AVS › AVS Forum › Gaming & Content Streaming › Networking, Media Servers & Content Streaming › PopBox Owners' Thread: Impressions, Reviews & Tips
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

PopBox Owners' Thread: Impressions, Reviews & Tips - Page 27

post #781 of 3870
7/19/10 at 12:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by scratchie View Post

Can anyone clarify whether it is possible to disable/bypass the "catalog your whole server" process? I have no problem navigating folders and reading text-based directory listings to find what I want, and would like to know if it's possible to bypass that whole process if I decide that I don't like how the Popbox catagorizes my content.

Disable it..not at this time. It's not an option really just part of the way it displays under the various categories. You don't need to use it to watch your media.
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #782 of 3870
7/19/10 at 12:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by scratchie View Post

Can anyone clarify whether it is possible to disable/bypass the "catalog your whole server" process? I have no problem navigating folders and reading text-based directory listings to find what I want, and would like to know if it's possible to bypass that whole process if I decide that I don't like how the Popbox catagorizes my content.

You can just add the shares in the network section and not add media. This should allow you to navigate just via the USB/Network section of the media library. You can also add the media to the library and continue to navigate via the USB/Network file browse method if you don't want the poster art view
Reply
Reply
post #783 of 3870
7/19/10 at 12:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by popboxteam View Post

You can just add the shares in the network section and not add media. This should allow you to navigate just via the USB/Network section of the media library. You can also add the media to the library and continue to navigate via the USB/Network file browse method if you don't want the poster art view

I was going to say this. It's actually probably the best method for TV right now.

CD
Reply
Reply
post #784 of 3870
7/19/10 at 12:17pm
So, has anyone given the nfo files a shot yet? Just curious if it works as the PB CS stated it would. I don't have many places where this would come in handy as of now, but I am very curious as to how it works with TV show episodes.
Reply
Reply
post #785 of 3870
7/19/10 at 12:23pm
One of the things I wonder about with the PB, going forward; it seems that the scrapping is a huge issue. I'm finding...like most of you...that Movies are OK, as my naming convention that I used with YAMJ was pretty solid...but TV is a mess. That's going to be a lot of work for me, but admittedly I was spoiled with XBMC's very easy convention.

However, it seems like everyone is having trouble in that regard, no matter what convention or method they used. I guess what I'm wondering is will Pop ever be somewhat flexible in its scrapping...so that you can cover all your basis between two or more machines...or is it going to continue to be super-strict, perhaps to the extent it'll interfere with another machine's scrapping?

CD
Reply
Reply
post #786 of 3870
7/19/10 at 12:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by djvitamind View Post

Yes it does. I posted a screen shot as well earlier.

Thank you sir! That must have been on page number 94324 and I missed it .

I was one of the first A-100 purchasers in the US (and as a beta tester, I'm used to the works/broken/fixed again) and I've been wanting a new one for some time......guess I may go for the ol PB!
Reply
Reply
post #787 of 3870
7/19/10 at 12:42pm
I'm at work and haven't tried this yet, so this is all just speculation. But, looking at the IMdB pages for the TV series The Big Bang Theory, I happened to notice something. Lets say I have a file named TheBigBangTheoryS2E19.avi. So, I go to IMdB, find that URL, and create a nfo file named TheBigBangTheoryS2E19.nfo with only that URL in it. Now, if this works like PB CS told a poster earlier, it will use that URL to pull the metadata from IMdB. From the sounds of it, this should cause most of the metadata to pull in correctly. However, I'm betting the name of the show would still be pulled in as only The Big Bang Theory and not The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition. Mainly basing this on the main title heading from the IMdB page for this episode. Guess we won't know until it is tested, which I hope to do tonight.
Reply
Reply
post #788 of 3870
7/19/10 at 12:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CFara View Post

I received a couple of Popboxes on Friday and have a big issue with how the Popbox mistagged so many of my Movies and TV Shows. I have been able to work through many of my issues with the Popbox support team and thought I would share what I have discovered so far. I read through the 25 pages above and didn't see this info, so hopefully I am not posting stuff that was up there somewhere and I missed it. This info is probably pretty basic to those of you that have been streaming your media for years, but to those of you new to the game (like me) I hope this helps...
  • I had mistakely not named my movie directories or files well enough that the Popbox could grab the info from IMDB. For many of my files, once I renamed the directory or file to be more detailed, the info was properly imported from IMDB. If you name your files or folders in such a way that searching IMDB using your filename results in it finding your movie on the top of the list, you should be good to go.
  • You can force a rescan of your share by adding the share again. For example, if you already share "My Videos", don't delete it, just go back and re add the same share. It won't show up again in your list, but the Scan Status should change to Running. Many times I find I have to re add the share twice in a row to trigger the scan.
  • According to Popbox tech support, the Popbox should automatically purge the old mistagged video, but I have not found this to be the case. Typically I end up with the new properly tagged video, and the old mistagged video. I will look into this more when I get home later.
  • I still have a bunch of videos that aren't properly recognized even after renaming the files/folders. Now I haven't tried this yet, but Popbox support has responded to me and let me know that I can create an NFO file and it will use this NFO file to grab the proper info from IMDB. Here is the procedure they outlined in the e-mails.
    • Open up notepad and enter the URL for the IMDB listing.
    • Then save as filename.nfo and save it in the same directory as the video file (so if video file is Avatar.mkv, save the notepad as Avatar.nfo, then place it in the same folder as the video file)
    • If this is in the format {MovieName}\\Video_TS, put the NFO in the {MovieName} directory, not the VIDEO_TS
    • The NFO file has the higher priority and should be used to determine where to go in IMDB for the info.
  • Categorizing TV shows gets a little uglier. Currently you can either use a single NFO for the entire series, which results in all of the episodes having the same info, or you can create an NFO for each episode. I plan on trying the latter this evening for one of my series and seeing how much more work that will end up being.

