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Ok so here is my problem so far after a great deal of experimentation. The only way I can get any of my tv shows to scrape in xbmc is by manually adding in a .nfo file to the shows folder that is for the show in its entirety and then going to the show in xbmc and telling it to refresh. Otherwise, the shows files just sit in the "files" section and dont ever scrape or add to the tv shows section at all.

im using proper folder and file naming conventions according to http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Add...s/TV_shows. For example, for the show Dexter, the show folder is named Dexter (2006), all the episodes for the show are contained in it, and the files all use the naming convention, Dexter.01x01.Dexter.(2006), which should work just fine according to xbmc naming conventions.

With no files other then the episodes themselves in the folder I have tried loading the source, setting it to scrape as a tv show with the TVDB scraper, set it to "Selected folder contains a single TV show"and loading it and it does nothing. It puts the files in the files section, it creates thumbnails for each episode, and they will play, but it will not scrape any kind of information for it and there is no manual scrape or refresh option since it is still sitting in the files section, not in the tv shows section, which if this is the only show source loaded, doesn't even show up.

I have tried loading the source folder without the year in it, i have tried loading the source with the year replaced with (en), I have tried loading it with no year, I have tried replacing all the .'s in the names with spaces, I have tried removing the () from the year in the folder and removing the year from the files, nothing I try works and with no manual scraping option for files sitting in the files section there's seemingly nothing I can do with it.

the only thing that i've managed to find that works at all, is if I manually create a .nfo for the show using ember media manager it will at least load the show info but not any of the episodes into the show, then I can go to the TV Shows section, open the context menu, go to show information, and refresh from there and it will fill in all the rest and works fine, but it doesn't seem like this should be necessary. I mean is this really the only way to get shows to scrape at all or am I missing something big here because I am completely out of ideas on how to make this work without manually creating .nfos. I know its not that much more work to create them but if at all possible id like to just skip this step since I just have xbmc exporting the exporting the video library files anyways so the files I would normally create with Ember are just going to be replaced regardless. What I really cant figure out is why it scrapes my movies with the same naming conventions perfectly, without the need for .nfos premade before scraping but it wont do the same for my tv shows. I could really really really use some help on this cuz its driving me nuts not being able to figure it out.

Post up a debug log, and then folks will be able to see what is going on.

According to that wiki entry:

Quote:##x## ([season#]x[episode#] all in filename :
<tvshowmatching>
<regexp>([0-9]+)x([0-9]+)[^\\/]*</regexp>
</tvshowmatching>

Example : \Scrubs\Season 1\1x01.Pilot.avi (Season 1, Episode 1)
If you use leading 0's (for example, \Scrubs\01x01 - Pilot.avi instead of 1x1), and are having difficulty getting the TV Show scraper to work, try

##x## ([season#]x[episode#] all in filename :
<tvshowmatching>
<regexp>[0]*([0-9]+)x[0]*([0-9]+)[^\\/]*</regexp>
</tvshowmatching>

Which means possibly the default regexp won't pickup 01x01 but will match 1x1.

Personally i have no problems with Dexter -> Season 1 -> dexter.s01e01.mkv and have all my tv shows structured like that as I know xbmc regexp will match it.

Do you have something like

/tv/Dexter (2006)/......
/tv/Another Show (2008)/......
etc.

and adding /tv/ as the source ?

if so, it might be getting confused by the fact that there is not just a single show. Try again without selecting the "contains a single show" option.

I just created a folder named "Dexter" within my main "TV shows" folder and added these dummy files to the "Dexter" folder:
Dexter.01x01.Dexter.avi
Dexter.02x01.Episode.name.avi
Dexter.03x01.avi
Dexter.03x02.avi

I did a "Scan for new content" on the "TV shows" folder and it added "Dexter" to my library as a new show along with the four episodes and their related episode information. No nfo files or special regexp needed.

@thrak76 Looking up how to post up my debug file so I will have that up in one minute.

@Malosar, it may be possible it just doesnt like my conventions but if I jump start this process by having a .nfo for the show, that will make it show up in the tv shows section, then I can go to show information, refresh, and search for the show and it will scrape all of it just fine even with current naming. It just wont scrape at all if I dont have the .nfo to start it off.

@davehx, I have F:\Emperawr's Vault - Live Action Shows\Dexter (2006)\Dexter.01x01.Dexter.mkv and I load it starting from the Dexter (2006) folder and have been selecting the contains a single show option. It hasn't seemed to make a difference.

@artrafel, your post has stumbled me across the answer.

APPARENTLY, if the folder that the show is contained in has the year in parenthesis ex. Dexter (2006) ,or even the year at all, ex. Dexter 2006 , the scraper will not take it. I even tried loading the source, with the (2006) removed from the source name, and it still wouldn't work, but when I remove the (2006) from the folder itself, all of a sudden it loads and scrapes perfectly with no hassle whatsoever. Who knew. Guess Im just gonna have to stop putting the year on my folders and remove the year from all my current ones. Gonna be strange cuz im so used to using this convention for directory naming but oh well, its a small price to pay for such a fantastic program.

Gotta match the source exactly to ensure a correct scrape - if the year is not in the title, don't include it, though there are some shows which have the year in the title to differentiate from shows with the same name. Best to check with the TVDB before naming the show folders.

(2012-11-17, 00:36)Emparawr Wrote: [ -> ]I even tried loading the source, with the (2006) removed from the source name, and it still wouldn't work

The scraper doesn't pay attention to the name you give your source. It only cares (as you've learned) about the folder and file names.

By the way, are you adding each show's folder as a separate video source? If so, you're creating way too much work for yourself. Just create a top-level "TV shows" folder and store all your various shows' folders within that. You would define your "TV shows" folder as the video source. This way, whenever you add a folder/files for a new show, you can simply rescan the "TV shows" folder for new content and it will add it to the library -- no need to add the new show's folder as a new video source.

Well sometimes you have to figure things out the hard way this is true. I didn't really necessarily think that changing the source name would change anything, but when you start running out of ideas you try every single thing you can possibly think of.

I didnt really think that the year being on the folder would prevent the scraper from functioning. If nothing else I figured it would at least pop up with a message saying it couldn't find it, or pop up with a window that listed the results that it did find when it searched or something of that nature. I certainly didnt think that it would just search, decide that it couldnt find an exact match, and then give up. I kept expecting to find a manual scraping search function or something like that but obviously there isnt anything like that in the files section.

Also no, I dont plan on adding then one show folder at a time, I was just doing that while I was experimenting to see what needed to be done for each of them to load correctly. Then once I figured it out I could just load the whole folder of show folders all at once.

Anyways, thanks again guys for the help, sorry to have wasted your time when it turned out to be something so small and silly. To many assumptions about the functionality limitations of the system on my part. I look forawrd to continuing to get to know this program because so far it works amazingly for what I need it for. Now I just need to find a program to assist me in downloading trailers for my collection so I dont need to do it manually one at a time and ill be all set Have a great day guys n gals