Video folder hierarchy

Channels Apple TV
#1

Newbie to Channels/AppleTV trying to make transition from Roku/Windows Media Center/LGTV apps. Be gentle.

Looking for the best way to organize Video content that isn't movies or TV shows. The files have no metadata. I want to browse, not search. I've read the doc on Video Sources and that seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. With displaying by folder under Video, I have almost what I need. So close.

The idea is to have Videos in a hierarchy of folders such as

Video
....Home Movies
........Vacations
........Special Occasions
....Lectures
........Engineering
........Self-Improvement
....Fitness
........Step Aerobics
........Yoga

It appears I can do this, except for one problem. Only folders that have content are listed, and the structure is flat. I have read other posts where this type of thing is discussed, but those discussions may have preceded Videos where there is some acknowledgement that some local content may exist that doesn't fit into title/genre/year by metadata listings.

What would you recommend?

1 Like
#2

What’s important to understand is that Channels doesn’t use any kind of folder hierarchy. It has its own.

Videos in each folder will be grouped into a Video Group, but only at the root level.

What you’re trying to do won’t work. You’ll need to make a folder for each group you want.

#3

Here's what it looks like.

VIDEO
+---Video Group 1
|   |   Group 1 File 1.mp4
|   |   Group 1 File 2.mp4
|   |
|   \---Video Group 1-1
|       |   Group 1-1 File 1.mp4
|       |   Group 1-1 File 2.mp4
|       |
|       \---Video Group 1-1-1
|           |   Group 1-1-1 File 1.mp4
|           |   Group 1-1-1 File 2.mp4
|           |
|           \---Video Group 1-1-1-1
|                   Group 1-1-1-1 File 1.mp4
|                   Group 1-1-1-1 File 2.mp4
+---Video Group 2
|   |   Group 2 File 1.mp4
|   |   Group 2 File 2.mp4
|   |
|   \---Video Group 2-1
|       |   Group 2-1 File 1.mp4
|       |   Group 2-1 File 2.mp4
|       |
|       \---Video Group 2-1-1
|           |   Group 2-1-1 File 1.mp4
|           |   Group 2-1-1 File 2.mp4
|           |
|           \---Video Group 2-1-1-1
|                   Group 2-1-1-1 File 1.mp4
|                   Group 2-1-1-1 File 2.mp4
+---Video Group 3
|   |   Group 3 File 1.mp4
|   |   Group 3 File 2.mp4
|   |
|   \---Video Group 3-1
|       |   Group 3-1 File 1.mp4
|       |   Group 3-1 File 2.mp4
|       |
|       \---Video Group 3-1-1
|           |   Group 3-1-1 File 1.mp4
|           |   Group 3-1-1 File 2.mp4
|           |
|           \---Video Group 3-1-1-1
|                   Group 3-1-1-1 File 1.mp4
|                   Group 3-1-1-1 File 2.mp4
\---z-A really long video group name just to see how it displays in Channels DVR
        z-A really long video name just to see how it displays in Channels DVR.mp4

Screenshot 2023-07-18 at 18-17-27 Channels Videos
Screenshot 2023-07-18 at 18-17-27 Channels Videos1238×1127 94 KB

Screenshot 2023-07-18 at 18-18-00 Channels Video Group 1
Screenshot 2023-07-18 at 18-18-00 Channels Video Group 11727×999 131 KB

#4

Yeah if it’s making a video group for each sub folder, that’s actually a bug and wrong and should be fixed.

It should just recursively place each video into the video group that is the root folder.

#5
#6

.. unless the folder has no video content

#7

True, but that's the case for all local content imports (Movies, TV Shows, Videos), since it's only importing video files.

#8

No, what I meant was .. in your example if your delete files Group 1-1 File 1.mp4, and Group 1-1 File 2.mp4, then Video Group 1-1 will not be seen. But the subordinate folders and files will.

#9

Yes, that's what I meant. The folder (directory name) is used as the name of the video group.
A video group is one or more videos.
No videos in the group (folder) means nothing to import there.

Same with imported TV Shows.

TV
+---Atlas 4D (2010)
|   |
|   \---Season 01
|       |   A text file.txt
|       |   Not a video file.xls

No video files, nothing to import.

What maddox is saying is it's a bug where the sub folders are imported as video group names.
Should be that every video file in this hierarchy is imported into Video Group 1 and the sub folders should not be creating video groups (Video Group 1-1,Video Group 1-1-1,Video Group 1-1-1-1)

VIDEO
+---Video Group 1
|   |   Group 1 File 1.mp4
|   |   Group 1 File 2.mp4
|   |
|   \---Video Group 1-1
|       |   Group 1-1 File 1.mp4
|       |   Group 1-1 File 2.mp4
|       |
|       \---Video Group 1-1-1
|           |   Group 1-1-1 File 1.mp4
|           |   Group 1-1-1 File 2.mp4
|           |
|           \---Video Group 1-1-1-1
|                   Group 1-1-1-1 File 1.mp4
|                   Group 1-1-1-1 File 2.mp4

i.e. Video Group 1 should contain these videos
Group 1 File 1.mp4
Group 1 File 2.mp4
Group 1-1 File 1.mp4
Group 1-1 File 2.mp4
Group 1-1-1 File 1.mp4
Group 1-1-1 File 2.mp4
Group 1-1-1-1 File 1.mp4
Group 1-1-1-1 File 2.mp4

1 Like
#10

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