Organize Video

[spacegoathlz]

Hey guys, I did a search and didn't find the answer, I know it's been talked about. Does anyone use Launchbox to organize their videos/music? How would I go about importing the files? Is this something that can be done with the freeware version, or is it limited to BigBox?

[SentaiBrad]

No, importing anything you want is not limited to BigBox, you can always import what ever you want, it's just not all content is easily imported in bulk. You'll either have to import something as MS-DOS and use the Bulk Edit wizard and select "Use MS-DOS" and say no so that it launches with the system default application or you can also add anything you want with the Add button in the bottom right hand corner of LB. Personally, I would never use LaunchBox or BigBox this way. They're simply not meant for this. It can do the job certainly but we don't scrape Audio or Video sources so it would all be blank, and if you have the year in your music or video you would need to remove the ( ) around it for it to import correctly. We're just not built for it. Maybe in the future we will be, but currently we have other plans. As for an alternative, I would go with Kodi as my first choice then Plex as a second choice. Plex is great for also streaming your PC content to other devices, but in the case of PS4 or Xbox One you need to pay for Plex Pass. Universal Media Server is what I use to stream content from my PC's to consoles or other devices it supports. I have used Plex in the browser of my Wii U, it surprisingly works, and I've used an app that I bought called Bubble UPNP for Android in conjunction with Plex.

[DOS76]

You would import them the same as anything else but you will need to add your player as an emulator. Just letting you know while it is very easy to add these things do not expect to get any metadata or images for your media LaunchBox only scrapes from video game based metadata sources.

[DOS76]

You don't need a Plex Pass for XBox One my nephew and my friend Andrew both stream my server all the time. You may have to pay 5 for the app but I don't think they even had to do that. As of 12/2015 it is also free on PS4 I've also confirmed it is free for both Xbox versions also.

[SentaiBrad]

Unless they recently changed it you had to have a Plex pass for consoles, it's still the case with Android certainly.

[DOS76]

Even for Android you can pay $5 one time you don't need a Plex pass unless you want free apps. I myself have a lifetime Plex pass.

[SentaiBrad]

Then this is new, I literally checked two weeks ago and that wasn't the case. Bubble UPNP is still awesome, but I would have rather have had the Plex app.

[DOS76]

It has always been the case I've been using Plex for awhile and help my brother unlock it on his phone over a year ago. Here is a link from the Plex website explaining how to do so.

[SentaiBrad]

If you've had Plex pass, yes, but buying the app for 1 fee is a rather new thing. This hasn't been a thing on most or all of the devices you can get the App on. When we tested Plex on the Xbox One for my mother in law it was asking her to buy Plex Pass, and the last time I checked with Android it was asking me to buy Plex Pass, the secondary option to buy just the App wasn't there. I just checked 15 min ago though and I saw it. When we did all of our tests they were working on the standalone purchase (or so the forums had said) but that was about it, no actual way to do so. It doesn't even matter, can we please not completely take over this new users thread.

[DOS76]

I would say that it is probably to late for that.

[spacegoathlz]

Thanks Brad, that gets me a few steps closer. Scraping is not what I am after. It will never happen for the data I am working with anyway. It's the easy user interface, where I can create tags, bulk edit, and organize, with LaunchBox doing the backend database for me, while NOT editing the original file that I am looking for. I have not used a ton of video players, if you know of one that does that, I would love it. I am not looking forward to importing over 1500 files one by one. Thanks for the help, love the product, and the people. This is a great thing you guys have built.

[SentaiBrad]

For music I could easily tell you but for video I am unsure. WinAmp can deal with video, like it does with audio and edit the tags like you are asking for, iTunes could also achieve this. I don't use either to play video though, I use Media Player Classic or Kodi. I've never needed to edit tags and categorize like you're asking. I usually let a program called FileBot edit the name of TV and Movies for me so that I can import and scrape it in Kodi. As for importing you can import the files as rom's and add the program you want to use as an "emulator" or import them as MS-DOS games while using the bulk edit wizard to edit the need for DOSBox out. There is an item in that drop down menu to turn that dependency off or on. You can either use the Add Files function in the Rom Importer or drag and drop. Both ways you have access to the Windows Search function in the top right so you can batch add files if they're in sub-directories. I would also suggest to use a new install of LaunchBox just for media, especially if you have a ton of games added.

[DOS76]

If you add the files as ROMs you can add them all at once you just have to make the program that you plan on viewing the media with as your emulator so if you wanted to use vlc you would set VLC up as an emulator and associate it with you video or music platform.

