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jz1276 · 2011-02-12, 12:04

I have all the nfo / fanarts / thumbs for all my movie files, but for all my TV shows I rely on all info from thetvdb. What happens if this website should shut down? Does anyone have a backup or do you download season thumbs, posters, fanart, episode thumbs. nfo files, etc from the site and store it all on your hard drives? I think it would be a PITA to constantly have to visit the site every time you download a new TV show. I'm pretty sure Media Companion can scrape and save all the info from the site. Anyway, opinions?

thunderbunny · 2011-02-12, 12:17

Everythings downloaded for me.

jz1276 · 2011-02-12, 12:42

thunderbunny Wrote:Everythings downloaded for me.

Yeah, I'm thinking about doing this myself.. like I said though I download an average of 5 shows per week, guess it's not really a big deal though. Did you download all the info manually, or did you use a program to scrape it all in one shot?

vikjon0 · 2011-02-12, 14:15

Quote:Yeah, I'm thinking about doing this myself.. like I said though I download an average of 5 shows per week, guess it's not really a big deal though. Did you download all the info manually, or did you use a program to scrape it all in one shot?

I am not sure what you are after, but perhaps I am a bit slow.
What you have scraped is already physically on your box. What you haven't downloaded yet, well unless you only download tv from the past, will it not be a challange to backup posters from future tv shows?

jz1276 · 2011-02-12, 15:25

vikjon0 Wrote:I am not sure what you are after, but perhaps I am a bit slow.
What you have scraped is already physically on your box. What you haven't downloaded yet, well unless you only download tv from the past, will it not be a challange to backup posters from future tv shows?

Yes, I know that technically once a show is scraped that it will save all info (to userdata folder I think). However, it's next to impossible to locate the episode thumbnails and I've never been able to find the nfo files for shows. If for some reason the userdata folder gets erased then all info is gone.

harry3001 · 2011-02-12, 15:31

you can export the library from xbmc - see http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Import_-_Export_Library

jz1276 · 2011-02-12, 15:34

harry3001 Wrote:you can export the library from xbmc - see http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Import_-_Export_Library

I've never really understood what that meant. Is there a difference between exporting the library and copying the userdata folder?

jz1276 · 2011-02-12, 16:14

vikjon0 Wrote:I am not sure what you are after, but perhaps I am a bit slow.
What you have scraped is already physically on your box. What you haven't downloaded yet, well unless you only download tv from the past, will it not be a challange to backup posters from future tv shows?

Just to be a little more clear, I am talking about using a program like Media Companion to save ALL TV show info to have a more organized collection. When using XBMC to scrape info from the net, it doesnt store it the same way MC stores it.

**gabbott** · 2011-02-12, 16:38

jz1276 Wrote:I've never really understood what that meant. Is there a difference between exporting the library and copying the userdata folder?

jz1276 Wrote:Just to be a little more clear, I am talking about using a program like Media Companion to save ALL TV show info to have a more organized collection. When using XBMC to scrape info from the net, it doesnt store it the same way MC stores it.

You can export the library, using the option 'single files' which will give you all the fanart, posters, and nfo files. Giving you the same results as EMM, Media Companion... but without the use of an external program.

vikjon0 · 2011-02-12, 16:48

Or you do use an external program Smile

. Not sure what you are asking....

Downloaded info is not a problem since you can export it giving you the images and .nfo. Not downloaded images will indeed disappear if the site goes down...it does seem a bit extreme to download pics you dont want to use just in case the site goes down.

thunderbunny · 2011-02-12, 17:16

jz1276 Wrote:Yeah, I'm thinking about doing this myself.. like I said though I download an average of 5 shows per week, guess it's not really a big deal though. Did you download all the info manually, or did you use a program to scrape it all in one shot?

I have over 2500 episodes. Unless you're truly worried about the little extra space it takes, I would just go ahead and download them. Everytime I add a new show, I scrape it and add it. If I add new episodes, I can just scan the show itself for new content and not my entire library. I always go automated, if I don't like something like fanart or cover, I'll change it.

TheAbu · 2011-02-12, 18:11

One thing we can also do is support tvdb as much as we can to avoid them having to shut down Wink

sullydavid · 2011-02-15, 17:59

I use SickBeard to download most of my shows and it automates the NFO and TBN downloads.

I would recommend checking it out even if you do want to use it do download the shows.

StormyKnight · 2011-02-17, 12:21

http://www.thetvdb.com is down.....did you guys jinx it? Smile

Randall Lind · (This post was last modified: 2011-02-17, 14:35 by Randall Lind.)

I just setup my media server and when I need to name some TV Shows it goes down LOL. I thought there was an error with TV renamer and Ember revisted.

What the org poster was asking is a good question. If TVDB dies is there another site we can use to scape the information from for TV Shows?

Newbies etc and ever some people who are not new don't want to do this by hand it a pain in the butt. I don't mind renaming myself but to manual make a nfo , TBN files etc forget that crap.