How to manage movies or videos (Non-Series Single Videos)
First, understand the difference between managing single videos and series videos (multiple related videos within the same directory):
PLM handles single videos and series videos differently. Single videos can coexist in the same subdirectory (the same folder in the operating system). However, series videos (e.g., episodes of a TV show or multiple segments of the same movie) must be stored in a same folder, and that folder cannot contain any other video files entities.
A single movie file or video file, for management purposes, may include, in addition to the physical file itself, other related files such as cover image files, preview image files, subtitle files, NFO files, sample files, etc.
Press the "Import" button (Ctrl+I) on the main interface
In the "Select File" dialog box for adding files, select "Default" or "Video" in the scan type drop-down box in the upper left corner
Press the "Source" button
Select the file system, generally the local file system. For NAS, use Samba
Enter or select the download directory. For NAS, you need to enter or select the correct network address, such as "\\192.168.0.2\movie" (make sure the NAS device is properly connected to the network)
PLM will scan the file list in the folder for users to check, press OK
PLM will collect the basic information of the files and add them to the "Files to to be imported to library" list
Users can check the list to play four videos simultaneously and observe whether the film is worth importing. If you are not satisfied, you can right-click on the file record and select "Single Operation" and then "delete_file" to physically delete the file
For the selected files, you should click the "2. Scrape" button to scrape information. Select the appropriate scraper according to the nature of the film: JAV uses JavDB/JavHub/JavBus, etc., and movies use IMDB/Douban, etc.
Click the "3. Dup check" button to check for duplicates in the library. If there is an exact match or the AV number is the same, PLM will display a dialog box for the user to play and compare. The user decides whether to still check the suspected duplicate file for import
Click the "4. Edit" or "Batch edit" button to modify the properties of the currently selected or all selected records. The most important things are "Change Name" and "Target Path"
Click the "5. Go" or "BG Go" button to start importing. PLM will display the default parameter dialog box (e.g., Move/Copy, Default Target Path and Overwrite Method). Press OK to start the import (background) operation
After the import is complete, you may need to "Refresh" (F5) on the main interface to see the completed import file records
2. Importing an entire movie/video folder (Hard Drive/NAS) as a new library directory:
Connect the hard drive to the computer or make sure the NAS device is properly connected to the network
Click the "Library" menu on the main interface, then click the "New Directory" submenu
Select the file system for the new directory. If it is a hard drive, select the local file system. For NAS, use Samba
If it is a hard drive, select the hard drive letter that was just connected to the computer. If the entire hard drive contains movie files (not recommended, you should create a directory such as "movies" on the hard drive), select the root directory of the drive letter. Otherwise, select the specific directory where the movies are stored
If it is a NAS, enter the correct Samba server address, such as "\\192.168.0.2\movie". If the NAS requires password access, you also need to enter the username and password. After pressing OK, select the directory or the correct subdirectory
PLM displays the "Add new dir" dialog box. Users can change its display name/folder check/Get media info, etc. The "Make Sub" option is suitable for new hard drives/NAS devices without data. New users are recommended to use "(Foreground) Scan". Click "OK" to start scanning
PLM will scan all files that meet the conditions in the target directory and provide a result list. Selectively check these files and press OK to complete the import of the new library
3. Importing newly added files into the library:
When you manually (rather than through PLM import) add movies/videos to an existing hard drive (library already established), you can use the "Import files from current dir" function to import them into the library directory.
Connect the hard drive to the computer or make sure the NAS device is properly connected to the network
Select the appropriate directory node in the library tree on the left
Click the "File" menu on the main interface, then click the "Import files from current dir" submenu
Select the subdirectory
Select the scan type
PLM will scan the files that meet the requirements in the subdirectory and display the result list
Check the files you want to add and press OK
Depending on your needs, you can perform batch operations such as "Get title using AI" / "Extract file code" / "Get media info" / "Generate preview" / "Scrape" on them
Add to album
You can add files to an album according to commonalities, such as series/studio/category, etc.