Questions from a potential XBMC convert

[cracksloth 25]

As a long time XBMC user, I have invested a significant amount of time properly naming files, customizing artwork, etc.  In MB3, I see there is an option to store such files in the media folders themselves (similar to my how I work with XBMC) but I haven't seen it described anywhere what naming convention you use.  Obviously, I would prefer it if the naming convention were cross compatible with XBMC.  It would be a huge leap of faith to abandon XBMC at this point if I knew that changes I made in MB3 would be lost if I ever changed my mind.

 

Secondly, can I import watched status from XBMC?  I have a lot of movies/series and this would be incredibly difficult to do manually.  I know I can export watched status from XBMC to be stored in the nfo file.  Does MB3 import this information when scanning?  If I use MB3 for awhile, can I export MB3 watched status back to each title's nfo file (again, if I ever feel a need to return to XBMC)?  I certainly think MB3 looks amazing but switching to it gives me pause if trying it out for awhile locks me into a metadata system that has no way out.

 

Also, I was wondering if there were any plans for tying into the TV servers.  Don't get me wrong, I am familiar with MBC's relationship with WMC but I would rather MB Clients create the interface and "talk" to a single TV server.  If so, what TV servers do you plan on supporting?

 

Finally, what date is used for "date added"?  In XBMC this is customizable.  In order for "date added" to have meaning for my collection, I would need to use "date created" or "date modified" of the file (not the current time when adding the video).  Is this the default behavior?

 

MB3 seems like an incredible project and the server/client design is *definitely* something I've wanted for a long time.  I absolutely love everything I have seen!  Keep up the amazing work!

[Redshirt 1487]

I believe MB3 does recognize all the xbmc image naming conventions. Luke will have to confirm that.

 

As far as migrating your watch status from xbmc to MB3. The only way I can think of to do that would be to install the XBMC Trakt plugin and sync your watch status to Trakt. Then install the MB3 Trakt plugin and pull your watch status from Trakt.

[Luke 37054]

Default behavior is date added of the file, and yes we have server-based live tv in development.

 

For metadata, we have our own xml metadata files, but if you install our NFO plugin, we will then also saved xbmc-compatible NFO's. It will still save our xml, but the plugin will give you dual output to nfo anytime changes are made.

 

Images are saved using xbmc-compatible naming conventions.

 

We do not currently read nfo's, so at the moment you can't import the watched state, but this can be automated with the trakt plugin. Also the NFO plugin allows you to save watched state to NFO's so that xbmc can be kept in sync.

 

So I think all we're really missing is nfo watched state reading. That may come at a later date, but for now trakt can be a workaround.

[cracksloth 25]

That's great about the NFO plugin - it definitely puts my mind at ease to take the plunge!  I have so far resisted the urge to try Tract but it definitely beats the alternative.  So I take it you will code your own TV server?  Very cool...

 

 

Default behavior is date added of the file

 

So this means that if I create my MB3 library today, all files will have today's timestamp (not the timestamp of the actual file)?  Is there a way to change this behavior to opt for the creation or modified date of the file?

Edited November 12, 2013 by cracksloth

[ebr 14910]

 

So this means that if I create my MB3 library today, all files will have today's timestamp (not the timestamp of the actual file)?  Is there a way to change this behavior to opt for the creation or modified date of the file?

 

No, they will have the date added of the file/folder.  But this can also be overridden in the metadata.

[Luke 37054]

I should have been more specific - default behavior is the date created timestamp of the file or folder, as Ebr mentioned.

[cracksloth 25]

When you say "date added", does that mean the same as "date created"?  Sorry, I think I just misunderstand what is meant by added.

 

EDIT: sorry, thank you for the clarification!

Edited November 12, 2013 by cracksloth

[ebr 14910]

Yes, it is what you are expecting.

 

MB is designed to stay in sync with your file system automatically.  So, once you set it up and point it to your media locations, you don't ever have to worry about importing or updating things.  We watch the file system and keep everything in sync with that.