[SentaiBrad]

It's also worth mentioning that if you want to categorize your tv or movies then Kodi also does this. You can sort and view by genre, year, collection, date added etc etc.

[spacegoathlz]

Awesome, thank you VERY much! Yeah, unfortunately iTunes was the only media player I could think of, and I soured on them within 10 mins of getting my kid his first iPod 15 years ago. I F'N LOATHE that company and their overpriced proprietary BS. I know there are ways around it now, but I learned to hate them so much when he had 1000's of songs he couldn't load that I walked away from them and never returned. If they were the only ones in the world with sexy maid robots, I'd just do without I guess lol.

[SentaiBrad]

spacegoathlz said Awesome, thank you VERY much! Yeah, unfortunately iTunes was the only media player I could think of, and I soured on them within 10 mins of getting my kid his first iPod 15 years ago. I F'N LOATHE that company and their overpriced proprietary BS. I know there are ways around it now, but I learned to hate them so much when he had 1000's of songs he couldn't load that I walked away from them and never returned. If they were the only ones in the world with sexy maid robots, I'd just do without I guess lol.

No problem. I don't care for Apple either really so I get it. Also I found this wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Tag_editors

[spacegoathlz]

Brad, just wanted to let you know that it worked perfectly. I set up a separate install of Launchbox, I'm using Kodi as my emulator, and it is working absolutely brilliantly. Thanks once again for the help that you & David and the community are always right there with. Yet another use for Launchbox. It's such an awesome tool. (TWSS)

[SentaiBrad]

I do wonder why LaunchBox and Kodi? Kodi very easily replaces us for TV Shows and Movies, not that I am saying you need to only use Kodi or not use Kodi, I am just curious about your choice.

[Kriven]

I'm sorry to butt into the divergent conversation... I use my LaunchBox install to track everything. Music, Movies, TV Shows, Games, Books, Comics... Everything. I prefer LaunchBox to other programs primarily because of its "Additional Applications" feature, which allows me to do some very versatile things with the program. I can use it for track listings, I can use it to sort shows by episode, I can use it for the special features in a dvd rip. It also provides a better atmosphere for collecting and exploring elements like insert and inlay scans and music videos by associating them with the appropriate album, and its metadata isn't limited to what a specific filetype can manage. Prior to this, I used Media Monkey to manage my collection... and I'm still putting that mess back together. In fact, I've spent the past week organizing my music in LaunchBox one album at a time and inputting all of that metadata by hand. I'm much happier now with all of my collections than I had been using other programs like Kodi or Calibre or MediaMonkey. What I do is take my preferred application (Media Monkey for music, VLC for videos [although I use GOM for some specific instances], CDisplay for Comics, etc.) and download a portable version of it, if available, and simply plug that into LaunchBox as an emulator. Of course there are certain limitations, such as being unable to build a "Now Playing" list (opening a new album will close the old one), but I am generally very happy with my collection. To be honest, I use LB more for my other media than I do for games at this point.

[CADScott]

Nathan DiYorio said I'm sorry to butt into the divergent conversation... I use my LaunchBox install to track everything. Music, Movies, TV Shows, Games, Books, Comics... Everything. I prefer LaunchBox to other programs primarily because of its "Additional Applications" feature, which allows me to do some very versatile things with the program. I can use it for track listings, I can use it to sort shows by episode, I can use it for the special features in a dvd rip. It also provides a better atmosphere for collecting and exploring elements like insert and inlay scans and music videos by associating them with the appropriate album, and its metadata isn't limited to what a specific filetype can manage. Prior to this, I used Media Monkey to manage my collection... and I'm still putting that mess back together. In fact, I've spent the past week organizing my music in LaunchBox one album at a time and inputting all of that metadata by hand. I'm much happier now with all of my collections than I had been using other programs like Kodi or Calibre or MediaMonkey. What I do is take my preferred application (Media Monkey for music, VLC for videos [although I use GOM for some specific instances], CDisplay for Comics, etc.) and download a portable version of it, if available, and simply plug that into LaunchBox as an emulator. Of course there are certain limitations, such as being unable to build a "Now Playing" list (opening a new album will close the old one), but I am generally very happy with my collection. To be honest, I use LB more for my other media than I do for games at this point.

How do you do the artwork and metadata, do you import it from somewhere, or do you enter it manually. This would be great for all media if you can scrape the metadata automatically, but if it is manual I think this would take me way too long, my comic collection alone is over 10,000 files!