2020-01-07, 14:13
Hi all,
As per the subject line, I'm new to Kodi and am trying to get my head around how it sorts movies. I've tried reading the wiki and threads like Marvel Cinematic Universe - Movieset Ordering, but they've left me more confused than when I started. I'm hoping somebody can confirm whether my understanding is right, or correct it if it's wrong. Sorry for the wall of text.
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Scraping
To properly display information about video files it's been told to treat as Movies, Kodi relies on metadata downloaded (scraped) from internet databases. It stores this metadata either in a central database or in small text files (one per Movie) with the extension NFO. Other programs like Tiny Media Manager, Emby and Media Elch can scrape the online databases and write NFO files that Kodi can read.
Scraping is made easier if the underlying video files are named in accordance with Kodi naming convention, but having an NFO file with the correct metadata will override any information Kodi takes from the video file's filename or folder.
Display list
By default, Kodi shows the user a Display list containing all Movies it has identified, sorted alphabetically by Title of Movie. This sorting is dependent on the metadata Title, not the filename or directory in which the Movie is stored. Without further tweaking, this is also independent of internal movie chronology, so the second Hobbit movie (The Desolation of Smaug) appears after the third (The Battle of Five Armies).
Sets
To fix this alphabetical sorting issue, movies can be linked via the Set field, which stores a name for the group of movies, along with the Sorttitle field, which is used to sort movies which have a value in the Set field. Users can create their own sets, but must follow rules, including:
Tagging and Playlists
Users can add custom text to NFOs, including via the Tag field. Tags can contain individual words or phrases. It is possible to create Playlists in Kodi by searching various metadata fields, including Tags. Those playlists must be sorted by a metadata field (such as Title or Release Date or Filename) - it is not possible to manually change the order of a playlist. It is also not possible to have playlists containing both Movies and TV Shows.
It is possible to create a non-release order chronology for a series of Movies involving multiple Sets (such as the MCU or Star Wars), but it requires renaming all the relevant video files, removing them from the Kodi library, re-scraping them and re-adding them to the library.
--
Thanks for reading,
B
As per the subject line, I'm new to Kodi and am trying to get my head around how it sorts movies. I've tried reading the wiki and threads like Marvel Cinematic Universe - Movieset Ordering, but they've left me more confused than when I started. I'm hoping somebody can confirm whether my understanding is right, or correct it if it's wrong. Sorry for the wall of text.
--
Scraping
To properly display information about video files it's been told to treat as Movies, Kodi relies on metadata downloaded (scraped) from internet databases. It stores this metadata either in a central database or in small text files (one per Movie) with the extension NFO. Other programs like Tiny Media Manager, Emby and Media Elch can scrape the online databases and write NFO files that Kodi can read.
Scraping is made easier if the underlying video files are named in accordance with Kodi naming convention, but having an NFO file with the correct metadata will override any information Kodi takes from the video file's filename or folder.
Display list
By default, Kodi shows the user a Display list containing all Movies it has identified, sorted alphabetically by Title of Movie. This sorting is dependent on the metadata Title, not the filename or directory in which the Movie is stored. Without further tweaking, this is also independent of internal movie chronology, so the second Hobbit movie (The Desolation of Smaug) appears after the third (The Battle of Five Armies).
Sets
To fix this alphabetical sorting issue, movies can be linked via the Set field, which stores a name for the group of movies, along with the Sorttitle field, which is used to sort movies which have a value in the Set field. Users can create their own sets, but must follow rules, including:
- Movies can belong to only one Set.
- Sorttitle is not available for sorting Movies which are not in Sets.
Tagging and Playlists
Users can add custom text to NFOs, including via the Tag field. Tags can contain individual words or phrases. It is possible to create Playlists in Kodi by searching various metadata fields, including Tags. Those playlists must be sorted by a metadata field (such as Title or Release Date or Filename) - it is not possible to manually change the order of a playlist. It is also not possible to have playlists containing both Movies and TV Shows.
It is possible to create a non-release order chronology for a series of Movies involving multiple Sets (such as the MCU or Star Wars), but it requires renaming all the relevant video files, removing them from the Kodi library, re-scraping them and re-adding them to the library.
--
Thanks for reading,
B
