Media Center- Setup Movie Library

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.

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The N and KN editions of Windows 7 have all the features that normally come with each individual Windows 7 edition, except for Windows Media Player 12 and related programs, such as Windows Media Center or Windows DVD Maker.

The N editions of Windows 7 allow you to choose your own media player and software required to manage and play CDs, DVDs, and other digital media files. If you choose to use Windows Media Player 12, downloading it, along with related software, is free. Download Media Feature Pack for Windows 7 N with Service Pack 1 and Windows 7 KN with Service Pack 1 (KB968211) from Official Microsoft Download Center

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.

Download

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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

 

[CBers]

So, what's better, YAMMM or MediaBrowser ??

Or is there something even better than those ??

 

[Tews]

Personally, I prefer YAMMM, but both do a good job..

 

[mustangman16]

I'm gonna agree and go wih Yamm.

-stang

 

[Orbital Shark]

Both are very good apps. But they are very much different....

Yammm is a service that takes advantage of the 'Movie Library' introduced into 7MC (Win7 Media Center) with the downloading of DVDID & folder data.

MediaBrowser is a 3rd part VMC/7MC application for viewing and collecting MetaData and displaying in it's own style.

Both Yammm and MediaBrowser work well together too

 

[CBers]

With YAMMM you can get the SYNOPSIS whilst the movie is playing.

Can you do that with MB ??

I have both installed and set up, but they both have better points than the other.

MB is so customisable as to be too complex !!

 

[Orbital Shark]

With YAMMM you can get the SYNOPSIS whilst the movie is playing.

Can you do that with MB ??

I have both installed and set up, but they both have better points than the other.

MB is so customisable as to be too complex !!

I'm not over-sure what you mean

Yammm runs as a service, meaning that it is always active and checking certain folders (movie folders) for changes and updating if needed. MediaBrowser is a stand-alone source that downloads data as you need it, meaning that if you have a particular folder/movie selected it will continue to recieve more information.

 

[CBers]

Hi OS.

What I meant was, YAMMM is good as it seems to be more integrated with WMC and you can view the metadata about the video file whilst the file is playing via the i button on the remote.

MB gives a lot more information about the video file, as is way more customisable, which can be a bad thing as there are too many options, but, correct me if I'm wrong, you can't bring up the information via the i button when it's playing.

Also, it appears that you have to have additonal software to supplement MB's information, such as metabrowser, or Media Center Master, or both.

I like MB for the amount of information available, but it can be a bit of overkill, as chances are, you know what the film is about before yuo even watch it.

YAMMM is good, but I'm waiting or v1.2 so that it supports TV shows, then I'll decide on what I want to use.

Just my tuppence-worth !!

 

[Orbital Shark]

You are correct

I'm also waiting for v1.2 as mikinho has hinted towards some hidden features within 7MC that he's wanting to take advantage of :shock:

 

[petdroo]

Hi all

Is there no way to manully add movie synopsis, I do not like putting 3rd party programs on my pc, as they genurally slow it down.

I have added cover using Folder.jpeg

 

[srgsng25]

organizing movies

is there a way to organize the videos into soem higher form of organization

for example

Tv- shows
Kids Movies
Family Movies
Adult Movies

So on this way we are not flipping though 1200 Videos looking for one kid movie

 

[Orbital Shark]

Hi all

Is there no way to manully add movie synopsis, I do not like putting 3rd party programs on my pc, as they genurally slow it down.

I have added cover using Folder.jpeg

If you use Yammm (mentioned in the first post) it automatically downloads the DVDID.XML file to allow synopsis, there should be no need for editing.

is there a way to organize the videos into soem higher form of organization

for example

Tv- shows
Kids Movies
Family Movies
Adult Movies

So on this way we are not flipping though 1200 Videos looking for one kid movie

The only way I can think of currently is to click 'genre' from the movies screen. There may be 'type' updates in v1.2 but it's not out yet. As soon as it is i'll make the neccessary changes to this tutorial.

