dvd folder and vobs - controlling display of all vobs in smart lists

[andymoz]

When i browse a folder which has full DVD rips in it (not iso), mezzmo handles nicely and when I browse to the video_ts folder, it only shows the main films vobs (around 1 - 3) titles depending on the film.

However I am trying to build a smart list, which combines a few folders containing 'dvds' from different locations and combines NAS and local folders into a single view.
However, the lists shows 'all' vobs in the DVD rips -- sometimes as many as 30-50 depending on the film.

Am I missing an obvious option to control this / consolidate this list or only show the main feature?

Other minor point.
Also, it would be good for the folder list view if there was away to 'filter' our the video_ts folder and just show the films inside it - less confusing for people and makes the browsing of the folder cleaner ( I am using XBMC as the test client).
(which is why I am trying to build the smart list above - to only show the films).

[Paul]

Hi andymoz,

What are your rules in your smart playlist? Perhaps take a screenshot of the Smart Playlist dialog and we can better advise what is going wrong.

When you browse your folders that you have added into Mezzmo, then Mezzmo lists all files/folders as they exist on your computer/NAS. So you will see folders like "video_ts" since they are sub-folders on disk. If you just want to browse your videos, then you should use the playlists that are pre-installed or that you create yourself - e.g. by genre, actor, year, etc.

[arrbee99]

Hi Andymoz,

Just wondering if you got anywhere with this. Am very new to Mezzmo and want to do (I think) the same thing. At the moment to just see, and play, our ripped DVD's on our Bravia TV via Mezzmo I have to -

select Mezzmo on the TV, then
select video
select video (again)
select folders
select 'DVD's full copy' (in our case)
select the required film
select videoTS
select film again to actually start watching it

is there anyway to get at the required gapless multi-file more directly i.e. create a playlist (or a smart playlist, or active playlist, or a linked playlist) that just lists all the gapless multi-files in one big list for now (no gendres or anything) that the kids can scroll through and pick ?

Thanks very much

[Paul]

You can create a simple smart playlist that lists all your children's DVD videos. Try this:


In Mezzmo, select the Video playlist in the tree.
Click Create Playlist -> Smart Playlist...
In the Smart Playlist Properties dialog, enter a name - e.g. Kids Videos!
Add a rule:
[File path] [starts with] [D:\Videos\DVD's full copy]
(where D:\Videos\DVD's full copy is the folder that contains your children's DVD videos)
Select the Video files radio button
Click OK to save the playlist.
You should see the playlist and (hopefully) all your children's DVD videos listed in it. You're done! (You can right-click on the playlist at any time and click Properties to edit it such as adding more rules to refine the smart playlist)

Let us know if you have any problems.

[arrbee99]

Hi Paul,

OK did that, works except the playlist lists all the VOB files, etc that make up the ripped DVD's, not the gapless multi-file(s). Don't think it does vob's AND gapless multi-files, just all those vob's.

Thanks

[Paul]

Sorry about that. Change the rule to:


[File path] [contains] [D:\Videos\DVD's full copy]
(where D:\Videos\DVD's full copy is the folder that contains your children's DVD videos)


and that should also list your gapless multi-files.

If you don't want to display the DVD ripped VOBs, then you can add another rule like:


[Title] [contains][(]

since Mezzmo lists the DVD gapless videos with titles like "<movie title> (Title 1)", "<movie title> (Title 2)", "<movie title> (Title 3)", etc.

[arrbee99]

Hi,

Changing to CONTAINS means it now shows the gapless multi-files AND the DVD vobs, as expected.

Adding the second rule using the bracket just gives a completely empty playlist.

Maybe I did something non standard with naming somewhere - I see that looking under the properties of a gapless multi-file, its name is given as, say Bolt, while the properties for one of the vobs also gives it as Bolt - if that's were it should give any brackets ?

Thanks again

[Paul]

OK - try this. Change the smart playlist to have these two rules


[File path] [contains] [D:\Videos\DVD's full copy]
(where D:\Videos\DVD's full copy is the folder that contains your children's DVD videos)
[File path] [starts with] [#title]


and remove the [Title] [contains] [(] rule that I suggested previously.

[arrbee99]

Excellent, I do believe its a winner (I was literally supposed to type '#title' into the box I presume ? I guess I was seeing as it looks like it works fine).

Will have to fiddle a bit more later, but going to make the dinner now.

Thanks again

[Paul]

Glad it's working. Internally, the file path of gapless multi-files do start with #title, so that can be used in smart playlists for finding your gapless multi-files (i.e. DVD videos or gapless music).

[arrbee99]

Thanks very much. will try to think up something more for you tomorrow.....

[andymoz]

Hi, - I was the original poster, but got side tracked by a new born !

This is getting closer to what I wanted to achieve - infact the 'title' naming in the path allows me to only show the DVD rips.... but what I wanted was to show all my main movies in the same smart list.
So, for example my avi/mkv and main DBD rips movies (with title) etc from multiple folders combined in one smart play list.

.... so what I really want is a filter which shows all main movies 'except' those shorter VOB files (so I don't have 25 entries for the same film)
Any thoughts on how to do this simply ?

[Paul]

Perhaps you could add [Duration] [is greater than] [01:00:00] to your smart playlist and this would restrict the playlist to list only those videos with a duration of greater than 1 hour (or whatever duration value you specify). This would remove the shorter, unwanted VOB files.

[andymoz]

The time limit was no good as all the different films and clips are all different lengths, so missed / selected ones I didn't want.

