[leram84]

Hey guys, Iv just built a new HTPC, and have switched over from media browser, so i have a couple of questions.
First of all, when i was on MB i used to use MediaCenterMaster for all metadata because the internal scrappers werent as good. That seems to be the case w xbmc as well otherwise i would imagine no one would be using 3rd party sw. so assuming that MCM will give me more metadata than the internal xbmc scrapper, I have a few questions about media structure.
I have a 500GB SSD on my htpc as well as a potential 40TB of HDD (10x HDD bays - its the Origen S21T case) Assuming there will be a noticeable performance increase by keeping my metadata on the SSD, i would need to split up my Media folders to have the metadata on one drive and the actual media on another. Is this possible with XBMC? It wasn't with MB, so my only recourse was to manually create shortcut links to EVERY movie.
So my questions are
1 can i point XBMC to two diferrent drives for 1 media file?
2 and if not, can MediaCenterMaster, or any other sw Automatically Create movie folders on the SSD with ALL metadata, but with a SHORTCUT link to the movie instead of the actual file so that when i drop a movie in the HDD it will Automatically put together the metadata folder on the SSD.

[phunqe]

The internal XBMC scraper actually gives you a lot of meta data, I think the main reason for using an external one is to be able to edit information manually in an easy way and also to create nfo files.
I personally don't do that, I find the internal scraper and database to be sufficient, in which case the library is stored on my primary disk (user profile disk) with links to the actual movies on the storage server.

Is there any information in particular that you feel would be missing?

[leram84]

does xbmc actually pull info off the .nfos? MB could only read .xml files for media info.
but to your question, I do prefer having more control over metadata. As well as LOCAL trailers.

[phunqe]

XBMC can read nfo files per movie, but they have to be in XML format.

As for trailers, I believe you can set to download them upon first look (someone correct me on that one if wrong), unless you are referring to already existing movie trailer files in your storage, in which case I don't know how to set that up (although it might be possible).

In any case, if you want to manually edit the metadata, then yes a media manager is for you (unless you want to manually edit the SQL Express database).

[leram84]

yes, iv already committed to manually managing my metadata. my questions were:
1 can i point XBMC to two diferrent drives for 1 media file?
2 and if not, can MediaCenterMaster, or any other sw Automatically Create movie folders on the SSD with ALL metadata, but with a SHORTCUT link to the movie instead of the actual file so that when i drop a movie in the HDD it will Automatically put together the metadata folder on the SSD.

[phunqe]

I guess you could do an internal scrape, export all that info and then manage those NFOs and fanart etc in a media manager. I am a bit unsure how others do it however, so don't take my ramblings as facts on this matter.
I basically just make sure all my movies are perfectly named for spot on IMDB lookup and I let the internal scraper do the job.

EDIT:

Someone slap me if I'm out sailing here, but if you use a media manager which creates XBMC compatible NFOs, you can build your XBMC library with that.
The NFOs you create will have the link to the movies on your storage and the XBMC library itself will be built on your primary HTPC disk (the SSD).

[kricker]

XBMC reads the .nfo files if they are setup properly for XBMC. That data is then scanned into the library database. This database file is stored in your user profile folder, which by default is on your main OS drive. See the wiki for more info on your userdata folder.

XBMC internal scrapers grab pretty much all the same info the 3rd party scrapers do. They all use the same sites for the most part. As Phunqe stated earlier, media manager tools are primarily used to edit your meta data. You keep those .nfo files in the same folder as the movies.

[leram84]

Ok, i guess im not really explaining this correctly. let me simplify. I (for many reasons) WILL use MediaCenterMaster to DOWNLOAD all metadata. My question is can i put ALL my movies in 1 folder called "Movies" on my "D" drive, and then keep all my metadata in ANOTHER folder called "Metadata" in my "C" drive.

[ixnu]

Ok, i guess im not really explaining this correctly. let me simplify. I (for many reasons) WILL use MediaCenterMaster to DOWNLOAD all metadata. My question is can i put ALL my movies in 1 folder called "Movies" on my "D" drive, and then keep all my metadata in ANOTHER folder called "Metadata" in my "C" drive.

By other means, this is what XBMC does by default.

Here's a good discussion:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=125162

If your workflow is:

Rip-> collect and update metadata with MCM -> Scan for new items within XBMC

then you should be fine.

XBMC uses nfo's if they are located with the media on an initial scan. XBMC then stores this metadata locally (C:\ by default). MCM can't easily change these items once they have been scanned into the local (C:\ drive) database. You can always change local metadata with XMMS.

As an erstwhile Media Browser devote myself, I started out using MCM (then Ember) in conjunction with XBMC. I moved to the internal scrappers once Eden was in beta and I have not looked back. Once you figure out how to navigate and change items inside XBMC, the internal scrappers are far superior 99+% time. There are times when I still use MCM for items that just won't scan correctly (eg Life, and some concert videos) and then just rescan from source. I have found this to be the best of all worlds.

[leram84]

hmmmm... ok, i think u guys have me convinced to stick w internal scrappers... im gonna play around w this later tonight