[petes 2.0]

Kodi has a folder for video, one for photos, music and others, my suggestion is to make a "Mixed Media" folder where I can see all the files inside of it or at least all the media files, I guess there could be an addon for that but I'd like to see it by default. Why? Because I often use thumb drives to move stuff around and they have multiple files and it would be easier than having to change directories depending of what I want to see... I don't wan't to use the file explorer because it's not as convenient.

Yes you can see videos in the photos folder and photos in the videos folder but the behavior of how the files open changes depending on the folder. So it would be nice to have one "Mixed Media" folder that opens the files depending on their format, for example opening a photo as if it was in the photos folder and a video file as it it was in the videos folder.

But I do accept suggestions for how to achieve this with addons, skins or anything else.

[PatK]

I guess this is one of the most requested features that I keep reminding users about. Kodi uses scrapers for media, the default scrapers are picking up their meta-data from external web sites (of which we have little to no control) and as such, TV shows, Movies utilize different routines and for simplicity sake we suggest keeping different media in their own sources with dedicated Scrapers (wiki). I do understand your desire to have all of this handled automagically, but alas Kodi is a work in progress and does require some user effort to maintain a well functioning library atm. That doesn't preclude you or others from offering code solutions while the team works diligently to continue to offer more features and fixes we all enjoy.

OK that said I'll elucidate the work-rounds.

1) Kodi offers 'video "file" mode' and with that all sources are visible, and applicable media listed, regardless if it has been scanned to the library or not. Easy enough to NOT set it for scanning, yet still have it accessible, imagery can be set manually for posters & fanart via folder.jpg & fanart.jpg including thumbnails, but no meta-data as the scrapers have not been engaged.

2) Any source can be available as a 'favourite', giving fast access to sources that are not in the library.

3) Nodes can be applied to non sources as direct drive letters (this is somewhat variable, as some hubs & devices do not respect drive assignments). e.g.

Code:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<node type="folder">
    <label>Holding Area</label>
    <icon>Y:\XBMC-backup-information\icons\work.png</icon>
    <path>Y:/downloads</path>
</node>

3) Some skins allow direct linking to folders which can be directed from custom home page buttons or made into favourites.

[izprtxqkft]

additional resource links for the above post

1) Artwork file naming - https://kodi.wiki/view/Artwork_types

2) Favorites - https://kodi.wiki/view/Favourites

3) Video Nodes - https://kodi.wiki/view/Video_nodes

[titanfan]

I love using Kodi without the media scrapers and just browse the file structure to access my media. I really have no need for a library feature, just a good media player with a file browser. I'm using a shield box, which works well with Kodi and many other apps.

So, what would it take to give Kodi a file browser function that sees all files like you do on a PC?? Then when I have mixed directories with music/video/photo/text, Kodi sees everything and handles the playback of all the media types and even displays text files. Since Kodi can't do this, I'm considering getting a HTPC.

Is there a way to start a campaign to fund feature development, like a kickstarter, so people can give money to get the features they really want?

[izprtxqkft]

I love using Kodi without the media scrapers and just browse the file structure to access my media. I really have no need for a library feature, just a good media player with a file browser. I'm using a shield box, which works well with Kodi and many other apps.

So, what would it take to give Kodi a file browser function that sees all files like you do on a PC?? Then when I have mixed directories with music/video/photo/text, Kodi sees everything and handles the playback of all the media types and even displays text files. Since Kodi can't do this, I'm considering getting a HTPC.

Is there a way to start a campaign to fund feature development, like a kickstarter, so people can give money to get the features they really want?

the kodi file view is already capable of differentiating and playing media of all types that it understands, you need to go to Videos->Files

the Movies/TV sections are coded to display items from the library, with some custom work you could make the skin display specific folders when clicking those items - might be just as good as going to the folder as stated above though

the kodi project is already able to receive donations if thats what you feel like doing - https://kodi.tv/donate


as a community driven project, developers work on features they want to use themselves most of the time or requested features if they find the time

if you want specific features then you need your own thread or you can work on adding it since its open source everyone can contribute - albeit within the boundaries already set with regards to coding standards and non-platform specific features

you can even do your own community build if it affects kodi core with features not deemed universal

addons could bridge this as well

[titanfan]

I am using Videos->Files, and that works well for video files. But, I can't see any audio or photo files in my directories, just videos. I want to be able to see all files in my directories regardless of file type. It seems like a needs a HTPC to do what I want.

[Fuchs2468]

I am using Videos->Files, and that works well for video files. But, I can't see any audio or photo files in my directories, just videos. I want to be able to see all files in my directories regardless of file type. It seems like a needs a HTPC to do what I want.

You can use the file manager from kodi. 
Then you have exactly what you are looking for.

