Quick start guide: Difference between revisions
| Line 71: | Line 71: | ||
{{anchor|Add_media}} | |||
==Adding Music and Videos to the Library== | ==Adding Music and Videos to the Library== | ||
To play Music, a TV show Episode, or a Movie, XBMC must know where your files are located. | To play Music, a TV show Episode, or a Movie, XBMC must know where your files are located. | ||
Revision as of 05:31, 18 December 2011
|
UPDATE FOR EDEN: This page needs to be updated for the upcoming XBMC v11 (Eden) |
Template:XBMC wiki toc Congratulations new users in your choice of media center software: XBMC. The XBMC interface is designed with the 'Home Theater' in mind. This means it is best viewed on a large-screen TV while you sit on your couch 10-feet away from that TV, rather than on a small monitor while you sit at your desk. Because everything is designed with the home theater experience in mind, the best way to interact with XBMC is with a remote control, rather than a computer mouse. If it helps, think of XBMC as the ultimate DVD-Player/Set-top-box (and NO ONE uses a mouse with a DVD-Player/Set-top-box).
XBMC Main Features
- XBMC can be used to play almost all popular audio and video formats
- Use your media as-is: XBMC can play CDs and DVDs directly from the disk or image file
- Powerful library that can automatically scan media to retrieve covers, descriptions and fanart from the internet.
- Playlist and slideshow functions
- Weather forecast feature, a "news ticker" of your favorite RSS Feeds
- Flexible, simple to use Add-ons system that can extend the functions of XBMC
- Network playback built in - stream any playable media from anywhere in the house or internet.
Once installed, your computer will become a fully functional multimedia jukebox.
About this Guide
This guide is designed to get you up and running with XBMC in the shortest time possible, and was written with the most typical use cases in mind. For more in depth information please refer to the XBMC Online Manual.
This guide was updated for the XBMC Dharma release. If you are running another version the information in this guide may not be applicable.
Installing XBMC
XBMC is cross-platform software. It is currently being developed for:
- Microsoft Windows
- Apple Mac OS
- Linux
- Apple TV 1 (silver)
- Apple TV 2 (black)
- XBMC Live and Openelec distribution for that Set top box feeling.
Prior to installing XBMC on a full operating system it is recommended that you ensure all the installed hardware (sound, video, etc) is fully functional using the base operating system. Platform specific guides can be found here.
Preparing your files to be added to the Library
To get the best experience using the Library functions it is recommended that you have separate directories for your different types of Media. For Example: Photos, Music, Movies, TV Shows, and Home Videos
Adding Music to the Library
In order to be able to include information on your music collection in the Library, XBMC needs your music to be tagged. When your collection is scanned, XBMC stores all the tagging information (artist, album, year, genre, etc) in the database which allows you to efficiently search and manage your music collection.
Today most media applications and players (e.g. iTunes / iPod) organize music by this ID tag information.
Note: Your audio files MUST have a valid ID tag for them to work properly in the XBMC Music Library.
Check out the XBMC Online Manual for more information on Preparing your Music
Adding Videos to the Library
XBMC can search the Internet and automatically find information about your Movies and TV shows using Scrapers. To be most effective your Movie and TV show files should be named according to standard naming conventions.
The filename is referenced by a search within the online records and the closest match is selected. If the filename is not exactly or very close to the movie title the automatic scan may not always offer accurate matches.
More information on the Video Library can be found in the XBMC Online Manual and more information about getting good matches with the scrapers can be found here or here
Using a Remote Control
Often the most convenient and user friendly way of controlling XBMC is using a remote control. This further enhances the appliance feel of the XBMC and fits next to (or replaces) the other remotes that are likely to be in your entertainment room. MCE Remote controls are usually the cheapest and easiest to use with XBMC, but many other remote controls have been very successfully used with XBMC.
For more information on remote controls and XBMC please explore the links below:
- Remote Control Reviews
- Remote Controls
- Using an MCE remote control in Windows
- Using a remote control with XBMC
- All in One Remote
- XBMC Online Manual
Adding Music and Videos to the Library
To play Music, a TV show Episode, or a Movie, XBMC must know where your files are located.
Letting XBMC know where to find your videos and music is very simple. First, open XBMC, then just click up or down in the home menu until either "Videos" or "Music" is highlighted. The descriptions in this guide will use "Videos" (and, specifically "Movies") as the example, but it works in much the same way for Music or any other media content type.
