Local Content Request to add other types of sources

Channels DVR Server Feature Requests
#1

What you have so far is good but I can't import all of my content right now since I have more types of videos. In addition to ripped Movies and TV Shows, I have ripped Workout Videos as well as home videos I would like to incorporate into the application.

I would hope this is doable relatively easy since you can already have Movies and TV shows but I realize that there is more going on that I don't see. You may have to have a sorting structure for using the local content's folder structure if sources can't be found to put the metadata in.

Thanks,
Chuck

#2

Is no one really interested in this feature? How do I know that the developers see this suggestion. Since they already do this for Movies and TV Shows, I would think it would be relatively easy to and another category that is everything else that isn't Movies or TV Shows. This is really the only feature that I lack to get away from having to use another application for all of my media.

#3

From what I have seen they read everything.

#4

The easiest way to do this is make a folder under TV called Workout or Home Videos and put them there

#5

tmm1,
Thanks for the suggestion and I appreciate you looking at my request.

If I understood you correctly, I created a folder called "Workout Videos" in my main TV Source folder, which is called "TV Shows". Inside the "Workout Videos" folder I put 2 additional folders, lets call them folder "A" and folder "B", which had different workouts in each. I then rescanned the sources.

The "A" and "B" folder showed up inside the "TV Shows" section with all of my other real ripped TV Shows. This isn't what I desire unfortunately. I'm open to other suggestions but I think the only way to get this to work is to create a new local content sources and treat it independently ove Movies and TV Shows.

Please let me know if this is something you will consider doing.

Thanks,
Chuck

#6

This is just a solution for how to make it work now.

In the future we may support home videos like this, but for now we're concentrated on just Movies and TV Shows. Not until we have these fully shipped will we be able to move on to custom content like this.

#7

Thanks for the quick reply. It is good to hear that you may implement this request in the future. I guess I will have to make due with using 2 applications until this is implemented.

Thanks again for all your good work!

1 Like
#8

Maybe you can elaborate on how you would like it to work.

I think it would work better if you put all your videos in the Workout folder and not create sub-directories. Or make a "Workout A". It will show up as a TV show called "Workout A" with all your workout videos there.

#9

tmm1,
I did do what you suggested by putting all of my workout videos ina Workout folder with no sub-directories. Doing that did show one TV Show called "Workout", which is ok. When I select that it does show all my workouts in one row just like it does for TV Shows. However, it names all of the video's "Workouts" and not what the file is called. So, I have no idea what the video is that I would be selecting and when I select it, it doesn't give me any information of what it is. Even if the name issue was resolved, the other problem with putting all of the workout videos in one folder is that all 400+ video's we have get lumped together and it is would be a pain to scroll through to find what we want.

How I would like it to work would be to add another source under the "Local Content" section called "Video Source", which would be navigated by using the folder structure under that main "Video Source" folder. So currently I have my "Movie Source" as "S:\Data\Media\Videos\Movies" and my "TV Source" as "S:\Data\Media\Videos\TV Shows". So I would want the new "Video Source" to be as "S:\Data\Media\Videos\Workout Videos". In the app (I use the Android TV app mainly) it would appear in the sidebar menu under "Recordings", "TV Shows", "Movies" and just above "Library" and could be called "Videos". When it is selected in the app, it would have the normal sorting options at the top (Alphabetical, Recently Added, etc.) and show all the main folders, with the folder names shown, under the Workout Videos folder. When I select a folder, it then would show me any video files that are in that folder. If it has another folder inside, then it would show me that folder so I could select it and view any video files under that subfolder. It would almost be like navigating the Windows File Explorer.

Thanks for considering this,
Chuck

#10

This worked for me to show the file names of imported show: Under the "Workout" directory rename your files:

Workout - S00E01 File Name1 of Workout.meg
Workout - S00E02 File Name2 of Workout.meg
Workout - S00E10 This is my Favorite Workout with Special Instructor ABC.meg

This convention worked for me with several episodes of Masterpiece Classic and Wallander recorded previously through other DVR software and converted to .meg files. All you will see under Workout is:

  1. This is my Favorite Workout with Special Instructor ABC
  2. File Name2 of Workout
  3. File Name1 of Workout

My example works on a Mac Mini server running Channels DVR Version 2020.10.27.1515 and on an iPad running iOS 14 and Channels 4.3.0.

Note: No description is available other than what is specified in the file name. On an Amazon Fire TV 4K, the file name only appears when you select it from the bottom list of episodes -- not really useful for your use.

#11

Blue,
I tried what you suggested but didn't get much improvement. Since I have over 40 different programs with up to 10 workout video's for each program. Doing it the way you suggest, even it I could see the name of the program, would be tedious to find what I was looking for. I will continue to use the other application until they implement this feature request in the future.
Thanks,
Chuck

#12

It was just a suggestion. I have to rename my video files and doing so did not add much work to my effort. My main limitation with Channels Imported Shows is the guide data is missing or incomplete.

#13

I was just about to create a new topic with the same request when it suggested this thread. I think just a third category "Other" would be an easy compromise. There I can put my wife's workout videos and home movies. I'll set it up per the suggestions above for now.