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Confused about media types/collections


ecrispy

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ecrispy

The tutorials posted here (http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/692-mb3-server-setup-and-configuration/) are out of date, which is understandable, so I thought I'd ask.

 

When I add a new 'media folder' in the library manager, I'm assuming that's what shows up as a 'Colelction'? What is the folder type 'Collections' for? AFAICt, there are 2 predefined views for Movies/Tv which are always present if any content of that type is found. e.g. if I add a Documentaries folder as 'tv' and a regular tv shows folder, both will be shown in the 'Tv' view, and each of them is a 'collection' ? Can I define my own views like smart playlists? e.g. HD movies only, movies > 2005 etc? Are there limitations on views/collections?

 

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Koleckai Silvestri

A Media Folder would be your television shows, the kid's televisions, or your HD movies.

 

A collection would be the five Die Hard Movies. Or the eleven Star Trek movies and the five television series. Or you could make a Marvel Universe Collection which has the Avengers, Thor, Captain America, etc... Items would can be in more than one collection if you wish. 

 

The system doesn't have playlists yet. It is on the todo list though.

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ecrispy

Thanks. Do automatic boxsets show up as collections? Or is that completely separate. How is the content in a collection scraped? Or is it not scraped and is just a way to attach images/etc to a collection?

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Koleckai Silvestri

As far as I am aware, Automatic Boxsets are considered collections. I don't use that plugin.

 

Collections are scraped from TMDB.org. If there isn't a match, you can add your own images, overviews and other information by editing the collection in the Metadata Editor.

Edited by Wayne Luke
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Box Set = Collection.

 

We changed our terminology a while back to line up with what other products were using.  We used to call the top-level folders you created for your library "Collections" but everyone else uses this term to mean what we called "Box Sets".  So, we re-named our top-level items to "Media Folders" and now refer to Collections/Box Sets interchangeably.

 

The tutorials are being updated but, with things moving so fast, it is kind of like painting the Golden Gate Bridge.

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Collections and Channels were created by the server

 

Good day Wayne,

 

Something need to ask here, how the server did the collections for you, I do not see that option, or you meant that you create a folder called collections and all your box sets in it?

 

My best

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In the dev server there's currently an issue where if you have never created a collection in the web cilent, then the collections menu option will never be there. i will resolve this soon, probably by allowing you to create them from other screens. i don't want to just stick the folder in there for people who may never use it.

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In the dev server there's currently an issue where if you have never created a collection in the web cilent, then the collections menu option will never be there. i will resolve this soon, probably by allowing you to create them from other screens. i don't want to just stick the folder in there for people who may never use it.

 

Many thanks Luke.

 

We have that option in the past tho and we been happy with it.

 

Dose that mean, it will not be in the home page? I hope not tho. Or a user can create that in the web page as an option to display it?

 

My best

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Once you create a collection in the web interface, then it will show up. I'm not just going to stick it there by default though. That won't work for everyone. But you'll be able to do it later with custom views. In the meantime, once I've fixed the issue, all you have to do is create one single collection using the interface and then it will show up.

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Once you create a collection in the web interface, then it will show up. I'm not just going to stick it there by default though. That won't work for everyone. But you'll be able to do it later with custom views. In the meantime, once I've fixed the issue, all you have to do is create one single collection using the interface and then it will show up.

 

Sorry, I get confuse here, do we need to use the boxset plugin for that, or it not need it, sorry for all these questions buddy.

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Latchmor

I've wondered for a while but kept forgetting as nothing is broken! However, do I need the Auto Box Sets plugin now? 

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The tutorials are being updated but, with things moving so fast, it is kind of like painting the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

LOL ... But indeed that well true at the moment.

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Koleckai Silvestri

Good day Wayne,

 

Something need to ask here, how the server did the collections for you, I do not see that option, or you meant that you create a folder called collections and all your box sets in it?

 

My best

 

 

Luke explained it. But the server created the folder at %AppData%\Roaming\MediaBrowser-Server\data\collections. Within is a "[boxset]" folder for each collection that holds the XML and images.  I just used the existing interface. Before the current bug appeared apparently. I used to manually create [boxset] folders but undid all that when the virtual functionality was built into the server.

 

I am not using the auto box set plugin.

