Introduction TopNext

MediaCompanionistheoriginalfreetousemoviemanagerandorganizerthatoffersfullXBMCintegration.

Simplyput,MediaCompanionoffersthefacilitytogatherinformationfromtheInternetandmakethisinformationavailabletoyouinanorganizedmanner.Theinformationcollectedincludessuchthingsasposters,backdrops,plotsummary,actorsandactorimages,ratingsetc.

MediaCompanionCurrentlysupportsMoviesandTVShows.MovieFeaturesinclude.·ScrapemovieinformationfromIMDB.·DownloadmoviepostersfromanyofIMDB,TMdb,IMPA,andMPDB.

·DownloadmoviebackdropsfromTMdb.·DownloadmovietrailersfromIMDB.·Viewandeditallobtaineddata.·Searchandbrowsemoviesusingaselectionoffiltersandsearches.·ExporttoHTMLlist,withcustomizabletemplates.

TVShowfeaturesinclude.·AutomaticallydownloadinformationforTVShowsandepisodesfromTVdb.

·DownloadactorimagesfromeitherTVdborIMDB.

·DownloadandselectposterforShowandindividualseasons.·Downloadepisodescreenshot.·Createscreenshotifdownloadisnotavailable.·Automaticallyrenameepisodes.·Displayepisodesmissingfromyourcollection.

MediaCompanionBasics PreviousTopNext

Quickstart-AddingMoviesSoyouhaveMediaCompanioninstalledandruntheprogram,thelargeamountofsettingsandtabsmaybealittledaunting.Thispageshowsyouthebasicproceduretobeusedinordertoaddmovies.

WhenyoustartMediaCompanionforthefirsttime,youwillbepresentedwithsomethingthatlooksmuchlikethis.

Whenfirststarted,theMediaCompanionlibrarywillbeempty,butthiscanbequicklychangedbyfollowingthesesteps.

1.Addyourmoviefoldersusingthe'Folders'Tab,MediaCompanionisrecursiveandwilllookwithinsub-foldersformedia,sojustaddtherootfolders,

eg,C:\Movies

Youcanaddasmanyfoldersasyouwish.

Forthistutorialwewillbeusingthelefthand'MovieFolders'panel,'OfflineMovieFolders'arediscussedinalatertopic.2Onceyouhaveaddedyourfolders,thenreturntothe'MainBrowser'tab,andselectthe'Searchfornewmovies'tab.MediaCompanionwillnowsearchforinformationaboutyourfiles.Thestatusbaratthebottomofthewindowwillkeepyouinformedabouttheprogress,andmovieswillbeaddedtothemainlistastheyarescraped,asshowintheimagebelow.

That'sallthereistoit,andyoucannowstartbrowsingyourcollection.

Handlingwrongmoviescrapes PreviousTopNext

HandlingMediaCompanionMis-Scrapes.Amis-scrapeoccurswhenMediaCompanionincorrectlyscrapesthewrongmovie.Hopefullythiswillnothappenveryoften,followingthebestpracticeguidewillhopefullyhelp.

Evenusingthebestpractices,unlesstheIMDBIDforeachmovieisspecified,MediaCompanionwilloccasionallygetitwrong.Intheseinstances,aquickandeasytousemethodhasbeenaddedtogetthecorrectmovie.

Forthispurposeisthe'ChangeMovie'tab.

ThistabsimplytakesyoutotheIMDBsearchpagewithintheMediaCompanionbrowser.ItshouldbeasimplemattertolocatethecorrectmoviewithinIMDB.

Oncethecorrectmoviepageisdisplayedsimplyclickthe'Go'buttonandthecorrectmoviewillbescraped.

Bydefaulttheposterandfanartwillalsobescraped,butthiscanbeoverriddenbyun-checkingthecontrollocatedatthebottomrightofthescreen.

FileMenu PreviousTopNext

UsingtheMainBrowsertonavigateandeditmovies

TheMainmoviebrowsercontainstwopanels,thenavigationpanelontheleft,isusedforbrowsingandsearchingyourmoviecollection,andthepanelontherightisusedfordisplayingandeditinginformationabouttheselectedmovie.

Thenavigationpanel

Selectingamoviefromthelistwilldisplaytheselectedmoviedetailswithinthepanelontheright.

MediaCompanionallowsyourmovielisttobesorted,filteredandlistedinanumberofways,thesearediscussedhere.1.ListThethree'List'settingsselecthoweachmovieislisted,theoptionsare:

·'Title&Year'ListsthemoviesbytheTitle&Year,asintheaboveimage

·'Filename'Liststhemoviesusingthenfofilename·'FolderName'liststhemoviesusingthenfo'sfoldername

2SortTherearesevenwaystosortyourmovielist.

