[huttdes]

I'm currently editing 15 years worth of home videos and want to add them to my Kodi library in the form a tv show.

So each year will be a season with x amount of episodes. Looking like an average of 10-15 per year.
I want this to be like any other show with poster art, fanart, description, actors images, and all other regular metadata.

I certainly don't want to make manual nfo's so which media manager would handle this best?
I know I'll have to generate all the artwork myself but a program to manage it all will be nice.

I know Media Companion doesn't do it at all... Tiny Media Manager can handle it but not perfectly.
So far these are the two I've tried and figured I'd see if anyone else has experimented with this before moving forward.

I think the biggest issues for these programs is how do I tell them to not look at IMDB or TVDB for ANYTHING??

Also when doing this can I have Kodi recognize a different set of actor images for each season? I really hate when Kodi shows actor images 30 years before or after the show was made? So I want to use images current with the year of each season.

[huttdes]

No one is doing anything like this with their home movies?

If not how to you handle them with Kodi?
This seemed like the best possible solution for handling home movies to me but I'm up for suggestions.

[Karellen]

I create my own nfo files. I use the Template provided here... https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files/Movies and https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files/TV_shows

I certainly find it far quicker than installing a media manager, then learning how to use it, then trying to figure out what all the settings mean, then fiddling trying to get it right, then going back and redoing the nfo files because I found my workflow was flawed and missed adding something like the UniqueID or got the settings wrong.

[huttdes]

I create my own nfo files. I use the Template provided here... https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files/Movies and https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files/TV_shows

I certainly find it far quicker than installing a media manager, then learning how to use it, then trying to figure out what all the settings mean, then fiddling trying to get it right, then going back and redoing the nfo files because I found my workflow was flawed and missed adding something like the UniqueID or got the settings wrong.

Ok, for the minimal info I should need for each episode it will probably be easier to just do manually with template and make the appropriate changes like you say.
Let me ask you this to make sure I'm handling the actors images properly.
I want to have have different images for each family member for each year... I don't want a pic of my daughter at age 15 for a video when she is 2.
Currently I have a hidden folder in each season folder
.actors

So for example in the nfo
<actor>
<name>actor1</name>
<role>role1</role>
<order>0</order>
<thumb></thumb>
</actor>

What should I have in the thumb quotes? Or does it just automatically know to look in the .actors folder for the same name?

[Karellen]

That won't work. You cannot apply different actors images for the same person. When your daughters image is scraped for the first time, then it is applied to all episodes.

You would need to make a distinction between the different ages, basically treating each season/year as a different actor. eg <name>Jenny 15</name>, <name>Jenny 2</name> etc

As for the thumb, not needed as long as the actor and actor file are named the same. Using the above example, the filename would be Jenny_15.jpg and Jenny_2.jpg

[huttdes]

Crap, that sucks. Not the end of the world I guess as I can simply apply the age to the name as you suggested.
So basically there is no reason for me to have an actor folder in each season folder... just 1 folder in the main show folder, correct?

Thanks for your time :-)

[Karellen]

just 1 folder in the main show folder, correct?

Correct

[huttdes]

just 1 folder in the main show folder, correct?

Correct  

I'm having an issue. I put all the images in .actors folder in the show directory.
I used the age reference in the names like you suggested and here is a sample from an nfo

<actor>
    <name>Andy 41</name>
    <role>Dad</role>
    <thumb/>
    <profile/>
  </actor>

At first I had the image names listed as in this example
Andy 41

it didn't work.
I noticed all my shows have underscores for spaces in actor names.
I completely removed the show from the library and inserted underscores for all the spaces and rescanned the show into the library.
Still no luck with them showing... they are listed... just no images.

Also I tried to add a fictitious 'studio' in my nfo... nothing showed up. Is there a way to make this work (preferably with my own custom logo) or will Kodi only recognize genuine studios?

[Karellen]

Also I tried to add a fictitious 'studio' in my nfo... nothing showed up. Is there a way to make this work (preferably with my own custom logo) or will Kodi only recognize genuine studios?

Studio icons are a downloadable Resource addon, which is different to simple user artwork.

The icon pack is here... https://github.com/XBMC-Addons/resource....s.coloured You would need to unpack your local xbt file and add in your new studio icon.

As for the actors images, in which nfo file are you placing them? The tvshow.nfo file or the episode nfo file? And where are you looking to notice they are missing- tv show info or episode info?

There is no <profile/> tag. You should have <order></order> instead (but it is optional). This controls what order the images are displayed when you view the actor listing in the Information Page.

All filenames for actors must contain the underscore in place of any spaces. So John Smith actor would have the image saved as John_Smith.jpg

[huttdes]

Also I tried to add a fictitious 'studio' in my nfo... nothing showed up. Is there a way to make this work (preferably with my own custom logo) or will Kodi only recognize genuine studios?

