Creating "Box Sets". (1 Viewer)

[luci5r]

My question is slightly different then some of the other threads I found here; including the "Grouping Movies" thread just a tad below this one. While the questions may be similar to mine, the solutions provided aren't exactly what I'm looking for.

I'm well aware of the "Categories" filter & setting in MovingPicture, but that's not what I'm looking for. What I'm looking for is this -- Inside the "Movies" Category, I want to be able to create box-sets/groups for related movies. For example, while browsing the movies, instead of showing the 3 different Matrix films, I'd like to have one Poster/Link for "Matrix (Series)" and then when you click on it, you get the 3 Matrix films. Something like that.

I do believe this is possible in the MyFilms plugin and i know MediaPortal Wiki talks abou this; however, I have not found this in MovingPictures. Is this supported at all by MovingPictures plugin right now?

Thanks!

 

[JimCatMP]

Do mean something like this..

Then click on Matrix link...

All done in MovingPictures via Categories.

If it is, look at <https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/newbie-needing-help-with-installation.116943/page-2>

Cheers - JCMP

 

[RoChess]

Existing workarounds:

• Create manual categories with filters to 'group' the movies together (as shown above and explained in wiki). You can use combinations of title, actors, directors, etc to get the movies from the series to automatically group, or manually add them to the filter whitelist.
• Use IMDb+, which will rename the title during import on movies that are part of a movie series, so you get:

Future:

• Integrated box-set support inside "All movies" list and other related aspects. This is an open issue and will take time, you can stay informed on progress via: http://code.google.com/p/moving-pictures/issues/detail?id=229

 

[luci5r]

Do mean something like this..
View attachment 123513

Then click on Matrix link...

View attachment 123514

All done in MovingPictures via Categories.

If it is, look at <https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/newbie-needing-help-with-installation.116943/page-2>

Cheers - JCMP

*Sorry about the long delay in getting back to my own thread; had a large & long move from Seattle to California. Finally all settled & situated and back to MediaPortal

THIS is exactly what I'm looking for; however, I do have a question and therein may lie the critical answer to whether or not this method will work for me.

I do have a few Top Level categories that come up as soon as I enter the MovingPictures Plugin in MediaPortal. They are:

All Movies
Blu-ray Discs
3D Blu-ray
Foreign
Recently Added

Once I click on any of the above categories, the movies matching the filters are displayed. For example, all my Blu-ray Discs are in ISO format, so I simply have a filter set to look for ISO extension and display them in the "Blu-ray Discs" category.

I don't want to segregate my movies/boxsets by Genre or something; what I'd like is that if you click on "All Movies", I still get all the movies displayed - but within that the "Matrix" box set also gets listed, clicking on which brings up the 3 films. Is that possible? In other words, would the box set/category films be able to mix in with all other movies in one of my 5 Top Level categories?

Thanks!!

 

[RoChess]

THIS is exactly what I'm looking for; however, I do have a question and therein may lie the critical answer to whether or not this method will work for me.

What they did was create a custom category for everything you see. So this will then *NOT* work for "All Movies".

So to make it work 'now', you will have to add a lot of categories yourself and manipulate a lot of filters and pretty much stop useing "All Movies".

Or you can use IMDb+ now and get at least some of the movie-series grouping benefits (especially on series that do not share a title prefix, such as Grindhouse/etc), and wait for the official feature to be added (link in my previous post above)

 

[kiwijunglist]

It's not worth the effort required, use IMDB+ movie groupings via the rename system and wait for official Moving Pictures support.

 

[luci5r]

THIS is exactly what I'm looking for; however, I do have a question and therein may lie the critical answer to whether or not this method will work for me.

What they did was create a custom category for everything you see. So this will then *NOT* work for "All Movies".

So to make it work 'now', you will have to add a lot of categories yourself and manipulate a lot of filters and pretty much stop useing "All Movies".

Or you can use IMDb+ now and get at least some of the movie-series grouping benefits (especially on series that do not share a title prefix, such as Grindhouse/etc), and wait for the official feature to be added (link in my previous post above)

@RoChess & @kiwijunglist,

Thanks and you're both correct; the Categories method will not work for me and it's too much work. I'd like to use the IMDB+ method until the feature is officially supported, however, I'm not quite clear how to use the IMDB+ method to do this kind of grouping / box set creation. Where can I get info on how to do that?

Thanks guys!

 

[RoChess]

Thanks and you're both correct; the Categories method will not work for me and it's too much work. I'd like to use the IMDB+ method until the feature is officially supported, however, I'm not quite clear how to use the IMDB+ method to do this kind of grouping / box set creation. Where can I get info on how to do that?

That reminds me once more I really need to update the IMDb+ wiki to reflect the changes and provide screenshot instructions. Since it looks like my production HTPC died today (thankfully I got all the parts for a new one sitting in boxes), I guess I should take that time to setup MediaPorta v1.3 and take screenshots along the way when I reinstall IMDb+.

