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Author Topic: Subcategories  (Read 2269 times)

perpetual98

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Subcategories
« on: October 18, 2011, 04:11:14 pm »

Hi all.  I've been playing around with the software and so far it's pretty slick!  I'm a current MediaBrowser user and I'm always looking for alternatives to play with.

Anyway, I haven't been able to figure out something which may be easy.  I've spent a chunk of time playing around with the settings, and also searching through the forums to no avail.

Here's what I'm trying to accomplish.  Right now I have my media set up something like this...

G:\Kids Movies
H:\Movies
I:\TV Series
J:\BluRay

Is there a way in Theater View that when I went to Video, I could have sub-categories appear?  Right now my 8 and 4-year olds know how to cruise through MediaBrowser and find their movies, select them by cover and start them up.
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mbagge

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Re: Subcategories
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2011, 04:35:25 pm »

You could use the tag 'genre' and select the view 'Genre' in theaterview. Of course your kids can select any genre they want but all the kids movies are brought together in one view and can be selected by cover.

Theater view is especially easy navigated with some kind of remote. My AVR remote can send Microsoft Media Center commands to the PC by an infrared eye. And it is a dream to navigate this way.
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bunglemebaby

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Re: Subcategories
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2011, 07:09:33 pm »

Quote
Is there a way in Theater View that when I went to Video, I could have sub-categories appear?
There are virtually limitless ways to set this up in MC. The one mbagge mentioned would be a good way to start, as it is fairly straight forward to set up. I would play with that idea to get your feet a little wet, then come back here once you've got more questions or want to try to do fancier things.

Just a quick note, once you get your media set up (tagged) in MC you don't really need to know too much about where they are stored in your file system. MC relies on it's internal database for navigation purposes. Just keep that in mind as you play around with the software.
-JB
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perpetual98

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Re: Subcategories
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2011, 09:58:28 pm »

Yeah, I've got a remote that I use with my HTPC currently.  I actually rarely pick up my wireless keyboard, so I'm aware of how nice a well done 10' interface that works can be.

I plan on playing with the software tomorrow more, I ran out of time today.  I just thought it would be easy to add a subcategory to the Video menu.  Further investigation required!
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rick.ca

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Re: Subcategories
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2011, 10:17:25 pm »

Just a quick note, once you get your media set up (tagged) in MC you don't really need to know too much about where they are stored in your file system. MC relies on it's internal database for navigation purposes. Just keep that in mind as you play around with the software.

True, but it's not necessary to abandon a well-organized file structure in favour of database values either. A view's categories can be based directly on those folder values. The most straightforward way to do that is with a File path-type category. For more flexibility, use an Expression-type category to extract the desired values from the pathname. The file path can also be used in the Rules for file display to restrict the files included in a view to those of a particular folder. To illustrate, either method could be used for something to accommodate the kids. The first so there would be a "Kid's Movies" category to select to view those. The second to create a separate view for "Kid's Video" that includes the "Kids Movies" folder, a selection of kid's TV Series and other video files considered suitable for kids.

I plan on playing with the software tomorrow more, I ran out of time today.  I just thought it would be easy to add a subcategory to the Video menu.  Further investigation required!

It is easy, after some experimentation with the configuration (Options>Theater View). I haven't attempted to explain in detail how to do these things, so please ask if you run into trouble.
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perpetual98

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Re: Subcategories
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2011, 08:46:20 am »

Ok, here's what I've gotten so far in my travels.  I created via Options>Theater View a subcategory called TV Series and got it nested into Video.  I then created a rule that was a FilePath - Contains - {folder name} and it seems to be working.  I changed up some folder structure to help with these changes, which seems to have necessitated a Library rebuild.  When I rebuilt the Library, I lost my cover art because I think I forgot to change some setting somewhere.  Cover art could be easier since I already have folder.jpg and multiple backdrop.jpg in 400+ movie folders.  Haven't even looked into backdrops yet, if they're even implemented.

Diving back in now!
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bunglemebaby

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Re: Subcategories
« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2011, 11:06:06 am »

Quote
I changed up some folder structure to help with these changes, which seems to have necessitated a Library rebuild.
It sounds like you changed up the folder structure using Explorer (or some other file manager). The best bet for moving around files that are within MC's database is to use the Rename, Move & Copy tool.
Select files > Right-Click > Library Tools > Rename, Move & Copy Files. This is actually a pretty powerful file maintenance tool, plus using it means that MC keeps track of where the files are.

Quote
True, but it's not necessary to abandon a well-organized file structure in favour of database values either.
You mean to tell me you don't just keep all of your MC files in one big directory named "Stuff"?  ;D
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