Feature request: Preview images for tv show episodes

[ariel reyes]

This is a request that comes in light of recent changes to ios, with iOS 8. Possibly because of a bug, TV show episodes are no longer showing a thumbnail screenshot by each episode. It only shows the series artwork if it is squared, but even if it shows that the episode itself just shows a gray box. This used to be generated by iOS but now it doesn't. To address this, the request would be to add a preview image for each episode. Just one, not at chapter points. Anyway, I don't know if what I'm asking is out of line or super difficult, but just thought I'd mention it anyway... The attachment does not have either the square series artwork nor the episode thumbnail so that you have an idea what I mean... Thanks!

[Damiano Galassi]

It looks like an iOS bug… did you report it to apple? I can add all the preview you want, but if iOS ignores them there is nothing to do.

[ariel reyes]

I did report to apple. It looks like they're working on it. the tech I spoke to said he reached out to engineering and they would push an update once they figure it out. But you're absolutely right, if iOS ignores it there would be no point. It seems though that iOS ignores the "wrong" shape. So if a movie has square art, it will not show, and if a TV has rectangle art, it will ignore it. The picture attached above has rectangle art so it ignored it. Once I add square art (like the one itunes uses) it looks good. But it still does not generate a thumbnail image. Interestingly enough, I have movies I've had the chapter image created which show the chapter images, but not the movie artwork since it is the wrong shape. That's what made me think that adding a thumbnail image of the episode would work. Anyway, thanks for your consideration! AR

[Damiano Galassi]

Do you have some info on how Apple handles the episode image? Unfortunately the iTunes store in my country doesn't sell tv show so I can't check.

[ariel reyes]

I do have episodes that I've purchased that I can look at and analyze. If I can be of any help, i will...! So far my understanding has been that Ios simply adds a screenshot of each episode. It doesn't seem like it adds a separate track with a photo, the way that you have done with the chapters. But I will confirm this. I will download an episode, put it in subler and see if it has any additional streams/tracks. I believe that's the case because it did the same thing with anything tagged as "Home Video". A type that by nature does not usually include artwork. Same thing with movies, if it didn't have artwork it would just show a screenshot of the video. Anyway, anything that before would show a screenshot, right now shows a grey box. That leads me to believe that each episode did the same thing, just a screenshot. I will further investigate and get back to you with more concrete answers....

[Damiano Galassi]

I checked it, but found nothing noteworthy. :(

[ariel reyes]

Oh well, it was worth a try. I didn’t find anything either but wanted to make sure you had the opportunity to look since you’re the expert. Did the file help answer your other questions though, regarding TV show metadata? It was issue #27.

Thanks again!