·'A-Z'Sortyourmoviesalphabetically·'Rating'Sortyourmoviesusingtherating,hightolow.·'MovieYear'Sortyourmoviesbyreleaseyear,newtoold·'SortOrder'Sortyourmoviesalphabeticallyaccordingtosortorder

(SeeBelow)·'Modified'Listyourmoviesinorderoffilemodified,mostrecently

modifiedfirst.·'Runtime'Listsmoviesaccordingtoruntimeshortestfirst.·'DateAdded'Listmoviesintheorderyouhaveaddedthemtothe

library.Inadditiontothesesortmethods,thereisalsoabuttonthatallowsyoutoreverseanylist,

3Searchtext.Searchtextisanywhereinthesearchfield,whichcanbeselectedfromany

of:·List·Filename·Foldername·Genre·Rating·IMDBID·Outline·Year·Runtime

AllfiltersworkusingANDlogic,soifhaveselected'Action'and'Adventure'filters,onlymoviesthatcontainbothactionandadventureforthegenrewillbelisted.

Rightclickingonaniteminthenavigationpanelwillbringupacontextmenuwiththefollowingitems:

·OpenFolder-opensthefoldercontainingtheselectedmedia·OpenFile-opensthenfofilewithinnotepad·ReloadItem-Reloadsthenfofileandart

·RescrapeSpecific-Allowsyoutorescrapeanysinglepartofthemoviedetails

·FanartBrowser(Alternative)-Originalfanartbrowser·PosterBrowser(Alternative)·EditMovie(Alternative)

Doubleclickinganiteminthelistwillplayitbackaccordingtoyourpreferences.

Themainviewerpanel

TheRighthandpanelwithinthemainbrowsertabissplitbetweendisplayingamoviesartandothermoviedetails.Itcanalsobeusedforediting.Toeditafield,justeditthetextandselectthe button.

Anychangesmadewillbelostifanothermovieisloadedbeforesaving.

Allsplitpanelsarevariablesize,andcanbeadjustedtoyoupreferencedependingonscreensizeandresolution.Thesesettingsaresavedsoyouonlyneedtodothisonce.

Alternativemovietitles.Somemoviesmayhavealternativetitles,whenamovieisscraped,thestandardtitleisused.Tochangetoanothertitle,justselectthetitleyouwishtousefromthedropdowntitlelist,thenpressthesavebutton.

Thesearchbutton isusedtosearchforcertainitems.Inthemoviepaneltherearetwo.Thefirstonisnexttothesetscontrolwhichiscoveredindetailhere.Theothersearchislocatednexttotheactordropdownbox.Selectingthesearchinthisinstancewilllistallmoviesinwhichtheselectedactorhasapart.

SortOrder

Moviesaremostoftensortedalphabetically,althoughtheremaybeinstanceswhenyouwishtogroupmoviestogetherunderthesameletter.Takeforexamplethefollowinglistofmovies.

DieHardDieHard2:DieHarderDieHard:WithaVengeanceDonnieDarkoEragonFieldofDreamsGardenQuestHardtokillIceAgeJumanjiKingPinLiveFreeorDieHard

Asyoucansee,althoughthefirstthreeDieHardmoviesarelocatedtogether,the4thmovie,'LiveFreeorDieHard',becauseofthedifferentname,islocatedfurtherdownthelist.Dependingonhowmanymoviesyouhaveinyourcollection,therecouldbe100sofmoviesbetween'DieHard:WithaVengeance'and'LiveFreeorDieHard'.

Anotherrelatedissueoccurswhenmoviesinaseriesarenotalphabetical,eg,ifweweretolistthestartrekmoviesalphabetically,theyarelistedoutoforder,asshowninthelistbelow.

StarTrek:FirstContactStarTrek:GenerationsStarTrek:InsurrectionStarTrek:NemesisStarTrek:TheFinalFrontier

StarTrek:TheMotionPictureStarTrek:TheSearchforSpockStarTrek:TheUndiscoveredCountryStarTrek:TheVoyageHomeStarTrek:TheWrathofKhan

Sohowdoessettingthesortorderfixthisproblem.Wellallmoviesalreadyhaveasorttitle,bydefaultitisthesameasthetitle,inordertogettheabovemoviestosortcorrectlyIwouldchangethesorttitletothefollowing:

MovieTitle SortTitle DieHard DieHard01DieHard2:DieHarder DieHard02DieHard:WithaVengeance DieHard03LiveFreeorDieHard DieHard04 StarTrek:FirstContact StarTrek08StarTrek:Generations StarTrek07StarTrek:Insurrection StarTrek09StarTrek:Nemesis StarTrek10StarTrek:TheFinalFrontier StarTrek05StarTrek:TheMotionPicture StarTrek01StarTrek:TheSearchforSpock StarTrek03StarTrek:TheUndiscoveredCountry StarTrek06StarTrek:TheVoyageHome StarTrek04StarTrek:TheWrathofKhan StarTrek02

Byusingtheabovesorttiles,andselectingthe'SortOrder'radiobuttonintheleftpanel,thenthemovieswouldbelistedproperly.

