- November 11, 2007
- 269
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Sweden
Hi,
I have been running in "share" mode since forever. Since my music collection was huge and the id3 tags were not in the best shape, the database mode has never been an option.
However I have decided to start from scratch (I only listen to 1% of the stuff any way...). So this time I will try to get it right from the beginning.
I followed "Guide to the music section of mediaportal" (a very good description by the way), but I still have some concerns/questions.
1) I have been able to play flac/cue files in share mode, when building the database cue files weren't considered by default. I added *.cue to Music Extensions and then it worked. Shouldn't *.cue files be there by default? Should there be a difference in share and database mode when it comes to file extensions?
Edit; Did a clean install of MP 1.1.3, seems that .cue files are not supported by default for either share or database mode.
2) I checked the option "folder.jpg (recommended)" in "Use for thumb creation:" section; I got thumbnails for all my albums (containing a jpg), when I browsed Album Artist view (Album level). For other albums not containing a jpg there was just a default icon, even though both artist and album thums were fetched later on with Fanart Handler plugin. The thumbs fetched with Fanart Handler was however shown in artist level and track level, but NOT in album level.
When "folder.jpg (recommended)" is checked it seems like MP stores and only uses thumbs from C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\thumbs\Music\Folder, the thumbs are based on the jpg's in the album folder.
I unchecked "folder.jpg (recommended)" and then I got thumbs in all levels, seems like artist and albums thumbs fetched by Fanart handler are used in ALL places now. And it's working like it's suppose to.
Based on the above I think the "folder.jpg (recommended)" option is described in an incorrect way, and one could argue if it should be the "recommended" option.
3) I of course have some albums with various artists, the artist name is given in the artist tag. By default all artists are added to the database and are visible in the Album Artist view. If "Treat tracks in an individual folder as an album" is selected the artist are not shown anymore and I actually couldn't find the album anywhere either. I then added "Various Artists" to the Album Artist tag (previously blank) for one album. Various Artist could then be found in Album Artist view. Great! The strange thing was that now a couple of other albums were also listed under Various Artists!?!? And those albums did not have Album Artist tag set. It seems like there must be at least one album tagged with Various Artist otherwise the entry is not visible even though MP obviously consider other albums to be VA.
I did also have some other problems but they boilded down to incorrect/missing tags and cue files that didn't have a corresponding flac file.
I have been running in "share" mode since forever. Since my music collection was huge and the id3 tags were not in the best shape, the database mode has never been an option.
However I have decided to start from scratch (I only listen to 1% of the stuff any way...). So this time I will try to get it right from the beginning.
I followed "Guide to the music section of mediaportal" (a very good description by the way), but I still have some concerns/questions.
1) I have been able to play flac/cue files in share mode, when building the database cue files weren't considered by default. I added *.cue to Music Extensions and then it worked. Shouldn't *.cue files be there by default? Should there be a difference in share and database mode when it comes to file extensions?
Edit; Did a clean install of MP 1.1.3, seems that .cue files are not supported by default for either share or database mode.
2) I checked the option "folder.jpg (recommended)" in "Use for thumb creation:" section; I got thumbnails for all my albums (containing a jpg), when I browsed Album Artist view (Album level). For other albums not containing a jpg there was just a default icon, even though both artist and album thums were fetched later on with Fanart Handler plugin. The thumbs fetched with Fanart Handler was however shown in artist level and track level, but NOT in album level.
When "folder.jpg (recommended)" is checked it seems like MP stores and only uses thumbs from C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\thumbs\Music\Folder, the thumbs are based on the jpg's in the album folder.
I unchecked "folder.jpg (recommended)" and then I got thumbs in all levels, seems like artist and albums thumbs fetched by Fanart handler are used in ALL places now. And it's working like it's suppose to.
Based on the above I think the "folder.jpg (recommended)" option is described in an incorrect way, and one could argue if it should be the "recommended" option.
3) I of course have some albums with various artists, the artist name is given in the artist tag. By default all artists are added to the database and are visible in the Album Artist view. If "Treat tracks in an individual folder as an album" is selected the artist are not shown anymore and I actually couldn't find the album anywhere either. I then added "Various Artists" to the Album Artist tag (previously blank) for one album. Various Artist could then be found in Album Artist view. Great! The strange thing was that now a couple of other albums were also listed under Various Artists!?!? And those albums did not have Album Artist tag set. It seems like there must be at least one album tagged with Various Artist otherwise the entry is not visible even though MP obviously consider other albums to be VA.
I did also have some other problems but they boilded down to incorrect/missing tags and cue files that didn't have a corresponding flac file.