How does Boxee view multiple files in same folder?

[essential]

Okay, I've been trying to figure out a way to get my local trailers to show in Boxee. I've done searches and read some of the tips, but I have one question about how Boxee scans for files. For example, when I rip my movies, if a movie had an unrated version on a disk, I'll rip both versions, theatrical and unrated. So in the movie folder, it'll look like this:

movie (2012)\movie.mkv
movie (2012)\movie.unrated.mkv

I have this structure for several movies, and Boxee will show both files in the file list under Movies. Lately I've dropped local trailers in all my folders expecting them to just show up as a 2nd or 3rd file in the list, but Boxee skips all of them. I've tried several naming structures:

movie (2012)\movie.mkv
movie (2012)\movie.trailer.mov
movie (2012)\movie-[trailer].mov
movie (2012)\movie-(trailer).mov

Boxee never sees them. Does it skip files if there are keywords in the file name? I don't know why it shows all my "movie.unrated" files but skips all my "movie.trailer" files ... it doesn't make sense. I would think all files in that movie folder would show up in the file list unless they are like a "part1 / part2" situation where Boxee combines it into one file in the list.

Any one know?

[darcilicious]

There's a setting in Boxee that will skip files that are smaller than a certain size. Perhaps your trailers are smaller than that?

(Don't recall offhand where the setting is -- but it shouldn't be hard to find).

[essential]

There's a setting in Boxee that will skip files that are smaller than a certain size. Perhaps your trailers are smaller than that?

(Don't recall offhand where the setting is -- but it shouldn't be hard to find).

Good call, I've seen that in the settings, I'll try that when I get home. All my trailers are less than 100megs, so I forget the default setting but that makes sense.

[Ronald]

Good call, I've seen that in the settings, I'll try that when I get home. All my trailers are less than 100megs, so I forget the default setting but that makes sense.

The original default setting is 50 megs, so many trailers could be too small.

Personally I've changed that setting to zero, as I have many tiny clips I want noticed (as pseudo-episodes of NFO-generated pseudo TV shows, really consisting of unrelated clips).

Best regards: Ronald

[essential]

This solution ... as all solutions when it comes to Boxee ... semi worked.

After lowering the default size from 50 to 0, Boxee now sees the trailers, however most of them show up as "unidentified files" and won't show up under the movie as a second file unless I identify them to the movie. I don't get why if it identifies the movie by the folder name (I thought this was how it did it ... which is why I set up my whole movie folder this way) why wouldn't it just list all files in that folder? Others show up under the movie without needing to be identified, and others force a duplicate listing of the movie in my movie section with just the trailer under the file list, while the movie itself still has its own listing.

All my trailers have the exact same file name and location except with a -(trailer) at the end. I still love the Boxee, but these things frustrate me, I don't get why one solution had 3 results, heh, but oh well, this is better than before.

[Ronald]

This solution ... as all solutions when it comes to Boxee ... semi worked.

After lowering the default size from 50 to 0, Boxee now sees the trailers, however most of them show up as "unidentified files" and won't show up under the movie as a second file unless I identify them to the movie. I don't get why if it identifies the movie by the folder name (I thought this was how it did it ... which is why I set up my whole movie folder this way) why wouldn't it just list all files in that folder?

In fact that is NOT how it identifies the files. It is the file name that matters most of all, which is also why it is possible to have completely unrelated movies in the same folder.

There are other reasons why it is a good idea to keep each movie in a separate folder though, as it simplifies the use of associated extra files such as "folder.jpg", "movie.nfo" and "fanart.jpg" (only with Boxee+ hack). But additional video files are always identified by their own file names.

Others show up under the movie without needing to be identified,

That only happens if the trailer file has a name similar enough to that of the main movie file, so that Boxee considers it an alternate instance of the same movie or an additional part of it.

and others force a duplicate listing of the movie in my movie section with just the trailer under the file list, while the movie itself still has its own listing.

This happens because the online Boxee database has duplicate entries for some movies, and your trailer's filename was deemed more similar to one of those duplicates while the main movie was deemed more similar to another.

All my trailers have the exact same file name and location except with a -(trailer) at the end.

I'd recommend using a format with ".(trailer)" at the end (without the quote chars), and always preceded by a parenthesized production year.
eg: "Fahrenheit 451 (1966).(trailer).mp4"

That kind of extra string is normally ignored by Boxee in the identification process, allowing each such file to be seen as a second instance of the main movie.

There may still be some exceptions though, as the Boxee server can give inconsistent results, even for consecutive identical queries...

Best regards: Ronald

[essential]

Thanks for the info Ronald.

Right now my folder structure looks like this:

Movies
-- Movie (Year)
---- Movie.extension

So each movie is in its own folder, but I don't have the year on the file names, just the folder ... I always assumed it was using the folder names like XBMC. Many of my movies also have nfo's, I've been trying to do this for everything but haven't had time.

I will try your two suggestions when I get home (add years to file names, and change -(trailer) to .(trailer) and post back with the results.

Thanks.

[essential]

Thank you Ronald, your naming solution has worked for the most part. For every movie with an nfo, the trailer was placed in the correct spot as a second file, and with for the movies without nfo's, it has cut down the unidentified to just a few. When those are manually identified it usually creates a second entry in my library, but I just need to sit down and create nfo's for everything and that should fix everything.

I cleared my library when I made these changes than re-added my shared folders. Boxee has missed adding several movies to my library that are found when using the "files" mode, which is weird, movies that are in the same folder as others it identifies. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the naming structure, but it strange. That was the only unforseen side effect. After I create nfo's for everything else I'll try this all again and hopefully have no unidentified files.