A few different questions (1 Viewer)

[chumblespuzz]

Got a few questions...

#1 I have some lecture series made by the learning company. I was thinking the best way to view these would be like tv show using the 'mp-tv series' plugin.
I was just trying to figure the easiest way to import the information. Most of the lectures have 24 parts...one as many as 96. Editing each files info with the MP config. program seems like it would take forever. Can I make an .nfo file for each ep...or one file for all the eps? And if so how do I go about doing this? Also how can I get a screen shot of each ep to be displayed when browsing the lectures...I have the music video pluging and it can grab a screenshot at any specified location. As far as artwork is concerned I can download some stuff to use for this as well as make some generic banners main screen.

#2 I have a few movies with multiple discs...like Lord of the Rings. My dvd's are all ripped as image files. When I go to play one it asks if I would like to have it play multiple discs in a row. If I select to do so it just locks up. I checked and saw that Daemon tools only had 1 virtual drive setup and thought this would be the problem and added a second but it did not help. BTW: the image files play fine if I choose to just play one.

#3 Any thoughts on organizing and playing home movies? What do you use to play them...

#4 I see there is talk of a MP2....does this mean that all the hours I am putting into setting up MP1 may have to be repeated if MP2 is released and I upgrade?

#5 Backing up all the effort. Is it safe to assume that if I make a backup of the 'Team Media Portal' user folder then all my settings and tv episode info and art and music info etc. will be backed up?
Lets say for example that I removed MP from my pc or formatted the HDD and reinstalled windows....leaving all media in place on other drives. If I reinstall MP and simply copy the user folder back in place will I be ready to rock with all my info in place? The folder I am referring to is located here 'C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Team MediaPortal'

#6 Also still having a problem playing .vob files with the music video plugin. About 300 of my music videos are .vob files. When I go to play one of them it simply locks the program up. Pressing F2 frees it up but I still cannot play the file.

#7 I sorta asked this previously but was also wondering...in regards to .nfo files. I have a few tv shows and misc that are not listed on thetvdb and as far as I can tell the info will have to be entered manually unless I can use NFO files. I am thinking this would be the easiest thing to do for the home videos and the lectures if it can be done this way. This way if something happens and I have to reinstall I will still have the info for these sort of things without having to reenter it.

in advance for any help!!!

 

[etheesdad]

Got a few questions...

#1 I have some lecture series made by the learning company. I was thinking the best way to view these would be like tv show using the 'mp-tv series' plugin.

#4 I see there is talk of a MP2....does this mean that all the hours I am putting into setting up MP1 may have to be repeated if MP2 is released and I upgrade?

#5 Backing up all the effort. Is it safe to assume that if I make a backup of the 'Team Media Portal' user folder then all my settings and tv episode info and art and music info etc. will be backed up?
Lets say for example that I removed MP from my pc or formatted the HDD and reinstalled windows....leaving all media in place on other drives. If I reinstall MP and simply copy the user folder back in place will I be ready to rock with all my info in place? The folder I am referring to is located here 'C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Team MediaPortal'

in advance for any help!!!

#1 seems to me the easiest thing would be just to join multiple media files into a one (single) file for each lecture.

#4 I think MP2 is in the distant rather than the near future. The Devs would be in a better position to answer this question than me, but currently the development focus (as far as I have seen) seems to be on getting MP1 bug-free.

#5 theres a plugin called backupsettings thats designed for this purpose
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...-media-portal-45715/?highlight=backupsettings

Personally I think best practice with MP is a clean install and then to make a disk image using paragon or macruim or ghost or acronis (or whatever disk imaging program you have) and keeping that handy in case anything breaks. That way you have a fresh working install available at any time. Takes about 15 mins on my machine to restore the OS/Program Files image and has saved me hours of troubleshooting when trying different builds, plugins, codecs, etc.

There's information in the manual/wiki about MP paths if you decide to take that route.

 

[chumblespuzz]

re: #1...the problem with joining them to one file is that it would be quite large and loooongggg. As in the smallest lecture series would be about a 12 hour video and the longest about a 45 hour video!!! I would really prefer to choose individual lectures.

re: #5...I will check into the plug in. Thanks!

I was also thinking the clean install/disk image thing. I do have Acronis. But what about 6 months later if lots of media is added? Although pretty much all of the tv shows and music I will want should be complete soon....that is the more complicated stuff to add. Should mainly be movies being added later as opposed to a 10 year tv series so a drive image will most likely be in my near future.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[etheesdad]

A 45 HOUR LECTURE?! Thats a SCARY THOUGHT!!!

I was also thinking the clean install/disk image thing. I do have Acronis. But what about 6 months later if lots of media is added? Although pretty much all of the tv shows and music I will want should be complete soon....that is the more complicated stuff to add. Should mainly be movies being added later as opposed to a 10 year tv series so a drive image will most likely be in my near future.

You mean the show thumbnails / plot information &etc? - yeah that may be a sticking point. If you're talking about media files like movies etc, a simple partitioning scheme would solve that.

I use MP TVseries and My Movies and Im pretty sure one of them allows you to specify the folder it keeps the shows info in (ie another drive or partition) dont quote me on that though

 

[dcwp]

I LOVE the lectures from the Learning Company. I have a two hour commute so they are always on my MP3 player.

I tag them all as a single album with track numbers, then I set the genre to Podcast. That way they can be kept separate from music, also my MP3 player likes them as podcasts. I'm not sure how to setup MP to not play them when scrobbling through music though and it's always a bit jarring to go from the Beastie Boys to a lecture on constitutional law.

 

[chumblespuzz]

I LOVE the lectures from the Learning Company. I have a two hour commute so they are always on my MP3 player.

I tag them all as a single album with track numbers, then I set the genre to Podcast. That way they can be kept separate from music, also my MP3 player likes them as podcasts. I'm not sure how to setup MP to not play them when scrobbling through music though and it's always a bit jarring to go from the Beastie Boys to a lecture on constitutional law.

I do have a couple lectures as mp3's but what I am referring to are dvd video rips of the lectures.
So anywhere from 24 to 96 .avi files per lecture....

 

[dcwp]

Ah, i see. I haven't tried the videos yet, I'm intrigued.

Something you could try would be to use Moving Pictures to organize regular movies and MyVideos for home movies and lectures. It probably won't be as pretty as TVSeries since it won't scrape details or anything, but at least you could keep them separate.

 

[Markpainter]

Got a few questions...
#6 Also still having a problem playing .vob files with the music video plugin. About 300 of my music videos are .vob files. When I go to play one of them it simply locks the program up. Pressing F2 frees it up but I still cannot play the file.
in advance for any help!!!

I just rename them from xxx.VOB to xxx.MPG and that seems to do the trick for me.

Cheers!
Mark P