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[masterjoe]

So here is my scenario:

- HTPC which is automatically booted and shutdown every day to save energy
- HTPC runs JRiver 21 (current build)
- always using Theater View with custom views
- custom views are rather deeply nested, up to 8 levels deep
- currently I watch a series called XYZ. It is 6 level deep below the top level of the Theater View

The problem is, that every time on a new day when I start MC21 that I have to start from the top level of the Theater View and navigate down to the season that I am currenly watching in order to watch some more episodes. This is really annoying and repetitive.

As there is no command to explicitly and automatically go to a "location" (i.e. to specify which "virtual folder" to open) I don't know how to achieve what I am looking for... Best thing would be that MC21 remembers the last position. Even getter if there was a command which can be triggered from 3rd party SW to go to a "location" in Theater View.

What I am looking for is a way to get back to exactly the same position within the Theater View where I have been the previous day. I want to be in the "virtual folder" of the season of the series that I am watching every day without manually navigating there each and every time. But I still want to be able to navigate the Theater View normally so stepping out of the season shall get me to all seasons of the series, etc.

So experts - how can this be achieved?

Thanks.

[glynor]

There is currently no equivalent of /ShowTreePath for Theater View, and even if there was, it wouldn't be able to take you to the "last used" location directly without some way to query and save the most-recently-used location.

But... Perhaps I can help, even if it isn't exactly what you envisioned.

- custom views are rather deeply nested, up to 8 levels deep
- currently I watch a series called XYZ. It is 6 level deep below the top level of the Theater View

Can you describe why your Media Views in Theater View are so heavily nested?

I have a very nice Current Shows Media View in Theater View which lists only unwatched episodes of shows we're actively watching (defined as a Series where any episode was watched within the past X weeks). This is my "default" when I open up Video > Television, so it is generally quite quick to get to this View and pick from a very-filtered list of episodes showing only the ones I might actually want to watch.

Reducing overall nesting will probably be the best bet in your situation.

[masterjoe]

Well, why I do deep nesting is because I like to categorize my stuff a lot with many sub-cats, media-type, length-sorted, series, season etc.
Sure I could do this in a flatter manner but why must I do that when it helps me to organize / find things?

I still think that a command would help, even if it would require some programming on my side.
Because MCWS already allows me to find out where I am... and a 3rd party SW like Eventghost could retrieve and store this positions.
When there would be a show-command to go to any location in Theater-View then everything would be settled.

I imagine it this way (using Eventghost as said):

- go somewhere in Theater View
- save the current location (via EventGhost + MCWS)
- exit MC / restart PC
- start MC
- recall the previously saved location (via Eventghost + goto-location command)

[glynor]

I agree, a command similar to /ShowTreePath for Theater View would be great. I was just making suggestions that you could possibly use now, instead.

As far as the deeply nested Views. I do understand where you're coming from. I've been there. However, after long-experience, I'd suggest you at least consider doing a bit different organization of your Views in Theater View. Usability is greatly improved if you "flatten it out" a bit, and you might find you can do other tricky things to improve the "flow" of using it.

For example, I imagine some of your "tiers" in your organization are categories dividing up videos by "type" (perhaps [Media Sub Type], perhaps [Genre], perhaps some other scheme of your own making).  In Standard View, it is often useful to have a "master View" with a bunch of Category Panes, so you can quickly drill down through these types to filter the content you want to see in the file listing.

But, in Theater View, it isn't as quick to filter things and "go back", since you have to drill down through the "tiers" (that's what you're rubbing up against here).

But, there's basically no limit to how many Media Views you can make in Theater View. So, instead of adding a category that exposes a "tier" of "types", you may find it works better if you add new Views specifically tailored to the types.

As an example, in my home library, instead of having a big "TV Shows" view where when I open it it shows "Genres" (where I can pick from, say Kids, News, Sports, or Documentaries), I have Views made specifically for those.  So, you open up Video, and then you can pick from TV Shows (which is my regular "adult" episodic TV content), Kids (which is everything for my daughter), News & Documentaries, etc.

Since these are Views, and not Categories, they can each be tailored for how this content is used.  For example:

* Using Kids shows, my daughter doesn't care what season they're in, just the Series.  So, if that [Season] category is there, it is just one extra, useless tier for her to have to navigate through.  So, in her Kids > Shows View, the [Season] isn't even a Category.  Also, I keep it in Thumbnails mode because she can't read and likes the pictures.

* Similarly, for my News programs, I usually want to see/use the most recent episodes first, so the sorting is different for that View than I have it for regular TV Show episodes (where I usually want the oldest unwatched episode).

* For TV Shows, I have the View I mentioned above that auto-generates based on what we're currently watching. This one also skips the [Season] category tier and just shows a flat list of unwatched episodes (with the oldest first) for each Series.  If you go to the Video > TV Shows > All Series view, then you can get to the "full listing", which is in a more typical [Series]\[Season] kind of layout.

* And I have similar setups for Instructional videos (cooking shows, training videos, and stuff like that), and a bunch of others.  Each view is tailored to only show categories (and sortings) that make sense for that media type (and how I like to use them).

I'm not suggesting it is perfect, but... I started with my setup essentially where I imagine you are, and I've largely eliminated my "deeply nested" views from Theater View over time, and I'm happier.  I do still have some "utility" views that have deep nesting, but it is nothing my "customers" (family) would ever see or use.

Just a suggestion.  Worth mentioning: I don't work for JRiver, despite being an admin on the forum. I just help out here with some light moderation duties. Otherwise, I'm a user like you with my own day job.