[Gingernutter]

I've had a look around the forum but can't seem to find the answer to my question. Hopefully somebody can help out.

Basically, all I'm trying to do is add some designated movies to the TV SHOW section of XBMC (using the Aeon skin). Now obviously, I realize that TV shows are handled differently that standard films. I've got the movies that I want to add in a seperate folder but when I try to add them manually they are put in the MOVIES library rather than TV SHOWS. I've set the folder content/scrapers to be TV Shows.

The movies that I'm trying to add are UFC events and each event is made up of two AVI files (both in a single folder i.e. "UFC86"). When I try and grab the info for them it can't be found (I guess because they aren't TV shows), so I try to add them manually but it just adds them to the MOVIES library instead. Is there an easy way for me to manually control the TV section of XBMC? Maybe with NFO files? Ideally, what I want is a section in TV SHOWS (called UFC) and then all of the UFC events selectable from within this section. If this isn't possible then the next best thing would be to have all of the events listed individually under TV SHOWS i.e. UFC84, UFC 85, UFC86 etc - with the 2 files (that make up an event) selectable from there. Make sense?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[jeff.van]

I wrestled with the exact same scenario about a month ago.

IMDB has all the UFCs, but TVDB does not. AFAIK, there's nothing to stop you from adding them, but it might not be something they consider in their scope, so I'd be a little reluctant to do a lot of work there without researching first.

So I added all the UFCs as movies and quickly realized they really didn't belong there, so I yanked em out again. Now I've just got them available under clips.

The NFO suggestion sounds interesting. I'm anxious to hear if someone finds a nice solution to this issue.

[KidKiwi]

I created a "Special Interest" area under TVShows for titles that didn't fit under movies. I just set them up as a TVShow, scraped, then manually modded the db. You can set the series name, but each item is listed at the season node as "Season 1, Season 2". I didn't worry about that as a nice big cover shows you what the title is. Ideally, a third video section would be a good alternative. It has been discussed many times, but I don't know what its current state is.

After recently moving to a xbmc version that handles nfo files, I have found them to be very good - although have not tried to set-up something outside (Movies/TV) with them. I'm waiting until the final release of the current Beta version so I can rebuild my entire library from scratch.

[Gingernutter]

Really appreciate the help. Would it be possible for you to give set-by-step instructions on how you set up a "special interest" entrance within the TV SHOWS section?

Also, would it be possible for you to upload the DB file that you are using (or one of your NFOs) as an example?

No probs if you can't - just thought I'd ask.

Thanks again!

[KidKiwi]

This takes some manual editing of the dB. Make sure you back it up before you play with it. You do this at you're own risk!

Create a directory named after a TV show you don't have (So you can find it easily in the db after scraping). Add season folders - one for each item you want to. Using dummy files (eg txt changed to iso), create the number of episodes you need. Scan (scrape) this show.

Eg. Create CSI New York directory on your box. Add Season 1, Season 2, Season 3 etc. In each season create the dummy files (as many as you need in there - named after the actual show - eg CSINY.S01E01.Pilot.iso). Scan. This will add the entries to the dB.

Now open the dB and edit all the added files to match what you want to add. You can now change the directory names (eg CSI New York changed to "Special Interest"). This will show up under the series node. At the season node you will get "Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, etc. Add a thumb so you know what each season is (folder.jpg in season folder with an image for UFC86 for eg). Add your video files and rename the original CSI scanned files with the ones you want.

The tricky bit is making sure you edit the dB so all the paths/file names etc are altered to match the changes you've made and point to the correct place.

Sounds like a lot of work I know, but it does work. Obviously you can't refresh the info you add doing it this way.

NFO files are really the way to go. I have not created a "Special Interest" area using nfo's, but it should be fairly simple if you use the right nfo format. Use XBMC Media Companion to create some and mod them to your use, then scan them. Hope this helps.

[Gingernutter]

Thanks a lot for the help - I sat down last night and spent hours messing about with NFO files and the DB to try and get it working.

In the end, I managed to get it so that when I go to TV SHOWS, I have each of the UFC events (UFC 84, UFC 85, UFC 86 etc.) selectable with their own cover artwork. By choosing the "Flatten TV show if only a single season" option from the video settings, I select each UFC event and then it lets me choose one of the two .avi files to play (remember that each of my UFC events are made up of two .avi files). I'm happy with this setup, although this has been done with NFO files and not via editting the DB. By the way - just as a fussy thing - is there anyway to remove the "episode/season" text from above the file/episode name?

Using your help - and by edditing the DB - I did manage to set it up so that when I go to TV SHOWS, I have a "UFC Events" selection. The problem with this is that when I select this folder, it gives me the option to select "Season 1", rather than UFC 86, UFC 87 etc. I take it there's no way to change the "season" text?

One last thing. Now that I've worked out how to get these events set up and working (as per my initial paragraph), how easy is it to create a totally new option from the main menu? Ideally, I'd like to create a SPORTS option that mimics the layout and options of the TV SHOWS section. I'm guessing it wouldn't too much trouble to rename the exisiting CLIPS section, but unfortunately you can't select the showcase view under this.

If I could just separate TVSHOWS and SPORTS, I'd be infinitely happy

Anyway, thanks for your help guys - I've at least managed to get it working.