2015-05-17, 22:48
Yeah your home movies either need to be in a separate directory structure that you don't scrape, or better still create NFO files.
2015-05-17, 23:23
(2015-05-17, 22:48)nickr Wrote: Yeah your home movies either need to be in a separate directory structure that you don't scrape, or better still create NFO files.
Yeah we learned this lesson the hard way we assumed since we were not warned that scraping was a good thing so when the drive containing all the media was selected the whole drive was selected not directory by directory, scraper off and browsing for files like in file manager works perfectly except for the lack of bread crumbs depth you get lost from time to time.
Can you share some info on the NFO thing searched for create NFO files didn't really find anything? I guess we would need to actually see a functional library to understand anything you have to offer on library's or the use of so far everything we have seen has been a nightmare and created endless frustration.
Thanks.
2015-05-19, 23:37
(2015-05-18, 00:28)nickr Wrote: http://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_filesAll I see when I go to that link is.
"There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs, but you do not have permission to create this page."
2015-05-20, 00:08
That is odd, I just clicked on that page and got the wiki page on NFO files. Try this http://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files/movies
2015-05-23, 04:04
Yes it seems to be working now, that page is no use for us at all we have no idea what 90% is written on that page means we need to start at the entry level we have not been to NFO school.
Thanks
Thanks
2015-05-23, 06:47
I am surprised that you cannot follow an example xmlfile that has tags like <title> and <runtime> and <year>
2015-05-23, 11:36
Meta data, you know, the thing like fan art or who the director is or short description of the story amoungst many other things are fetched via scrapers using directory and/or file names as input. Kodi fetches the meta data from web sites that users contribute to (it has to come from somewhere ☺). As different classes of video need different scrapers, it's good to save the different classes of video in different directories, for example 'movies' or 'tvseries' directories, then the correct scraper is assigned to each directory (or source in KODI speak).
NFO's on the other hand, which are simple xml text files, can have meta data added within via tags like <director>someone </director>. The NFO can also point to html addresses that contain other meta data, like series lists. These NFO files can be placed along side the films themselves using the same filename.nfo as the film (or as one big xml file containing all meta data for your library). I prefer separate NFO's.. The artwork can also be stored along side the films themselves using the same filename-typeofart.jpg and actor pictures can be placed in actor directories. (Exporting the library as separate NFO's including actor art will create all the meta data files the scrapers have pulled from the web - good as a backup)..
When you have local meta data in your NFO's KODI will pull in the data from within these .nfo and .jpg files before it uses a scraper, unless no scraper has been set for that source (directory).
Local NFO files are useful for home movies if you want art work and some synopsis on the family occasion.
Unfortunately, to understand individual wiki pages, there is lots of reading you need to do as some assumptions must be made about what the reader knows otherwise the page gets bloated. Such assumptions about what the reader knows may or may not be explained in earlier pages. But these days nobody likes to read manuals (my $1k samsung galaxy s6 does not even have a printed manual in the bo which eas a real disappointment). And coders, you know those people that wrote KODI, are no different and they would rather write more code than documentation. So start at the first wiki page and delve into all the links. It's not the best structured doc and in places and i'm sure it can be improved but for a free media player it's damb great ?
NFO's on the other hand, which are simple xml text files, can have meta data added within via tags like <director>someone </director>. The NFO can also point to html addresses that contain other meta data, like series lists. These NFO files can be placed along side the films themselves using the same filename.nfo as the film (or as one big xml file containing all meta data for your library). I prefer separate NFO's.. The artwork can also be stored along side the films themselves using the same filename-typeofart.jpg and actor pictures can be placed in actor directories. (Exporting the library as separate NFO's including actor art will create all the meta data files the scrapers have pulled from the web - good as a backup)..
When you have local meta data in your NFO's KODI will pull in the data from within these .nfo and .jpg files before it uses a scraper, unless no scraper has been set for that source (directory).
Local NFO files are useful for home movies if you want art work and some synopsis on the family occasion.