However - based on your explanation that the filename for the gapless multi files is not the 'real filename'.. I did this:

1) File path contains videos (to only get my rips instead of all the films that come with albums etc
2) File Name does not contain vts_
3) File Name does not contain video_ts

This seems to work for me and still includes the gapless multi main films (as the filename is not the real filename)...... as far as I can see with limited testing.

[Paul]

Glad you worked out a set of smart playlist rules that covers your movies :)

[arrbee99]

Hi Paul,

Don't know if its a 3.4.2 thing, but the Smart Playlist thing you gave me using the #title function (see earlier in the post), isn't working properly any more, see image...

604-

Mezzmo also seems to be ignoring the dvd's/vobs it shows quite happily under the folders\DVD's Full Copy item - they don't show up under Directors/Gendre etc. Have tried maintaining the library and every box is ticked under the metadata retrieval box thingy. Any ideas ?

Thanks very much

[Paul]

We have fixed the issue where your files don't show up on Director/Genre/etc. This will be included the Mezzmo v3.4.3.0 release that should be released later this week.

Regarding your smart playlist, take a screenshot of the Smart playlist Properties dialog so I can see the smart playlist rules that you have defined.

[arrbee99]

Thanks, that was quick. Hope this helps.....

605

Its supposed to be the one you gave me on page 1 of this post. Am sure there's something obvious in there somewhere, just not to me....

Thanks again

[Paul]

The smart playlist appears to be working (i.e. listing your DVD video titles), but the names of the titles do not appear to be correct. Instead of "vts_01_1", it should be like "101 Dalmatians". Do you have "Use filename as titles" checkbox turned on in the Metadata Retrieval Settings dialog? This setting is the most likely reason for titles like this.

If the smart playlist is not working as it should, let us know in more detail what is wrongly listed.

[arrbee99]

Hi,

Yes, 'Use filenames as titles' is selected, actually, every box is ticked for both video and folder tabs.

Not sure about the more detail bit - in the previous screenshot, with the vts_01_1 names, all the files are named like that, though technically by the time I get to the bottom of the list, its up to vts_43_01.
If I look at them under the Folders\DVD's Full Copy item, they are all named as expected from the folder name.
Maybe I have too many boxes ticked (except I want the metadata for the Director/Gendre etc but with the actual name and picture from my computer) ? or maybe I should wait for 3.4.3 ?

Thanks

[Paul]

Sorry - your earlier post said "Don't know if its a 3.4.2 thing, but the Smart Playlist thing you gave me using the #title function (see earlier in the post), isn't working properly any more, see image..."

What has changed since upgrading to 3.4.2 in the smart playlist? More/less files? Titles are different? Let me know & then I will be able to track down any issues.

[arrbee99]

Am afraid its all a bit vague...I had Mezzmo on my old computer, which died, though am sure it had 3.4.2 on it. Am unsure if it was doing this 'not naming' thing then.
On the new computer its also on 3.4.2 and obviously doing its 'not naming' thing. The D drive is an external usb 2Gb thing and hasn't changed except for some new dvd's added yesterday and being connected via usb3 now vs. usb2 previously.
Don't suppose this is much help really, what with fighting with the old computer (in general, not with Mezzmo), before it died, then getting the new one and putting software and data back, kind of lost track of what was working when.
Oh, am sure it named OK with 3.4.1/3.4.1.4, but not sure if it doesn't work with 3.4.2 or if its something else I might have done around the same time.

[Paul]

Understand - so the title naming is the issue.

If you have "Use filename as title" checked and then add your DVD videos, then the titles will be as you are seeing. If you want nice titles, then turn this checkbox off and delete the DVD videos from your Mezzmo library and add them back in. That will tell Mezzmo to try to create nice movie/TV show titles. After adding your DVD videos back in, then you can turn the "Use filename as title" checkbox for your other files if you like.

[arrbee99]

Hokey Dokey, I shall have a go at that and leave you in peace(s) until I let you know how it goes tomorrow. Thanks very much.

[arrbee99]

Thanks, your idea works well to fix the title names, though there are some minor differences in film names e.g. Das Boot (my filename and film title) becomes The Boat and Life of Brian (my filename and film title) becomes The Secret Life of Brian.

Also would like it if the metadata and artwork could if possible be separated in the Metadata Retrieval Settings box, so its possible to get metadata of the internet and artwork off the local computer if desired.
For example the file Arthur on my computer is a children's film, and shows the children's film artwork under Folders\DVD's Full Copy. but under my DVD's smartlist it turn into the Arthur with Russell Brand, see images.

606607

[Paul]

"The Boat" is the English title for the German movie "Das Boot". I guess you have "en" (English) as the Language used for online metadata searches. You can get German language titles by changing the Language identifier in the Metadata Retrieval Settings dialog to "de". To get to the Metadata Retrieval Settings dialog, go to the Options dialog (Retrieving Metadata page) and click the Metadata Retrieval Settings button. After setting the Language to German, when you add files or run Maintain Library, your online metadata searches will prefer to get German language metadata.

Thanks for the suggestion to split the online metadata and artwork retrieval. We'll consider adding this into a future version.

[arrbee99]

Thanks for the info, but don't want to go as far as changing things to German. It was just an example that happened to change the (German) Das Boot title of my DVD, to the English title, kind of like the Arthur and Life of Brian examples above.

Does the metadata retrieval use the title of the DVD in its online search ? Would it be better if, for example, the DVD I lazily called Arthur was renamed, as it actually should be, 'Arthur 3: The War Of The Two Worlds' ? Would it get better metadata then ?

[Paul]

Yes - the more accurate the name of your video file/DVD, then the better the results will be when collecting movie and TV show information online.