Finally, I have been interfacing with Popbox support via phone and e-mail since opening the box on Friday have not had any problems with them (as far as tech support goes). I have been impressed that someone has personally responded to my e-mailed questions over the weekend (two on Saturday and two on Sunday) and that they worked with me on the phone on Friday until my firmware issue was fixed. Even though I am sure their tech support is taking a beating this weekend, they took the time to personally respond to me with a simple custom created step-by-step guide on how to create these NFO files to see if it addressed my needs. I appreciate that.

Well, I hope some of this information is helpful, and please don't beat me up too bad since this is my first post!

Very very interesting news regarding the nfo files with IMDB Url's for TV Shows & Movies. Do any of the scrapers/media managers out there create a txt or nfo file with the just the IMDB Url in a separate file? I'm sure the answer to that currently is no lol

Maybe this is the first step to the PB recognizing XBMC nfo files at least?
Reply
Reply
post #789 of 3870
7/19/10 at 12:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rdb4133 View Post

Very very interesting news regarding the nfo files with IMDB Url's for TV Shows & Movies. Do any of the scrapers/media managers out there create a txt or nfo file file with the just the IMDB Url in a separate file? I'm sure the answer to that currently is no lol

Maybe this is the first step to the PB recognizing XBMC nfo files at least?

I'm pretty sure that Ember does http://www.embermm.com/ but of course it's not in a separate file...
Reply
Reply
post #790 of 3870
7/19/10 at 12:46pm
I added nfo files to a few of my movies. So far nothing has changed. But the problem is ...it shows that it 'running' but this could take forever to actually update.

I added different urls for some so once I see the wrong picture or information come up it I know its working.
Reply
Reply
post #791 of 3870
7/19/10 at 12:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rdb4133 View Post

Very very interesting news regarding the nfo files with IMDB Url's for TV Shows & Movies. Do any of the scrapers/media managers out there create a txt or nfo file file with the just the IMDB Url in a separate file? I'm sure the answer to that currently is no lol

Maybe this is the first step to the PB recognizing XBMC nfo files at least?

I know ThumbGen generates nfo info but I think it is xml at this time.
http://www.wdtvlive.net/showthread.p...humbGen-v1.1.2

I used it for all my artwork when using the WDTV live. This guy is always updating it..Might be a good feature request.
Reply
Reply
post #792 of 3870
7/19/10 at 12:53pm
Popboxteam you have a lot of work to do before you get to this but XBMC nfo files are the standard. Preaty much everyone that owned or owns a popcorn hour ran YAMJ with XBMC nfo files.

I think there should be a UI to work with this as well but XBMC nfo files NEED to be supported.

A URL in a .nfo file is not helpful to anyone that already has XBMC nfo files setup or has movies that are not on IMDB like home movies and porn.
Reply
Reply
post #793 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:01pm
I unistalled windows live still no change - The 2Wire modem is a combination modem router and usually the problem but I can't figure it out.
Reply
Reply
post #794 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CDLehner View Post

One of the things I wonder about with the PB, going forward; it seems that the scrapping is a huge issue. I'm finding...like most of you...that Movies are OK, as my naming convention that I used with YAMJ was pretty solid...but TV is a mess. That's going to be a lot of work for me, but admittedly I was spoiled with XBMC's very easy convention.

Scraping, not scrapping. Brought to you by the OCD dictionary police.
Reply
Reply
post #795 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmpage2 View Post

Scraping, not scrapping. Brought to you by the OCD dictionary police.

LOL.... jm you sound like my girlfriend (a Language Arts teacher)
Reply
Reply
post #796 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rdb4133 View Post

LOL.... jm you sound like my girlfriend (a Language Arts teacher)

Well, CD is hardly the poster child for major grammatical and punctuation type errors... so it was said mostly in jest.