Unfortunately, to understand individual wiki pages, there is lots of reading you need to do as some assumptions must be made about what the reader knows otherwise the page gets bloated. Such assumptions about what the reader knows may or may not be explained in earlier pages. But these days nobody likes to read manuals (my $1k samsung galaxy s6 does not even have a printed manual in the bo which eas a real disappointment). And coders, you know those people that wrote KODI, are no different and they would rather write more code than documentation. So start at the first wiki page and delve into all the links. It's not the best structured doc and in places and i'm sure it can be improved but for a free media player it's damb great ?
2015-05-27, 06:25
(2015-05-23, 11:36)skylarking Wrote: Meta data, you know, the thing like fan art or who the director is or short description of the story amoungst many other things are fetched via scrapers using directory and/or file names as input. Kodi fetches the meta data from web sites that users contribute to (it has to come from somewhere ☺). As different classes of video need different scrapers, it's good to save the different classes of video in different directories, for example 'movies' or 'tvseries' directories, then the correct scraper is assigned to each directory (or source in KODI speak).
NFO's on the other hand, which are simple xml text files, can have meta data added within via tags like <director>someone </director>. The NFO can also point to html addresses that contain other meta data, like series lists. These NFO files can be placed along side the films themselves using the same filename.nfo as the film (or as one big xml file containing all meta data for your library). I prefer separate NFO's.. The artwork can also be stored along side the films themselves using the same filename-typeofart.jpg and actor pictures can be placed in actor directories. (Exporting the library as separate NFO's including actor art will create all the meta data files the scrapers have pulled from the web - good as a backup)..
When you have local meta data in your NFO's KODI will pull in the data from within these .nfo and .jpg files before it uses a scraper, unless no scraper has been set for that source (directory).
Local NFO files are useful for home movies if you want art work and some synopsis on the family occasion.
Unfortunately, to understand individual wiki pages, there is lots of reading you need to do as some assumptions must be made about what the reader knows otherwise the page gets bloated. Such assumptions about what the reader knows may or may not be explained in earlier pages. But these days nobody likes to read manuals (my $1k samsung galaxy s6 does not even have a printed manual in the bo which eas a real disappointment). And coders, you know those people that wrote KODI, are no different and they would rather write more code than documentation. So start at the first wiki page and delve into all the links. It's not the best structured doc and in places and i'm sure it can be improved but for a free media player it's damb great ?
Thanks so much for your explanation but were still lost, we still do not grasp meta data, fan art , scrapers I am sure they are all second nature to you but its all new terminology to us, just when we think we know we read something and then it does not make any sense, reading between the lines and not having a full understanding were pretty sure we have no use for anything you just said, we simply need a file manager type interface to navigate to the files we have placed in the media drive so we can select them then view them same with music or pictures we don't need visual aids for nothing on our media drive. Sorry were just not a family of technology geeks but we appreciate your patience and answering.
2015-05-27, 06:36
(2015-05-23, 06:47)nickr Wrote: I am surprised that you cannot follow an example xmlfile that has tags like <title> and <runtime> and <year>
In my head I see a white blank screen when I read something as I read that white screen starts to develop and add images until I am able to get the whole picture of what I am reading, I have to be able to create a mental picture, when someone assumes I know what things like a xmlfile or tags are I have no doubt they see the correct picture in their own head but I am still looking mostly at a blank white screen. Not your fault you have no idea what our skill level is.
A useful tool on this site and I have seen it used on other sites would be Autolink so words not usually used in every day conversation could be clicked on and it would take a user to information about that word, term, acronym etc. Example would be NFO someone could link NFO to that wiki page that did not work for me the first time I visited that page then anytime anybody typed in NFO a user could click the word and be taken to the wiki or similar.
Thanks for your time.
2015-05-28, 10:43
Lisa, consider the following:
Since you want to watch "Deep Impact" from you PC, which is connected to your TV, you can navigate to the movie using Windows Explorer and your keyboard and mouse.
And if the file associations are configured correctly within the OS, the correct application will play the nmovie if you double click the file.
If you don't want to worry about Kodi terminology and other issues, while being happy to see directories and file names on your TV screen while using a keyboard and mouse in the living room, then VLC may be a better fit.
However, as your HDD collection gets bigger, you may start to forget what you have seen, which HDD the movie/series is on, what the film is about, which movies/episodes you have already seen, etc.