Bydefault,XBMCusestheSortTitlewhensorting.

MovieDropDownMenu PreviousTopNext

TheDropDownMovieMenuSearchForNewMoviesSearchesmovieswithoutmetadatawithinyourmoviefolders.

BatchRescraperWizardOpensthebatchrescraperwizard.Seehereformoreinformationaboutthebatchrescraperwizard.

RebuildMoviesThisoptionclearsandrebuildsthemediacompaniondatabase.Ifyouhavemovedfiles,oreditedthenfofileoutsideofMediaCompanion,thenthisoptionwillbringeverythinguptodate.

ReloadMovieCacheClearsthecurrentdataandreloadsitfromthecachefile.

RebuildActorDBClearstheactordatabaseandrebuildsitfromthemovienfofiles.

ListMoviesWithoutFanartWillsearchfrommoviesmissingfanart-obsoleteitem,hasbeenreplacedwiththemuchquicker'missingfanart'filter.

ListMoviesWIthoutaPosterWillsearchfrommoviesmissingposter-obsoleteitem,hasbeenreplacedwiththemuchquicker'missingposter'filter.

OutputMovieListasHTMLThismenuitemcontainsasubmenuofavailableHTMLtemplates,seehereforfurtherinformationonHTMLoutput.

RebuildMovienfofiles

Thisoptionwillrebuildallmovie.nfofiles.Usefulifastandardchangesandallnfofilesneedtobeupdatedtoreflectthis.

Downsizeallfanartstoselectedsize.OK-soyouhaveaddedallyourmovies,customizedyourpostersandfanart,andhavefoundthatthesystemyouareusingisalittlesluggish.Thisoptionletsyouresizeallyourfanarttoasmallerresolutionassetinthemoviepreferences.

EditMenu PreviousTopNext

TheFanartBrowserToaccessthefanartbrowserfortheselectedmoviethenjustselectthe'Fanart'Tab

Therighthandpaneldisplaysthecurrentfanartdetails,andontheleft,MediaCompanionwillshowapreviewofallavailablefanartavailablefortheselectedmovie,alongwithanyavailableresolutionsthattheimageisavailablein.

Tochangeyourfanartthenjustchecktheradiobuttonbelowyourchosenimageandselectoneofthesaveoptions'SaveHi-Res'tosavethehighestresolutionshown,and'SaveLo-Res'tosavethelowest.

Sometimesamoviewillhavenoavailablefanart,inthisinstanceyoucanusethe'URLorBrowse'buttontoselectanimageyoualreadyhavestored,orenteranURLtobedownloaded.

Thecropcontrolscanbeusedtoadjusttheaspectoftheimage,ormayberemoveunwantedborders.

ToolsMenu PreviousTopNext

ThePosterBrowserToaccessthePosterbrowserfortheselectedmoviethenjustselectthe'Posters'Tab.Youwillnoticethatunlikethefanartbrowser,itisnotautomaticallypopulated.

Inordertopopulatethepostersyouneedtoselectasourcefromoneofthefouroptions.

Thefoursourcesare:1.TheMovieDatabase2.InternetMoviePosterAwards3.MoviePosterDatabase

4.InternetMovieDatabase

Allthesesourceshavethereplace,althoughtheorderIhavelistedthemaboveisoftentheorderIwillusetofindaposter.WithTheMovieDatabaseandInternetMoviePosterAwardshavingthehighestqualityimages,butInternetMovieDatabaseandMoviePosterDatabasehavingagreatmanymore.Selectthebuttoncorrespondingtothesourceyouwishtoviewcorrespondingpostersforandpreviewsoftheavailableposterswillbedownloadedintotherighthandpanel.

Theposterbrowserworksmuchthesameasthefanartbrowser.Sometimesamoviewillhavenoavailableposterinanyofthesources,inthisinstanceyoucanusethe'URLorBrowse'buttontoselectanimageyoualreadyhavestored,orenteranURLtobedownloaded.

Thecropcontrolscanbeusedtoadjusttheaspectoftheimage,or

mayberemoveunwantedborders.

Sets PreviousTopNext

MovieSetsWhatareMovieSets

SupportformoviesetshasbeenaddedtoXBMCrecentlyandaddsanotherusefulfeature.Simplyput,moviesetsisawaytogroupanumberofmoviestogetherasacollection.

CheckoutthislinktotheXBMCmanualformoredetails.

