Displaying Quad, DVDA, SACD, DTS Logos in Kodi?

[MrSmithers]

Hey Garry,

Do you know if it's possible to get the media type logos to show up in Kodi 18? I think on your Aaron Neville clip it has a Flac logo whilst playing?

And would that be replaceable with another image? For example you could have the SACD/DVD-A/Compact disc logo etc.... How cool would it be to have the Quadradisc or SQ logo for old quad conversions?

 

[HomerJAU]

Do you know if it's possible to get the media type logos to show up in Kodi 18? I think on your Aaron Neville clip it has a Flac logo whilst playing?

And would that be replaceable with another image? For example you could have the SACD/DVD-A/Compact disc logo etc.... How cool would it be to have the Quadradisc or SQ logo for old quad conversions?

---------------
UPDATE: 8 December 2019 - Kodi mod to do this here:
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...cd-dts-logos-in-kodi.26955/page-2#post-442130----------------

I've been looking at the code for this.

Firstly, those screen captures were from 2016 when I was using a skin called Madnox. This skin is currently being modified to run on Leia (Kodi 18) but wont be ready for a while (old screen shot showing FLAC logo):

Looking at the skin code today, all its doing is looking at the song file's extension (.flac, .mp3 etc) and displaying the FLAC or MP3 logo.

Kodi can also return the current song's codec (PCM, DTS etc) but that won't help when it's a FLAC conversion from SQ, Q8, SACD etc. However, if we were to add some info to the comment tag I think its possible to get Kodi to show the desired logo. For example:
Comment = 'From Quad SQ' or 'From Quad Q8'

We should be able to leave any existing comment, just add the Quad text as the code would look for keywords like 'Quad' and then look for a predefined set of following characters like 'Q8', 'CD4' etc.

I'll have a play over the weekend. If it looks feasible then we just need to create (or find) suitbable logos and I'll change the base Aeon Nox Silvo skin to display the logos. This should also work for SACD, DVDA/MLP, DTS, DTS-HDMA, Dolby Digital, TrueHD and Atmos codecs too. But if those have been converted to FLAC we'll need to add a suitable comment so the original codec can be decoded to display the right logo.

There's also an album tag named: 'Album_Type' that Kodi finds, maybe we can just use that although I don't know of any Tagging program that sets it... EDIT: In a FLAC file this is tag: ReleaseType (I’m going to use this tag, Comment tag can stay unchanged)

As long as we can define a full set of valid original codecs and get the logos with all looks feasible.

It is also possible to get the skin to display 'No. of Channels' with an easy mod, which I was doing but since my AVR won't play 4 channel files (I had to add a silent centre channel) it always was shown as '5 channel' which peeved me. With the above tag Comment mod or Album_Type tag I could probably get Kodi to show 'Quad' for No of Channels if 'Quad' appeared in the text.

 

[MrSmithers]

Wow, that sounds like it could be awesome, thanks Garry!

If it looks feasible then we just need to create (or find) suitbable logos and I'll change the base Aeon Nox Silvo skin to display the logos. This should also work for SACD, DVDA/MLP, DTS, DTS-HDMA, Dolby Digital, TrueHD and Atmos codecs too. But if those have been converted to FLAC we'll need to add a suitable comment so the original codec can be decoded to display the right logo.

I know that @Peacekeepr73 has done some superb old quad logos and hopefully wouldn't mind them being used... I think the modern type media should be pretty accessible... Also there are logos shown on the QQ banner so maybe Jon has a collection?

I've saved a lot of the source info on my music in J River although I'm not sure what part of the metadata is universal i.e added in producer/publisher/original title. I think that may be just local? Anyway I quite enjoy updating the info, and it's pretty easy to transfer the relevant info to the comment section...

 

[HomerJAU]

It’s quite possible the data you’ve added in JRiver is saved to tags so saved within the media files.

I’m sure we can get good logos.

