Screen Saver

[murphyc4]

Hello.  I wonder whether someone can help me better understand the behavior of Screen Saver.

At some point, I set up Screen Saver (or had it set up for me via Pro, I don't recall), to grab photos from my NAS.  I've since come to understand that something about that configuration creates a control4_photos folder in another folder on my NAS.  Perhaps that relationship / location can be known in Composer HE and I simply don't know where to look, or perhaps those details are only available in Pro.  Trying to be brief, I'll jump to my questions:

* Why does Control4 create so many versions of the photos it finds in the stated NAS location?  Specifically, I get a copy of the original, plus about 8 other copies at different resolutions.  Moreover, sine I can imagine they're useful depending on cirumstances, can that be governed so that I don't get so many different resolution versions?

* Is the scanning of the originally-designated photo location recurring, or just a one time thing?  If I put more photos in the source location, will they eventually appear on my touch screen?

* If it's possible to see the detailed configuration of Screen Saver (e.g., source location, how the destination location is specified, frequency of scan) in HE, will you please point me to it?

* In total, across all of the different resolutions, I have over 72,000 files in control4_pictures.  I am certain this is now preventing me from backing up my project (unless I exclude Screen Saver photos, which is fine).  I am also wondering, however, whether this may be breaking my media scan which no longer occurs on schedule nor on demand when I click the Scan Now button in HE.  Notably, the location of control4_photos is actually in the same folder/directory where all of my NAS music resides.  Back to the prior question, I'm not sure why it puts it there instead of in the SAN folder for photos.

I hope I've provided adequate background so that this makes sense, and I appreciate any feedback and support.

Thank you.

[neil12011]

On 10/1/2023 at 9:42 PM, murphyc4 said:

Hello.  I wonder whether someone can help me better understand the behavior of Screen Saver.

At some point, I set up Screen Saver (or had it set up for me via Pro, I don't recall), to grab photos from my NAS.  I've since come to understand that something about that configuration creates a control4_photos folder in another folder on my NAS.  Perhaps that relationship / location can be known in Composer HE and I simply don't know where to look, or perhaps those details are only available in Pro.  Trying to be brief, I'll jump to my questions:

* Why does Control4 create so many versions of the photos it finds in the stated NAS location?  Specifically, I get a copy of the original, plus about 8 other copies at different resolutions.  Moreover, sine I can imagine they're useful depending on cirumstances, can that be governed so that I don't get so many different resolution versions?

* Is the scanning of the originally-designated photo location recurring, or just a one time thing?  If I put more photos in the source location, will they eventually appear on my touch screen?

* If it's possible to see the detailed configuration of Screen Saver (e.g., source location, how the destination location is specified, frequency of scan) in HE, will you please point me to it?

* In total, across all of the different resolutions, I have over 72,000 files in control4_pictures.  I am certain this is now preventing me from backing up my project (unless I exclude Screen Saver photos, which is fine).  I am also wondering, however, whether this may be breaking my media scan which no longer occurs on schedule nor on demand when I click the Scan Now button in HE.  Notably, the location of control4_photos is actually in the same folder/directory where all of my NAS music resides.  Back to the prior question, I'm not sure why it puts it there instead of in the SAN folder for photos.

I hope I've provided adequate background so that this makes sense, and I appreciate any feedback and support.

Thank you.

I don't believe you can "govern" the different resolutions.  I believe at least from past OS versions that it will make the different resolutions for the different UI's/Navigators that can possibly display the photos: "On screen Navigators, Touch Screens, Legacy Mini Touch, Ipads, etc"

 

I could be wrong on this though.  For me, I just picked a handful of photos and have it cycle through those.

[Cyknight]

On 10/1/2023 at 7:42 PM, murphyc4 said:

* Why does Control4 create so many versions of the photos it finds in the stated NAS location?  Specifically, I get a copy of the original, plus about 8 other copies at different resolutions.  Moreover, sine I can imagine they're useful depending on cirumstances, can that be governed so that I don't get so many different resolution versions?

Different resolution images are created for each of the different possible devices running the screensaver - no you cannot 'set' this in any way

On 10/1/2023 at 7:42 PM, murphyc4 said:

* Is the scanning of the originally-designated photo location recurring, or just a one time thing?  If I put more photos in the source location, will they eventually appear on my touch screen?

Photos should be added via the media page in HE only for proper results. No it will not scan them regularly.

