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Why use MB3 vs MyMovies/WMC or XBMC ??


cw-kid

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StealthDefender

Is there any way to import my nfo files scraped with xbmc to Media Browser.? Or is it necassary to do it all new with mb?

Greetz Stealth

 

 

Sent from my Stealth-Phone

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saitoh183

Is there any way to import my nfo files scraped with xbmc to Media Browser.? Or is it necassary to do it all new with mb?

Greetz Stealth

 

 

Sent from my Stealth-Phone

 

MB3 can only use artwork that is in XBMC format but cannot use nfo files at the moment. But its scanning is very accurate and if corrections are needed, they are easy to do

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StealthDefender

We don't currently read them but we do write them - if you install and enable the xbmc metadata saver...

Sorry but this makes no sense, write them but not read?

It would be easier read the nfo they already exists and then manage the rest with mb!

Til then its useless on my side.

 

 

Sent from my Stealth-Phone

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Sorry but this makes no sense, write them but not read?

It would be easier read the nfo they already exists and then manage the rest with mb!

Til then its useless on my side.

 

 

Sent from my Stealth-Phone

 

because if we can write then we can be used to create metadata for other apps that read nfo's, including xbmc. a lot of people are using us for that. we just haven't had a chance to build nfo reading support yet.

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StealthDefender

Is there a how to for settings for a xbmc backend solution?

The Collection function in mb is this compatible to the sets in xbmc?

Can i change the file convention anywhere, like fanarts.jpg to moviename-fanart.jpg?

Greetz Stealth

 

 

Sent from my Stealth-Phone

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I'm not sure what you mean by "xbmc backend solution".  MB is a back-end and xbmc is a front end.  We have a solution for that but xbmc doesn't really have a "back end" (server) to go the other way.

 

Our collection handling is different from xbmc's.

 

The image name saving convention was one of the questions you were asked in the start-up wizard for MB server the first time you installed it.  You can change it in Metadata->Basics.

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StealthDefender

Thx, very useful :-) nice community here!

Greetz Stealth

 

 

Sent from my Stealth-Phone

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xnappo

Right - XBMC consists of:

 

1. A nice skinning engine

2. A very good wrapper around FFMPEG

3. A powerful scripting engine

4. A local SQL database

5. A TON of scripts cobbled together to scrape meta-data from the net and local files.

 

1, 2 and 3 are great.  4 and 5 are much better served by MB3 - which is where XBMB3C comes in.

 

I urge you to give it a try.

 

1. Install MB3 server and point it to your library

2. Install XBMC

3. Install XBMB3C and point it to your MB3 server.

 

I think you will like the result.

 

xnappo

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MrWebsmith

while im a decent mb savvy user.. im a complete newb at xbmc really... only barely got it up and running 1x before..

 

i followed your three steps in the post above as i wanted to give it a try with the mb3 backend piece and your plugin..

 

do i still add the media folders manually in xbmc?  ive pointed it to the server by internal ip and gone through a couple settings in those screens but still looking at a pretty empty/default setup

 

 

is there a guide or descriptive setup post yet for your plugin? i looked around and nothing jumps out at me..the guides section only has the metadata saver plugin

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xnappo

Probably best to move this over the the XBMB3C section.

 

To get the most out of the addon, you really need to install an XBMB3C-aware skin - which I neglected to mention :)

 

You can install the skins repo here:

http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/7194-xbmb3c-gotham-skins-repo/

 

Then in XBMC you should see a new repo to install stuff from.

 

I would recommend trying @ 's skin first - http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/5470-custom-confluence-xbmb3c-skin/

 

It will automatically add all the default and custom menus for you.

 

This repo will also give you access to a more frequently updated version of the addon itself.

 

We are sorely lacking in user's coughing up time to write some 'new user' guides :(

 

*hint hint*

 

xnappo

Edited by xnappo
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StealthDefender

Hey guys, the only thing im afraid for is to loose all my existing scraped data. Mb names his picture files in a bit different way then the ones in my folders.

I give it a try. Install mb and scrap a new database local.

Somebody know if mb compatible with the movie sets in xbmc? I also scrap actor pics with Media. elch they are in a folder named .actors.

Lot of questions. Better i try myself :-)

Best so far for me if a solution exists to transform the nfo into an xml.

 

Greetz Stealth

 

 

Sent from my Stealth-Phone

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MrWebsmith

Probably best to move this over the the XBMB3C section.

 

To get the most out of the addon, you really need to install an XBMB3C-aware skin - which I neglected to mention :)

 

You can install the skins repo here:

http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/7194-xbmb3c-gotham-skins-repo/

 

Then in XBMC you should see a new repo to install stuff from.

 

I would recommend trying @ 's skin first - http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/5470-custom-confluence-xbmb3c-skin/

 

It will automatically add all the default and custom menus for you.

 

This repo will also give you access to a more frequently updated version of the addon itself.

