[Skirge01]

Is there a way to display a difference between various types of releases (e.g. theatrical and director's cut)?  I searched the entire Kodi forum, but have come up empty.  (The fact that searching for "director's" also brings up results for "director" doesn't help.)  I know I can create a tag for the videos or I can easily rename the video in Kodi.  If I rename them with "(Extended Cut)" at the end and disable "clear logo" then the name will show when the video is highlighted.  But, that doesn't make it obvious when browsing the artwork that there's actually a difference, just like a tag wouldn't be displayed in any way.  If "extended edition" artwork existed for every title, that would also be feasible, but we can't depend on that.  For some titles, renaming is actually a bit humourous because it looks like a tickertape from a news channel once it's highlighted and scrolling across the screen, such as  "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition)".

Any interest in putting something in place for this?  I was thinking maybe an overlay at the bottom, like this https://imgur.com/a/VpcmjYN.  Or, maybe just a dog-ear (small triangle) with simply "DC" or "EE" written in the triangle in the lower-left corner.  Personally, I'd also like to use such a thing to mark my 3D movies.

[PatK]

Kodi Upcoming features regarding multiple resolutions of the same video is under consideration, so you may get what you want, patience. I personally haven't had an issue with renaming and setting custom posters, even if it's just adding a banner as you suggest. Think something like this is best handled inside Kodi instead of just one skin.

[Skirge01]

Kodi Upcoming features regarding multiple resolutions of the same video is under consideration, so you may get what you want, patience. I personally haven't had an issue with renaming and setting custom posters, even if it's just adding a banner as you suggest. Think something like this is best handled inside Kodi instead of just one skin.

I absolutely agree this is best handled by Kodi, but I figured a user asking for a feature to be added to Kodi is like a voter trying to get an elected official to help them.  Thanks for letting me know about this possibily coming somewhere down the road.

[PatK]

figured a user asking for a feature to be added to Kodi is like a voter trying to get an elected

The feature request forum is the place new stuff gets developers attention, especially if there's a lot of support for a request. This old thread seems to be suggesting multiple sources for a single movie, which by it's age didn't garner enough support, with the advent of 4K and alternate endings, perhaps a re-post would freshen up the idea?

[Gade]

Hi Skirge01.

There were a PR exactly for this some time ago: https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/14972
Unfortunately, the developer lost interest or progress with this.
Hopefully someone will look at this in the future, as it's a really usefull and requested feature. I myself would love this feature.

I will not add more overlays to the posters, as this will bloat the skin.

For my main Kodi library, I add the different version as movie sets.
Eg, I have a movie set called "Alien" and inside this are two movies: "Alien" (Director's Cut) and "Alien" (Theatrical Version).

I already have a media flag for 3D.
See: https://kodi.wiki/view/Add-on:Rapier#Pro...g_of_files

I could add media flags for versions. But that would result in too many media flags and the skin breaking the layout.
And how would I know which exact names people use for different versions? Extended version? Special version? Extended cut? Ext. vers.?
And do people name the files directly or the titles inside Kodi?

Although I could create some naming templates like I did for the other media flags.

Many things to consider here.
Feedback is appreciated.

[Skirge01]

Hi Skirge01.

There were a PR exactly for this some time ago: https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/14972
Unfortunately, the developer lost interest or progress with this.
Hopefully someone will look at this in the future, as it's a really usefull and requested feature. I myself would love this feature.

I will not add more overlays to the posters, as this will bloat the skin.

For my main Kodi library, I add the different version as movie sets.
Eg, I have a movie set called "Alien" and inside this are two movies: "Alien" (Director's Cut) and "Alien" (Theatrical Version).

I already have a media flag for 3D.
See: https://kodi.wiki/view/Add-on:Rapier#Pro...g_of_files

I could add media flags for versions. But that would result in too many media flags and the skin breaking the layout.
And how would I know which exact names people use for different versions? Extended version? Special version? Extended cut? Ext. vers.?
And do people name the files directly or the titles inside Kodi?

Although I could create some naming templates like I did for the other media flags.

Many things to consider here.
Feedback is appreciated.

I understand the possibility of bloat and figured it might be a concern for the skin.  I'm also currently adding them as part of a movie set.  I don't always have both versions on the server, however, so I can't see the difference when looking at a wall of posters.  That's the same difficulty I have with my 3D movies (which are named properly ) when browsing a wall of posters.  Due to that issue with 3D, I created entirely separate smart playlists for 3D and 2D movies and added the playists as submenus to the home screen's Movies menu.  I don't have enough extended or Director's versions to warrant this.. yet?    Ultimately, I believe I'd be fine with separating everything via smart playlists as long as I could, somehow, choose to either include or exclude them from my "normal" view.  Right now, I don't know which way would be my preferred method when I enter "Movies".  That does bring up a question, though.  Can you set the MOVIES menu off the home screen to go into a specific smart playlist?  I don't believe so, but I'm not certain.

I wound up doing a little brainstorming here...

