Searching large movie library

Bigads said:

I may have missed something simple here, but with over 800 movies in my collection when I go into my Apple TV and the movie section of my library, is there a way of searching for a title quicker than scrolling up/down through the list?

I know I can toggle between unwatched/watched but would like to be able to bring up a text search and type the title in to search.

I hope this makes sense and would appreciate any advice.

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I know what you mean, and as far as I know, there is no search function for this part of the software.

SandboxGeneral said:

I know what you mean, and as far as I know, there is no search function for this part of the software.

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That sounds like one more reason I prefer using Plex for movies, TV shows and music videos!

If your 800 movies are purchased from iTunes and are in the cloud locker you can actually use the standard store search and play the ones you own right there from that interface without even going into the purchased tab.

For instance I own all of Peter Jackson's films - I can search the director's name and I have a pretty good idea if I own that title or not.

Bigads said:

I am disappointed if that's the case but also a little relieved that I have not missed something simple.

I have iPhone and iPad and use those as remotes, so a tech search with keyboard displayed on these devices would be a god send.

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Maybe I'm not picking up on the sarcasm, but there is a search function built into the Remote app.

Bigads said:

I may have missed something simple here, but with over 800 movies in my collection when I go into my Apple TV and the movie section of my library, is there a way of searching for a title quicker than scrolling up/down through the list?

I know I can toggle between unwatched/watched but would like to be able to bring up a text search and type the title in to search.

I hope this makes sense and would appreciate any advice.

Click to expand...

BladesOfSteel said:

Maybe I'm not picking up on the sarcasm, but there is a search function built into the Remote app.

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Yep, you're right. The Remote app for iOS will allow search's of your local library making it easier to find what you're looking for. Too bad Apple hasn't built that search right into the menu for us.

What do you store the movies on? How much space does it take up?

Curious cuz I have between 800-900 blurays including 3D and am looking to change storage units for it. Right now its in a 8TB enclosure, but was thinking of upgrading to something larger

JoshMKB24 said:

What do you store the movies on? How much space does it take up?

Curious cuz I have between 800-900 blurays including 3D and am looking to change storage units for it. Right now its in a 8TB enclosure, but was thinking of upgrading to something larger

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I've got 693 HD films living on a 12TB drobo (8.17TB useable). I'm using just over 6TB at the moment, with a 60/40 split of 1080p to 720p content. As I slowly re-encode all the 720p stuff to 1080p I'll likely need to move up to 4TB drives, but I'm in no hurry to do so with the prices of those drives being so high.

OmegaRed1723 said:

I've got 693 HD films living on a 12TB drobo (8.17TB useable). I'm using just over 6TB at the moment, with a 60/40 split of 1080p to 720p content. As I slowly re-encode all the 720p stuff to 1080p I'll likely need to move up to 4TB drives, but I'm in no hurry to do so with the prices of those drives being so high.

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Hmmmm, I'm kind of stuck using 2TB drives though because my tv doesn't seem to like reading 3 or 4TB drives.

JoshMKB24 said:

Hmmmm, I'm kind of stuck using 2TB drives though because my tv doesn't seem to like reading 3 or 4TB drives.

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Are you connecting your HDD enclosure directly into the tv, or are you using some sort of media server (iTunes, Plex, XBMC, etc.)?

OmegaRed1723 said:

Are you connecting your HDD enclosure directly into the tv, or are you using some sort of media server (iTunes, Plex, XBMC, etc.)?

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Connecting right to the tv via USB

Searching..

So obviously you can use the Apple Remote for iOS, (but my old Ipod touch got upgraded out... I had to restore from a back up to get a version that would work with it)

But, another way is playlists. If you create playlists you can organize the movies anyway you like. Scifi, action, comedy, favorites, whatever..

You have to enable play lists in apple tv, go to settings, audio video, and make sure playlist is set to all, (default is music only) Then at the top you have your playlists, automatically you have recently added, and movies. If you click on all movies, it displays them exactly how you have them displayed in Itunes. So, if you sort by title, alpha, thats how it is. But you can sort by time, year, genre, date added, or date modified. Click the column in itunes, and it instantly changes on the apple tv.

Of course, you could always cheat, and search for it on Itunes, make it play, then hit the airplay button and send it to the apple tv. You think keeping 800 movies organized, try 3000!