HowtoaddmoviesetsusingMediaCompanion

MoviesetscanbeaddedwithinMediaCompanionusingthe'MovieSets'Tab.

Addasmanysetsasyoulike,theaboveimagehashadanumberof

setsadded.

Addingmoviestoaset

Thereareanumberofwaysthatmoviescanbeaddedtoaset,themostbasicofwhichisachievedfromtheMainBrowser.

Selectthemovieormoviesyouwishtoaddoreditthesetforandselectthesetfromthedropdownlist.

Clickthesavebuttontosavethechanges.

Usingthe buttonwilllistallthemoviesthatarepartoftheselectedset.

Setscanalsobeedited(perhapsmoreeasily)withinthetableviewwhichisexplainedhere

WindowMenu PreviousTopNext

TheWallThewallisagraphicalviewthatwilldisplayaminiposterofmoviescurrentlylistedwithinthemainbrowser.

Asyoucanseefromtheimage,thewallviewprovidesagraphicallistofthemovieslistedwithinthe'Mainbrowser'.Filtersareapplied.Holdingthemousepointeroveranimagewilldisplayalittlebitofinformationaboutthemovie.

Oneoftheadvantagesofthewall,isthatitallowstoimmediatelyseebadposters.Intheaboveimage,asyoucansee,thepostersfor'SaturdayNightFever'and'48Hours'havewhiteborderswhichwillbeshownwhenusingXBMC.MediaCompanionletsyoueasilycroptheseinthePostersTab.

Thewallalsoprovidesacontextmenu,rightclickingonaposterbringsupthismenu:

Theoptionsarefairlyselfexplanatory.

PlayMovie-Launchesthemovieaccordingtoyourpreference.ChangeMoviePoster-Takesyoutotheposterbrowsertab.LargeImageView-Displaysalargeviewoftheimage.OpenFolder-Opensthefoldercontainingthemovie.

Doubleclickingaposterwilltakeyoubacktothemainbrowserwiththatmovieselected.

HelpMenu PreviousTopNext

TheTableView.ThetableviewisoneofthenewestfeaturesofMediaCompanion.It'sprimarypurposewastocreateasimplemethodofeditingmultiplemoviesatthesametime.

Thecheckboxesacrossthetopofthetaballowyoutoselectwhichcolumnsaredisplayed,uncheckeditemsarehidden.

Thecolumnscanberesizedormovedusingtheheaderbar,andthelayoutofthetablewillbesavedbetweensessions.

The'IMDBID','Fullpath',and'MissingArtwork'fieldsareforinformationonlyandcannotbeedited.

Editingasinglemovieusingthetableview.

Editingmoviesindividuallyissimple.Justselectthefieldyouwishtoeditandchangeittowhateveryouwish.Thewatchedstatusisboolean,checkingaboxindicatesawatchedstatus,uncheckedindicatesunwatched.Setscanonlybeaddedfrompreconfiguredsets,andcanbeselectedusingthedropdownbox.Formoreinformationabout'Sets'seethispage.

Anynumberofmoviescanbeeditedusingthetableview,onceyouhavefinishedthenselectthe'SaveChanges'button.

Editingmultiplemoviesusingthetableview.

Oneofthebiggestadvantagesofthetableviewisthatyoucaneditmultiplemoviesatthesametime.Todothis,selectmultiplemoviesusingthemouseandholdingtheleftmousebutton,dragthemousedownthemoviesyouwishtoselect.

Moviesthatarenottogethercanbeselectedbyholdingdownthe'CTRL'keyonyourkeyboardthenleftmouseclickingthemovieyouwishtoselect.

Selectedmovieswillbehighlightedblue-astheaboveimageshows.

Whenmorethanonemovieisselected,asetofcontrolsareaddedbelowthetableview.

Thesecontrolscorrespondtothecolumntheyarelocatedbelow.Anyeditswithinthesecontrolswillbeappliedtoallselectedmovies.Thetwodropdownboxesallowyoutochangethewatchedstatusoftheselectedmovies,orthe'Set'amoviebelongsto.

Ifyoudonotwishtoeditaparticularfield,thenjustleavethatitemblank,orforthedropdownboxes,leavethemsetto'UnChanged'

Onceyouhaveeditedthefieldsthatyouwishtoapplytoalltheselectedmoviesthenselectthebutton'CopyeditstoSelectedRows'.Thechangeswillbeappliedtoeachmovie.

Onceyouhavefinished,thenselectthe'SaveChanges'button.

HTMLTemplates PreviousTopNext

HTMLOutput.Htmloutputallowscustomlistsofmoviestobecreatedandoutputasawebpagetheimagebelowwascreatedusingthe'MovieCardEasyPrint'template.