However, if you need to search about scraping issues for your favorite media streaming hardware or software you better do a search on scrapping too because about 1/2 of people seem to misspell it in that way.
Reply
Reply
post #797 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmpage2 View Post

Scraping, not scrapping. Brought to you by the OCD dictionary police.

Maybe CD was thinking of scrapping the Popbox and trying a different player.....
Reply
Reply
post #798 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dan4081 View Post

Maybe CD was thinking of scrapping the Popbox and trying a different player.....

Huzzah!
Reply
Reply
post #799 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:23pm
I tried the .nfo url and could not get it to work. In fact I deleted all my images on the SD card just to make sure. Now it has repopulated my media and that .nfo info is not appearing. It is still pulling the info from IMDB. I have it in 4 different directories.

Hopefully it works for someone else.
Reply
Reply
post #800 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MitsuHelp View Post

Thank you sir! That must have been on page number 94324 and I missed it .

I was one of the first A-100 purchasers in the US (and as a beta tester, I'm used to the works/broken/fixed again) and I've been wanting a new one for some time......guess I may go for the ol PB!

You are welcome!
Reply
Reply
post #801 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:28pm
Forum is up:

http://forum.popbox.com/

I am afraid to see what that place will 'sound' like !
Reply
Reply
post #802 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dan4081 View Post

Maybe CD was thinking of scrapping the Popbox and trying a different player.....

In the words of Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory.... Bazinga!
Reply
Reply
post #803 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:29pm
How well does the picture viewing part of the Popbox work?
I have thousands of pictures on my computer, and they are fairly large (I shoot a Nikon D90)
Do pictures show up fast when clicked on?

Thanks
Reply
Reply
post #804 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by djvitamind View Post

I tried the .nfo url and could not get it to work. In fact I deleted all my images on the SD card just to make sure. Now it has repopulated my media and that .nfo info is not appearing. It is still pulling the info from IMDB. I have it in 4 different directories.

Hopefully it works for someone else.

It is possible that tech support, in referring to the .nfo url, is referring to a feature that is not implemented yet in firmware but will be soon.

I agree though with what others have said, full XBMC style .nfo files with support for covers and fanart should really be a priority for them after they squash most of the annoying bugs AND add subtitle support (grumble).
Reply
Reply
post #805 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by djvitamind View Post

Forum is up:

http://forum.popbox.com/

I am afraid to see what that place will 'sound' like !

I think someone will have loads of fun moderating that for sure!
Reply
Reply
post #806 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rdb4133 View Post

I think someone will have loads of fun moderating that for sure!

I nominate you!



(bazinga)
Reply
Reply
post #807 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:33pm
i know there's been talk of forcing an imdb listing with a .nfo file, but I was wondering if maybe I could force a cover art image as well using a similar method? Maybe if I upload all my cover art images to my server then place a link to each cover art image in the nfo files, will it be able to look for that? I still prefer being able to override the cover art image with my local file, but maybe this could be a quick fix for some of us?
Reply
Reply
post #808 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:35pm
For people having problems with getting correct movie information there is an easy way to get the correct info:

1) On the icon view highlight the icon that is wrong.
2) Play the movie to determine what the movie is.
3) Exit the movie so you are back on the icon screen.
4) Highlight the movie icon and press the info button.
5) On the information screen press the get movie info button.
6) A keyboard appears, type in the name of the movie, or the TTXXXXX number from on the IMDB website associated with the movie. Typed in data appear at to top of the screen next to the keyboard.
7) Press enter on the on screen keyboard.
8) The player will display a list of movies. Select the correct one.
9) The correct information and icon will be downloaded and stored.

It seems like a lot of steps but once you do it a couple of times it really is not that bad.

Note: This does not improve the TV Series it really just works for movies...
Reply
Reply
post #809 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by schnoid View Post

i know there's been talk of forcing an imdb listing with a .nfo file, but I was wondering if maybe I could force a cover art image as well using a similar method? Maybe if I upload all my cover art images to my server then place a link to each cover art image in the nfo files, will it be able to look for that? I still prefer being able to override the cover art image with my local file, but maybe this could be a quick fix for some of us?

Technically you could find the incorrect cover art on the SD disk and replace with the correct one. Could also do that for the thumbnail.
Reply
Reply
post #810 of 3870
7/19/10 at 1:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by djvitamind View Post

Technically you could find the incorrect cover art on the SD disk and replace with the correct one. Could also do that for the thumbnail.

ah, very good point, I haven't been able to look at the SD card directory structure yet since I haven't received my box, but that definitely would make sense if everything is stored in obvious directories and not in some proprietary database format. One issue would be that some of that stuff could potentially be overwritten. I'm not sure in what case the system decides it needs to refresh the imdb info and cover art.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Gaming & Content Streaming › Networking, Media Servers & Content Streaming › PopBox Owners' Thread: Impressions, Reviews & Tips