Scraping History Channel Documentaries

luger · 2011-09-01 02:45

As I've started to download some TV show documentaries, I've realized that the TheTVDB opts to combine TV channel documentaries into one "season" that is just labeled by the year they were produced. So, in my case, I have some History Channel documentaries that are from Season 2010 or 2011 according to theTVDB (http://thetvdb.com/?tab=series&id=80996&lid=7). When I label these as something like "History Channel Documentaries - S2010E02.mkv" and scrape within XBMC, I get no results. I've tried it a few different ways like S10E02 and such but can't get them to scrape any way I do it.

Has anyone gone through this before? I'd love to know the solution, if so.

Hudson_Hawk04 · 2011-09-01 03:33

with thetvdb you can add shows, I don't see it being a problem adding single docu's, just set the season to one. and create a username and pass and you are off.

luger · 2011-09-01 04:56

Unfortunately, within their site rules (http://forums.thetvdb.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4076), they say that they "prefer if you make season numbers the year in which documentary was aired. (i.e. If the show aired in 2008, it would belong in Season 2008)"

Therefore, I don't think it would be looked upon positively if I started going away from that system.

Do I have to set a new tvshowmatching naming convention within advancedsettings.xml to get these seasons to work?

outatouch0 · 2011-09-01 22:54

I have spent quite a lot of time on this very thing.
Sickbeard is a help but for it you need to know the season and episode it wants for a particular documentary video file.
Really what I have found to be fastest is to simply google whatever it is: both google "web" and "images" and do it myself. The "tvshow.nfo" and episode.nfo files are actually quite simple (they can of course be made complicated). They only need contain the bare minimum information.
Another advantage to creating my own .nfo files is I can also sort them any way I chose: by topic rather than by HistoryChannel, NatGeo, Discovery, etc. You can arbitrarily assign any season number and episode number you chose.
I am not at home right now so my answer is a bit short. Reply back if you need more help. I can post some examples for you to use. Like I said, once I figured it out I was amazed at how simple it actually is to do. Nod

outatouch0 · 2011-09-02 11:32

To make your own .nfo files simply create a new text document, type in (copy and paste) the information for your tv show and tv episode(s). When finished rename it and change the ".txt" at the end to ".nfo"
Note: you need to have "view file extensions" enabled in your folder options which you can change via control panel.

Here is all you need Smile

Code:

<tvshow xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

  <title>TV SHOW TITLE</title>

  <rating>10.0</rating>

  <plot>SHOW PLOT</plot>

  <genre>Documentary</genre>

  <premiered>1969-02-14<premiered />

  <studio>International</studio>

</tvshow>

Name this file "tvshow.nfo" and place it in the folder that contains the documentary(ies). NOTE: That is tvshow.nfo and NOT the actual name of the television show/series etc. You only need one of these per TV show.

For the second .nfo file use this:

Code:

<episodedetails xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

  <title>EPISODE TITLE</title>

  <season>0</season>

  <episode>0</episode>

  <aired>2011</aired>

  <plot>EPISODE PLOT</plot>

  <displayseason />

  <displayepisode />

  <watched>false</watched>

  <rating />

</episodedetails>

You need one of these .nfo files for EACH EPISODE in your folder. Simply name them the same as your tv episode file. Example:
Histories.Mysteries.s1e54.Who.Shot.JFK.avi
Histories.Mysteries.s1e54.Who.Shot.JFK.nfo
Histories.Mysteries.s1e54.Who.Shot.JFK.tbn = the picture library mode will show for this episode (rename ".jpg" extension to ".tbn")

Now to make it look pretty, google "Histories Mysteries Who Shot JFK" Under web you should find matches to the history channel (or other websites) that will provide "plot" information and sometimes good pictures to use. Another source of pictures is google images. You can get your tv show fanart, thumbnails, and poster/banners this way.
Name them "fanart.jpg" and "folder.jpg"
fanart is the big background picture
folder is the tv show banner or poster

This may seem like a lot at first but once you get the hang of it... it takes 5-10 minutes Nod

Rodimus · 2012-04-15 22:17

Thanks for this, I've been sat staring at around 20 doc's tonight thinking there has to be a way to integrate them into xbmc...

I knew I'd have to do my own nfo's but was put off, was planning to tweak the ones off mediacompanion to fit but seemed like a lot of work. I'll copy yours and get my docs mixed into the rest.

Biggest pain in the ass is I use banners for all my tv shows so I'll need to make some! Grrrr. Google don't fail me now lol

Thanks a million!