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[Moe]

So I just made the jump from MC14 to MC16.  I really wanted the relational database options and the backdrops from TVDB.

so far I've got everything going pretty smoothly except for two things. 

For TV shows I've got it setup like this so that I can drill down from Show to Season to Episode.  It looks like this.

1. All of my TV shows by Show Title

2.  All seasons of specific show chosen on previous screen.

3.  All Episodes of season chosen on previous screen.

4.  List of episodes shown when choosing "All episodes" on previous screen.


Now the two things that I would like to achieve.

1.  I would like to know if it would be possible to skip the third screen above when drilling down.  So that when I choose my season it jumps to the fourth screen shot displaying all the episodes with their title.  Just for the record, this was not something I ever figured out how to do in MC14.

2.  On the final screen shot I cannot figure out how to modify the text under the thumbnails on the left.  In MC14 it only displayed the episode Title.  In MC16 it's displaying the Show Title/Episode Title/and some mystery date.  I really just want it to show the Title of the episode.  Is this possible to change?  If so, can anyone tell me how?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[rick.ca]

1. The recent changes in Theatre View are new to all of us, and I've replaced the stock views with my own, so I'm not 100% sure but... It appears your view includes the categories Series, Season and Episode. Just delete Episode so it goes directly to a list once you've chosen a Season. If there is only one season in a series, it should go directly to the list.

2. The new design ignores the Advanced>File caption setting (where you could use a conditional expression to show whatever you want in any situation) and uses what you see. It can't be changed without removing the "TV Show" [Media Sub Type] tag. But if you do that, you won't get backdrops. I hope the developers will realize most of us would much rather be able to configure such things the way we want them.

[Moe]

1. The recent changes in Theatre View are new to all of us, and I've replaced the stock views with my own, so I'm not 100% sure but... It appears your view includes the categories Series, Season and Episode. Just delete Episode so it goes directly to a list once you've chosen a Season. If there is only one season in a series, it should go directly to the list.

Thank you very much!  I did indeed have Series, Season and Episode and deleting episode did the trick.

2. The new design ignores the Advanced>File caption setting (where you could use a conditional expression to show whatever you want in any situation) and uses what you see. It can't be changed without removing the "TV Show" [Media Sub Type] tag. But if you do that, you won't get backdrops. I hope the developers will realize most of us would much rather be able to configure such things the way we want them.

I realize that they are making changes to Theater View so hopefully this lost functionality is just an oversight and we will be able to set the caption to whatever we want like we used to be able to do. 

Thanks again rick.ca, much appreciated.

[MrHaugen]

2. The new design ignores the Advanced>File caption setting (where you could use a conditional expression to show whatever you want in any situation) and uses what you see. It can't be changed without removing the "TV Show" [Media Sub Type] tag. But if you do that, you won't get backdrops. I hope the developers will realize most of us would much rather be able to configure such things the way we want them.

Is there any reason why we should not be able to change the media caption? A good default one is something that have been missing in MC for quite some time, but for it to totally ignore the settings for caption is wrong.

[olinbg]

Is there any reason why we should not be able to change the media caption? A good default one is something that have been missing in MC for quite some time, but for it to totally ignore the settings for caption is wrong.

+1...don't like how this looks on my current setup.

[Matt]

First, impressive collection

I realize that they are making changes to Theater View so hopefully this lost functionality is just an oversight and we will be able to set the caption to whatever we want like we used to be able to do.

What would you like the caption to show?

[sgomes]

What would you like the caption to show?

I think removing the date is a good start, as in my opinion it doesn't really make much sense to have it there, and it clutters up the visuals.

Also, perhaps removing the Series name, if we're inside a series sub-section? It doesn't make much sense to have the series name before every item if you're already inside a specific series.

There really isn't a lot of room for text there, so we have to stick to what's important: the episode title and perhaps some form of numbering.

[cncb]

I think removing the date is a good start, as in my opinion it doesn't really make much sense to have it there, and it clutters up the visuals.

The same caption is used for Recorded TV so I would not want to lose the date there.  Maybe this could be added to the "Customize file info panel" where we could specify a Caption expression for each different media type?

[Matt]

The same caption is used for Recorded TV so I would not want to lose the date there.  Maybe this could be added to the "Customize file info panel" where we could specify a Caption expression for each different media type?

Part of the problem is that there's a bug that recorded television is being treated like downloaded television.  In a coming build:
Fixed: Downloaded television was being treated like recorded television with respect to the roller options and file caption display in Theater View.


I agree that for recorded television, the default setup works nicely.

[MrHaugen]

Title, Season and Episode should be enough for most users. The more text you have here, the smaller the images.
If the same caption is used for recorded media, then there should be a way to separate this, and have different caption for both. It might be hard to do, so the question is again why we can't change the caption to suite each and everyones needs.

[Moe]

First, impressive collection

Thanks, you should see my music collection 

What would you like the caption to show?

Ideally I would like it to display what I have set under options/advanced/File caption.  But I would be happy if it just displayed the episode name.  I can put whatever information I want like episode number/description/etc in the File info panel on the right. 

[rick.ca]

What would you like the caption to show?

