Starkadius 219 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 The New method of creating Media Library folders does not allow using the same name. Method before the last server update This allowed multiple users to use cross shared folders and at the same time keep using the same name "Movies". Parental Rating has no relevance here. User-Admin Media Folder Name: Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Admin \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-A \\SERVER\Movies\User-B \\SERVER\Movies\User-C \\SERVER\Movies\User-D \\SERVER\Movies\User-E \\SERVER\Movies\User-F User-Guest Media Folder Name: Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest User-A Media Folder Name: Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-A \\SERVER\Movies\User-D User-B Media Folder Name: Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-B User-C Media Folder Name: Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-C \\SERVER\Movies\User-E User-D Media Folder Name: Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-D User-E Media Folder Name: Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-E User-F Media Folder Name: Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-B \\SERVER\Movies\User-E \\SERVER\Movies\User-F New Method current server version This method now requires new names for every similar media folder type attached to each user when folders are not being shared. There is no consistency. User-Admin Media Folder Name: Movies (only the jerk that runs the server gets to keep the name Movies) \\SERVER\Movies\User-Admin \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-A \\SERVER\Movies\User-B \\SERVER\Movies\User-C \\SERVER\Movies\User-D \\SERVER\Movies\User-E \\SERVER\Movies\User-F User-Guest Media Folder Name: Movies for Guests \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest User-A Media Folder Name: A's Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-A \\SERVER\Movies\User-D User-B Media Folder Name: B's Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-B User-C Media Folder Name: C's Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-C \\SERVER\Movies\User-E User-D Media Folder Name: D's Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-D User-E Media Folder Name: E's Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-E User-F Media Folder Name: F's Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest \\SERVER\Movies\User-B \\SERVER\Movies\User-E \\SERVER\Movies\User-F Please forgive me, I have taken a bullet for the community and decided to install Plex which is a direct competitor. Here are my findings. Creating a media folder called "Movies" Creating a second media folder called "Movies" which is allowed Two media libraries/sections of the same name created Sharing similarly named folders with other users The competitor is allowing same names for media folders. They are as simple as any media software can get so I don't understand how this has been removed from the current version of Media Browser which is supposed to allow more flexibility than Plex but not be as complex as XBMC. Please, I implore the developers to allow this feature to return. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianW 1052 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Those last three Plex screenshots look crazy, how are you supposed to know which Movies collection is which? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14910 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Those last three Plex screenshots look crazy, how are you supposed to know which Movies collection is which? That's one of the problems. To do this you'd have to have the management interfaces showing the true name while the UIs show the display name. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheShanMan 34 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 That's one of the problems. To do this you'd have to have the management interfaces showing the true name while the UIs show the display name. Good idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardyname 194 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 I have to ask, what is this actually good for ? If given the option i would even hide "Media Folders" from the main page on for example the home page, Since i control everything from a library/ratings/user point. Not trying to troll or anything just curious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardyname 194 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Well yea, once we roll out dynamic categories (aka smart playlists), it will be interesting to see how many people still want to use folder-based navigation. But to answer your question, it's what the traditional mb2 user is accustomed to. Oh so it's a question of habit and not functionality ? well that kinda answers my question Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saitoh183 137 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Well yea, once we roll out dynamic categories (aka smart playlists), it will be interesting to see how many people still want to use folder-based navigation. But to answer your question, it's what the traditional mb2 user is accustomed to. Cant wait for that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke 37051 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 I have to ask, what is this actually good for ? If given the option i would even hide "Media Folders" from the main page on for example the home page, Since i control everything from a library/ratings/user point. Not trying to troll or anything just curious Well yea, once we roll out dynamic categories (aka smart playlists), it will be interesting to see how many people still want to use folder-based navigation. But to answer your question, it's what the traditional mb2 user is accustomed to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkadius 219 Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) Well yea, once we roll out dynamic categories (aka smart playlists), it will be interesting to see how many people still want to use folder-based navigation. But to answer your question, it's what the traditional mb2 user is accustomed to. Oh so it's a question of habit and not functionality ? well that kinda answers my question Eh I have the impression I am being trolled now. In a civil manner no less so its okay . No this is not what I was accustomed to as a MB2 user (I didn't know Plex users were the same as MediaBrowser 2 users considering they do offer this feature, that's interesting). I only started using this method of configuring the user folders precisely because MediaBrowser 3 allowed it to with its new user profiles which MB2 did not have. If I recall correctly it was the developers that recommended moving media into particular user folders (wife, husband, kids, friends etc) and adding those to the user libraries for the cases in which more control was required when parental