Themes on HUB and SMP not playing nicely together

WD Legacy Products WD TV Themes
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I am in a situation where I am trying to use two themes, one on my SMP, and one on my HUB. All of my video files are on a File Server. I have the Hub running “Simplicity” with all linksheets, and the SMP running “Titan Live”.  The two devices are in different rooms.

My hope was to generate up XML sheets for Titan, and place them in the directories that already have the movies and the covers. I am not using any backgrounds in the XML files for Titan. Goal was obviously for the SMP to use the XML sheets for the movies and show the description, actors etc, and for the HUB to continue using the Linksheets that are in the root of the theme on the HUB itself.

Unfortunately that does not seem to work. When I add the XML files to the directories, the HUB no longer get the linksheets for the movies. Well, not exactly true. The Linksheet flashes on the screen for less than a second, and then I just get the blank backdrop of the theme as if there were no linksheet made for that movie. The SMP does read the XMLs that I put in, and shows the movie metadata as expected.

I am assuming that Simplicity is now reading the XML files, and does not have a background to show (since there are no links to any in the XML file). The XML file appears to over-ride the links sheet. No info is shown since Simplicity is expecting a JPEG background with all the info, and not metadata that it is to display on the screen.

Is anyone running a setup like this, with two devices running different themes but using the same video media? Is this even possible? I like Titan on the SMP very much, but I can’t use the metadata for it at the expense of not getting my linksheets on the HUBs theme.

Kind of a drag if I cannot get this to work. I bought the SMP for a projector setup, and figured I didn’t really need the storage so no need for the extra expense of a HUB. I think I am beginning to regret that now since with two HUBS I could have run two Linksheet themes rather easily.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

BTW, sure glad my Live+ in the bedroom cannot handle themes or this would probably push me over the edge.

-P

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2 ideas

  1. linksheets use with xml’s requires the Title field from the xml’s be removed

this can be done with a batch editor

for speed I also recommend removing the backdrop field

the problem you’ll have with this, is the other device, needs this info in the xml

  1. you can use linksheets on the SMP

while not officially supported

you can run official firmware and use linksheets on the SMP

it requires a one time, either use of WDLXTV or hack

this does not require any ongoing use, once you set the theme location, maybe a thumbdrive

you can then boot official firmware all you want

and the theme will continue to boot from the thumbdrive

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@KAD79, thanks for the help

-P