How to change the icons of movie files?

Arkwell · 16 Jun 2010

I have all my movie files on my computer, and I link them to my xbox through media center. I have one file which came with a image file somehow embedded into the video file, so the icon in windows explorer is the dvd cover, and likewise when I view it on my tv through windows media center on my xbox, it has a nice picture aswell instead of text. does anyone know how to do this?

Arkwell · 16 Jun 2010

no one? :/

A Guy · 17 Jun 2010

Welcome to Seven Forums Arkwell. It's not that everyone is ignoring you. But when questions do not have well known or common answers, often people will not reply when they don't have your answer. I did some googling, and see lots of posts about embedding cover art in MP3's, but not so much about DVD art. I found this thread which may be a jumping off point for some ideas as to what to look for:

Here

Hoping someone will have some better ideas and add to this. A Guy

Arc · 17 Jun 2010

Do you want something like this ?

How to change the icons of movie files?-capture.jpg

Actually I dont know how to add an album art in a video file ( I know how to do it for a music file), but there is a way to do the same thing, though a bit laborious . I am describing the steps below :
1. Download an album art for your video (I use google image search for it)
2. Make it square using any image editor. Dont crop, just resize, say 400x400 pixels
3. make a folder for your video, put the resized image in it, name it folder.jpg, and hide it.
4. You are done

Now look the explorer folder, add those to media player or media center, and see the change

If there is any trouble doing it, make me know

Arkwell · 17 Jun 2010

yah i knew about doing that..the image files dont have to be in the folders, you can just right-click on the folders and set a picture as the icon.
i just didnt want to have to do this bc most of my movies arent in folders, and id have to put them all in their own one, which would take a while

theres like literally nothing on google about it..nothing about setting an image file somehow embedding it into a video file..even though i clearly have an mpeg movie that has an image file somehow embedded into it..i thought the programs you can dl for embeddng image files into mp3s might be the same principle, but it seems not..

Arc · 17 Jun 2010

Arkwell said:

the image files dont have to be in the folders, you can just right-click on the folders and set a picture as the icon.

May you please guide me through the process ? I really dont know whether I can set a picture as icon in windows. I knew that you can set an icon as icon , and if it is a live folder icon, you can force a picture to be displayed as preview.

Your help there would be highly appreciated

tw33k · 17 Jun 2010

This is the best way I found: DVD Library Manager

Arkwell · 18 Jun 2010

hmm,..i downloaded that program but it doesnt seem very good

i guess ill just have to say screw it and forget trying..obviously not possible to achieve this easily

oh and you just right click on the folder and set a pic as the icon folder picture:)

epicPROphecy · 28 Sep 2010

Apparently there is no easy way to do this and the methods are different for windows 7 32 bit and 64 bit systems.

Here is a video of somebody doing what I think you are trying to accomplish: YouTube - Windows 7 Tip: Change Video Thumbnail Icons To DVD Covers

Basically you just create a shortcut and hide the existing file because you can change the icon on a shortcut. Now, the method differs on the two operating systems if you wish to get rid of the shortcut arrow overlay. Here is the tutorial for 32 bit windows 7 or Vista

Disable Shortcut Icon Arrow Overlay in Windows 7 or Vista - How-To Geek

For Windows 7 64 bit download Ultimate Windows Tweaker : Ultimate Windows Tweaker, a TweakUI for Windows 7 & Vista | The Windows Club

and go to additional tweaks and check the "Remove arrows from shortcut Icons" box and you should be all set.

boohbah · 28 Sep 2010

If you look at media browser then you will be able to view all your movies via the browser and see the film posters/ covers and have all the meta data for the movie.
there are tons of features and if you want to use it then i have a file that you can run in your movie folder that will put all the movies in a individual folder and they would be named at the click of a button.
check the mediabrowser sticky thread in media center forum. trust me you will be made up with this if/when you start to use it properly