You may also start to feel you need a nicer interface that is easier to read from you couch, one that also allows pictures of the DVD/BD covers and provides better methods of control via an IR or BT remote rather than keyboard/mouse.
In these cases, using VLC on your PC will start to feel less than ideal and in such a case, Kodi may be a better fit.
However you will need to get across the Kodi terminology and get a handle on setting up Kodi so you can make best use of it.
So, considering the above example, you have:
Now to make it work, you need to assign a "scraper" when you define the "source" and since you have not mixed up all the dirfferant type of material within one big directory, it's easy to do so
Within <Videos> <Files> go to <Add Videos...> and click <Browse> to navigate to the directory in question.
For DVD, clicking OK brings up the "Set Content" window where you go to "This directory contains" and click the up arrow until you see "(Movies)" and thus you will see "The Movie Database" logo appear beneth.
Since BD also contains movies, you would do the same for the BD source and thus call on "The Movie Database" scraper to fetch the metadata for movies within this source.
And as i normally place the movie files directly under the source directory i do not need to click "Movies are in separate folders that match the movie title".
But for "Series" within "This directory contains" i would click until i see "(TV shows)" and "The TVDB" logo below but not click on "Selected folder contains a single TV show".
The reason i do not click "Selected folder contains a single TV show" is that i use the following structure:
/Series/Show1/Season1
/Series/Show1/Season2
:
/Series/Show1/Season(laste season#)
/Series/Show2/Season1
/Series/Show2/Season2
:
/Series/Show2/Season(laste season#)
etc.
Now you have a "DVD" source, a "BD" source and a "Series" source set up within Kodi and correctly assigned the required scrapers you should be good to go.
Normally when you assign (a directory as) a source and then assign a scraper (to a source) and press OK to get back to the original screen where you should be provided with a popup asking if you want to "scan for new content".
If you don't get such a popup, you can "Update library" from the left side menu which should be accessable when the <Video> <Files> popup or other popup screens exist.
Once you have updated the library, which means that Kodi has used the scrapper you defined for each source to fetch the metadata from the web, you are good to go.
You can now view <Movies> and <TV Shows> under there own menu item with full metadata.
So try some testing
On any PC or laptop, creating the directories and dummy files (dummy files are just empty files you create) as mentioned above and shown below (you can place them in a directory /Movies/ to keep them away from other files):
/Movies/DVD/Deep Impact (1998).mkv
/Movies/BD/Armageddon (1998).mkv
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly S1e1 the train job.mkv
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e2 bushwacked.mkv
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e3 our ms. reynolds.mkv
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e4
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e5
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e6
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e7
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e8
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e9
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e10
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e11
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e12
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e13
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e14
(Note that with TV episodes when in the above directory structure, the name firefly s1e1.mkv would be sufficient and s1e1.mkv may still work but i like readable names).
(Also note that the Movies directory is to keep such files separate from tother files on your system, /Movies/ should never be added as a source since it contains mixed content)
To create these directories and put the dummy files within should take all but two minutes.
Now install Kodi.
Then define the sources for these new directories as mentioned above update the library making sure your kodi box is connected to the internet.
Now you should see fanart, etc, a new menu item for <Movies> and a new menu for <TV Shows>.
But as they are dummy files, obviously you can't watch the movies/episodes.
Hopefully you can do the above, and then go to <System> <Settings> <Video> <Library> <Export video library> which will allow you to export the library metadata as separate files including actors, etc.
But to access such menu you need Settings level changed to Expert but clicking at the bottom left of the <Library> menu amoungst most others.
So having added the above mentioned sources, attached scrapers to them, updated your library and finally exported the library once all the metadata was pulled from the web, go into each directory on the HDD and look.
You should see a bunch of files (*.nfo *.jpg) associated with each movie/series/episode and an actors directory with actor.jpg files for each source and series.
All these files contain the metadata associated with your movies/series (for the DVD, BD and Series direcoties you created).
Look inside the .nfo and you should be able to start to make sence of what the tags mean.
By having the metadata exported as separate files, should Kodi be corrupted, it's simple to recreate the library by uninstalling/reinstalling Kodi and refefining your "sources".
In such instances, Kodi will pull metadata from the local HDD .nfo & .jpg files in preference to using the defined scraper.
