Windows 7 Media Center is a great way to organize and manage your media. You can add images and metadata to your movie library, so you can find and watch your movies exactly the way you want. To add images and metadata to your movie library, follow these steps:
- Open Windows 7 Media Center.
- Click the Library tab on the main window.
- Click the Movies button on the Library tab.
- Select a movie from your library or create a new movie by clicking New Movie in the lower left corner of the window. ..
For Windows Media Center Movie Library to be able to display metadata and cover art, each movie file must be stored in an individual folder of the same name with an xml file to display metadata, and a folder.jpg file to display cover art. YAMMM automates the process of downloading the folder.jpg and .xml files from the Internet into your movie folders.
Setting Up Your Folders
If you currently store your movies in one large folder and dread the thought of having to manually create individual folders for each file, rest easy. File2Folder Script 1.0 will automate this process for you (See download link below). If you already have your movie files stored in individual folders, or don’t mind creating them manually, you can skip down to the Installing and Configuring YAMMM section.
To automate the process of creating individual movie file folders, download File2Folder Script 1.0 and extract the filetofolder.bat file. You’ll then need to copy filetofolder.bat into the folder that stores all of your movie files. Note: For this script to run properly, this process should be performed on your local computer. Running it in a network folder is not recommended.
Double-click filefolder.bat to run the process. This will open a Command window and move your files. When the process is finished, press any key to close the command window.
You should now have each movie contained in it’s own individual folder.
Installing and Configuring YAMMM
Now it’s time to download and install YAMMM (Download link below). To begin the installation, simply double-click the downloaded .msi file and follow the installation wizard.
During the install, the YammmConfig tool will open. The first step you’ll want to take is to define your Movie Library locations. On the Library Tab, click the “Include a folder…” button.
Browse to select your movie folder and click “OK.” If you have more than one folder in your Movie Library, repeat this process to add each additional folder. Click “Save” when you are finished.
Since YAMMM runs as a service, if you wish to add folders from a network location, you’ll need to provide a username and password for the networked computer under the Network credentials section. If the networked computer doesn’t have a password, you’ll need to set one. Click “Save” when you’re finished.
On the Settings tab, check the “Rename movie folders…” box and “Rename movie files…” box. This will automatically rename your movie files to include the date. Click “Save” when finished.
Next, click on the Metadata tab. Under “Create the following meta information files,” check Windows 7 Media Center. Also place a check in the box next to all user accounts under Users. Click “Save.”
Click on the Artwork tab. Selecting one of the resize options and reducing the Quality to something less than 100 can reduce lag time when opening the Movie Library. Click “Save.” When you are finished with all of your configurations, click “Exit.”
Click “Close” to complete the installation.
YAMMM will now proceed to pull the metadata and images for your movie files. If you take a look at the individual movie file folders, you will notice the movie file has been renamed to include the date, and a dvdid.xml file and a folder.jpg file have been downloaded by YAMMM to provide the metadata and image for the Movie Library. If you chose to resize the images, you will also see a folder.original.jpg file in addition to the folder.jpg.
Now when you browse your Movie Library in Media Center, your movie files will appear with nice movie cover art.
With the added metadata in Movie Library, you can now sort your movie collection by title, genre, year, parental rating, type, and date added.
If you click on any of your movie selections, you will get a detailed synopsis of the movie.
All that’s left now is to click “Play” and enjoy a movie.
As you add more movies to your movie folders, YAMMM will automatically pull metadata and cover art for each folder. For more help configuring your Movie Library, check out our previous article on setting up and adding folders to the Windows Media Center Movie Library.
Links
Download File2Folder Script
Download YAMMM
