I need a media browser w/ ext player support

[JeffMD]

For now, my 2 media hard drives are connected to my gigabyte brix which is my tv connected media player. In the past I used an old q6600 as my plex server but I think Instead of trying to run 2 servers (and try and get the IQ I demand streaming over the network) on that one box, I am just going to make the Brix my new plex server for any time I need to stream stuff to some other TV or remote player online when I am on the go (very infrequent).

This means my Brix player will have all videos local, as well as a fully configured plex server. Now I like the plex browser a lot, but I really need the ability to launch the video into a high quality player like MPC for full decode support and maximum subtitle support. Plex does not seem to support any of this, so anyone know of any other media browser software that leaves the player up to the user?

I tried using kodi and failed miserably. I added a directory with some tv shows to it and it did absolutely nothing. Unfortunately finding any videos that could help me is futile, %100 of the videos out there are for installing pirate streaming addons. Thats right, %100! -_-

Anyways as I said, It does not need any streaming support, just a media browser for local content (tv show seasons and movies), and needs to defer playback to a good external player.

 

[smitbret]

It is strange that you couldn't get Kodi to find the TV shows. It should be that easy. There is really no better solution than what you have now.

Have you gone through the Kodi wiki to make sure it's not something you are overlooking?
http://kodi.wiki/

 

[Kartajan]

Did you try the "Plex Home Theater" app on your Brix?
I figure that should be your 1st simple/ free option, as you stated a preference for Plex..
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/sections/200282037-Plex-Home-Theater

https://plex.tv/downloads#plex-pht

And with the popularity of Kodi I am surprised that it didn't do what you wanted... Did you do the "scan" after you added the folder?

http://kodi.wiki/view/Adding_video_sources

http://kodi.wiki/view/Incorrect_and_missing_videos

 

[JeffMD]

It is strange that you couldn't get Kodi to find the TV shows. It should be that easy. There is really no better solution than what you have now.

Have you gone through the Kodi wiki to make sure it's not something you are overlooking?
http://kodi.wiki/

it found them.. if I went to the files part of TV shows, they were there. But it didn't seem to even try to download metadata for them. I also installed the anidb.net agent cause they were anime shows.

Karta, I tried it only cause I read in a post that in free mode it might do that, but configuring any kind of external player seems beyond the capabilities of the app. It does seem hard set on using internal player only.

 

[smitbret]

it found them.. if I went to the files part of TV shows, they were there. But it didn't seem to even try to download metadata for them. I also installed the anidb.net agent cause they were anime shows.

Karta, I tried it only cause I read in a post that in free mode it might do that, but configuring any kind of external player seems beyond the capabilities of the app. It does seem hard set on using internal player only.

So your issue us more with the scraper than with Kodi?

If that's the case, you may wanna try a media manager like TinyMediaManager to scrape and create .nfo files that Kodi will read. I use it in place of Kodi's scraper because I can control the metadata and art so much better.

 

[Kartajan]

I was running on the concept of proper decode and subtitles, not so much the external player...

I get native playback w/ subs as needed in Plex (using the Android TV App on Shield), and can force subs if I want... Should be same for a PC under the PHT player....

 

[JeffMD]

Nah plex screws up styled subs all the time.

 

[Binky]

Are your files organized correctly?

tv\show_title\season 01\files
movies\title\files

 

[JeffMD]

it is more like

2015/show name/files

Anime are rarely more than a season long, the majority of new seasons have a modified title and a different anidb show number. It is the same files that I fed into plex. Like with plex though, even if it is not a %100 file structure, it works because the metadata calls for one season and 13 files, and only 13 files exist, so plex doesn't fumble much. (This was with the default agent too. Before I figured out how to use the anime agent which could properly read file names through group codes and CRC tags, I had to sanitise my entire collection's filenames. )

 

[DesiPower]

Did you try the "Plex Home Theater" app on your Brix?
I figure that should be your 1st simple/ free option, as you stated a preference for Plex..
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/sections/200282037-Plex-Home-Theater

https://plex.tv/downloads#plex-pht

And with the popularity of Kodi I am surprised that it didn't do what you wanted... Did you do the "scan" after you added the folder?

http://kodi.wiki/view/Adding_video_sources

http://kodi.wiki/view/Incorrect_and_missing_videos

Thanks! I have been using Plex for ages and never heard of it...

I too have tried Kodi but failed, it seemed so much more complicated than Plex... and once Samsung TVs stared supporting Plex app, I stopped using Kodi all together.

 

[Binky]

it is more like

2015/show name/files

Anime are rarely more than a season long, the majority of new seasons have a modified title and a different anidb show number. It is the same files that I fed into plex. Like with plex though, even if it is not a %100 file structure, it works because the metadata calls for one season and 13 files, and only 13 files exist, so plex doesn't fumble much. (This was with the default agent too. Before I figured out how to use the anime agent which could properly read file names through group codes and CRC tags, I had to sanitise my entire collection's filenames. )

You naming system may be the problem. I don't have any anime in my collections but I have seen specific forum threads regarding anime scraping issues. Apparently anime is a PITA. Check the Plex/Kodi/Emby forums for specific discussions regarding how to fix these issues. You might consider trying the other servers like Emby to see if their scraping is better for your specific content. I run the emby server with the EmbyKodi addin and it works well for me.