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[tjobbins]

Hi all

I just bought a set-top-box DLNA player, the Hisense 1080p HD

The box works OK via DLNA, with one niggling issue - it sorts all my files always in alphabetical order.

I have my Video library set up using three key fields - Series, Season and Episode.

Example:
Series = Friends
Season = 2
Episode = 20
Name = The One Where Something Happened

My standard View Scheme is grouped on "Series/Season" with a sort on "Series, Season, Episode, Name".  I have added this same view scheme to my DLNA server.

Via the DLNA Box, I can then browse to Video/ and select the Series, e.g. Friends, then I get a sub-directory for the Season, e.g. '2'.  That's all fine.

But then the episodes display in alphabetical order of their Name.   Meaning they are not in episode order.

Of course there is one crappy workaround - I could re-tag all my media files so that the name  includes the episode number at the start.  That would mean in the above example, I would set:
Name = "20. The One Where Something Happened"

That would work - though I might need to do 01, 02, 03 etc so that it sorts in the right order (otherwise it may go 1, 10, 2, 20, 3...)

But does anyone know of a better way?  I realise this may be totally dependent on the client, but if there's any standard way to control it from MC then that would be excellent.   Note that in the DLNA View Scheme, the ordering is already set.

Any help much appreciated


Thanks


Tom

[leezer3]

Slightly long shot, but try using the move/ copy fields tool to copy your episode numbers into Track Number

All depends on what it's expecting though 

-Leezer-

[tjobbins]

Slightly long shot, but try using the move/ copy fields tool to copy your episode numbers into Track Number

All depends on what it's expecting though 

-Leezer-

Very good idea!  Sadly, doesn't work

[tjobbins]

I've been through all MC options, all options of the DLNA Client, and I think it must be impossible.

The DLNA box simply sorts everything alphabetically - example,  when I choose Video, I get the list of all Series' - it displays this in true alphabetical order, meaning the list goes e.g.:
Aardvark's Program
Agatha Christie Program
All Series

i.e. All Series is not at the top as MC is probably sending it to be, but in alphabetical order.

Really easy feature request that would solve this problem!!

Please add a DLNA option that allows me to manipulate the data sent to the DLNA client for the name column

Feature would be:  "Data to send for Name"  With a textbox,  the textbox takes standard MC fields,  meaning I could configure it as:  "[Episode] - [Name]"

This would solve my problem in a stroke, and I bet this can't be the only DLNA client with this problem.  In fact, I know it's not - my googling for my problem shows me links to the same issue on other DLNA boxes.

[JimH]

Hi all

I just bought a set-top-box DLNA player, the Hisense 1080p HD

The box works OK via DLNA, with one niggling issue - it sorts all my files always in alphabetical order.

I have my Video library set up using three key fields - Series, Season and Episode.

Example:
Series = Friends
Season = 2
Episode = 20
Name = The One Where Something Happened

My standard View Scheme is grouped on "Series/Season" with a sort on "Series, Season, Episode, Name".  I have added this same view scheme to my DLNA server.

Via the DLNA Box, I can then browse to Video/ and select the Series, e.g. Friends, then I get a sub-directory for the Season, e.g. '2'.  That's all fine.

But then the episodes display in alphabetical order of their Name.   Meaning they are not in episode order.

Of course there is one crappy workaround - I could re-tag all my media files so that the name  includes the episode number at the start.  That would mean in the above example, I would set:
Name = "20. The One Where Something Happened"

That would work - though I might need to do 01, 02, 03 etc so that it sorts in the right order (otherwise it may go 1, 10, 2, 20, 3...)

But does anyone know of a better way?  I realise this may be totally dependent on the client, but if there's any standard way to control it from MC then that would be excellent.   Note that in the DLNA View Scheme, the ordering is already set.

I think you could use MC's Library Tools and Rename Move Copy feature to change the Name.

[tjobbins]

I think you could use MC's Library Tools and Rename Move Copy feature to change the Name.

Hi Jim

Yup, that's my plan for a workaround.  I will be doing that to change all [Name]  to "[Episode] [Name]"

But if you could put in the feature request I made above, it would make life a lot better - then I could have the Episode number added to Name for DLNA only,  without having to mess up  my actual tags.

Thanks


Tom

[leezer3]

Hi Jim

Yup, that's my plan for a workaround.  I will be doing that to change all [Name]  to "[Episode] [Name]"

But if you could put in the feature request I made above, it would make life a lot better - then I could have the Episode number added to Name for DLNA only,  without having to mess up  my actual tags.

Thanks


Tom

This is somewhat more of a kludge, but there is a relatively easy way to keep your names intact within MC-
If you create a second field ('Display Name' for example), you can then copy the current contents of your 'Name' field into it. Edit your MC viewschemes to use 'Display Name', and then just use the 'Name' for UPNP clients.

What it really needs is a custom field mapping option, so that the field 'UPNP Name' can be passed to a UPNP client as 'Name'
..................

-Leezer-

[tjobbins]

This is somewhat more of a kludge, but there is a relatively easy way to keep your names intact within MC-
If you create a second field ('Display Name' for example), you can then copy the current contents of your 'Name' field into it. Edit your MC viewschemes to use 'Display Name', and then just use the 'Name' for UPNP clients.

Yup I was planning to do that - well actually I was planning to backup Name then modify it and keep using Name.  Your idea is better, thanks.

What it really needs is a custom field mapping option, so that the field 'UPNP Name' can be passed to a UPNP client as 'Name'

And yes, custom field mapping is another way to fix this.

I think my feature request is a  bit better though - my thought was to be able to configure a static manipulation of Name for DLNA only, based on library fields.  So I want to be able to tell DLNA to pass "[Episode] [Name]" for the Name field. 

The reason I think that's slightly better is that it means I wouldn't have to  create a field that contains "[Episode] [Name]".  With your idea,  I would need to keep a separate field that has both episode and name;  with my idea, I can keep my current DB just as it is, and tell DLNA to add the Episode number to the name only for DLNA clients.  So it seems cleaner.

But I realise as I am writing this that I could create an Expression Field that automatically contains "[Episode] [Name]" and reference that in DLNA.  That would keep my DB clean and isn't much work.  So actually your idea is good too - but I still like the thought of having a DLNA-specific option to remap Name,  because I really only need this for DLNA, so it makes sense to apply the manipulation only there.

Anyway, either way is good - Jim, if you could do either, I would be most grateful


Tom

[raj]

But I realise as I am writing this that I could create an Expression Field that automatically contains "[Episode] [Name]" and reference that in DLNA.  That would keep my DB clean and isn't much work.  So actually your idea is good too - but I still like the thought of having a DLNA-specific option to remap Name,  because I really only need this for DLNA, so it makes sense to apply the manipulation only there.

I've got the same problem. I understand your comment about creating an expression field using two other fields, but I don't understand how to "reference that in DLNA". Would the existing name field still have to be backed up to some other field and be replaced by the new expression field?

I was also looking at a playlist in regards to using an expression field and I noticed that 'seq' doesn't seem to be a valid field or expression near as I can tell.  Seq is one of the columns in a playlist and it shows the play sequence number. Any ideas on how to reference the value in the Seq column?