TheHTMLfeaturecanbeaccessedfromthemoviemenu:

Justselectthetemplateyouwishtouse,Adialoguewillaskyouwhereyouwishtosavethefiles.MediaCompanionwillshowitsprogress,andwhenfinishedyoucanopenthefileyoucreatedinyourwebbrowser.

ThelistiscreatedusingthesortorderandcontentofthelistdisplayedintheMainBrowser.

Batchrescrapewizard PreviousTopNext

Batchrescrapewizard.ThebatchrescrapewizardislocatedintheMoviedropdownmenu.

Thepurposeofthiswizardistoallowtheupdatingofanyspecificaspectofthemoviedetails.

Startingthewizardwilldisplaythiswindow:

Whateveryouselectwillbeperformedforeverymovieinyourcollection,

Rememberthatusingthebatchupdatewizardwilloverwriteanyeditsyouhavemadeifyouselectthatfield.eg.Ifyouhaveeditedanyplotoutlines,thenusingthiswizardtorescrapeplotoutlineswilloverwriteyourwork.Usingthewizardtojustrescrapetheratingwouldleaveyourcustomplotoutlinesunchanged.

OfflineMovies PreviousTopNext

OfflineMoviesOfflinemoviesisamethodthatallowsyoutoaddmoviestoyourcollectionthatarenotstoredonyoursystem.OfflinemoviesmaybethoseyouhavethatareonDVDorBlu-Raydisk.

Sowhatdoesitdo?

Offlinemovieswilldownloadthesameinformationabouttheofflinemovieasitwouldforonlinemovies,includingaposterandbackdrop.Itwillalsocreatea16secondvideoclipfromthebackdropthatasksyoutoinserttheappropriatedisk.

Dataforofflinemoviescanbeeditedinexactlythesamewayasforlocalmovies.

Moviesthathavebeenaddedinthiswaycanbelistedusingthe'OfflineMovies'filter.

Howdoesitwork.

Thefollowingstepsareneededtocreateofflinemovies.

1.Createafoldersomewherethatwillcontainallyourofflinemovies,eg'H:\Offline_Movies\'

2.AddthisfoldertotheOfflineMoviefolderswithinthefolderstab,andsavethechanges.

3.Openthisfolderusingyourdesktopandcreateasperatefolderforeachofflinemovieinyourcollection.eg:

H:\OfflineMovies\DieHard(1988)\H:\OfflineMovies\DieHard2:DieHarder(1990)\H:\OfflineMovies\DieHard:WithaVengeance(1995)\H:\OfflineMovies\LiveFreeorDieHard(2007)\

Thedateisnotneeded,butithelpsMediaCompanionidentifythecorrectmovie.

Anytimeyouselectthe'Searchfornewmovies'tab,MediaCompanionwillalsocheckyourofflinefolderfornewmoviefolders,ifitfindsoneitwillcreatetheappropriatefileswithinthatfolder.

MoviePreferences PreviousTopNext

MoviePreferencesGeneral.

DuringAutoscrape.DownloadFanartforMovies.IfcheckedthenMediaCompanionwillattempttofindabackdroponTMDBanddownloadit.

FanartOptionsKeepOriginalFanartSizeResizeto960x540Resizeto1280x720

IfyouarerunningXBMConanXBox,orotherslowsystem,thenyoumayfindthatnavigationperformancecanbeimprovedbyreducingtheresolutionofthebackdrop.Ifthebackdropislowerresolutionthanwhatisselectedthenitwillnotberesized.

DuringAutoscrape.DownloadPostersForMovies.InternetMoviePosterAwardsthemoviedb.orgMoviePosterDBIMDB

Usethearrowbuttonstochangetheabovepriorityorder.MediaCompanionwillattempttodownloadaposterfromthesourcesselectedfromthehighesttothelowest.Ifaposterisunavailablethenitwillmovedowntothenextsource.

IncludeIMDBMovieTrailerURLwithinthenfofile.ScrapesthetrailerURLfromIMDBandstoresitwithinthenfofile.ThetrailercanbedownloadedviaMediaCompanion,orviewedwithinXBMC.

DisplaylogafterscrapingMoviesIfenabledthenthescraperlogwillbedisplayedoncethescraperhascompleteditswork.

EnableMediaCompaniontosaveMediaTagstonfofile.Mediatagsincludeinformationspecifictotheactualfileandcontainsdetailssuchasresolution,codecs,audiotracks,languagesetc.ThiscanbeperformedautomaticallybyXBMCnowsomaynolongerbeneeded.

