New user with a couple of questions.

[MidnightInAurora]

Good evening all,

I just installed Mezzmo and with minimal effort, have it up and running on our two WD TV Live Gen 3 devices.

I do however have a couple of questions -

1. All punctuation seems to have disappeared from the filenames when displaying the file list. Things like " - , ' are gone. Can I get those to display?

2. Is there a way to only see the video folders? I don't need the top-level Music/Photos and I don't need all the folders that appear under Video. I would just like to see the drive folders.

3. Can I stop collecting and displaying thumbnails and can I delete what's already been generated/collected?

4. If I move a new video file into a folder that has been added to Mezzmo, will that new file automatically be picked and indexed by Mezzmo?

Mezzmo looks like a great product and I'm hoping it will solve several problems with trying to have WD TV Live stream directly from Windows network shares.

Jim

[Paul]

Hi Jim,

Some answers:

1. You can edit the titles manually and fix them. Right click on the file in Mezzmo and click Properties. Edit the Title field and click OK. Or, if you want Mezzmo us your filenames rather than auto-extracting titles, then see this FAQ - http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/6042-Tutorial-How-to-use-filenames-as-your-titles.

2. All the pre-installed playlists and folders are just playlists. You can edit or delete them as you like to arrange your Mezzmo library as you like. You can drag & drop folders and playlists where you like in the tree in Mezzmo.

3. You cannot stop your files having thumbnails. You can reduce the time taken to collect thumbnails by changing the metadata retrieval settings. Go to the Options dialog (Retrieving Metadata page) and click the Metadata Retrieval Settings button. In the Metadata Retrieval Settings dialog, you can turn off the artwork-related checkboxes.

4. Yes, if you have added a folder into Mezzmo, then Mezzmo will dynamically pick up any new files or sub-folders that you add to that folder on your computer or NAS when you browse that folder in Mezzmo or on your DLNA device.

Let us know how you go.

[MidnightInAurora]

Hi Jim,

Some answers:

1. You can edit the titles manually and fix them. Right click on the file in Mezzmo and click Properties. Edit the Title field and click OK. Or, if you want Mezzmo us your filenames rather than auto-extracting titles, then see this FAQ - http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/6042-Tutorial-How-to-use-filenames-as-your-titles.

2. All the pre-installed playlists and folders are just playlists. You can edit or delete them as you like to arrange your Mezzmo library as you like. You can drag & drop folders and playlists where you like in the tree in Mezzmo.

3. You cannot stop your files having thumbnails. You can reduce the time taken to collect thumbnails by changing the metadata retrieval settings. Go to the Options dialog (Retrieving Metadata page) and click the Metadata Retrieval Settings button. In the Metadata Retrieval Settings dialog, you can turn off the artwork-related checkboxes.

4. Yes, if you have added a folder into Mezzmo, then Mezzmo will dynamically pick up any new files or sub-folders that you add to that folder on your computer or NAS when you browse that folder in Mezzmo or on your DLNA device.

Let us know how you go.

Paul,

Thanks for the info. Setting permissions on the three top-level playlists quickly solved that issue. I just added my folders under Library and it's just what I wanted.

Since I can't turn off thumbnails or web-retrieved art, I think I'd like to use it. I've search around the forum and can't seem to find an answer to getting movie and show covers.

Do the filenames need to be in special format? (Name - Episode - Year)? Is the retrieval based on folder name or the actual filename?

How is movie vs. show determined, or is everything retrieved from IMDB?

You have a very nice piece of software and one that's actually fun and easy to work with. It has also solved the ongoing issue with WD TV Live using network shares.

Jim

[Paul]

Hi Jim,

Some answers:

1. Mezzmo will automatically try to get TV show and movie artwork from web sites like IMDB and TheTVDB. This can be turned on/off in the Metadata Retrieval Settings dialog (see Options dialog - Retrieving Metadata page). You can also get artwork manually by right-clicking on the video and clicking 'Properties'. On the Properties dialog, click the 'Get Online Video Metadata' button.

2. Mezzmo does parse your files to extract key information. The following styles are supported:


C:\folder\Movie Title.avi
C:\folder\Movie Title YYYY.avi
C:\folder\Title s01e01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title 1x01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\Title 1x01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1 Episode 1 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\s01e01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\1x01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\Title s01e01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\Title 1x01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\Episode 1 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\Season 1 Episode 1 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\s01e01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\1x01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\Title s01e01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\Title 1x01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\Episode 1 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\Season 1 Episode 1 Subtitle.avi


3. If Mezzmo finds a season and episode in the file path, then Mezzmo assumes the video is for a TV show and searches TheTVDB, otherwise it searches IMDB.

Glad you like Mezzmo and are having fun with it :)

[MidnightInAurora]

Hi Jim,

Some answers:

1. Mezzmo will automatically try to get TV show and movie artwork from web sites like IMDB and TheTVDB. This can be turned on/off in the Metadata Retrieval Settings dialog (see Options dialog - Retrieving Metadata page). You can also get artwork manually by right-clicking on the video and clicking 'Properties'. On the Properties dialog, click the 'Get Online Video Metadata' button.

