[martink0646b]

Hi All,

I've been using xLobby for about 4 years now & whilst I am perfectly happy with it's functionality, it's beginning to look a bit dated. I tried WMC but can't get on with that piece of bloatware, & XBMC looks perfect for my needs.

Now to a few issues & questions. I have 8000+ entries in my xLobby library and these are a mix of iso rips, TiVo conversions, avi downloads, BBC iplayer mov files, vcd DAT files, mpegs etc. on 12 external HDD's. I know it's not the way anyone would design a system but it has grown organically.

xLobby lets you build the library using its naming convention & then scrape the info as required afterwards or place cover images in the folders manually. Obviously XBMC does it the opposite way to this & whilst I have no preference either way for it to work, my naming conventions are set up to work with xLobby & it will be a huge task to change everything although the rewards are obvious.

After setting the content of all my HDD's, my library is populated with approx 5000 items (out of 8000) although most of the missing files are TV show episodes that I need to move about and change to XBMC's naming convention. My first problem is with movies/video that will not be scraped due to various issues such as obscurity. Is there any way to manually add a library item?

Secondly, when I have changed my TV shows/series to the correct naming convention, I know (I think I any way?) there will be some obscure UK shows that will not be picked up. Do I have any options to work around this or do I just do without these shows or watch them in non library mode?

Thirdly I am using the latest build, Camelot I think, (I am not in front of my machine at the moment) & I have downloaded all the skins to try out. I particularly liked the look of Mediastream-Redux & Aeon but when I try to select them I cannot, being told that it will only work with a later build. I thought I had the latest? The only skins I can use are the Project Mayhem ones and the default one. Not the biggest issue in the world as the default one is really nice but I would like to trial the others.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I have search extensively and have found many answers with just these left. I hope I haven't missed anything stupid. If so I'm sorry.

Martin

[Mallet21]

I would download one of these 'newer' versions of XBMC (win32) :

http://mirrors.xbmc.org/nightlies/win32/

Should help with your skin issues.

Also, I would kick the tires on Ember Media Manager: http://www.embermm.com/

It will at least allow you to manually edit your obscure shows that are not scraped and may be more compatible (flexible) with your current naming conventions.

[martink0646b]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I have sorted the skin issue. I didn't realise I had to go to programs and install the skins. I'd just downloaded them to the skins directory and assumed they would work. I will however downloadm the latest build.

As for ember, I will try it out.

Martin

[nessus]

Ember Media Manager (or any Media Manager that you like) indeed is the way to go before you do anything since you have a large collection of media. My suggestion is to make a test folder for Movies and another one for TV Shows and place there your most difficult to scrap media and do some tests with the Media Manager.

Also a very important thing in scraping procedure, is the structure and naming of your files and folders of your media especially in TV Shows that's why you may need to use a good rename utility.

If you are new to XBMC you may want to take a look to this Quick Start Guide.

Cheers
Nessus

[martink0646b]

Hi Nessus,

Thanks. I will try ember, definitely. I have read the quick start guide and numerous threads so I wasn't expecting it to work without a bit hard work I am away on holiday for a week and will sort it out when I get back. Thanks again,

Martin