ratings have had no bearing. I managed my entire collection based on these suggestions in which the new MB3 user based libraries was king and shifted 20TB worth of media files across 5x4TB Drives in a span of a few weeks. I tailored every folder specifically to particular tastes depending on the users. I guess my examples needed to be more clear. Here is an example with more details. User-Admin (Access to everything) Media Folder Name: Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Admin (Mostly New Releases) \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest (Mostly classics) \\SERVER\Movies\User-A (Foreign films) \\SERVER\Movies\User-B (Kids Movies only) \\SERVER\Movies\User-C (Horror Movies) \\SERVER\Movies\User-D (Documentaries) User-Guest (Self Explanatory) Media Folder Name: Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest (Mostly classics) User-A (This user enjoys classics, foreign films, kids movies, documentaries but dislikes Horror movies and does not want them to show up in their library) Media Folder Name: Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-Guest (Mostly classics) \\SERVER\Movies\User-A (Foreign films) \\SERVER\Movies\User-B (Kids Movies only) \\SERVER\Movies\User-D (Documentaries) User-B (Child account with access to documentaries for educational purposes and since documentaries have varying ratings, the Parental Rating control cannot be used here) Media Folder Name: Movies \\SERVER\Movies\User-B (Kids Movies only) \\SERVER\Movies\User-D (Documentaries) Scenario (In this scenario everyone has access to the new releases) Me: "Hey guys want to watch [new movie] today (Friday/Saturday)?" Family: "Uh we already saw that on our android/ios MB apps during the week since you added it there..." Me: " Family Night is dead!" Bear in mind that that I am only using Movies for the examples above. This way of managing the libraries is the same for TV, Music, Home Videos, Photos, Games and in the future, Books. We are now looking at the following: User A's Books User A's Photos User A's Music User A's Movies User A's TV Now multiply that with many users. Will dynamic playlists block out particular movies depending on the users? Will dynamic playlists also allow the use of labels for libraries like before? It seems that EBR's suggestion of having the management interfaces showing the real name while the UI has a display name, would be heading towards the direction I am hoping for. Edited February 27, 2014 by Starkadius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardyname 194 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) Actually now that i know how you want it, I think i can convince you that i have a better solution and also why i think that "Media Folders" should be hidden by default So i kinda setup your experience on how you want it but this is fully modifiable it's the how that is important!First I only used 4 movies and 4 "folders" if you may. and also 4 users Movies and their location :Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 --> HorrorJackass Presents Bad Grandpa --> DocumentariesSuper Mario Bros. --> KidsCold Fusion 2011 --> New (I know i know they are not accurate but again it's the how that is important) Users and what folders they should have access to: wife - new, kids and Documentaries kids - kids and Documentaries admin - horror. documentaries. kids and new guest - new Folders are setup like this (With the movies mentioned above in the different folders): And the Media Library are setup as follows : (Ignore the ones that are mine and not here for the test itself ) Added in the users: And here comes the magic! For this one i use the Kids user and what "Folders" it can access Now on the splash screen they will see this : As you can see in the preview Movies from "Documentaries" and "kids" show up under the Movie thing. Lets see how the wifes one looks, first the library controls: And then the splash screen : All the correct movies without anything in the horror folder. I could show you how it looks for guests and admins as well but i think 2 out of 4 should be enough And this is also why i think "Media Folders" as a default should be hidden and only shown when necessary. (I actually don't know when it is necessary (except for the xxx material ), maybe if the movie does not exist on the databases online, like home recordings and what not.) So tl;dr. Use the Movies feature and stop tricking ppl with the "Media Folders" Edited February 28, 2014 by plumblum 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14910 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Plumbum - the problem with your example is that is not how Starkadius wants the data presented. He only wants each user to see "movies" not each individual slice of movies. While some clients would make this possible via the "Movies" view, not all would. And, the use-case for still having Media Folders is one I have - which is where I have a particular class of movies that the server treats as "movies" but I don't want showing up in my main movies view. I want them in their own folder. I think data-based views can be very powerful but they won't cover all the cases - at least not yet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardyname 194 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) ebr, that's exactly what my example does ? everyone get's to klick "Movies". If the clients does not follow my example that is something i would say is severely bugged :/ Folders are a thing of the past and unless specified a movie is always a movie In your specific case for that i would recommend adding a new "type" like how xxx material works now, they don't get placed in the movie view. And until Starkadius replies we won't know if this solution applies will work! Now that i think about it, xbmc works in this way also, and i always loved that feature. *Edit* you had me worried so i had to check that this worked, and fortunately for me both MBT and the Windows App does work with this so *Phew* Edited February 28, 2014 by plumblum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14910 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 In your specific case for that i would recommend adding a new "type" like how xxx material works now, they don't get placed in the movie view. That could get really complex in a big hurry. We can't add new types to the system for every slice that people may want to separate. I separate my Music concert DVDs, others may want to separate Documentaries and not have them show in "Movies" others maybe TV-based movies, etc. So, until we have complete functionality around some sort of configurable smart playlists, Media Folders is how we accomplish this separation. As for your example with XMBC - this has always been a difference between us and them. We have allowed this type of separation and they haven't. We now support both. