[oldredmh]

Hi,

I have around 600 or so movies currently on DVD and Blu-Ray and due to storage capacity (I don't want to reduce quality or remove the add-on features) I would prefer for now at least to keep some movies on their original disks while converting some to disk storage, accessing them with XBMC. However, naturally enough, I would like to be able to choose the movie we watch from the XBMC UI. Ideally having chosen the movie I could select it and it would play the movie if it was held on disk or if on DVD or Blu-Ray only it would somehow point me at where to find the right DVD etc. Hope that makes sense.

I would have thought that this was likely a common request but having searched I couldn't find anything - sorry if I am being dumb.

So my first question is:

1) - Is there a solution for this within XBMC, within an add-on or maybe even a different piece of software even that either 'calls' xbmc as a player once the movie is chosen etc. etc.


My second question is - if there isn't a good answer to 1) would the following work?

We would:

- for every DVD/BLU-RAY that we haven't 'stored' on disk we would create a folder with the same disk title as the movie and place this alongside the stored folders.
- we would make a short piece of video footage (see later*) that would explain that this film is on DVD, or on Blu-Ray
- we would then copy that video into the dummy folder and rename it to be the same as that specific movie
- hopefully - and this assumes XBMC simply reads the file or folder name - XBMC will then tag and handle that small file as if it was the movie
- when selected the real stored films would play but the dummies would play the short video pointing us at the DVD cupboards :-)

Is there any reason why this wouldn't work? Or is there a better way to 'cheat' it so we get one experience? (other than store every DVD/BR that is)

*I doubt we would do it often but we did think it could be quite a giggle making a number of these 'shorts' for specific films. We know a couple of hams that would no doubt get endless fun from making them. Alternately I assume if the above works we could simply download a trailer of the film and rename that? Could ruin the story though :-( as today the trailers seem to give a lot away.

Sorry about the length of the post but thought I would try to be as clear as possible. Any answers greatly appreciated or tips on how you manage the choosing process across the physical and digital copies :-)

[Ned Scott]

Media stubs (wiki)

[oldredmh]

Thanks - I must have searched on the wrong words obviously - doh!

Looks straightforward enough, although I might still be tempted to do a couple of spoof intros as described above :-)

[oldredmh]

Now I think I will look even more stupid but 'how do I create 'empty files' for the media stubs to work? i.e. of the right format?

I tried renaming a notepad file but its not the right file type. Soz for being slow.

EXTRACT
The intended way for this to work is e.g. Two DVD's you want to add to your XBMC library, Finding Nemo, and Bug's Life. You would create two empty text files where ever you store the rest of your digital media files called:
Finding Nemo (2003).disc
Bug's Life (1998).disc

[artrafael]

Just rename the file using your operating system's file manager (e.g., right-click and select Rename).

[ConfusedTA]

When you save in Notepad, put the filename as:

"Finding Nemo (2003).disc"


WITH the quotes. Without the quotes, it will default to saving it with a .txt extension - so without the quotes, the above will become "Finding Nemo (2003).disc.txt" (which, of course, is incorrect)

[oldredmh]

Thanks everyone - all working fine now. :-)

[Saxtus]

I have problem making it work for my MKV file collection

So far, I know that what I need to do is to create a text file with the same name as my MKV file and extension .disc and put something descripting in it, like:

Code:

<discstub>
  <message>BD-R Movies030</message>
</discstub>

XBMC finds the name and info of the movie correctly, when I click on it asks me to insert disc "BD-R Movies030" as I've expected it to do, but then the journey ends.
"Play" button doesn't lit, "Eject/Load" button doesn't do anything:


How can I make XBMC to understand that I've put the correct disc so it will start playing the movie?

Is there a utility that will automate the task of scanning and creating those .disc files in batch?
Also, is it possible for XBMC media stub file to also include technical info about each file automatically?

Thanks in advance.