various sources/pages for manually updating the picons of the different satellites

You have to write a question to the admins of the discussion forum. For example: master G

Maybe it would be good if the thread with the picons was separated into several threads - according to the satellite position of a specific satellite or according to countries.

But it also has its disadvantages. Then there must be a moderator who will regularly sort out any disagreements. There are still many idiots who will put their contribution in any one where it does not belong. The moderator then has to move the contribution to the correct thread.

Another disadvantage is also inconsistency. For example, in Slovakia there are up to 3 or 4 SAT providers (I don't know, I don't follow it). Each of them uses similar and identical SAT stations - so identical picons. However, each provider broadcasts on a different position / satellite. For example, on the position 23.5E, 16.0E, and others. This would mean that everyone from Slovakia would have to search for the same picons (with different reference codes - PNG file names) on a different discussion thread.

So it's not easy.

Picons for E2 set-top boxes are seemingly a simple matter, but in reality there is a lot of work to do. Even the IPK packages in some enigma2 feed servers are usually not up to date and take a very long time to update.

Picons actually last a very long time. They change sometimes twice a month, but sometimes only twice a year.

I don't know what else to write about this. Chocholousek kept the pikon database and kept it up to date, so it was convenient to use a plugin that downloaded and loaded the necessary picon sets into the set-top box. But it is also possible to do this manually, although it is of course a tedious job for people who are not familiar with IT technology.

Even half a year old picon packages are still usable. Alternatively, you can edit / change 2-3 missing picons or just change the file names according to the new reference code.

It really is not easy. It would be best if there were creators of picons who would upload images / channel logos to the database, marked only with the channel name and without a reference code yet. In this database, everyone could find their logo needed for the missing channel.

However, the images should have a prescribed format. It should be PNG with a transparent layer and with only the station logo visible, for example in the 400 x 240 pixels. Unfortunately, some displays and Enigmas still require the lesser-known resolution/aspect ratio (400 x 170 pixels). So it would already be a cleaned and prepared LOGO of a specific channel. Links for downloading the finished package could then be created from this database. The package would actually be just a set of links, if when downloading it, the user obtained all the necessary picons.

Chocholousek was a master in this regard, because he developed transparent logos (for his own use), which were:

- black (dark)

- white (light)

- colored (multicolor)

This is because for each picon background, the user needs a different type of logo.

There are various ways to add a background to the picons (transparent station logos). For example, on a PC using a batch job, in some graphic editor. Or you can make a simple Python script that will do it for the user. For example, the user creates a 400 x 240 PNG image as a background for the picons. Then the necessary 400 x 240 transparent picons are downloaded according to the links and combined together.

Chocholousek defended his transparent station logos - dark / light / colored. I'm not surprised, because it's really a pain in the ass. It's a lot of work to take care of a large database of channels. If it were purely stations within a single country, it would be easier. But Chocholousek took care of many countries and therefore 1000s of logos. That's what I proposed for the plugin. So that Chocholousek would only make transparent logos for the background to choose from. And the user would design their own wallpaper or use the default wallpaper. And the plugin algorithm would combine the wallpaper + station transparent images (logos).

However, Chocholousek did not want to do it like this in the plugin. It is really a lot of work and effort. He was probably worried about the misuse of transparent station logos by third parties - for their own profit purposes. But if he agreed to it, then users could change the background to their liking and use the merge with transparent PNG station logos - from Chocholousek's database.

There are many ideas and possibilities. But I don't know which one is the best. I don't even know if it can be solved this easily on a discussion forum... this kind of picon database.

The best logic for searching for station logos would probably be the following (table or database):

country -> provider name -> channel names | and also possibly reference codes (which can always be more)

However, it should not be like a database in the form of discussion threads. It should be like a table / database that someone will take care of (check and update) :).

It would be good to connect or contact some database website like KingOfSat, LyngSat, SatBeams, where someone would send these station logos... but in a high-quality format, like PNG transparent images (with a transparent wallpaper background). They could keep a database of available LOGO stations, because they also keep a database of currently available and active SAT stations. Also, LOGOs could be downloaded from them, for example using a plugin in Enigma2, each missing logo separately.

