User:DJ VorTechS/PhatHack Media Manager/Manual/Managing Devices

PhatHack Media Manager - Managing Devices
As discussed in the Basic Concepts PhatHack Media Manager manages two different types of devices, logical and physical.

Here we will be taking a look at the various 'logical' devices that can be created within PhatHack Media Manager and how to manage them.

Logical devices, are defined as being any one of the following:


 * Watch Folders - a folder, local or remote, attached to a physical device
 * Internet Radio - HTTP audio streams (ShoutCAST, ICECast or Windows Media streams)
 * Scheduled Recordings - interval based recordings of Internet Radio

Watch Folders
A watch folder is a folder that can be directly linked to a folder either on the local computer or on a remote computer (where permissions allow). Using watch folders can give you a more granular control over the media/playlists contained within the physical folder, thusly allowing you to organise your media more effectively.

Watch folders, like the Imported Media folder, require that the media contained within them are maintained manually in the sense that there is no automated process for adding new items automatically. Therefore use of the media import functions will be required for PhatHack Media Manager to make new media items available.

Adding a new watch folder
To add a new watch folder:


 * Right click on either 'Local Disks' or any folder within the media source tree
 * Click on the 'Add Watch Folder' item in the context menu
 * From the 'Browse for Folder' select, or create, the folder to be 'watched'
 * Click on the 'OK' button
 * In the 'Add Watch Folder' dialog, enter a name representative of this folder which is the name displayed in the media sources tree
 * Click on the 'OK' button

At this point the media sources tree will be refreshed, and you will then be prompted to import media into the database giving you the opportunity to add media to the watch folder.

If you want to import media into the new folder device, click on 'Yes' and then following the instructions as illustrated in the Importing Local Media section.

Removing a watch folder
To remove a watch folder:


 * Right click on the the folder to be removed
 * Click on the 'Remove Folder Name' item (where Folder Name is the name of the folder selected)

When removing a watch folder, only the device database associated with the folder is deleted. No other files are removed, so any media associated with the target folder is preserved.

Note: There is no prompt giving you the opportunity to cancel this process, which will be addressed in a future build.

Internet Radio
Purely for playback purposes, PhatHack Media Manager allows you to add any number of Internet-based audio streams under the 'Internet Radio' section of the media sources tree. As previously mentioned only ShoutCAST, ICECast or Windows Media streams are supported.

Adding a new Radio Station/HTTP Stream
To add a new watch new Radio Station/HTTP Stream:

To add a new watch folder:


 * Right click on either 'Online Radio' within the media source tree
 * Click on the 'Add Radio Station/HTTP Stream' item in the context menu
 * In the 'Add Radio Station' dialog enter the name of the station/stream to be displayed in the media sources tree
 * Click on the 'OK' button
 * In the 'Add Radio Station URL' dialog, enter the full URL (including the http://) to the source of the media
 * Click on the 'OK' button

Removing a Radio Station/HTTP Stream
To remove a Radio Station/HTTP Stream:


 * Right click on the the folder to be removed
 * Click on the 'Remove Stream Name' item (where Stream Name is the name of the station/stream selected)

Scheduled Recordings
Scheduled recordings is a unique concept to PhatHack Media Manager, and makes use of the 'PhatHack Web Recorder' service designed specifically for the capture of regular HTTP streams.

The PhatHack Web Recorder service is still currently in relative infancy and is presently an unsupported service. As such the integration features, whilst functional, are not considered on-topic for the purposes of this documentation.

The recorder service, and the appropriate integration documentation will be reviewed at a later date.

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