UseFolderNamesforScrapingEnablingthisoptionforcesMediaCompaniontoignorethefilenamewhenidentifyingmovies.Insteadofthefilename,thefoldernamewillbeused.Thefolderusedistheonethatthemovieislocatedwithin.eg.'D:\Movies\StarTrek(2009)\whatever.avi'

Createfolder.jpgforeachfolder.Notreallyneeded,butthisoptioncreatesacopyoftheposterandnamesit'folder.jpg'

IMDBMirror.http://www.imdb.comhttp://uk.imdb.comhttp://us.imdb.comhttp://akas.imdb.comhttp://itallian.imdb,comhttp://www.imdb.deSelectyourpreferredmirrorfortheIMDBscraper.

IMDBcertificatepriorities.

Dependingonwhereyoulive,youmayhaveaparticularpreferencefortheratinginformationusedbyMediaCompanion.Notallmovieswillhaveratingcertificatesforallcountries.Thispreferenceallowsyoutosettheorderinwhichcertificatesareobtained.Fromtoptobottom.

MaximumnumberofactorstogetfromIMDB.IMDBusuallycontainsallactorswhoappearinamovie.Asitwasoncepointedouttome,doyoureallyneedtoknowthenameoftheboystoodatthebusstop.ThissettingallowsyoutolimitthenumberofactorsgotfromIMDB,Thedefaultnumberis15.

LimitnumberofgenrestoscrapefromIMDB.Similartotheabovepreference,IMDBsometimeshastoomuchusefulinformationtobeuseful,returninggenressuchas;Action/Adventure/Comedy/Sci-Fi/Fantasy/History/Drama/FamilyYoucansetthispreferencesothatonlythefirstfewgenresareused.

AdvancedMoviePreferences.

DownloadActorThumbs.Thisoptionisnotreallyneededanymore,havingbeenreplacebyamuchsimpleactorthumbnailpreferencethatcanbeenabledfromthe'GeneralPreferences'

NfoPosterOptions.Enablingthesesettingsallowallposterurl'sfromtheselectedsourcestobestoredwithinthemedianfofile.TheseposterscanbebrowsedandselectedfromwithinXBMC,lettingauserchangetheirselectedposterfromwithinXBMC.Thedisadvantageofthisisthatitslowsthemoviescraperconsiderably,especiallyiftheyareallselected.Bewarned,somesourcessuchasIMDBandMPDBcanpotentiallyhavehundredsofposters.

Advancedfilenamesetup.Notreallyneededanymore.Bydefault,MediaCompanionwillstackfilenames.Stackingoccurswhenamulti-partmovieisidentified,andsimplyremovesthemulti-partsection.eg.'StarTrek(2009)-cd1.avi'[Media]

'StarTrek(2009)-cd2.avi'[Media]'StarTrek(2009).tbn'[Poster]'StarTrek(2009)-fanart.jpg'[Fanart]

Byunstackingthefanartandposter,youwouldendupwith:'StarTrek(2009)-cd1.avi'[Media]'StarTrek(2009)-cd2.avi'[Media]'StarTrek(2009)-cd1.tbn'[Poster]'StarTrek(2009)-cd1-fanart.jpg'[Fanart]

Bothworknow,althoughinthepast,whatmethodyouusedwoulddependonwhichversionofXBMCyouwereusing.

Savemoviefilesas'movie.nfo','movie.tbn',and'fanart.jpg'Thispreferenceisforthosewhohaveeachmovieinitsownfolder.ItisnotrecommendedforusewithinMediaCompanionsinceitbreaksseveralfunctions,suchasmovieplayback,andfiledetails.Whenenabledeachfolderwillcontainthefiles;'StarTrek(2009)-cd1.avi'[Media]'StarTrek(2009)-cd2.avi'[Media]'movie,nfo'[metadata]'folder.jpg'[Poster]'fanart.jpg'[Fanart]

Howitworks PreviousTopNext

GettinggoodresultsusingMediaCompanionforscrapingmoviedetails.Therearemanywaysthatapersonmaystoretheirmediaonasystem,butMediaCompanionsupportstwomethodsthatwillmakeitsuitableformostpeople.

1.FileMethod-Thefilemethodusesonlythefilenametosearchforacorrectmovie,eg:'D:\Movies\StarTrek.avi'

2.FolderMethod-Thefoldermethodignoresthefilenameandusesthefoldernameinordertoidentifythemovie,eg:'D:\Movies\StarTrek\whatever.avi'

InbothinstancestheonlyfolderMediaCompanionneedstoknowaboutis'D:\Movies'

ThedefaultsettingusestheFileMethod,ifyouwishtousethefoldermethodthenbesuretoselectthisinthemoviepreferences.

MediaCompanionusesIMDBtocollectmovieinformation,andusingeitheroftheabovemethodsisfairlyaccuratewithabout8outof10moviesbeingscrapedcorrectly.