Do the above on a spare PC and play around, learning does not come without effort
And when you want to add your home movies in Kodi, create a new directory called /homeflicks/ on your storage (where ever that is) and place the home movies within.
Then when you add /homeflicks/ as a source, specify "This directory contains" (Movies but them click on "Local information only" under "Choose a scraper".
In that way, you can create the needed .nfo and .jpg files within /homeflicks/ using the skills you have learnt by doing the above excersice.
PS: hope i haven't made any big errors abouve as my head has been thumping all day
PPS: If you add sources and files within the sources in smaller increments, RPi-2 will have no problem scraping. But it shouldn't really be a problem as i added 4TB worth of media with local metadata without issue
(edited to clarify how to handle home movies)
- you like disaster movies and have the DVD "Deep Impact" on your shelf,
- you hate getting up of the couch to put a disc into the DVD player
- you have made a backup of this movie which you named "Deep Impact (1998).mkv"
- and you have placed the movie in a directory called "DVD" on one of your external HDD
- you plug the external HDD into a Windows7 PC which you have earlier connect to your TV via a HDMI cable
- you feel this is a great way to watch movies so you rip your other DVD's in mkv format which you also place in the DVD directory
- you also have a couple of BluRays, one is called "Armageddon (1998).mkv", which you rip in mkv format and place in a directory you call BD
- and you have a DVD of Season 1 of Firefly which you also rip to mkv file and place each episode file into a directory called "Series/Firefly/Season1/"
Since you want to watch "Deep Impact" from you PC, which is connected to your TV, you can navigate to the movie using Windows Explorer and your keyboard and mouse.
And if the file associations are configured correctly within the OS, the correct application will play the nmovie if you double click the file.
If you don't want to worry about Kodi terminology and other issues, while being happy to see directories and file names on your TV screen while using a keyboard and mouse in the living room, then VLC may be a better fit.
However, as your HDD collection gets bigger, you may start to forget what you have seen, which HDD the movie/series is on, what the film is about, which movies/episodes you have already seen, etc.
You may also start to feel you need a nicer interface that is easier to read from you couch, one that also allows pictures of the DVD/BD covers and provides better methods of control via an IR or BT remote rather than keyboard/mouse.
In these cases, using VLC on your PC will start to feel less than ideal and in such a case, Kodi may be a better fit.
However you will need to get across the Kodi terminology and get a handle on setting up Kodi so you can make best use of it.
So, considering the above example, you have:
- the "DVD" directory is the "source" where you place your DVD movies
- the "BD" directory is the "source" where you place your BluRay movies
- the "Series" directory is the "source" where you place your TV series'
Now to make it work, you need to assign a "scraper" when you define the "source" and since you have not mixed up all the dirfferant type of material within one big directory, it's easy to do so
Within <Videos> <Files> go to <Add Videos...> and click <Browse> to navigate to the directory in question.
For DVD, clicking OK brings up the "Set Content" window where you go to "This directory contains" and click the up arrow until you see "(Movies)" and thus you will see "The Movie Database" logo appear beneth.
Since BD also contains movies, you would do the same for the BD source and thus call on "The Movie Database" scraper to fetch the metadata for movies within this source.
And as i normally place the movie files directly under the source directory i do not need to click "Movies are in separate folders that match the movie title".
But for "Series" within "This directory contains" i would click until i see "(TV shows)" and "The TVDB" logo below but not click on "Selected folder contains a single TV show".
The reason i do not click "Selected folder contains a single TV show" is that i use the following structure:
/Series/Show1/Season1
/Series/Show1/Season2
:
/Series/Show1/Season(laste season#)
/Series/Show2/Season1
/Series/Show2/Season2
:
/Series/Show2/Season(laste season#)
etc.
Now you have a "DVD" source, a "BD" source and a "Series" source set up within Kodi and correctly assigned the required scrapers you should be good to go.
Normally when you assign (a directory as) a source and then assign a scraper (to a source) and press OK to get back to the original screen where you should be provided with a popup asking if you want to "scan for new content".
If you don't get such a popup, you can "Update library" from the left side menu which should be accessable when the <Video> <Files> popup or other popup screens exist.
Once you have updated the library, which means that Kodi has used the scrapper you defined for each source to fetch the metadata from the web, you are good to go.