Studio icons are a downloadable Resource addon, which is different to simple user artwork.

The icon pack is here... https://github.com/XBMC-Addons/resource....s.coloured You would need to unpack your local xbt file and add in your new studio icon.

As for the actors images, in which nfo file are you placing them? The tvshow.nfo file or the episode nfo file? And where are you looking to notice they are missing- tv show info or episode info?

There is no <profile/> tag. You should have <order></order> instead (but it is optional). This controls what order the images are displayed when you view the actor listing in the Information Page.

All filenames for actors must contain the underscore in place of any spaces. So John Smith actor would have the image saved as John_Smith.jpg 

I have every actor option listed in the show nfo. And I have whichever ones appear in each episode in the episode nfo.
That </profile/> tag had to have been added when Tiny Media Manager was doing this for me and I left it in.
So to confirm... the filenames will have the underscore but in the nfo I will have an actual space?

So here is where some of my confusion came from... actually still confused.
Over the many years of using this I have primarily used 2 media managers for Kodi. MediaElch and Media Companion.
So I'm looking through all my shows...They all have actor images in show nfo. But for the episode nfos so do and some don't. But in the wiki link you posted what I got from it was they are in both.
I have shows ... say The Simpsons for example that definitely show different actors for different episodes... so I assumed this is how that worked but listing them in each episode nfo.
Also all shows have a .actor folder in the shows root folder... but many or most also have a .actors folder in each episode folder... this is the reason I originally thought I could do what I wanted using the same actor names but different pictures. I thought it checked the season actor folder for the art.
So since I haven't consistently used the same media manager I don't know which did what.
Should I assume all the actor folders in each season are actually useless and I should just have a single actor folder in my root folder?

You said you do your stuff manually but I just assume you meant for project like I'm working on for home movies.
What do you do with actual TV shows? Or do you let Kodi scrape and export the files to be stored locally if you want?

[Karellen]

So to confirm... the filenames will have the underscore but in the nfo I will have an actual space?

Correct

Should I assume all the actor folders in each season are actually useless and I should just have a single actor folder in my root folder?

Correct.

So I'm looking through all my shows...They all have actor images in show nfo. But for the episode nfos so do and some don't. But in the wiki link you posted what I got from it was they are in both.

tvshow.nfo displays the regular cast actors. Episode nfo files display the episode guest actors in addition to the regular cast. In your case I would add actor information to the episode nfo file and then all your family to the tvshow.nfo.

You said you do your stuff manually but I just assume you meant for project like I'm working on for home movies.

Correct. I find it easier to just open notepad++ and quickly type in the data

What do you do with actual TV shows? Or do you let Kodi scrape and export the files to be stored locally if you want?

Regular movies and tv shows I let Kodi scrape then I regularly run an Export to create my nfo files as a backup of my library.

[huttdes]

Well, for some reason it's just not working. No actor images... not displaying the 'plot' and a couple other things I think.
I think I just need to scrap it all and start over from scratch.... not that far into it so not a huge deal.
I'm working with edited nfos from Tiny Media Manager so I'll toss them and start new.
Hopefully I'll get this running in the next couple of days.

I really appreciate the help.

[Karellen]

No actor images... not displaying the 'plot' and a couple other things I think.

That means either the nfo file is not being read or if you have part information and part missing, then there is an error in the nfo file at the exact point where the missing information is listed in the nfo file.

Post your tvshow.nfo file and an episode nfo file to Kodi Paste Site and I can check. Also a Debug Log which captures you scanning the nfo files.

I think I just need to scrap it all and start over from scratch....

Yes!! If the show is already in your library, then delete it first. Delete any nfo files you have (sorry tmm) and copy the templates from here... https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files/TV_shows

Copy the tvshow.nfo template and copy the episode template and create one tvshow and one episode in that tv show. Scan that in. Does it work? I'll be very surprised if it does not.

[huttdes]

Post your tvshow.nfo file and an episode nfo file to Kodi Paste Site and I can check. Also a Debug Log which captures you scanning the nfo files.

I think I just need to scrap it all and start over from scratch....

Yes!! If the show is already in your library, then delete it first. Delete any nfo files you have (sorry tmm) and copy the templates from here... https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files/TV_shows

Copy the tvshow.nfo template and copy the episode template and create one tvshow and one episode in that tv show. Scan that in. Does it work? I'll be very surprised if it does not. 

I haven't had a chance to do anything with this the last couple days.
Going to make one from scratch this weekend like I said and if I still don't have any luck I'll post the nfo's for you to see.

Thank you very much for helping me out!!