kiboy6 Wrote:OK, so I'm just getting into XBMC and Media Info Plus. I've had a simple HTPC setup for a while, just using my phone as a remote file opener using Salling Clicker, but I've now decided to take the plunge into a proper aesthetically pleasing HTPC setup.
I'm a little confused as to the steps to take to make this as slick as possible.
I have loads of separate folders of media files - many DVDs in ISO / img format mixed together with video_TS folders. Then there are other folders with various avi content.
Out of the box XBMC unsurprisingly leaves me with a lot of imcomplete / wrong data. So question 1: Is there no way to manually edit the image and info per library item in XBMC? I guess in any case that would be more laborious than using MIP so onto my main question:
Can anyone describe a simple workflow to most easily get all my stuff a) showing up correctly and b) updating correctly as files are added in XBMC.
This is the understanding I have right now, but please correct me if I'm wrong:
1.) It seems as though folder organization (something I've never paid to much attention to in the past) is vital for smooth running of XBMC. Is that correct? So step 1 should be to organize all media folders either entirely with subfolders for each movie/show
or entirely with individual files - Folders with mixed content will be problematic right? Or can I leave them as they are and tell MIP to scan them twice, once with each method?
2.) Then run MIP on selected folders - This will put all the juicy images / info for each item together in the item's folder in a way XBMC will read, right?
3.) Open XBMC then scan each folder for relevant content - do I still select the default (ie IMDB for movies) scraper? Will XBMC automatically give priority to the info gathered by MIP over new info scraped online?
4.) Once I've done all this and it's all looking pretty, what's the best method to add new media into XBMC. Ie if I add a new movie to a folder already processed by XBMC should I run that new movie through MIP and then tell XBMC to rescan the folder? What's the easiest way to keep XBMC updated with new items in pre-existing folders?
5.) Finally for music, if I have artwork and all info already embedded in ID3 tags for my entire itunes music collection, would I still gain from running it through MIP? Would this provide me with better artist images than the predominantly black and white ones XBMC seems to be grabbing from AMG by default? And if running my "itunes music" folder through MIP, do I need to let it copy everything to a new music folder for some reason?
Thanks so much for any advice guys I really want to make sure I understand what I'm doing before I embark on reorganizing my large media collection for XBMC.
Folders will give you the most options, file level also works as well.
I use Folders myself.
I'm giving these details based on MIP 2814, which I am working on right now, some things are different then the current build (autopilot will now prompt you to pick the right movie if there's no .nfo already for it.).
Name the folder the movie name, with MIP, if there's more then one movie, it'll will display a list of movies, with data and a poster (if avail) so you can pick the right one. The year can be added if you want, it's not necessary but won't hurt either. I don't usually know the year, and can't my spelling is almost always off when it comes to movie names, get close, the search makes it alot easier now.
MIP will add backgrounds, posters, media images, media information, all in the most compatible format for all versions of xbmc. Will there be a few duplicate images and fanart images, yes there will be. I would really recommend you leave the duplicates, it makes getting the right image in xbmc (and other apps too) easy. You can always go back and remove duplicates when all the details about what goes where and why in what version makes sense.
Auto-Pilot is a great way to start, Auto-Pilot will prompt for show selection and assign images for you, it doesn't hit all the scrapers, it looks at impawards posters for the posters, when you load the movie by clicking on the movie name, it'll pull images from many different sites.
If you picked the wrong movie, or have a bad .nfo, don't worry.. you can change it. Click on the "Wrong Movie" button to search imdb again for the movie.
Once in xbmc, it's easy.
Add source.. browse to the main folder that has all the movie folders in it.
Click on set content, choose the type as Movie with tmdb as the site (default).
Check the option - run automated scan
Check the option - scan recursive
Check the option - use folder name for lookups
click ok (or add, whichever isn't the cancel button)
It'll load up your movies.
When you add movies, scan them with MIP, set your images and details.. then in xbmc right click and choose update library. and your up to date.
Same goes for other content as well (shows and tunes) as far as how to update in xbmc
for music.. I would first run the music sorting wizard so that it's in the correct format for xbmc to load the fanart and images..
Unless you have 0 drive space.. pick a different location on your hard drive for the destination.. you can always delete/move items.. and all your current items are left untouched. When your happy with the sort, and know all the tags are good, your golden.
Mip can extract, and does automatically when you use the sorting wizard, the album art from your music files to the folder.jpg .. and it'll give you fanart options as well as media images.. (cd covers, the front cover and back, inlays, inserts, etc)
Digitalhigh's killer skin will also show those images in xbmc
Check back in an hour for the latest build of MIP.. i'm testing the features and fixing the fanart bug and wine memory leak now.
For wine users, 1.1.17 is alot faster, you can also bump the thread priority of wine with ----
Code:
nice -15 wine "c:\\program files\\mediainfoplus\\mediainfoplus.exe"