:apple: TV and Folders

[MowingDevil]

So I'm having trouble categorizing my aTV into folders. Is this even possible? I'd like to keep the movies in the main movies folder and have sub categories within it for "live comedians", "music movies" and "documentaries".
Ideally I'd also like the TV shows to go in the a TV shows folder.

Right now, only movies I bought in iTunes show up in the movies folder, everything else ends up in "home movies". The only way I get all my newly ripped titles to show up is to "organize library" but that takes forever and then removes all the folders and sticks everything together in one folder.

I suppose the better way is to drag the files into iTunes so it copies them. I've used MetaX to create the metatags. Any tips on how to organize all this better? I'd like the movies to actually be in the movies folder but not sure if this is possible (probably apple punishing users who don't re-purchase everything through iTunes instead of ripping their own DVDs). Perhaps everything has to go in the same place and just organize through there? Its kind of annoying to browse movies w/ all the TV shows in there.

 

[MowingDevil]

Ok, I've figured out the TV Shows & Movie thing....to get away from Home Movies. But, I'd still like a way to have subfolders or subcategories within Movies such as Documentaries etc. Is this at all possible?

Seems like Apple won't keep this open/customizable so we can make our own folders (like playlists) which is rather limiting. At least there should be a way to stick folders within an existing category for organizational purposes. Dreaming, I know...

 

[tdale]

Ok, I've figured out the TV Shows & Movie thing....to get away from Home Movies. But, I'd still like a way to have subfolders or subcategories within Movies such as Documentaries etc. Is this at all possible?

Seems like Apple won't keep this open/customizable so we can make our own folders (like playlists) which is rather limiting. At least there should be a way to stick folders within an existing category for organizational purposes. Dreaming, I know...

IMO Apples design is based upon the assumption that everybody gets everything from iTunes. I assume content is not sorted by category folder but by metatarsi. iBooks has no organisational capability so we use Goodreader, as one example.

I feel this will change as Tim Cook IMO is freeing up Apple. You can have a closed ecosystem without some of these strange restrictions. Top line devices yet you have no ability to to have custom folders? Not good

 

[Boyd01]

Maybe I don't understand what you want to do? You can categorize things using genre. Just create your own genres if they aren't already on the list in Get Info.

 

[Boyd01]

What do you mean by "metatarsi"? I thought those were some kind of bones? 😕 Do you mean metadata?

Anyway, I'm still confused by what you want to do. The Apple TV and iTunes don't use "folders" the way you want. But if you select your movie and do Get Info > Info in iTunes you can enter anything you like in the Genre field. On the Apple TV you would go to the Computers icon, choose movies, then click the Genre tab to see a list of all the Genres you have created and the movies that are included in them.

 

[MowingDevil]

Ok, say you want to look at all your "movies" but don't want to see all your live concerts, documentaries etc.
There's "home movies" but thats already used by home clips.
I get the whole genre thing, but sometimes a person might like to browse their movies regardless of genres but not have other items (if you have a large selection of concerts, live comedians & docs etc) cluttering it up.

I just thought it would be nice to have subfolders within the movies for these other large sub-genres. They have TV shows as separate which is great, and you can set them up as seasons & episodes within the seasons. That is how it should work in movies if you want it that way. Click on documentaries and it opens up the sub-list or moves to the documentary page, whatever. Imagine if TV shows didn't do that and you had to browse through long lists.

I'm getting the impression this isn't possible.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

1st generation TV let you group a movie series together in a single line item by using the iTunes Show field. For example, 6 Star Wars films could have the Show tag set to Star Wars. When you scrolled down your movie list, there would be a single entry called Star Wars. Click that and it would show you the 6 movies. It was a GREAT feature. Then generation 2 launched and that feature was killed off, never to return (yet).

Gen 1 also respected some Show tag related fields so that you could number the "episodes" so that the list of movies could be organized by something other than the first letter of the name of the movie. Again, Star Wars example: use these other fields to tag episode 1 through 6 as #1 to #6 and then they would appear in that order. Again, generation 2 launched and that feature was killed off too.

Gen 1 also put our own movies in the "movies" menu, our own TV shows in the "TV Shows" menu and so on. There was no "computers" menu. Gen 2 launched as that "for dummies" intuitive approach was replaced by one that seems to revolve more around trying to rent & sell iTunes content.

