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

 

[rsvr85]

Hello chazmicks & welcome to Seven Forums

I found a really good article not long ago actually, i'm sure the guys won't mind me posting it.

Auto Rip n Compress adds DVD Ripping to Media Center (Almost)

I hope this helps!

 

[craynorfsu]

How do I get actors images? I put the imagesbyname folder in the programdata subforum. Can yammm do this? I just got that standard image? Thanks.

 

[DreadStarX]

How do I get actors images? I put the imagesbyname folder in the programdata subforum. Can yammm do this? I just got that standard image? Thanks.

I don't think it does that.

 

[Orbital Shark]

Dreadstar is correct, Yammm does not yet incorporate ImagesByName. I'm not sure if future releases will though, yet

 

[JOYCE]

I need a step by step info ?

Could someone please tell me how to make a movie using mm2.6 on the windows 7. All my friends has xp and tell me how easy it is , but none of them has windows 7. When I tell them that no more info. Please help.

 

[Darryl Licht]

I am stumped!

Shark:

1st off awesome tutorial, wish I had read it BEFORE I fiddled around for days with this. YAMM made everything so SIMPLE! Dont worry, reps are on the way!

However, I have an issue... I have only 1 directory with my movies in it, yet I show 2 icons of each movie! I have everything in a sub-directory of my Videos directory... C:\Users\Jonathan\Videos\DVDRips.

I am stumped! Any ideas?

 

[mikinho]

The "My Videos" folder is monitoring by Movie Library by default, did you happen to add it manually as well? In general I would never use the "My Videos" folder as a root. Too many default actions that you have no control over. I'm a big fan of the native libraries and always use them over wmp's library but not of the "My" shell folders.

Try moving it a different location, clear out your Movie Library watched folder list and then adding the new location.

 

[Darryl Licht]

Miknho:

Yeah, I wondered if that directory/sub-dir might be the issue. I will move to a completely different drive and see how that works!

Thanks for the great work on YAMM! Any idea when the next update will be or what new features you are adding?

EDIT --- miknho... yep you were correct... moved them to a different HDD and all is good!

 

[Orbital Shark]

Hi Darryl, sorry for the late reply, i've been on XP until now

Glad Mikinho managed to sort it out for you

 

[eddiev]

Hi i am new in the forum. I read all the thread and i have a question. I am having a problem with the movie folder, with the movies that has 2 divx's files in it.

Example

C:\Movies\Iron Man\Iron Man A.Avi

and

C:\Movies\Iron Man\Iron Man B.Avi

In the Movie Library inside the media center app, in the list Iron Man appears two times instead of one. How can i do to media center take one Iron Man folder with the two files?.

Thanks in advance.

 

[mikinho]

Currently unavailable with Movie Library. A future version of Yammm will though. I'll post when available to public.

 

[eddiev]

So, how do you manage the ripped movies that comes in two files in the MCE?.

 

[mikinho]

I use Yammm but the new version isn't available yet to the public. No ETA but it will be posted here when it is.

 

[Darryl Licht]

Not even an estimated ETA?????? LOL!

 

[mikinho]

Not even an estimated ETA?????? LOL!

I do but I'm trying to not publish anymore since I've been delayed months due to various things coming up at home.

 

[Darryl Licht]

Not even an estimated ETA?????? LOL!

I do but I'm trying to not publish anymore since I've been delayed months due to various things coming up at home.

I KNOW THE FEELING!
LOL!

 

[Grimmjow]

So, how do you manage the ripped movies that comes in two files in the MCE?.

With Free Video Joiner you can join several videos into one large video file, it is a powerful tool and easy to use, works fast and keep the quality of video, supports video formats include: AVI ((Divx,XviD,MPEG4), WMV, MPEG (MPEG1 and MPEG2), MP4, MOV, DVD, VCD and other formats.
I'm using it for a while, handy and easy to use
If you want to try it, you can download it here
cheers

 

[eddiev]

Thanks for the help. But in my case i have over 200 movies, not including subtitles in srt format, which should sync again. There is no way to make a playlist for the movies?, or other way?.

 

[mikinho]

Yammm will create the playlist for you but the Movie Library will still show hidden files so you get duplicates.

 

[tigpoppa]

what kind of insanity is this!!!

is this the only way to put folders in there? to make and compile a script in EVERY FOLDER!

well someone needs to figure out a reg hack or tweak so we can enable folders cuz right now i have over 15000 videos showing up in my videos livrary like im ever going to btoher to navigate that, well ill just stick to VLC until sherlock gets on this one