Captions need to be configurable—preferably on a per-view basis. What's appropriate depends on the view. If it's a general view with many different types of video (e.g., anything recently imported), it may need to include a number if different fields. If it's something as specific as one season of series, it should not include anything but [Episode] and/or [Date] and [Name]. And even with identical views, users are going to have different preferences as to caption. List Style is yet another factor impacting on the appropriate form of caption (the information is pointless if it can't be seen).

I had suggested elsewhere the caption could be defined in the File Info Panel configuration, but I don't think that will work. Even if caption styles may logically vary according to media type, they also vary according to the nature of the view. An effective compromise would be to retain the existing configuration setting, which can be an expression that adapts to media type and other factors. Then provide a per-view setting that would override the general one if set. I think it would be very cool if general settings could be set in the File Info Panel configuration and that be overridden by a per-view setting, but I suppose that's far to complicated for most users.

[maid]

Hi Moe,

Love the look

I would like to do this but after the series how do you know what you have watched??

I would like to have the same look but after the series somehow just list the ones that are what I call (TN) tv new

Could you maybe show me how to achieve this.

any help is greatly appreciated

[Moe]

Hi Moe,

Love the look

I would like to do this but after the series how do you know what you have watched??

I would like to have the same look but after the series somehow just list the ones that are what I call (TN) tv new

Could you maybe show me how to achieve this.

any help is greatly appreciated

I am not sure how to achieve what you are looking to do.  You may be able to do something with "Number of Plays" under "set rules for file display" or something.  I just use my memory to remember what I have and haven't watched. 

[rick.ca]

I would like to do this but after the series how do you know what you have watched??

The developers and some users would disagree, but I think the stock views you're probably looking at are an unnecessary distraction. The fact of the matter is only you can decide what you need in a view, and configuring it to do so is not very difficult after you've done a few. (Although it would be much easier if some simple improvements were made to the configuration system...) What you're looking for is perfectly reasonable and natural. You either need to segregate items watched from those not yet watched, or have some clear indication of each item's watched status. There are a number of different ways to do this...

• In the build you're using it's not possible to configure file captions for TV Shows, but this has been fixed in a coming build. The file caption (set at Theatre View>Advanced>File caption) can be an expression that adapts to the circumstances. It could be, for example, [Name] If(IsEqual([Last Played], never played), ,[Last Played]) to show just [Name] if [Last Played] is empty and [Name] [Last Played] if the item has been watched.
  
  
• Configure the File Info Panel for the media type in question to prominently show [Last Played]. It could be placed as the first item of the "small view," so it appears right under the poster. Use the above expression so it only appears if the item has been watched—making it even more noticeable.
  
  
• Make two separate views—one for items watched and one for items not watched. Include a Rule for file display for [Last Played] is not—or is—"never played." If you don't like having lots of views, you may prefer to...
  
  
• Use an Expression Category to allow you to select whether to include watched, not watched or all items. The expression would be: If(IsEqual([Last Played], never played), Not watched, Watched). Don't be put off by Expression Category. The result is exactly the same as selecting Episodes by the Categories of Series and Season. You're using a simple hierarchical system for narrowing a selection to what you want.
  
  
• If you like watching the latest releases of TV episodes, you may prefer a view that gives you just that. Create a "Recent Episodes" view that includes all episodes released (or imported) in the last x days and that have not been watched.

So the problem is certainly not that there's any shortage of ways to display the information you need, or that it's difficult to configure it so. The real issue is that there are so many choices, it can be difficult to decide which option is best in the circumstances.

[Moe]

Yay.  16.0.86 "fixes" the caption under the thumbnail and it also uses what you put in tool/options/theater view/advanced/File Caption.  Thanks MC.

[MrHaugen]

That is great news

[maid]

1. The recent changes in Theater View are new to all of us, and I've replaced the stock views with my own, so I'm not 100% sure but... It appears your view includes the categories Series, Season and Episode. Just delete Episode so it goes directly to a list once you've chosen a Season. If there is only one season in a series, it should go directly to the list.

2. The new design ignores the Advanced>File caption setting (where you could use a conditional expression to show whatever you want in any situation) and uses what you see. It can't be changed without removing the "TV Show" [Media Sub Type] tag. But if you do that, you won't get backdrops. I hope the developers will realize most of us would much rather be able to configure such things the way we want them.

How have you got your tv episode covers to list like that, I have tried but cant get them out of the list form. Which theater view is it? I am using Obsidian.

[rick.ca]

How have you got your tv episode covers to list like that...

More > Toggle list style.

[maid]

I noted that in the tags I should have the series listed but the odd thing is all my series do not show in the tags.  Any ideas?

[maid]

1. The recent changes in Theatre View are new to all of us, and I've replaced the stock views with my own, so I'm not 100% sure but... It appears your view includes the categories Series, Season and Episode. Just delete Episode so it goes directly to a list once you've chosen a Season. If there is only one season in a series, it should go directly to the list.

2. The new design ignores the Advanced>File caption setting (where you could use a conditional expression to show whatever you want in any situation) and uses what you see. It can't be changed without removing the "TV Show" [Media Sub Type] tag. But if you do that, you won't get backdrops. I hope the developers will realize most of us would much rather be able to configure such things the way we want them.

I have got Sub Categories then Series. which work ok but do you have to go to the rule for series every time you add a new series?