Movie vs. TV Show .nfo files
#1
Hi. Please forgive me if this doesn't make much sense, I will try to explain myself the best I can.

I am having a problem with getting my video files into the 'TV Show' section of the XBMC library. After finding out I had to rename my files & folders for the scraper to work correctly (something I wasn't too happy about doing, and didn't think should have been necessary,) things still aren't working the way I'd like them to. I don't like the fact that it seems the show title and episode numbers have to match the database exactly (I'm using TheTVDB scraper,) or am I wrong about this?

Let me use my 'Movie Library' as an example:

I have all my movies in a single folder (but I'm assured I can have as many folders as I like.)
Single movies are all together in the root of this folder and have obvious names (allthough using this system I can name them whatever I like) for example:

'Apollo 13 [1995].avi'
'Monsters, Inc. [2001].iso'.

Movie sets are put into their own folders, again with obvious folder names:

'Bill & Ted'
'Pirates of the Caribbean'

And the 'Bill & Ted' folder contains, for example:

'1 - Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure [1989].avi'
'2 - Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey [1991].avi'

Each and every file has a .nfo file with the same name, with minimal information to make XBMC identify the video.
Single movie .nfo files ('Apollo 13 [1995].nfo' for example) contain this text:

---------------------------------------------------------
<movie>
<title>Apollo 13</title>
</movie>
http://www.themoviedb.org/movie/568
---------------------------------------------------------

And the .nfo files for movie sets contain a little more info ('1 - Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure [1989].nfo' for example) like this:

---------------------------------------------------------
<movie>
<title>Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure</title>
<set>Bill & Ted...</set>
<sorttitle>Bill & Ted 1</sorttitle>
</movie>
http://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1648
---------------------------------------------------------

The end result of this is:

* I can name the files whatever I like, so long as the .nfo file has the exact same name.
* I can put the files where I like in the 'Movies' folder, movie sets don't even have to be in their own folders (I just like it that way.)
* And I can control exactly how it appears in the library ('Stargate' for example is listed as 'Stargate: The Directors Cut',) in what set, in what order and where the extra movie info is 'scraped' from the internet.

And this is all done, in my opinion, with very little effort on my part.

So what I'd like to know is this:

Can use the same system for my 'TV Show' files?
If not... why not?

....Thanks Smile
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#2
TheToyminator Wrote:I don't like the fact that it seems the show title and episode numbers have to match the database exactly (I'm using TheTVDB scraper,) or am I wrong about this?

But if you don't have episode numbers that match exactly, how is the scraper to figure out the episode it is supposed to be?
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#3
seems like you want to look into something like Ember media manager. It automatically handles all of your NFO's for TV shows and movies, and you can edit them however you like.

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=90682
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#4
@gabbott:
That could easily be in the .nfo file for the episode.

I like to store my tv files like this (but it shouldn't matter):

'American Dad! [S6 E18 2010] Great Space Roaster.avi'

The .nfo would be something like this?

'American Dad! [S6 E18 2010] Great Space Roaster.nfo'

---------------------------------------------------------
<tvepisode>
<show>Family Guy!</show>
<season>6</season>
<episode>18</episode>
<title>Great Space Roaster</title>
</tvepisode>
http://thetvdb.com/?tab=episode&seriesid...9331&lid=7
---------------------------------------------------------

Using the tags, I could define exactly where and how the video appears in the library, and url get the extra info for the show - plot, actors and so on. Just like it does for the movie library?

@xmurrx:
Thanks, I will look into that. Only I was hoping XBMC would do all the work for me Smile Again, just like it does for the movie library
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#5
TheToyminator Wrote:@gabbott:
That could easily be in the .nfo file for the episode.

I like to store my tv files like this (but it shouldn't matter):

'American Dad! [S6 E2 2010] TheGreat Space Roaster.avi'

The .nfo would be something like this?

'American Dad! [S6 E18 2010] Great Space Roaster.nfo'

---------------------------------------------------------
<tvepisode>
<show>Family Guy!</show>
<season>6</season>
<episode>18</episode>
<title>Great Space Roaster</title>
</tvepisode>
http://thetvdb.com/?tab=episode&seriesid...9331&lid=7
---------------------------------------------------------

Using the tags, I could define exactly where and how the video appears in the library, and url get the extra info for the show - plot, actors and so on. Just like it does for the movie library?