Theaccuracyofthescrapercanbeincreasedusingacoupleofmethods.Theeasiestisbyusingtheyearwithinthefolderoffilename.eg

'D:\Movies\StarTrek(2009).avi'or'D:\Movies\StarTrek(2009)\whatever.avi'

Theyearshouldbeinsideparenthesis,andwillincreaseaccuracytoabout90%.

100%accuracyispossibleusingtheIMDBIDineitherthefilename,oranaccompanying.nfofile.

TheIMDBIDcanbefoundusingIMDB,theIMDBurlfor'StarTrek(2009)'is'http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796366/'I'vehighlightedtheIDbold,inthecaseofthe'StarTrek'Movie,itis'tt0796366'

UsingtheIMDBIDwithinthefileorfoldername.

1.ThefileorfoldercancontaintheID,usingthismethodoverrulesallothermethods.eg.'D:\Movies\whatever(tt0796366).avi'or'D:\Movies\whatever(tt0796366)\whatever.avi'

UsingtheIMDBIDwithinan.nfofile.

Thenfomustbenamedthesameasthemediafile,ifthenfofilecontainstheIMDBIDthenthenameisnotimportant.eg.'whatever.avi''whatever.nfo'

Thenfofileissimplyatextfile,andthecontentsarenotimportant.AslongasanIMDBIDislocatedwithinthetextsomewhere,MediaCompanionwillfindit,andusethatID.

CleanFilenamesAlloftheabovemethods,withtheexceptionofthosethatusetheIMDBID,havecleanfilenames.TheremaybeinstanceswhenMediaCompanionencounterslessusefulfilenames.egStar.Trek.720p.BluRay.DTS.x264.mkv

MediaCompanionchecksformatchesforthingssuchas720,orBluRay,andwillcropthefilenameofanythingafteramatchingterm.Intheaboveexample,thefilenamewouldbecroppedtobecome:'Star.Trek.'Thefinalperiodwouldthenberemovedandtheperiodbetweenthewords

wouldbereplacedwithaspace,MediaCompanionwouldthensearchforthemovie'StarTrek'.

Customfilters. PreviousTopNext

CustomFilters.

Bydefault,MediaCompanionaddsthefollowingfilters.

ActionAdventureAnimationBiographyComedyCrimeDocumentaryDramaFamilyFantasyFilm-NoirHistoryHorrorMusicMusicalMysteryRomanceSci-FiShortSportThrillerWesternTop250WatchedUnwatchedDuplicatesMissingFanartMissingPostersOfflineMovies

Thesefilterscanbecustomizedbycreatingafilenamed'filters.txt'andsavingittoyourMediaCompanionsettingsfolder.

Thefileshouldcontainacolumnwidthwithin<>andthenalistofthefiltersyoudesire.eg.

<85>ActionAdventureMartialArtsChickFlick

The<85>referstothecolumnwidth,andtheothersarealistofgenresthatyouwishtohavewithinthefilters.Thesefiltersarenotcasesensitive.

Thereareanumberofspecialsystemfiltersthatarenotrelatedtothegenre.Thesemustbeexactlythesameasbelowifyouwanttousethem.

Top250WatchedUnwatchedProblemDuplicatesMissingPostersMissingFanartOfflineMovies

Thesefiltersmustbeusedexactlyandarecasesensitive.

CreatingHTMLTemplates PreviousTopNext

HTMLtemplatestructure.Thissectionisforthoseofyouwhowishtocreateyourowntemplates.

ThemethodMediaCompanionusesisverysimpleandanyonewithanunderstandingofHTMLshouldhavenoproblemcreatingtheirown.

ThefirstlineofthetemplatemustbeauniquetitlethatwillbelistedwithintheMediaCompaniontemplatemenuitem,followedbythe<<MCHTMLPage>>tag.

eg.<title>WithOutline</title><<MCHTMLPage>>

Whenselected,MediaCompanionwillfirstparsetheheader,replacinganytagswithappropriatedata.eg.<<header>><metacontent="text/html;charset=UTF-8"http-equiv="Content-Type"><h1align="center"><fontsize="6"><b>XBMCMediaCompanion</b></font></h1><h2align="center"><fontsize="5"><b>HTMLOutput</b></font></h2><h3align="center"><<moviecount>>movies</h3><palign="center">&nbsp;</p><</header>>

Asyoucansee,theheaderisenclosedwithinthe<<header>><</header>>tags.MediaCompanionwillswapoutthetagsforappropriatedata.Intheabovecase,theheaderwillincludethemoviecount.

Thenextstepisthebody.MediaCompanionwillloopthrougheachmovieandcreatethehtmlbody.eg.<<body>><palign="center"><b><ahref="<<imdb_url>>"><<movietitleandyear>></a>

</b></p><palign="center"><<outline>></p><hr/><</body>>

Thisisasimpletemplate,andsimplycreatesalistofeachmovietitleandyear,followedbythemovieoutline.ThemovietitleisalsoalinktotheIMDBwebpageforthatmovie.