In short:

1. Use the "MediaPortal Extension Installer" shortcut on your desktop (or the Extensions plugin inside GUI if you have it installed)
2. Locate IMDb+ and install it.
3. Start MediaPortal GUI
4. IMDb+ will auto-update itself to the latest version and will from then on check every day for updates auto as well
5. Dismiss the dialog (or wait a few seconds)
6. Go to your MediaPortal GUI plugins, and locate IMDb+
7. Configure all the settings the way you prefer (each setting has a description when you highlight it)
8. Open the IMDb+ hidden menu (left arrow on most skins)
9. Select "IMDb+ Force..." to convert your existing collection to use the IMDb+ scraper-script system
10. Open the IMDb+ hidden menu again
11. Select "Refresh Movies..." option and either do your entire collection or just the rename database entries (the one that will actually do the movie series). This is just a one time deal to refresh all your movie info (including title) from the old scraper-script you used before to IMDb+.
12. Restart MediaPortal, so that MovPic can show you the updated results (the main list only updates on startup, though you can highlight a movie to see instant resuls)

Each individual movie in your collection will take between 1 and 5 seconds depending on all the options you selected for IMDb+. So say you get an average of 3 seconds and you have 1200 movies, then the entire refresh process will take an hour, so keep this in mind.

You can however watch a movie when this is going on (on a slow system you might experience a few small hickups).

If you still have problems, please visit the IMDb+ subforum (link in my signature), and open a new thread please.

 

[luci5r]

Thanks and you're both correct; the Categories method will not work for me and it's too much work. I'd like to use the IMDB+ method until the feature is officially supported, however, I'm not quite clear how to use the IMDB+ method to do this kind of grouping / box set creation. Where can I get info on how to do that?

That reminds me once more I really need to update the IMDb+ wiki to reflect the changes and provide screenshot instructions. Since it looks like my production HTPC died today (thankfully I got all the parts for a new one sitting in boxes), I guess I should take that time to setup MediaPorta v1.3 and take screenshots along the way when I reinstall IMDb+.

In short:

1. Use the "MediaPortal Extension Installer" shortcut on your desktop (or the Extensions plugin inside GUI if you have it installed)
2. Locate IMDb+ and install it.
3. Start MediaPortal GUI
4. IMDb+ will auto-update itself to the latest version and will from then on check every day for updates auto as well
5. Dismiss the dialog (or wait a few seconds)
6. Go to your MediaPortal GUI plugins, and locate IMDb+
7. Configure all the settings the way you prefer (each setting has a description when you highlight it)
8. Open the IMDb+ hidden menu (left arrow on most skins)
9. Select "IMDb+ Force..." to convert your existing collection to use the IMDb+ scraper-script system
10. Open the IMDb+ hidden menu again
11. Select "Refresh Movies..." option and either do your entire collection or just the rename database entries (the one that will actually do the movie series). This is just a one time deal to refresh all your movie info (including title) from the old scraper-script you used before to IMDb+.
12. Restart MediaPortal, so that MovPic can show you the updated results (the main list only updates on startup, though you can highlight a movie to see instant resuls)

Each individual movie in your collection will take between 1 and 5 seconds depending on all the options you selected for IMDb+. So say you get an average of 3 seconds and you have 1200 movies, then the entire refresh process will take an hour, so keep this in mind.

You can however watch a movie when this is going on (on a slow system you might experience a few small hickups).

If you still have problems, please visit the IMDb+ subforum (link in my signature), and open a new thread please.

Thanks for the very detailed post with specific instructions; I followed your instructions to the T and saw the results - movies in a series have their relevant numbers so they fall in place together (especially helpful with the "Die Hard" series which has very sporadic naming).

In terms of the Box Set creation - is this as far as I can get currently? With the movies in a series lining up in order? This is definitely better then what I had ... we'll just have to wait for the actual box sets feature to come through.

Thanks!

 

[RoChess]

In terms of the Box Set creation - is this as far as I can get currently? With the movies in a series lining up in order? This is definitely better then what I had ... we'll just have to wait for the actual box sets feature to come through.

Yes, this is unfortunate as far as a scraper-script such as IMDb+ is able to do.

Some movie series are indeed 'miles' apart in a large collection, ie:

• Alex Cross
• Along Came a Spider
• Double Cross
• Kiss the Girls

versus:

• Alex Cross I: Kiss the Girls
• Alex Cross II: Along Came a Spider
• Alex Cross III: Alex Cross
• Alex Cross IV: Double Cross

Not to mention large collections such as James Bond. If you do not like the default rename entries (up to 1767 entries now), you can use the custom rename file to replace them with your own preference.

SMS Filtering still works either way, so if you enter 7+7+4+3+3+7 to spell out SPIDER with the numerical pad on your remote (assuming you have SMS filtering enabled), it will work on both titles. With IMDb+ method however you have the benefit that if you then use the Escape key to go back to the full list it remains highlighted on "Alex Cross II: Along Came a Spider", which will allow you to see the other movies in your list.

The official MovPic feature that has 'exactly' what you are looking for can be tracked on progress at: http://code.google.com/p/moving-pictures/issues/detail?id=229