iHomeServer Watch Folders provide a mechanism for synchronising folders on your local or remote file system with your iTunes library. When you
set up a Watch Folder within iHomeServer™, it will continually monitor a folder (and its subfolders) for new or changed media files. When it detects a new file has been added, it will automatically add the media to iTunes. If it detects a file has changed within the Watch Folder, it will update iTunes with any changes, eg changes to metadata or changes to Cover Art.
Watch Folders provide some advanced features that allow metadata to be automatically be set depending on which folder a file is in. For example, the video type can be forced to Movies or Television Show depending on the file's folder, or all tracks under the 'Jazz' folder can be marked as having a iTunes Genre of 'Jazz'.
Files within a watch folder can also be automatically added to a specific Playlist when they are added to iTunes. This is all configurable from the
Add / Edit Watch Folder windows.
Finally, Watch Folders can be configured with
video conversion features enabled. This means that any video files that are not in iTunes native format will be queued and then converted into iTunes friendly video formats and then automatically added into iTunes. This feature relies on Handbrake being intalled on your computer. Handbrake is available for installation direct from the Handbrake web site at
http://handbrake.fr