I found this on the Kodi forum regarding the ‘Album Type’ tag:

For every album Kodi stores an album type, which is just text and can be anything a user wants. Album type is one of the currently supported filter properties (as well as being smart playlist rule), so if the special edition albums had a type of "Special Edition" it would be easy to filter them when looking at a long list of albums.

Album type is initially populated from a tag embedded in musicfiles, in the various formats:
MusicBrainz/Album Type (ASF)
MUSICBRAINZ ALBUM TYPE (ID3 for mp3 files)
MUSICBRAINZ_ALBUMTYPE (APE)
RELEASETYPE (Xiph/Vorbis for FLAC files) [unfortunately named and not to be confused with the internal releasetype Kodi uses that is either "album" or "single"]

This is probably not used by most users so would be good as we can add the original source media pretty easily, examples: Quad SQ, Quad CD4, Quad Q8, SACD, DVDA, BDA...

Additionally, Kodi supports filters and smart playlists for ‘Album Type’ so users can easily make menu nodes that match. Example ‘contains Quad’ for a Quad only album list or ‘is Quad Q8’ for all Q8 albums.

Hopefully there’s feedback from other QQers using Kodi on this idea - using Artist Type tag (ReleaseType for FLAC).

 

[HomerJAU]

Ok. Moving to the next phase:

Where can we get codec logos for all the quad formats? Also SACD & DVD-Audio.

I have all the DTS, Dolby and FLAC logos (already in Kodi).

Do we have a computer graphics expert here on QQ as the logos will need a clear background?

 

[MrSmithers]

Ok. Moving to the next phase:

Where can we get codec logos for all the quad formats? Also SACD & DVD-Audio.

I have all the DTS, Dolby and FLAC logos (already in Kodi).

Do we have a computer graphics expert here on QQ as the logos will need a clear background?

I have a couple downloaded... They might be ok for testing purposes? I'm not sure how to make the clear background on the quad logos?

 

[HomerJAU]

Thanks. It’s a good start.

I should have something working as a prototype over the weekend.

 

[HomerJAU]

I'm going to hard code the values below for MCH codec logos to dispaly in Kodi.

Please add anything I've missed.

NOTE: Any prefixed with 'Quad' will force Kodi to show the 'No. Of Channels' as 'Quad' regardless of any additional silent channels in the playback file):

CODECS (different logo for each):

Quad CD-4
Quad EV
Quad SQ
Quad Q4
Quad Q8
Quad QR
Quad QS
Quad UD-4
Quad UHJ
Quad ----> To cover generic/unknown Quad sources

Quad BDA
Quad DVDA
Quad SACD
Quadradisc

DSD
DSF

DVDA
SACD
BDA
FLAC

Atmos
TrueHD
Dolby Digital
DTS:X
DTS-HDMA
DTS
DTS 96/24
DTSCD
Auro3D

UM ----> To cover upmixes
Multitrack ----> Mutitrack mixes

 

[HomerJAU]

More testing today: Finding a tagging app to edit the AlbumType (ReleaseType) isn’t easy, so I’ve decided to implement the Kodi code logos by reading the info from the album folder name. Examples for Pink Floyd albums:

Atom Heart Mother (Quad Q8)
Dark Side of the Moon (SACD)
Wish You Were Here (Quad BDA)

So no need to re-tag any music files, just add a ‘codec’ to the folder name.

These will be somewhat user definable since the Kodi skin uses a simple xml format and I’ve created two code variables: One to look for specific text which sets the name of the logo image file. The other to translate and return ‘corrected’ number of channels for Quads with silent channels.

This is primarily aimed at FLAC conversions from original media. If it’s a DTS or DSF file then Kodi can read that codec directly, without needing to edit album folder names.

I already use a similar album naming convention just so I know what each album folder contains, I’m sure others do to. If you want to see the media logos in Kodi you’ll need to follow some rules (you can create your own rules or just use what I come up with in next few days).

 

[MrSmithers]

I'm going to hard code the values below for MCH codec logos to dispaly in Kodi.

Please add anything I've missed.

