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[pfm555]

I have two things I would like to see if it is possible in MC to do.

1. Coming from WMC and My Movies. In My Movies I could group say all of the James Bond movies under one folder. I could additionally add cover art i.e. "James Bond 50" to appear as the main folder. Then when you select the main folder all the movies appear. Is this possible in Theater View. If it is  step by step would be appreciated.

2. One of the features I liked in windows media player was the ability to create auto playlists. Much like the smartlist you could set parameters and it would create the playlists. Is there anyway to import these playlists in MC. I also created playlists that were not auto generated. Can these be imported?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Matt]

I have two things I would like to see if it is possible in MC to do.

1. Coming from WMC and My Movies. In My Movies I could group say all of the James Bond movies under one folder. I could additionally add cover art i.e. "James Bond 50" to appear as the main folder. Then when you select the main folder all the movies appear. Is this possible in Theater View. If it is  step by step would be appreciated.

Sure.  Use the library field "Series".  Make all the movies have a series and then make this the first grouping level in Theater View.

[6233638]

Yes, this is absolutely possible.
 
1.  Create a new view for Theater View in Tools → Options → Theater View

 
2.  Set the rules for file display to:

  
3.  Add a new category to the right, with the expression:

Code: (Expression to group by) [Select]

TVInfo(SeriesDisplay)

 
4.  Add another category with the expressions:

Code: (Expression to group by) [Select]

formatdate([Date,0],yyyyMMdd) [Name]

Code: (Expression to display) [Select]

[Name, 1]

 
 
5.  Now you can tag films with [series] information such as "James Bond" and they will be grouped by it in Theater View.
When you select the group, they will be sorted in ascending order by date, rather than alphabetically.
 
 

 
As for your second question, I'm not sure. I've never used Windows Media Player.
If you go to "Playing Now" view you will see a search box which is for "Play Doctor".
Here you can enter a song name, album, or artist, and it will generate a playlist using it as a starting point.

[Matt]

6233638's response makes mine look a little pathetic!  Nice post 6233638

[6233638]

Thanks. I must have been typing up my post when you replied.
 
I do wonder if it might be useful to have the default film views in Theater View use these expressions.
 
If you never tag the files with series info, it should appear to be no different from the default view, but with this view the user is only required to add series information to their files in order to group them together, rather than creating this custom view.
 

I forgot to include information about adding series artwork in my previous post.
 
Currently this has to be done manually by navigating to: %APPDATA%\J River\Media Center 20\Cover Art\Series\
Copy and paste that into the address bar in Windows Explorer to go there directly.
Now save your series artwork as a JPG file with exactly the same name as your series tags. E.g. "James Bond.jpg"
 
This should now show up as the series artwork in Theater View.
I'm not sure if you have to restart the program for these changes to take effect.

[pfm555]

Thanks to both of you for the fast response. 6233638, When I followed your instructions I did get the James Bond with a folder in theater view. Maybe it is something I did but when I selected the folder all the movies were in there except the three james bond movies I tagged under Series James Bond. Your instruction had parenthesis with James Bond. I used James Bond. don't know if this is the problem or not. I did get it to work by adding a second rule for display saying series is James Bond. Now the three movies I used for a sample are the only ones that appear. Three remaining questions 1. while it is working now should I have put parenthesis around James Bond. 2. While the three movies appear in the James Bond folder now that also remain in the theater view as individual movies. Is there a way to only make them appear in the  folder? 3. I copied the James Bond 50th anniversary cover art into %APPDATA%\J River\Media Center 20\Cover Art\Series\ as you indicated and named it James Bond. it is a jpeg but it did not appear even after restarting MC. Is there a way to manually make it appear now that it is in the file. Thanks again.

[6233638]

Well that's unexpected. I'm not sure how this view would display everything but the films tagged James Bond in that view.
 
1.  Are you sure that you created a view which only contains these two expression views, rather than adding them to an existing one?
 
2.  Is it possible that you have the first and second levels of the view reversed?
The TVInfo(SeriesDisplay) view should be first in the list.
 
3.  If not that, it seems like it may be a tagging issue.
Check that you only tagged the James Bond films with the series James Bond
No need for quotes or anything else in the series name. It shouldn't matter what the series name is, as long as it's the same for all films in it.

[pfm555]

Here is what I did. In options> theater view under video I highlighted movies and hit add selected new library item renamed it James Bond. then set the rules for the display in your instructions. in the options I unchecked the display all as a choice. I then it the right hand side of the screen I hit add and added the first expression and then hit add again and did the second. in this one I put the first part in the "to group by" and the second part in the "expression to display" and hit ok. So now in the white screen that has the name above and options below Expression appears twice.

[6233638]

OK, I think I see where the confusion lies. I misunderstood what you were saying was wrong with the view.
 
The new view is supposed to list all movies in your library, while grouping films that are part of a series under a single heading.
 
