[JohnyLondon]

Was wondering if there is a kind of definitive list for movie Genres? Or can you add anything you like (when editing NFO files). If I add a genre that doesn't previously have a folder (when viewing by genre in xbmc) will xbmc create it?
Or, are the genres a pre selected bunch?

Further... if editing genres for tv shows, does one have to go deeper than the tvshow nfo (ie seperate series or even each episode... would rule out doing that unmless using a pretty good app!).

I've not been getting on too well with any of the scraper/nfo editor apps, and so far found that just text editing the nfo files is best for me.

What does everyone else do?

[PatK]

XBMC takes it's genre information from the .nfo files, which are generally populated by the scraper with genre information from the databsse web sites. Indeed you can edit these to single genre (most movies will have multiple genre's) or add a new category. Common complaints are muftiple genre's like scifi, Si-fi, Science Fiction of the same. The issue with adding a new category is that a fresh re-scrape from the web for whatever reason will default back to the original list. Some users like 3rd party scrapers that give you control of the meta-data before XBMC scrapes, but I personally just use notepad++ it seems to be the quickest with little fuss.

With TV shows, I let the default genre shine, don't have a lot of time for going deeper.

I do use the 'studio' flag to label which smart play-lists can make use of.

[JohnyLondon]

Thanks for that - editing the nfo files was easy... except for the odd annoying one that insists on being four miles long and only three lines deep... maybe if I used something other than notepad.

Anyway, I just re jigged my movie genres, and re scanned the library. Couple news genres added, though they were not strange ones so to test if xbmc will pick up any that you add, I would have to make a weird sounding one... but I'm sure you are right.

My film genres make a lot more sense (to me) now anyway.

Isn't it the case that xbmc will default to your stored nfo/artworks etc? I got everything (nearly) how I wanted and exported, so the nfo files I adapted were sitting in the movie folders, I don't think it will overwrite those?

Yeh, prolly far too much hassle to even think about tv shows....

[PatK]

Notepad++ has lots of advantages, under 'language' use XML makes things easier.

I think there is ~26 standard ones, have a look at http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=45361 or http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=143112 there's some really nice posters and fanart for genre that some skins take advantage of, if stuffed into the right places.

As long as you have the .nfo saved in the folders, then XBMC will default to that stored meta-data, if I had to scrape a fresh a lot of my modifications would be out the window. Yipes, some people don't like the extra space no matter how small, taken up with meta-data. Different strokes for different folks.

XBMC is still a work in progress, and so far it's working for me just fine, there's future plans that do look promising. If you see some issue that could be handled better, the feature suggestion forum is the place to be. Looking through the help sections, a common thread is the scraper isn't auto magically picking up this or that.... but consider that there might be 3-5 movies with the same name, how is XBMC to know which version is yours without a correct date? Another one is the non standard mouse interface on a computer, when XBMC was made for the 10 foot HTPC remote. It's pretty hard to be all things to all people, XBMC does pretty darned well by a HTPC.

[JohnyLondon]

I'm passed the stage of getting all my movies and tv shows scraped - hence I went for the saved nfo thing - just too much work to ever re do. I don't think scrapers can ever be "perfect" although you do get some silly mix ups as well, but you just have to iron out for yourself.

My next venture, after I'm happy with genres, artworks and everything else in movies and tv, will be sorting out music videos - I had a go at scraping but not surprisingly it missed half (or rather, more surprisingly.. it found half!). Not sure where to go with that... seperate posting when the time comes I think.

Yep - gonna have a crack at putting artworks into the genre folders, should be easy enough as I already made quite a few

[JohnyLondon]

Just to say... I got around to installing Notepad++, quick and easy and it is just so much clearer than notepad - a snap for editing the NFO files. Infact, I was changing some genres to suite, and came up with one or two categories to especially for my needs.
Yes xbmc simply adds corresponding folders to whatever genres you create - no mess no fuss, very smooth.
I've another question about NFO files but I think it needs a seperate thread...