 

We are sorely lacking in user's coughing up time to write some 'new user' guides :(

 

*hint hint*

 

xnappo

 

yea.. im slowly fumbling through.. found the repo zip on my own.. installing a couple mb3 customized skins now

 

i may TRY (work has been brutal) to through some steps/thoughts down.. my perspective is a complete mb3 fanboy making a go at xbmc effectively simply for a different front end... the guide/focus would likely reflect that viewpoint 

 

ill let you know and in the meanwhile ill attempt more of this on my own and yell over in the xbmb3c forum if i get stuck

 

 

TIA xnappo... seems like quite an accomplishment overall already that you guys have done with this "crossover" ;)

 

MWS

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My only beef with MB3 is the scanning must always be done online which is not always practical because if some show fails, it will always fail if you need to rescan it and you will always have to fix it manually. 

 

This isn't true at all. If you allow us to save the metadata files in your media folders, we don't go back out to get them again on a re-scan.  In fact, we very rarely ever have to go back online.  We do check for changes so that we can keep the data up-to-date but that's about it.

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xnappo

Sure - but one annoyingly scrapes when you restart and stores the results in a local database that is difficult to edit, while the other scrapes in the background 'live' and stores it in a shared database that is easy to edit.  My personal preference is for the latter :)

 

xnappo

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Koleckai Silvestri

But they all scrape from the same source...XBMC internal scraper did a great job as well. i think it just comes down to preference

 

Preference is a big part of it I am sure. All I know is that I was missing a lot of artwork and information for both movies and television under XBMC. Spent a lot of time complying with their naming rules trying to fix it. Still use the same naming schemes and a lot of my metadata is from the XBMC days. Never overwrite what was they. Media Center Master and now MediaBrowser just filled in all the holes. Today, I just use MediaBrowser to organize and retrieve metadata. Even though I am not currently using XBMC, I continue to write out the .nfo files as well.

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saitoh183

Sure - but one annoyingly scrapes when you restart and stores the results in a local database that is difficult to edit, while the other scrapes in the background 'live' and stores it in a shared database that is easy to edit.  My personal preference is for the latter :)

 

xnappo

 

For sure editing was a pain until you get a decent 3rd party tool like MediaElch or if you are adventurous, XBNE. I used the internal scraper of xbmc (TVDB for TV, Universal Movie Scraper for Movies, Anidb Mod for anime and TMDB for UFC) and every week had a automated system that would export to nfo files with artword and copy them to a safe location so that if i needed to redo my library, scan would be fast since it was local. My only beef with MB3 is the scanning must always be done online which is not always practical because if some show fails, it will always fail if you need to rescan it and you will always have to fix it manually. Yes you can go and edit the source but if its a locked show, there is nothing you can do. MB3 media organization is great but when you need to change lots of artwork for multiple shows, its a bit of a pain :)

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Koleckai Silvestri

Personally, I find the scraped data in MB3 to be superior to anything I had in XBMC. When I was using XBMC, I had to use Media Center Master to do my scraping in order to get decent results.

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saitoh183

But they all scrape from the same source...XBMC internal scraper did a great job as well. i think it just comes down to preference

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saitoh183

This isn't true at all. If you allow us to save the metadata files in your media folders, we don't go back out to get them again on a re-scan.  In fact, we very rarely ever have to go back online.  We do check for changes so that we can keep the data up-to-date but that's about it.

 

interesting, will have to try that...thanks ebr :)

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Deathsquirrel

MB3 looks much better.

The UI in XBMC is why it's never taken off in our house.  I don't like it but my wife HATES it.  Whatever the reason, MB generally works the way I would design something like this to work.  Getting around in it makes sense.

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xnappo

The UI in XBMC is why it's never taken off in our house.  I don't like it but my wife HATES it.  Whatever the reason, MB generally works the way I would design something like this to work.  Getting around in it makes sense.

That is pretty skin dependent.  With XBMB3C my wife doesn't even know the difference between the MBC and XBMC machines.

xnappo

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im85288

The UI in XBMC is why it's never taken off in our house.  I don't like it but my wife HATES it.  Whatever the reason, MB generally works the way I would design something like this to work.  Getting around in it makes sense.

 

There are so many different skins available for XBMC that there's most likely something there that your Wife likes. If you've only ever used the standard "Confluence" skin provided with XBMC then I can understand why you would think the UI was dated...but not with some of the latest skins such as Eminence, Arctic, Aeon Nox etc...

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Deathsquirrel

See, I knew I should address the skinning.  No skin I've tried fundamentally changes the design of XBMC.  Yes, it makes it look different.  It doesn't make it work differently.  The problems I have with XBMC are more fundamental design decisions than what the buttons look like.

I was meeting with my development team at work the other day and discussing why we didn't think customers would be happy to move from an older version of a product we make to a newer version just yet.  One of the people on my team said the new product was created by developers for developers and no thought had been given to end users at all.  That's how I feel every time I install XBMC to see how the project is coming.  It doesn't matter how many skins I load.  The UI is clunky.

 

Plex feels the same way to me, though less so.  Obviously both work for lots of other people so I don't begrudge their existence...but I'm glad there's something that works the way I want it to.

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