The recommended way to organize your media to enjoy all features of Media Browser looks like this.

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Movies

Below is a recommended basic folder layout for movies.

D:\Movies\First Movie (2007)\
                         movie.avi

D:\Movies\Second Movie (2008)\
                         bm-cd1.avi 
                         bm-cd2.avi 

D:\Movies\Third Movie (2009)\ 
                         third movie [Good Version].avi 

The year between parenthesis in the folder name is optional, but will allow proper conflict resolution in cases where there are two movies with similar names. Any text between [brackets] will be ignored, you can use this for comments, versions, etc.

It is recommended to always include the year in parenthesis as this will improve the automatic detection of the correct movie using the builtin internet providers.

In the Media Browser Configuration Wizard you would create a Media Collection and point that collection to D:\Movies

Note about mixed movie files, movie folders and ISO’s

Movies ripped from a disc are often stored in a folder structure (VIDEO_TS for example) or ISO files. Movies stored this way work fine within mediabrowser, however it is recommended that these files be stored in a separate folder structure from movies that are in other file formats (like .avi, .mkv, .wmv, etc) because mixing these different types can cause problems for Media Browser.

The recommended way to do this is, is to create another top level folder for your ISO or VIDEO_TS movies.

For example, your movies in folder format:

D:\Movies (DVD Rips)\Movie 4\VIDEO_TS\<movie files here>
D:\Movies (DVD Rips)\Movie 5\VIDEO_TS\<movie files here>
D:\Movies (DVD Rips)\Movie 6\VIDEO_TS\<movie files here>

Then, open the configuration wizard and on the media collection tab highlight your existing Media Collection “Movies”. (Assuming you already have a Media Collection called “Movies”)

Over on the right side you will see where you can see your existing `D:\Movies` folder location. Click add to add another folder to this media collection and select “D:\Movies (DVD Rips)”. That’s it, you're done.

Now, when you go into Media Browser you will have one Media Collection called “Movies” and it will list all your movies from both locations… with no issues.

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Nested Movie Folders

A nice feature of Media Browser is its ability to allow for nested movie folders. What this means is that it will allow you to create a tree structure for your movies. So, for example, you can have a poster within your movie collection that, when clicked on, will bring up more posters of the movies contained within that folder. (Boxed sets are a good example of this, but there are many other uses as well).

In order for this to function, you must be sure that “Enable Nested Folders” is on in the configuration.

Below is a recommended folder layout for movies using this “nested” approach.

D:\Movies\Movie Group 1\
              folder.jpg - boxset poster / group poster
              backdrop.jpg - boxset backdrop / group backdrop
              backdrop1.jpg - additional backdrops

D:\Movies\Movie Group 1\First Movie(2007)\
                                    folder.jpg - movie poster
                                    backdrop.jpg - movie backdrop
                                    backdrop1.jpg - additional movie backdrops 

D:\Movies\Movie Group 1\Second Movie (2008)\
                                    folder.jpg - movie poster
                                    backdrop.jpg - movie backdrop
                                    backdrop1.jpg - additional movie backdrops 

D:\Movies\Movie Group 1\Third Movie (2009)\
                                    folder.jpg - movie poster
                                    backdrop.jpg - movie backdrop
                                    backdrop1.jpg - additional movie backdrops 

When using Nested Movie Folders, please also have a look here, to learn more about movie playlists and nested folders.

Note: We strongly discourage the use of actual Genre folders for your movies (`D:\Movies\Action\Die Hard`). This will severely limit your overall user experience and the functionality of Media Browser.

For more details about configuring a “Movies by Genre” view and the reasoning behind not using actual logical genre folders, please have a look at this tutorial.

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TV Series

Below are recommended folder layouts for TV Series.

In case of TV Shows, the files need to be grouped in season folders inside each show’s main folder. The seasons must be called “Season 1”, “Season 2”, etc. (localisation to support Series 1 etc has not yet been implemented). Several naming schemes for the episodes are possible, here are a few examples.

Documentaries are often considered TV Series because the they consist of multiple episodes.

Note: Whatever naming convention you use, when MediaBrowser recognizes the episode, it will display using the name and number from the metadata source, not the filename you've used.

SXXEYY numbering

Perhaps the most compatible naming convention with Media Browser.

D:\TV Shows\Great Show\Season 1\ 
                             s01e01 - Episode 1.avi 
                             s01e02 - Episode 2.avi

D:\TV Shows\Great Show\Season 2\ 
                             s02e01 - Episode 1.avi 
                             s02e02 - Episode 2.avi

SxEE or SeEE numbering

May include the series name. “S” = season number without leading 0, “EE” = episode number with leading 0.

D:\TV Shows\Great Show\Season 1\ 
                             Great Show 1x01 - Episode 1.avi 
                             Great Show 1x02 - Episode 2.avi 

D:\TV Shows\Great Show\Season 2\ 
                             2x01 - Episode 1.avi 
                             2x02 - Episode 2.avi

SEE numbering

Must start with the SEE number.

D:\TV Shows\Great Show\Season 1\ 
                             101 - Episode 1.avi 
                             102 - Episode 2.avi

D:\TV Shows\Great Show\Season 2\ 
                             201 - Episode 1.avi 
                             202 - Episode 2.avi

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Specials

As of Media Browser 2.2.2 (codename Thunderblade) there is support for TV Series Specials.

To use Specials support, do the following:

• Create a folder in the series folder called “Season 0”.
• On the TVDB Website, lookup the information about your series.
• Place all your specials in the “Season 0” folder.
• Number the episodes the same way they are numbered in TVDB.

Media Browser will display “Specials” as the name of the folder and pull all the metadata if using Internet Providers.

Example:

To get Specials for the TV Series “Fringe”.

D:\Series\Fringe\Season 0\
                      0x01 - Unaired Pilot.avi
                      0x02 - Access All Areas.avi

Please note: in Thunderblade the “Season 0” folder is only renamed to Specials if you're using internet providers. This does not currently work with local metadata.

There is a feature request for this here.

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Network Locations

If you have your media stored on another computer that acts as a server, please note that it’s considered a Best Practice to point your Media Collection locations to a UNC path instead of using a mapped drive letter.

For more details about this and how to configure your Media Collection, please have a look here.

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