WMC>ServerWMC>MCEBuddy>Kodi 17
#1
Software
Windows 7 Media Center SP1
Kodi 17 public Release
ServerWMC 1.0.0.62 build:1244
MCEBuddy 2.4 Release 6

I need some help with this setup.
All I want to do is set this up so that I can remove commercials and properly name files with the proper metadata so that kodi can properly show the recordings and scrap fanart and information of these files. Does that make sense? I have been using serverwmc and kodi without MCEBuddy, but get never get proper naming , info and mostly fanart to work in Kodi for these.

What I did.
I have everything installed and configured but not sure if everything is working the way I want yet.

I created a sub folder in RecordedTV called RecordedTV. When I go to this subfolder, I can see everything is being organized well by MCEBuddy.
I did this for organizational purposes to start off with. The goal is to keep wtv files in tact. But to remove commercials and add the all important information so that Kodi gives me a better presentation for recorded tv. If the test recordings go well, I will have MCEBuddy delete the original recording.

Question: do I need a subfolder here or should I just use the parent directory?

How does this affect mapping between serverwmc and Kodi? Do I need to change the recorded folder in serverwmc to RecordedTV/RecordedTV?

Serverwmc Settings

Since I'm using MCEBuddy
Do I check Append episode title to series title?
Do I check Remux active recording?
Should I check Ignore Recording Images from WMC?(I do not plan to use Windows media Center extenders anymore)
Should I check Ignore EPG images from WMC?(I do not plan to use Windows media Center extenders anymore)
I don't where in serverwmc where I can trigger MCEBuddy to process a recording once it is finished. This is a feature correct?

Probably not the right place to ask the following, but if someone is doing what I'm setting out to do, please chime in.

MCEBuddy Setup
I don't want to shrink files or change formats. But I want to remove commercials and properly name and organize files. It's important that Kodi picks up the proper information so I am left with a more consistent look from one section to another(WAF).

So what are the ideal settings to accomplish this?

Thank you. It's a lot to ask, but when you are using 4 different programs to achieve one goal, it can get confusing.
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#2
So you want to rename the wtv files (so they scrape correctly) and then have them show up in the 'tv show' or 'video' section of Kodi, and not the live TV area that they do now, right? Assuming that's the case, it makes sense. I don't use mcebuddy and I just rely on the metadata serverwmc gets from the wmc epg, so I can't comment on that, but I can answer the swmc specific questions below:

Do I check Append episode title to series title?
- won't matter. This only effects how the recording is displayed in the recording list in kodi live TV area, it has no effect on the files mcebuddy processes

Do I check Remux active recording?
- also has no effect, but this should never be checked, its only there for debugging

Should I check Ignore Recording Images from WMC?(I do not plan to use Windows media Center extenders anymore)
- doesn't matter, it only also only effects the live TV display

Should I check Ignore EPG images from WMC?(I do not plan to use Windows media Center extenders anymore)
- doesn't matter, it only also only effects the live TV display

You can trigger programs to run when a recording finishes using serverwmc by doing some careful editing of its settings file, but this is not necessary for mcebuddy (afaik). Mcebuddy monitors your recording folder itself and runs automatically when the recording completes, so look to its configuration for this.

We have lots of users who use mcebuddy to remove commercials, but I don't know how many do the extra step of renaming the files so that kodi can scrape them correctly. As long as mcebuddy has that feature though, it should work (if not there are other free programs out there that do this reasonably well).
Windows Media Center PVR addon (pvr.wmc) and server backend (ServerWMC)
http://bit.ly/serverwmc
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#3
Thanks Krusty. That is very helpful. Hopefully a couple of others can chime in. But you do raise a good question.
"and then have them show up in the 'tv show' or 'video' section of Kodi, and not the live TV area that they do now"

I don't know. It seems like in order for Kodi to properly scrap tvshow data or my recordings in this example, I will need to have them appear in say TV Shows.
What are the implications of having them show up under TV Shows? I'm not sure how I even do this.
I see the grouping method in Serverwmc for Movies and Sports. I assume this creates a sub directory within RecordedTV folder.
Not sure how I would assign this in Kodi.

What about the following:
I created a sub folder in RecordedTV called RecordedTV. When I go to this subfolder, I can see everything is being organized well by MCEBuddy.
I did this for organizational purposes to start off with. The goal is to keep wtv files in tact. But to remove commercials and add the all important information so that Kodi gives me a better presentation for recorded tv. If the test recordings go well, I will have MCEBuddy delete the original recording.

Question: do I need a subfolder here or should I just use the parent directory?

How does this affect mapping between serverwmc and Kodi? Do I need to change the recorded folder in serverwmc to RecordedTV/RecordedTV?
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#4
To have them show up in 'tv shows' in kodi, you just add the source folder containing the renamed wtv files to kodi and tell kodi the content is tv shows (as opposed to movies). If the files are named properly, kodi will be able to scrape them and show all the pretty artwork you are hoping for.

The implications are: you'll view your recorded tv shows in the 'tv shows' menu of kodi, rather then the TV menu. Serverwmc controls the display of the recording list in the TV menu, so it does not require kodi to scrape the files, hence no renaming is necessary, but its is not fancy artwork wise. Another implication is, if this folder is different then the rec tv folder monitored by wmc, you'll need to control how many files are stored here, rather then having wmc control it - so watch out for running out of disk space.

If you have mcebuddy delete the recording out of the recorded tv folder, they'll obviously no longer appear the recordings list of the TV menu. If I remember correctly, serverwmc/wmc don't care if the wtv files are renamed in the recorded tv folder (the mapping will still work), so you don't necessarily have to delete them, you could just add the recorded tv folder as a 'tv show' folder (described above). At least you can experiment with doing this. Then the shows will show up in both areas and wmc will still monitor the disk space.

I think if the files are named correctly kodi doesn't care if they are in sub-folders, so that's up to you.
Windows Media Center PVR addon (pvr.wmc) and server backend (ServerWMC)
http://bit.ly/serverwmc
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#5
I decided I don't want them being displayed as shows as I delete them after I watch them. The format under Live TV recordings is much better for us.
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