Suggestion for Front End Software?

[tharpers]

Hi,

I am building a HTPC with plans to use Sage for all PVR functions.
However I have a Sony DVD 300 disk changer which I want to control (maybe through girder, DVDLobby? or a s-linke?) which would act as a media library.

Does anyone have experience with a setup like this, or have any suggestions of which software to use?

So to summarize, I have a HTPC which will run sage and control my tv/recording, I also want to figure out a way to control my 300 disk changer and display its 300 disks in a sage like format. I know you can display DVD's stored on disk I just wasn't sure if I could also view my library format or maybe manually program the titles into sage and then run a macro which kicks off an ir burst to the dvd player to spin up the appropriate title?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[stanger89]

Originally posted by tharpers
Hi,

I am building a HTPC with plans to use Sage for all PVR functions.
However I have a Sony DVD 300 disk changer which I want to control

Mainlobby + DVDLobby is no doubt the best front end out there, especially for controlling mega-changers.

http://www.webpromotion.com/cinemar/dvdlobbypro.html

[tharpers]

Thanks,

Do you have any experience launching Sage through Mainlobby?

[stanger89]

I haven't actually played with MainLobby in a long time. My original thought is that you could probably launch Mainlobby or DVDLobby as the DVD player via mlbdude's STV.

[andrewswright]

If I remember MainLobby has built in support for DVD megachangers. You can also check out Meedio (the new version of myHTPC). I use it for my front end to control my music and media libraries and to launch (really just wake from Sleep) SageTV. I'm sure that it could be configured to control a DVD changer.

Andrew

[mlbdude]

Anyone know how to work with the video library in Meedio? It seems to just ignore my folder structure and dump all files out at once. It also does not seem to work with folders that have multiple files in it.

Any suggestions?

P.S. the music features in Meedio are pretty nice .

[robogeek]

The video library in Meedio will probably require some edits to the importer in the Meedio Config app. What's your directory structure look like?

The Meedio config wizard only offers these directory structures:

All movies in one folder = x:\root\your movie.*
Movies in subfolders = x:\root\movie name\your movie.*

Any other sturcture will need to be defined with tag masks.

What you probably need to change is located in Meedio Config-->Media Library tab, select the Movies library from the left side pane, select the Imports tab in the right side pane, and double click the "Import my movies" line to edit the properties of the importer. Once you are in the Import editor, you probably need to change the "Tag masks" and maybe uncheck the "Group/chain files in each directory together?" option if it is checked. Before rerunning the importer, go to the Items tab of the Movies library and Delete All items.

Then you'll probably need to add a new View to the Views tab. Let's say your directory structure is:

x:\mymovies\genre\moviename\movie.mpg

Your tag mask would be <genre>\<name>\<>

You could then create a view and the Group By option would be set to <genre>.

Hope that helps

[IVB]

Originally posted by stanger89
I haven't actually played with MainLobby in a long time. My original thought is that you could probably launch Mainlobby or DVDLobby as the DVD player via mlbdude's STV.

I thought DVDLobby was just a menuing & control system, and that you still needed Theatertek or the like to be the actual DVD player? Hence, mlbdude.stv would link to TT, and there's no need for DVDLobby?

Or am I wrong?

[stanger89]

Yeah, but he's got a DVD changer/jukebox that I assume directly drives his display. In that situation you could link "Play DVD" to launch DVDLobby and from there select a DVD which would cause the changer to start playing.

With a media server that has your DVDs online, then yes you don't need DVDLobby as Sage can serve that function.

[tharpers]

Correct. Thanks for the multiple responses!