[DiMag]

Editing genres in XBMC is at first a technically straightforward issue, and PatK's advise is very helpful in that regard. However, managing genres is a considerably more complex affair.

You see, genrelogy is a scholarly science which has evolved in the realm of literature and then moved onto cinematography. (Éric Rohmer has famously declared that the movie is a technological evolution of the novel.) Look up genres in Wikipedia, and your mind will blow. This not an artificial ballast of knowledge; it reflects the richness and complexity of cinematography. So to answer your first question, there is and there can never be a simple, fixed, list of genres - cinematography evolves, and it evolves fast.

The answer to your second question - "should I use my own genres?"- is a qualified no. Everyone is under the delusion that ne or she is a special individual but the truth is that no human being is biologically capable of liking or disliking something like movie independently of what other human beings feel about the same thing. So to understand genres you must study what scholars and practitioners (the movie industry) think about them. Will that bring clarification? It shall bring better knowledge, including knowledge of contentious issues and therefore more confusion. But because more knowledge is always better than less you have to go through this process before deciding what genres fit your tastes.

Sadly, at present XBMC is unable to handle this complexity (as it is unable to handel any complexity concerning metadata management), because its database layout is by design flat - meaning that it cannot express relationships such as nested structures (romance comdey as a sub-genre of romantic film), or hybridizations (romance comedy as a hybrid of its two constituents), indeed not even basic attributs such as Psychological Drama, Revenge Drama, etc. You can still express some relationships using naming conventions such as Romance - Comedy - Lesbian (you would be surprised how many there are), or Thriller - Sci-Fi - Psychological - Erotic (nowadays combined into Psychosexual - did you even know the term existed?), but there are inherent limits to this approach and its ugliness is all too obvious. For information on how this crippled design affects everyday use read the thread GSOC 2013 in the Development section of this forum.

[JohnyLondon]

Thanks for that, proffesor

In the mean time, if only the great learned ones could make up their minds between Sci-Fi and Science Fiction, or Childrens and Children...

[Harro]

The answer to your second question - "should I use my own genres?"- is a qualified no.

I think you have missed the boat on this point. XBMC on your machine is just that yours. If I feel the need to make up a genre for say "midget donkey porn" I will then create one. XBMC was made to be customized according to each their needs other wise, there would be one skin, one repository, one of everything that everyone would be locked into using. BUT it is not and we as end users can and will customize it to our likes and needs. That is the beauty of XBMC and I have supported the efforts of the devs, who continue to improve it for all.

steps off my soap box... thank you.

[JohnyLondon]

The answer to your second question - "should I use my own genres?"- is a qualified no.

I think you have missed the boat on this point. XBMC on your machine is just that yours. If I feel the need to make up a genre for say "midget donkey porn" I will then create one. XBMC was made to be customized according to each their needs other wise, there would be one skin, one repository, one of everything that everyone would be locked into using. BUT it is not and we as end users can and will customize it to our likes and needs. That is the beauty of XBMC and I have supported the efforts of the devs, who continue to improve it for all.

steps off my soap box... thank you.

Here here! I have made up one or two genres to suite - and certainly edited many nfo files to my taste - it's nice to have things just how one wants... at the same time, it's also good to find a starting point!

[DiMag]

I can see how the statement The answer to [the] question - "should I use my own genres?"- is a qualified no can be offensive. Well, let me then rephrase it thus:

The answer to the question "should I use my own genres?" is a strongly qualified yes. Meaning, do it; but only if the deviation from the mainstream you thus introduce is not substantial. For if it is substantial, the benefits from having a schema reflecting your own choices shall quickly be offset by the cost of maintaining this schema. Plus, chances are that unless you are a critic yourself, the people who have opined on genres have known much much more than you do to begin with. (This probably applies even if the exception is true, that is, even you are a critic yourself.)