Newbie Question

[martink0646]

Hi,

I am a committed (UK) TiVo user & have been for 7 years now but with the total lack of support for the model (still S1) & technology moving on a pace, I am investigating the 'Media Centre' PC route.

I have a networked PC in my lounge, connected to my home cinema sytem (plasma, amp, 7.1 etc) & I have tried various peices of software. SESAM TV is the one that I have got working but the front end isn't very attractive. xLobby on the other hand is just what I am after. I have downloaded & installed the version currently on the site & I have a couple of questions.

1) The help docs on the site don't seem to match the version I have. I this tied in with the ongoing debate about the new direction the s/ware is going in? (I have been reading the forum but it is a bit difficult to follow without context)

2) I have got the audio side working fine, but I have had no luck on the video side. I specify where my media files (avi's, mpg's & iso's) are but when I try to import them it doesn't see any files. What am I doing wrong? I have installed Winamp & Zoomplayer & I have downloaded Mplayer after reading old threads but I am now thinking that the version I have is different so the info on the forum doesn't apply to me. If it does great, just let me know & I am sure I can find the info looking back through the forums.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks.

Martin

[defrag]

HI,

First off welcome to world of xlobby!!

The first steps with this product are always the hardest!! Especially when it comes to getting your media organised.

First off, how do you have your media structured? There are many posts on directory structures and how that affects the import process. You may want to look at non-xlobby programs to organise your media, such as DVD Profiler or the simply amazing ANT Movie Database (my personal fave and all but my music and piccies are stored in it) as there are plugins to handle importing into xlobby.

But for starters take a look at http://xlobby.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5815&p=40236&hilit=importing#p40236 for your initial problems, then have a good think about how you want your media organised as a lot of times, answering that one usually answers the first.

Good luck and if in doubt ask - there are plenty of helpful (helpless ) souls on here

[martink0646]

Hi Defrag,

Thanks for your reply. I take it from your reply that there is no issue with the version of xLobby I am using?! Looking at this post I think my problem is with the number of mpg's in the folder where my video files are. I will try that first & then trawl through the forums to help me sort any problems. I am sorry for posting so soon but I didn't want to spend loads of time if I was working on the wrong version no. compared to the info in the forum.

If I'm still struggling I will post again & hopefully get some help. As I mentioned before, I am using quite an old PC as a test bed to prove the concept before spending any hard cash. The only outlay I see myself needing at the moment is on a tv card. I am assuming that European cards are supported? Again, many thanks

Regards,

Martin

PS I have a DvD Profiler account already (http://www.intervocative.com/dvdcollection.aspx/pest!) so when I sort out my basic understanding problems I will import the db.

[martink0646]

Hi,

I've manged to use the forum to answer all my video questions bar one.....getting iso (DvD images) files to play. I have looked in numerous posts, specifically Daemon Tools ones & I think I have a basic comprehension problem. If I mount a drive it is G: or above & I can't get it to permantly mount C: where my files are which would seem to be logical. But I suppose as it it a virtual drive that would be impossible. I cannot work out how to play files on C: on a virtual drive mounted on G:. I have installed TT2, Zoomplayer & VLC with no luck. I am sure my problem is in the extensions but I have run out of understanding. Any help would be great thanks.

I am now off to work on ROMS using the work of the french xLobby team & then I am going to look at internet radio. I assume I can import .mpu or .pls files & they should play. I will shortly find out! After that I need to look at the TV side of things. Are there any reccomendations for a TV card for the UK?

Cheers,

Martin

[m_ski]

Daemon Tools allows you to create a new virtual CD/DVD Drive (named G: in your case, but can be any letter you like that is different to all your other drives). You can them mount any ISO image to the virtual drive (The ISO image can be stored anywhere on your physical disk drives). You can then use the virtual drive (G:) as though you have the original DVD in the DVD drive.

On one of the setup pages in xlobby (I can't remember which page) there is a couple of boxes to fill in where you enter the path to the Daemon Tools EXE file and the drive letter that you wish xlobby to use. Then, when you execute an ISO file in xlobby it requests Daemon Tools to mount the ISO to the virtual drive and runs the DVD directly from there.

You can test Daemon Tools by right clicking on the Daemon Tools icon and mounting one of your ISO images to the G: drive - then try and play the G: drive as though you just inserted a DVD (it may well autoplay anyway as mounting and unmounting are the same as inserting and ejecting a real DVD as far as Windows is concerned).

Hope this helps your understanding.

[martink0646]

On one of the setup pages in xlobby (I can't remember which page) there is a couple of boxes to fill in where you enter the path to the Daemon Tools EXE file and the drive letter that you wish xlobby to use. Then, when you execute an ISO file in xlobby it requests Daemon Tools to mount the ISO to the virtual drive and runs the DVD directly from there.

You can test Daemon Tools by right clicking on the Daemon Tools icon and mounting one of your ISO images to the G: drive - then try and play the G: drive as though you just inserted a DVD (it may well autoplay anyway as mounting and unmounting are the same as inserting and ejecting a real DVD as far as Windows is concerned).

