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[eezetee]

Thanks to everyone for the help over the last few weeks.  It seems everyone I wonder if something is possible, it's either a few clicks around in MC or someone has posted about something similar. However, I do have some questions.  Quite random actually, but here goes.



Sorting - A
#A1) If I happen to find a song with an incorrect TAG, i’ve been fixing it in the mp3 itself not in the DB, so it gets “stuck” in the DB — Is the only solution to delete the file and reimport the directory? I’ve clicked refresh on the file but that doesn’t work. Is there a way to refresh a file, directory?


Database - B
#B1) I find myself deleting the DB about 20 times as I test as it was so cluttered that I figure there was no way to salvage. Now that it’s getting better, is there a better way to do this? The Refresh doesn’t work (related to the sort question #1)
#B2) Is there a way to auto-tag and new file found in a directory.  For example I may often dump new music videos or kids videos into a certain folder.    The Genre should be set to “kids”. Is this possible?


Customizing View - C
#C1)  I need to create some views that are kids only - Movies and Audio. Is the best way to use the file path setting? I’ve been using Filename (path) = \Media\Kids\Music and Filename (path) = \ Media\Kids\Videos to create separate views for that content and not view it in the general view.

#C2)  Related to #1, I’ll have to go into the custom view and use “is not media\kids” — Is this expensive on the DB (load taxing) — Is there a more efficient way to do this? 
The reason I do this is because I will always use V:\Media\Kids\* where * is the genre type etc so if I mistag something, it won’t matter


Gizmo - D
1) I was toying around today with Theatre View and custom Gizmo Views. Thinking I had to create both separately but I was I found the "Library Item From Standard View" which gives a way to import a standard view into both Theatre View and Gizmo View --- Is this the best way to do it?  It doesn't get easier really

2) Seems Gizmo doesn't auto get it's view and the only way I could get the new categories/filters to show up on the tablet was the close/open JRiver. -- This normal?

3) Is there any way to change the way the icons look in Gizmo.  Since i’ve added my own views, the icons are basically just folders - Doesn’t look so nice.

[ferday]

A - why would you not use MC to tag?  Don't use anything else!  The reason it freezes is cause a database is extremely precise, so once you've changed a value externally it's no longer the same to the DB

B - what do you mean refresh the database?  If the folder is set to auto import it "refreshes" itself periodically and the DB auto refreshes as soon as you make any tag changes.  And yes it's possible to auto tag based on a folder structure

C - you can either do this (I often do), or use a certain tag to control the view (i.e. Genre=kids).  I would assume using folder structure is more taxing but I don't notice much, going by location is the best way until all the files are for certain tagged properly....that's when I shift the view to the tag instead

D - don't use gizmo or theatre view, sorry

[dtc]

JRemote is about to be released for Android. I would take a look at that  before committing to Gizmo. In the long run, it will probably replace Gizmo.

[6233638]

A1) You're probably better off using MC to tag rather than editing the tags externally
A2) Auto-import should update files next time it runs
 
B1) I'm not sure what you mean here. Why are you deleting the library?
B2) Yes, you can add tagging rules for specific folder in auto-import
 
C1) You probably want to create a user rather than a view.
C2) I wouldn't worry about it.

D1) No, it's still a bit of a pain to manage Gizmo/Theater View views.
D2) Yes, you have to restart MC for views to update.

JRemote is about to be released for Android. I would take a look at that  before committing to Gizmo. In the long run, it will probably replace Gizmo.

JRemote uses Gizmo views.

[Dawgincontrol]

I do a lot of tagging using Media Monkey and Media Center always updates the changes rather quickly without problem.

Maybe the tagging program you are using has the fields misaligned.

[eezetee]

Thank you all for the great help.  Hope this answers some questions for others too!

B1) Reloading the DB is because i've been using a wonderful program called Mp3TAG which allows me to select hundreds of songs, change the name, artist and such tag those files.  The only way I know how to bring that information into the DB is to reload.   Or what i've been doing lately is just doing normal imports, not auto to make sure they're set properly.

C1) Will look at the user view.  I have a jukebox in the kitchen that has kids, foreign and my music so I'm not sure a view would work here but for the kids room, then most definitely I will do that. Thank you 6233638.


Anyone know if it's possible to change the gizmo icons or thumbnails?  I added some new directories and they just show as strange paper/folder looking things.

[6233638]

B1) Reloading the DB is because i've been using a wonderful program called Mp3TAG which allows me to select hundreds of songs, change the name, artist and such tag those files.  The only way I know how to bring that information into the DB is to reload.   Or what i've been doing lately is just doing normal imports, not auto to make sure they're set properly.

Media Center will do this. Just select your files and hit ALT+ENTER. (or select Edit→Tag)
 
Check that you have auto-import configured to "update for external changes".

