[Bommy]

Hey all,

First up, want to check I understand library correctly, then get suggestions on how I should manage mine.

So, as I understand it, in the Videos screen I manage my sources (folders on local and networked drives), then set the type of content, and when the library is updated (either manually or on start up, if the option is enabled) the sources are scanned and content is added to the relevant section.

I cleaned and scanned my entire collection with Ember, as I had so much in such a bad state of organisation, but now I'd just like to use XBMC and keep things as simple as possible.

As a result, in my Movies directory I now have one folder per movie (eg. Back To The Future (1985)) and then within that I have the movie, nfo from Ember plus fan art, poster and actors directory.

When I add a movie to this folder manually though, I get the imagery I want in XBMC but I don't get any additions (nfos, images) in the movie's own folder. So, first up, where is it storing that data, and secondly, can I now delete all the files Ember created in the movie folders - has this info been assimilated and imported into an XBMC database somewhere?

Assuming I've got all that right, I'm ready to start adding content on an ad-hoc basis, but how do people tend to do this? My HTPC downloads my files but I tend to want to clean them up once they're there, so they go to a separate location on the drive. Would be great perhaps if there was a way to manually request that XBMC moved the contents of my Downloads directory to Movies, then scanned those folders? Or should I be managing my torrents from within XBMC, perhaps? I'd like to be able to keep my tidy folder naming structure as detailed above if possible, so some manual folder renaming would have to be done at some point.

Any help much appreciated all

[AnalogKid]

You're half way there...

Ember is putting those files in the movie folder to HELP xbmc find them.

When XBMC scans, it searches for a video file, then tries to guess the movie name (either from the filename, OR the parent folder name)....then tries to download movie information and images from movie sites (known as 'scaping').

However, an NFO file completely overrides this logic and defines the movie in absolute terms, so XBMC no longer has to 'guess' what movie it is.
In addition, if certain art files already exist alongside the movie (i.e. poster, fanart etc), then XBMC doesn't have to try scraping them from internet movie sites either.

What XBMC then does is copy the movie details to a local database, and copy the images to a local 'cache'. The 'cache' helps because much of your artwork MIGHT be stored on remote disks, or offline disks etc, so XBMC needs to copy them locally. It can also 'compress them' or optimise them in any way it sees fit to improve performance.

Do NOT delete the artwork files though... because
a) If you ever lose your library, or need to rebuild it, then need to keep them available for rescanning.
b) If XBMC changes some of it's compression / caching features you need to retain the original artwork so that XBMC can rescan them and recompress with a different scheme.


In essence, all you're doing is definitively telling XBMC: THIS is my movie, and THIS is the art I want you to display.
If you didn't have those files, XBMC would then have to guess the movie name, and then go searching the internet for artwork files... then you'd have to either accept the artwork XBMC chose for you, or you'd have to manually choose the artwork of your choice for every movie (from the multiple images per movie that XBMC found on the net).

[seth4u]

A followup question to that if you will.
Using Media Companion I too have added the information in nfo, folder.jpg and fanart.jpg files.
I am however not sure how to get XMBC to display the movies in the subfolder directly.
In the Movies tab I see nothing, in the Videos tab I see the subfolders.
The fanart only shows up when I open the subfolder, the movie-info doesn't show up at all.

Am I supposed to not use subfolders ?
It does exactly what I want when I don't use subfolders, I just don't like doing that as it will all just turn into a huge mess of files.

[Flomaster]

for automation of moving your movies, check out CouchPotato and Sabnzbd in my signature.

-=Jason=-

[prae5]

A followup question to that if you will.
Using Media Companion I too have added the information in nfo, folder.jpg and fanart.jpg files.
I am however not sure how to get XBMC to display the movies in the subfolder directly.
In the Movies tab I see nothing, in the Videos tab I see the subfolders.
The fanart only shows up when I open the subfolder, the movie-info doesn't show up at all.

Am I supposed to not use subfolders ?
It does exactly what I want when I don't use subfolders, I just don't like doing that as it will all just turn into a huge mess of files.

You need to scan content into your library

Check out http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBM...tart_Guide