I am thinking of using KODI as the new Media software for my HTPC. I previously used JRiver with my HTPC, but when that crashed I bought a new (2nd hand) HTPC with XBMC demonstrated on it. The seller removed XBMC before handing over the HTPC, but I was very impressed by what I saw. I have successfully installed most of my music on NAS folder that is linked to from KODI. However, on VIDEO material I am struggling a bit more as I have described here:
219643 (thread)
My question is, given the structure of my media library, is KODI right for me?
1) I have around 1,000 ripped DVD/BRs on two NASes. These are ripped with AnyDVD in their original file structure, i.e. not an ISO image (I believe that is the term).
2) Most of my DVDs/BRs are TV shows. The ripped DVDs are stored in a file structure NASname/ShowName/Season/DiscNumber>VIDEO_TS.ifo, and otherwise as in 1 above, ie. no separate episodes.
3) I have quite a few BluRay discs. I really want to be able to play these with menus intact, since I typically wish subtitles etc. How are BRs played in KODI, with an integrated player, or through launching external players?
If KODI will only work well with ISO images, is there a way to convert my folders into such an image, and will this then include episode details?
Or is there a program out there better suited for those of us with ripped original file structure contents?
I appreciate all help I can get on this issue!
Firstly no need to split the discussion, your original thread would suffice. The answers won't differ because you happen to start a fresh thread. You are unlikely to achieve waht you want without a little 'elbow grease' and user intervention. If you are unwilling to do that then you won't find any of the media front ends suitable for your needs. Xelor in the other thread suggested what you might need to do.
Kodi like a lot of media front-ends prefers individual files broken out from their original structure (particularly for TV Shows), though you have been directed to a way it can be achieved.
BluRay disc playback with menu intact playback is only achieveable by using and launching 3rd party software (PowerDVD, TMT etc.)
What you also need to do is have a read at the wiki
http://kodi.wiki/view/Adding_video_sources following this correctly will provide access to Movies and TV Shows on the main menu bar (one of your questions in the original thread - see how this can become quickly fragmented).
(2015-03-16, 14:41)steelman1991 Wrote: [ -> ]Firstly no need to split the discussion, your original thread would suffice. The answers won't differ because you happen to start a fresh thread. You are unlikely to achieve waht you want without a little 'elbow grease' and user intervention. If you are unwilling to do that then you won't find any of the media front ends suitable for your needs. Xelor in the other thread suggested what you might need to do.
Kodi like a lot of media front-ends prefers individual files broken out from their original structure (particularly for TV Shows), though you have been directed to a way it can be achieved.
BluRay disc playback with menu intact playback is only achieveable by using and launching 3rd party software (PowerDVD, TMT etc.)
What you also need to do is have a read at the wiki http://kodi.wiki/view/Adding_video_sources following this correctly will provide access to Movies and TV Shows on the main menu bar (one of your questions in the original thread - see how this can become quickly fragmented).
Thanks! I am certainly willing to do some work here, but I do not yet have the understanding of how to get it done. Xelor did kindly give me some advice, but I am not able to put it into practice, because I am not at a level where I understand what it says. Once I am able to see some DVDs popping up I can probably fiddle around with settings etc until I achieve what i want, but right now I can't see anything, and I have not been able to make any progress for days. That's also why I started a new thread, if no one will reply to an old one how else can I move forward? I am really not trying to be negative here, or to criticize, just to work out whether I am in the wrong place or not.
So I would really appreciate some advice:
1. Should I convert all my folders's content to ISO
2. Should I drop KODI alltogether
3. Can I use KODI and keep my existing folder structure? I believe, the answer is yes, given the above, but what do I need to do to move forward? Please help me with a detailed description if you can?!
I believe the answer is yes as well, but did you even read the link I gave you - this explains how to correctly set your sources and get your videos into Kodi.
ISO/DVD Structure - one in the same and they are treated the same by Kodi, so no benefit that I can see to converting to that format.
Your quite at liberty to bump old threads, to draw attention to them.
