Folder organization for stored videos

581 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by ogormask, Jul 6, 2012

Vlad Theimpaler

Discussion Starter · Jun 19, 2012

I am doing research into various media front-ends for use in a future HTPC build which will be running Win7 HP 64-bit.

My question has to do with which one (if any) will be able to work with my media organization as it stands today. I realize that I may have to change it for compatibility with the front-end I end up going with, but hopefully not

Anyway, my library consists solely of TV shows recorded OTA via my current HTPC/PVR.

I take the raw recordings, then edit them with VideReDo to remove the commercials. Then I create folders, and archive all my favorite shows onto a storage HDD.

The current folder structure and file naming scheme goes like this:

ROOT

|

SHOWTITLE_S1

|

SHOWTITLE_1x01

SHOWTITLE_1x02

.

.

.

The SHOWTITLE_XxYZ folders contain my edited video clips, saved in MPG format, for the original program. The editing is done so that the show is "chopped" into segments, with the segments being named as follows:

SHOWTITLE_1x01_1.mpg

SHOWTITLE_1x01_2.mpg

SHOWTITLE_1x01_3.mpg

SHOWTITLE_1x01_4.mpg

SHOWTITLE_1x01_5.mpg

SHOWTITLE_1x01_6.mpg

This was done for portability. If the segments were joined into a single mpeg file, it may exceed 4GB in size, and thus not be playable in standalone devices that only recognize FAT32 for attached storage devices, like SD cards or USB flash drives. All such standalones (the ones I've experienced personally, at least) can read the files and play them one-by-one in correct order, seamlessly, so the viewing experience is the same as if the episode was stored a single mpeg file.

So I was reading that XBMC, at the moment, is not compatible with this setup for establishing a TV show library. It wants folders to contain only *one* video file per episode.

Does anyone here know of a media front-end/browser that will be able to work with the file organization I've described here? Thanks in advance.

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JGFreeh

· #2 · Jun 19, 2012

I think Mediabrowser has support for something like this. I remember on their wiki or setup guide something about treating multiple files as a single movie. Don't know if it applies to TV shows or episodes. Might want to look it up.

Edit: found it: http://community.mediabrowser.tv/permalinks/1003/what-are-movie-playlists-why-do-they-exist

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Vlad Theimpaler

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 19, 2012

Quote:
Originally Posted by JGFreeh /t/1416507/folder-organization-for-stored-videos#post_22147798

I think Mediabrowser has support for something like this. I remember on their wiki or setup guide something about treating multiple files as a single movie. Don't know if it applies to TV shows or episodes. Might want to look it up.

Edit: found it: http://community.mediabrowser.tv/permalinks/1003/what-are-movie-playlists-why-do-they-exist

Thanks, this definitely gives me a good place to start. Much appreciated

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Sammy2

· #4 · Jun 19, 2012

the renamer will do the job of re-organizing your files for you.

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Vlad Theimpaler

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 5, 2012

Hello all. Just wanted to follow up on this topic. Thanks to all who have read and contributed to the discussion. Here's the current situation.

I have a TV show library in which each individual episode is not a single file, but rather split into several parts, and stored in .mpg container, i.e.

MyShow_s01e01_1.mpg

MyShow_s01e01_2.mpg

MyShow_s01e01_3.mpg

MyShow_s01e01_4.mpg

MyShow_s01e01_5.mpg

I have used VLC and MPC-HC to play the FOLDER in which the .mpg files reside, and it plays one file after another until all files have been played. The transition between files is seamless, so it works out well.

I am looking for a way to organize this library of TV shows with some form of media library front-end with an accompanying player that will do the same (play files one-by-one with seamless transitions).

I am testing out various options, and so far the only solution I could come up with is 7MC + Mediabrowser + VLC as external player.

Does anyone else store TV episodes as multiple file segments and, if so, are there any other library browser frontends/players that can display them and play them back properly? Thanks in advance for any responses.

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Sammy2

· #6 · Jul 5, 2012

Media Browser can do this by setting the nested folder level to a number such as 4 or 5 but why don't you just mux them all up into one mkv? That way if you lose the file you lose the whole file and not just 10 minutes of the show..

BTW, I think MPC-HC is better than VLC by a long shot.

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ogormask

· #7 · Jul 6, 2012

idk that having a bunch of files inside of a folder matters. much of the media i have is like this. idk why you cant just use the default media browser with wmc? should play mpgs just fine. if you have them as mkvs then use mpchc as external within media browser for those extensions. its been a while maybe im saying this wrong.

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