Edited by Wayne Luke
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ecrispy

So if I install AutoBox sets and it identifies movies as part of a set, it will create a 'Collection' that then shows up in the top level view automatically? And can I then manually modify this collection as well?

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Latchmor

Yip, see image below where Auto Box Sets have created the 'Collections' and there are also buttons to Add/Remove individual films. I presume once you remove one, Auto Box Sets remembers this and doesn't add it in again. Can't say for sure as I've left all the collections as they are.

 

53878fe0dc8d8_Capture.jpg

 

Cheers

Latchmor

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Koleckai Silvestri

I've wondered for a while but kept forgetting as nothing is broken! However, do I need the Auto Box Sets plugin now? 

 

If you don't want to manually manage your collections, you would still need the plugin.

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Koleckai Silvestri

I am using a developer edition of the server so my images may look a little different than what you see on your screen. Hopefully they can still illustrate the point.

 

When you create Collections, you get a new Collections Media Folder. If you look at my buttons below, you'll see this with my other Media Folders.

 

2Q9LEG2.png

 

Collections and Channels were created by the server. Podcasts is a plugin. The others are the Media Folders that I created. Collections holds all the box sets that I created. When I click on it, I can access the box sets. Movies, TV Shows, Documentaries, Disney, Music, etc... are all Media Folders that I created based on the directory structure and content on my storage devices.

 

My box sets look like this:

gcYOZkL.jpg

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Latchmor

Ah gotcha. I thought the Collections part did the Auto part + let you add manually. Didn't realise it was all manual. Oh well it's working fine the way it is so I'll leave it alone!

 

Thanks

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ecrispy

That explains it really well, thanks.

 

btw from your Marvel Universe collection I now find out there are movies I wasn't aware of, like 'Item 47', OneShot etc :)

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Koleckai Silvestri

The one-shots are shorts on the various Marvel Blurays. I am missing a few still myself.

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  • 1 month later...
vidkun

So how, if at all possible, would you create a collection of similar type movies that are not box sets and that should show up on the home screen of the web UI along the other Media Folders under My Views. The only way I have found to do this is to either completely reorganize the media library to break them out into separate folders instead of a single "Movies" folder or to have multiple copies of the movies which isn't an option.

 

For example, all my movies are in \\somewhere\movies with each movie in its own subfolder. I want to be able to assign a subset of those movies to a custom "View" to be shown under "My Views". Using the example of kids movies, I was able to create a new "Media Folder" with type "Collections" and then tell the "My Views" options to not group them in with others. That got the folder to display under My Views, but trying to add a new collection to it just keeps it empty and dumps the new collection into the other "Collections" folder alongside all my other box sets.

 

53bee575b4c1b_ScreenShot20140710at21105P

 

Essentially, I want all of my movies to show up in the "Movies" view there. But I also want to break them out into additional custom views such as all the Kids movies in a "Kids" view or all the documentaries in a "Documentary" view without duplicating my files. It would be nice to have these assignable as rights to different users. Such as an account for a family HTPC or for the kids that only gives them access to the Kids view, but then other users that have access to the "Movies" view would be able to see those movies by going to either view, Movies or Kids. 

 

Am I making sense or just rambling at this point? Is there a better way to do this in MBS? Or is it even possible? Does MBS assign an id number to each video that gets pulled in to it? If so, could these be facilitated by basically creating a Media Folder that understands it will only have a single xml or nfo file in it that lists out references to the items or id numbers that it should contain? Then it would essentially just be referencing the original item from within multiple views.

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Sounds like you will want the smart playlist functionality that will come in the future.

 

For now, I think you could do what you want by creating physical folders for those special views and dragging shortcuts to the movies you wish them to contain into them.  Then define those as Media Folders and mark them to not be combined.

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vidkun

Sounds like that is exactly what I'm looking for. Your workaround appears to be working for now, though. Thanks.

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  • 5 weeks later...
kronic24601

This would be an awesome functionality. I'd love to be able to add a new "View" and apply a series of queries/filters from the full database to populate that view. 

 

Also, within collections I'd love to be able to do the same thing. (I have at least 3 folders for "Science Fiction" and no easy way to consolidate without modifying all my metadata manually).

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