For a few weeks I have been missing my recorded tv thumbmails. I have searched for a fix of this and after a few tries they are still missing. I had some recorded tv on another computer used as a server and I tried simply removing the server recorded tv from showing. I reinstalled media center as a windows feature. I deleted the tvthumb.db file. None of this has worked so I wonder what the next step is. It is interesting that at least some of the thumbnails show when I open a recording to view details of the recording.
I wonder if doing the TV setup from scratch might fix the problem.
Recorded TV Thumbnails missing
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pdean
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DSperber
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A bit more info please...
We're talking about the "Recorded TV" list thumbnails, not the INFO thumbnails (e.g. for Guide).
What kind of TV tuner(s) are you using? Cable company source and Ceton cards (internal or external)? Or Tivo? Silicon Dust HDHR (Prime)? OTA/ATSC roof antenna and Hauppauge card?
You say some recorded program items DO have thumbnails, and others don't. Are the ones that do have thumbnails copy-freely/unprotected, whereas the ones which are missing the thumbnails copy-protected? And are you actually able to PLAY the recorded items that don't have thumbnails?
Seems strange, since the thumbnail is produced by actually reading the content of the WTV file and taking a screenshot from about 1-2 minutes in or so. If you can actually PLAY the item, I can't imagine why the thumbnails would not be generated correctly.
We're talking about the "Recorded TV" list thumbnails, not the INFO thumbnails (e.g. for Guide).
What kind of TV tuner(s) are you using? Cable company source and Ceton cards (internal or external)? Or Tivo? Silicon Dust HDHR (Prime)? OTA/ATSC roof antenna and Hauppauge card?
You say some recorded program items DO have thumbnails, and others don't. Are the ones that do have thumbnails copy-freely/unprotected, whereas the ones which are missing the thumbnails copy-protected? And are you actually able to PLAY the recorded items that don't have thumbnails?
Seems strange, since the thumbnail is produced by actually reading the content of the WTV file and taking a screenshot from about 1-2 minutes in or so. If you can actually PLAY the item, I can't imagine why the thumbnails would not be generated correctly.
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pdean
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The problem is Recorded TV list thumbnails. Thumbnails of TV shows I have recorded. I am using the Silicon Dust HDHR Prime through Comcast. The only time I see any thumbnails for some of my recordings is if I open the show to view the details of the the recording before the actual playback of the recording. I see no thumbnails when I simply view what has been recorded. I just remembered that about a month ago I experimented with EPG123 and then decided to go without it for now. Could that have caused my problem. I have hundreds of recordings most before my EPG123 experiment.
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Space
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If one of your recordings has corrupted metadata, this can cause the WMC process that iterates through all the recording in order to add the thumbnails to crash. When it crashes, it stops iterating and doesn't update any of the recordings after that. So if you can find the corrupted recording and delete it (or move it out of the folder), the thumbnails should show up again.
This may not be what is happening with your situation, but it is one possibility.
One thing you can do to check is to temporarily change the recording folder to a new empty folder, then start moving some of your recordings to that folder. If they show up in WMC with thumbnails then most likely this is your problem and you need to determine which recording is corrupted.
I am not sure how to quickly determine which of the recordings has corrupted metadata. I know when it happened to me it was fairly easy because the first recording that didn't have a thumbnail was the corrupted one and then every recording after that chronologically had no thumbnail.
This may not be what is happening with your situation, but it is one possibility.
One thing you can do to check is to temporarily change the recording folder to a new empty folder, then start moving some of your recordings to that folder. If they show up in WMC with thumbnails then most likely this is your problem and you need to determine which recording is corrupted.
I am not sure how to quickly determine which of the recordings has corrupted metadata. I know when it happened to me it was fairly easy because the first recording that didn't have a thumbnail was the corrupted one and then every recording after that chronologically had no thumbnail.
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pdean
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If I cannot locate the corrupted file would a clean install of Windows or restoring an image of my setup from months ago help any.
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Space
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Not if your problem is a corrupted recording.pdean wrote:If I cannot locate the corrupted file would a clean install of Windows or restoring an image of my setup from months ago help any.
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If it is some other issue, then doing those things may help, but it is kind of like using a sledgehammer to hang a picture on the wall. Also, restoring an old image will cause issues with watching DRM recordings (if you have any) unless you backup the license file before you restore the image and then put it back afterwards.
Personally, reinstalling Windows would be an absolute last resort for me (I would lose all my DRM recordings), and restoring an old image is also a drastic step.
You can try a system restore (assuming you have it enabled). This has resolved a WMC issue for me in the past, but I am skeptical that it will solve your issue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Restore
But really I would try the test I mentioned in my prior post, there is a good chance it is a corrupted recording as I believe that has been the main cause of missing thumbnails on WMC.
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pdean
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I had a look at all my recordings from outside of media center by changing the view to Large Icons and I found a few rather recent that showed no picture. I have moved only those to another folder that media center does not look for. After that I rebooted and had a look and the most recent recording showed a thumbnail but so far I am waiting to see if the others start to show. I believe I have read this can take days to show as they had.