Zune Thumbnail Database?

[Talyn]

Apologies if this has been addressed somewhere; I wasn't able to find it here or even on Google *gasp!*

Here's my dilemna:

I tend to download videos of game trailers, sometimes movie trailers. I'll name the file say GameTrailer001. The Zune software shows me a nice cool thumbnail, syncs the video to my device and I'm set. However, if I delete that file and download a new trailer and re-use the filename, it keeps the old thumbnail. I know Windows Explorer uses a hidden Thumbs.db file but Zune isn't using that.

Any idea where the Zune thumbnail is so I can delete it and force a thumbnail refresh? Or perhaps better yet, any way to refresh the thumbnails from within the Zune software?

[Jason Dunn]

Hrm. That's a rather unique problem, so I'm not surprised you didn't find a solution. I think most people will use unique file names for their content, so it's not too surprising that this issue hasn't been documented. Now for your particular circumstance...I honestly don't have an answer for you. But let's say there is a thumbnail database on the device that you can delete, wouldn't it take longer to delete that database each and every time than it would to just give the file a unique name?

Did you try a reboot of the Zune? Maybe it's something that's built on boot.

[Talyn]

I mean the database kept on the PC and used by the Zune software itself. I'm assuming if I fix the thumbs on the PC that it will sync the correct thumbs to the device as well.

I was hoping the Zune software was using the Thumbs.db system file that Windows Explorer uses, but no such luck.

[Jason Dunn]

I mean the database kept on the PC and used by the Zune software itself. I'm assuming if I fix the thumbs on the PC that it will sync the correct thumbs to the device as well.

Hmm. Well, when you see a thumbnail image of an album cover, it's from the 240 x 240 JPG that the Zune software transfers over. With video, I had thought it was rendered from the content of the video, not something pulled over from the desktop PC. Have you used the Zune USB drive hack to explore the file system on the Zune itself? That might yield some insights. Unfortunately I don't have a Zune here to test with, so I can't try that for you.

[Talyn]

No, I haven't done any hacks at all. Was hoping to avoid that altogether.

Yes, the software does initially look at the videos and create thumbnails from them. Problem is, it only does it the first time, after that it seems to re-use the original thumbnail for any file with the same filename.

[Jason Dunn]

Yes, the software does initially look at the videos and create thumbnails from them. Problem is, it only does it the first time, after that it seems to re-use the original thumbnail for any file with the same filename.

To me that says that it's 100% device-side, which means you'll need to do the USB hack (http://www.zunethoughts.com/news/show/356/accessing-the-zune-hard-drive.html) in order to explore the file system on the Zune.

Again though, maybe changing the file name would just be easier. :confused:

[Talyn]

It keeps the old thumbnail on the software too, not just the device, that's why I'm not really concerned about hacking the device at all.

There's probably just a custom file *somewhere* similar to thumbs.db that I need to find.