2 Questions from a newb

[wooffy 0]

Hi guys, 

 

Recently discovered Media Browser 3 and it has replaced both my XBMC library and my several (failed) attempts at having a useable transcoding server.  Huge thanks to the developers.  Two questions:

 

1- Is it possible to have the library skip (never index) certain shows?  For simplicity we store all shows in our household within the same folder hierarchy, but I would love a way to tell MB3 to skip he shows I never watch.

 

2- Is it possible to set transcoding settings an a per-client basis?  Windows Phone client, Windows 8 client on my Surface, and using the XBMC plub-in.... I would prefer different settings for each.

 

Thanks!

 

[Logos302 86]

1. MBC has a unwatched filter at the top.  

2.  I believe that some clients have options for this, not sure which ones.  

[wooffy 0]

1. MBC has a unwatched filter at the top.  

2.  I believe that some clients have options for this, not sure which ones.  

 

Thanks, but I am not trying to filter out unwatched episodes.  I am trying to selectively tell MB3 to never index certain TV shows - in other words ignore any and all episodes added in certain folders.

[Logos302 86]

It's what I figured you wanted but I wasn't sure. I found what your looking for.  If you click on the metadata editor (Pencil in top of the screen) you highlight what you looking for and under the metadata settings for that show you can turn off metadata fetching.

 

[ebr 14958]

Those items will still show up.

 

We actually do have an ignore feature where you can put a .ignore file in the folder and we will skip it.  So, if you have this stuff you don't want seen by MB at least in its own sub-tree, then that should work for you at the top level of this tree.

[pmac 132]

Also, if you want to skip a library folder, couldn't you just avoid adding that folder to the server as a collection?

[wooffy 0]

Those items will still show up.

 

We actually do have an ignore feature where you can put a .ignore file in the folder and we will skip it.  So, if you have this stuff you don't want seen by MB at least in its own sub-tree, then that should work for you at the top level of this tree.

Great!  Will give that a shot, thanks.

[wooffy 0]

Also, if you want to skip a library folder, couldn't you just avoid adding that folder to the server as a collection?

Per my OP, " For simplicity we store all shows in our household within the same folder hierarchy, but I would love a way to tell MB3 to skip he shows I never watch.".

[Vidman 589]

Per my OP, " For simplicity we store all shows in our household within the same folder hierarchy, but I would love a way to tell MB3 to skip he shows I never watch.".

That sentence would be must easier to understand if you provided an example of this hierarchy and exactly what you want to accomplish.... Why would you want to disable a show for all users? If you never watch it why don't you move the show to a separate 'archive' folder? Edited March 9, 2014 by Vidman

[wooffy 0]

That sentence would be must easier to understand if you provided an example of this hierarchy and exactly what you want to accomplish.... Why would you want to disable a show for all users? If you never watch it why don't you move the show to a separate 'archive' folder?

 

I didn't realise I was being so unclear... surely this comes up in other homes.

 

Say we have a network share, "Media", with the following folders:

- TV

- movies

- Music

 

This is shared across the household.  I don't want to have multiple TV folders (e.g. one per user and then one for "everyone watched this" shows).  I am the only user of Media Browser.  Therefore I was looking for an easy way to avoid adding some shows to my Media Browser library - far more convenient than endlessly marking new episodes as "watched" as they come in!

 

The .ignore file will work for now, but in the long term it would be great to have an "ignore" flag added per title per user.  (It would also be possible to mark my shows as "favourites" and filter by that, though I am not sure if all clients would support that filter. )

[Vidman 589]

Right so you use media browser with these share folders.... But other users access the same share folders directly... or via others methods.... is that what you are saying? If you are the only user why would you need to ignore per user?

Edited March 10, 2014 by Vidman

[Luke 37232]

well i can always be proven wrong via community feedback but right now i don't think i've ever heard of this before. basically what you're saying is, if you've already watched something, you don't want media browser to display it to you. in other words, you want to get it out of the way. what do you do when you decide you want to revisit a favorite episode?  i think a better solution, rather then telling the server to ignore it, is to ask our ui developers to present your content in such a way that makes you happy with all of your unwatched content front and center.

[Vidman 589]

I think he may be talking about new episodes of shows that he is not interested in popping up as other users store their shows in the same shared folder as his media browser library. Maybe the option for an admin to tag a item (movie, tv series, artist/album)as hidden for a particular user in the web interface would accomplish this?

Edited March 10, 2014 by Vidman

[ebr 14958]

We already have a facility for users to segregate their content and have it display to individual users in different ways.  This seems like a very edge case that could be accommodated by a simple change in structure which separated the shows the MB user cared about into a different sub-folder and then just point MB to that folder.

 

I understand if the OP doesn't want to make this change but I think it is the simplest solution on both ends.  Otherwise, I think it is such an edge case that we can't justify the effort to implement, maintain and support this exact setup.

[Vidman 589]

[Happy2Play 8351]

I don't use MBC but doesn't it have a user Favorites filter?  If so each user should be able to filter and display only their favorites.

[ebr 14958]

Your situation can be accommodated with our library setup and user library access facility.

[wooffy 0]

We already have a facility for users to segregate their content and have it display to individual users in different ways.  This seems like a very edge case that could be accommodated by a simple change in structure which separated the shows the MB user cared about into a different sub-folder and then just point MB to that folder.

 

I understand if the OP doesn't want to make this change but I think it is the simplest solution on both ends.  Otherwise, I think it is such an edge case that we can't justify the effort to implement, maintain and support this exact setup.

 

I'm honestly surprised that this would be considered a "very edge" case, and I know several others who consider this a headache of using any HTPC solution,

 

Baring the obvious - duplicating shows and wasting storage - what do other people do? 

 

Two people in a household would require three folders for TV shows - person A's, person B's, and once for shows watched by both (again assuming you don;t want to save files twice). 

 

At three people you need 7 folders; A, B, C, AB, BC, AC, ABC.

 

At four people it becomes completely silly. 

 

Given the economy it is hardly unusual for adults to share homes now.  I have friends who live in a large house, with a total  of 8 people.  A central solution for them is not an option unless they can select what shows to track. But I won't complain too much.  Five years ago you couldn't even find a reliable transcoding streaming server (and those available required a lot of tinkering).