[JohnyLondon]

Having realised I am going to have to do quite a bit of hand tweaking after the scraping (I've got quite a few odd shows and stuff that can't be found) I have become interested in the idea of storing all the necessary info and image files in the respective movei/tvshow folder alongside the videos/movies).
I read somewhere on the site an interesting thread but can't seem to find it now. So, I downloaded Media companion and started using that to customise things. I see it has saved the following in each movie folder...

.actors (folder)
NFO file
.tbn file
-fanart.jpeg

Is that everything I need to be completely "self sufficient" ie xbmc would find these before trying to scrape and everything would be dandy? I thought there should be a "folder" or perhaps "poster" jpeg as well.

I'd just like to know which files I need in with the movie folder for it to be totally self contained (just in case... or rather when any misshaps occur to my system - as I currently keep two external drives with all my video files on so it would be nice if the system needs re imaging or whatever (as happened last week the the hard drive failed!) then I'm at least all set to go with the movies and the images/data etc.

Sadly I can't get the Media Companion to launch today... but one thing at a time!

Thanks, guys.

[Kib]

In case you currently have everything showing up correctly in XBMC : export your library to seperate files and XBMC will write all of the metadata to NFO and image files next to your videos.
This will also show you what filenames you can create - Just check a tvshow or movie which was scraped correctly.

Settings - Video - Library - Export video library

I am a bit baffled that you have so many shows that can't be found - Are you sure the names are correct ?
If you post some of the names that can't be found here (they are in your log file) I can have a look.

[JohnyLondon]

Hi Kibje,

I went through the problem files, and sorted a fair few by scrutinising name/folder etc - and doubling checking with tvdb.
I actually have a few seris that are not currently on the tvdb - either not found at all or having no information - so I guess it could be my job to creat the images etc and put them up.

These were the missing series...

Camper Van Crisis
Narrow Boat
Narrow Boat Afloat
Waterworld
Kevin Turvey
The Caravan Show
Ali G in the USa (or da USa or USaiiii etc!) surprised about that one.
The Estate Agents
Harry and Paul
Baddiels Syndrome
A Place in the Sun
A Place in the Sun - Home or Away

Aside from those, I have a couple dozen or so odd one off programmes that I could not find, as an example...

Storming Juno
One Night in Turin
Surviving Progress
Alien Investigations
Quadrophenia - can you see the real me

There are also things I comped up myself ie Top Gear bits etc. which I know I will need to make files for.

So, I expect a bit more searching and double checking the program names might get one or two more sorted, but after that I'll have to add my own stuff. I'll do that export library thing when I have got things as good as I can, then figure out how to creat the rest of what I need... plus share it with the tvdb. I guess I can use Media Companion to make nfo files etc from scratch?

Getting there, and it is looking very good. Trouble with this sort of thing is I get a bit obssesed with it!
I haven't even started on the music yet....

[nickr]

Camper Van Crisis isn't on thetvdb.com. You will need to add it. (It is a community effort, relies on people like you to add it).

I didn't look for any of the others.

EDIT: oops yes it is but you have it spelled differently. Try Campervan Crisis.

[JohnyLondon]

Thanks for that - that's the sort of issue I found a few of earlier, but yeh if I do the artworks for my own stuff I'll gladly load it up to the tvdb as I said. Just need a rainy day.....

[dgcruzing]

Will follow this thread as being a tidy kiwi myself and finally getting things sorted..
Yes as to music..that is my winter job as mine is a mess..a few thousand albums +

[nickr]

If you are a Kiwi, it's winter now (with a bloody vengeance!)

[dgcruzing]

Lol..know..
But living and working in China so NEED a good XBMC setup..

Just went through the file naming wiki again this morning..I need to go through 700 old music directories and change them from having a 1,2,3,4-700 in front of every album..as thats how I recieved them..
Also need to get my tvshows in order..
Just a timing thing..

[nickr]

Albums are a bit different, relying on tagging more than filenames.

[Kib]

So, I expect a bit more searching and double checking the program names might get one or two more sorted, but after that I'll have to add my own stuff. I'll do that export library thing when I have got things as good as I can, then figure out how to creat the rest of what I need... plus share it with the tvdb. I guess I can use Media Companion to make nfo files etc from scratch?

It took me about 20 minutes to find all but 5

Incorrect folder names:

Code:

Camper Van Crisis
- Campervan Crisis, id 81951
Narrow Boat
- Narrowboat, id 234331
Narrow Boat Afloat
- Narrowboat Afloat, id 248175
Ali G in the USa (or da USa or USaiiii etc!) surprised about that one.
- Da Ali G Show (US), id 72359
Harry and Paul
- Ruddy Hell! It's Harry And Paul, 80101

Shows that are on TheTVDB but miss information. I would suggest filling it all out on thetvdb as precise as you can and waiting a few days before rescraping. Checking their forums never hurts either.