[jbinkley60]

I am using Videos->Files, and that works well for video files. But, I can't see any audio or photo files in my directories, just videos. I want to be able to see all files in my directories regardless of file type. It seems like a needs a HTPC to do what I want.

I see you are asking for a Kodi feature request for this functionality.  If you ever want to look at a Kodi solution which leverages Mezzmo and the Mezzmo Kodi addon, this capability is available today.  I am not sure what your overall setup looks like to know whether this makes sense.  Here's how you select the media type by folder in Mezzmo using the file filter option.  It supports video, music, photos or all.  Kodi then browses / syncs to Mezzmo with the addon.

Mezzmo handles scraping media and you can choose to let it scrape, not scrape, add your own metadata, sync to Kodi or not sync to Kodi.  It's totally flexible.


Thanks,

Jeff

[titanfan]

Yes, I remember looking at Mezzmo a while ago, but I decided to go with a Synolgy NAS and android shield box running Kodi. Mezzmo doesn't run on Synology, so that won't work in my setup. Thanks.

[jbinkley60]

Yes, I remember looking at Mezzmo a while ago, but I decided to go with a Synolgy NAS and android shield box running Kodi. Mezzmo doesn't run on Synology, so that won't work in my setup. Thanks.

Yeah, that is a limitation of their offering.  It will run on Windows in a VM but that still requires Windows and I am not sure if Synology offers a hypervisor / virtualization ?


Jeff

[titanfan]

No, I don't think there's a way to run Mezzmo server on a Synology NAS.

[izprtxqkft]

No, I don't think there's a way to run Mezzmo server on a Synology NAS.

jellyfin operates similarly to mezzmo and can be run from a nas if that is the direction you want to venture into - https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/installation/synology

i use jellyfin personally and it works quite well for me on 8 devices sharing the same library

[jbinkley60]

jellyfin operates similarly to mezzmo and can be run from a nas if that is the direction you want to venture into - https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/installation/synology

i use jellyfin personally and it works quite well for me on 8 devices sharing the same library

Does the Jellyfin server support multiple media types / mixed in the same folder / playlist ?  Obviously the client needs to sort it out, if the server serves it up. The Mezzmo Kodi addon handles this.  It makes no assumptions of the content item of the folder or individual items.  it checks on an item by item basis whether it is a photo, music or video file.  


Thanks,

Jeff

[izprtxqkft]

jellyfin operates similarly to mezzmo and can be run from a nas if that is the direction you want to venture into - https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/installation/synology

i use jellyfin personally and it works quite well for me on 8 devices sharing the same library

Does the Jellyfin server support multiple media types / mixed in the same folder / playlist ?  Obviously the client needs to sort it out, if the server serves it up. The Mezzmo Kodi addon handles this.  It makes no assumptions of the content item of the folder or individual items.  it checks on an item by item basis whether it is a photo, music or video file.  


Thanks,

Jeff

i have 3 options for a video sources, movies, shows and mixed movies and shows that i can set the content to

mixed you can group multiple content into - https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/libraries
(mixed is discouraged because metadata may not be accurate)

you can also define a folder with no content set and it will list everything like kodi file manager does (i have 1 like this where i dump test files that dont get scraped)

there is no option to have a scraped source be all things (photos+music+videos+shows+movies) so grouping collections is needed


when browsing you can add pretty much anything that is scraped to a "collection" so you can have a collection that has the series with the movie with the artwork with the ebook and so on, it is more or less a virtual folder and im pretty sure you can add collections to other collections - it gets complicated

yes, you can add collections to collections (to collections to the unknown nth) - not sure how useful this collection of collections would be but it is possible

[jbinkley60]

i have 3 options for a video sources, movies, shows and mixed movies and shows that i can set the content to

mixed you can group multiple content into - https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/libraries
(mixed is discouraged because metadata may not be accurate)

you can also define a folder with no content set and it will list everything like kodi file manager does (i have 1 like this where i dump test files that dont get scraped)

there is no option to have a scraped source be all things (photos+music+videos+shows+movies) so grouping collections is needed


when browsing you can add pretty much anything that is scraped to a "collection" so you can have a collection that has the series with the movie with the artwork with the ebook and so on, it is more or less a virtual folder and im pretty sure you can add collections to other collections - it gets complicated

yes, you can add collections to collections (to collections to the unknown nth) - not sure how useful this collection of collections would be but it is possible

Thanks for the update.  Interesting information.  The Mezzmo server handles things like the client, on an item by item basis.  So it will scrape items based upon their content and media type, not any hierarchy or parent / child library relationship.  Of course it makes things a bit cleaner and smart playlists a bit less complicated when you don't mix it all together but you an if you want.   I've mixed TV shows and movies together that are all part of the same series but don't mix music, music videos, movies and photos together.


Jeff