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Overview

Select which fields in your Ant Movie Catalog database are imported or updated and how special fields are handled during import.

Introduction

This tab allows you to select which fields in your Ant Movie Catalog database are imported or updated.

You may also select how specific fields are handled when importing your films, including auto detection/completion in some cases.

As of v 6.0.0 AMC4 extended fields are supported on the Database Fields tab for AMC4 catalogs. However, if you are using a previous configuration, you must 're-create' it using the option on the Import tab in Setup to display the extended fields.

Aspect Ratio - AMC Updater will calculate aspect ratio when importing or updating 'offline' media - such as DVDs or BRDs.
Length - grabber scripts have been updated to grab length (duration/runtime of film) from the selected website if media info is unable to obtain the data from your DVD or Blu-ray files.
File sizes - when importing films from BR or DVD folders, now the complete content of the folders is used to
calculate file sizes.

Database Fields

Check or uncheck the fields you wish to import/update, or use Quick Select.

Warning: If a field from this list is not checked/enabled, AMC Updater will not modify that value when importing or Updating, except if you update field values using the Update Movies feature and select a field to update.

Quick Select

These options allow you to quickly select a group of fields to include or exclude from import or update operations. Of course you can always just check/uncheck fields you wish to import/update.

Database Field Handling

Several AMC database fields offer special handling:

Storage (Source) Field Handling

Item for File Info Storage - this is the field that contains the movie file path and name - the same as selected in My Films Setup > General tab > Movie Playback section > DB filed for movie source info. Do not change this unless you are sure you need to, or your imported movies won't play.
Store with name only - enter only filename not full path - you must enable searching for matching files In My Films Setup > General tab > Playback Search configuration

Title Handling

These settings relate to Title field handling - such as which title field you prefer fas your Master Title, how Groups and Editions are auto detected and added to your database. For how titles are handled for matching during importing, see the Title Handling section on the Import Movies Tab.

Folder Name as Group Identifier

The My Films plugin for MediaPortal supports group identifiers or hierarchy separators. This is normally a backslash () character and allows multiple entries to be grouped together by manually adding the group names to the Title field in your database. For example, a trilogy of films such as the Bourne trilogy will be displayed as a single entry in My Films, and clicking it will show you the three individual movies.

AMC Updater has no way to determine when files should be grouped unless you use a folder-based storage system. If you store multiple movies in folders together (e.g. 'Movies\Harry Potter\...' then this option will store each entry as 'Foldername \ Filename'. The My Films interface then displays the group appropriately.

Note: If you wish to import groups based on the folder structure alone, search term (see below) should be 'blank' or 'empty'.

If you select to use the folder name as a group identifier, you can also select which value in the AMC database will store this – Original Title, Translated Title, or both.

As of v 6.0.0, group names depend on the way your files are organized and the option you select for Title and Search Handling:

File Name, or File Name + Internet Lookup - the containing folder will be used as the group name
1. e.g ...\Fantasy*Harry Potter*\Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 1 (2010).avi - Group name = Harry Potter
Folder Name, or Folder Name + Internet Lookup - the parent folder of the movie will be used as the group name
1. e.g ...\Fantasy*Harry Potter*\Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 1 (2010)\Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 1 (2010).avi - Group name = Harry Potter

Using Search terms

As of v 6.0.0 you may also Search for specific values and only add the folders matching the search criteria as group name, when a match is found. Thus single movies will NOT get a group name.

Example: in the Search box beside Folder name as Group Identifier, enter "Collection". With the following movie folders/files:

Movies\Matrix\mediafile.avi
Movies\Star Trek Collection\Star Trek 1\mediafile.avi
Movies\Star Trek Collection\Star Trek 2\mediafile.avi
Collections\Star Trek Collection\Star Trek 9\movie.avi

2, 3 and 4 will return "Star Trek" as group name.

Warning: If a search term is entered, only groups that have the search term in the folder name will be imported as groups. If you wish to import groups based on the folder structure, remove the search term.

Editions

As of v 6.0.0, AMCU can detect Editions based on the movie file and/or folder name using the new Edition Detection settings on the Scan Paths and Filters tab.