PS I did read, and follow, the wiki on how to add video sources, and I can see that there is something there, hence the artwork for 2 Broke Girls, but there are no seasons or discs to select to start play...
Make sure you have set the source on the correct level - which from your post should be TV Shows.
NASName>Kodi>Video>TV Shows>2 Broke Girls>Season X>Disc Y>VIDEO_TS.ifo
I don't really have a lot of knowledge using DVD structure, all of my files are broken out into individual episodes - I have no need for extras or menu's, the episode list generated covers that. Are you set on having menu structure, or if you were considering converting, why not move to individual mkv files, using MakeMKV. This will break out the dvd structure to something more front-end friendly.
It may well be that without adding that advancedsettings xml suggested by xelor, that you won't get any type of scrape, therefore you won't be able to see the TV Shows/Movies as you would like on the default skin.
Copy xelor's code into notepad and save it as a .xml file into C:\users\username\appdata\roaming\Kodi\userdata
Code:
<advancedsettings>
<tvshowmatching action="append">
<regexp>[Ss]([0-9]+)[ ._-]*[Ee]([0-9]+)([^\\/]*)(?:(?:[\\/]video_ts)?[\\/]video_ts\.ifo)$</regexp>
</tvshowmatching>
</advancedsettings>
Then make sure your source is set to the correct folder.
Thanks for your practical description, which I will try this evening!
(2015-03-16, 15:21)steelman1991 Wrote: [ -> ]Are you set on having menu structure, or if you were considering converting, why not move to individual mkv files, using MakeMKV. This will break out the dvd structure to something more front-end friendly.
I am not set on having a menu structure as such, but I need to be able to select the episode I want (not simply playing the whole disc) and to select subtitles (since I am not a native English speaker). Also, since I have already spend many hundreds of hours ripping I would very much prefer not having to rip again. However, I probably will copy all my ripped folders for use with KODI, and whether I make a simple copy or a conversion in the process might not make a huge difference? So I guess my questions are these:
1. Can I convert a ripped DVD folder (as opposed to the original DVD disc itself) into an image?
2. If I do that, can I still select items from the menu, such as bonus materials and subtitles?
3. If the anwer to the above menu items is "no", can I at least keep and select subtitles?
4. Will I be able to select individual episodes?
If the answers to the above are "no", then I am probably better off using my existing structure, and trying to make KODI understand that?
Christopher
(2015-03-16, 14:58)steelman1991 Wrote: [ -> ]ISO/DVD Structure - one in the same and they are treated the same by Kodi, so no benefit that I can see to converting to that format.
What sort of conversion are you talking about that would offer "something more front-end friendly"? I must be missing something, I though there were only two options for me, either keep the original file strucute or make an ISO image?
post #6 - MakeMKV - this will convert your current files to individual mkv files - and when named correctly in their episodic order.
(2015-03-16, 15:21)steelman1991 Wrote: [ -> ]Copy xelor's code into notepad and save it as a .xml file into C:\users\username\appdata\roaming\Kodi\userdata
Foiund the appdata folder after setting folder options in control panel to show hidden folders. Just FYI if other happen to stop by...
Thanks Xelor and Steelman, this seems to work :-) The files show up correctly and play when I go this way:
Videos>Files>TV Shows>NameOfShow
But using the main horizontal menu TV Shows doesn't work, then the shows appear with artwork, but there is nothing to select! Can anyone see what I am missing?
Also, on the main menu, can I select what entries to show? I have no Pictures for example, and woild like to have Videoes called Movies. Can I set the main menu items and names myself?
I was curious about this, so I did exactly what the wiki suggested to do, except that the last step needed isn't explained. That is, you need to play the dvd file and pause it at each episode then enter the OSD menu, select "bookmarks" and then click "set episode bookmark". You do this for each episode in the dvd and once this is done, when you go into the library for episodes and click/play an episode, it will start at the point you selected. Pretty slick. I don't use video ts folders normally but this works.