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardyname 194 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) That could get really complex in a big hurry. We can't add new types to the system for every slice that people may want to separate. I separate my Music concert DVDs, others may want to separate Documentaries and not have them show in "Movies" others maybe TV-based movies, etc. So, until we have complete functionality around some sort of configurable smart playlists, Media Folders is how we accomplish this separation. As for your example with XMBC - this has always been a difference between us and them. We have allowed this type of separation and they haven't. We now support both. Here i agree with you, Separation is something that should be doable if the user wants it. I also agree with not adding a bunch of more types, i was thinking along the lines of a generic "Media Folder" one. But (and i may be wrong here) separation is not "exactly" what Starkadius was looking for, but as i said above. We won't know until he reports back On a side not, I can also add that what i suggested works under Android ^^ Edited February 28, 2014 by plumblum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14910 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 What you suggested will work fine for Starkadius' situation in every client except MBC and that is because that client has evolved from the old world. I mentioned the antithesis of what Starkadius was asking because you said you thought media folders should basically not be in the interface. So I was just explaining how they are useful in the current world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardyname 194 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 What you suggested will work fine for Starkadius' situation in every client except MBC and that is because that client has evolved from the old world. I mentioned the antithesis of what Starkadius was asking because you said you thought media folders should basically not be in the interface. So I was just explaining how they are useful in the current world. Well i suggested that they should be hidden unless specified differently But i hear what you are saying! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14910 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 No worries. I think we are working towards the best of both worlds as far as presenting your media the way you want. We just aren't quite all the way there yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardyname 194 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 I wholeheartedly agree with that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkadius 219 Posted March 3, 2014 Author Share Posted March 3, 2014 (edited) @ Sorry wanted to have enough time to respond properly. I really appreciate you taking the time making that example and trying to convince me. I have one question though, what client do you and other members of your family use to access the media? Basically @@ebr hit the nail right on the head in his explanations as to what I am going to say. All the HTPCs in my home use Media Browser Classic and as you may know it uses folders and not the VIEWS. So with that last screenshot you have, try going to in Media Browser Classic and you will see my issue with it. Instead of having one "Movies" view you have "Documentaries", "Kids" and "New". There is another issue I have with VIEWS actually. Lets assume for a moment that Media Browser Classic is fully "VIEW" centric which is what development is pushing for. Views relies entirely on media types (TV, Movies, Music, Games, Books, Adult Movies etc). That could get really complex in a big hurry. We can't add new types to the system for every slice that people may want to separate. I separate my Music concert DVDs, others may want to separate Documentaries and not have them show in "Movies" others maybe TV-based movies, etc. So, until we have complete functionality around some sort of configurable smart playlists, Media Folders is how we accomplish this separation. This is what @@ebr means. Folders allows the following examples: Appear in Movie View Media Folder Named: Documentaries (Genres can be Nature, History, Marine Life, Space, Cultures etc support) Media Folder Named: Anime Movies* (Anime Styled Genre Icons support) Media Folder Named: Bollywood Films (Bollywood Styled Genre Icons support) Media Folder Named: Latin Movies (Latin Styled Genre Icons support) Appear in TV View Media Folder Named: Anime TV* (Anime Styled Genre Icons support) Media Folder Named: UK Shows (UK Styled Genre Icons support) Media Folder Named: North American TV (NA Styled Genre Icons support) Media Folder Named: Australian TV (AU Styled Genre Icons support) Media Folder Named: Asian Dramas (Asian Drama Styled Genre Icons support) Media Folder Named: Fitness Videos (Genres can be Flexibility, Strength Training, Aerobics, Circuit Training, Yoga etc) Media Folder Named: Bollywood TV (Bollywood Styled Genre Icons support) Media Folder Named: Latin TV (Latin Styled Genre Icons support) *Anime is the one category I hope gets separated and becomes its own Media Type at some point since the season/episode structure is different from regular television. Also Anime has a unique set of genres that are not compatible with regular TV. Okay so under the assumption that VIEWS are the only way to view the media across all devices, all the Anime, UK, Australian, Asian, Fitness, Documentary shows will appear under TV. In my case, I don't want that. I want to be able to go to each category individually and view the genres for that particular category. Folders allows this AND total control of which user can access what while keeping the same media folder name across all users. Also no need to bother the development team for a new media type for each of these categories (except Anime... ) . Edited March 3, 2014 by Starkadius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardyname 194 Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 @@Starkadius no problem since this is the feature request part of the forum things should be thought through! And to answer your question, the only player my family (Me the GF and a cat ) actually don't use is MBC so unfortunately i did not realize that VIEWS would not work on that player :/ And yep as you may saw me and ebr talked that over a bit ^^. I was thinking of maybe allowing custom views and/or flags for collections to not be included in the standard VIEWS. A flag on a collection to not be included would solve most of the hassle i would think, with the least? amount of dev time (not really sure since if i were a dev i would know). And i do realize that it would depend on if MBC will adopt the VIEWS thing in the first place I still think multiple folders with the same name is a trap that the end user should not be able to fall in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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