I cannot get a basic media import-what is the best configuration? (1 Viewer)

technoweary

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    Hi
    I am trying MP2 and getting on very well, finding the system more logical and very smooth now. The setup and configuration all went well, (I think years of experience with MP1 helped), but one issue has me stumped. I cannot figure out how to import some of my media from sources on a local HDD
    The system is on a single PC, server and client, and the media sources are all on a separate HDD, (just a copy of my MP1 system media archive)
    The HDD has folders for Movies and Series. Within the Movies folders are .mkv files and within the "Series" folder are sub folders with the series name and the video files and this basic file structure is what I would like to be shown on my menu
    I turned off all on line searching for anything and set the media sources to the folders on the HDD
    The Movies folder works perfectly in Library view, but my Series folder is imported and MP2 adds extra folders with the show name and a date. Within the added I have the structure from the source HDD, but in some cases the folder is empty, the files within that folder are not imported
    I also have some stray orphaned files from the source folders showing in the menu
    Importing my "Series" media as "Video/Movie" or "Video/Series" makes no difference and if I try leaving the source as "Video" the system hangs at 22%, requiring a re-boot to recover
    I have run out of ideas now so I wonder if anyone has any idea what I am doing wrong
    Any advice most gratefully received
    Regards
    TW
     

    Lehmden

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    Hi.
    Do you have locally available metadata (aka .nfo files) and local fanart for all your movies and series? Opposite to any other HTPC program available, MP1 did not support nfo files and local fanart for series. So I don't expect you to have those... Then you need to allow online grabbing so MP2 has a chance to identify what's your videos all about. If you don't want any metadata and fanart and you want to browse the folder structure as in explorer only, then you need to add your series and movies folders as "Video". But then you are missing most of the advantages a HTPC program has. No fanart, no cover to look at, no description of the movie or episode,... nothing. In such a case you most likely can use the Smart- functions of your TV with the same or even better result but with less power consuming and less noise..

    If the import hung every time at the same video, most likely a faulty video is the reason (means it did not work to extract a thumbnail out of the video due to errors or even DRM protection or the like)... If it hung on different places there is something else that causes the issue. For this we definitely need the log files in Debug Mode. See Wiki for how to activate debug log level.
     

    technoweary

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    Thanks for your reply Lehmden
    My media is mainly downloaded from internet resources, (that deliberately edit and omit a lot of the metadata)
    This is another problem I have with MP2, I have to edit the metadata of most of the movies because about 30% of my movie archives were correctly titled!
    My series range from TV shows to Youtube sites that I follow, and once again to get the high resolution files I cannot use the "app" and the files are again downloaded with all the problems with the metadata
    Really all I need is to get a menu that lists the file structure of a few folders on the HDD, (easy in MP1), and I would be good to go with MP2. However if there is no way of acheving this then it is not the end of the world to stay with MP1
    Thanks for the reply, very much appreciated
    Regards
    TW
     

    Lehmden

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    Hi.
    However if there is no way of acheving this
    Of course there is a way in MP2. You need to import as "Videos" (both, series and movies) and then in GUI use "Browse media" button and "folder view". This does exactly what you want, as the name implements. The issues while importing are related most likely to damaged (or DRM protected) videos which can not be read to generate preview thumbs. But this only is a guess, as long as I can't see any logs.

    If I wanted to achieve what you do I won't use MP1 or MP2 or Kodi or similar. I just would use my TV and probably a NAS with a DLNA server running on. All NAS systems, at least all I'm aware of, are able to run a DLNA server and most TV are able to playback videos delivered by a DLNA server without any further hard- or software... This would give the smallest effort, noise and power consuming. A HTPC app like MP or Kodi or the like is mainly for the eye candy stuff like full metadata, extended fanart and gorgeous skins and similar. Without metadata and fanart 90% of the HTPC "feeling" is lost so why fiddle with such a software- "monster" if most of it's benefits are not used at all...
     

