How to Setup a Media Center Movie Library in Windows 7
Information
This tutorial will show how to manage your movie library in Media Center, including poster images & full synopsis information.
Note
Windows Media Center is not available in Windows 7 Starter and Windows 7 Home Basic editions.
Examples: With & without poster information.
Before you start: NOTE: Special thanks to DemonSeed for the file2folder batch file.
1. Click on the Download button below to download the file2folder.zip file and extract the file2folder.bat file to the drive containing your movie files (e.g. G:\MOVIES). Run the file which will create directories based on the movie file name (e.g. Babylon A.D.avi will have the directory Babylon A.D created) and the movie file moved to the directory.
2. Search for & download a file for the movie you would like as a poster and save it in the movie folder and name it folder.jpg. Do this for each movie.
Warning
I would advise at least 2GB of memory as due to the size of the folder.jpg files there is a lot of memory used. You could (like me) resize all folder.jpg files to a width of 300 pixels & maintain aspect ratio.
Here's How:
1. Run Media Center and navigate to Movies
2. Open movie library, you should notice no movies shown
3. Right-Click within the inner (empty area) and select Manage Library, you will be shown the 'Add folders' wizard. Select 'Add folders to the library' and click next
4. Select the location where your drive with the videos is stored, and click on next.
5. Navigate to the folder where your videos are stored (e.g. G:\MOVIES), and click next.
6. On the final screen select 'Yes, use these locations' and click finish
Now your folder is added, Media Center will show the Video folders (with posters if you downloaded an image file for each movie).
Note
If you wish to include metadata you will need to download Yammm. The meta data will download the DVDID.XML file which will allow for Media Center to download full synopsis information for each movie
Recommended Yammm settings
Note
These setting will automatically rename folders/files, download folder.jpg & DVDID.XML files for Media Center to read from.
Update
The Yammm application has been updated to include Image Resizing
This will allow Media Center to use less memory when rendering folder images.
Tip
It's recommended that you use a setting of 92 Quality & 300x420 medium size as this will greatly reduce the amount of memory used by 7MC when viewing a large movie library
Update 2: More Synopsis
I thought i'd include an example of how the DVDID.XML file works.
1, Full synopsis information
2, Similar Movies shown, with posters
3, Click the similar movie to get full details of that movie
4, Cast & Crew information
5, Click on a name to see a fimography (film list) relating to that actor/director
Enjoy
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System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom Built Rig BY ME "My Baby" OS 7 Ultimate x64 CPU AMD Athlon 64X2 4600+ 2.51Ghz Motherboard ASUS M2N-E SLI Memory 6GB DDR2 900 Kingston Graphics Card 2x BFG Nvidia 9600 GT-OC Sound Card SoundBlaster XF-I Monitor(s) Displays 19"acer, 22"acer, 19"acer, 48" HITACHI HDTV Screen Resolution 1400x900, 1680x1050, 1400x900, 1920x1080
Keyboard Logitech (Bluetooth) Mouse Logitech (Bluetooth) PSU BFG 800 Watt SLI Power Supply Case Game Master Cooling Thermotake Hard Drives Seagate 500GB Sata
Seagate 500GB Sata
Seagate 500GB Sata
Seagate 500GB Sata
Seagate 320 Sata (Primary)
Western Digital 500GB IDE
Western Digital 500GB IDE
Western Digital 300GB IDE
Maxter 720 Sata (USB) Internet Speed Turbo Cable Other Info ATI 650HD TV Tuner X2,
Samsung (Light scribe) DVD-R,
Sony (Dual Layer) DVD-R
System Manufacturer/Model Number TripOG - Kwamathon OS windows 7 X64 CPU amd phenom II x4 940 Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-UD4H Memory 8GB Graphics Card integrated radeon hd3300 Sound Card Realtek ALC889A Monitor(s) Displays ASUS VH222H Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080
Hard Drives PQI DK9320GD3R000A03 Internet Speed 30Mbps down / 2Mbps up
System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom Built OS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x32 CPU Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53 Ghz Motherboard Intel Desktop Board DG31PR Memory 2GB Transcend DDR2 PC2-5300 (333 Mhz) Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS Sound Card Realtek HD Audio Monitor(s) Displays Samsung SyncMaster 540N Screen Resolution 1024x768
Keyboard Microsoft Intelli Pro Wireless Keyboard Mouse Microsoft Intelli Pro Wireless Optical Mouse Case iBall Engine-X Hard Drives 250 GB Seagate HDD, 500 GB Seagate HDD Internet Speed 2 Mb/sDownload Speed, 512 Kb/s Upload Speed Other Info Have a laptop too (With Windows 7 Ultimate x64).
Information
Note
Warning
Tip
media center movie info 
