[mythtv-users] Legibility from the sofa

[spam at acmelabs.com]

I seem to be having the same trouble as many others trying to navigate
using filenames except that I am using a 46" widescreen. I don't think
screen size is that much of a factor in this issue.

ryan.goat at gmail writes:
>Did you know that there are four different view options for the
>mythvideo "Watch Videos" screen? The "three column" view is only one
>of the choices. Check out the wiki:
>http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/MythVideo#MythVideo_Views

Unfortunately these are all geared towards metadata browsing in one way or
another. The list view comes the closest to being functional with the
other 2 views being rather useless without metadata. I can see the benefit
in a collection that is largely films but that does not reflect my
collection which is mostly television. Also, a very small percentage of
video returns any metadata at all.

I have a large number of video files (10k+). Some are periodically moved
to offline storage and at a later date might be copied back to myth. It
does not make sense to take time to setup metadata when flies are moved on
and off the drive array frequently.

Filenames as downloaded from 'internet sources' already have all the
needed episode data needed for browsing such as the following examples:
Simpsons 04x05 - Tree House of Horror III [rl-dvd].avi
merlin.2x08.the_sins_of_the_father.ws_pdtv_xvid-fov.avi
house.s06e13.720p.hdtv.x264-immerse.mkv

Given that %99 of episodic video downloadable from 'internet sources' is
already labeled so nicely I dont see metadata as a crucial feature. Being
able to page through a list of nearly endless simpsons episodes to find
the one I am looking for is much more important.

Unfortunately the current 3-column view is not conducive to browsing these
kind of files when already stored in nice, easy to manage directory trees
along the lines of: SHOW/SEASON/EPISODE

Before I upgraded to .23 I was pretty happy with something similar to this
image: (please see link)
http://imgs.imagup.com/member3/1225743519_mythvideo5.png

I dont seem to be the only person frustrated with browsing episodes. I
believe some insight as to available options would be helpful for a number
of Myth users. Any help would be most appreciated!

Are we stuck with the 3 column view? Is there a way to regain the simplier
style of view in .22? If not possible in the current version what is the
last version that carried this view so we can downgrade back?

Thank you for taking the time to read and reply to this message! :)