    technoweary

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    Hi,
    Thanks for your message
    Unfortunately my TV is one of the last generation Panasonic plasmas and it's "Smartness" is not the same as the current technology and will not replace MP, play the media I wish to use, and browse TBytes of HDD media. I already have three MP machines, and cannot afford any TV that even approaches the quality of the Panasonic plasma, so I will be happy to stick with MP1. I have a £29.99 Android box that does the "Smart TV" action but it cannot compete with MP just doing what I want. I am totally happy to stick with MP1, I just wanted to give MP2 a try as I thought it would be better for networking clients in a couple of other rooms.
    I did try and re-import everything last night and after re-installing and MP2 now completes the import as 'Video' without problems but when I browse the menu there is nothing there.
    I have attached the log and if you can see any major mistake I am making I would very much appreciate your guidance , but as I say I am not that worried if I fall back to MP1
    Regards
    TW
     

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    • MediaPortal2-Logs-2019-11-24-08.27.51.zip
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    Lehmden

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    I did try and re-import everything last night and after re-installing and MP2 now completes the import as 'Video' without problems but when I browse the menu there is nothing there.
    The import was successful as to your logs, so your media items must be shown.

    Which menu you are browsing? Series and movies are not filled without grabbing metadata (what you don't want) so there is nothing to see here, of course. You need to use "Browse media" and then navigate through your folder structure to see your videos...
    Zwischenablage-1.jpg
    After you've navigated to your videos you may see something like this:
    Zwischenablage-2.jpg
    This is the video to play... Depending on your folder structure you may see more videos at once. In this case only one video is in this folder. Here a sample in my native language but you nevertheless can see what it is looking like, if there are more videos in one folder:
    Zwischenablage-3.jpg

    With other skins or themes (here it's the Win 10 theme) this may look different a bit but the functionality is the same.
     

    technoweary

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    Hi, Thanks for that
    I see what you mean now that I know MP2 will not populate the menu without metadata
    You are correct, it looks like all my media is there if I use the "Browse Media" menu
    However, because MP2 will not use the file structure I only assume all is there' it is a total mess with incorrect names and orphaned files because MP2 still uses the media metadata
    I completely see what you mean now. It will take a lot of work editing metadata, now and on-going to maintain the media it is just not worthwhile if I cannot use menu's.
    I will stay with MP1
    Thanks for your help
    Regards
    TW
     

    Lehmden

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    I know MP2 will not populate the menu without metadata
    The same is valid for MP1 too. You need to have metadata if you want to use "series" (MyTVSeries) and "movies" (MovingPictures, MyVideos, MyFilms) there too. But in MP1 you can not disable online lookup in general as you did in MP2. MP1 simply did not offer this option. So if the menus are populated there was an online lookup for metadata and fanart going on before... The same is possible in MP2 of course...

    t is just not worthwhile if I cannot use menu's.
    If you maintain the metadata you definitely can use the menu for sure. It only is impossible if no metadata is grabbed/allowed as you did...
     

    technoweary

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    This is very strange I know but I can assure you that MP1 is not using metadata, I even swapped the HDD archive drives back into my MP1 just in case something had changed in the duplication
    The exact folder structure and title is displayed in MP1, straight from the archive on the HDD
    I think this is where the confusion comes from in that I tried to use the "Movies" and "Series" menu items in MP2 not realising it cannot import files names, only metadata. The "Browse" is like "Video" in MP1 and I was using that without understanding that this was all different in MP2
    However, at least I have given MP2 another try and I appreciate and thank you for your time in explaining
    Regards
    TW
     

    Lehmden

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    that MP1 is not using metadata
    The MP1 metadata are not stored on the hdd you're using for your videos. They are downloaded from the internet and stored in the "C:\Program Data\Team Mediaportal\" folder of your MP1 system. This can be done in MP2 too but you need to allow the download, what you didn't do. In MP1 you can not deny the download at all, that's why you have metadata there.

    But OK, stay with MP1 as it seems impossible for me to make you understand how HTPC programs (all, incl MP1) are working. Maybe my English is too bad to be understood. English lessons at school are more than 40 years ago now...
     

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