With Otto’s help (and a few others), I have been able to figure out how to work with PLEX libraries for Music, Audiobooks, Photos and (for the most part) Other Videos. However I am struggling with how to post/set up libraries that equate to “Courses.”
It has been suggested by several experts here that I set them up using the TV Show library function. I think that makes sense—reason being because I want to be able to easily transition from one episode in the course to the next one.
My courses are not really “TV Shows” with multiple “Seasons” and within each “Season” a number of “Episodes.” However, there are similarities which suggest the “TV Show” system should work. But it is not working, and I am not sure what it is that I am doing wrong.
I have approximately 75 separate courses. I organize these 75 courses into roughly 20 different “Topic” groupings. You might think of these “Topic” groupings as each being about a different tool—such as “Hammers” and “Saws” and “Wrenches” and “Pliers” and “Screwdrivers” and “Drills” and “Chisels” and “Knives” . . . and so forth. These broad categorizations represent the “Topics”. We might think of them as “master folders.”
Then, within each “Topic” there are as many as 9 sub-folders, and as few as just one. Each sub-folder is the actual “Course”, but as these courses may all relate (in different ways) to some “Topic” (such as Hammers or Saws), I have grouped the 75 courses into various “Topic” folders on my hard drive.
Within each sub-folder, or “Course,” there are episodes—as few as 6, and as many as 90.
I want to be able to access a specific “Course” and be able to move easily from one episode to the next.
These “Topics” are not really “TV Shows”, but I am thinking they equate to “TV Shows.” Similarly, these “Sub-topics” or “Courses” are not really “Seasons,” but I am thinking they equate to “Seasons.” Moreover, these “Episodes” within each “Course” are not really weekly television shows in a “Season” of some TV Show, but I am thinking of them as such.
Thus, in general, my folder structure on my hard drive is as such:
Courses/ (the library PLEX is pointing to)
/Topics/ (akin to the TV shows; there are 20)
/Specific Course/ (akin to “Seasons”; there are 75)
/Episodes (akin to weekly shows)
I am hoping that these courses would show up with my PLEX Players with “Topics” displayed as different “TV Shows” or “Series.” So, by this, I could select the general topical category (Hammers versus Saws). Then under “TV Shows” or “Series” I would be able to choose from among the 1, or 7 or as many as 9 different specific “Courses” which would show up as “Seasons”. Once the specific “Course” or “Season” was selected I could launch into the first individual lecture, then easily proceed into the second, then to the third, etc.
But this is NOT how these “Courses” are displayed. What I am getting instead is a “hot mess.” How so? Within my chosen PLEX Library (“Tool Courses”) I am not getting a subfolder listing of the various different “tools” (Hammers, Saws, Pliers, etc.) but I am getting a choice of “Seasons”. What appears is a listing (seeming a folder structure) of 9 different “Seasons” (Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, etc.). This is a “hot mess” because any “episode” or “lecture” in any of the “Courses” and in any of the “Seasons” which happen to be housed in a “Season01” or “Season03 or “Season09” are grouped together. This in spite of the fact that they have nothing to do with each other. All “Season 7” episodes or “lectures” are then showing up together regardless of what “Topic” or “Subtopic” they come from.
My question is how do I structure my folders on the hard drive to do what I want? And what TAGs are necessary in each individual “Episode” or “Lecture” file?
Here is how I have set up my folders, subfolders, files and posters/tiles:
D:/Courses (*1)
------->/Tool Courses (*2)
(THERE ARE ROUGHLY 20 DIFFERENT “TOOLS” OR “TOPICS”)
------->------->/Hammers (*3)
------->------->------->/Season01 [What is a Hammer?] (*4)
------->------->------->------->/S01E01 – Welcome (*5)
------->------->------->------->/S01E02 – What Hammers Do
------->------->------->------->/S01E03 – Why Use a Hammer?
(THERE ARE AS MANY AS 90 SEPARATE EPISODES)
------->------->------->Season-01-Poster.png (*6)
------->------->------->Season01.png (*6)
------->------->------->/Season02 [Types of Hammers]
------->------->------->/Season03 [Applications for Hammers]
------->------->------->/Season04 [Purchasing a Hammer]
------->------->Show.png (*7)
------->------->/Saws (*3)
------->------->------->/Season01 [What is a Saw?] (*4)
------->------->------->------->/S01E01 – Welcome (*5)
------->------->------->------->/S01E02 – What Saws Do
------->------->------->------->/S01E03 – Why Use a Saw?
(THERE ARE AS MANY AS 90 SEPARATE EPISODES)
------->------->------->Season-01-Poster.png (*6)
------->------->------->Season01.png (*6)
------->------->------->/Season02 [Types of Saws]
------->------->------->/Season03 [Applications for Saws]
------->------->------->/Season04 [Purchasing a Saw]
------->------->Show.png (*7)
Notes above:
*1 Please note that there are more than one major groups of “Topics” . . . I am displaying only “Tool Courses” here. There are also major groups on “Religion Courses” and “Philosophy Courses”
*2 Please note that this folder is merely labeled “Tool Courses.” There is no indication in the folder name that these are akin to “TV Shows”. Is this a problem?
*3 Please note that the folders named “Hammers” and “Saws” are akin to TV Shows or “Series”. However, there is no indication in the Subfolder name that they are specific “TV Shows” or specific “Series”. Is this a problem?
*4 Please note that these a names of the folders for each specific course within the major Tool category (Hammers, Saws). These are the specific “Courses” and are akin to “Seasons” of television series. I have used the naming structure precisely as shows. In the file name there is no indication of which tool, as I am of the understanding that the text in brackets [Hammer] are not seen by PLEX. Is this a problem?
*5 Please note that this represents the exact file name protocol that I am using for the various episodes. I have truncated the longer file name to eliminate the course name, thus the file name only includes the Season/Episode indicator (S01E01) along with text that indicates the topic of the specific episode.
Is this a problem that I have truncated the file name from something like: “Hammers - S01E01 – Welcome” down to “S01E01 – Welcome”?
Also, please note that I am reusing the “S01E01” episode indicator for the first episode in every first course in each “Topic” folder. Is this a problem?
*6 Please note that I am not sure which file naming protocol is necessary for the specific course “poster/tile” thus I have used both protocols. Is this a problem? Which poster/tile file naming protocol should I use? Is it a problem that I am using both?
*7 I am trying to place a general poster/tile in each major “Topic” grouping of tools (Hammers, Saws, etc.). I am using the “Show.png” file naming protocol. Is this correct?
Sorry for all these questions, and all this detail. I just want to make it clear what I am doing, in hopes that you will be clear on what it is that I am doing wrong.