 

On 10/1/2023 at 7:42 PM, murphyc4 said:

* If it's possible to see the detailed configuration of Screen Saver (e.g., source location, how the destination location is specified, frequency of scan) in HE, will you please point me to it?

It will show you the location (and select a location) under agents. The actual destination would be defined by a separate driver (ie a network storage driver, which then has the actual info on IP address and folder name etc)

As mentioned, there is no scan to begin with.

On 10/1/2023 at 7:42 PM, murphyc4 said:

In total, across all of the different resolutions, I have over 72,000 files in control4_pictures.  I am certain this is now preventing me from backing up my project (unless I exclude Screen Saver photos, which is fine).  I am also wondering, however, whether this may be breaking my media scan which no longer occurs on schedule nor on demand when I click the Scan Now button in HE.  Notably, the location of control4_photos is actually in the same folder/directory where all of my NAS music resides.  Back to the prior question, I'm not sure why it puts it there instead of in the SAN folder for photos.

Well yes, too large a back-up can cause issues. If it is in your case those pictures I couldn't say as such.

 

A few point: I do NOT advise using a true NAS for a photo screensaver, simply because the system is ALWAYS reading the files. the screensaver is running in the back ground constantly, so you're simply adding a lot of reads to both the nas/drive itself, as well as putting on the network traffic.

To do a proper NAS location however, you should have a separate folder created on the NAS (call it what you will, but C4 photos is an obvious choice)

Better is to just add a large (enough) USB stick to the back of a controller. Keep it to a simple stick, use an external program to format to FAT32 if needed. By simple I mean no bells an whistles: no auto back up or encryption option, no fancy led % indicators etc. System will load driver in after a few seconds automatically.

 

Adding photos then works the same: under media, browse to the folder you want to get the pictures from, select the photos you want, then allow composer to do the work.

Yes this will create doubles of the originals, it is what it is.

NOTE. Don't (re)select your whole folder! You can do this the very first time, but don't do it for subsequent additions as it will add every photo, even if it already exists!

 

Here's my personal preferred method:

Select and copy any photos I want to add to the screensaver and put a (new) copy in a folder on my desktop.

*optional, i use a batch file renamer to create random name strings, this creates new names in a random pattern, which means the photos are added in a random order in c4, as it just goes by file name to read this prevents the photos from being chronological

Using composer, add photos with the new folder as the source and let it do its thing (note again that I use a large 256 Gb stick, plenty of room for the thousands of pictures I have on there, these days 1Tb are affordable as well).

Once done, delete the folder I created with 'new' screensaver photos.

*optional, i actually keep a full folder of every screensaver picture I ever added (with the random names) on my computer, just in case the usb stick fails, I can just reload to a new one everything I had before in one go), so I take the pictures from my desktop once the upload is done, and add those pictures to it, then delete the 'temp' folder.

[South Africa C4 user]

One additional comment on screensaver photos. Keep the file names relatively short.  If the file name (including the source directory that you are adding from) is too long (I’ve never bothered to check how long is too long) then Composer will not add these particular photos. 

[murphyc4]

Thank you, everyone, for the thoughtful and comprehensive replies.  I believe I understand things better, though I'm still puzzled as to the control4_pictures folder.  Is that just the default folder where all photos that I add (on the media page) are put, in their respective multiple-resolution subfolders?  And that folder is put in the location that I specify (which, in my case, is in a Photos folder on my NAS) for Screen Saver?  Further to that point, if I choose to use the USB stick approach, I would reconfigure Screen Saver to maintain control4_pictures on the USB stick?  And, if so, I can do that in HE?  Thank you.

[Cyknight]

12 hours ago, murphyc4 said:

Thank you, everyone, for the thoughtful and comprehensive replies.  I believe I understand things better, though I'm still puzzled as to the control4_pictures folder.  Is that just the default folder where all photos that I add (on the media page) are put, in their respective multiple-resolution subfolders?  And that folder is put in the location that I specify (which, in my case, is in a Photos folder on my NAS) for Screen Saver?  Further to that point, if I choose to use the USB stick approach, I would reconfigure Screen Saver to maintain control4_pictures on the USB stick?  And, if so, I can do that in HE?  Thank you.

Yes, to basically all of it.

Screensaver location is easily set in HE under the agent, or I think even from within the media tab.

