Aniki Features

Aniki Video Center

A controller-friendly local media center built directly into Aniki ReMake. Browse folders with no setup, or build a complete Movies / TV Shows / Anime library with artwork, rich detail pages, progress tracking, favorites and fullscreen playback.

Start simpleBrowse and play local videos immediately. Libraries and online artwork are optional.

Build a real media libraryAdd Movies, TV Shows, Anime and one optional custom category for the full Home and detail experience.

Designed for TV + controllerNavigate, resume, change audio/subtitles and manage artwork without leaving Fullscreen.

Your files stay yoursVideo Center plays your local or network media. It is not a streaming service.

See what Video Center looks like

Before configuring anything, here are the main views you are building toward.

HomeResume media, discover new additions and jump to your libraries.

Movie detailsArtwork, metadata, technical information, watched/favorite state and playback actions.

Series & AnimeBrowse seasons, episodes, progress and Continue directly from the show page.

Artwork & MatchingFix a wrong match or replace any visual manually.

Quick start

You do not need to configure everything before trying Video Center.

Browse only

The fastest way to start.

Open Fullscreen.
Open Start / Menu → Extras → Aniki Video Center.
Select Browse.
Open a folder and play a video.

Recommended full setup

For the complete media-center experience.

Configure your libraries.
Set FFmpeg and FFprobe.
Choose playback preferences.
Configure artwork providers.
Run the first library scans.

If you only want a clean controller-friendly folder browser and player, Browse is enough. The library, artwork and metadata features are optional.

Open Video Center

Open Playnite in Fullscreen.
Press Start / Menu.
Open Extras.
Select Aniki Video Center.

You can also expose Video Center through the Hub when the corresponding Hub option is enabled.

Open Video Center settings

The complete configuration is in Playnite Desktop.

Open Playnite DesktopYou do not need to edit files manually.

Press F9This opens Playnite Settings.

Open Extension settings → Generic → Aniki HelperSelect Aniki Helper from the extension list.

Open the Video Center tabThe left side contains General, Playback, Artwork, Network and Cache & tools.

Choose your setup

Browse only

Use this if you want Video Center to behave like a couch-friendly file browser. No Movies / TV Shows / Anime library is required.

Browse local drives and folders.
Open configured network locations.
Favorite folders for faster access.
Play supported video files directly.
Resume partially watched videos.

Full library mode

Configure libraries when you want the richer Home, dedicated detail pages, metadata, artwork, watched state and favorites.

Library	Typical use	Detail behavior
Movies	Films, documentaries or other standalone media	Movie-style detail page
TV Shows	Series and docuseries	Series view with seasons/episodes
Anime	Anime series and anime movies	Series or movie view depending on the detected media
Custom	An optional fourth category with your own visible name	You choose whether it behaves like Movies, TV Shows or Anime

Configure media libraries

Open Aniki Helper → Video Center → General and find Media libraries.

Add one or more folders under Movies.
Add one or more folders under TV Shows.
Add one or more folders under Anime.
Enable the optional extra library only if you need a fourth category.
Save your settings.

You do not need to configure every category. If you only have Movies, configure Movies and leave the others empty.

Custom / extra library

The optional fourth library exists for collections that do not fit your three main categories.

Example uses:

Documentaries
Concerts
Cartoons
K-Dramas
Manga Movies

You choose both the name shown in Video Center and how the category should behave internally.

Example

Name it Documentaries and set its behavior to Movies. The Fullscreen tab will say “Documentaries”, but items will use movie-style matching and detail pages.

Video Center media libraries and custom category settings

Configure FFmpeg and FFprobe

Video Center can play media without them, but these tools are strongly recommended.

Tool	Used for
FFmpeg	Generate thumbnails and visual previews from video files.
FFprobe	Read duration, codecs and chapter information used by media details and chapter-based playback features.

Reuse an existing FFmpeg installation

If you already configured FFmpeg for another Playnite extension, you can reuse the same ffmpeg.exe and ffprobe.exe.

Install FFmpeg

Download a Windows FFmpeg build from Gyan.dev.
Download the release essentials ZIP.
Extract it to a permanent location, for example C:\AnikiTools\FFmpeg\.
Open the extracted bin folder.
Confirm ffmpeg.exe and ffprobe.exe are present.

