Is this even possible?

[emartina]

I'm trying to do a slideshow that will repeat itself using a DLNA server and a media player attached to TVs. The only problem is that when running a slideshow off of the DLNA server, it runs through the folder of pictures once, and then stops. I need it to be on repeat all day.

My possible solution to this is to have a script that until I tell it to stop, will run, and then copy a file, then delete it, then copy the next picture, then delete the original, etc so that way it has a constant influx of pictures but I won't have to have 40k pictures on my server wasting all of that space so it can run all day. The slide show has to run for 12 hours a day so that is why there would need to be 40 thousand pictures to last all day.

Also, to make it even more complex and fun, would it be possible to make it so that I can add in more pictures on the fly and it will still copy them and delete them? I don't know how it would work, but instead of it being like "copy picture1.jpg" is it possible to like "copy first file added"?

In theory this sounds like a good idea, but I don't know if it is even possible as I have limited scripting knowledge.

I don't want to spend hours and days on this just to find out that it's not even possible.

 

[Geates]

I would imagine that this can be more easily accomplished and managed by using an actual slideshow program. For instance, when configured properly, Windows Photo Viewer can accomplish all your requests.

-Geates

http://raqxtr.sstar.com/caspdoc/html/chapter_5__developer_s_reference.htm

 

[emartina]

The only downside to that solution is I am going through a media player connected to a tv and it doesn't have that. I'm using a Sony SMP N100 media player connected to a TV that I want to play a folder of images as a slideshow from a network drive.

 

[Geates]

It sounds like the media player is middleware between the DLNA server and the output device. As I don't have a SMP N100, I'm not sure how to be of help.

-Geates

http://raqxtr.sstar.com/caspdoc/html/chapter_5__developer_s_reference.htm

 

[guitarzan]

My possible solution to this is to have a script that until I tell it to stop, will run, and then copy a file, then delete it, then copy the next picture, then delete the original, etc so that way it has a constant influx of pictures but I won't have to have 40k pictures on my server wasting all of that space so it can run all day.

This is not difficult to do, but are you sure that the above procedure works? Have you tried doing it manually?

This pseudocode should get you started

PictureSource = path to all the pictures
MediaPlayerSource = path to the folder the media player looks at
Do until ...
   For each photo in PictureSource 
      Copy photo from PictureSource to MediaPlayerSource
      wait ...
      Delete photo from MediaPlayerSource
   Next
Loop

 

[emartina]

Yes, I am using the smp n100 as a middle device between the TV and server. Due to limited capabilities of the device I was trying to come up with a solution that wouldn't cost any money.

I haven't had a chance to access the equipment today today test manually adding pictures to the folder to see if it will even work. I will hopefully be able to do that tomorrow.

Thank you for the psuedo code. Hopefully that will be good enough for me to figure out the vb code. I'm a java coder by default so learning a new language always takes some time.