Video library

The Video Library, one of the XBMC databases allows the organization of your video content by information associated with the video files themselves. This information can be obtained in various different ways, like through Scrapers (ie. IMDb, TV Shows) and nfo files. The Library Mode view allows you to browse your video content by things like; Genre, Title, Year, Actors and Directors.

Preparing your Videos to be Scanned

First you have to decide what sort of video is contained in the folder/share you wish to scan via the 'Set Content' option of the The Context Menu, for more info see: How To use Scrapers For TV shows to work properly in the Video Library, the file naming conventions used have to match the regular expressions used in XBMC, see: TV show file naming conventions.

Navigating your Library

The library organizes your videos into two basic categories, Movies and TV Shows. Further these categories are divided into sub-catergories, allowing you to find a specific video through criteria like genre, actors, directors, year etc.

View You can the toggle between the different display options, amongst others; List, Icons and Big Icons. Sort By You can choose what criteria to sort your Videos by. Note the arrow to the right which controls whether the items are sorted in ascending or descending order. Library Mode This control allows you to switch between Library Mode and File View. (Used to be called Switch View) Watched Status Toggles between All Videos, Watched and Unwatched. XBMC will show only the media you designate. Search You can search for a string anywhere in the XBMC video database. Filter Allows you to filter the media files to only show videos that include the specified string in the name.

You can select the default startup screen in Video Library Mode via the Make Default option of The Context Menu, (Selecting Movies, TV Shows, Title in each etc.)

The Media Information Screen

File:Imdb.jpg You display information on you video files by selecting the Movie / TV Show Information option from The Context Menu or by pressing info on the remote.

Video Context Menu in Library Mode

You perform actions on your video files using the Context Menu. Press the White button on your controller (Title on the remote). This will bring up the context menu, pictured below right. In Library Mode, selecting a movie that has been designated as a movie folder, the following options are available:

Queue Item Adds the item to the Now Playing playlist. Add to Favourites Adds the item to your Favourites menu. Movie / TV Show Information Shows the relevant information, gathered through scrapers, such as the IMDb or TV Shows info on the selected file. Mark as Watched Changes the video status to watched, see above. Edit Title Changes the name of the item within the Library. Remove From Library Removes the selected item from the video database. Update Library Checks if files in the Library have been changed/added/removed, modifies the database and runs a cleaning routine. Go to Root Takes you to the My Videos Library root. Now Playing... Takes you to a screen that shows what is currently playing and what the next queued files are. Settings Opens the My Videos Settings menu.

Other possible menu items

Play

Plays the selected file, resumes a video from the last stopped position.

Removing Entire Folders from the Library

You can remove the contents of entire folders from the library by setting content to <None> as described in the How To use Scrapers section.

Clean Video Library

Cleaning up the Video Library (removing invalid entries and compressing) can be done via the User Interface Settings, in the My Videos Settings with the Clean Library option.