Atv 4K: Folders for Movies?

[newellj]

I didn't find anything helpful in the user manual or searching here or with Google...my question is whether there's a way to organize the movie videos in my library on the Apple TV 4k. For example, if I've bought the three recent Star Trek movies, rather than having them appear in a large, unsorted list of movies, can I create and put them in a "Star Trek" folder?

Apologies if this should be blindingly obvious, and thanks for any pointers.

 

[priitv8]

Never heard of folders.
If your librarian is iTunes, you have two organizing aids:
1) playlists
2) sort attribute (useful for lining up all episodes of Star Wars, for example. Unfortunately, sort attributes are ignored for TV Shows).

 

[newellj]

Still looking into this. Found this old article on Macworld. Will give it a shot tonight.

https://www.macworld.com/article/1137856/appletvfolders.html

 

[BJMRamage]

I wish you could do this with the Cloud version of movies on the AppleTV.
Like group all the Star Wars movies. or better yet the new Planet of the Apes OR Fast and Furious movies and put them in numerical order not scattered all over.

 

[Moonjumper]

I wish you could do this with the Cloud version of movies on the AppleTV.
Like group all the Star Wars movies. or better yet the new Planet of the Apes OR Fast and Furious movies and put them in numerical order not scattered all over.

It seems to be a common problem for digital stores and libraries. The place that does this will have a bigger advantage than they realise. I cannot browse my digital content in the way I can my Blu-Rays, and this is especially true of having a visitor look at what they might be interested in. It doesn't appear to be hard, but nobody has bothered, especially not iTunes.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

The original TV UI allowed you to use the iTunes "Show" tag to do exactly what you- OP- are wanting to do here. For example, (Show) tag up to ALL of the Star Trek movies as "Star Trek" and then there would be a single line item in the movies list called "Star Trek". Click that and the Star Trek movies would then be available in a sub-list.

Star Wars. Harry Potter. James Bond. Etc. It was a terrific way to shorten the main movie list but still easily get to whatever you wanted to watch. Got kids? (Show) Tag all of their stuff as "Kids" or "Animation" and the list could get much shorter while still having quick access to all of the movies.

Then, Apple decided to "improve" that by doing away with using the Show tag in this way. I've missed it ever since. First generation TV had a number of GRRRRRRRRREAT features that were jettisoned for the second generation and have basically never been resurrected.

 

[mallbritton]

For example, if I've bought the three recent Star Trek movies, rather than having them appear in a large, unsorted list of movies, can I create and put them in a "Star Trek" folder?

In the cloud, no. To be able to edit the metadata and sort videos in the way you want you have to download them and store them locally. The disadvantage of this, or course, is you then lose access to the iTunes Extras and you have to use the Computers app to view the movies.

I have submitted feedback multiple times to Apple to allow us to be able to edit metadata in the cloud for videos just like we can with music. So far, no joy.

 

[newellj]

In the cloud, no. To be able to edit the metadata and sort videos in the way you want you have to download them and store them locally. The disadvantage of this, or course, is you then lose access to the iTunes Extras and you have to use the Computers app to view the movies.

I have submitted feedback multiple times to Apple to allow us to be able to edit metadata in the cloud for videos just like we can with music. So far, no joy.

Thank you. I was just experimenting with that in iTunes and you're precisely right - you have to download them, which is useless. I would just buy BRDs...at least I could put them together on the shelf.

 

[priitv8]

Then, Apple decided to "improve" that by doing away with using the Show tag in this way. I've missed it ever since. First generation TV had a number of GRRRRRRRRREAT features that were jettisoned for the second generation and have basically never been resurrected.

Is this the price we paid for losing the internal storage?
Original aTV managed media internally very much like the iPod.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Actually that "show" tag functionality worked that way whether one synched or streamed their content. It was such a great feature for making a main movie list so much shorter but in a way that was nicely and intuitively compatible with how TV UI works. So of course it had to be "improved" by deprecation and never resurrected even 10 years later. After all, who cares about the content that we already "own" when the entire purpose of the device seems to have become a gateway to 'more money' via rentals & purchases.

Hey and while we're at it, why don't we get rid of simple intuitiveness like putting owned movies in the movies tab, owned TV shows in the TV shows tab, etc and instead shift all that to the unintuitive "computers" tab. We want the movies and TV show tabs to pretty much revolve around renting or selling movies & tv shows, not being the obvious place for such media on which there is no additional revenue for us. The first-gen UI actually prioritized our own media over rentals & purchases, so the UI leaned much more on such intuitiveness. But, once again, let's "improve" on that for gen 2 and then forever after.