Adding Media Sources
Youtube clip of a media source being added
Media Sources are the links that tell XBMC where your content is stored and what type of content is contained within each one. You can have multiple sources for each media type.
| Step 1 | Step 2 |
|---|---|
|
|
| Click "Videos" in the home screen menu. | Now click "Add Source". |
| Step 3 | Step 4 |
|---|---|
|
|
| The "Add Video Source" screen will be displayed. Then click the "Browse" button. | Now browse to where you keep your videos stored. Once you have found the folder you keep your videos in, click the "OK" button.
If you keep them shared on a network drive, read the Configuring PC Shares article for more information about setting up a share on your computer first. |
REMEMBER: When you begin using the library, you will find that it is a really good idea to keep your different types of content stored in separate directories, so keep that in mind.
| Step 5 | Step 6 |
|---|---|
|
|
| Name this Video Source however you like. If it is a movie folder, you will probably want to name it "Movies", and if it is a TV Show folder then you will probably want name it TV Shows. The name doesn't matter to XBMC. Then click "OK".
(In this example it is called "Movies" - which is the default XBMC name) |
The set content window will display, this is where you tell XBMC what type of media is in the folder. Press the down arrow until you reach the correct type (in this example movies) |
| Step 7 | Step 8 |
|---|---|
|
|
| There are a number of option underneath, see setting content (or scroll down a bit more) to check what options to enable. Then click "OK" | Press Yes the scan the content to the library (if no is pressed it can be scanned later). |
You have set up a media source, content can be added to this folder then all you will have to do is tell XBMC to "refresh the library" or XBMC can be set to refresh library on start up (in XBMC's settings). Remember to turn on library to view all the information XBMC has found.
Setting Content
This section is why keeping your TV Shows and Movies, or other type of content separate is important. When you click set content, you can set your video content as Music Videos, Movies, or TV Shows. Scroll through the options until you get to the correct one. Because in our example we're adding Movies, we will scroll to "Movies" and go through the Movie Settings.
Setting Movie Content Options
| (Option) | Use Folder names for Lookup | Scan Recursively | Selected Folder Contains a Single Movie |
|---|---|---|---|
| (Explanation) | If you keep each of your movies in its own folder with the movie name in it | If your movies are ripped DVD-Video files using a "VIDEO_TS" folder structure | This option is intended exclusively for adding one movie at a time. |
| (Example) | C:\Movies\Big Buck Bunny\Big Buck Bunny.avi |
|
'C:\Movies\Big Buck Bunny.avi' |
If you keep all your movies in one big folder, like this:
Then leave all options unticked.
Turn on the Library
Assuming you are using the default skin, Confluence, from the videos screen, to turn on the Library, click left once to pull up the Side Menu. Then scroll down and click "Library Mode".
All done! You now have a beautiful Library full of all your great movies, complete with titles, fanart and tons of metadata information.
Now that you have followed the guide above you should be able to figure out how to put your TV Shows and Music into the Library. To do so, simply follow this guide again (but, of course, select choices appropriate to your goal. For example, select "Music" if you want to add music).
Adding Picture Sources
Adding sources for your Pictures follows the same method as adding other media sources. From the Home Page navigate to Pictures, select Add Source and browse to the location of your picture files. However, as pictures are not added to a Library, you will not need to Set a Content type or scan them into your library.
Weather
Not working in Dharma at the moment due to API changes. Will be back for Eden.
Setting up News Feeds (RSS)
XBMC can show on the Home Page headlines of various news feeds from your favorite news sites on the internet. To set up new feeds; from the Home page select Programs, then select the RSS editor. Type the URL of the RSS feed you wish to subscribe to. For example: http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/us_and_canada/rss.xml . You will then be prompted to select the update interval, or how often you wish XBMC to check for news. Afterwards you should see headlines from your new feed scroll across the home page.
Important note about the Context Menu
As you read this wiki and experiment on your own, you will quickly learn about the value of the Context Menu.
To use it, while highlighting an item, press the "C" key on the keyboard. If you are using a mouse, you can right click while hovering over an item. With remote controls, the option to bring up the Context Menu differs based on the remote control that you use.
The important point is that the "Context Menu" is really the key to controlling XBMC. With it you can queue an item, play it, set content, update the library, scan for new media, and so on.
Conclusion
Thanks for reading this Quick Start Guide. Below in the "Also see" section you will find additional suggested reading that may be useful for getting started with adding your media files to XBMC. We have done our best to answer every question in this wiki, the XBMC Online Manual and the Frequently Asked Questions, however if you still can not find your answer after extensively searching, feel free to ask, see XBMC:Community Portal.