[jbalicki10]

Hello,
I am very new here when it comes to XBMC. I have the windows and xbox editions running very nicely. However, I am ready to fill in some music and movies now. My question is how do I go about this?

Here is what I have done so far:
Music:
Ripped it to a directory called C:\MUSIC using mediamonkey.
I have set up the structure this way:
C:\MUSIC\(Genre)\(Artist)\(Album)\(track) - (title).MP3
I am putting folder.jpg of the Album and also a pic of the artist in the artist dir.

Is this correct? It seems to look pretty good so far?


Now I have a decent DVD collection that I want to convert to digital. I have the original DVD's (mostly 9 gig) and also I have them backed up at 4.5 gig (compressed). I would like the following:
1) Good Quality (not perfect) of the video. (like the 4.5gig version)
2) Nice pics like my music with info.
3) A good structure to use.
4) An easy method to transfer this over. (software like mediamonkey for video)

Any hints of ideas?

Thanks in advance!

[Maxim]

The online manual has a lot more info on this. See the following articles:
Video Library
Music Library

As far as software to manage the content "offline" (Not through XBMC), then Movie Info Plus, and Media Companion seem to be a common choice.

The Online Manual usually has just about anything that might need to be known in regards to the media that XBMC is able to handle.

If you want to search be sure to use this page here:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Special:Search
Don't use the search right above that on xbmc.org, it doesn't search the Wiki.

[jbalicki10]

This is good stuff. I didn't even know XBMC did a library function to build a database. That is pretty nifty!!!! That's how new I am to this stuff. I will work using it.

So what do you guys suggest? Should I just make .iso files or convert the movies to .avi? I would be streaming via wireless to an xbox.

[john_es]

I am setting up my dvd library, and as far as I can tell, I see 4 different scenarios for categorizing and storing my files/movies.

I wonder if there is a consenus or at least if omeone could tell me pros and cons of my scenarios.

For example:


Scenario 1: Folder level - Names of Show, Seasons, Discs
|- House - Season 1 Disc 1
--- Movie.iso
|- House - Season 1 Disc 2
--- Movie.iso
|- House - Season 2 Disc 1
--- Movie.iso
|- House - Season 2 Disc 2
--- Movie.iso

Scenario 2: Folder level - Names of Show, Seasons
|- House - Season 1
--- Disc_1.iso
--- Disc_2.iso
|- House - Season 2
--- Disc_1.iso
--- Disc_2.iso

Scenario 3: Folder level - Names of Show
|- House
--- Season_1_Disc_1.iso
--- Season_1_Disc_2.iso
--- Season_2_Disc_1.iso
--- Season_2_Disc_2.iso

Scenario 4: All details
|- House_-_Season_1_Disc_1.iso
|- House_-_Season_1_Disc_2.iso
|- House_-_Season_2_Disc_1.iso
|- House_-_Season_2_Disc_2.iso

[fekker]

This is what I use.

Scenario 5: Folder level - Names of Show, Seasons folders, disk image name contains season and episode details
|- House
--- Season 1
-----| Disc_s1e1e2e3e4.iso
-----| Disc_s1e5e6e7e8.iso
|- House
--- Season 2
-----| Disc_s2e1e2e3e4.iso
-----| Disc_s2e5e6e7e8.iso

[jmarshall]

Seeing as you're just dealing with TV shows, it's _much_ better to rip each episode to a separate file.

That way you get each episode listed separately in the database, without you having to worry about multiple filenaming and so on.

For XBMC to work correctly you will require separate tv show folders.

Purely for organisational matters, you may wish to have separate season folders as well.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[john_es]

OK, good points...

So, what about the following?:

--House
---Season 1
-----Episode 1
-------file.iso
-----Episode 2
-------file.iso
-----Episode 3
-------file.iso
---Season 2
-----Episode 1
-------file.iso
-----Episode 2
-------file.iso
-----Episode 3
-------file.iso

or

House
---Season 1
-----House_Season1_Episode1.iso
-----House_Season1_Episode2.iso
-----House_Season1_Episode3.iso
---Season 2
-----House_Season2_Episode1.iso
-----House_Season2_Episode2.iso
-----House_Season2_Episode3.iso

[jmarshall]

Either are fine, though obviously using something like s01e01 in the episode filename (regardless of whether or not it's in a separate season folder) will mean you don't have to do anything to have XBMC detect the episodes.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[JBNY]

I do it like

House
---Season 1
-----House S01E01.iso
-----House S01E02.iso
-----House S01E03.iso
---Season 2
-----House S02E01.iso
-----House S02E02.iso
-----House S02E03.iso

XBMC easily finds all the TV info

[Maxim]

ISO form for DVDs will be fine. As long as you've got the space to archive the collection XBMC will be able handle the ISO files as if they were a Disc inserted in a DVD Drive.

[jjblues12]

I do it like

House
---Season 1
-----House S01E01.iso
-----House S01E02.iso
-----House S01E03.iso
---Season 2
-----House S02E01.iso
-----House S02E02.iso
-----House S02E03.iso

XBMC easily finds all the TV info

+1 on that structure (though I throw in a '-' after the show title in each file).
I've never had any trouble with building the library using this layout and the built-in XBMC scraper for thetvdb.com.

As for Movies, I do the streaming ISOs as well (Xbox seems to do quite well with them at any size) and use Media Companion to create local nfo/tbn files for each. And I just keep everything in one big "Movies" folder.

Good luck on setting it all up. Once it's going you'll love XBMC that much more.

-James

[kizer]

TV/
House/
---Season 1/
-----House - S01E01.iso
-----House - S01E02.iso
-----House - S01E03.iso
---Season 2/
-----House - S02E01.iso
-----House - S02E02.iso
-----House - S02E03.iso

Exactly how I do it.

I do it like above so its easier for me to find things if I need to move things around. Of course its just a personal preference.