Sammy2 wrote:So, is it now better than MCL XL? Is the database complete for all channels in the lineup?
Well, MCL XL does have the grid resizing options, which are very nice.
I don't plan on hacking the more rows in the guide or mini-guide, nor do I plan on hacking the increased timespan in the guides, so even if the logos from SD are perfect MCL still has a place in WMC.
IT Troll wrote:
Posted on June 6, 2017 by garyan2
18 June 2017: I lied, one more quick release. I wasn’t expecting this one.
You, the developer, wasn't expecting it? :crazy:
Well it started out innocent enough. I was just going to see how difficult it would be to do this and found out how simple it was. I just let momentum carry me to the end and we now have v1.1.8. :crazy: So yup, wasn't expecting to release anything anytime soon.
- Gary
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#5

Post by garyan2 » Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:20 pm

Sancho wrote:I'm curious about how this new release will interact with MCL XL. I'm definitely keeping the latter for the grid resizing. I assume Gary will clarify, but if anyone's tried it...
MCLXL doesn't recognize any logos other than its own so it will tend to try and overwrite what EPG123 provides. EPG123 provides a logo that is available in the .\logos folder in each update as long as the 'Include logos...' option is checked. So basically they can walk all over each other. The good thing is, neither program will take away a logo.

So with MCLXL, you can avoid autopopulate if you want to keep EPG123 logos. With EPG123, you can disable the .\logos option if you want to keep MCLXL logos. <- This is only an issue with stations that both programs have logos for.
- Gary
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#6

Post by Sancho » Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:29 pm

garyan2 wrote:
Sancho wrote:I'm curious about how this new release will interact with MCL XL. I'm definitely keeping the latter for the grid resizing. I assume Gary will clarify, but if anyone's tried it...
MCLXL doesn't recognize any logos other than its own so it will tend to try and overwrite what EPG123 provides. EPG123 provides a logo that is available in the .\logos folder in each update as long as the 'Include logos...' option is checked. So basically they can walk all over each other. The good thing is, neither program will take away a logo.

So with MCLXL, you can avoid autopopulate if you want to keep EPG123 logos. With EPG123, you can disable the .\logos option if you want to keep MCLXL logos. <- This is only an issue with stations that both programs have logos for.
Playing with it now, so I'll have to see how it goes. I made a mental note of a few HD channels that lack MCL XL logos. I'm curious who wins the "walk all over each other" race. Since epg123 updates daily, and esp. if MCL XL's auto-populate is disabled, I guess it's you ;-)

Thanks for the continued development. I don't obsess over logos - though I have made a few for MCL XL - so they are nice to have.

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#7

Post by Sammy2 » Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:34 pm

I have a lot of missing logos in my lineup from MCL XL as it hasn't been updated too much lately. Starz changes and re-brands every year it seems and I'm missing logos for all the music channels as well as several others if they're maybe the Pacific feed or whatever.. I'd like to fill the holes but still use my custom grid rows and times. I've added a few logos myself but that takes time and sometimes they're the wrong size or not visible if they're dark and on a transparent background which may appear white when searching for them.

I think I'll now give it a whirl since epg123 now resizes and scales them if Schedules Direct has a complete database and this has no effect in the custom grid.

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#8

Post by Doctor Feelgood » Mon Jun 19, 2017 3:58 pm

Played with this earlier today... I am seeing many of the SD provided logos are smaller and harder to read than the MCL logos... Like, just not optimized for the space provided.

I also see that some of the "walk all over" has happened... For example, ABC Family turned to Freeform about 18 months ago and MCL didn't have a logo at all, so I gave it one manually, and "locked" it in MCL. After applying the EPG 1.1.8 with logos, that channel now shows an ABC Family logo. So, the logo isn't current, and it was able to get rid of work done by MCL.

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#9

Post by garyan2 » Mon Jun 19, 2017 4:14 pm

Doctor Feelgood wrote:Played with this earlier today... I am seeing many of the SD provided logos are smaller and harder to read than the MCL logos... Like, just not optimized for the space provided.

I also see that some of the "walk all over" has happened... For example, ABC Family turned to Freeform about 18 months ago and MCL didn't have a logo at all, so I gave it one manually, and "locked" it in MCL. After applying the EPG 1.1.8 with logos, that channel now shows an ABC Family logo. So, the logo isn't current, and it was able to get rid of work done by MCL.
Yes, they are not perfect or optimized for WMC ... they are optimized for a 4x3 frame and typically a lighter background.

