Good Media Library Software?

[kemlo]

hello all, does anyone know of a good piece of Media Library Software that lets you use external media players?

found XBMC and it looks good, nice GUI etc, but it doesnt easily support external players, and i cannot get my head around XML's to configure it :/

so was wondering what others in the community use?

(sorry in advance if this is in the wrong topic discussion, and if this concept has been done to death, i did use search but didnt come up with anything useful :/)

[Mcgreag]

Mediaportal has what you want, it also has a nice anime plugin that that works with anidb.

[Xiong Chiamiov]

Since you mentioned XBMC, are you looking specifically for a 10-foot interface?

[kemlo]

@ Mcreag

cheers for the tip, it seems to be exactly what i had in mind 

only problem i have found so far is it doesnt recognise all of the files, not a problem for the odd ep from a series, but somewhat problematic when its an entire series or a Movie :/ but im sure there is a way around that

[Mcgreag]

If you are using the My Anime2 (Otaku Media Manager) plugin then it creates a checksum for each file which is then compares to stored checksums in the anidb database. If a file is not recognized it because of 1 of 2 reasons.

1. The file is not DB. If you ripped the file yourself or if it's liveaction then the file won't be there. It might also be some very obscure old rip that for some reason was not added. I have 6TB of anime and I can count on one hand the number of things it did not recognize that I expect it to.

2. The files are corrupt. Just a single bit error is enough to create a different checksum and just copying if file from one drive to another can sometimes produce errors like that.
If a torrent is available you can use your torrent client of choice to check the files for you.

But as said above some stuff just won't be available. If you ripped them yourself you need to add them by hand and if it's liveaction I suggest putting it in a different directory and use some other plugin to handle them.

[kemlo]

yea found the checksum part and got all the files working now  really pleased with this.........any skins for it you would recomend?

and how do i use my torrent program (Utorrent) to check the file? in event it doesnt find it itself ofc

[dpjdm]

The K-Lite codec is better than the cccp codec pack if you use media player classic.

Although VLC is good if you have regional problems when playing anime.

[Mcgreag]

yea found the checksum part and got all the files working now  really pleased with this.........any skins for it you would recomend?

and how do i use my torrent program (Utorrent) to check the file? in event it doesnt find it itself ofc

Personally I prefer dark skins so either Black Glass or Monochrome.

To check a file with the torrent client first find a torrent for that file and open it. When you are going to select where to download you specify a path that points to the old file. It will now verify the file before trying to seed it or if needed download what ever parts are not correct.

[costi]

The K-Lite codec is better than the cccp codec pack if you use media player classic.

Although VLC is good if you have regional problems when playing anime.

Since when is K-Lite better than CCCP?

[costi]

Double post, but meh...

Mcgreag - which version of MediaPortal are you using? Will My ANime2 work ok on the latest build (RC6, i believe)?

[Mcgreag]

Double post, but meh...

Mcgreag - which version of MediaPortal are you using? Will My ANime2 work ok on the latest build (RC6, i believe)?

Well I don't actually use it atm. I find navigating with a remote control to be too slow and unintuitive (mouse and keyboard ftw, even in the couch) and mediaportals mouse support is really sub par. I would love to have a normal mouse/keyboard driven windows program with the functionality of MyAnime2.

Anyway it seems there might be some problems with RC6 according to this post: http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/mediaportal-plugins-47/my-anime-2-a-60793/index101.html#post635066

[costi]

Okay, I think I'll need your help here. I'm having trouble setting up MediaPortal properly.

My test file is 1080p K-On! OP2 from THORA.

I managed to install MP, get it running, but I can't get it to play the file smoothly. In MPC-HC everything is fine. However, in Media Portal the video & audio is choppy (or no video + choppy audio), the file is impossible to watch. I installed SAF4, set MP to use MPC codecs for video, and use the internal player.

Also, trying to play the video from MyAnime2 results in just the audio playing, the image stays on MyAnime2 menu. The file was hashed properly.

I'm using BlackGlass, tried using StreamedMP but it was laggy in some parts on my system.

[Mcgreag]

Okay, I think I'll need your help here. I'm having trouble setting up MediaPortal properly.

My test file is 1080p K-On! OP2 from THORA.

I managed to install MP, get it running, but I can't get it to play the file smoothly. In MPC-HC everything is fine. However, in Media Portal the video & audio is choppy (or no video + choppy audio), the file is impossible to watch. I installed SAF4, set MP to use MPC codecs for video, and use the internal player.

Also, trying to play the video from MyAnime2 results in just the audio playing, the image stays on MyAnime2 menu. The file was hashed properly.

I'm using BlackGlass, tried using StreamedMP but it was laggy in some parts on my system.

The OP asked for a media center software that allows you to use an external media player, that's one of the reasons I recommended Mediaportal.
It's in the options, you need to switch to advanced options. Think it's under Videos->Video Player.
I guess it's possible to get the internal player to work with it but I never tried it.

[kemlo]

ive had no issues with the internal player running anything ive thrown at it yet, using ffdshow for all audio, something random for mpeg video, and Core AVC for H264, however i think i prefer using MP-HC over the internal player, again works smooth, with no issues that i can see.

[costi]

I've tried using MPC-HC as an external player, but I have a problem with launching it from within MediaPortal. It always pops up as a window.
What switches should I use to make it launch in fullscreen, and if possible close automatically after the movie finishes?

[Mcgreag]

/fullscreen /play /close
/close needs to be combined with /play.

[costi]

Actually, I don't know why, with this combo it refused to work (MP gave a message it cannot play the file). So I took a different route: I setup MPC-HC to start in fullscreen, play immediately and exit after playback, removed all switches in MP configuration and everything works like a charm.
The only downside is I have to close MPC manually if I stop playback early, but once I have my remote it'll be easy to fix, I'll just use one of my remote buttons for that.

[Mcgreag]

Might need something like %1 as well to catch the file name sent by Mediaportal. I haven't tested so I can't say for sure.