Set the paths

Open Video Center → General.
Browse to ffmpeg.exe.
Browse to ffprobe.exe if it is not detected automatically.
Confirm the status shows that the tools are ready.

Do not move or delete the FFmpeg folder after configuring it. If you generated thumbnails before FFmpeg was configured, run the thumbnail scan again afterward.

Configure playback

Open Video Center → Playback.

Automatically play next video

Enable it if you want the next episode/video to start automatically after the Up Next prompt. Disable it if you prefer to confirm manually.

Preferred audio language

Choose the language Video Center should prefer when a matching audio track exists. If there is no match, the normal/default audio selection is used.

Subtitles

Choose the behavior that suits you: use the video's default, always turn subtitles off, or prefer a selected language when available.

Configure artwork and metadata

Open Video Center → Artwork. Local artwork is preferred when available; online providers can fill what is missing.

Movies — TMDb

Movie matching and artwork use TMDb. You need your own free API Read Access Token.

Create/sign in to your TMDb account.
Open the API section of your TMDb account settings.
Follow TMDb's API registration steps.
Copy the complete API Read Access Token.
Paste it into Aniki Helper → Video Center → Artwork.
Save.

Useful links: TMDb API Getting Started · TMDb API settings.

TV Shows and Anime

TV Shows: TVMaze does not require an API key.
Anime: AniList does not require an API key.

Artwork types

Artwork	Where it is used
Cover	Poster/vertical library cards and detail artwork.
Landscape	16:9 Home, Hub and media cards.
Wallpaper	Large hero/detail backgrounds.
Logo	Transparent media logo used in premium Hero/detail layouts when available.

Add NAS or network locations

Open Video Center → Network to add friendly shortcuts to network locations.

Enter a friendly name.
Enter the UNC path, for example \\NAS\Movies.
Make sure the same path already works in Windows File Explorer.
Save.

Aniki Helper does not manage Windows network credentials. Windows must already have permission to access the share.

Understand the Home page

The Home page is designed to give you useful media immediately without forcing you to browse your folder tree.

Hero

The Hero prioritizes a media item that you started but did not finish. If nothing is currently in progress, it falls back to a recent addition so the Hero never feels empty.

Continue Watching

Shows partially watched videos with saved progress. Resume from the Hero or from the row below.

Recently Added

Shows recent media detected in your configured libraries.

Favorites

Media you mark as favorite can appear in the Favorites row. Favorites are separate from favorite Browse folders.

Browse and Library Tools

Browse opens the folder explorer. Library tools opens maintenance actions such as missing thumbnail/artwork scans.

Video Center in the Hub

If Show Aniki Video Center page in the Hub is enabled, the Hub can surface recent Video Center activity without opening the full app first.

The page uses up to four 16:9 cards built from Recently watched and Recently added media, with fallbacks when one group does not have enough items. Selecting a card opens Video Center directly on that media's detail page.

Movie detail view

Standalone films use the premium Movie detail page.

Depending on the available metadata and media file, the page can show:

poster and wallpaper;
transparent logo or title fallback;
year, runtime, genres and rating;
tagline and synopsis;
director / cast information;
technical chips such as resolution, codec, HDR, audio format and container;
play/resume, watched, favorite, file info and Artwork actions.

Watched and favorite states also have visual indicators on the detail page so you do not have to infer the state only from the button text.

Series & Anime detail view

Episodic media uses the Series/Anime layout with seasons and episode cards.

Single files and loose episodes

Video Center tries to adapt to mixed libraries:

A true standalone file inside TV Shows or Anime can use the Movie detail view.
Files using recognizable episode naming such as S01E03 can be grouped with other episodes of the same show even when they are loose in the library root.
Virtual series grouping lets a show behave like a normal series even when the physical folder structure is imperfect.

Clean folder/file names still give the best results. Automatic grouping is a convenience, not a reason to deliberately use unreadable filenames.

Watched and favorite status

Use the actions on Movie/Series detail pages to manage your personal state.

Mark as watched / unwatched updates the media state and watched indicators.
Mark as favorite / remove favorite updates the favorite state and Home Favorites row.
Episode cards can display watched checks when episodes are completed.
A series can be considered watched when all of its episodes are watched.

