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I have one PC with my XBMC library complete with thumbnails and fan art. It took alot of work to get everything straight. I have a second PC with the identical files, (copied straight over) but not all of the fan art is correct. The scraper can't find all titles. I have done some of the work, but with close to 400 library items, it seems a waste to do all that work again. Is there a way to copy all of the data from the up to date PC and move it to the one needing work?
Would it matter if the media files are in different directories of each PC? (Complete and up to date PC is "Basement" and media is in X: whereas the one needing work is "Living Room" and media is in C:.
Also, I just discovered profiles. Now I can make a profile for the kids that will only contain their movies. I'll create the library including all media, then delete from the library (not the drive) what they can't watch. I'd like that library to have appropriate fanart/thumbnails also. Possibly duplicated from the Master User profile and renamed?
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1. Export your library on machine A to a single folder structure (not to your movie source).
2. Load the videodb.xml file it creates and modify all paths accordingly.
3. Import it on machine B.
Cheers,
Jonathan
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Ok, so I'm an aircraft mechanic, not too bright. I need a little more info before I make assumptions.
1. How do I export? Is this done in XBMC or am I to find the "library" file in windows explorer? Not sure what "single folder structure" is either.
2. Where do I start with loading the videodb.xml file? Am I in XBMC for this also?
Wonder if there is a youtube tutorial for this. Seems like it would be a common request.
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Found a few things. This typically happens right after I post a question. You gave me a few keywords to search, which turned up some stuff. I'll post again if I have any more questions. Thanks!
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Yeah...i'm stumped on #2. I got the library exported, single folder, all in one. Now where do I do that loading and path modification?
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2012-03-19, 11:08
(This post was last modified: 2012-03-19, 11:09 by duckredbeard.)
Edit: pasted wrong message
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Here's an update: Donor HTPC has complete thumbs, fanart, and info. Copied all media files (from donor X:/Movies drive) to an external drive. Also exported library to external drive. Opened .xml file and did a search and replace all instances of X: with C: since the target HTPC will have media files in C:/Movies. Donor HTPC running Eden RC2.
Went to target HTPC and deleted media files (obsolete files, misspelled file names, boring movies). After deletion, opened XBMC and did a library clean. Library showed empty. Began copying media files to C: and (while copy in progress) opened XBMC and imported library. Had a few minutes of "not responding" but it cleared up. Target HTPC running 10.1.
Was on my way out to work and I noticed a few things. One, for example, was that on the target HTPC one movie was still showing the misspelled title that was present before the cleaning. I am sure the title was correct on the donor HTPC. Shouldn't the importation of the library show the correct title, as it was in the donor library. Also, the file name was correct before copying to the target. A few other titles were missing thumbs.
I assumed that by copying the files over exactly and that copying the library would have replicated my library to the target HTPC. Does the library file that I'm importing need to be somewhere specific in the target HTPC?
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2012-03-20, 05:26
(This post was last modified: 2012-03-20, 05:26 by duckredbeard.)
None of this is working. I thought I imported the library, but thumbs were all missing. I went into the setting and realized that i had not set content for the media folder containing the movies. Did all that and set it to scan recursively, running automated scan. No thumbs were updated. The only way I could get it to do something was to remove source and start over. Still not happy since it ran a new scan and set many thumbs with foreign language posters. It even wrongly read some titles (Romeo and Juliet instead of Gnomeo and Juliet). I waited until it was done and tried to import the library again, this time it had been moved to the C: (root). Upon importation, all thumbs were missing again and I was unable to scan again. No scan activity. Uninstalling 10.0 on the target machine, installing Eden RC2 and going to do the manual thing. Sucks I can't make this work. Is there somewhere I am supposed to put the "xbmc_videodb_2012-03-17" folder that has the exported and updated .xml (with the Xs changed to Cs)?
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Ok, seems that I'm not getting any feedback from the communtiy, perhaps I'll give some updates.
I uninstalled 10.0 (thought it was 10.1) and installed Eden RC2 on the target machine. I went into Files and added a source and set the settings to be movies, scraped by IMDB, enabling posters, trailers, just about everything, even automated scan and recursive. Once the scan started, I was unable to stop the scan so I killed XBMC. When I reopened it, it had populated a few thumbs (in spanish). I went into settings and imported the library that had been exported from the donor HTPC. This file (xbmc_videodb_2012-03-17) was now on the C: drive, same as my /Movies folder containing the media files. Upon complete import of the library...wait for it...(I know I have waited long enough...) EUREKA! All of my thumbs and fanart match my other PC.
Now this may seem to have been a simple operation to some, but it has been an adventure for me. Perhaps the issue was that the donor PC was Eden, while the target had been 10.0. Once I updated to Eden on both machines it looks like it fixed it. Perhaps Eden puts stuff in other places. Might have been where the imported file was being imported from. Who knows. Really...who does know?
I would have done the whole "centralized library shared by multiple machines" route, but i saw a few things regarding thumbs, fanart, and speed. I have the capacity in my drives to run separate libraries, so that is what I'm going with. If these machines ever get separated, they will already be stand alone HTPCs.
Lesson learned: If you want to keep two different machines identical in library (thumbs, titles, etc) then work to keep the sources identical and scan for new content each time a file gets added. Don't wait until you have 40 new files on your most used machine. Take a few minutes and make drives shared between the machines, so you can copy the new files. Set XBMC to update upon open.
I'm done here, I've got movies to watch...
Cheers