As far as naming conventions, I understand the dillemma.  If this gets serious consideratioin at the skin level or by Kodi, itself, I'd say wait until TMDB has finalized their naming scheme as everyone else will likely tweak their own as appropriate.  Personally, I think the easiest and most comprehensive method for Kodi would be using something like "alternate#", likely as a prefix to "cut", "version", etc just to differentiate between theatrical and everything else.  This would even cover alternate versions of TV episodes, such as those with alternate endings, which I'm sure would come into play once movies have this feature.  At that point, if people want more granular control, they could resort to setting something inside Kodi, which would still be in alignment with the "Movie version" method proposed here.  Kodi would see the "alternate#" in the filename and then allow the user, skinner, etc to manage how they want it presented:  popup menu, additional view entry, overlay, alternate fanart, etc.  Again, this could also apply to a TV episode with 2 endings.  Kodi would see identical episodes, but would know it needs to do "something", when an otherwise identically named 2nd file has added "alternate" to the filename.  This scheme is similar to needing the proper naming for 3D movies, so Kodi knows it needs to do "something" with it.

[Gade]

I'm also currently adding them as part of a movie set.  I don't always have both versions on the server, however, so I can't see the difference when looking at a wall of posters.  That's the same difficulty I have with my 3D movies (which are named properly ) when browsing a wall of posters.  Due to that issue with 3D, I created entirely separate smart playlists for 3D and 2D movies and added the playists as submenus to the home screen's Movies menu.  I don't have enough extended or Director's versions to warrant this.. yet? 

I add alternate version as custom movie sets.
Meaning " Alien" is one movie set and all versions of "Alien" is inside that. "Aliens" is another movie set, "Alien 3" is another movie set etc. etc.
That way I only have one entry in the library for each movie, and the different versions appear once I go into the specific set.

Ultimately, I believe I'd be fine with separating everything via smart playlists as long as I could, somehow, choose to either include or exclude them from my "normal" view.  Right now, I don't know which way would be my preferred method when I enter "Movies".  That does bring up a question, though.  Can you set the MOVIES menu off the home screen to go into a specific smart playlist?  I don't believe so, but I'm not certain.

I exclude 3D movies from my main movie library and keep them as a Movies submenu item.

Use library nodes instead of playlists for the main categories.
Edit the main Movie Title library node to exclude 3D titles (using library node editor add-on):
- This depends on your naming scheme. If all your 3D movies have ".3d." in the filename, create a rule where "Path does not contain .3d.".

Point the home screen Movies category to that library node: Skin Settings > Home > Category Menu > Change Category Actions > Movies
- Choose "Library nodes: title".

Either create a custom movies 3D node or smart playlist and add that to your submenu.

I wound up doing a little brainstorming here...

As far as naming conventions, I understand the dillemma.  If this gets serious consideratioin at the skin level or by Kodi, itself, I'd say wait until TMDB has finalized their naming scheme as everyone else will likely tweak their own as appropriate.  Personally, I think the easiest and most comprehensive method for Kodi would be using something like "alternate#", likely as a prefix to "cut", "version", etc just to differentiate between theatrical and everything else.  This would even cover alternate versions of TV episodes, such as those with alternate endings, which I'm sure would come into play once movies have this feature.  At that point, if people want more granular control, they could resort to setting something inside Kodi, which would still be in alignment with the "Movie version" method proposed here.  Kodi would see the "alternate#" in the filename and then allow the user, skinner, etc to manage how they want it presented:  popup menu, additional view entry, overlay, alternate fanart, etc.  Again, this could also apply to a TV episode with 2 endings.  Kodi would see identical episodes, but would know it needs to do "something", when an otherwise identically named 2nd file has added "alternate" to the filename.  This scheme is similar to needing the proper naming for 3D movies, so Kodi knows it needs to do "something" with it.

Some great thoughts here.
The "Movie version" method you mention is the same closed PR I posted above. That PR is unfortunately closed and abandoned.

[Skirge01]

I add alternate version as custom movie sets.
Meaning " Alien" is one movie set and all versions of "Alien" is inside that. "Aliens" is another movie set, "Alien 3" is another movie set etc. etc.
That way I only have one entry in the library for each movie, and the different versions appear once I go into the specific set.

Ahhh... now I see what you mean.  But, would that mean that all the actual Alien movies (i.e.  Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, etc) are no longer contained in their "regular" Alien movie set, as defined by TMDB?  If not, I don't know if that would be my preferred method of organizing them, but I'll check it out.

I exclude 3D movies from my main movie library and keep them as a Movies submenu item.

Use library nodes instead of playlists for the main categories.
Edit the main Movie Title library node to exclude 3D titles (using library node editor add-on):
- This depends on your naming scheme. If all your 3D movies have ".3d." in the filename, create a rule where "Path does not contain .3d.".

Point the home screen Movies category to that library node: Skin Settings > Home > Category Menu > Change Category Actions > Movies
- Choose "Library nodes: title".

Either create a custom movies 3D node or smart playlist and add that to your submenu.

I've never used nodes before, so I'll look into that method.  Thanks for explaining that.

    Some great thoughts here. Smile
    The "Movie version" method you mention is the same closed PR I posted above. That PR is unfortunately closed and abandoned.

Thank you.    I swear, I did glance over the PR you linked to , but I didn't realize it was the same thing.  Oops.

[Gade]

Ahhh... now I see what you mean.  But, would that mean that all the actual Alien movies (i.e.  Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, etc) are no longer contained in their "regular" Alien movie set, as defined by TMDB?  If not, I don't know if that would be my preferred method of organizing them, but I'll check it out.

It should be possible to have several sets with the same movie.
That way you can have a regular "Alien" movie set with different versions of "Alien", and a complete "Alien" movie set with all movies.

But I'm not sure it's possible to add a movie set inside a movie set. Probably not.

I don't use movie sets in the library for my main system. So adding movie versions as sets works so well.