[peque]

Hi,

I'm configuring Kodi 18.6 from scratch with Amber in a Nvidia Shield TV 2019 (not PRO).

I'm happy so far, but I've got a problem with rotating random music fanart showing in main menu. Sometimes you get fanart, sometimes (many times) you get a black screen. Other random fanart in main menu (series, movies) it's ok.

Tried so far:

- Other skins shows random music fanart just ok.
- I've tried rescanning my music collection a few times and I can see how fanart is scrapping in notifications. It's a way loooong process, anyway.
- I've activated debug log and take a look while navigating to music in main menu, but I can't see no errors.

I'm running out of ideas.... Could someone help me to at least troubleshoot? I'm quite new to Kodi so I'm for sure overlooking something.

Thanks a lot.

[bsoriano]

Hi,

I'm configuring Kodi 18.6 from scratch with Amber in a Nvidia Shield TV 2019 (not PRO).

I'm happy so far, but I've got a problem with rotating random music fanart showing in main menu. Sometimes you get fanart, sometimes (many times) you get a black screen. Other random fanart in main menu (series, movies) it's ok.

Tried so far:

- Other skins shows random music fanart just ok.
- I've tried rescanning my music collection a few times and I can see how fanart is scrapping in notifications. It's a way loooong process, anyway.
- I've activated debug log and take a look while navigating to music in main menu, but I can't see no errors.

I'm running out of ideas.... Could someone help me to at least troubleshoot? I'm quite new to Kodi so I'm for sure overlooking something.

Thanks a lot.

@peque, the only thing I can think of is that you have album artists that have no fanart.  For random music fanart, Amber cycles through your album artists.  Unfortunately, if there is any of them that has no fanart, a black background will be shown.  I have not found a way to "skip" items with no fanart.  Could you please check that all of your album artists have fanart either in their own folder or in the central artist information folder.  Also, if you have not scraped the fanart into Kodi's library, Amber will not show fanart for the artist, as the skin does not go out to disk to try to retrieve the fanart.  Thanks.

Regards,

Bart

[peque]

If I navigate artists in music section, I've got many of them which have "featuring", "ft", various artists, etc, so yes, I asume I've got many artists with no fanart, and that would explain.

But I don't understand something: if I highlight one of those "composed" artists, instead of black background, Amber shows random artists fanart with no "blacks"! Which is what it should also happen in main menu... [emoji28]

Till this is clarified, what I've done is generate separate artist fanart folder using "artwork organizer" add-on, and then select mutiimage backgrounds based on that folder image.

It's a good solution, but if Amber can cycle random artist fanart inside music section, it should also be possible to do that in main music section! Shouldn't it?

[bsoriano]

If I navigate artists in music section, I've got many of them which have "featuring", "ft", various artists, etc, so yes, I asume I've got many artists with no fanart, and that would explain.

But I don't understand something: if I highlight one of those "composed" artists, instead of black background, Amber shows random artists fanart with no "blacks"! Which is what it should also happen in main menu... [emoji28]

Till this is clarified, what I've done is generate separate artist fanart folder using "artwork organizer" add-on, and then select mutiimage backgrounds based on that folder image.

It's a good solution, but if Amber can cycle random artist fanart inside music section, it should also be possible to do that in main music section! Shouldn't it?

@peque, are you certain that the fanart you see that cycles when you highlight an artist is random artists fanart, and not extra fanart for the highlighted artist? Please confirm.  Thanks.

Regards,

Bart

[peque]

I can confirm.

I'm testing it right now: I'm over "Alex Party" artist, and I can see how background fanart is randomly been shown, with images of Kenny G, Eros Ramazzoti, and many other well-known artists, which obviously have nothing to do with Alex Party.

You told me somewhere above that you cycled fanart with all local artists library, but you couldn't know if every artist had fanart... but every other skin I've tested doesn't have this problem, so they must know how to do this somehow...

bye!

[bsoriano]

I can confirm.

I'm testing it right now: I'm over "Alex Party" artist, and I can see how background fanart is randomly been shown, with images of Kenny G, Eros Ramazzoti, and many other well-known artists, which obviously have nothing to do with Alex Party.

You told me somewhere above that you cycled fanart with all local artists library, but you couldn't know if every artist had fanart... but every other skin I've tested doesn't have this problem, so they must know how to do this somehow...

bye!

@peque, thanks for confirming. Please let me know which other skins you have tried that do not have this issue, so I can look at their implementation and learn how to solve the issue. Thanks.

Regards,

Bart

[peque]

Mmmm... I've tested a few last days: Rapier, AEON Tajo, AEON MQ, Eminence...

Oh! Forgot to say: today I've realized that it also happens on highlighting Series, but it's way more sporadic (I suposo because I've got less series with no fanart).

[bsoriano]

Mmmm... I've tested a few last days: Rapier, AEON Tajo, AEON MQ, Eminence...

Oh! Forgot to say: today I've realized that it also happens on highlighting Series, but it's way more sporadic (I suposo because I've got less series with no fanart).

@peque, I checked the skins you mentioned, and all of them either have the same issue or are getting the backgrounds using an addon.  I was trying to avoid using addons for the backgrounds.  In the next update, if you have the addon script.embuary.helper installed, then the backgrounds will be retrieved using that addon, which skips over items with no fanart.  I will let you know once the update is available in the Amber repo.

Thank you for bringing this up, since it allowed me to continue looking for a solution to the issue (thanks @sualfred for the solution).

Regards,

Bart

[peque]

Oooh. So other skins don't have this problem because of that. Good to know. I'm really new to Kodi, so I couldn't point that to you. I've been running Mediaportal in a windows HTPC for almost 14 years . It's a little bit easier to understand... [emoji28]

I'll install your repo and test last Amber version anyway. I'm sure there's more improvements.

I'll be looking forward next Amber version.

Thanks a lot to you!

[peque]

Installed. I can confirm your statement, that it still doesn't work. BUT, now I can see fanart "source" in top left corner for music, which in last official version it was empty.

I've seen some issues in your repo version. Do you prefer a new thread for them, or it's ok to use this same? (doesn't have to do with this issue)

[bsoriano]

Installed. I can confirm your statement, that it still doesn't work. BUT, now I can see fanart "source" in top left corner for music, which in last official version it was empty.

I've seen some issues in your repo version. Do you prefer a new thread for them, or it's ok to use this same? (doesn't have to do with this issue)

@peque, please open a new thread for the other issues.  Thanks.

Regards,

Bart

[peque]

Oooh. So other skins don't have this problem because of that. Good to know. I'm really new to Kodi, so I couldn't point that to you. I've been running Mediaportal in a windows HTPC for almost 14 years . It's a little bit easier to understand... [emoji28]

I'll install your repo and test last Amber version anyway. I'm sure there's more improvements.

I'll be looking forward next Amber version.

Thanks a lot to you!

I would say that 3.2.63 fixed this thread issue, isn't it? I have no more blacks. Great!!!!