[ipguy]

Hi all

Kodi newbie here so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I currently use ServerWMC and Kodi for recorded TV

Just wondering what I can possibly do with my recorded TV aside from just selecting a name from a list ?

How are you guys jazzing it up ?

[da-anda]

I watch recorded stuff and then delete it again

[ipguy]

I watch recorded stuff and then delete it again

You're my hero ;-)

[ipguy]

Is there any way to grab recorded TV and add covert art to it ?

[Prof Yaffle]

Yes - name it properly, add it to your library, and scan it in. Not really worthwhile if you just want to watch and delete, though.

[ipguy]

Yes - name it properly, add it to your library, and scan it in. Not really worthwhile if you just want to watch and delete, though.

Can you send a few pointers so I can understand how.

I'm new to kodi and am a little overwhelmed

[Prof Yaffle]

Best to read the wiki: http://kodi.wiki/view/Naming_video_files/TV_shows

Broadly:

1. Name and organise your files as per the wiki and how they're defined on thetvdb

2. Define a library source (Videos -> Add Videos -> set the path -> set the scraper to thetvdb)

3. Scan

.. and you'll have a TV Shows entry (on Confluence, the default skin) which will include your new-found friends.

Avidemux is good if you want to strip commercials or pre/post 'excess fat'.

[ipguy]

Best to read the wiki: http://kodi.wiki/view/Naming_video_files/TV_shows

Broadly:

1. Name and organise your files as per the wiki and how they're defined on thetvdb

2. Define a library source (Videos -> Add Videos -> set the path -> set the scraper to thetvdb)

3. Scan

.. and you'll have a TV Shows entry (on Confluence, the default skin) which will include your new-found friends.

Avidemux is good if you want to strip commercials or pre/post 'excess fat'.

Thanks I'll see if this works or is worth the effort as I'm just after a way to get covert art for TV shows recorded by serverWMC

I really only want some way for my wife and son to get a visual impression that one of there shows is available to watch

[metaron]

@ipguy You can also add 'Recordings' as a video source and scrape directly from there without having to re-arrange things, add network shares, or make copies/links etc...

There are currently some gotchas with this approach:

• It relies on your backend/PVR addon providing recordings named and organized like the scraper expects within the pvr://recordings/... 'directory structure'
  
• There is a bug in Helix which means that unless the recordings directory is 'cached' it thinks the directory doesn't exist and won't update the library. The good news is the fix should be in Isenguard beta 2 :-).
  

With Helix you can at least partially work around the 'CPVRDirectory::Exists' bug. You can 'cache' the directory by opening recordings and browsing to a lower level folder. Then go direct to 'home' (i.e. not using 'back') so Kodi keeps the recordings folder in cache. Then add your video source/update/clean the library etc... Once an item is in the library, you can access it fine without this work-around.

If you patch Helix, or run a fixed version of Isenguard you could then install the XBMC library auto updater addon and it will periodically add new recordings to your library and (if you ask it to) clean out the old ones which have expired. This will add new recordings to the 'recently added' display area, which should let the wife and son know what new things have been recorded.

In my experience (using a mythtv backend and patched pvr.mythtv addon) this works out of the box for 90% of movies. Some post tweaking of the video library is required to make sure you don't get the wrong 'remake' (or a porno for 'X2'). Good for the 'Movies' tab

For box sets/series, this won't be successful without good series/episode data in the backend and your addon doing things in a way that ttvdb scraper likes (See adding season/episode to the recordings list and the wiki article suggested by Prof Yaffle). Having said that, with tweaks to the backend data and a patched pvr.mythtv addon, my 'TV Shows' tab now shows all my box sets with icons, plots, fanart etc...

If you do decide to go this path, I'd be interested to know how you get on with the WMC PVR addon.