This is my first how to, so forgive me if I'm not following proper protocol.
I'm admittedly not one to normally contribute back to the community, but I've recently decided to change that, and this particular task was one which puzzled me for so long that I decided to start here. There may be other ways of doing this, and I know that Frodo has a feature that addresses library filtering, but until the official release comes along, I'm sticking with Eden, and this method works for me, and really isn't hard, so hopefully some of you will benefit from this guide. If your content is already is separate folders, (for example, UFC, Movies, Concert DVDs, etc) this should only take about 5 minutes.
I'm running Eden 11.0 w/ Aeon Nox 3.6. Note that I think this method will only work on the Aeon Nox skin but I haven't tried it with anything else, as in my opinion, and for my particular media, Aeon Nox is the best. I can't guarantee any of this will work on any other version of XBMC or with any other skin. I'm running Windows 7, 32bit on my htpc.
So the issue...When opening XBMC, and choosing Movies, I am presented with everything that has been scraped as a Movie in my sources. That means (for me), all of my UFC content, all of my Music DVDs (concerts and band documentaries), all of wife's Fitness Dvds, and any content that I deem to be Adult and not appropriate to have displayed when I have friends with children over, are all displayed in amongst my movies.
The task at hand was to isolate these odd balls to their own sub lists under the Movies heading, outside of my main library, while still having them scraped as Movies rather than Tv or Music Videos.
1) Step one is to create directories for each type of content. I have "MUSIC DVD" folders for all of my concerts and band documentaries, a "Fitness" folder for all of wifes workout stuff, a "UFC" folder for all of my UFC content, etc. Make sure the word "Movies" is NOT present in any of these folders, except for the one containing your actual movies you want displayed in the main library after you choose the Movies heading.
2) Set up separate sources for each type of content. To set up a source, choose the "Files" sub option under the "Video" heading. Then "Add Videos". Input all of the appropriate folders for the content type. (I have 7 drives so my "Movies" source has D:/Movies, E:/Movies, F:/Movies, etc..and my MUSIC DVD source has D:/MUSIC DVD, E:/MUSIC DVD, etc) Proceed, and then you can still mark the content as "Movies" and choose the appropriate scraper information and settings.
3) Once you have your files in separate directories, and the sources containing all of your media scraped into the library, choose, the "Playlists" sub menu option under the Video heading. Then choose "New Smart Playlist". The Type option should default to Movies and you should keep it there. Enter a name for playlist that is appropriate to your content type. Let's create the main Movies library first that will not contain any of the other content types. Type "Movies" for the name. Choose "New Rule" and find the "Path" option under the Match Items Where field. Then change the default "IS" to "contains". Now type the word "Movies" into the Value to Match box. Note that you should ONLY have the word Movies and not a specific path. The idea is to make this apply to every directory in the Movie source. If you had a folder called Adult Movies, it would show up too. Under the Playlist Options", you can choose how you would like the playlist shown. If you choose "None", and "Ascending", the playlist will default to showing the most recently added movies at the top, which is what I suggest because you will not have the option to choose this within the library because "Date Added" is not supported for smart playlists in Eden.
Note: Any content that matches the label you provide for "Path" will be displayed in the list. This could cause problems if you have a movie under a different source with the same label in it. For example, if you have an adult movie, called "Girls Gone Wild at the Movies" (just an example) in a folder that matches the movie title, it would appear in the Movies smart playlist because the wildcard term "Movies" was present in the path. To avoid this, add multiple specific rules with the IS option for path instead of Contains. Instead of using the wildcard term like Movies, use the exact path to each of your Movies folders in the source. (Keep the option IS instead of Contains, and choose the path to the folder) Then under "Playlist Options" in the smart playlist option menu, choose "Items must match One or more of the rules", This takes some extra time but is a more accurate method you may need if you have a big library with a lot of content.
4) Repeat step 3 for each separate type of content you want. Give it an appropriate title for your content, and use a path Value to Match that contains a label exclusive to a folder path for the content type you want.
5) Choose the "Playlists" sub option under the Video heading again. Pull up the context menu for your Movies playlist. (On a keyboard, highlight the Movies playlist and then press the "C" button on your keyboard or remote). Choose the "Add to Favorites" option. Repeat this for each playlist you created.
6) Go into your System settings now. Choose "Skin" and then "Customizers" (remember this is for the AEON Nox) skin. Choose Main Menu item customizer (backgrounds, widgets).
7) Find the Movies heading. Press enter on it (or click on it) and an option menu will appear. Scroll down and choose the "Custom Favorite" option and then find your newly created Movies favorite playlist. Choose "NO" when it asks if you want to play instead of entering. Make sure you choose no or it will just start playing a movie every time you try to enter your library.
8) Now click escape a few times to get back to the main menu to test things out. If you choose, Movies now it should only show items that are within a path that contains the word "Movies".
9) Repeat steps 6 and 7 now, but instead of changing the movies heading in the Aeon Nox menu customizer, choose custom sub items for each type of content you want. These will have a red X through them if they are not already being used. You can set one to steer you to each custom playlist content type you made.
TIP: You can create a custom sub item under the Music heading called "MUSIC DVD". Just choose a custom item with a red X through it, change it to be enabled, then for "Type" choose "Favorite" and find the MUSIC DVD playlist that you marked as a favorite in step 5. Choose NO again for the play instead of entering option.
