Overview

How to setup My Films if you already have an existing catalog in one of the Supported Catalog formats.

Ant Movie Catalogs

My Films and AMC use the same XML database, so update functions are supported in My Films for AMC catalog types, such as updating fields, watched status, adding local trailer paths, scanning movie folders for new films, and much more. Changes occur in 'real time' so any changes you make in AMC display in MyFilms and vice versa. 

Ant Movie Catalog (AMC) Setup

1. Save your ANT database in XML format ('save as' in ANT software and choose the XML format).
2. Select the same XML file in My Films Setup on the General tab.

For further information see the Ant Movie Catalog website.

Warning: As of v 6.0.0, My Films supports AMC v 4.1. Upgrade is recommended as some features in v 6.0.0 and later take advantage of AMC4.1 extended fields.  Support for AMC3 may be removed in future releases.However, you may use AMCUpdater to convert your database to AMC4 and populate the new fields - see Upgrade to AMC4

Note: AMC 4.2 is NOT compatible with previous versions, and thus not supported by My Films. For further details, see the forum thread: WARNING - AMC 4.2 incompatibility. 

MyFilms Setup

1. Run the Setup Wizard to create a new config - Select an AMC catalog type - e.g. Ant Movie Catalog Xtended (V4.1) (default). Most options will be correctly preset for you based on the answers you provide in the Wizard.
2. Select the Start Settings you wish when starting My Films on the Views Tab.

Note: If you are upgrading from MyFilms 5.x or earlier you must create a new config using the Setup Wizard if you wish to use the new features. See Upgrade 5.1 to 6.0 for details.

External Catalogs

If you are using MediaPortal for the first time, in order to use your movie catalog with My Films, see the MediaPortal Setup Guide

Supported catalogs other than AMC are called 'external' because they do not use an XML database natively. You must export your data to an external XML file to use it in My Films.  Thus the update functions supported for Ant Movie Catalog are not supported for these catalogs.  However, all other functions, like fanart, cover images, searching, global filters, etc. are supported. In addition, special features are available for mapping additional fields not supported in AMC. 

For specific considerations and more info on which fields are supported and how they are mapped in MyFilms, see your specific catalog under Supported Catalogs. 

External Catalog Setup

1. Export your catalog to XML or NFO files - that's it!

My Films Setup

1. Use the MyFilms Setup Wizard to create a new config.
   1. Catalog Type - select your movie catalog app from the drop down list
   2. Path to your Existing Catalog - select the location of your exported XML file
   3. Movie Folder - you do not need to select a movie folder because the movie file path and name are contained in the exported XML file.

Note: If you use a catalog that supports NFO files, select AMC4 as the catalog type and check 'use nfo grabber'

Tip: If your catalog supports command line export, you may use the Pre-Launching command on the General tab to export your catalog whenever you launch My Films, so the latest data always displays.

Artwork - Fanart, Covers, etc.

In most cases the Setup Wizard will automatically select the default settings for catalog type for you. If you have artwork for your movie catalog in a custom location, you may customize the artwork paths on the Artwork Setup tab to display them in My Films.

However, there is no standard method for storing or naming artwork among different catalog types (or different media centers, or even between different MediaPortal Plugins)! Thus, due to the file/folder structure, MyFilms can only display one cover and fanart image for most catalog types.

You may choose to copy your artwork to My Films folders (

...\MediaPortal\Thumbs\MyFilms

by default) or add Fanart using My Films to the paths you select on the Artwork Setup tab. Any artwork you add via My Films will continue to display, and you can manually link the images to your External Catalog as well!

Related

• Quick Setup