@xmurrx:
Thanks, I will look into that. Only I was hoping XBMC would do all the work for me Smile Again, just like it does for the movie library

Its not the hard really:

example

>Folder labeled The Big Bang Theory

> inside of the above folder put your episodes:
The Big Bang Theory.s01e04.mkv
The Big Bang Theory.s01e05.mkv
The Big Bang Theory.s02e24.mkv
The Big Bang Theory.s02e25.mkv
etc

go into xbmc media center scrape your big bang theory folder with the tvdb scraper, that it, no .info, no ember, no nothing.

I have 100's, upon 100's of shows and episodes and xbmc has scraped episode info, pictures everything for every episode, hasn't failed once.

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#6
@tcman47:

That is basically the system I am using now. But the problem I am having is that I want to decide where and how the videos appear in the library, without having to use someone else's file naming convention (I like my way Smile )

Also, the truth is, there is rarely a definitive sequence how any series should be ordered. Orginal air dates vs. production codes, chronological order, DVD releases (and many re-releases of dvd have different episode orders).

Some of my shows are .avi that i record direct from the tv, some are .iso of my dvd collection. many are a combination of both. And throw into that mix some specials, deleted scenes, alternate edits (and some of the guys at thetvdb.com refuse to add these to the database,) things get very messy.

So I'd like to decide how & in what order they are shown in the library, and I figured that using a simplified .nfo file like i described above would let me easily control that.
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#7
Sorry to bring this upain, but I was wondering if there was any change in the way .nfo files worked for tv shows in version 11 of xbmc?

Just to re-cap to save reading the above posts -

By using .nfo files to control the way Movies are added to the library, the movies files can be named anything (eg 'Movie.avi') so long as the .nfo file is the same name (eg 'Movie.nfo') and they ALL add to the library fine becuase the .nfo has all the important info in it (Title, Set, Sequence, url for scraping) regardless of where the file is or what its named.

Is it now possible to do the same for TV shows, with .nfo files with a matching file name containing all the important info (Show name, Season number, Episode number, Title, url for scraping)? Or do they still have to follow a strict naming convention?

Also, I only just thought, maybe is it possible to edit the 'advancedsettings.xml' file to allow xbmc to add any file regardless of filenames?
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#8
individual files still need to be named in such a way that XBMC can detect what season and episode number the file relates to. You can change the patterns XBMC looks for in these file names by playing with the regex: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=51614
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#9
Thanks for the reply @ned Scott, but I don't see why the file name is (or should be) important.

Why can't the .nfo file describe the series, episode number ect, just like it already does for movies?

I really like xbmc but I am not about to rename a couple decades worth of files just so they work with one media player.
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#10
Not to make excuses, the TV scraper for XBMC is in it's infancy and not quite as robust as could be (yes, they still have to follow a strict naming convention). Check theRenamer a drag and drop utility that ensures your TV shows are set-up like XBMC likes them, drag and drop entire show folders an multiple seasons... it'll make short work of years of collections.

The reason you would bother to do this for one media player; is it's the best one to handle your collection and is getting better.
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#11
(2012-07-19, 01:21)TheToyminator Wrote: Thanks for the reply @ned Scott, but I don't see why the file name is (or should be) important.

Why can't the .nfo file describe the series, episode number ect, just like it already does for movies?

I really like xbmc but I am not about to rename a couple decades worth of files just so they work with one media player.
At the moment, the only answer we can give is (as much as I hate to do this) "It is how it is".
You could surely post a suggestion in the "Feature Suggestion" section of the forums, chances are not too bad it will get picked up in Frodo.

theRenamer surely is viable suggestion, but the problem with it is, that it also relies on external databases like theTVDB - and as you said: You probably have some stuff in there which isn't on there (and yes, the guys at thetvdb.com can be very stubborn at times) and you will run into problems.

From the premise, this add-on might suit your needs - but I really can't be sure since I never used it:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=98210


Need help? Check out my XBMC Frodo Guide. It contains full featured guides to Sickbeard and CouchPotato as well.

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#12
(2012-07-19, 01:21)TheToyminator Wrote: Thanks for the reply @ned Scott, but I don't see why the file name is (or should be) important.

Why can't the .nfo file describe the series, episode number ect, just like it already does for movies?

I really like xbmc but I am not about to rename a couple decades worth of files just so they work with one media player.

That's just how it is by default. Like I said, you can change the regex detection. If you do have an .nfo file for each and every episode, you could probably change the regex detection to one giant wildcard so that every file is looked at.
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