[cracksloth 25]

After the encouraging responses here, I took the plunge and setup MB3 but I encountered a few unexpected behaviors and I might be in need of some help.

 

Each of my movie titles had a poster and fanart in the form of:

moviename - poster.jpg

moviename - fanart.jpg

 

I do not believe any of them were imported by MB3. I originally thought that the setting to use XBMC naming conventions was for this purpose. Am I right in assuming MB3 only looks to online sources for new images? New fanart.jpg files were created in many movie folders. I have spent quite a bit of time over the years making sure my folders were clean and my images were good (often I make my own fanart due to the fact I have a lot of obscure movies). I realize this is my own fault for not first installing MB3 on a test machine but being too late for that now, does anyone have any advice on how to proceed? Would it work if i removed my movie folder from the MB3 library, rename all of my posters to poster.jpg and fanart to fanart.jpg, then rescan my movie folder? If so, does anyone know how to bulk rename all "moviename - fanart.jpg" files to "fanart.jpg" overwriting any files that may already exist?

 

Also, how does MB3 handle extrafanart and extrathumbs folders? I actually prefer the simplicity of just having a single highly curated image so I frequently delete those folders using my file manager if I see they have been scraped. When I did this for a movie, I noticed that visiting the "images" page for that title in MB3 resulted in a brief error explaining that it could not find the extrafanart folder. The error very quickly disappeared, and then no images would display at all. I seemed to have "fixed" the problem by attempting to import an image from the cloud, at which point all other images became visible again. I suppose that is more of a bug report - sorry for throwing it in here but my real question is that I noticed on another occasion that after I deleted all backdrops (this time using the MB3 web client due to my previous experience) then adding the fanart I actually liked, MB3 stored the file in both the "extrafanart" folder (as fanart1.jpg) and also in "extrathumbs" (as thumbs1.jpg). To me, this scenario should result in a single file called "fanart.jpg" stored in the same folder as the movie file. Can someone help me out in getting a better grasp of how MB3 stores images (at least when using the XBMC compatibility mode)?. I have no doubt that MB3 is a better experience for users starting a collection (compared to XBMC) but for those of us who have established collections, these details are important. There should be an XBMC conversion ambassador! Maybe just a tutorial?

 

When editing a fanart/backdrop, I often overwrite the original.  In MB3 these changes do not seem to get updated until I refresh the title. If I didn't manually refresh, would MB3 eventually use the updated artwork?

 

What happens if I rename a movie (using a file manager)? Will the old entry be automatically removed on the next library update (while adding the "new" renamed file)?

 

When ffmpeg transcodes content for streaming to web clients, where are the files kept and how long are they cached?

 

My last observation is that even though I'll set the order of my movie listing (in the web client) to descending date added, the list will often spontaneously revert back to ascending alphabetical. I am using Firefox 25.0. I think this is probably a bug but, for now, is there a way to set the default view to descending date added?

 

Thanks again for the great software! In spite of the hiccups I've had, I have wanted a real centralized media server for a long time (XBMC MySQL just doesn't count!). I'm going to see this through to the end - who knows, maybe my experiences will help somone else down the line. I'm excited for the future of MB3!

Edited November 14, 2013 by cracksloth

[Luke 37054]

you can configure the number of backdrops that get downloaded in the metadata configuration section. sounds like you want only one.

 

the reason we duplicate additional backdrops in both extrafanart and extrathumbs is that this was the recommendation from multiple xbmc users in order to ensure the highest compatibility with the largest number of xbmc themes.

 

For the next server release I will add {movie}-fanart as a recognized backdrop file name, so that we can utilize it if it's there and not download a new one. However when we do download, the reason we save the first backdrop using fanart.jpg was again, based on feedback from xbmc users. 

[Luke 37054]

Also, we do currently recognized {movie}-poster.ext, and we do save posters using that name, for some types.

[Luke 37054]

As for other things - you lost me. Please limit to one topic per thread.

[Cheesegeezer 3086]

 

 

1.  When editing a fanart/backdrop, I often overwrite the original.  In MB3 these changes do not seem to get updated until I refresh the title. If I didn't manually refresh, would MB3 eventually use the updated artwork?