[TCube]

A1) You're probably better off using MC to tag rather than editing the tags externally

Sorry no smiley for caught
- " Dis moi tonton pourquoi tu tousses ? "
Tc

[eezetee]

Side note.  This evening when trying to add filters and such

I found many times that if I have something like Kids > Audio and  Language > Audio,  that the two Audio nested items seems to overwrite eachother. If I change the filename(path) on one, it affects the other.

Second, filename (path) doesn't seem to work on nested items but does work on the primary (root) items.  For example, if I have a Folder called Kids,  then if I try to create a nested item with filename(path) contains Media\Kids\Audio it doesn't work.  What I have to do is a Root item is path = Media\Kids,  then a folder called "Kids Audio" with Media Type = Audio, and another "video" with Media Type = "Video"

Is this normal?

[ferday]

Im not 100% sure I understand, but you would use multiple rules for what I think you mean

Filename (path) contains kids
Filename (path) contains audio

Rather than filename (path) contains kids/audio

[eezetee]

Ferday, Yes that would work but I have all my kids music in Media\Kids\Audio.  What i'd like to do is

On Gizmo main screen

Kids
    Audio   -  Filter is containts "media\kids\audio"
    Movies -  Filter is contains "media\kids\movies"
    Video   -  Filer is contains "media\kids\video"

That doesn't seem to work as it is right now

[glynor]

Search Rules applied to Media Views are cascading, meaning that a filter applied to a parent view, automatically applies to all child views as well.  So, they certainly can apply to one another.

Also, I'd strongly recommend that you use MCs metadata instead of filtering based on file paths.  You seem to have a nice structure on disk, so it is very easy to import the metadata you've "encoded" in your filesystem into the tags inside MC using the Fill Properties from Filename tool.

You can do it with filesystem locations, but this relies on you meticulously organizing your files before they show up in the views, which kind of limits much of the power of MC (using the Rename, Move, and Copy Files tool to auto-organize files on disk, for example).

The way my similar system is set up is that all "kids" files are tagged with [Genre]=Kids.

Then, your top-level Kids View can just have a rule:

Code: [Select]

[Genre]=[Kids]
And since they "trickle down" this automatically applies to the Views underneath.  Then, if you want sub-views for Audio, TV Shows, and Movies, you just do:

[Media Type]=[Audio] - for the music one
[Media Sub Type]=[TV Show] - for the Shows one
[Media Sub Type]=[Movie] - for the movies one

Media Type and Media Sub Type will be set automatically at import time, almost always, so this will probably work quite well.

Also, I'm not addressing the rest, but don't clear your Library.  That's a sledgehammer approach.  You can certainly do tagging in an external editor, though MC is a quite potent tag editor once you learn how to use it (and you'd likely be faster using MC in the end, except for perhaps very specific tasks).  In any case, clearing the Library isn't needed, as others explained above.

[eezetee]

Thank you Glynor. Confirmed some thoughts that I had.

Yes, you are right in that my data on the disks is organized fairly well as there are 2 subfolders for <language> and Kids whereby Language is the language my wife and her gaggle of friends.   The stuff like AcDc,  Billboard hits,  and all regular movies fall into the last.
Media
    <language>
        Audio
        Video
        Movies
     Kids
        Audio
        Video
        Movies
    Audio
    Video
    Movies


I'll look to get into the tagging within MC bit, I just did the directory sorting as it's easier for me to locate a file when i've done the sort.


Side question:  How can I change the icons in Gizmo? Any idea? Since I've created my own filters, they have a generic icon
Second side question --  Is there any reason why a Filepath filter wouldn't work? I found some strange results last night (could be because of the wine though)

[glynor]

No.  I use them for a few of my views.  It works fine.  I generally use them against the [Filename] field, rather than the special [Filename (path)] one though. Since you're just doing a "contains" search anyway, it doesn't matter if you search against the full filename path, so why make the logic slower by making MC pre-parse the [Filename], you know?

If you're having trouble, do the Import/Export and copypasta the results here (surround the paste in code tags on the forum, which is the # button on the post toolbar, to keep it from getting messed up by the forum formatting).

[eezetee]

Thanks Glynor.  Got it properly filtered.

Ended up using the main root to say filepath is Media\Kids, or Media\Audio.  Then using the sub-type.

If I may ask a few more questions.

Have you seen any issues with Item names being identical and overwriting one another ?  For example, if I made a library item called "Music" under Kids and Parents stuff,  the last one I edit will take precendence in both cases and overwrite the other.  So that's why I asked about the filepath because it seemed to overwrite.

Second, is there a way to change the Gizmo skin icons. I created my own "kids" folder and it has some stock icon there.  Is this downloaded from MC or is it part of the App?

Cheers and thanks