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Apple TV: organizing movies / tv shows

M

macd00d

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 9, 2006
29
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I'm looking for a way to "categorize" movies into some sort of folders on the Apple TV in an effort to have some sort of tiering within my movie selections. Heck same goes for TV shows too, but I haven't gotten that far.

It appears to me that while iTunes supports genre, artist, etc... that the Apple TV only organizes music in this way.

Am I missing something? Anyone else come up with any creative ways to organize movies??

Overall.... very impressed with the product!
 
macd00d said:
I'm looking for a way to "categorize" movies into some sort of folders on the Apple TV in an effort to have some sort of tiering within my movie selections. Heck same goes for TV shows too, but I haven't gotten that far.

It appears to me that while iTunes supports genre, artist, etc... that the Apple TV only organizes music in this way.

Am I missing something? Anyone else come up with any creative ways to organize movies??

Overall.... very impressed with the product!
Click to expand...

I'm thinking that I'll add comments to my individual videos and then organize
them in playlists. Then, I'll selectively choose the playlists I'd like to synch.
The videos should then appear in playlists on AppleTV. Now... if I can get
EyeTV to do that auto-magically...
 
danr_97070 said:
I'm thinking that I'll add comments to my individual videos and then organize
them in playlists. Then, I'll selectively choose the playlists I'd like to synch.
The videos should then appear in playlists on AppleTV. Now... if I can get
EyeTV to do that auto-magically...
Click to expand...

Don't see where playlists with video are supported.... do you?
 
Does Apple TV Support Video Playlists?

macd00d said:
Don't see where playlists with video are supported.... do you?
Click to expand...

This is an excellent question, and one that I have not seen definitively answered anywhere.

iTunes can easily organize video content via Video Playlists. I have several Video Playlists designed to play through a list of random videos such as those gotten from podcasts (like StrongBad Emails) and movies/TV shows from the iTunes store.

Today I can watch Video Playlists on my computer with iTunes or on my iPod with only a few clicks. However, watching them in my living room requires me to plug my iPod into my TV. Of course I would prefer to have Apple TV perform this function so that my iPod can remain untethered and others can watch the Video Playlists when my iPod is not available.

Unfortunately, I have seen no evidence that Apple TV supports Video Playlists.

Can an Apple TV owner please confirm if Apple TV supports Video Playlists? Or can someone provide a link to a credible reviewer who covers this topic?
 
Sorting TV Shows

Unfotunately AppleTV only is capable of sorting TV Shows by Date or Show.
Whereas "Date" relates to the date added or purchased, "Show" relates to the Artist!
When adding self recorded shows (labeling them with different artists but the same show name) the list in AppleTV will be named "Various" instead of showing the show name.
The only way to correct this sorting problem is to use the same name for "Show" and "Artist" ...
 
But that will basically do the trick (for now), though it is a less-than-ideal "workaround." Currently the best way to organize the movies in the Movies folder is not use the Movies folder. Instead tag all of the movies you want to organize into folders that :apple:TV will use as "TV Shows" (you do this by selecting the movie, "get info", "video" tab, then choosing "TV Show" in the "Video Kind" drop down menu.

The key to making the :apple:TV-friendly folder organization work is to put your organizational naming convention (say "drama" or "sci-fi" or "comedy") in the "Show" and "Artist" fields, and a unique number (from those you'll use for all other movies) in the "Episode Number" field. The name of the movie will still show correctly because the name appears in the "Name" field.

In :apple:TV, choose "TV Shows" instead of "movies" and you'll have folders as you want them named holding the movies you want organized in those folders.

It would be nice if this worked in the "Movies" folder too, but it does not. And this method forces you to choose one folder max for each movie (you can't put a film in both (say) Sci-Fi and Comedy by this method.

But, the original goal of organizing movies into folders in a way that works for :apple:TV will work by this method. Hope it helps.
 
iTunes is a depressingly one-sided media app. My emphatic suggestion is to get on Apple's website and demand that they increase the level of control over movies and TV shows to approximate the level they have for music.
 
I sort mine kinda like i sort my tv shows, under the Video tab in Get Info, I put in say 'The Bourne Trilogy' in the Show field. Then when my Apple TV gets synched, they appear with an arrow next to them, so you can then select just the three movies there

pac
 
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