Video library: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 02:06, 27 November 2011

Template:XBMC wiki toc Inline 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. Movies, TV shows and Music Videos) and nfo files. Library Mode allows you to browse your video content by things such as; Genre, Title, Year, Actors and Directors.

Library.videos.moviefanart.WSCR.jpg

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 information see:

  • Set Contents (Video Library)
  • TV show file naming conventions, for TV shows to work properly in the Video Library, the file naming conventions used have to match the regular expressions used in XBMC
  • Movie Sets, Movie Sets allow for grouping of related movies into a group or set and allows you to decide a specific sort order for those movies, this is normally something you want to do with a movie series such as trilogies and series, where the movies do not all share a common name which interferes with the sort order when viewed in library mode.

Set content0.jpg

Navigating your Library

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

Library.videos.controls.jpg

View
You can the toggle between the different display options, amongst others; List, Thumbnails, Fanart and Cover Flow.
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)
Party Mode
See below.
Misc Options
Hide Watched
Toggles between All Videos and Unwatched. XBMC will show either all videos or only unwatched media.
Search
You can search for a string anywhere in the XBMC video database. See Searching your library for more information.
Filter
Allows you to filter the media files to only show videos that include the specified string in the name.
Flatten
Removes the title, genre etc nodes from the library view. Selecting a category takes you straight to the title view.
Hide Fanart
Hides Fanart in the chosen view.

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.)

Searching your Library

The search button is available to help you search the video database. Select it to begin your search. A keyboard will pop-up where you may enter search terms (SMS style with the remote, or just using the virtual keyboard). Note that search results will appear in the following order (where matches are found) Genres, Actors (Artists), Directors, By Name, and By Plot. Within each grouping movies will always be first, followed by TV shows and then music videos. NOTE: In order to search within words as well as just for words beginning with your search string, place a % sign in front of the match.

Party Mode

The Party Mode option allows you to randomly play Music Videos from your entire music videos collection based on criteria specified in partymode-video.xsp. Simply build a Smart Playlist and save it as partymode-video.xsp in The UserData Folder.

Selecting 'Party Mode' from the sidebar will play ALL valid media scanned into your libraries in a random order that meet the conditions specified in the Smart Playlist.

The Media Information Screen

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.
From here you can refresh the information on your media, i.e. in the case of a wrong match during scanning. Here you can also change fanart and media thumbs, where the number of images being offered may depend on your scraper settings.

File:Library.videos.movieinfo.WSCR.jpg

Library.videos.tvshowinfo.WSCR.jpg

Video Context Menu in Library Mode

You perform actions on your video files using the Context Menu. In Library Mode, selecting a movie that has been designated as a movie folder, the following options are available:

Context.library.myvideos.movies.jpg

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 movie or TV show info of 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 added and modifies the database accordingly. Adds missing media to the database.
Go to Root
Takes you to the Video Library root.
Now Playing...
Takes you to the Now Playing screen that shows what is currently playing and what the next queued files are.
Settings
Opens the Videos Settings menu.
Other possible menu items
Play
Plays the selected file, resumes a video from the last stopped position.
Play using
Allows you to select which player to use for video playback (DVDPlayer or Mplayer).
Link to TV show
Links the selected movie to a TV show, The Movie will show up with TV show seasons/episodes.

Remote browsing

To be able to browse the Video Library outside the GUI, like through The Web Interface, you'll currently have to add a special videodb:// source, which will show up as 'Library' under Videos in the web interface.

Video Library Settings and Maintenance

The main Video Library settings can be accessed from the Library tab in Videos Settings. Those can be accessed either from the Settings menu from the home screen, or via the context menu as seen above.

Keeping your Library up to date

The 'Update library on startup' and 'Always update library in background' library settings can in conjunction be used to scan your sources for new files for inclusion in the library in the background at each XBMC start.

NOTE! If you want missing media (deleted or otherwise unavailable) to be removed form the database on update, use the <cleanonupdate> advancedsettings tag (see below).

advancedsettings.xml

Some settings can only be altered through the advancedsettings.xml file, such as settings affecting the "All" and "Recently Added" database nodes.

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 Videos Settings with the 'Clean Library' option.