 

2.  What happens if I rename a movie (using a file manager)? Will the old entry be automatically removed on the next library update (while adding the "new" renamed file)?

 

3.  When ffmpeg transcodes content for streaming to web clients, where are the files kept and how long are they cached?

 

4.  My last observation is that even though I'll set the order of my movie listing (in the web client) to descending date added, the list will often spontaneously revert back to ascending alphabetical. I am using Firefox 25.0. I think this is probably a bug but, for now, is there a way to set the default view to descending date added?

 

Thanks again for the great software! In spite of the hiccups I've had, I have wanted a real centralized media server for a long time (XBMC MySQL just doesn't count!). I'm going to see this through to the end - who knows, maybe my experiences will help somone else down the line. I'm excited for the future of MB3!

Hi there,

 

I've numbered some of your questions to make answering easier.

 

1.  Yes, there is a sheduled library scan which you can edit from the dashboard(by dashboard I mean, the web based interface).  You can do a load of customization if you like with files and fanart, then click the play button next to Library Scan, under the scheduled task side bar, and it will rescan your entire library and detect changes that way.  Also if you click on the library scan itself you can tell it how and when it should scan.

 

2.  This depends on how your movie structure is.... I'm going to assume you have 

 

Movie Folder

-Movie.ext

So renaming the Folder should trigger an update, renaming the movie.ext file will not.

 

3. Tikuf or Luke will be able to answer this one for you.

 

4.  Not sure about this, have you tried a different browser, such as Chrome or Safari, IE doesn't work to good TBH.

Edited November 14, 2013 by Cheesegeezer

[gcw07 347]

When ffmpeg transcodes content for streaming to web clients, where are the files kept and how long are they cached?

 

 

Most of the clients have implemented a kill switch when they are done with the stream. So for the most part it is cached only while playing and deleted as soon as your done. As for location:

 

%appdata%/mediabrowser-server/cache/encoded-media

[Redshirt 1487]

For clients that haven't implemented the "kill switch" (if there are any). I do believe server still cleans up when it realizes the playback is not happening anymore.So 2-3 minutes after playback stops.

[cracksloth 25]

Let me first thank everyone for being so helpful and patient. It has been great encountering such a personable and active community. I apologize for the lack of forum etiquette (alcohol makes that edit post button look pretty tempting and I couldn't stop myself)!

 

@@Luke

In regards to the extrafanart and extrathumbs folders, I certainly didn't mean to criticize the inclusion of a feature so many people use. I was actually just trying to point out 2 instances that (from my inexperienced perspective) seemed somewhat buggy. Calling them bugs just seemed unfair because I am so very new to MB3 and I'm not really familiar yet.

• when I delete the extrafanart and extrathumbs folders of a title using a file manager, the MB3 web client becomes unable to display the "images" page for that title
• when i delete all backgrounds for a title using the MB3 web client then add the single background I prefer, the file is added to both the extrafanart and extrathumbs folders rather than adding a single file called fanart.jpg in the movie folder.

Ultimately, what I'm trying to do is convert my images to MB3 (I have a great deal of custom fanart that i don't want to lose or accidentally overwrite). I think I've learned what I need to do but I would really appreciate it if someone could confirm that this is correct:

1. My posters (with moviename-poster.jpg filenames) were likely appropriately imported because that naming convention is supported by MB3. When the option for XBMC compatiblity is used, MB3 will store all future posters as poster.jpg. If I want all poster filenames to be uniform in my collection, I need to use a bulk renamer to rename my moviename-poster.jpg files to poster.jpg. After MB3 re-scans my library, I will have "fixed" posters. MB3 will never overwrite my posters when this method is followed.
2. My fanart (with moviename-fanart.jpg filenames) were not imported because that naming convention is not supported by the current version of MB3. When the option for XBMC compatiblity is used, MB3 will store all future fanart as fanart.jpg. If I want all fanart filenames to be uniform in my collection, I need to use a bulk renamer to rename my moviename-fanart.jpg files to fanart.jpg overwriting the fanart.jpg files that were created by MB3 when I initially attempted to import my library. After MB3 re-scans my library, I will have "fixed" fanart. MB3 will never overwrite my fanart when this method is followed.

