[mythtv-users] I'm slightly confused regarding how metadata is shown on frontends

[Michael T. Dean]

On 02/17/2013 10:05 AM, hambone wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 1:35 AM, Another Sillyname wrote:
>
>> /mnt/sdb1/TV
>> /mnt/sdc1/TV2
>> /mnt/sdd1/Movies
>>
>> I've populated the metadata (still need to sort out a few issues but 95%
>> done)
>>
>> On the backends frontend I can view the metadata properly and have it
>> configured so that I can see each directory...
>>
>> Movies
>> TV
>> TV2
>>
>> When I run the frontend -->   Media Library -->   Watch Videos I'm
>> presented with the above subdirectories, I can then get a list of
>> either Movies or TV shows and the metadata starts to appear (coverart,
>> fanart) as I scroll up and down the directory tree.....
>>
>> Movies -->   A Knights Tale
>>             -->   Airplane
>>
>> As the highlighted cursor moves across from 'Movies' to a 'A Knights
>> Tale' the whole screen background changes to (I assume) fanart for
>> that Movie and the coverart box gets filled in appropriately.
>>
>> If I then move down to 'Airplane' the images get correctly updated.
>>
>> If I move back to the Movies option and move down to TV the images
>> again update correctly picking up from whichever TV show subdirectory
>> I move across to.
>>
>> However on the remote frontends I cannot get the metadata to show
>> unless I choose to NOT browse filesystem.
>>
>> i.e.
>>
>> If I have 'Browse Filesystem (slow)' in effect disabled on the system
>> I see metadata, however all three directory structures are now
>> presented as one merged long list rather then seperate Movies, TV and
>> TV2 structures.
>>
>> If I have 'Browse Filesystem' enabled I get the directory tree
>> structure I want as per the above on the backends frontend, however I
>> now get no metadata showing on the remote frontend.
...
>> I've tinkered around with this for a couple of hours now and either
>> I'm missing something obvious or having 'Browse Filesystem' enabled on
>> a remote frontend is stopping metadata being transferred.

Yeah, pretty much.  It's evil.

>> I'd really rather not set him up with one huge long list of TV shows
>> and Movies to scroll through every time he wants to watch something,
>> but frankly the whole point of the system is the metadata makes it so
>> visually appealing.
> I know the devs frown on using the Browse Filesystem method and they are
> planning on removing it.

You guys both seem to misunderstand what "Browse filesystem (slow)" is...

"Browse filesystem (slow)" is evil and no one should be using it--and 
there's no good reason to use it.  All that options does is ignore the 
metadata (what the OP is trying to get) and, instead, look at every file 
on the file system every single time.  This means that when you start up 
Video Library (and sometimes when already in Video Library), your system 
will have every single backend read the contents of every single 
directory (and its subdirectories and ...) and present whatever it 
finds.  It could cause your system to spin up multiple hard drives 
multiple times in a Video Library session, and will often result in 
many-seconds (or more) delays when trying to enter Video Library.

Both of you seem to want "Show Directory Structure", which is *not* 
evil--and allows you to see how you've organized your videos.

See http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/519758#519758 
(and if the UI/menu options are confusing or it doesn't seem to be 
working as I described (or at least, tried to) see 
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/519768#519768 ).


> I have my data structured like this /storage/videos/TV,
> /storage/videos/Movies, etc.  They are all on a local drive on the
> backend/frontend.  I have my storage group set up as /storage/videos
>
> What I see on the frontend (also Blue Abstract) in the List View is /Moviesand
> /TV.  I suggest you try to nest your data one directory at least one level
> deeper (e.g. /mnt/sdb1/Video/TV, etc), set your storage groups accordingly (
> /mnt/sdb1/Video, etc) , change to the regular viewing mode and see what
> happens.
>
> I believe you're seeing everything in the root directory because your
> Videos are essentially in the root directory.

Yes, I'm pretty sure this is exactly what he needs to do.  Video Library 
shows the directories /within/ the Videos Storage Group "root" 
directories, but combines the roots--that way, whether you have 1 or 10 
million directories in the Videos Storage Group, you can get the same 
view.  In other words, if it doesn't combine the roots, every time you 
added a new directory to the Videos Storage Group, you'd get another 
break in your organization scheme--even if you just added the directory 
to make more room for movies.

Mike