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MB3 Server - Using the Web Client


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Using the Web Client
Original Author: Abobaber
 

 
This thread will explain some of the Media Browser 3 Web Client features and options.
 
You can edit your titles (metadata and images), play your titles, remotely browse and play titles to selected clients, search your titles, etc.
 
Access your MB3 server dashboard by opening your internet browser and by providing the following:
 
- The *hostname* or *IP* for the windows server/PC where the server is installed.
- The MB3 server *port* number.
- Then the word *mediabrowser* for the link address.
 
So it will be like this if your mb3 server run at the same pc:
 
    http://localhost:8096/mediabrowser
If at another Server/PC on the same network as your MB3 server, then something like this:
 
    http://192.168.1.1:8096/mediabrowser 
... using IP address, or
 
    http://ayajone:8096/mediabrowser 
...using hostname (as my server host name is "ayajone").
 
 
So in this example, I am accessing my mb3 server on the server (ayajone) and I am using the port number (8096) as I setup this port in the server tools at the advanced menu.
 
For this and how to setup your mb3 server, please see this thread: MB3 Server Setup and Configuration
 
Please note: You need to open the MB3 server port (TCP) to the local network if you are using a third party firewall. Normally the MB3 server will do that for you if you are using the Windows firewall. If you want to also access the MB3 server over the internet (WAN), then you need as well to forward the port number MB3 server use (TCP) in your router settings.
 
If this the first time you've accessed the web client, then you will see a window with all the user profiles (the mb3 server remembers your last log in):
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc1.jpg
 
If the profile you select has a password, then type that password and click on *Sign in*:
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc2.jpg
 
Now we are at the main screen of the web client, let's explain the main items there:
 
526d5925ed4f9_Abo2mb3serverwc3.jpg
 
- No 1: To return to this main screen.
- No 2: Access the mb3 server tools menu.
- No 3: View/Edit your profile (3A), or log out (3B).
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc5.jpg
 
- No 4: Global search across all your collections. It will search for all titles or people containing the search term, like in our example "Home", we can see any items have that word in it, movie, tv show, music, person, etc:
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc6.jpg
 
526d59407a353_Abo2mb3serverwc7.jpg
 
- No 5: View menu items.
- No 6: Your collection items.
 
Based on your internet browser or/and the screen size, the View menu could be as icons as you see:
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc4.jpg
 
Also, the "View" menu items depend on your collection type (movies, tv series, music, etc) as well on plug-ins installed on the mb3 server as in this example, the GameBrowser3 plugin, so the items in these images may be different from what you have.
 
But what is "View" items menu (no. 5) and "Media Collections" ?
 
Views
 
Well, in "View" menu, will display all the items based on it category type, let say the "Movies", no matter where it is in all of your collections, if it is a movie, then it will display it. This is based on the content type you specified when creating your collections.
 
To make it more clear, let say I have movies in my collections "Movies", "Old Movies", and "Offline", then in the View menu for movies, I will see them all.
 
"TV Shows" will display any tv series that I have in any media collections I have, as I have them in the collections: Animation, Doc, TV series, etc.
 
Please note: At this time, the media types supported by Views are Movies, TV Shows, and Music items (which includes both Music and Music Videos), as determined by the Collection types you choose and the use of proper file structure as explained here. Plugins may add additional View types (for ex, GameBrowser). 
 
Media Collections
 
These are the Collections that you set up in the server tools.
 
So here I simply if I want to browse "Old Movie" only, I can access that media collection.
 
 
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Customize your media collections
 
- Adding image to a collection (6A)
- Sort order the collection (6B)
 
526d59a50f850_Abo2mb3serverwc8.jpg
 
Adding images to a collection:
 
As in this example, I will change the poster for the collection "Movies", I click on it, then click on "Edit":
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc9.jpg
 
Then click on the "Images" tab, then click on "Upload Image", then either click on "Choose File" then select one from a location you have, or simply hold and drag image and drop it into the box that says "Drop Image Here":
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc10.jpg
 
Now to choose what type of image will be, since in this example I want it as the main display image, I will choose the type "Primary", then click on "Upload" and we are done.
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc11.jpg
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc12.jpg
 
You can repeat the steps above to upload backdrops and other types of images to a collection.
 
