[sho]

XBMC does not retrieve any metadata from video media files (reason as I understand it is because there are no standards).
So either you have to get the info from online sources (via scrapers) or create nfo files for them.
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Nfo

The opposite is true for music. XBMC gets as much info as it can from the files themselves. In order for that to work well, your tagging has to be complete and accurate.
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Music_Library

[Ranger Rob]

But I would really like to be able to filter on genre, but it does not seem that either EMBER MEDIA MANAGER or XBMX itself grabs this data from its sources. So none of my movies have a genre set.

Not sure why you are having trouble with this. Both EMM and XBMC scrape Genre. It is how I filter my Playlists.

[Flomaster]

What exactly is it you don't like?
In my experience if done properly it is as transparent as smart playlists (with a lot fewer actions to get to the stuff you want), with the added bonus of completely separate contents (effectively multiple libraries).

I just didn't like having to switch profiles. yeah i know thats the whole point of profiles, but for me I have a working method so thats good. for someone else profiles might be the way to go.

-=Jason=-

[tormi]

Not sure why you are having trouble with this. Both EMM and XBMC scrape Genre. It is how I filter my Playlists.

Is not so that IMDB have changed some of their coding, making EMM scraping incomplete?

I tried using Media Companion and this one actually does grab genre info. I guess it is just a question of time before EMM is back on track I haven't figured which of the scrapers I prefer.

But asking for my soon to be system, do you guys install scrapers and other software like utorrent on the htpc itself or do you do it on another computer locally and copy all the stuff over? I would like to keep my htpc as clean as possible but also I want most of the stuff to go automatically.

As far as I have gotten in my planning I am considering installing utorrent on the htpc for tv shows downloading but keep the movie downloading at my other computer and copy it all over.

I have read the very good guide at http://lifehacker.com/5475649/set-up-a-f...dia-center and I see lots of possibilities.

[tormi]

I just didn't like having to switch profiles. yeah i know thats the whole point of profiles, but for me I have a working method so thats good. for someone else profiles might be the way to go.

-=Jason=-

Yeah and having both options is awesome. But I would like to collect my kids movies on the main profile, but I could easily have other movies that I seldom watch like documentaries or horror movies and some other stuff on a separate profile.

I would like though to have automatic login to the main profile and manually switch to other profile if I want to see other stuff.

[>>X<<]

Is not so that IMDB have changed some of their coding, making EMM scraping incomplete?

You have to select "Scrape full Cast" in Ember then it will work exactly as it did before IMDb changed their layout I use it every day without any problems all information is there

Playlists based on using full path with Path "IS" has never worked for me however using "Contains" and "Does not Contain" with the path rule does

If you have a folder called Kids with all your kids movies in using (Path "Contains" Kids) and (Path "Does not Contain" kids) will separate them how you want

You can also use the full path with those two rules but its not really necessary

[tormi]

You have to select "Scrape full Cast" in Ember then it will work exactly as it did before IMDb changed their layout I use it every day without any problems all information is there

Playlists based on using full path with Path "IS" has never worked for me however using "Contains" and "Does not Contain" with the path rule does

If you have a folder called Kids with all your kids movies in using (Path "Contains" Kids) and (Path "Does not Contain" kids) will separate them how you want

You can also use the full path with those two rules but its not really necessary

I have noticed that I can manually do this on each movie, but thats kind of not what I am looking for. Is this an issue that will be fixed or is there better scrapers out there? And thanks again for the tip on playlists.

[sho]

or is there better scrapers out there? And thanks again for the tip on playlists.

Erm, the built in scrapers?

I would like though to have automatic login to the main profile and manually switch to other profile if I want to see other stuff.

Easy, disable the login screen at startup and use one of the above suggested methods to switch (or simply log out to get the login screen).

[>>X<<]

I have noticed that I can manually do this on each movie, but thats kind of not what I am looking for. Is this an issue that will be fixed or is there better scrapers out there? And thanks again for the tip on playlists.

There is an option in Ember "Scrape full Cast" its not a per movie setting its global it points ember to a page on IMDb where the layout layout is identical to the old one hence ember works perfectly again and will add all info in every field including Genre

It won't change nfo's you have already created with fields missing unless you rescrape them and movie info wont change in XBMC unless you refresh them or rebuild your library

Any posts that say ember is not working is coming from poeple who don't bother searching the thread or reading back a few posts for the answer

But as sho points out xbmc's own scrapers will get you genre

[tormi]

Erm, the built in scrapers?

Easy, disable the login screen at startup and use one of the above suggested methods to switch (or simply log out to get the login screen).

So the built in scrapers gets most everything? I just figured since there were som much talk about scrapers around here that i "needed" to use one?

The login method you decribed is ofcourse excatly what I'm looking for Right infront of my nose

[sho]

I've never used an external scraper and I am just fine.

[tormi]

I've never used an external scraper and I am just fine.

Hmmmm. Then thats where I start

Now since I already have scraped parts of my collection, will XBMC skip scraping or will it look to see if it can find additional missing information on my files?

Should I delete all my scraped art/nfo's ++ and just leave the media files before adding them to my XBMC the first time? What would you guys suggest?

[sho]

Depends on how happy you are with the scraped and locally stored info/art.

[rausch101]

Hmmmm. Then thats where I start

Now since I already have scraped parts of my collection, will XBMC skip scraping or will it look to see if it can find additional missing information on my files?

Should I delete all my scraped art/nfo's ++ and just leave the media files before adding them to my XBMC the first time? What would you guys suggest?

XBMC first looks to see if there is an .nfo file for the corresponding media file - if there is one, it doesn't scrape it, if there isn't one it does scrape.

You can really either leave them or delete them. If you want maximum consistency I suppose it would be best to delete them and then do a full scan by XBMC. After scanning/scraping with the built-in XBMC scrapers you can always do Settings->Video->Library->Export Video Library->Individual Files to have XBMC create the .nfo files for you.

[tormi]

XBMC first looks to see if there is an .nfo file for the corresponding media file - if there is one, it doesn't scrape it, if there isn't one it does scrape.

Exactly. Well then I know how it works. I will delete what I've got, let XBMC scrape it and then I'll see if I'm happy with it. If not, then I'll fire up Emper and other tools.

Thanks again for all the help!

I don't have that much media quite yet so I'll be fine