Plex server interacting with xmbc folders/files

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

So I used to use XBMC, and due to that began using Media Companion to organise all of the various show info. The thing I love about it is it required no DB, everything was flat file, so when XBMC would barf or I wanted to put it on a separate PC or any number of other scenarios I could simply point at the folder on my NAS and it just worked.

Now I haven’t used XBMC for some years, I have just been accessing stuff directly from the NAS with MP Classic but I still use Media Companion to organise and keep track of things. I now want to setup something a little more friendly and easy to use (mostly for the wife) that can be accessed easily from mobile devices or from a Fire TV. So PLEX looks like the best bet, however I have a LOT of stuff and many years of careful management of said files and folder structures.

So the question is, if I setup PLEX server, and point it to my video repository, is it going to screw around with all my files and data there, adding, removing, renaming or whatever?

I would like to get a clear idea of exactly what it is going to do before I set it loose. Folder structure at the moment is like this.
hidef>movie name folder>movie name file
dvd>dvd name folder>dvd.iso file
tv>show name folder>season folder>episode file (S00E00 name format)

There are a bunch of nfo files, tbn files and some folder.jpg files in each folder.

Advice appreciated.

2

Plex will not change the contents of your media files.

Plex doesn’t support ISO files, BDMV or VIDEO_TS folders.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201426506-why-are-iso-video-ts-and-other-disk-image-formats-not-supported/

If there is a .nfo file in the subfolder of a movie, Plex will only search for a IMDb ID number in it, but will ignore everything else in it. The ID will be used to improve the matching.

Some of your local posters may be used by Plex, if not by default so at least they will be on offer for selection when editing the item.

See
https://support.plex.tv/articles/categories/media-preparation/

3

Thanks very much for the succinct answer. I will have to have a look at what to do with the DVDs, it might be time to convert them to something else anyway. ISO files are not the most friendly things, but it was the simplest way to turn physical discs into files I could easily play :slight_smile:

4

Google makemkv

5

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.