I don't know. I can't think of many things because... it's complicated. Everything that is free and complicated, people refuse to do.

That's why I thought of dividing the picons here on the discussion forum into threads, according to the chronology above. The first item would be the country. The second item would be the provider. The third item would be the channel logos separately or the entire finished and current picon packages.

Maybe some picon packages wouldn't be available at all for many countries, but... that's a matter of people living in the respective country or that no one wants to develop station logos for E2 needs in these countries.

Sorry. I personally don't feel like doing anything anymore. I'm just thinking and thinking and thinking... ROFL.

Friends, sorry to interfere in your debate, but I would just like to ask if anyone has already contacted the creator of the picons himself - Chocholousek, asking for his opinion or statement ? Maybe he just has some work pressure or other personal reasons. I know that, for example, at the end of last year he had a problem that his PC on which he created the picons "gone" and it took a certain amount of time to replace it.

Maybe it would be better to contact him first and only after some "negative" statement from him to start solving his replacement. This seems undignified (for me, inappropriate) to talk and solve something about him without him.

I don't know. I wrote to Chocholousek on January 19, 2025. He said that he doesn't have enough free time for picons anymore and that he would like to do it, but he simply doesn't have the free time to process picons yet. I don't know why. I haven't found out anything further. Another month and a half has passed since then. I'm not saying that he's really finished with the work. But it doesn't look good yet. I hope he'll get back to it.

Many people who use picons from Chocholousek use blank areas in some places of the channel logos, which are outdated. In order not to make the set-top box look like stolen, they started using other picon sources.

Picons are estimated to require updating at least once every 3-6 months. Otherwise, the number of outdated and also missing picons starts to increase.

I also wrote that it would be worth waiting another 3-6 months, for example. But... if the situation does not change after 3-6 months, then support and the existence of the plugin will also be terminated (if Chocholousek's work would cease). But I don't want to get ahead of myself.

It's been 4 months and the picons are starting to be very outdated or even missing. If nothing changes after another 3-6 months, for example, it could mean the end of Chocholousek's work.

Anyway, there's no need to twist and lie right away. I hope everything will return to normal. We'll see...

It should also be noted that the Chocholousek picons are not the only ones in the world. They are perfect, they are up-to-date and they are convenient to update in Enigma2 via a plugin. But... there are other picons... but less updated... with less support unfortunately.

It should be possible to atomatic download picon packs. I think making a git project would be the best way. Also is easier for people to contribute. One example is

picons/picons: High quality tv & radio logos for your channels, also known as picons.

It is especially important that someone constantly takes care of the picon resource and updates all this. Especially the conversion tables between the reference code and the special abbreviated channel name - and then matched them to the picture (to the picon). It is also necessary to update the images / logos themselves, when changes are made. And this is the problem. Still finding a person who would regularly take care of the given database in a certain width of different providers or countries... or someone different from each country.

It's great that there's this great picon resource on Github. I didn't even know it existed. It looks really good.

But someone has to take care of it regularly - and that's probably the most important thing for any resource with a picon database.

Yes. Thanks. This is a better separate thread than a discussion about resources and keeping picons up to date. Because that is a topic that is not directly related to the plugin.

I only have a VDR and made Skripts to load logos frop picon.cz, mediaportal-logos or the picons.git.

OK... and now I have a question... is there any E2 plugin for processing (downloading and updating) picons, from Github source, into a set-top box ? If so, where are they, which ones are they ? Is there a choice of multiple picon designs ? How do these E2 plugins work ? Is each picon downloaded from Github separately ? Or is there some GIT-API for that, which will tell Github to compress into a package, specifically PNG or SVG files, and then a plugin or shell script will download them to the set-top box ?

I saw some shell script on Github, but I don't feel like studying the whole shell script (I don't know what this shell script does in its written algorithm) ... I guess I'm getting old and lazy :-D.

BTW... if the picons are in SVG format, that's great. However, in my opinion, it's not always possible to find channel logos in SVG format, and then you have to rely only on stupid PNG format. SVG file is a vector graphic... and when using a converter, it is possible to make any resolution of the resulting logo/image for the picon.