Quite a few stations have multiple logos from SD, typically there are only 2 and the first usually has black lettering while the second has white lettering. My code selects the last logo provided for a best chance of being useable in the guide. This is not always the case ... nick jr. HD is one of them. Options are to download all the unmodified logos from SD using the button [download all] and creating your own or just copy over the logo in the .\logos folder with a logo from MCLXL with the call sign as the filename (FRFMHD.png).

It's not perfect, but it's a whole lot more than what those without MCLXL have.

For future: I'm not too happy using the 225x75 image size and will probably go back to 96x42 ... it just looks much more centered in the space available. I also may automatically perform the crop and resize for the download all so they can be immediately available to user if needed. Waiting to find users experiences.
- Gary
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#10

Post by Doctor Feelgood » Mon Jun 19, 2017 6:27 pm

Just to clarify my above post to not so too whiny... I do like the feature - you obviously don't have to use it at all - but I liked that it did fill in some additional voids, some of the logos are better, and I can still use MCL manually to "patch" logos that I want to look the old way or to use my custom logos.

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#11

Post by DOS4EVER » Tue Jun 20, 2017 12:10 am

Wow! Love the logos option! Most of them are better than MCL XL in my opinion. However, I would definitely like to request an option to make the logos bigger in the next release like the option in MCL XL. These logos are too small for a 60" TV.

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#12

Post by Sammy2 » Tue Jun 20, 2017 1:30 pm

Not so sure I like the SchedulesDirect logos. A lot of them are too small to read even on a 60" TV. Others are just black and white too, like the STARZ ones I didn't have before. I have logos but they're B&W and their small, especially the Encore ones as they say STARZ Encore and really don't fit very well in the space provided. If I disable the feature on epg123, how do I recover logos from MCL XL? It seems that MCL XL will not populate logos if one already exists for the channel. Do I need to go into the */logos directory to manually replace each logo? I have over 400 channels!

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#13

Post by garyan2 » Tue Jun 20, 2017 2:46 pm

DOS4EVER wrote:Wow! Love the logos option! Most of them are better than MCL XL in my opinion. However, I would definitely like to request an option to make the logos bigger in the next release like the option in MCL XL. These logos are too small for a 60" TV.
The "Big" logos doesn't really mean that. It appears that MCL hacks a dll so that when the station logo is selected in the guide, the image is stretched to give it the appearance of being bigger. I'll take a look and verify, but don't know if that is something I would be willing to do.
Sammy2 wrote:Not so sure I like the SchedulesDirect logos. A lot of them are too small to read even on a 60" TV. Others are just black and white too, like the STARZ ones I didn't have before. I have logos but they're B&W and their small, especially the Encore ones as they say STARZ Encore and really don't fit very well in the space provided. If I disable the feature on epg123, how do I recover logos from MCL XL? It seems that MCL XL will not populate logos if one already exists for the channel. Do I need to go into the */logos directory to manually replace each logo? I have over 400 channels!
Disable the .\logos selection in EPG123 and click 'Autopopulate' in MCLXL. That should do it.

@everyone: I fiddled around a little bit last night and found the optimal aspect ratio of the logos should be 2.25 and I settled on a size of 144x64. This will make the logos look a little bigger than they are now and will also center the logos very nicely in the row. Using MCL to enable the "big" logos will work as I describe above.
- Gary
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#14

Post by Sancho » Tue Jun 20, 2017 2:55 pm

garyan2 wrote:...
@everyone: I fiddled around a little bit last night and found the optimal aspect ratio of the logos should be 2.25 and I settled on a size of 144x64. This will make the logos look a little bigger than they are now and will also center the logos very nicely in the row. Using MCL to enable the "big" logos will work as I describe above.
Is that new resolution automatic, or is it coming in a new version of epg123? Should we edit the registry (per the epg123 guide) to reflect that, and if so, at what point?

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#15

Post by garyan2 » Tue Jun 20, 2017 6:19 pm

Sancho wrote:Is that new resolution automatic, or is it coming in a new version of epg123? Should we edit the registry (per the epg123 guide) to reflect that, and if so, at what point?
It will be in the next revision. Even then, it won't be automatic. You will have to delete the current logos in order to download and crop/resize new ones with the new aspect ratio.