Hope this helps someone!
I'm admittedly not one to normally contribute back to the community, but I've recently decided to change that, and this particular task was one which puzzled me for so long that I decided to start here. There may be other ways of doing this, and I know that Frodo has a feature that addresses library filtering, but until the official release comes along, I'm sticking with Eden, and this method works for me, and really isn't hard, so hopefully some of you will benefit from this guide. If your content is already is separate folders, (for example, UFC, Movies, Concert DVDs, etc) this should only take about 5 minutes.
I'm running Eden 11.0 w/ Aeon Nox 3.6. Note that I think this method will only work on the Aeon Nox skin but I haven't tried it with anything else, as in my opinion, and for my particular media, Aeon Nox is the best. I can't guarantee any of this will work on any other version of XBMC or with any other skin. I'm running Windows 7, 32bit on my htpc.
So the issue...When opening XBMC, and choosing Movies, I am presented with everything that has been scraped as a Movie in my sources. That means (for me), all of my UFC content, all of my Music DVDs (concerts and band documentaries), all of wife's Fitness Dvds, and any content that I deem to be Adult and not appropriate to have displayed when I have friends with children over, are all displayed in amongst my movies.
The task at hand was to isolate these odd balls to their own sub lists under the Movies heading, outside of my main library, while still having them scraped as Movies rather than Tv or Music Videos.
1) Step one is to create directories for each type of content. I have "MUSIC DVD" folders for all of my concerts and band documentaries, a "Fitness" folder for all of wifes workout stuff, a "UFC" folder for all of my UFC content, etc. Make sure the word "Movies" is NOT present in any of these folders, except for the one containing your actual movies you want displayed in the main library after you choose the Movies heading.
2) Set up separate sources for each type of content. To set up a source, choose the "Files" sub option under the "Video" heading. Then "Add Videos". Input all of the appropriate folders for the content type. (I have 7 drives so my "Movies" source has D:/Movies, E:/Movies, F:/Movies, etc..and my MUSIC DVD source has D:/MUSIC DVD, E:/MUSIC DVD, etc) Proceed, and then you can still mark the content as "Movies" and choose the appropriate scraper information and settings.
3) Once you have your files in separate directories, and the sources containing all of your media scraped into the library, choose, the "Playlists" sub menu option under the Video heading. Then choose "New Smart Playlist". The Type option should default to Movies and you should keep it there. Enter a name for playlist that is appropriate to your content type. Let's create the main Movies library first that will not contain any of the other content types. Type "Movies" for the name. Choose "New Rule" and find the "Path" option under the Match Items Where field. Then change the default "IS" to "contains". Now type the word "Movies" into the Value to Match box. Note that you should ONLY have the word Movies and not a specific path. The idea is to make this apply to every directory in the Movie source. If you had a folder called Adult Movies, it would show up too. Under the Playlist Options", you can choose how you would like the playlist shown. If you choose "None", and "Ascending", the playlist will default to showing the most recently added movies at the top, which is what I suggest because you will not have the option to choose this within the library because "Date Added" is not supported for smart playlists in Eden.
Note: Any content that matches the label you provide for "Path" will be displayed in the list. This could cause problems if you have a movie under a different source with the same label in it. For example, if you have an adult movie, called "Girls Gone Wild at the Movies" (just an example) in a folder that matches the movie title, it would appear in the Movies smart playlist because the wildcard term "Movies" was present in the path. To avoid this, add multiple specific rules with the IS option for path instead of Contains. Instead of using the wildcard term like Movies, use the exact path to each of your Movies folders in the source. (Keep the option IS instead of Contains, and choose the path to the folder) Then under "Playlist Options" in the smart playlist option menu, choose "Items must match One or more of the rules", This takes some extra time but is a more accurate method you may need if you have a big library with a lot of content.
4) Repeat step 3 for each separate type of content you want. Give it an appropriate title for your content, and use a path Value to Match that contains a label exclusive to a folder path for the content type you want.
5) Choose the "Playlists" sub option under the Video heading again. Pull up the context menu for your Movies playlist. (On a keyboard, highlight the Movies playlist and then press the "C" button on your keyboard or remote). Choose the "Add to Favorites" option. Repeat this for each playlist you created.
6) Go into your System settings now. Choose "Skin" and then "Customizers" (remember this is for the AEON Nox) skin. Choose Main Menu item customizer (backgrounds, widgets).
7) Find the Movies heading. Press enter on it (or click on it) and an option menu will appear. Scroll down and choose the "Custom Favorite" option and then find your newly created Movies favorite playlist. Choose "NO" when it asks if you want to play instead of entering. Make sure you choose no or it will just start playing a movie every time you try to enter your library.
8) Now click escape a few times to get back to the main menu to test things out. If you choose, Movies now it should only show items that are within a path that contains the word "Movies".
9) Repeat steps 6 and 7 now, but instead of changing the movies heading in the Aeon Nox menu customizer, choose custom sub items for each type of content you want. These will have a red X through them if they are not already being used. You can set one to steer you to each custom playlist content type you made.
TIP: You can create a custom sub item under the Music heading called "MUSIC DVD". Just choose a custom item with a red X through it, change it to be enabled, then for "Type" choose "Favorite" and find the MUSIC DVD playlist that you marked as a favorite in step 5. Choose NO again for the play instead of entering option.
Hope this helps someone!