If an Edition is detected you can choose to add it to the film Title by selecting the Title field from the 'Add Edition Name(s) to... drop down box:

Media Label Field Handling

Media Label - enter a value to automatically add to the Media Label field such as 'AMCU' (preset
Try to read DVD Disk label, Volume name or UNC server name - enable this option if you wish to automatically add the DVD or disk drive name to your media label field.

Note: Volume name and UNC paths can be read as of v 6.0.0

Other Field Handling

Checked Field Handling

The AMC database has a 'Checked' option, which is an on/off flag to highlight or mark certain entries. This is entirely optional so if you select the 'Checked' box in the list of fields, you can use this dropdown list to select whether to mark your imported movies as 'Checked' or "Unchecked'

Note: This option should match what you select in MyFilms Setup > Update Tab > Value to identify unwatched films if you use the Checked field as your field for Watched Status (default/preset for AMC catalog types)

Date Field Handling

At present there is no easy way to look up an accurate date for any film, so this is often used to record the date a film was added to the collection. From the drop down list you can choose to use:

File Created Date (default)
File Modified Date
Current system date (the date when the import/update process is run)
No Date - this is effectively the same as un-ticking the Date checkbox in the list

Note: When you are importing your film collection the first time, it is useful to set Date Handling to file creation date - for subsequent updates of your catalog the "current date" is useful, as it allows you to sort your movies to see latest added movies on top.

Use Internet Data for Languages

If you have movie files that include languages, such as DVD or Blu-rays, MKV, etc, you can disable this option to read the languages from the movie file rather than grab it from an internet website.

Media Type (Preset)

You may preset the data added to the Media Type field when importing/updating via AMC Updater such as 'HDD' (default) since most often you are scanning files on your hard drive.

Cover Handling

Picture Handling

By default, AMC Updater will store cover images in the same folder as the Ant XML File. The path to these images will be stored simply as 'filename.ext'.However, you may choose how you wish to name and store your cover image files:

Full path - If you wish to store the full path to the image (e.g. c:\Ant\filename.jpg)
Relative path - if you wish to store covers in a folder other than your catalog folder such as a pictures sub-folder (requires a prefix)
User Folder.jpg - if you store covers as Folder.jpg in each movie folder

As of v 6.0.0, you can also select any of the above options with 'create movie thumb' (400x600 px) or simply create a movie thumb when no cover is available (such as for documentaries, home videos, etc.):

Prefix/Suffix to file name

Additionally, you can choose to rename the downloaded cover images by adding a prefix. This is to maintain compatibility with Ant Movie Catalog which has a similar function. An image with the name 'Batman.jpg' can therefore be saved as 'Movie Database_Batman.jpg' (or whatever) if needed to match your existing collection. If you include a \ character in the prefix, the images will be stored in a sub-folder e.g. 'folder name\prefix' will add a prefix of 'prefix' and store the files in the 'Folder name' folder. Note : Only one sub-folder is allowed; not multi-level sub-folders!

As of v 6.0.0 you may also add a suffix to the cover image name - possible placeholders are

%year%
%number%

Thus you can avoid duplicate images for movies with same names but different content, and prevent overwriting possible existing covers.

Fanart Handling

If you do not wish to download fanart when you import new films, or update them via AMC Updater, simply uncheck the Fanart field. You may always download fanart for selected or all films with My Films, or even create fanart for a selected film.

Fanart Limits

As of My Films v 6.0.0, you may limit the number of fanart images downloaded and/or their minimum and maximum resolution when importing or updating films using AMC Updater by using the Fanart Limits options (option 2 in above screenshot):

The default limit is preset to 3 images when you create a new config using the Setup Wizard.
To download all fanart images, change the limit to 0
You may also use the additional boxes to select the minimum and maximum resolution of fanart images.

Note: A fanart limit will reduce download volume and time, as it will stop as soon, as the limit is reached - a resolution restriction will have to download the image to check dimensions - thus the latter only determines if the fanart will be stored to disk or not but saves no time in downloading fanart.

Use Script for Fanart

By default My Films downloads fanart from TMDb website, however you can enable this option to grab fanart using your selected grabber script from other sites or from NFO files in your movie folder.

Load Person Images

Enable this option if you wish to automatically download images for cast and crew when you download fanart.

Note: You can also enable person images download in Artwork Setup to automatically download them whenever you open the Details Window for a movie.

AMC Updater