Sooncecompleted,thefulltemplatewilllooksomethinglikethis.

<title>WithOutline</title><<MCHTMLPage>><<header>><metacontent="text/html;charset=UTF-8"http-equiv="Content-Type"><h1align="center"><fontsize="6"><b>XBMCMediaCompanion</b></font></h1><h2align="center"><fontsize="5"><b>HTMLOutput</b></font></h2><h3align="center"><<moviecount>>movies</h3><palign="center">&nbsp;</p><</header>><<body>><palign="center"><b><ahref="<<imdb_url>>"><<movietitleandyear>></a></b></p><palign="center"><<outline>></p><hr/><</body>><<footer>><</footer>><</MCHTMLPage>>

Thetemplateshouldbesavedasatextfile,anddroppedintothe'html_templates'folderlocatedintheMediaCompanionfolder.NewtemplateswillneedMediaCompaniontoberestartedbeforetheyareaddedtothemenu.

Tagsavailableforuseinthetemplate:FromInternalCache,HTMLcreatedveryquickly<<moviecount>><<title>>

<<movietitleandyear>><<runtime>><<rating>><<outline>><<imdb_url>><<fullpathandfilename>><<movieyear>>

Fromnfos,mustbeloadedfirst,takeslonger.<<fullplot>><<director>><<writer>><<moviegenre>>

Posters<<smallimage>>-copiedfromthepostercache(150x200res)tohtmlsource\imagesfolder.Theimageswillbecreatedifitdoesnotexistinthecache.

CSSCascadingStyleSheetsarealsosupportedbytheMediaCompaniontemplatesystem.SimplyaddthestylesheetbeneaththeHTMLtemplateyouhavecreated.EnclosetheStyleSheetbetween<<css>><</css>>tags.

eg.<<css>><filename>moviecard.css</filename>@charset"utf-8";.smallfont{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;}.bigfont{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;

}.headingfont{font-size:26px;}<</css>>

XMLSchema PreviousTopNext

MovieXMLSchema.ThecurrentmoviexmlschemaislargelydefinedbyXBMCandusesthefollowingformat:

<?xmlversion="1.0"encoding="UTF-8"standalone="yes"?><movie><fileinfo><streamdetails><video><width></width><height></height><aspect></aspect><codec></codec><format></format><duration></duration><bitrate></bitrate><container></container></video><audio><language></language><codec></codec><channels></channels><bitrate></bitrate></audio></streamdetails></fileinfo><title></title><alternativetitle></alternativetitle><sorttitle></sorttitle><year></year><rating></rating><votes></votes><top250></top250><outline></outline>

<plot></plot><tagline></tagline><runtime></runtime><mpaa></mpaa><genre></genre><credits></credits><director></director><studio></studio><trailer></trailer><playcount></playcount><id></id><createdate></createdate><actor><name></name><role></role><thumb></thumb></actor><actor><name></name><role></role><thumb></thumb></actor></movie>

ThereareseveraltagsincludedthatarenotusedbyXBMC.Theseare:

The<playcount>tagwasoriginallyusedtomarkamoviewatchedorunwatchedwithinXBMC,supportforthistaghasbeenremovedfromXBMC,butisstillusedtomarkmoviesusingMediaCompanion.

The<alternativetitle>tagisusedbyMediaCompanionandallowsuserstoselectfromalternativetitleswhenmoviesarefirstscraped.

The<createdate>tagistoallowMediaCompaniontosortmoviesinorderthattheyareadded.

Quickstart-AddingTVShows PreviousTopNext

GeneralPreferences PreviousTopNext

Profiles PreviousTop

Profiles.ProfilesareawaytohavemultipleconfigurationsofMediaCompanionthatcanbequicklyaccessedfromwithintheprogram.Theideaisthateachprofilecanhaveitsownconfigurationandfoldersettings.

Theprofilessetupislocatedinthegeneralpreferences.

Tocreateaprofilethenjustentertheprofilenameandselectthe'AddProfile'button.

Toremoveaprofile,thenselectaprofilefromthelistandselectthe'RemoveSelectedProfile'Button.Itisnotpossibletoremoveaprofilewhenitisinuse.

Whenyoucreateaprofile,thedefaultprofilewillbecopiedtothenewprofile.Onceaprofilehasbeencreateditcanbesetasthedefaultprofile.

ThestartupprofileistheprofilethatisusedwhenstartingMediaCompanion.

Toswitchbetweenprofilesjustselecttheprofileyouwishtousefromthedropdownprofilemenu.

Thecurrentlyselectedprofileismarkedwithacheck.