P.S sorry for the late reply guys

 

[Auptyk]

I am trying to get thumbnails to display rather than the colored blocks, however I as Win7 media center supports VOB that is how I am storing the files. Is it still possible to get the pictures to display?
I am also moving my TV box sets over. So my folder structure for those are Series>Season>Episodes. I cant get the pics to display.

Any help would be great.

 

[Orbital Shark]

Hi Auptyk,

Have you got Yammm set up to download folder artwork? Appart from manually downloading the folder.jpg this is currently the easiest way to get the folder pics. You could try Meta <browser/> which, at present, has better TV support untill Yammm v1.2 is out.

Hope this helps

   Note

Sometimes it can take a few seconds for arwork to display in Media Center, this is an issue with 7MC and not the artwork. I find exiting the Movie library, then re-entering often helps

OS

 

[Orbital Shark]

UPDATE:

New tip added to 1st update on the 1st page with recommended settings for best viewing.

 

[DreadStarX]

Loved the tutorial bro, you answered all my questions. But I am having issues with playing some files.

I can play a DVDRipped AVI (Encoded myself), but when I try to use anything else, it tells me it can't. Did I miss something? I didn't entirely understand the YAMMM program. Of course I did just wake up.

 

[Orbital Shark]

Hi Dreadstar,

What other files are you trying to play? If they are AVI it could be due to how they're encoded. I would advise downloading the Windows 7 Codecs from Shark007.net as this has solved any/all my playback issues.

As far as understanding Yammm, you don't really need to It runs as a service so you don't notice it running in the background. It checks for new folders within your movie folder & renames (if set) & adds FOLDER.JPG and DVDID.XML so you can view your movie files just like you can a DVD, with the added bonus of you don't need to have the movie playing in irder to access the SYOPSIS information

The 'recommended' settings for Yammm on the OP are what I use with no issues.

 

[DreadStarX]

Hi Dreadstar,

What other files are you trying to play? If they are AVI it could be due to how they're encoded. I would advise downloading the Windows 7 Codecs from Shark007.net as this has solved any/all my playback issues.

As far as understanding Yammm, you don't really need to It runs as a service so you don't notice it running in the background. It checks for new folders within your movie folder & renames (if set) & adds FOLDER.JPG and DVDID.XML so you can view your movie files just like you can a DVD, with the added bonus of you don't need to have the movie playing in irder to access the SYOPSIS information

The 'recommended' settings for Yammm on the OP are what I use with no issues.

Here's the very funny part. I did exactly what you said, before you said it. I installed his codecs. I was having problems with MKV/MP4 Videos.


Just a quick tip, do you use encoded videos? I encode all my media into smaller formats, like MKV/MP4 using the x264 codecs. Saves space for me...

 

[Archmage]

Great tutorial, Orbital Shark! This is my first post in this awesome forum (after dwo days lurking), and I´m really impressed with the ammount of stuff and shared knowledge that we have here.

Well, even with the limitations of my pc (an ide hard drive, few ram, and an old graphics card), I used this tutorial yesterday to improve my media center (that, of course, is very slow, because of the reasons that I already pointed. ).

All was good with the movies, but my series collection wasn´t altered (the same with the adults movie folder). Any idea if Yamm work with series?

P.S.: don´t be afraid, a new hard drive and another 1 gb ram (to use dual channel mode) are in my buy-lists to november-december. ^^

 

[Orbital Shark]

Hi Archmage, sorry for the late reply

Thanks for the + comments

Yammm does not yet fully support TV Series, I would advice Meta<Browser/> for that in the time being. There are some new releases due over the next week or 2 of Yammm which will have TV support. I'll keep everyone posted on when it appears

You might want to try your TV in the following format as i've heard rumors that it can sometimes work.....

Series name -> Season X -> sXXeXX

X = Season Number
sXX = Season Number (01 - 99 format)
eXX = Episode number (01 - 99 format)

Hope this helps


OS

 

[jimpict]

EDIT:
does anyone know why the extra info, such as synopsis, etc, does not show up on extenders?