Code:

A Place in the Sun
- A Place in the Sun, id 138401
A Place in the Sun - Home or Away
- A Place in the Sun Home or Away, id 143231
The Estate Agents
- The Estate Agents, 70921
Baddiels Syndrome
- Baddiel's Syndrome, 76901

TV Movies, not tv-shows:

Code:

One Night in Turin
- imdb tt1626175
Surviving Progress
- imdb tt1462014
Storming Juno
- imdb tt1776305

The rest:

Code:

Kevin Turvey
- "Kevin Turvey - The Man Behind The Green Door" is a mockumentary, not a real tvshow. It could possibly be listed under a grouplisting for BBC one-off listings if this is the one you meant.
Waterworld
- no clue, need more information to find it
The Caravan Show
- not sure, but i guess this might be id 113501. need more information about the number of seasons etc
Alien Investigations & Quadrophenia - can you see the real me
- One-off BBC documentaries are probably listed under id 79660 but need to check every season for them.

[JohnyLondon]

Hi Kibje,

Hey that rainy day came sooner than I thought... managed to get quite a bit done with sorting the rogue files... and added a few things to tvdb too which was cool - though I can see why some things don't already have images - very hard to find and not up to the standards required - so in that case I will just keep them in my folders and use them myself.
Harry and Paul I did all three series with artworks - turns out the trick ther was that "Ruddy Hell..." was actually series 1, then 2, 3, and 4 are just "Harry and Paul". I even had the satisfaction of adding all the series info as well as images where possible!
aLI g i FIXED TOO - A SIMILAR THING AS SERIES 1 WAS WHAT i HAD FOR THE USA STUFF, THEN SERIES 2 AND THREE MADE MORE SENSE.. IF YOU SEE WHAT i MEAN? tHE USA STUFF.. sorry caps lock as I was saying... the USA stuff on tvdb was something else again that I did not have.

I added some artworks for Narrowboat and Narrowboat Afloat, and some series info, same again for Little England... which is all down as a single series but is actually two series, so I contacted a moderator about that.

Long story short... getting there

In the meantime, a few tricky ones still....

Festivals Britannia - can't find but found all the other Britannia music stuff
Space Pioneer - showing as Space Pioneers, something totally different.
Voyager - to the final frontier - can't find on tvdb yet on the xbmc it comes up ok but without a folder image.

I'm saving the Place in the Sun ones for another day... ditto my collection of Top Gear oddments What should I do about stuff I know I won't find such as Top gear bits and clips of stuff off Youtube? I just want it to display as being there, for a start.

All good fun and nice to give a little back to the tvdb

[dgcruzing]

Thanks for the thread guys, I worked my way through a heap of Movies and shows in the weekend and got a lot more to show with the right thumbs.
Things like the
Hairy Bikers' Best of British
needed the right naming as per the TVDB database, but once I got that sorted I was away and running.

[JohnyLondon]

I've been doing the same thing over the weekend.

I found that; the search is rather fickle sometimes, and won't cut you much slack on variations of how something might be named, so you have to be quite persistent sometimes. (ie Dr Who = little or no results, Doctor Who = found what I wanted.)

Also - if you have any odd documentaries, you must find who made them and group them accordingly in your local folders, ie BBC Documentaries, C4 Documentaries, Quest Documentaries etc. And when you look for the titles, they won't come up on the tvdb - you have to enter "Documentaries" then find the relevant category (ie BBC Documentaries) then you can scroll the title by Year or All and pick out what you are after. That's good news in one way - just about everything is there, but not so good from the point of view that people (including myself this weekend) search for a title, fail to find it, and so spend time adding it... only for the moderators to delete it as they do not want documentaries seperately.

Getting there....

[Kib]

I agree the search options at thetvdb could be improved, maybe you should voice this on their forums.

[JohnyLondon]

I kind of have... but I think I'm in the dog house for adding seperate series for items they wanted under bbc documentaries

Look really good though - check these out:

The Pink Floyd Story - Which One's Pink
Quadrophenia - Can You See the Real Me
Did We Land on the Moon
Alien Investigations

I wonder if they would entertain the idea of having dual listings for those who like stuff seperately and not all in Documentaries... nahhh.

But yeh it's kind of annoying - when you go to search and can't find any results, hence assuming that the show needs to be added and spending ages on it, only for the mods to tell you they are gonna take it down - plus in documentaries, you don't end up with all the different artworks (poster/dvd cover/fanart) just the bog standard bbc background and some poorly made up year posters
Not to moan though - on the whole the tvdb is pretty awesome and you have to have some rules or it would be chaos.