Specifying the sort order of Collections:
 
The default sort order for the collections is alphabetical by name, as you see, first one as "Animation", then second as "Documentary" .. etc., How about if I want the collection "Movies" be first in the list and collection "TV Series" be second, we can do this by adding in the sort name "001" for the collection "Movies", and the sort name "002" for "TV Series", here how we can do that:
 
First, I will click on the collection "Movies", then click on "Edit", then under the "Metadata" tab, I will edit the Sort Name field from "Movies" to be "001" then click on save. I do same steps as well on "TV Series", but I will change the Sort Name from "TV Series" to "002".
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc13.jpg

Abo2-mb3serverwc14.jpg
 
The result as you see will be in No. 6B:
 
526d59c52260d_Abo2mb3serverwc15.jpg
 
 
If you want to go back to sorting by name for any collection, then change the box for "Sort Name" to be same as the box "Name" then click on save.
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc16.jpg

 

Edited by Knowledge Base
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Browsing your media

 

I will enter my "Movies" media collection for this example, so let's explain the movies browsing (listing) page:

 

- No 7: Alphabetical index, for browsing by title. Select a letter to jump to titles starting with that letter. If there are no titles starting with the chosen letter, the results will start with whatever titles come alphabetically after that.

 

By default, the server ignores the words "the, an, a" from the index name.

 

526d5a10da9f7_Abo2mb3serverwc18.jpg

 

- No 8: Choosing either "poster" or "backdrop" view for your titles.

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc19.jpg

 

 

- No 9: Sort display by (default) name, rating, etc, to exit this menu, either by clicking "Sort" again or any place in the screen after you select your option.

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc20.jpg

 

- No 10: Filter what to display, like played, like, dislike, etc.

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc21.jpg

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc17.jpg

 

- No 11: Number of titles being displayed out of total collection, and drop-down page selection.

- No 12: Go forward or backward through pages.

- No 13: Number of titles to display per page. Higher numbers can result in slower page loads.

- No 14: Media title

- No 15: Year of release

- No 16: Running time

- No 17: Star rating sourced from internet providers

- No 18: Progress bar for partially-watched items

- No 19: MPAA rating, based on the country setting you chose in the server settings

- No 20: Video type, such as bluray, dvd, avi, etc.

 

Much of the above information can be edited from the metadata edit page, which we will cover later.

 

- No 21: Watched (played) title status, "gray" as not watched, "red" is watched, you can click on it to change the status.

- No 22: Like & Dislike status, you can click on it to select the status for that.

- No 23: Favorite, you can click on it to add the title to your "Favorites" list.

Edited by Knowledge Base
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Item detail page

 

Enter the detail page by clicking on the title. As an example, I will click on the title "10,000 BC".

 

Let's look at the info available here:

 

- No 24: The information that been explained from no. 14 to no. 23.

- No 25: The genres for the item - if you click on one of them, it will display all the media items within that genre.

- No 26: The movie taglines and plot/storyline.

- No 27: The play button.

- No 28: The remote button, to direct a connected remote client to play or browse to the item.

- No 29: To edit metadata and the images.

- No 30: The video, audio and the subtitle details.

- No 31: The studio and production company names for that movie, as well the clickable link to web sites for more information about the movie.

- No 32: The media file location.

 

526d5a5558ed4_Abo2mb3serverwc22.jpg

 

- No 33: The actors and their roles in the movie.

- No 34: To display additional cast and crew.

- No 35: A listing of similar titles you might like to watch.

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc23.jpg

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc24.jpg

 

- No 36: Reviews from Rotten Tomatoes plugin, which can be installed from the server tools menu.

- No 37: The scene section - you can click on any chapter of the movie to play it from that point.

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc25.jpg

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc26.jpg

 

If you click on any actor / crew images, we will see this information:

- No 33-A: Biography, as well options to select dislike, like, and add to favorites.

- No 33-B: To edit the actor / crew metadata and the images for the personal.

- No 33-C: Link at TheMovieDB for full info about the person.

- No 33-D: The other items in your media library featuring this person.

 

526d5a72d956c_Abo2mb3serverwc27.jpg

 

Playing a title

 

When you click on the "Play" button (No. 27) if you played some part of that title, then the popup window will have the option "Resume". Let's click on "Play" to play that title.