So, very simply, there was once an TV that did much of what you seek. It was GREAT. Subsequent generations could do well to resurrect some of those nice, helpful features and philosophies. But then again, it's still only a "hobby".

 

[JPM]

I'm getting the impression this isn't possible.

I think you're asking more than the AppleTV can do at this point. Their organization structure revolves around 2 things:

• Apple Knows Best 🙄 (this is a consistent theme in their design - iOS app store walled garden approach, iCloud management of documents where you have no say/clue how they are stored in iCloud, to name 2 examples)
• Sell iTunes Content (as HobeSoundDarryl already pointed out)

You may want to look into some of the alternatives (Plex, XBMC, etc.). I think they are more in line with the level of control you want.

Gen 1 also respected some Show tag related fields so that you could number the "episodes" so that the list of movies could be organized by something other than the first letter of the name of the movie. Again, Star Wars example: use these other fields to tag episode 1 through 6 as #1 to #6 and then they would appear in that order. Again, generation 2 launched and that feature was killed off too.

You can still group movies using the "sort name" field in iTunes. e.g. "Star Wars 01" through "Star Wars 06". Doesn't bring back the nested list (which I also miss) but at least it groups the movies together.

 

[MowingDevil]

So, very simply, there was once an TV that did much of what you seek. It was GREAT. Subsequent generations could do well to resurrect some of those nice, helpful features and philosophies. But then again, it's still only a "hobby".

Leave it to Apple to come up w/ something great then screw it up in newer versions. Dumbing it down seems to be their norm w/ the "pro" software series so what you say is no surprise. For example, some films come in multiple discs like Apocalypse Now. Short of splicing them together into one file I thought it would be a nice feature to group them like your Star Wars example. That way there is only 'movie poster' and you can click on it to access both files to chose which one you want....or even better run them concurrently as a preference (just have a box to click). How hard is all this? I guess its out of the question when 99% of your team works on iOS these days.

----------

I think you're asking more than the AppleTV can do at this point. Their organization structure revolves around 2 things:

• Apple Knows Best 🙄 (this is a consistent theme in their design - iOS app store walled garden approach, iCloud management of documents where you have no say/clue how they are stored in iCloud, to name 2 examples)
• Sell iTunes Content (as HobeSoundDarryl already pointed out)

You may want to look into some of the alternatives (Plex, XBMC, etc.). I think they are more in line with the level of control you want.

Ya, too late for me. I'm stuck in my ways and already have their box. Perhaps when the time comes to upgrade I'll jump ship if they haven't got it together. Just imagine how powerful the Apple brand could be if they actually gave a **** about anything but phones, pods & pads!?! If they actually upgraded their computers once in a reasonable while there would be more people using them & buying their iOS devices....the apple TV should be able to do all these customizable options (have an easy mode & an advanced mode to satisfy both types of users) and playing video games. Look how long it took them to adopt 1080p...they treated that how they treated DVDs, FireWire and Blu-Ray. Apple TV should be the hub of the entire system like Jobs predicted so many yrs ago. Other products are far more advanced, this is what happened when you neglect things under the "hobby" banner.

You can still group movies using the "sort name" field in iTunes. e.g. "Star Wars 01" through "Star Wars 06". Doesn't bring back the nested list (which I also miss) but at least it groups the movies together.

So this is beneficial if movies have names that aren't in sequence...but other than that is there any use for it? ...since there is no nesting.

 

[tdale]

I think you're asking more than the AppleTV can do at this point. Their organization structure revolves around 2 things:

• Apple Knows Best 🙄 (this is a consistent theme in their design - iOS app store walled garden approach, iCloud management of documents where you have no say/clue how they are stored in iCloud, to name 2 examples)
• Sell iTunes Content (as HobeSoundDarryl already pointed out)

You may want to look into some of the alternatives (Plex, XBMC, etc.). I think they are more in line with the level of control you want.

Apple knows best, yes that is such a crock. How many complain over silly restrictions, his many non Apple users would prefer to use Apple? Why is Tim Cook freeing up iOS?

Get with the program Apple

 

[schlotz]

While it maybe too far of a departure from your current setup: you can use Plex with ATV and get the folder structure you are asking about.