NOTE: Any prefixed with 'Quad' will force Kodi to show the 'No. Of Channels' as 'Quad' regardless of any additional silent channels in the playback file):

CODECS (different logo for each):

Quad CD-4
Quad EV
Quad SQ
Quad Q4
Quad Q8
Quad QR
Quad QS
Quad UD-4
Quad UHJ
Quad ----> To cover generic/unknown Quad sources

Quad BDA
Quad DVDA
Quad SACD
Quadradisc

DSD
DSF

DVDA
SACD
BDA
FLAC

Atmos
TrueHD
Dolby Digital
DTS:X
DTS-HDMA
DTS
DTS 96/24
Auro3D

UM ----> To cover upmixes
Multitrack ----> Mutitrack mixes

Wow - fantastic stuff! That’s an interesting illustration in just how many different formats there’s been over the years!

The only thing I can think of that might be good to add are CD and DVDV? They could probably fall under ‘flac’ anyway though...

 

[MrSmithers]

More testing today: Finding a tagging app to edit the AlbumType (ReleaseType) isn’t easy, so I’ve decided to implement the Kodi code logos by reading the info from the album folder name. Examples for Pink Floyd albums:

Atom Heart Mother (Quad Q8)
Dark Side of the Moon (SACD)
Wish You Were Here (Quad BDA)

So no need to re-tag any music files, just add a ‘codec’ to the folder name.

These will be somewhat user definable since the Kodi skin uses a simple xml format and I’ve created two code variables: One to look for specific text which sets the name of the logo image file. The other to translate and return ‘corrected’ number of channels for Quads with silent channels.

This is primarily aimed at FLAC conversions from original media. If it’s a DTS or DSF file then Kodi can read that codec directly, without needing to edit album folder names.

I already use a similar album naming convention just so I know what each album folder contains, I’m sure others do to. If you want to see the media logos in Kodi you’ll need to follow some rules (you can create your own rules or just use what I come up with in next few days).

That sounds ace! The folder name is a really good way to go...

 

[HomerJAU]

Wow - fantastic stuff! That’s an interesting illustration in just how many different formats there’s been over the years!

The only thing I can think of that might be good to add are CD and DVDV? They could probably fall under ‘flac’ anyway though...

I added DTSCD just now.

The Kodi skin variable I’ve created works as a list on conditions: (like this in English)

If SongsFolderName contains ‘Quad SACD’ then return ‘SACD Logo’
Else if (Another condition) return ‘another logo’
else if (Another condition) return logo
Else Return SongsCodec

So if none of the conditions are true (e.g it’s a CD or DVDV it will return ‘FLAC’ (if it’s a FLAC file) as the last line is a catch all (if the code doesn’t match any previous condition do the last line)

It’s easy enough to add those two conditions to the variable though, so we can add a CD and DVDV logo.

 

[JonUrban]

Don't forget this great thread from Peacekeepr73:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...quadraphonic-label-templates-and-logos.26089/
I will check my graphics files for more

 

[JonUrban]

Here's a few more:

 

[JonUrban]

Mo

 

[JonUrban]

 

[HomerJAU]

I've got the Kodi QQ logo mod running:

With 'Quad DVDA' in the album folder name the Music Screen shows 'Quad' and the MLP logo (this is a FLAC file):

With 'Quad SQ' (this is a FLAC file):

With 'Atmos' and 'BDA' (not showing No. Of Channels as its Object Based). (this is a MP4 file with Atmos track):

The last one shows a scanned disc image. The first two do not have a disc image so a hand-written CD label gest created by Kodi.

Here's the Q8 logo I made:

 

[Ninecats]

Looks nice!

 

[JonUrban]

RCA and Ampex Q8 Logos:

 

[atrocity]

One nice advantage that FLAC has over MP3 is that the tags are completely free-form. You can make up and use any one you want. Foobar2000 makes that easy via its GUI, but you can also just use metaflac at the command line in a pinch.

Having said that, I have no idea how easy/difficult it is to get Kodi to read custom tags.