Display directory tree of imported Videos

Channels DVR Server Feature Requests
#1

I know we import videos from a directory like the example /videos/Home Movies/ and /videos/Peter Gabriel Videos/.

I would like the whole directory tree displayed/accessed as-is on the client. It could be a hybrid of the TV Shows behavior + current.

For example /videos/Home Movies/Jack/2022/ -- there'd be a Home Movies and once that's selected there'd be a Jack folder -- once selected there'd be a 2022 folder -- and then once that's selected it could show all the videos.

I see nested videos inside subdirectores are already imported- yay!

but right now, the structure is sort-of flattened -- each subdirectory with videos in it are placed in the root of the tree.

i.e., a directory tree like:

/Videos/Home Movies/
 Jill/
  2022/video3.mp4
  2022/video4.mp4
  2023/
   04/video1.mp4
   04/video2.mp4
 Jack/
  video5.mp4
  video6.mp4
  2022/
   video7.mp4
   video8.mp4

is displayed as:

/04
 video1
 video2
/2022
 video3
 video4
 video7
 video8
/Jack
 video5
 video6
#2

Indeed, yes, absolutely. Voted :white_check_mark:

1 Like
#3

I think it's a bug. See this topic.

1 Like
#4

oof. Yeah it's exactly the behavior I'm describing, but I'm actually feature requesting the opposite of that post's desired behavior (I want the whole directory tree vs everything in the top-level directory).

#5

I know, that's why I was pointing it out.

1 Like
#6

Making Videos behave more like TV Shows would be a great start. Or a hybrid.

#7

Video Groups do act like TV shows :thinking:.

Having them support an infinite hierarchy would make them work less like shows. So I don’t understand this exactly.

Just to make a statement here. There’s no immediate plans to change how the structure works. We appreciate the feedback, as always.

#8

I've had the problem where I input a folder that has both videos and subfolders and only the content in the subfolders gets imported. I then have to put all the videos in their own folders.

I've also struggled at times where videos don't get imported if I don't greatly simplify the filename.

I'd prefer it import everything and let me sort it out. With a large library it can be quite difficult to determine if some things haven't been imported.

#9

Voted :white_check_mark:. Agree, some kind of more organized structure for imports would be great. Personal non-tv/movie videos is one thing where basically we'd like things are into sensical areas based on folders. This could be tags, or some other thing to help out but folders are easy to accomplish.

I mention this could be something else/smarter like tags or labels or something because this same issue exists for other content. For example, it would be nice to organize all content that I organize in my brain together. For example, one show from my childhood is Double Dare. But the show actually went by several different names (Double Dare, Family Double Dare, Super Sloppy Double Dare, etc.). And then they released several home videos that are classified as movies. There's also things like specials and other stuff related to the show. In my head its all Double Dare. But in Channels (and most other similar systems) it is not that one thing, it is several TV Shows and some movies, and some "other content" or extras. I want to be able to put it all together into Channels like it is in my brain because its all related! Maybe the solution is folder view, maybe its something novel or clever. I'm open to ideas.

New Library Collection type