Amazon What happened to the larger size series episode thumbnails on Prime?

[artsunlimited]

Amazon Prime series episodes have always displayed a larger, square thumbnail, which was a great SF feature (especially since the Snarly Reynards treat requests for thumbnails like this with contempt). They were downloading as usual as of a few weeks ago, but now that I've resumed downloading I can see they're the same size as every other non-series download. Is this a wrinkle that could possibly be ironed out in a coming update?

[jpp72]

Amazon Prime series episodes have always displayed a larger, square thumbnail, which was a great SF feature (especially since the Snarly Reynards treat requests for thumbnails like this with contempt). They were downloading as usual as of a few weeks ago, but now that I've resumed downloading I can see they're the same size as every other non-series download. Is this a wrinkle that could possibly be ironed out in a coming update?

Did you try re-downloading episode 3? If it is still a 4x3 thumbnail, then that means it's Amazon/Showtime that decided to go with the widescreen and there is nothing that can be done.

But if episode 3 has the same exact bitrate as the one you downloaded initially but the thumbnail is wide, then it MAY be a StreamFab issue

[artsunlimited]

I did, and I'm getting that widescreen 16:9 thumbnail for every Prime series, from Prime itself to Starz to Max that I'd downloaded last month. The file is identical to the larger 4:3 version, in both video and audio bitrates. (That was a good point, btw.) I'd added Ep 4 to my queue a few weeks ago when I was using version 6.1.3.9. and was able to DL it, with the result you see here. But since everything I added yesterday just stuck at 0% downloads, I had to update to 6.1.4.7. As I got the same thumbnail dimension, it appears it's not a glitch specific to this latest version of SF.

But it seems such a weird thing for Amazon to alter all on its own, as changing it doesn't seem to serve any purpose. And as it doesn't appear that they've put any other spanner in the works along with it, that's why I wonder if it's recently become a SF capture issue.

It was great because I could tell immediately whether I'd downloaded an episode from Prime or from MAX, Hulu, Peacock, etc.

[jpp72]

I did, and I'm getting that widescreen 16:9 thumbnail for every Prime series, from Prime itself to Starz to Max that I'd downloaded last month. The file is identical to the larger 4:3 version, in both video and audio bitrates. (That was a good point, btw.) I'd added Ep 4 to my queue a few weeks ago when I was using version 6.1.3.9. and was able to DL it, with the result you see here. But since everything I added yesterday just stuck at 0% downloads, I had to update to 6.1.4.7. As I got the same thumbnail dimension, it appears it's not a glitch specific to this latest version of SF.

But it seems such a weird thing for Amazon to alter all on its own, as changing it doesn't seem to serve any purpose. And as it doesn't appear that they've put any other spanner in the works along with it, that's why I wonder if it's recently become a SF capture issue.

It was great because I could tell immediately whether I'd downloaded an episode from Prime or from MAX, Hulu, Peacock, etc.

Ya it's kinda hard to tell if it's an Amazon issue instead of a StreamFab issue. I also like to know where i downloaded it so what i do is, in Sonarr, i set the Release Group to the tool and module i used. So i have my groups as StreamFab APV, StreamFab Hulu, StreamFab NF, StreamFab PCOCK, etc...



That way it's easy for me to see where i got the file from if i need to redownload it from a "better" site or if i realize later a subtitle is missing or it was H264 and now i can get H265.

Edit: I just checked on APV and the thumbnails are actually wide so it's not a StreamFab issue. Amazon made the change. Here is the S07E03 thumb directly from Amazon Prime Video:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/pv-target-images/be8a16ab84420c43a4d084a105015f7f5cf10be5ebecdf2aecb0379a75a82f7c._AC_SX720_FMwebp_.jpg

[Chameleon]

Just use Icaros, you can choose any frame you want to be your thumbnail.

[artsunlimited]

Just use Icaros, you can choose any frame you want to be your thumbnail.

I think I tried it some time ago and couldn't get it to work, and I was frankly worried that messing with the file might give me playback issues. Have you personally had success with it and found it doesn't mess with subtitles, etc?

[Chameleon]

I absolutely love the program. I can put any frame of the movie as my thumbnail. Sometimes I change them. It’s a fun program. to bad I’m the only one that gets to see the thumbnail

[artsunlimited]

I can put any frame of the movie as my thumbnail.

Thanks for the tip - I'll try it again. What about the dimensions, though? My problem here isn't about the frame selection, but the size of the thumbnail - I'm after that 4:3 sizing! Amazon often does a 4:3 title card for the series for most episodes, so that really looks great - it kind of provides an icon for a mini-series or series file.

to bad I’m the only one that gets to see the thumbnail

Honestly, when I look at some of the random-a**, back-of-the-head, night-scene frames that have been selected by whomever and designated as the thumbnail, I have to wonder what the heck they were thinking. On smoking. I'm sure you surpass them easily - and yup, being an unrecognized artist is hard!

[artsunlimited]

Ya it's kinda hard to tell if it's an Amazon issue instead of a StreamFab issue. I also like to know where i downloaded it so what i do is, in Sonarr, i set the Release Group to the tool and module i used. So i have my groups as StreamFab APV, StreamFab Hulu, StreamFab NF, StreamFab PCOCK, etc...

Edit: I just checked on APV and the thumbnails are actually wide so it's not a StreamFab issue. Amazon made the change. Here is the S07E03 thumb directly from Amazon Prime Video:

Wow, you really have this sorted - impressive! And here I was just making notes in the properties tags.

But I'm pretty sure APV thumbs have always looked like this dimension-wise, while the actual thumbnail for series episodes still always came through as 4:3, so it could still be SF. It was always particular to Amazon (US, Canada, UK or Australia), and to no other site - so why would it have changed on their end?

[JeffDavis]

Just use Icaros, you can choose any frame you want to be your thumbnail.

I use MP3Tag. Besides editing the text-based tags, it can replace the cover art thumbnail, rescale it and convert it. Most of the downloaded thumbnails are PNG files and converting them to JPG can reduce the size with minimal quality loss. It can also add an image as cover art when the video file does not already have one. Unfortunately Windows doesn't display the thumbnails in File Explorer's thumbnail view. I've never had a problem with MP3Tag corrupting the video file. Handles both MP4 and MKV files.

[artsunlimited]

Unfortunately Windows doesn't display the thumbnails in File Explorer's thumbnail view.

*sigh* This is the problem right here - it sounds nifty, but since I'm not a Mac user, this isn't a solution for me.

[jpp72]

Unfortunately Windows doesn't display the thumbnails in File Explorer's thumbnail view.

*sigh* This is the problem right here - it sounds nifty, but since I'm not a Mac user, this isn't a solution for me.

Although technically true, it's extremely easy to get Explorer to show the video thumbnails. Easiest way is by installing the K-Lite Codec Pack but the preferred way would be to use Icaros. It may look intimidating but it's honestly very easy to setup/configure.

I happen to use both so i have no problem there.

If you wish to customize your video thumbnail, you can use MP3Tag or better yet, MetaX.

As long as you use a 4x3 thumbnail, it will show that way in Windows Explorer: