You have a movie file on your server, or a link to one, and you want your clients to see it in their apps with a poster, a plot and a rating. Add Movie creates it in a few clicks and pulls the details from TMDB for you.

To add many movies at once, use Import Movies. To have a folder import itself, use a Watch Folder.

Before you start

  • A movie category. See Categories and Ordering.
  • A bouquet that your clients have. See Packages and Bouquets.
  • The path of the file on one of your servers (for example /home/media/movies/Night Harbor (2019).mkv), or a URL to the file.

Step 1: Fill in the information

  1. In the menu, open Movies > Add Movie. The editor has three tabs: INFORMATION, SOURCES and ADVANCED.
  2. In Movie Name, type the title and click outside the field. The panel searches TMDB and fills TMDb Results with the matches it found (for example "Found 12 results").
  3. If you want the details in another language, choose it in TMDb Language first. You can pick English, Español, Português, Français, Italiano, Deutsch or Türkçe.
  4. Open TMDb Results and pick the right movie. Hover a result to see its poster. The panel fills Poster URL, Backdrop URL, Plot, Cast, Director, Genres, Release Date, YouTube Trailer and Rating. You can still edit any of them.
  5. In Categories Associated, choose one or more categories.
  6. In Add To Bouquets, choose the bouquets that should include this movie.

If the category or bouquet you need does not exist yet, use the Create a new category or Create a new bouquet link under the field. It opens in a new tab. When you come back, open the list again and the new item is there.

Step 2: Choose the source

  1. Open the SOURCES tab.
  2. In Movie Path / URL, type the path or URL. You can also click the folder button next to the field to browse the files on a server and pick the movie.
  3. Check the server in Where the movie is hosted. When you pick a file with the folder button, the panel sets the server where that file lives. When the source is a URL, choose the server that will host the movie.

For files on a server, use the folder button instead of typing the path. That way the panel always links the movie to the server that really has the file.

Step 3: Choose how the movie is published

Open the ADVANCED tab. These options decide how much work the server does:

  • Convert Movie for Web (Recommended): on by default. The server converts the movie to MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio, which plays on almost every device, including web browsers. It uses CPU while it converts.
  • Target Container: the container of the final file (mp4, mkv, avi, mpg or flv). With Convert Movie for Web on, it stays mp4.
  • Create Symlink: the server does not encode the file. It creates a link to the original file, so the movie is ready almost at once and uses no CPU. Your clients get the file exactly as it is, so use it only when the file already plays well on their devices.
  • Direct Source: the movie does not go through your servers. Players are redirected to the original URL. Use it for files on an external host that you trust.
  • Remove Existing Subtitles: removes the subtitle tracks from the file before encoding. It cannot remove subtitles that are burned into the picture.
  • Encode on Save: starts processing right after you save. If you leave it off, the movie is saved and waits until you start it.
  • User Agent: only needed when the source URL requires a specific user agent.

Step 4: Save

Click the Save button (the disk icon) under Actions on the right. You return to the movie list.

What happens next

  • If Encode on Save was on, the server starts processing the movie. You can follow it in the Status column of Movies > Overview.
  • If it was off, open the movie again and click Start Encoding (the play icon) when you are ready.
  • After the movie is ready, the player on the right side of the editor lets you preview it.
  • To process the movie again with new settings, open it and click Re-encode movie.

Movie names are unique in your catalog. If you need two versions of the same title, add the quality or the year to the name, for example "Night Harbor (2019) 4K".

Common problems

  • "Vod name already exists": another movie already uses this exact name. Rename the new one, or edit the existing one.
  • "The movie source cannot be empty.": fill in Movie Path / URL on the SOURCES tab.
  • The movie is in the list but clients do not see it: it is not in any bouquet, or the bouquet is not assigned to the client. Check Add To Bouquets and the client's bouquets.
  • TMDb Results says "Found 0 results": try the original title, the English title, or remove extra words such as the quality or the release group. You can also fill in the details by hand.
  • The movie stays down or fails: check that the path exists on the server you chose and that the URL opens from outside your network. Use the Down filter in Movies > Overview to find these movies. See Catalog Tools.
  • "You can't select a different container when (Convert Movie for Web) option is active": turn off Convert Movie for Web first if you need a container other than mp4.
  • The server has no free disk space: the panel will not start encoding and tells you which server is full. Free space on that server and try again.