When I select a tv show and say get into it only seems to be trying to get data from the movie db. I tried to change the metadata source but only the Movie one shows. I am on the newest firmware. Anyone know how to make it check against the tv db? Thanks
… because your name doesn’t indicate that it is a TV show.
Rename it to:
Show Name.SxxEyy.ext
where xx is the two-digit SEASON number, yy is the two-digit EPISODE number…
Where is this format documented, and how can it be overwritten with a custom rule?
As of yet, it’s not documented, and it cannot be overwritten.
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If it’s not documented, how are we supposed to know? Are we mind readers, or are we supposed to get lucky with trial and error?
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Where does this naming convention come from, and how popular is it? Personally, I think it’s ugly, and of limted utility.
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Not everyone will want to have to use this naming convention. It will need to be customisable (per folder, hopefully) at some point.
On the other hand, I am very happy that WD now supports TV episode metacontent/metadata as well as Movie metacontent/metadata; I hope we see support for series/season metacontent/metadata soon as well.
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You have a valid point there. It does need to be documented. Preferably in the manaul, but at least in a Knowledgebase article. In the PRIOR versions of the Live SMP firmware (which has ALWAYS had this function), almost every XBMC naming format (which are well documented) worked. Some of the formats appear not to work in 1.04, though, or on the initial release of the Hub.
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What difference does it make? After it scrapes metadata, you won’t ever see the filenames on the screen again. :smileyvery-happy: Files should be named in a format that all but guarantees a unique match in the database, 100% of the time. “Prettiness” has absolutely no value in that regard.
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Why does it need to be customizable per folder? That’s an aweful lot of work… That’s why it’s called a “convention” You should do everything the same way.
Now, as to what appears on-screen, that *IS* the metadata. If you’re not happy with the format the WD uses to TITLE the episodes (which is: “Series Name Season X - Y Episode Name” where X is the Season number and Y is the episode number) then you may be better served by using an OFFLINE metadata generator, such as MINE, which lets you TITLE them however you want.
The Hub and SMP don’t care where the metadata comes from… whether you write your own, use a third party tool, or use the integral “Scraper,” it will have the same results… a PERFECT solution. Most other products require you to use their own tools or scrapers.
Ahh! You!
You’re the one I need to thank for the metadata scraper I’ve been using!
Please allow me to pass on my gratitude to you.
Although sufficient info is in the filename for scraping (series name, season num, episode num) the file name does not contain the episode title, nor any attributes denoting the quality of the contents such as source info (TV,DVD,BD, as well as encoding/subbing group). As well, other content info (like language(s), subtitled, dual-audio), and file verification information (ie CRC32) can also be caputured in the file name. Almost all of this kind of info cannot not “scaped” from TVDB, nor other sources.
In addition, many of the files I have I’ve gotten through torrents. I can re-use the torrents to verify the integrity of the files later (especially after the files have been moved from one disk to another) to fix any errors that have accumulated. While I could create shell scripts (batch files) files to rename the files back and forth, I’d rather not, as the original file names have a use, albeit outside of the WD.
However, knowing the naming convention allows me to create a group of empty files that follow the convention naming and get the WD to obtain the metadata automically; then I can rename the metada files to match the actual video files later. Metadata file renaming is something I still have to do with your tool, as the source video files I have often use underscores instead of spaces, as well as the CRCs of each file.
Anime, in particular, seems to be treated differently than other TV shows. The second (and additional seasons) typically each gets a new series name. The second seaon can follow the first season right away (or at least still in the same year), or could be released years later. OVAs, or even movies, which are part of the canon, may be released between seasons, and are concidered as a season unto themselves.
Lastly, the Episode Title from the metacontent/metadata files is ONLY displayed the WD in gallery view. So the solution is not as “ideal” as you’d like us to beleive.
Also, someone (was you) pinted out that only ceratain fields (tags/contents) get displayed; namely episode title, duration, initial release date, director, actors (but not roles), and overview. XBMC’s xml files have other limits as to what is in the xml. From reading through the XMMC docs, the xml file contains only the following:
While some of these may be repeated (like genre, actor, director) it is still only a fraction of the metacontent. In addition, other scrapers include additional info, such as
[url]
and
[company name]
some of which the WD uses (like trailer) and some of which the WD does not (like studio).
I miss the SGML days, when there would always be a DTD that would descibe and authenticate the SGML files created.
Do you happen to know if/where there’s an equivalent to a DTD for the xml file(s) used by XBMC? I have not yet found this on the XBMC’s wiki…
After the “Show Name.SxxEyy” format, you can put anything you want. It doesn’t scrape anything tacked on at the end.
Therefore if you want to name something like so: “Show Name.SxxEyy - Episode Title (Technical info)”, you can do that.
This is a guide for plex which works on the same conventions and the information also works on the WD TV Live: http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/PlexNine_PMS_Naming_Guide
If for some reason, an episode of something won’t scrape, look it up on TheTVDB.com and find out how they have it numbered there.
Also, in torrent software, at least in uTorrent, you can rename the file before it starts downloading, so if you just do it then, then you don’t have to worry about it later. Or you can just go into the torrents settings and change the filename so that it matches up.
Hope that helps.
