Does an itunes-type program exist for video files?
June 25, 2011 2:56 PM Subscribe
Does an itunes-type program exist for video files?
I have a large library of movies, tv shows, etc that I would love to organize with some type of movie library program with similar features to itunes. I am specifically interested in a program that has features like album covers and a system for organizing by genre, year released, and other information.
Does anything like this exist?
I have a large library of movies, tv shows, etc that I would love to organize with some type of movie library program with similar features to itunes. I am specifically interested in a program that has features like album covers and a system for organizing by genre, year released, and other information.
Does anything like this exist?
coolguy#1: "I have a large library of movies, tv shows, etc that I would love to organize with some type of movie library program with similar features to itunes. I am specifically interested in a program that has features like album covers and a system for organizing by genre, year released, and other information."
Um, is there a reason you can't just use iTunes? It can already do all of this stuff with video files.
posted by Rhaomi at 3:03 PM on June 25, 2011
Um, is there a reason you can't just use iTunes? It can already do all of this stuff with video files.
posted by Rhaomi at 3:03 PM on June 25, 2011
Response by poster: iTunes doesn't really work for me because very few of my videos are quicktime or any other format the iTunes recognizes. Which is not to say that they are rare or unusual formats.
posted by coolguy#1 at 3:06 PM on June 25, 2011
posted by coolguy#1 at 3:06 PM on June 25, 2011
Yeah, just to chime in, this would be awesome. iTunes does not really work with video; the number of formats it recognizes is paltry at best. I've looked around a lot, and while there are a bunch of programs that play lots of video formats, very few of them allow management of a collection. VLC, my preferred player, tried doing this in sort of a half-assed way a few versions ago, but it wasn't really workable, and anyway people don't turn to VLC for a media-management utility.
If anybody finds something that does this, I'll be very happy.
posted by koeselitz at 3:14 PM on June 25, 2011
If anybody finds something that does this, I'll be very happy.
posted by koeselitz at 3:14 PM on June 25, 2011
I've always been partial to WinAmp's Media Library. I'm pretty sure that you can install enough plugins to do what you need to do with it.
posted by carsonb at 3:18 PM on June 25, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by carsonb at 3:18 PM on June 25, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Plex! Plex is awesome. I don't have cable, but I watch a lot of TV, and Plex rarely comes up short. Development is really quick too, so if there is something annoying (they just released a new version), it tends to get fixed quickly.
(I have a current issue that I'm sure very few people have, given that I have TV in two places: one for downloading/seeding, one for archiving. Sometimes it won't find the "archive" copy after I delete the "active" copy, but it usually does.)
posted by supercres at 5:06 PM on June 25, 2011 [2 favorites]
(I have a current issue that I'm sure very few people have, given that I have TV in two places: one for downloading/seeding, one for archiving. Sometimes it won't find the "archive" copy after I delete the "active" copy, but it usually does.)
posted by supercres at 5:06 PM on June 25, 2011 [2 favorites]
Oh, and the best part is that all show/movie information gets downloaded automatically from API'd databases of show stills, episode descriptions, even theme music. So there's your album covers; works even better than iTunes in that regard, as long as it recognizes title and episode number.
posted by supercres at 5:08 PM on June 25, 2011
posted by supercres at 5:08 PM on June 25, 2011
Miro is pretty much what you're looking for. I'm not sure if it can organize movies by genre/year but it can read movie files' metadata, so it might be possible.
posted by clearlydemon at 5:36 PM on June 25, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by clearlydemon at 5:36 PM on June 25, 2011 [1 favorite]
I do this with iTunes for my smallish library of 500 or so films. I stick to itunes simply because I can then access them from anywhere and watch them on a big screen tv wirelessly via an apple tv.
To convert them I just use Handbrake - freeware that quietly chomps through a queue of video in whatever format and puts them into iTunes.
The bonus is they can also be watched wirelessly on iPad/iPhone (surprisingly good with the retina display) or downloaded to the device for travel.
Obviously it's a bit of a Mac fanboi set up but it does work really well
posted by bister at 6:38 PM on June 25, 2011 [1 favorite]
To convert them I just use Handbrake - freeware that quietly chomps through a queue of video in whatever format and puts them into iTunes.
The bonus is they can also be watched wirelessly on iPad/iPhone (surprisingly good with the retina display) or downloaded to the device for travel.
Obviously it's a bit of a Mac fanboi set up but it does work really well
posted by bister at 6:38 PM on June 25, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: So I haven't looked at Plex or Miro, but XMBC is amazing so far. I will try Plex and Miro soon and report back.
posted by coolguy#1 at 8:52 PM on June 25, 2011
posted by coolguy#1 at 8:52 PM on June 25, 2011
Don't forget boxee. It's based on xbmc, but has a ton of useful extensions.
posted by griffey at 8:57 PM on June 25, 2011
posted by griffey at 8:57 PM on June 25, 2011
Take a look at Bento by Filemaker. It seems like it may do the trick.
posted by Gungho at 5:42 AM on June 26, 2011
posted by Gungho at 5:42 AM on June 26, 2011
Response by poster: Okay, So I've looked at Plex and Miro and neither of them seem to be as fully featured and easy to use and customize as XMBC. I highly recommend it.
posted by coolguy#1 at 8:41 AM on June 26, 2011
posted by coolguy#1 at 8:41 AM on June 26, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by proj at 3:02 PM on June 25, 2011