So my file structure is exactly this:
TV shows/
./Four Sisters/
..tvshow.nfo
../FourSisters S01E01E02E03/
...Four Sisters S01E01E02E03.nfo
.../Video_TS/
....VIDEO_TS.IFO
....(etc)
My episode nfo contains <episodedetails> sections for each of the 3 episodes on the dvd. I haven't tested using the tvdb scraper. I used the regex from the wiki:
Code:
<tvshowmatching action="append">
<regexp>[Ss]([0-9]+)[ ._-]*[Ee]([0-9]+)([^\\/]*)(?:(?:[\\/]VIDEO_TS)?[\\/]VIDEO_TS\.IFO)$</regexp>
</tvshowmatching>
scott s.
.
(2015-03-17, 03:52)scott967 Wrote: [ -> ]I was curious about this, so I did exactly what the wiki suggested to do, except that the last step needed isn't explained. That is, you need to play the dvd file and pause it at each episode then enter the OSD menu, select "bookmarks" and then click "set episode bookmark". You do this for each episode in the dvd and once this is done, when you go into the library for episodes and click/play an episode, it will start at the point you selected. Pretty slick. I don't use video ts folders normally but this works.
So my file structure is exactly this:
TV shows/
./Four Sisters/
..tvshow.nfo
../FourSisters S01E01E02E03/
...Four Sisters S01E01E02E03.nfo
.../Video_TS/
....VIDEO_TS.IFO
....(etc)
My episode nfo contains <episodedetails> sections for each of the 3 episodes on the dvd. I haven't tested using the tvdb scraper. I used the regex from the wiki:
Code:
<tvshowmatching action="append">
<regexp>[Ss]([0-9]+)[ ._-]*[Ee]([0-9]+)([^\\/]*)(?:(?:[\\/]VIDEO_TS)?[\\/]VIDEO_TS\.IFO)$</regexp>
</tvshowmatching>
scott s.
.
Hi Scott,
Could you give me a link to the wiki you mention? Maybe I am missing something basic?
(2015-03-16, 15:21)steelman1991 Wrote: [ -> ]Make sure you have set the source on the correct level - which from your post should be TV Shows.
NASName>Kodi>Video>TV Shows>2 Broke Girls>Season X>Disc Y>VIDEO_TS.ifo
I don't really have a lot of knowledge using DVD structure, all of my files are broken out into individual episodes - I have no need for extras or menu's, the episode list generated covers that. Are you set on having menu structure, or if you were considering converting, why not move to individual mkv files, using MakeMKV. This will break out the dvd structure to something more front-end friendly.
It may well be that without adding that advancedsettings xml suggested by xelor, that you won't get any type of scrape, therefore you won't be able to see the TV Shows/Movies as you would like on the default skin.
Copy xelor's code into notepad and save it as a .xml file into C:\users\username\appdata\roaming\Kodi\userdata
Code:
<advancedsettings>
<tvshowmatching action="append">
<regexp>[Ss]([0-9]+)[ ._-]*[Ee]([0-9]+)([^\\/]*)(?:(?:[\\/]video_ts)?[\\/]video_ts\.ifo)$</regexp>
</tvshowmatching>
</advancedsettings>
Then make sure your source is set to the correct folder.
Thanks, this worked perfectly! Now my problem is the movies, the file structure/content is the same as for the TV Shows. There are no seasons of course, and usually only one disc per movie (but not always, some movies have several discs). For each movie (or disc in a movie set) I would like the VIDEO_TS.ifo file to be the only file that shows up as a movie. Right now other files in the movie folder also show up, so for instance, after having importet 1408 I now have around 20 instances of 1408 showing up...
Is there some language I can add to the advancedxml file that can take care of this for me?
My file structure/path is this: NASName>Kodi>Video>Movies>moviename>VIDEO_TS.ifo
Christopher
(2015-03-17, 08:57)cgroth Wrote: [ -> ]Could you give me a link to the wiki you mention? Maybe I am missing something basic?
http://kodi.wiki/view/Naming_video_files...ti-episode
and then further down that page at 4.4.1 example 6 is for dvd and example 7 for BD (don't have so can't confirm).
scott s.
.