need help with multi-episode iso and bookmarks plus another question
#1
ive been reading the forums for the last week trying to get this working but still cant quite figure it out. i have a lot of tv shows backed up in iso format from dvd and bluray. i prefer to keep them as iso instead of folder but if needed for what i'm doing i might change. i figured out how to add them to the library and that worked great. for example on dexter season 2 disc 1 i just renamed the bluray iso as Dexter_S02E01E02E03E04.iso and it added each episode to the library. it even has the proper thumbnail picture. the problem is no matter which episode i play, it just plays the entire playlist of all 4 episodes starting from the beginning. on the iso itself, each episode is its own file. based on the fact that they each have their own appropriate thumbnail, it seems xbmc can indeed tell which file is which episode but seems to play the entire playlist instead. i did see that i can add an episode bookmark manually but this can get tedious as well as the fact that it simply skips to that point in the playlist meaning it doesnt just play only that episode but will also play everything after it. additionally the progress bar will always list the video playing as whatever the title of the first episode is. is there a way to get it to play just the episode selection and not the entire disc playlist, even if i have to do it manually for each disc.

another semi-related, less important question: when dealing with these discs and having to name them as such (ex Dexter_S02E01E02E03E04.iso) i first must know what episodes are on the disc. this is usually pretty easy by just counting the number of really large files but it is also inaccurate. especially on the last disc when there are special features or such it can be unclear how many episodes there are so i have to load it up in a real player and check the menu to see how many episodes are there. is there a better way to do this? i was looking to see if there is a database somewhere to that will tell what episodes are on what discs but am unable to find anything.
Reply
#2
1) Unless you split them as individual video episodes this is how they will be handled. Using MakeMKV will break them down pretty quick without re-encoding.

2) Using the TVdb At the bottom of page there is DVD order... http://thetvdb.com/index.php?tab=seasona...&order=dvd
Reply
#3
1) well, that's the thing. they are individual video episodes. each episode is a different file. im pretty sure xbmc knows this because it extracts a thumbnail from each file. it just plays then as one continuous file for some reason. is this just because it is iso? if it was in folder structure would it be different? could i just make a symbolic link or something to each individual file so it wont attempt to play 4 separate files as one?

edit: i also just realized that the thumbnail seems to be pulled from tvdb and not the file as i thought.

2) tvdb was the first place i looked. i looked again at the link you gave but it didnt have the information im referring to. i'm looking for a breakdown of what discs contain what episodes, not the dvd order. im looking for something to say disc 1 includes episodes 1-4, disc 2 includes episodes 5-8, etc.

edit: i did notice there is a place for DVD disc id but it is empty for the dexter series. is this what you are referring to? i checked other series and it seems so but i'm still not sure since i have mostly bluray. i know that many times the dvd has more discs than the bluray and so it has different episodes on a disc than the dvd version. if i go by this than it also may likely be wrong.
Reply
#4
Yes it's just because it's an .iso it plays it as one continuous file. If you're hell bent content to have .iso files, then bookmarks would seem the best way of handling the episodes, too bad the file forward didn't jump from episode to episode (I'm not going to tell you that it did work) there was talk. Somewhere in the index of these disks is the information you need, but it's like digging a wisdom tooth. Episode titles # are some times included in the credits, at the end.

I guess issuing the series on both DVD and Blu-Ray brings sizing problems, although I would have thought the Blu-Ray would be the same sort of issue just better quality. TVdb is a user driven and operated database, if you do find disk ID material, I'm sure that the TVdb site would appreciate any additional information you could add. I've ripped a few of those multiple collections and found MakeMKV pretty easy and fast, but I'm not sure how well it works on Blu-Ray or DRM issues.
Reply
#5
if i changed it to folder structure would it still play the pls files or would it play the individual files as episodes? it just seems strange to me that xbmc knows this iso is a tv show but plays the pls fils instead of just asking you which file is which episode.
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
need help with multi-episode iso and bookmarks plus another question0