Signals - thank you for the feedback. Note the example we been discussing just happens to be the first one I started with - most others of mine are likely consecutive but my first 2 tests on one that is still doesn't seem to work. Here is my dilemma.
I have somewhere between 300-500 original season discs for CSI, CSI Miami, CSI NY, CSI Cyber, NCIS, NCIS LA, NCIS New Orleans, Hawaii 5-0, Arrow, Flash, Agents of Shield, Supergirl, Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, Airwolf, Bones, McGyver, Terminator Chronicles, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Shannarah Chronicles, Resurrection, Games of Throne, Jack Ryan, Westworld, just to name a few just off the top of my head (I have many, many more not listed - and yes - all are original). I am looking to keep ISO's a) in order to keep all the extras with the discs, b) it simpler process to just rip the ISO especially dealing with this volume of shows, and c) Trying to rip/match, confirm literally thousands of episodes, only to loose menus, and extras - doesn't make sense when ISO appear play ok in themselves, d) keeping ISO ensures a single starting point closest to the original should software or other things change later and not having to start over (i.e. future software works better for menus, etc), e) user friendliness with sufficient customization generally leads to less maintenance down the line and f) I have a very large family of 7 and am trying to make is easier to access all these via the media server instead of by discs.
So for sake of getting the basic premise working for starters let's assume most shows will be consecutive (I understand there will be some issues with some out of order and also pilots, etc. causing some issues here/there).
Other posters have suggested that the using the labeling convention has or does give them the clips for the list based on the naming convention (i.e. 4 episodes on disk, naming convention given for 4 episodes, and therefore 4 clips are shown), however I've only seen one so far with each try. To be sure we are talking about the same thing, by clips - I mean the list of episodes show at the bottom of the example shown in the attachment provided for clarity. From reviewing other posts, I gather that, there seems to be some priority of XML over naming conventions, but I've really not seen more than one episode appear for a multi-episode disc myself yet and given it appears others have had it work I'm trying to work through where my error may be. Note in another world of gaming/retro systems, with many XML related files and specific naming conventions, they typically publish something to show the hierarchy of the logic to help power users make the most of it. Here with how the system seems to update, depend on various methods of updating, rebuilding, or updating library/meta data, etc I've not got a true picture of the hierachy.
If showing the several episode "clips" per disc is possible, then this is the ideal situation for me even if it plays the whole disc when clicking on it.
However as a second best solution would be to simply allow customized labeling below the "clips" to allow you to relabel something such as Disc 1, Episodes X-Y", etc, but would also allow you to update the Plots above for the clip to the extent you desire (i.e. put in mutli episode info, or even simply titles/numbers for the episodes. That way when you click on it, it still loads the whole disc, but the name of what is being accessed is correct and makes sense. Then if this were possible, also ordering and adjusting the clip could further allow you to easily add pilots, etc. Right now I am concentrating on the main episodes but I have not found any way of updating the XML for these items related to the clips. In theory, to be most flexible to the user, you should be able to tailor most areas shown. The current web access seems to allow a limited edits - when the user has other needs, should be a bit more flexible.
Additional thoughts that digress beyond the main point above:
I think the media server has a lot of potential and simply love the few things I do have working. But I am a long way from where I want to be and it has been more difficult than expected even for someone such as myself with much database, XML and other scripting experience to get things going smoothly and a satisfactory end result (TV shows, bonus discs, pilots, home videos, etc). To this issue, giving a bit more end-user control to at least add/modify much of the basic metadata the way the user would like it to be would be desirable. To make this product great simply needs a bit more end-user capable customization of the metadata and/or even allow some customizable fields, and not force a reliance on a single scraping site/senario. Assume there will be errors and/or missing info, and give the user a way to adjust if they wish.
As an example of something that scrapes movie data and allows sufficient customization (strictly a database, but essentially contains/obtains/and allows customization of the same type info used by the media server) I've been using All-My-Movies for close to 10 years and have been able to tailor all the needed items to cover my own posters/clips and info to satisfy even any fully customized situation, including discs that I've made such as home movies, or putting together misc videos I've obtains such as a large number of sort clips.