For example:

 
The three tagged James Bond films, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall are only listed under the "James Bond" heading, and are not shown individually in this view.
 
When you select James Bond, you are then presented with a list of these films, sorted by date.
 
 

 
If you want a view which only displays James Bond films delete the category that uses the TVInfo(SeriesDisplay) expression.
 
Keep the second category rule, as that will sort films in ascending date order, rather than by name.
 
In "rules for file display" add a new rule similar to the "Media Sub Type is Movie" rule, which says: Series is James Bond
 

 
This view should only list films tagged with James Bond in the series field.
 
 

 
Alternatively, you could use the existing categories that we already set up (both of them) and add a rule which specifies that: Series is not <empty>
 
This view will only list films which have a series tag applied to them.

For example:

 
(as you can probably tell, I have not bothered to fill out the [series] tag on everything yet)

[BartMan01]

I've tweaked the 'series' concept in my library a little.  I created an expression library field for 'Movie Series' with the expression: if(isempty([Series]), [Name], Fixcase([Series],3))

That way single movies appear in Mixed Case, and movie collections that I can drill down in to are all UPPER CASE.  It just makes them stand out a little better for me when the fanned thumbnails are darker and hard to see.

[6233638]

I've tweaked the 'series' concept in my library a little.  I created an expression library field for 'Movie Series' with the expression: if(isempty([Series]), [Name], Fixcase([Series],3))

That way single movies appear in Mixed Case, and movie collections that I can drill down in to are all UPPER CASE.  It just makes them stand out a little better for me when the fanned thumbnails are darker and hard to see.

Nice idea. You can simply drop that into the "Expression to display" box for the first category.
You could also change the color of the text or use something else to make it stand out even more.

[pfm555]

I want to thank y'all for the help. I really appreciate it. I removed the first expression as you said and I already had the second rule in place. I must be still doing something wrong because I get a manila folder displayed for the "James Bond Series" in theater view and not the covers of the movies fanned like in your views. I would also still like to be able to use a separate cover i.e. James Bond 5oth anniversary. I downloaded this cover and put it in the %APPDATA%\J River\Media Center 20\Cover Art\Series\ as a jpeg. What can be done to have it appear as the cover art for the series instead of the fanned covers or the manila folder that I have right now. Finally the three movies that I  have tagged in series column "James Bond" still appear as individual movies. How do I have them appear only under the series.

[pfm555]

An update I would like to add is that looking at your view "all film series" you have them as an independent view or unnested. I have mine nested to my main view titled "the movies" under video>movies> the movies. As I wanted them to stay in the main view not a separate one. could this be the reason why I am getting a manila folder for the cover art for my James Bond series instead of the fanned cover art.

[6233638]

Can you post a screenshot of the folder? That's not a standard thing Media Center would display, so something else must be causing it.
I would suggest recreating the view without making any changes of your own to it, and seeing if that works.
 
I don't know what more to say other than "it works here" which is not very helpful.
 

[pfm555]

I recreated the view as you suggested and now everything works like it should. Thanks for all your help.

[bluescale]

I assume these steps will work just fine with MC19 as well?  Just yesterday I was showing off MC to a friend, and told him that I felt figuring this bit out was the last thing I needed to be satisfied with my current setup.

[6233638]

Should work just fine.

[ldoodle]

(as you can probably tell, I have not bothered to fill out the [series] tag on everything yet)

Can you do a quick test for me, please?

Create a 1 film series (to mimic only having 1 film in any series).  So let's say you have the 2nd film in the Transformers series, the Name field will be 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' and the Series field will be 'Transformers'.

If you then click the Transformers series in Theater View, it should auto-zoom to the only file you have, which is 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'.

Can you tell me what it shows as the film title, at the top.  For me, it shows just 'Transformers', but I think it should show 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'.  I don't currently do the series like you so I'm hoping your way fixes it!

It does this for TV series' and seasons too.

Thanks!

[MikeO]

I did something similar. Set up a custom tag BoxSet,then associate all albums to a specific box set

Then I added a section to theatre view for box sets and away you go

I use the same tag for movie collections such as bond 50, however they still have their original album art etc

Mike

[Lupin 3rd]

Hi guys,
I'm hardly trying to follow this post to obtain a grouped movie stes in theater view but I've to say that It seems like this thread is written for next-level user and not for newbie like me.

If you can help me I'll appreciate very much.

My target is to maintain the standard structure of theater view and only modify video>Movies>Name (3D view) to have only one item (like James Bond collection) for multiple movies.

My first question is about the possiblility to change an existing graphic layout...
By default the "Name" item use the 3D cover flow rapresentation...
Is it possible to change it?
If yes, where?

[Lupin 3rd]

I ask this because if I add the two expressions posted by 6233638 (post n.2) in the "name" item I loose the 3D coverflow view ...



Can some one explain me why an expression may change the viewing mode??

Or maybe JRiver is not able to show grouped movies under 3D coverflow view??

many thanks to all.