[canadmos]

I'm curious as to what software people use to help organize all of their movies on your computers.

As it stands, I keep all of my movies in a simple directory and select movies to watch from the directory listing. However this way of doing things is getting a little cumbersome. I have about 300 movies and viewing the long list makes it difficult to choose a movies based on the title alone.

I'm looking for a lightweight and simple solution that will list my movies perhaps based on different genres, recently watched, not recently watched etc, but what I am looking for the most is to view the list of movies with an icon of the movie cover. Perhaps another feature that would be handy, is the ability for the software to automatically scan the directory periodically for new additions.

I've tried to use iTunes for this in the past....but well...iTunes is garbage.

 

[SkaredShtles]

You're a Linux nerd - just pull the metadata from the movie and organize it in a MySQL database. Bonus points for putting a f**king GUI front end on it.

 

[JustMtnB44]

I am wondering the same thing. My movie folder is similar in size, and while I have a folder for 'Unwatched Movies' to keep things slightly organized, it's still a little annoying to have to look them up on IMDB each time to remember what they are about, or at least what genre they are. Although this is more of an issue for my GF than myself.

 

[jimmydean]

Back in the day I used a D-Link media streamer that pulled from my PC. As long as I kept them logically on my PC in folders, it was easy to navigate using the D-Link. Of course you don't need a device like that anymore, but it was sweet. For a while I had a sling box at work (every channel from every cable provider available at work) that I could use from home.

 

[norbar]

I just use IMDB. It's the easiest way. Vote for what you seen and what you want too see keep on Your watchlist. Works quite ok

 

[6thElement]

http://xbmc.org/about/

?

 

[canadmos]

^Nice. That looks pretty promising, I'm going to try that out.

For the time being, I stumbled upon this: http://www.emdb.tk/

It seems to being doing a pretty decent job. You can import media into the database and based on the file name, it will search IMDB and grab all the available information.

Doing the initial import of my movie library took a while, but after that it has been smooth sailing. The program loads quickly and runs smoothly. You can also search and filter the list based on genre, search terms, etc etc.

Another nifty feature is that it can also rename all of the movie files, so that they are labeled in a consistent manner.

The only downside seems to be how it handles TV shows. The support is there and it can handle TV shows, but it will list every episode of a show that you add to your library, not just the seasons/episodes that you currently possess.

You're a Linux nerd - just pull the metadata from the movie and organize it in a MySQL database. Bonus points for putting a f**king GUI front end on it.

I might be a Linux nerd, but I'm also lazy haha. If someone else has already done it, might as well use their solution

 

[JustMtnB44]

http://xbmc.org/about/

Installed this today, seems like a good choice so far.

 

[canadmos]

Time to bump this.

I borrowed a Raspberry Pi from work today and installed Raspbmc on it (Linux version of XBMC).

And yep, this is a great setup. If you don't know what a Raspberry Pi is, it is basically a little $40 computer that is the size of a small cigarette pack. I have my media library stored on a NAS and just read the library remotely. I was skeptical that the Pi could stream HD video, but woah, it actually works. Flawless playback. And it only took about 5 minutes to get it up and running with minimal configuration.

This is a great option for cheap. I will definitely be buying my own Raspberry Pi. For under $100 you can have a media center that you can Velcro to the back of your TV (or put it anywhere really). If your TV supports CEC you can just use your original remote to control it, too. The $100 is on the high side too, if you need buy cables, remote, case etc etc

http://www.raspberrypi.org/

http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY®-Wireless-Remote-Control-Mouse/dp/B0050PUGZE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412990674&sr=8-1&keywords=raspberry pi remote

Can also skip the whole remote thing and download a free app on an iPhone or Android device and use your phone as the remote.

 

[gonefirefightin]

I threw a external HD on my tv itself. the TV software is really good at navigating everything and like the simplicity. dont like that much data on my computers.