Hi m_ski & defrag,

Thanks for your replies.

m_ski, I have Daemon Tools installed, mounted & it plays perfectly when I mount an image (.iso file) on the G: drive. All the .iso files also play perfectly in vlc. What I want to be able to do is launch the .iso files from the MOVIES section of xLobby. I have sorted out the media folders & paths & understand how to add cover art to show up in the MOVIES section. My MOVIES section takes files from 4 different folders on 3 different drives over two of my networked PC's. These files are in 3 types. About 100 are .avi files. About 15 are .mpg files & about 100 are .iso file. The .avi & .mpg files work perfectly when launched from the MOVIES section but when I click on a .iso file nothing happens. In SETUP in the File Types section I have zplayer.exe, & vlc.exe highlighted both showing all file types. The bit I don't understand is that if I launch vlc through the FILES section it will play .iso files perfectly, however if I have enabled only the vlc player in SETUP>File Types then it will play every file except .iso's!! I think it may be the command lind extensions. Could somebody tell me what exactly should be there as I am struggling as I don't really understand this area. I have used the following;

/f %playlist%
/f %parameter%
/f "%parameter%"

I think that the -f is to start it in fullscreen mode but what do I type in (if anything) to play back .iso's. After searching the forums I tried enabling zplayer using these command lines;

/f %playlist%
/f %parameter%
/f "%parameter%"

& even this one to try & replicate the virtual drive -

/f /OPENDRIVE:G /DVD

where G: is my virtual drive in Daemon. I am now well & truly stuck. Please help.

Many thanks.

Martin

[m_ski]

I use Zoomplayer and Daemon tools to play iso's and the default setup in xlobby worked fine - I didn't have to change any command line options at all, just setup Daemon tools in xlobby (not sure if Daemon tools needs to be running at startup of xlobby, mine loads at startup of windows) and then it all worked fine.
I guess if VLC will play .iso files directly then you don't need to be using Daemon tools at all - remove it from the xlobby setup screen.
Not really sure what else to suggest I'm afraid.

[martink0646]

Hi m_ski,

Thanks for getting back to me. I think I am gonna do a fresh install & then check the way my file paths are set as I can't think of anything else it could be. In media folders I click on add & browse, then I go to a folder that has iso's in it. The folder is called DvD Rips. & the iso's are in that folder with a cover picture with the same filename. The individual iso files aren't in their own individual named folders. Could this be the problem? This way they show up with their cover art but as I said before only mpg's & avi's play.

Thanks again for trying to help.

Martin

[cooldog]

Martin,

Save yourself a whole lot of headaches, and install the Ant Movie Catalog and the plugin for it now, before you waste a lot of time moving files and directories around, and finding out that the XLobby spider won't find the covers and info you want.

You'll be glad that you did. I really cannot emphasize this enough. Get past the hurdles of getting XLobby to play your various formats, and then use AMC and the XAnt plugin. Anything else, including DVD Profiler, is pretty much a waste of time.

Ask me how I know .... <sigh>

In regards to your issues with ISO's: First check your movies database to be certain that the "Parameter" field contains the full pathname of the ISO file. If it does not, then you have an import issue, and you might as well switch to AMC and XAnt now, before going on.

Then, set the full pathname of the daemontools executable, and your "Daemon Drive" letter on the "General" page of the XLobby setup. Mine looks like this:

Location: C:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools\daemon.exe
Daemon Drives: J
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then on the "File Types" page, add the following:

Program
C:\Program Files\Zoom Player\zplayer.exe

Extensions
iso

Command Line Switches
/DVD /OPENDRIVE:J

================================================================================

Hope this helps,
Paul

[martink0646]

Hi Paul,

I will try this today & post back. Many thanks for your reply. This was slowing driving me mad.

Martin

[cooldog]

Martin,

Two more things - be sure that the new File Types line is enabled, and also check that no other enabled line is set to process the ISO file type.

Paul

[martink0646]

Hi Paul,

I tried everything you suggested, except installing ANT which is todays job, with no joy. Then I had a bit of a breakthrough. I wanted to see what the other skins were & how suitable they were for me. I installed the Blueskin, went to movies to see how it displayed them & clicked on an iso file. To my surprise it then opened up VLC with an error message. I went through VLC's options, added the correct command line (to access dive J: as per Daemon) & it played perfectly by opening a new file.

I changed skins back to the default but it still wouldn't play but I think I have narrowed the issue down. Basically, it doesn't seem to matter which player I have enabled in file types. I un-enabled them all & it still played .avi, .mpg & .mp3's but not .iso's. I then enabled them all one by one & still nothing. What the other skin seemed to be doing was opening VLC where as the default skin (which I want to use) just uses the default player whatever settings I use & refuses to use anything else. Is there any way to open an instance of VLC when a .iso file is clicked. If this is all listed somewhere just let me know & I will search for it but I have had a look & I can't find anything.

Martin

[cooldog]

Martin,


ARRRGGHH!!! I'm sorry! I forgot about that basic issue. In an effort to make XLobby "effortless", they included a player within XLobby, and made it the default.

That's pretty easy to change. Let me find you the link to that info.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5863&hilit=

Be advised that another fellow had a different, and possibly better way to do it, but at the time I was not too conversant with the skin editor, so I chose to do it in the event editor.

FYI, when you update XLobby, the filetypes.xml file will be overwritten, so back it up.

installing ANT which is todays job,

Good for you! Among the good things it gets you is a way to make a hierarchical structure of movies and videos, i.e. "Band of Brothers", will expand to allow you to select a specific episode when you select it, rather than having all ten of them on the basic "Movies" screen. The doc is scattered all over these forums ... it's not well organized, but it can be found with a few searches.

Paul

[Marbles_00]

The doc is scattered all over these forums ... it's not well organized

Oh...come on now...your not serious.

[martink0646]

Hi Paul,

Great, just what I'm looking for. I've just got in, I'll grab something to eat & get to work (the family can wait, this is much more important ). I'll post how I get on. Again, many thanks for your help. I'd probably have given up by now.

Martin