Media sources

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Revision as of 19:07, 23 April 2014 by NedBot (talk | contribs) (Robot: Changing Category:File Sharing to Category:File sharing)
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Home icon grey.png   ▶ Video library
▶ Music library
▶ Media sources

Media Sources are virtual links to the content you wish XBMC to use. When you enter any of the Videos, Music, Pictures or the Filemanager, you will see an entry for "Add Sources". When you first start with XBMC you should at least add one source, like a drive or directory on your XBMC device to get you started.

If you select "Add sources" a dialog appears, where you may manually input a path, or browse to a source that contains media that you would like XBMC to use and display. As an example, if you enter the Music section, you could tell XBMC where it should look for your music. This can be as simple as selecting a folder on your computer or you can also choose to browse your home network for media.

Adding media sources

You can select as many sources you like if you have content in different places. When you have finished browsing and found the folder you would like, you should input a name for your source. This name will be displayed when you browse your sources under Videos -> Files. When a source, or a folder within a source, has content set then those entries will be added to the Movies and TV Shows options in the home screen.

Root file selection

By default every root section includes a Add Sources button that you can click to start adding sources. This can be disabled though Settings/Appearance/View Options/Disable add source buttons in file lists.

Via the context menu

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While in the root of any of XBMC's sections you being up the context menu by pressing C on a keyboard or guide on a remote. From there you can also edit any of your current sources, just make sure you have the source you wish to edit selected.

Note: The exact options shown in the context menu will change depending on where you are in XBMC.

Add source window

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Source.add.jpg

Browse or enter the name and location (Local / IP ) you wish to assign to the source. For more detailed information on the virtual keyboard including USB, gamepad, remote, and remote t9 text input see the On Screen Keyboard section of the manual.

From here you can also set the content of your media source, see: Advanced Topics/Set Content (Video Library). With this feature you can let XBMC pick the FanArt and Thumbnails from the internet that way giving your XBMC a very nice look by showing the appropriate FanArt and Thumbnails when browsing your media.


Network file sharing

See: File sharing

Internet streams

STRM

Locking

If you want to make a source more private, you can use lockcodes or passwords to protect that source. The easiest way to accomplish this in XBMC, is using the GUI dialogs. First, enable the Master Lock in Settings/System/Master lock. After enabling the Master Lock, a Set Lock button will pop up in the Context Menu allowing you to set a lock on specific sources. XBMC will ask for the master lock code and then give you the opportunity to set a unique Password on that specific share. To Remove the Lock you need to remember the Master Lock code.

Note: Locking a source means you only give it protection in XBMC. Outside XBMC the source is still available and only protected, or not protected at all, by the Operating System. In the same way, if someone has access to manually edit the sources.xml he or she can remove or change the settings for the locked source. So, don't feel too safe when you protect a source in XBMC.

See also