[ukanuk]

I followed Linking movies to TV shows, but I think it must be a bug that showlink cannot contain the year or premiered date? Besides showlink which contains the show title, I believe there should be optional field(s) named something like showlinkyear and/or showlinkpremiered.

The two movies MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis (1994) and MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday (1994) should link to show MacGyver (1985). However there is also show MacGyver (2016) which it should NOT be linked to. 

If I add the year to the NFO file showname link, then Kodi creates no link at all. If I do not add the year to the NFO file showname link, then Kodi does add it correctly -- but I'm pretty sure that's coincidence, and it just happened to add it to whichever show it saw first.

My folder structure:

Folder structure:
...\Movies\MacGyver Lost Treasure of Atlantis (1994)\BDMV\index.bdmv

...\Movies\MacGyver Lost Treasure of Atlantis (1994)\BDMV\index.nfo

...\Movies\MacGyver Trail to Doomsday (1994)\MacGyver Trail to Doomsday (1994).nfo

...\Movies\MacGyver Trail to Doomsday (1994)\MacGyver Trail to Doomsday (1994).strm

...\Shows\MacGyver (1985)\MacGyver (1985) S01E06E07E08E09E10\BDMV\index.bdmv

...\Shows\MacGyver (2016)\MacGyver (2016) S01E01E02E03E04E05E06E07E08E09E10\BDMV\index.bdmv

The contents of one of the NFO files: 

NFO:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>

<movie>

    <title>MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis</title>

    <uniqueid type="imdb">tt0110419</uniqueid>

    <uniqueid type="tmdb" default="true">81895</uniqueid>

    <showlink>MacGyver</showlink> 

</movie>

https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/81895-m...f-atlantis

[Karellen]

Maybe this might be a better method... https://kodi.wiki/view/Convert_movie_to_episode

Also, your nfo file is wrong. What is it that you are trying to do with it?

[ukanuk]

Kodi: Convert movie to episode is a nice tutorial, thank you for sharing.

My goal is to rely on the automatic scrapers as much as possible, only manually adding in <showlink> which the scrapers do not (currently?) support.

The TMDB community has already developed careful guidelines (the New Content Bible) to delineate when to categorize a TV movie as a movie, a miniseries, or one of the specials of a TV series. Kodi supports those distinctions too, and their decisions are good enough for me. For me personally, if I wanted to convert a particular movie into a special episode of a particular show, I would rather try convincing the TMDB community before changing it in my personal library. For the case of Stargate (1994) and Serenity (2005), examples that Kodi article suggests as being TV episodes rather than movies, TMDB classifies both of those as movies. So for that case too, I would rather leave them as movies to match the TMDB classification.

Concerning my NFO file being wrong, can you explain more completely? I tried following the directions for a Combination NFO file at https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files/Combination, listing just the required fields <title> and <uniqueid>, adding my extra field <showlink> that can't currently automatically be added by scrapers, and then added a URL for TMDB to grab the rest of the info. It seems to be working fine for me. I do see that the forum shortened the URL in the last line of the NFO I shared, so that certainly is wrong as shown. But that's just an artifact of this forum, it's a full URL on my computer.

[Karellen]

For the case of Stargate (1994) and Serenity (2005), examples that Kodi article suggests as being TV episodes rather than movies, TMDB classifies both of those as movies. So for that case too, I would rather leave them as movies to match the TMDB classification.

Fair enough. It's your library so you are free to create it as you want.
But don't forget it is your library, so it should be created in a manner suited to your use, not to how a website has listed content.
Personally, I edit my library quite heavily... combining tv shows, rearranging episodes, moving movies to tv shows... etc. It suits my intended use.

Concerning my NFO file being wrong, can you explain more completely?

You want to add the <showlink>Hanna</showlink> tag during scraping.
All you need to add to the Combination NFO file is...

xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>

<movie>

    <showlink>MacGyver</showlink> 

</movie>

https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/81895-m...f-atlantis

If the <title> is the same as the scraped title, you don't need it in the nfo file.
The addition of the uniqueID tags will either be ignored or cause problems if the id's do not match. (Sorry, it's been so long since I tested those I don't remember which will occur.)

[Karellen]

Also an important tip...

As you are extensively using the <showlink> tag, be wary of when you need to rebuild your library.
When rebuilding your library, create the TV Show library first then create the movie library.
For the <showlink> tag to work, the tv show needs to be in the library first to link to it. If the tv show is not there, the <showling> tag is ignored.

[ukanuk]

I see, thank you. https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files/Movies says those extra tags are Required, and the Combination NFO page example includes those required fields as well, so I included them too. Perhaps the Combination NFO and/or Showlink documentation pages could be updated to include your truly minimal example.

As for it being my library, yes that's true. For me the most important part about that is the personal ownership. I don't want to lose access when XYZ streaming service fails to renew their licensing agreements with ABC media corporation. The metadata is cute, but I don't really care that much about it at the end of the day. As long as it all shows up in Movies or in TV Shows, that's the extent of what I want so far.

Give me a few years though, and I will doubtless develop more exacting standards for my library and be more careful about my tagging

In any case, it will seems to me it must be a bug that showlink cannot contain the year or premiered date or other method of differentiation.

[Karellen]

and the Combination NFO page example includes those required fields as well

I don't see the uniqueID tags in the example of the Combination nfo file, and the <title> is shown in that example because it has a modified title.
But yes I can see how reading both wiki pages led you to believe that the uniqueID is required. A Combination nfo file is not a full metadata nfo file, so what is missing is scraped.

In any case, it will seems to me it must be a bug that showlink cannot contain the year or premiered date or other method of differentiation.

Not a bug.
It is just a link and limited in what it can do. It is more of a reminder that this show is in some way connected to a movie. Which is why I suggested the Converting wiki page, to give you more control.

[ukanuk]

Thanks again for the help, I'll adjust my NFO files accordingly.