You can now view <Movies> and <TV Shows> under there own menu item with full metadata.
So try some testing
On any PC or laptop, creating the directories and dummy files (dummy files are just empty files you create) as mentioned above and shown below (you can place them in a directory /Movies/ to keep them away from other files):
/Movies/DVD/Deep Impact (1998).mkv
/Movies/BD/Armageddon (1998).mkv
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly S1e1 the train job.mkv
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e2 bushwacked.mkv
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e3 our ms. reynolds.mkv
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e4
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e5
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e6
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e7
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e8
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e9
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e10
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e11
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e12
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e13
/Movies/TV series/Firefly/season1/firefly s1e14
(Note that with TV episodes when in the above directory structure, the name firefly s1e1.mkv would be sufficient and s1e1.mkv may still work but i like readable names).
(Also note that the Movies directory is to keep such files separate from tother files on your system, /Movies/ should never be added as a source since it contains mixed content)
To create these directories and put the dummy files within should take all but two minutes.
Now install Kodi.
Then define the sources for these new directories as mentioned above update the library making sure your kodi box is connected to the internet.
Now you should see fanart, etc, a new menu item for <Movies> and a new menu for <TV Shows>.
But as they are dummy files, obviously you can't watch the movies/episodes.
Hopefully you can do the above, and then go to <System> <Settings> <Video> <Library> <Export video library> which will allow you to export the library metadata as separate files including actors, etc.
But to access such menu you need Settings level changed to Expert but clicking at the bottom left of the <Library> menu amoungst most others.
So having added the above mentioned sources, attached scrapers to them, updated your library and finally exported the library once all the metadata was pulled from the web, go into each directory on the HDD and look.
You should see a bunch of files (*.nfo *.jpg) associated with each movie/series/episode and an actors directory with actor.jpg files for each source and series.
All these files contain the metadata associated with your movies/series (for the DVD, BD and Series direcoties you created).
Look inside the .nfo and you should be able to start to make sence of what the tags mean.
By having the metadata exported as separate files, should Kodi be corrupted, it's simple to recreate the library by uninstalling/reinstalling Kodi and refefining your "sources".
In such instances, Kodi will pull metadata from the local HDD .nfo & .jpg files in preference to using the defined scraper.
Do the above on a spare PC and play around, learning does not come without effort
And when you want to add your home movies in Kodi, create a new directory called /homeflicks/ on your storage (where ever that is) and place the home movies within.
Then when you add /homeflicks/ as a source, specify "This directory contains" (Movies but them click on "Local information only" under "Choose a scraper".
In that way, you can create the needed .nfo and .jpg files within /homeflicks/ using the skills you have learnt by doing the above excersice.
PS: hope i haven't made any big errors abouve as my head has been thumping all day
PPS: If you add sources and files within the sources in smaller increments, RPi-2 will have no problem scraping. But it shouldn't really be a problem as i added 4TB worth of media with local metadata without issue
(edited to clarify how to handle home movies)
2015-06-02, 03:26
skylarking thanks for the detailed description and tutorial but we already have all our media organized on our media drive like you describe, our video collection was converted from DVD's to digital files and put into folders with the movie name on the folder, that's about all we need, page down through the list of movies select the movie you want to watch and watch it, no distractions with all the other stuff you listed we just want to watch the media don't need to see any pictures or covers fanart etc.
Going back to the days when we bought VHS tapes when we opened a new movie we threw away the paper cover with the cellophane wrapper then just put the VHS tape with the others on the bookshelf no wasting time having to pull the tape out of the cardboard sleeve and put it back in the sleeve after watching. What you describe seems like a lot of work for something we have no use for we rather spend the time watching the movies.
Thanks again for the reply I have no doubt it will be very useful for those looking to build something to look at and admire.
Going back to the days when we bought VHS tapes when we opened a new movie we threw away the paper cover with the cellophane wrapper then just put the VHS tape with the others on the bookshelf no wasting time having to pull the tape out of the cardboard sleeve and put it back in the sleeve after watching. What you describe seems like a lot of work for something we have no use for we rather spend the time watching the movies.
Thanks again for the reply I have no doubt it will be very useful for those looking to build something to look at and admire.
