Ok now what... (TV documentary recording)
#1
Like I said in some other post, I have a big collection of single TV shows and documentaries that I capture from cable tv both in english and french.

The thing is that to have them show up in the TV section of xbmc a .NFO file has to be created for them or they don't show up. The easiest way to get that .NFO file is to have it generated by the scrapper from TheTVDb. But here's the catch: TheTVDb isn't made for single episode show. As matter of fact I just got my account suspended there because I created about 10 of those.

Now I did lookup the NFO file format in the wiki here but without some basic instruction or at least an explanation of twhat those field do or work it is a tad difficult to roll my own.

Now, this isn't a criticism, please don't flame me...

I just want some help.

PS: As a suggestion for a future version, maybe add a way to create a NFO on the fly by filling a simple form from the file context menu.
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#2
I too have a lot of 'one off' documentarys and TV Shows. I have an account at theTVDB.com for editing/adding only.

It's not needed for the scrapers. All scrapers do is read information from a website and the information gets saved to the .nfo.

All you need to do in order to get this information is name the file the same name as theTVDB has in it's database and it will scrape that information for you.

Series use the naming convention's 1x01 or S01E01. Documentary's CAN use this convention, but sometimes they also use the year. It's best to look first.

1 in particular I know of is Dispatches, it uses 2010x01 or S2010E01

Quote:TheTVDb isn't made for single episode show
TheTVDB is a TV Database and if the single episode show exists, it'll be used by XBMC as long as the naming convention is correct. It's a Database for TV, not necessarily all correct, but it's Open Source, so EVERYONE can edit and add to it. IF the show you added truly only has 1 show, PM a MOD or Admin and explain it's a documentary that should be added to the Database.

If your still having difficulties, use Sickbeard/Episode Butler to organise your shows for you. Far easier.
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#3
I read a few days ago that TVDB DOES NOT support SINGLE SHOW EPISODES. it does allow for a 2 part mini series

-=jason=-

edit: this thread http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...miniseries
this post
hikaricore Wrote:Just keep in mind we do not allow tv movies that aired all at once.
But anything with 2 or more parts is fine. ^_^
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#4
Not exactly sure what is not clear on the wiki here:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Imp...y#TV_Shows

The fields are pretty self-explanatory. Director is director, plot is plot.
Could you please be more specific about what you don't understand?

Alternatively you can export your shows in the library (probably you have some real one, which have been scraped correctly) to single files, then look at the nfo files generated by xbmc for them.
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#5
olympia Wrote:Not exactly sure what is not clear on the wiki here:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Imp...y#TV_Shows

The fields are pretty self-explanatory. Director is director, plot is plot.
Could you please be more specific about what you don't understand?

Alternatively you can export your shows in the library (probably you have some real one, which have been scraped correctly) to single files, then look at the nfo files generated by xbmc for them.

Well, the season field in this exemple is at -1, why?
What is the difference between season and display season?

The rest like you say is self-explanatory, but which field are obligatory and which are optional?

In short, if someone could post a working NFO for a single show/documentaries I could go on from there and just modify it for all my shows/documentaries.
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#6
Tuxon86 Wrote:Well, the season field in this exemple is at -1, why?
What is the difference between season and display season?

http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=541826&postcount=6
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#7
Here is what I created for a single documentary:

Quote:<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<tvshow>
<title>Traffic D'uranium</title>
<rating></rating>
<year>0</year>
<top250>0</top250>
<season>-1</season>
<episode>1</episode>
<displayseason>-1</displayseason>
<displayepisode>-1</displayepisode>
<votes></votes>
<outline></outline>
<plot>« La Une » Première chaîne de la RTBF, la radiotélévision belge francophone, a diffusé le mercredi 17 février 2010 à partir de 22h un reportage sur le trafic d’uranium avec comme point de départ la cité de Shinkolobwe au sud du Katanga. De la mine de cette cité avait été extrait l’uranium qui avait servi au bombardement par les américains, des villes japonaises d’Hiroshima et Nagasaki. En 1960 dans la débandade de la décolonisation, les belges noient la mine. Mais l’uranium est toujours là. Qu’en est-il aujourd’hui de cet uranium ? Le journaliste français Patrick Forestier a mené une longue enquête dont le fruit est ce documentaire.</plot>
<tagline></tagline>
<runtime></runtime>
<mpaa>TV-PG</mpaa>
<playcount>0</playcount>
<lastplayed></lastplayed>
<episodeguide>
</episodeguide>
<id></id>
<genre>Reality</genre>
<set></set>
<credits></credits>
<director></director>
<premiered></premiered>
<status></status>
<code></code>
<aired></aired>
<studio>Discovery</studio>
<trailer></trailer>
<actor>
</actor>
<artist></artist>
</tvshow>

I saved it as tvshow.nfo

With this, the documentary appears in the TV Series section but when I click on it the container is empty. All I have is "..", no description nothing.

So I also created an episode NFO:

Quote:<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<episodedetails>
<title>Traffic d'uranium</title>
<rating></rating>
<season>1</season>
<episode>1</episode>
<plot>« La Une » Première chaîne de la RTBF, la radiotélévision belge francophone, a diffusé le mercredi 17 février 2010 à partir de 22h un reportage sur le trafic d’uranium avec comme point de départ la cité de Shinkolobwe au sud du Katanga. De la mine de cette cité avait été extrait l’uranium qui avait servi au bombardement par les américains, des villes japonaises d’Hiroshima et Nagasaki. En 1960 dans la débandade de la décolonisation, les belges noient la mine. Mais l’uranium est toujours là. Qu’en est-il aujourd’hui de cet uranium ? Le journaliste français Patrick Forestier a mené une longue enquête dont le fruit est ce documentaire.</plot>
<credits></credits>
<director></director>
<aired></aired>
<epbookmark></epbookmark>
<actor>
</actor>
</episodedetails>

The documentary is called "Traffic d'uranium.mkv", so I saved that file as "Traffic d'uranium.nfo" like they says in the FAQ.

But this does nothing and I still only have ".." available.

Any Idea?
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#8
Did you scan the folder for new content after adding the episode NFO?

after doing so it should show up in the library
Hardware: Revo 3610 + SSD - Harmony 700 Remote
Software: XBMCBuntu Gotham - Sickbeard - SabNZBd+

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#9
or when in the show menu browse to Traffic d'uranium click on info then refresh the show

-=Jason=-
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#10
I did scan again...

It finds the show, the folder pic, the backdrop, but I just don't get the media file even with the Traffic d'uranium.nfo file.
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#11
I have never played with these kinda show before, but your tvshow.nfo has the following setting:
Code:
<season>-1</season>

but your episode nfo has:
Code:
<season>1</season>

have you tried putting -1 in your episode nfo?

dont forget to refresh or scan for new content after modifying the file

EDIT: also I was looking at my tvshow.nfo files and it seems that all the tags you have in your tvshow.nfo are from an episode NFO, not a TVshow one. that's probably not why you dont see your episode, but I'm not sure
Hardware: Revo 3610 + SSD - Harmony 700 Remote
Software: XBMCBuntu Gotham - Sickbeard - SabNZBd+

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#12
I took that nfo from the wiki pages...

I finaly got it to work by extracting the info of a series that works from an export of the database, modifying it and saving it as a local tvshow.nfo

The resulting nfo looks like this:

Quote:<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<tvshow>
<title>Traffic d'uranium</title>
<rating>0.000000</rating>
<epbookmark>0.000000</epbookmark>
<year>0</year>
<top250>0</top250>
<season>-1</season>
<episode>1</episode>
<displayseason>-1</displayseason>
<displayepisode>-1</displayepisode>
<votes></votes>
<outline></outline>
<plot></plot>
<tagline></tagline>
<runtime></runtime>
<mpaa></mpaa>
<playcount>0</playcount>
<lastplayed></lastplayed>
<file></file>
<path>J:\Documentaires\Traffic d'uranium\</path>
<filenameandpath></filenameandpath>
<id></id>
<genre>Documentary</genre>
<premiered></premiered>
<status></status>
<code></code>
<aired></aired>
<trailer></trailer>
<episodedetails>
<title>Traffic d'uranium</title>
<rating>0.000000</rating>
<epbookmark>0.000000</epbookmark>
<year>0</year>
<top250>0</top250>
<season>1</season>
<episode>1</episode>
<displayseason>-1</displayseason>
<displayepisode>-1</displayepisode>
<votes></votes>
<outline></outline>
<plot></plot>
<tagline></tagline>
<runtime></runtime>
<mpaa></mpaa>
<playcount>0</playcount>
<lastplayed></lastplayed>
<file></file>
<path>J:\Documentaires\1421, The Year China Discovered America\</path>
<filenameandpath>J:\Documentaires\Traffic d'uranium\Traffic d'uranium.mkv</filenameandpath>
<id></id>
<premiered></premiered>
<status></status>
<code></code>
<aired></aired>
<trailer></trailer>
<fileinfo>
<streamdetails>
<video>
<codec>H264</codec>
<aspect>1.777070</aspect>
<width>720</width>
<height>480</height>
<durationinseconds>3120</durationinseconds>
</video>
<audio>
<codec>ac3</codec>
<language>Fre</language>
<channels>2</channels>
</audio>
</streamdetails>
</fileinfo>
</episodedetails>

</tvshow>

So in short I had to include the episode details inside the tvshow.nfo and not save it as an .nfo by itself.
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#13
Glad you got it working, and the tvshow.nfo might be ok that way, mines were generated with MediaCompanion, that's probably why they are different.
Hardware: Revo 3610 + SSD - Harmony 700 Remote
Software: XBMCBuntu Gotham - Sickbeard - SabNZBd+

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#14
LOl... Actualy it was simpler than that.....

The <path></path> field is missing in the tvshow.nfo on the wiki.
It seems it can't find my episodedetail.nfo without it...

So no need to insert the episode details. Now that I know how it works I'll go on making my VB app to create my own nfo more easily.
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#15
Just a note, you can add one-off documentaries to TheTVDB. They are sorted by the channel and use the year for the season. This is from a sticky on their forum:

Quote:Documentaries:
As of late a lot of you have been adding 1-off documentaries as their own series. This is a very messy way to handle it and we would appreciate it if you'd stop doing such.
This isn't to say that a 10-part documentary series on the rain forest or the great pyramids shouldn't be added as a series or anything. The whole concept of "series" implies that there is more than one episode, so in these cases it would make sense for there to be a series entry for it.
However, in the case that BBC or National Geographic does a special on fruit flies or the mating habits of frozen waffles, there are already series' in place for this purpose:

BBC Documentaries: http://www.thetvdb.com/?tab=series&id=79660
PBS Documentaries: http://www.thetvdb.com/?tab=series&id=116381
SBS Documentaries: http://www.thetvdb.com/?tab=series&id=79659
History Channel Documentaries: http://www.thetvdb.com/?tab=series&id=80996
National Geographic Documentaries: http://www.thetvdb.com/?tab=series&id=80995

We 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). Most of the series' do this properly, however, some do not.. National Geographic, for example, is a complete mess and we're aware it needs straightened up.

Compilations of documentaries that have been released to DVD do not get their own series either. Examples of this were the recently added "Unsolved Mysteries: Ghosts" and "National Geographic: National Parks Collection" which have been deleted. These are not true series' but rather collections of episodes that have been put together strictly for DVD sale. On most occasions, these episodes already exist as part of their original series.

You could probably get your channel added to the documentaries list, if you are still interested. I'm sure others would benefit from your work then too. :-)
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Ok now what... (TV documentary recording)0