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc28.jpg

 

Let explain the player options:

Note - Your player icon layout may differ based on the width of your screen / browser window.

 

- No 27 A: The video playback area.

- No 27 B: Play/Pause the title.

- No 27 C: Stop playing the title and return to the main title screen.

- No 27 D: Select the subtitle stream if available.

- No 27 E: Selection a scene to play.

- No 27 F: Switch to full screen mode for playing the movie, pressing "ESC" will return you to normal screen mode.

- No 27 G: Seek bar.

- No 27 H: The current time played as well the movie length total time.

- No 27 I: Mute / unmute the sound.

- No 27 J: Sound volume control.

- No 27 K: Choose the streaming quality option for the movie. Streaming capabilities will vary, based on the computer the server is installed on, the type of video file, and your network.

- No 27 L: Choose audio stream.

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc29.jpg

Edited by Knowledge Base
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Remote Control from the Item Detail page:

 


 

This option allows you to browse to or play a title on any device currently connected to the MB3 server.

 

This option only works if a client device been discovered by the server. As example for this, I did not connect any device, so if I try to use this option (No. 28), I will face this error:

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc30.jpg

 

I test this option by running Media Browser Classic (MBC), then when we select the option "Remote", will see remote control option and info for the clients. Let's explain that window:

 

- Client = MBC
- Device = FATHER-WIN64/abobader (This display string will vary depending on client type, in this case, a PC.)

- User = abobader
 

Abo2-mb3serverwc31.jpg

 

 

The "Select command" options are:

 

- Browse to: To just display the title details page on the remote client.

- Play: To play the title on the remote client.

- Resume: To resume a partially played title on the remote client.

- Play from scene: To start playing from a selected scene.

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc32.jpg

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc33.jpg

 

As an example of how this works, shown here is MB Classic displaying the EHS (enhanced home screen):

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc34.jpg

 

Now on the MB3 server we select the title "10th & Wolf" then we click on the "Remote", choose "Browse to", then click on "OK":

 

526d5ac887741_Abo2mb3serverwc35.jpg

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc36.jpg

 

Now the client (MBC in this case) will display the details for that movie.

 

526d5ae35f20b_Abo2mb3serverwc37.jpg

Edited by Knowledge Base
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Editing - Metadata & People
 
Most of the titles have these 3 categories to edit, some have less, but in general these are the main things. To edit any title, click on the "Edit" button from the item's detail page.
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc38.jpg
 
- No 29 A: The name of the title we are editing.
- No 29 B: The main 3 tabs (Metadata, People, and Images).
- No 29 C: The sections of items that we can edit.
- No 29 D: When you edit or modify anything, click on "Save" to save the change.
- No 29 E: Force refresh on that title, this done to force refresh only that title.
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc39.jpg
 
- When we force refresh the title, we will see the "busy" indicator. We can select to include child items with the force refresh, for example boxset titles, episodes within a tv series, etc.
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc40.jpg
 
Metadata
The metadata is simply the information for a title, like name, sort name, year, genres, rating, description, and so on Let's look at the items available for us to enter or edit.
 
Basics
- No 38: Basics section for metadata - click on the "+" to open the option.
- No 38 A: Title name (real name of the movie or the title).
- No 38 B: Sort order name, you can change that of you another sort in that title.
- No 38 C: Display type, the video format, like bluray, dvd, avi .. etc.
- No 38 D: Community rating, as other rating, summary and if a title have it own website.
- No 38 E: Overview, as the story line (plot, summary .. etc).
- No 38 F: Released date (the date been released) - Year (the title production year).
- No 38 G: Official rating (MPAA ratings for USA, other ratings will display based on your country selection during server setup); Custom rating (the one you apply), Custom rating will over rule the official rating if you add it, so mb3 server will apply the custom rating if it is there.
- No 38 H: Original aspect ratio for the video format.
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc41.jpg
 
- No 39: Genres, Studios, Tags
- No 39 A: To add a genre, studio, or tag in the box then click on the "Add" to add it.
- No 39 B: To remove a genre, studio, or tag from the list by click on the "x" sign.
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc42.jpg
 
- No 40: External IDs. This a very useful option, if the server can not find the correct metadata, images or a like for your title, manually entering the ID from one of the listed sites will tell it to use the info for that ID.
- No 40 A: Enter or edit the relevant ID(s) for the title.

