Music Video Sorting

Asked by galegovision on September 25, 2026 - 12 replies

Could we have the option to add another sort criteria of instead of grouping the videos by artist, they could just be sorted by artist? Like the way music does it. Hope that makes sense.

12 replies

Rick - September 25, 2026

Hi @galegovision

Thanks for the suggestion, it makes perfect sense. We agree it's a good idea, and we will make sure it is included in the next release. You will get a new option in Administration for Music Videos (and Karaoke too), so the videos are shown one cover each, just ordered by artist, the same way Music can order albums by artist.

Until then, there is a workaround. Go to Administration → Music Videos → "Pages in the bottom menu" and turn off the "Artists" page. When you then choose to group by artist in Music Videos, each video keeps its own cover and the list is simply sorted by artist. The downside is that the Artists page disappears from the bottom menu while this is set, so once the update is out you can turn it back on.

Mark Norville - September 25, 2026

Hi Rick,

In relation to music videos, I have an artist with the same cover so Adele in my case as I only have one artist in music videos so far as I am just experimenting.

I downloaded an artist picture from fanart.tv which I use for all the music videos but the way things are at the moment, it puts four pictures of the artist as I am assuming if they were albums, then it would show four album covers.

It would be fantastic if you could have just one image for an artist, and then big covers instead of a list view.

Also for my MP3's for the older stuff, well known artists etc so Michael Jackson, I would have his picture as a folder.jpg.

So Artist folder - 2024 Album 1, 2025 Album 2 etc etc

I know that you are being hit with a lot of feedback and comments, suggestions and improvements at the moment.

However, that shows how much we love the new version and can see all the potential for improvements.

Oh while I am thinking, it was great to see new on new albums, myself personally would sooner have a band across the top saying new to jukebox or just added in text so it goes across the top, yes potentially this would cover some of the artwork for a while at least, but it looks more dominate, the current icon is kind of mellow.

I am not sure if the user can change that, swap out the graphic for another one?

Anyway, thank you and your team for all your hard work. If only you could produce a Zenpoint robot, so when you click on the beer button, it grabs a cold beer out of the fridge for you. I could see that being a big selling point 😉

Regards

Mark

Rick - September 26, 2026

Hi @Mark Norville,

Thank you for the kind words and for taking the time to write such detailed feedback. It really helps us.

Big covers instead of a list: this is already possible. When you open an artist in Music Videos, there is a small button at the top of the page that switches between "List" and "Covers". Tap it to see each video as a big cover. The choice stays while you browse other artists and resets when you leave Music Videos.

One image per artist: you are right. When you group by artist, the artist's card shows up to four of the artist's covers. Since all your Adele videos use the same picture, you see it four times. Using only one picture when the covers are identical, and supporting a real artist picture (such as a folder.jpg in the artist folder), are both good ideas. We have added them to our list. Today a picture in the artist folder can be used as an album's cover when the album has no cover of its own, but it is not shown as a picture of the artist.

The "New" badge: today it is a small badge in the corner and it takes the accent color of the active skin. It cannot be swapped for another graphic or made into a banner yet. We will look at a more visible option.

Sadly, the beer robot is still at the drawing board. 🍺

Thanks again, and let us know if there is anything else.

JustanotherAdam - September 27, 2026

Im wondering why my music videos are getting seperated into different folders? They are all located in the artists seperate folders on the HDD ... seems its scraping info from where I sourced the videos from? (Youtube - Vevo.. .for example)

And that Foo FIghters album had been created automatically too

Mark Norville - September 27, 2026

Good tagging is what is needed, I download and tag properly (oops I buy and tag properly)

If you are downloading from multiple channels and not changing the file names etc you are bound to come across issues.

Zenpoint might be good at some things, but it will go on file names and any ID tags from the files.

Yes, it would be nice to download and wave a magic wand and not having to do any work, but sadly we do not have a magic wand and tagging properly is the only way that you can ensure 99% accuracy. We are all human beings so 100% is never an option.

Just move the affected files out, cure the problem and then run Zenpoint again and it should go into the correct directories.

You might be able to use media manager but I never use that as tagging properly means I do not have to use it.

Regards

Mark

Rick - September 28, 2026

Hi @JustanotherAdam ,

Thanks for the screenshot, it makes it easy to see what is happening.

