Hi there from Germany
First let me introduce myself and what I'm looking for.
Through some audiophile stuff research i saw MC and that you can use LAV and madVR with it.
So i thought i give it a try.
The think is that i don't have a great experience when it comes to Media-Centers. I tested what
is out there but not MC. The last years from time to time i gave XBMC a chance and always
was frustrated after waisting days/weeks to find out that most of the functions i am looking
for are not viable.
The problem with most of the database/MC software is that you fiddle more around do get the
functions you want then you do enjoy movies or music.
So I came to the conclusion that i stay with Foobar, MPC+LAV+madVR, the windows explorer and
just drag & drop in there what i want to watch/listen.
Sure, putting allot of time into it would not be a problem if the result is what you want.
But if this and that cant be done its just time waisting.
I don't understand why 1000th of people find XBMC so great. I don't like all the fetching and
automatic stuff and in XBMC it's so hard tied to the core that it's hard to bypass and making
sure that your movie stuff (description, name, cover) stays like you want it and everything
is consistent.
I also don't like folder scanning and the need to give my folders and movies special names
that the MC fetches them or handles them right.
I never understand the video, music, picture folder thing cause allot of content does not fit
in one category.
So i want to name and put my files how/where i want and add them one by one (something MC does).
Thats what a database is for - you have fields where you can name everything like you want.
Almost all database softwares are tied to one special topic (games, music, movies...) and field names
are hard-coded in the GUI. Why not let the user change how it's displayed in the GUI?
Often there are not much custom fields or you can't add your own...
My dream is a database for everything. Something where i can add fields, put stuff in categories and tag them
and have a frondend/GUI for the big screen that you can control and navigate with a ir/rf remote.
The other thing that XBMC is missing is some kind of good parental control.
But let me explain. Lets say you have adult movies and actor images and lets say the actor did show up
in a child movie and an adult movie
. Then you want in the actor description a nude image of that actor
if YOU browser the movies and a civilized
picture for all other peoples.
You just need the option to create differed user groups/rights and to associate different pictures with an actor.
Then you only need a checkbox for every picture to select which user group can see it.
Now i think i need to defuse the "just" and "only" cause a don't want to make down (is that the right phrase in english?)
the developers/programmers work or want sound smart ass.
My world is CSS, HTML, SQL, JavaScript and in forums/CMS you can do stuff like that since years.
I know how to do all that in ExpressionEngine but have no clue when it comes do C# or software programming.
I can assign multiple images (screen capture, covers) or videos (trailers) to one entry cause i can create
as many DB fields as i want, can name them as i want, can give them names for the GUI and it doesn't matter
what the name of the file on the hard-drive is, cause there is a field that just points to that file.
For example:
http://odenwaldsport.de/produkte/barbell-hooks-hantel-haken-om148Nothing is hard coded. I can add another video or picture and how and where it is displayed is just a selectbox.
I made a field for everything (description, price...) and how they are displayed is changed in a minute in the backed.
If there would be a login on that side i just would make a selectbox (field) named group with all the groups next to each image.
Is what I'm looking for not possible or all my needs differ so great from others that it doesn't exist? - i don't know...
Ok, i think its enough complaining and i don't want to sound negative and maybe get on to many peoples bad side.
The reason for the topic: My personal "Help me setup MC"
is that maybe its ok to ask all my questions in one thread?
I don't like to open a new one for every question with superscriptions.
I like to have everything in one place to not lose sight...
The first Problem is TV Shows on DVD. Normally i have iso's but looks like particles work only
with video_ts folders. So i extracted a SpongeBob DVD and used "auto create particles" and
that gave me ifo file type entries (not vob?).
The problem is that they stutter or play to fast and are not jump-able (video seekbar).
Its not a JR problem cause i checked it in MPC and there it also doesn't work if i open the
vob files there. If i open the whole DVD (video_ts) folder and select the episode from
the DVD menu then everything is ok.
I remember i recognized that before on some DVDs and has to do how the authoring is done.
So what to do without using MakeMKV?
The next thing is that i don't get how the listing is managed under libraries.
I added a movie and have now a messed up tree like in the first attachment.
Attachment two is an example i did some years ago when i was using
eXtreme Movie Manager and is an idea of what i want.
Is there something for Actors info (sex, birthday, picture...)?
Actor by sex would be nice...
Sorry but i need to strike out on this again.
An extra library for actors would be good.
But not just for actors. Something for people (actors and music artists combined).
If you look at Helium Music Manager you can store allot of artist infos (HMM is great as music manager and looks clean and sharp).
The thing is there are celebrities out there who make music, play in movies and maybe you have also music videos from them.
Maybe you have pictures of some (playboy
) - just a link on the actors info side to the folder with the pictures?
The other thing is that some have aka names...
And there is another software that i used for some time for games that i want to refer to: SoftCAT from FNProgramvare.
Not longer under development cause the developer is sick.
But it has a nice clean GUI and is maybe good for ideas.
Ok, enough for now.
Please bear with me if there are spelling/orthographic mistakes or if something sounds harsh (it is not meant like that).
If there is something like that then its because I'm german and my english is that way.
EDITI played around a bit and I'm amazed.
You really can create your own fields, name them and show them in "List Style > Details"
Maybe for old-time JR users it is nothing special but let me tell you that it is not to be a given.
In some software you have some amount of custom fields and then there are just text fields.
So if i want to mark something "Indexed" for movies that are not allowed like Cannibal Holocaust
i had to always type "yes" in that field.
Now i just made a simple check box...
Also i made something that i wanted for a long time: ToDo
Sometimes you need ToDo something an a certain movie.
So a ToDo check box that i can list the movies where i need to check something
and a ToDo Notes (text field).
In XBMC i i never figured that out...
Now, how can i make a Icon on the left side that i can click and shows me all indexed
movies and one for ToDo?