[murphyc4]

Excellent.  I'm on it.  I especially appreciate the gratuitous recommendation to deal with this on a USB stick versus hitting the NAS all of the time.  Above and beyond.  Thanks very much.

[murphyc4]

Hello, again.  Apologies for coming back on this thread, but I do have an additional question.  I plugged a USB drive into the controller, but I'm getting the following error in HE when I select it as the location of choice for Screen Saver: "The Photo Screensaver location is either undefined or the location is not reachable on the network.  Check to see if the file storage device is connected properly and try again."  Does the USB device need to be in FAT32 format?  It's currently not.  If that's not an issue, do you have other thoughts on what may be the problem?  Thank you.

[murphyc4]

I looked it up.  I should have done so before posting.  It appears it must be formatted to FAT32.  I'll give that a shot.

[Cyknight]

I did state FAT32 ....

[murphyc4]

You did.  I wilfully had a liberal read of "if you need it" hoping that meant it may be something that * I * need (for some reason) versus what Control4 needs. 

I did some searching in advance of my next question, with no luck: does Control4 Screen Saver support .HEIC files?

Thanks.

[murphyc4]

Further to the first point, I also deliberately tested exFAT, since it was easier for me given the size of the handiest USB disk.  That also doesn't work, for any future reader.  Now I'm finally testing the right thing.  Please let me know of any thoughts on .HEIC format.

[murphyc4]

And... no, .HEIC is not supported.

[murphyc4]

And one more update: too many Screen Saver files, or possibly some of them formerly having long names, was preventing a Scan of the SAN location where I store my ripped CDs.  Lots of goodness is coming from this activity.

[South Africa C4 user]

9 hours ago, murphyc4 said:

And one more update: too many Screen Saver files, or possibly some of them formerly having long names, was preventing a Scan of the SAN location where I store my ripped CDs.  Lots of goodness is coming from this activity.

There is a memory limit somewhere in the Media tab of HE.  I know (from experience) that if you get close to that you are in trouble,  I was never able to figure out exactly what it measured but it did go up as I added things and down as I removed them.

That said, I have a lot of screensaver photos (in my mind - hundreds not thousands). How many screensaver photos did you add?

Edited October 7, 2023 by South Africa C4 user

[South Africa C4 user]

Completely off topic, I would love to see a re-write of the Agents (for various reasons including improving efficiency and usability).  I would love to have the ability to use different screensaver photo collections on different seems and to be able to program which collection is currently active on any given screen.

[murphyc4]

Hi, SAC4U.  Before I started cleaning things up, I had 8,400 files in the control4_pictures folder, across all resolutions.  Dividing that by the number of resolutions that are kept (9 folders), I guess I had about 900+ photos?

Notably, however, my Screen Saver folder was the same NAS location/folder as my ripped music.  There, I already have about 800 - 900 individual tracks.  Now that I've set my Screen Saver location to a USB stick, I may have a better experience with scanning.  I'm going to initially go for it and put there even more photos than I originally had.  Since I'm in the process of cleaning up years of travel photos, it will take me a week or so to learn what my new experience is.  If I have trouble again, I may delete some of the resolution folders.  Does anyone know which resolution is used/need by the C4-WALL10-WH T3 touch screen?

I, too, have noted the Used Space for Media Graphics and Total Used Space in the Media section of HE.  I've never even been close to the limits.  For Total, I'm currently at about 25% of the limit.  For Media Graphics, right now I'm at about 8%.  I'll check where I am again once I'm done with my photo cleanup exercise.

Thanks.

[murphyc4]

I'm on an HC800, for the record.

[South Africa C4 user]

Good luck! Your current set up should work and 900 photos should not be an issue.  I think I have been up at about 1,500 at the peak.

[Amr]

7 hours ago, murphyc4 said:

I'm on an HC800, for the record.

And what OS u r on? If u have T3’s and nothing prevents u to go to OS3, u can go up to 3.3.0

[murphyc4]

Hi, Amr.  I'm on 3.3.0.628678-res.  If I'm not mistaken, I may be stuck there, choosing not to upgrade for some reason that escapes me at the moment.  Touchscreens?

[Cyknight]

On 10/7/2023 at 3:54 PM, murphyc4 said:

Hi, Amr.  I'm on 3.3.0.628678-res.  If I'm not mistaken, I may be stuck there, choosing not to upgrade for some reason that escapes me at the moment.  Touchscreens?

The HC800 is the block to go pas 3.3.0