2. Mezzmo does parse your files to extract key information. The following styles are supported:


C:\folder\Movie Title.avi
C:\folder\Movie Title YYYY.avi
C:\folder\Title s01e01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title 1x01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\Title 1x01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1 Episode 1 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\s01e01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\1x01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\Title s01e01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\Title 1x01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\Episode 1 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title\Season 1\Season 1 Episode 1 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\s01e01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\1x01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\Title s01e01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\Title 1x01 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\Episode 1 Subtitle.avi
C:\folder\Title Season 1\Season 1 Episode 1 Subtitle.avi


3. If Mezzmo finds a season and episode in the file path, then Mezzmo assumes the video is for a TV show and searches TheTVDB, otherwise it searches IMDB.

Glad you like Mezzmo and are having fun with it :)

Paul,

I seem to have a small problem retrieving show and episode information from TVDB. For example, the anime series Stellvia of the Universe is in TVDB and can be tested using the URL http://www.thetvdb.com/api/GetSeries.php?seriesname=stellvia%20of%20the%20uni verse&language=en. However, when trying to retrieve that show title using Get Online Video Metadata, Mezzmo reports no information found.

<Data>
<Series>
<seriesid>79782</seriesid>
<language>en</language>
<SeriesName>Stellvia of the Universe</SeriesName>
<banner>graphical/79782-g.jpg</banner>
<Overview>In the year 2167 AD Earth was devastated by a powerful electromagnetic shockwave caused by a nearby star, Hydrus Beta, 20 light-years away, having gone supernova. Now it is the year 2356, 189 years after the shockwave and civilization has been rebuilt with humanity united together to face the coming of the second shockwave of the supernova. The second shockwave, unlike the first, contains a great deal of matter composed of the remnants of the star itself.</Overview>
<FirstAired>2003-04-02</FirstAired>
<Network>TV Tokyo</Network>
<id>79782</id>
</Series>
</Data>

In addition to that, I'm unable to retrieve any episode information. As a test I tried to retrieve episode information for the anime series Planetes. If using just the show name in Get Online Video Metadata, Mezzmo does retrieve the episode list and populates the dropdown. However, no filename style that I tried, nor any title/season/episode combination that I tried from the list you supplied will retrieve metadata for just a single episode from TVDB.

Am I missing something simple?

Thanks for your help.

Jim

[Paul]

Please provide a few examples of your file paths that are not working, and we'll try here. We have fixed a few issues regarding metadata extraction from file paths and metadata lookup from IMDB/TheTVDb, so we'll make sure these fixes also take care of your issue.

[MidnightInAurora]

Please provide a few examples of your file paths that are not working, and we'll try here. We have fixed a few issues regarding metadata extraction from file paths and metadata lookup from IMDB/TheTVDb, so we'll make sure these fixes also take care of your issue.

Paul,

These are the path formats I've tested with the series Stellvia of the Universe -

D:\Stellvia of the Universe\1x01 Outside the Atmosphere (BTW - This format works perfectly for the show Planetes)
D:\Stellvia of the Universe\Season 1\1x01 Outside the Atmosphere
D:\Stellvia of the Universe Season 1\1x01 Outside the Atmosphere
D:\Stellvia of the Universe\Stellvia of the Universe s01e01 Outside the Atmosphere

Get Online Video Metadata will not retrieve anything using that show name, although TVDB does have complete entries for it. Also, for any show I've tried, Get Online Video Metadata will not retrieve metadata for a single episode. It seems to only work with just the show title. It doesn't seem to like season/episode as part of the title. It may work that way by design.

One other question. Most shows I've tested with have metadata for the show itself, and metadata for each episode. Is the show, or top-level metadata retrieved and stored? Can this top-level metadata be attached to the directory? I know you can manually enter some text and art, but it might be nice to either have that done automatically, or put a Get Online Video Metadata button on the directory Properties - or both.

Thank you.

Jim

[Paul]

Thanks, Jim. We'll check these our and fix any problems.

We're not retrieving the top-level series metadata as yet (just the episode metadata), but we may do this in the future. Thanks for the suggestion.

[MidnightInAurora]

Thanks, Jim. We'll check these our and fix any problems.

We're not retrieving the top-level series metadata as yet (just the episode metadata), but we may do this in the future. Thanks for the suggestion.

Paul,

Any update on this issue?

Thanks.

Jim

[Paul]

Looking into the issues at the moment. We'll report back when we're done.

[Paul]

Hi Jim,

Just an update: We have fixed the "Stellvia of the Universe" issue. We'll include this fix in the upcoming Mezzmo v3.3 release that we are preparing now. We are planning to release it next week.

[MidnightInAurora]

Hi Jim,

Just an update: We have fixed the "Stellvia of the Universe" issue. We'll include this fix in the upcoming Mezzmo v3.3 release that we are preparing now. We are planning to release it next week.

Thanks Paul. Just purchased Mezzmo.

After looking at and testing six other media servers, there were none that could compare to Mezzmo in both functionality and ease of use.

Jim

[Paul]

Thanks for your kind words, Jim. Hope you enjoy streaming with Mezzmo :)