2011-03-30, 22:57
Raw newbie to XBMC question...WAF is very important to my HTPC builds. Right now, believe it or not, I'm still using myHTPC (not Meedio even...it's long ago predecessor). I've had to do things like write my own scrapers in .NET to get movie information, etc but would like to move on to something new. Like XBMC
However, there was one feature of myHTPC that I can't seem to replicate and was wondering if it was possible...in myHTPC, I could add buttons (menu items) to the main screen that pointed to different "libraries". For example, I've got multiple mapped drives across my network with DVD rips - each drive has two shares: "DVD" and "Kids DVD". I'd rip stuff like Pixar and Disney movies to the "Kids DVD" share, and stuff like "Watchmen" or "Deadwood" to "DVD".
On the main screen, there's a "DVD" button and a "Kids DVD" button. The "DVD" button shows movies from BOTH mappings for every drive on my network (so I'd see the thumbnails for the Pixar and Disney movies as well as "Watchmen" and "Deadwood"), whereas the "Kids DVD" button only shows the "Kids DVD" shares (only thumbnails for Pixar and Disney).
Any way to do that with XBMC? And yes, I've looked into "Smart Playlists", but that won't work; my wife really likes the top level single button push to the list of movies she wants to see. That lets out things like:
1) Log in as a different user
2) Smart playlists which appear to require you to set up filter criteria off some combination of attributes the movie has - and I guarantee we won't be able to find that magic combination that decides what movies we put into the "Kids DVD" library and which we don't. And you have to "drill down" before you can select your smart playlists - too many button clicks.
What would be perfect would be something similar to what GMail does with "labels". I'd rip a DVD, then assign a "Kid friendly" label to it (or not). Then I'd have two buttons/menu items on the main screen - one that shows movies regardless of label, and another that only shows movies with the "Kid friendly" label on it. We've sort of got that now with the decrepit old myHTPC, but it's cumbersome because "labeling" like that involves actually storing the rip in different shares.
Anyway, is any of this possible with XBMC? Admittedly I've only spent an hour or two searching through the forum and wiki on it - most people are more concerned with accessing libraries across multiple PCs (which is something else we do) or configuring smart playlists (which seems REEEEALY close to what I want, but not quite - if I could set up my own cargo field/tag and then filter on that, it seems like that would work, but it would suck if I had to do it on each and every PC on my network instead of storing it centrally in a database; I've got over 400 movies in my library and going through labeling all of them 4 different times for 4 different PCs isn't a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon...)
--KS
However, there was one feature of myHTPC that I can't seem to replicate and was wondering if it was possible...in myHTPC, I could add buttons (menu items) to the main screen that pointed to different "libraries". For example, I've got multiple mapped drives across my network with DVD rips - each drive has two shares: "DVD" and "Kids DVD". I'd rip stuff like Pixar and Disney movies to the "Kids DVD" share, and stuff like "Watchmen" or "Deadwood" to "DVD".
On the main screen, there's a "DVD" button and a "Kids DVD" button. The "DVD" button shows movies from BOTH mappings for every drive on my network (so I'd see the thumbnails for the Pixar and Disney movies as well as "Watchmen" and "Deadwood"), whereas the "Kids DVD" button only shows the "Kids DVD" shares (only thumbnails for Pixar and Disney).
Any way to do that with XBMC? And yes, I've looked into "Smart Playlists", but that won't work; my wife really likes the top level single button push to the list of movies she wants to see. That lets out things like:
1) Log in as a different user
2) Smart playlists which appear to require you to set up filter criteria off some combination of attributes the movie has - and I guarantee we won't be able to find that magic combination that decides what movies we put into the "Kids DVD" library and which we don't. And you have to "drill down" before you can select your smart playlists - too many button clicks.
What would be perfect would be something similar to what GMail does with "labels". I'd rip a DVD, then assign a "Kid friendly" label to it (or not). Then I'd have two buttons/menu items on the main screen - one that shows movies regardless of label, and another that only shows movies with the "Kid friendly" label on it. We've sort of got that now with the decrepit old myHTPC, but it's cumbersome because "labeling" like that involves actually storing the rip in different shares.
Anyway, is any of this possible with XBMC? Admittedly I've only spent an hour or two searching through the forum and wiki on it - most people are more concerned with accessing libraries across multiple PCs (which is something else we do) or configuring smart playlists (which seems REEEEALY close to what I want, but not quite - if I could set up my own cargo field/tag and then filter on that, it seems like that would work, but it would suck if I had to do it on each and every PC on my network instead of storing it centrally in a database; I've got over 400 movies in my library and going through labeling all of them 4 different times for 4 different PCs isn't a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon...)
--KS