Is this the correct/simplest solution to my problem?

 

Anyway, let me thank everyone again - sorry to be such a pain, but I don't want MB3 to overwrite my artwork that I've worked so hard for.

[Luke 37054]

The first bullet point is a bug. I'll fix it for the next release.

 

The second one is by design - first backdrop goes in the main movie folder, all additional ones go into extrafanart & extrathumbs

 

#1 and #2 are both correct, but I will add support for {movie}-fanart.

[cracksloth 25]

 

The second one is by design - first backdrop goes in the main movie folder, all additional ones go into extrafanart & extrathumbs

 

I must not have explained quite right.  Let me try again:

1. First I look at the movie folder in a file browser.  I notice that it contains an extrafanart and extrathumbs folder
2. Using the MB3 web client, I delete *all* backdrops for a movie (so the background count = 0)
3. When I look at that movie's folder in a file browser, I see that the extrafanart folder still exists with no files in it.  The extrathumbs folder still exists and still has files in it. fanart.jpg has not been deleted.  I would think all of these would have been deleted since none of these are visible in the MB3 image editor (remember, according to MB3, the background count = 0).
4. When I add the *single* backdrop I want using the MB3 web interface (so the background count should = 1). The old background reappears and also adds the file I wanted to be the background as fanart1 in extrafanart.  My single upload should have been named fanart.jpg and placed in the movie folder but I guess it can't because MB3 never got rid of the original fanart.jpg. Right now the listed background count = 2.
5. If i delete the background that popped back up that was unwanted, it is finally deleted from the actual movie folder but the remaining image that should be named fanart.jpg is still located in the extrafanart folder.

Basically, the biggest issue is that I cannot trust that what MB3 shows me in the image editor is an accurate reflection of what is in the folder yet these types of tools are what originally drew me to MB3. In a perfect world (from my perspective), MB3 would list *all* images it finds associated with a movie. Those with recognizable types (backdrop, poster, thumbnail, etc.) are grouped. Any files that aren't recognized as a known type can be listed at the end in an "other" group. If deleted using the web client, they are deleted from the folder. If all images have been deleted from a subfolder (like extrafanart or extrathumbs) then that subfolder is also deleted. When a file such as moviename-fanart.jpg or moviename-poster.jpg are found on a library scan, they get renamed automatically according to the preferences of the user. For example, in XBMC compatibility mode, these would be renamed fanart.jpg and poster.jpg. Names of unknown image types are not altered. If the user ever changes their file naming preference (from XBMC compatiibility mode to MB3 default for example), all files would be renamed accordingly on the next library scan. This way a user can switch between different naming schemes as needed. If any conflicts occur (such as when trying to rename moviename-fanart.jpg when a fanart.jpg already exists), the user is notified and asked what to do. The user can go through each conflict one at a time or he/she can select actions that "apply to all" such as "keep all older files", "keep all newer files", "keep all larger files", etc.

 

Anyway, thanks for reading - just food for thought   If I wait until the next version is released to fix my images how will MB3 deal with the conflict between the fact that there is both a fanart.jpg and a moviename-fanart.jpg?  I want all of my collection to use the same naming convention and I don't want unused orphan files in my folders either - I know MB3 would still work fine but it is more of a personal preference to have a clean collection.

Edited November 15, 2013 by cracksloth

[Luke 37054]

We don't do any renaming. You can make a separate feature request for that. 

 

As far as the conflict goes, we have order of precedence for all of the images that we support. So if you have more than one, we'll utilize the highest priority one. We don't do any automatic deletion or cleanup of images right now.

[cracksloth 25]

ok, thanks again for the help!

[Luke 37054]

Both issues have been implemented for the next release. 

 

Personally I would leave all of your images alone. We support all of those conventions so there's really no need to worry about it.