Abo2-mb3serverwc43.jpg
 
- No 41: Internet Provider Settings - You can disable/enable fetching selected metadata for a title.
- No 41 A: To disable or enable for this title, if disabled, then no fetching will be done by the server during a library scan or when forcing a refresh. Default setting is enabled (checked) To disable fetching, unchecked the box.
- No 41 B: (Only visible when No. 41A is enabled.) Disable or enable individual options for fetching.
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc44.jpg
 
People
 
The metadata for the cast and crew in the titles as:
 
- No 42: To add a new person
- No 43: Name
- No 44: Their role in that title
- No 45: To edit the info in this view
- No 46: Their cast or crew position in that title
- No 47: Photo
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc45.jpg
 
To add a person, simply click on "Add Person" then enter their name, role, and choose the type then click on "OK".
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc46.jpg
 
To edit a person's info, click on "Edit" as no. 45 then change the information as needed.
- To exit the edit for a person without saving click on "Cancel"
- Click on "Save" to update the information.
- To delete a person from this title, click on "x" as No. 45A then click "OK" on the confirmation.
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc47.jpg
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Editing - Images

- No 48: To "Upload Image" as explained earlier in this article.

- No 49: Image type, such as "Primary (poster)", "Logo", "Banner", etc.

- No 50: The image size in pixels, some images need to be a certain size / aspect ratio to work properly, like "Logo" and "Disc" as example.

- No 51: Image file size.

- No 52: To delete an image, click on the "x" sign.

- No 53: To rearrange the backdrop order.

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc48.jpg

 

Abo2-mb3serverwc49.jpg

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Views
 
Movies
As we see, the items for the movies views are:
 
- No 54: Suggested for latest unwatched movies, resume one as well latest trailers.
 
526d5b2e86147_Abo2mb3serverwc50.jpg
 
- No 55: Movies - displays all the movies from all of your collections.
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc50a.jpg
 
- No 56: The Box Sets in your collections.
- No 56 A: The number of movie titles in each box sets. Also shown: filter options for this view.
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc51.jpg
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc51a.jpg
 
- No 57: The trailers, which are populated by either the Trailers plugin, or a Collection of locally stored trailers that you've set up on the server.
- No 57 A: Indicates new items in the current view.
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc52.jpg
 
- No 58: Genres, clicking on any one of them will display all titles within that genre.
- No 58 A: Genre name.
- No 58 B: Total titles within that genre.
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc53.jpg
 
 
In the main Movies view, you can apply a variety of filters:
 
Abo2-mfeb.jpg
 
Abo2-54qw.jpg

 

Edited by Knowledge Base
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TV Series and Music Views
 
Here some images for the TV and Music views. Though the layouts are different, many of the features work in a similar manner as the Movies View explained above.
 
526d5b5e105bc_Abo2mb3serverwc54.jpg
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc55.jpg
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc56.jpg
 
Abo2-mb3serverwc57.jpg

Abo2-mb3serverwc58.jpg
Edited by Knowledge Base
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Remote Control from the main Web Client Interface

 


The remote control lets the server control or communicate with clients currently connected to the server. Supported features vary by client.

 

- No 59: The icon to click to start remote control.

- No 59 A: Select a client for remote control.

- No 59 B: Shown if the client selected does not have any title paying at that time.

- No 59 C: To control a currently playing title on the selected client.

 

Abo2-rma7.jpg

 

Abo2-7svd.jpg

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Admin
Offline Shares

When you put a share offline for any reason, MB3 server still displays the titles with an icon indicating that it is offline.

 

When you put any share offline, go to MB3 server "Tools" and in the menu "Scheduled Tasks", run "Scan media library", then the offline share will be updated to show the "offline" indicator.

 

- No 60: Showing titles that are online.

- No 61: Showing titles that are offline.

 

Abo2-ycol.jpg

 

Abo2-0iqu.jpg

 

I hope this gives you some information of how to do some common tasks in the MB3 server Web Client.

 

- Big thanks to the MB3 project team, Luke and the rest of the dev team.

- Cover treatment done by the plugin "CoverArt 4" from Ebr.

- GameBrowser 3 plugin from Redshirt.

- Customize images for the media collection and genres from Tikuf.

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