Artwork & Matching

Use the Artwork Manager when automatic identification is wrong or you simply want another visual.

Video Center Artwork and Matching manager

Fix a wrong match

Open the media's Artwork action.
Choose Change match / identify mode.
Edit the search title if necessary.
Select the correct result.
Return to Cover / Landscape / Wallpaper / Logo and choose the visuals you want.

Use a local image

You can choose a local file instead of an online result. You can also reset an asset back to automatic behavior later.

Library Tools

Open Library tools from the Home Browse card when you want to maintain your media library.

Typical maintenance actions include:

scan missing thumbnails;
scan missing artwork;
refresh/update library visuals after adding large amounts of media.

Artwork scanning can discover Cover, Landscape, Wallpaper and Logo assets. A missing Logo does not make a media item incomplete by itself.

Player controls

The player exposes the controller controls directly on screen. Common actions include navigation, play/pause, seeking, audio/subtitle selection, chapters, aspect ratio, playback speed and technical media information.

Use the control hints displayed by your current player interface as the source of truth for exact button mappings.

Resume playback

When saved progress exists, Video Center can offer Resume or starting again from the beginning. Partially watched media feeds Continue Watching and the Home Hero.

Recommended folder organization

Video Center is intentionally tolerant, but clean naming improves matching and makes troubleshooting much easier.

Movies

D:\Videos\Movies\Akira (1988)\Akira (1988).mkv
D:\Videos\Movies\The Matrix (1999)\The Matrix (1999).mkv
D:\Videos\Movies\Drive (2011).mkv

TV Shows

D:\Videos\TV Shows\Silo\Season 1\Silo.S01E01.mkv
D:\Videos\TV Shows\Silo\Season 1\Silo.S01E02.mkv
D:\Videos\TV Shows\The Walking Dead Dead City\Season 2\The.Walking.Dead.Dead.City.S02E01.mkv

Anime

D:\Videos\Anime\Bleach\Bleach - S17E01.mkv
D:\Videos\Anime\Demon Slayer\Season 1\Demon.Slayer.S01E01.mkv
D:\Videos\Anime\Akira (1988)\Akira (1988).mkv

After your first setup

Once your folders and tools are configured:

Open Video Center once and confirm your libraries are visible.
Open Library tools.
Run the missing thumbnail scan if needed.
Run the missing artwork scan if online artwork is configured.
Open a few Movie and Series pages to confirm matching is correct.
Fix incorrect matches from Artwork & Matching rather than renaming everything immediately.

Troubleshooting

I do not see thumbnails

Check the FFmpeg path/status, then run the missing thumbnail scan again.

Movie artwork does not download

Check your TMDb API Read Access Token and online artwork settings. If the media is matched incorrectly, use Artwork & Matching to choose the correct result.

TV or Anime artwork does not download

Check internet access and provider status. TVMaze and AniList do not require your own API key.

My NAS/network folder does not open

Test the same UNC path in Windows File Explorer first. Video Center relies on Windows already having access to the share.

Wrong title or artwork

Open Artwork, change the match/search title and select the correct result. Manual matches are kept for that media.

An episode opens like a Movie

Check the filename. Episode grouping relies on recognizable series/episode information such as S01E03. A genuine single standalone video can intentionally use the Movie view.

I no longer want the Custom library

Disable the optional extra library in Video Center General settings. It should disappear from Fullscreen instead of leaving an empty permanent category.

Should I clear the caches regularly?

No. Caches exist to keep Video Center fast. Clear/rebuild only when a cache is clearly wrong, you changed tools/settings, or you intentionally replaced artwork/thumbnails.

Final setup checklist

Step	Required?
Open Video Center and test Browse	Yes
Configure Movies / TV Shows / Anime folders	Only for library mode
Configure optional Custom library	No
Configure FFmpeg	Recommended
Configure FFprobe	Recommended
Choose audio/subtitle behavior	Optional
Add TMDb token	Only for automatic Movie artwork
Add NAS/network shortcuts	Only if needed
Run thumbnail/artwork scans	Recommended after first full setup

Start with what you need. Video Center works as a simple browser first, and you can progressively add libraries, artwork and metadata later.