In Music Videos, the artist name is taken from the information stored inside each video file first. Only when a file has no artist information do we fall back to the file name ("Artist - Title") and then to the folder the video is in. Videos downloaded from YouTube often carry the channel's name as the artist, for example "RobertPalmerVEVO". That is why those videos show up as a separate artist, even though they sit in your Robert Palmer folder. The "Foo Fighters album" is the same thing: the videos carry a channel or compilation name as the artist, and "Find album covers automatically" then found a matching cover online.

How to fix it:

Open ZenPoint Media Manager, go to Music Videos, select the affected videos and set the artist to the right name (you can do several videos at once). Then save.
Back in Digital Center, go to Administration → Music Videos and choose to read the library again from the disk.

If you prefer that we never look up covers online, you can turn off "Find album covers automatically" under Administration → Music Videos.

@Mark Norville is right that good tagging gives the best result, and Media Manager is there to make that quick.

Rick - September 28, 2026

Hi @Mark Norville ,

Thanks again for the great suggestions. We have looked at all three, and we are working on getting them into the next release:

One picture instead of four identical ones. When all the videos (or albums) on an artist's card share the same picture, the card will show that picture once instead of four times. If some pictures are different, each different picture is shown once.

A real artist picture. You will be able to give an artist their own picture from your own files. For Music, a folder.jpg in the artist folder (Artist\2024 Album 1, Artist\2025 Album 2 and so on) will be used as the artist's picture, just like your Michael Jackson setup. An image called artist.jpg will work too. For Music Videos, you place an image called artist.jpg in the artist's folder. The picture will be shown on the artist's card, in the artist list and at the top of the artist's page. A folder.jpg next to your music videos stays as the videos' cover, so nothing changes there.

A more visible "New" badge. There will be a new option to show new titles with a banner across the top of the cover, with the text "Just added", instead of the small badge in the corner. The small badge stays the default, so you choose what you prefer.

JeffH - October 16, 2026

Can we get an option to sort by folder name? I have all music videos in folders that are named according to the Artist. I would like the Artist to be the sort criteria but pull the artist name from the folder name. I can add a picture if I am not making sense.

Mark Norville - October 16, 2026

Hi Jeff,

I have my music videos with this directory structure, file structure and tagging is always key. I tag my music videos with Adele being the artist and album artist and the album is Adele and one folder.jpg for all songs.

The chances are that when Rick is back, he will offer you his guidance, but this is how I do it

Music Videos\A\Adele\01 - 2008 - Adele - Chasing Pavements.mkv

I then have an NFO file for Kodi so 01 - 2008 - Adele - Chasing Pavements.nfo

<artist>Adele</artist>

<title>Chasing Pavements</title>

<album>Adele</album>

<genre>2010s Adult Contemporary</genre>

<genre>2020s Adult Contemporary</genre>

<genre>Adult Contemporary</genre>

<genre>Vocal</genre>

<genre>Singer-Songwriter</genre>

</musicvideo>

Regards

Mark

JeffH - October 16, 2026

Thanks Mark but I have over 1300 folders all named by artist that will take forever to organize this new way after taking forever to do it the old way for v5. Personally I don't care about any extraneous info associated with the video I just want to make it easy for people to find an artist and then select a video in their folder the way it was in v5.

Rick - October 17, 2026

Hi @JeffH,

You make perfect sense, and thanks for explaining it so clearly.

Today, Music Videos takes the artist from the information stored inside each video file first, then from the file name ("Artist - Title"), and only uses the folder name when neither of those has an artist. Videos from YouTube often carry the channel name as the artist (for example "AdeleVEVO"), and that wins over your folder.

We agree that with 1300 well-named artist folders you shouldn't have to retag anything. So we are adding a new option under Administration → Music Videos: "Use the folder name as the artist". When it is on, every video gets the name of the folder it is in as its artist, no matter what the file itself says. Sorting and grouping by artist, the artist pages and the artist picture all follow the folder name, so you get the v5 way of finding an artist and picking a video. Any artist you change yourself in ZenPoint Media Manager still wins. We will make sure it is included in the next release.

To make sure it fits your setup, could you send a screenshot of how a few of your folders look today, and one or two example file names? Then we can check that nothing else gets in the way.

A tip while you wait: if you put an image called artist.jpg in an artist's folder, Music Videos shows it as that artist's picture.

JeffH - October 17, 2026

This is how it looks now. Please note that it always gives me a list by default rather and 3d carousel or any other choice I make for appearance. It would be easier to have a choice of views while maintaining the alphabetical selection across the bottom.

Read the full thread or browse the forum.