If you are referring to the registry setting I identify in the guide, that is strictly for the column width and would really be a user preference. I use a value of decimal 175 since I am only OTA ... those with cable channels in the thousands may need more room to accommodate both the channel number and the station logo.
- Gary
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#16

Post by DOS4EVER » Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:53 pm

garyan2 wrote:
DOS4EVER wrote:Wow! Love the logos option! Most of them are better than MCL XL in my opinion. However, I would definitely like to request an option to make the logos bigger in the next release like the option in MCL XL. These logos are too small for a 60" TV.
The "Big" logos doesn't really mean that. It appears that MCL hacks a dll so that when the station logo is selected in the guide, the image is stretched to give it the appearance of being bigger. I'll take a look and verify, but don't know if that is something I would be willing to do.
There is absolutely a difference in size which is why I always choose the big option. According to the MCL XL website it makes the logos 20% wider and twice the quality.

http://www.mychannellogos.com/

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#17

Post by garyan2 » Wed Jun 21, 2017 5:55 am

DOS4EVER wrote:There is absolutely a difference in size which is why I always choose the big option. According to the MCL XL website it makes the logos 20% wider and twice the quality.
I stand corrected. In the table below I did some comparisons of channel logos (Normal and Big) with and without the "Big" fix. I was wrong in my assumption in how the modification was applied, but correct in my understanding of how it worked. The logos in the table are from MCL XL and show the differences when the channel is selected or unselected.
logoCompare.png
So if you have MCLXL, you can go ahead and activate the Big logos and use SD logos to see how they look "big". The logos in v1.1.8 are the same size as the big logos in MCLXL. You will still find that the logos that are more vertical than horizontal will look small.
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#18

Post by DOS4EVER » Wed Jun 21, 2017 3:08 pm

garyan2 wrote:
DOS4EVER wrote:There is absolutely a difference in size which is why I always choose the big option. According to the MCL XL website it makes the logos 20% wider and twice the quality.
I stand corrected. In the table below I did some comparisons of channel logos (Normal and Big) with and without the "Big" fix. I was wrong in my assumption in how the modification was applied, but correct in my understanding of how it worked. The logos in the table are from MCL XL and show the differences when the channel is selected or unselected.
logoCompare.png
So if you have MCLXL, you can go ahead and activate the Big logos and use SD logos to see how they look "big". The logos in v1.1.8 are the same size as the big logos in MCLXL. You will still find that the logos that are more vertical than horizontal will look small.
Ah, I see. Yes, the vertical icons are smaller than the others.

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#19

Post by Sammy2 » Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:39 am

DOS4EVER wrote:
garyan2 wrote:
DOS4EVER wrote:There is absolutely a difference in size which is why I always choose the big option. According to the MCL XL website it makes the logos 20% wider and twice the quality.
I stand corrected. In the table below I did some comparisons of channel logos (Normal and Big) with and without the "Big" fix. I was wrong in my assumption in how the modification was applied, but correct in my understanding of how it worked. The logos in the table are from MCL XL and show the differences when the channel is selected or unselected.
logoCompare.png
So if you have MCLXL, you can go ahead and activate the Big logos and use SD logos to see how they look "big". The logos in v1.1.8 are the same size as the big logos in MCLXL. You will still find that the logos that are more vertical than horizontal will look small.

Ah, I see. Yes, the vertical icons are smaller than the others.
So I understand this correctly, one would take the logos from SchedulesDirect in the C:\epg123\logos (or is it C:\epg123\sdlogos?) directory and put them in the C:\ProgramData\MyChannelLogos\Logos\Big directory then click "Autopopulate" in MCL-XL then turn off logos in epg123 to get the larger logos in the right hand column of your table?

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#20

Post by Sancho » Thu Jun 22, 2017 12:59 pm

I think it goes: if you have MCL XL, you can use the "B" option on the "logos" tab (as opposed to the "C" or "HD" option; "B" = Big, IIRC), and the SD logos provided by epg123 will respond as described, since MCL XL is more than just logos; it hacks various parts of the WMC guide, including when you select any logo visible in the guide.

And sure enough, when selected some logos do become very slightly larger, while others do not (they almost seem to shrink). In my setup I've got epg123 doing all the logos, and MCL XL set to NOT "Lock manually added logos" or "Check for new logos automatically (1/wk)". I wanted to go full bore with the SD logos to see how it would look, and, as Gary noted, avoid the two methods stepping on each other.

You could use MCL XL logos, but you'd have to copy them to the "logos" directory (IIRC, that's the folder epg123 cares about), and then rename them using the epg123 format (station call letters). MCL XL has a different naming convention, esp. if you're using the Big ones. They have their own detailed guide for that.

If any of that's wrong, someone please correct.

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