Online artwork
Online artwork fills in the artwork your movies and TV shows have no file for, using images from online providers such as fanart.tv. Your Cardinal Media Server asks Cardinal Cloud's Catalog for them, downloads the ones it uses, and keeps them. Artwork files in your own folders always come first.
What online artwork does
| Item | Kinds filled |
|---|---|
| Movie | Poster, backdrop, logo, clearart |
| Show | Poster, backdrop, logo, clearart |
| Season | Poster |
| Episode | Nothing. The providers have no episode stills. |
A logo is the title drawn as a transparent image, made to sit on top of a backdrop. Clearart is a transparent cut-out of characters or a scene.
Online artwork only fills a kind that has nothing. If a movie folder holds a poster.jpg, that poster is used and only the movie's missing kinds come from online. The file names that are read are listed in Movies and TV.
Turning it on
Online artwork is off until an administrator turns it on.
- Sign in to the Admin app with an account that can change server settings (the Owner or an Administrator).
- Sign in to your Cardinal account in the Admin app. The switch stays locked until you do.
- Open Cloud Services and turn on Online artwork.
Turning it on asks Cardinal Cloud for a credential that lets this server use the Catalog. Any Cardinal account that has claimed the server can turn it on; no subscription is needed. From then on the server talks to the Catalog by itself, so it works whether or not anyone is signed in.
Once it is on, the cinema online artwork job runs after every indexing run that indexed movies or TV. To fill in artwork for a library that is already indexed, run the job from the Jobs page.
Personal API keys
fanart.tv shows new artwork to apps 7 days after its community approves it. With your own personal API key, new artwork reaches you after 2 days instead. A personal key is free.
- Get a key from fanart.tv.
- In the Admin app, open Cloud Services and paste it into the provider's field on the Online artwork card.
The key is stored on your Media Server and sent along with each request for artwork, which Cardinal Cloud forwards to fanart.tv and does not keep. Once saved, the key is never shown again: the card only shows its last four characters, so you can tell which key is in use. Remove key deletes it.
Which titles can get artwork
The Catalog finds artwork by id, not by name, so an item needs an id it recognizes.
| Item | Needs |
|---|---|
| Movie | A TMDB id or an IMDb id |
| Show and its seasons | A TVDB id |
An item without one is skipped. Ids come from:
- Tags in the folder or file name, such as
Blade Runner 2049 (2017) {tmdb-335984}orGame of Thrones (2011) {tvdb-121361}. - A movie's
.nfofile. - Tags embedded in the video file.
- Match corrections made in the Admin app.
Adding an id to a folder name takes effect after the next indexing run.
How artwork is chosen
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│ 1. Artwork someone picked │ kept until reset to automatic
└───────────────┬───────────────┘
│ nothing picked
┌───────────────▼───────────────┐
│ 2. A file in your folders │ poster.jpg, clearlogo.png, ...
└───────────────┬───────────────┘
│ no file
┌───────────────▼───────────────┐
│ 3. Online artwork, automatic │ chosen by the rules below
└───────────────────────────────┘
Fig. 1: Which artwork an item shows, for each kind on its own.
When the server chooses online artwork by itself:
- For a poster, logo or clearart, it prefers an image in English, then one without text, then any other.
- For a backdrop, it prefers an image without text first, since text clashes with whatever Cinema draws over it.
- Among equals, the image the provider's community likes most wins.
A file you add later replaces online artwork of the same kind the next time the cinema artwork thumbnails job runs, unless someone picked that kind.
Picking artwork in Cardinal Cinema
To use a different image, open the movie or show in Cardinal Cinema and choose Change artwork. On a show's page, a second button changes the selected season's poster.
The drawer has a tab for each kind and shows every image the providers offer, best first. Choose one to use it. A picked image is kept through re-indexing, and neither artwork job replaces it, even when a file for that kind appears later. Use automatic drops the pick and lets the jobs choose again, which brings back a file from your folders if there is one.
Artwork is shared by everyone on the server, so changing it needs the CinemaArtwork.Update capability. Only the Owner and Administrator roles have it, and the Guest Account has the Administrator role. See Role-Based Access Control.
Credits
Artwork from a provider is credited wherever it is shown. A movie or show page in Cardinal Cinema names the provider under the title when any of its artwork came from one, and the Change artwork drawer shows the provider's credit and a link to add artwork to it.
fanart.tv's artwork is made by its community. If an item is missing artwork, you can add some on fanart.tv; once it is approved, it reaches your server on the next lookup.
What is sent to Cardinal Cloud
While online artwork is on, the Media Server sends the Catalog:
- The TMDB, IMDb or TVDB id of each item it needs artwork for, and a season number for season posters.
- Your personal API keys, which are forwarded to the provider and not kept.
- The server's instance id and the Cardinal account it is linked to, to keep the service within its limits.
Titles, file names, folder paths and anything about what you watch are never sent. Only items that are missing artwork, or that someone opens in the Change artwork drawer, are asked about.
Cardinal Cloud keeps a copy of each image a Media Server downloads, with the provider's permission, so later downloads of the same image come from Cardinal's storage rather than from the provider.
Where artwork is stored on your server
Downloaded images are kept in the app data directory (/config in the Docker image):
| Folder | Holds |
|---|---|
cinema_artwork_originals | The full-size images in use |
cinema_artwork_previews | The small previews shown in the Change artwork drawer |
Images in use are rendered into the same sizes and formats as artwork from your files; see Rendered sizes. Nothing is written next to your video files.
Turning it off
Turn off Online artwork on the Cloud Services page. The server stops asking the Catalog for anything. If you are signed in to your Cardinal account, its credential is also given back to Cardinal Cloud.
Artwork already downloaded stays, and so do picks. New items no longer get online artwork, and the Change artwork drawer shows no options until it is turned on again.
Troubleshooting
The card's status
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Off | Online artwork is turned off. |
| On | Working. |
| On, but no credential | The server lost its Catalog credential. Turn online artwork off and on again. |
| On, but Cardinal Cloud can't be reached | The server cannot reach Cardinal Cloud right now. Nothing is lost; the next job run tries again. |
The Change artwork drawer has no options
The drawer says why:
| Reason | What to do |
|---|---|
| Online artwork is turned off | Turn it on in the Admin app. |
| The title has no id | Add a TMDB, IMDb or TVDB id. See Which titles can get artwork. |
| Cardinal Cloud can't be reached | Try again later. |
| No artwork of this kind exists | The provider has none for this title. You can add some on the provider's site. |
New artwork on fanart.tv hasn't appeared
fanart.tv holds new artwork back from apps for 7 days, or 2 days with a personal key. The Catalog also keeps each title's list of artwork for up to 7 days, and the online artwork job asks about each item at most once a week. Opening the Change artwork drawer always shows the Catalog's current list.
Was this article helpful?