Need advice on file naming / structure
#1
Hi. I'm setting up XBMC for the first time to play my Blu-ray movies and TV Shows. I'm using 13.1 Gotham.

I have ripped and compressed all my content, and on import not everything came in perfect. I've read over wikis on file structure, naming, sets and stacking (all of which I want to use), but wasn't able to follow them completely when I had multiple versions of the same movie and or movie sets with multiple versions of some of the movies in a set.

I'd like to get some advice on this from experienced users.

My movies break down into the following categories:

Single movies in a folder
\movies\Logans Run (1976)\logansrun.mp4

Movies that belong in sets
\movies\Back To The Future (1985)\backtothefuture.mp4
\movies\Back To The Future II (1989)\backtothefuture_ii.mp4
\movies\Back To The Future III (1990)\backtothefuture_iii.mp4

Multiple versions of a movie (I'm confused on this one)
\movies\watchmen (2009)\watchmen.mp4
\movies\watchmen (2009)\watchmen_directors_cut.mp4
\movies\watchmen (2009)\watchmen_directors_commentary.mp4

Another example of multiple versions:
\movies\avatar (2009)\avatar.mp4
\movies\avatar (2009)\avatar_specialedition.mp4
\movies\avatar (2009)\avatar_3d.mp4

And another example of mulitiple versions, but in a set.
\movies\harry potter and the philosophers stone (2001)\harrypotter_1.mp4
\movies\harry potter.... many others

Note below, two versions of the final movie:
\movies\harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2 (2011)\harrypotter_8.mp4
\movies\harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2 (2011)\harrypotter_8_3d.mp4

Is this ok? If not, I'm looking for advice so it's done correctly.

The TV Shows are set up and imported correctly the first time so I think I'm good there.

Thanks in advance.
Reply
#2
Think your best splitting every movie into its own folder, especially if your going to be using addons like artworkdownloader, I have 2 versions of some films and both are fine if in individual folders. so for instance split avatar like this

\movies\avatar (2009)\avatar.mp4
\movies\avatar SE (2009)\avatar_specialedition.mp4
\movies\avatar 3D (2009)\avatar_3d.mp4

for items like your watchmen directors commentary I think you'll perhaps need to look into the addon videoextras and how that works.

naming the harrypotters just harrypotter1...8 might not be right, not sure the scraper would find it, change these to same name as the folder i.e. for film name and try that. I have all 8 in individual folders and named like folder name and all 8 are in my library.

Some tips as well.

Include the (Year) in file name like folder as the scraper uses the file name.
If you want blu-ray/3d logos displayed then make sure file name contains '.bluray' / '.3d' accordingly.

i.e.

\movies\harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2 (2011)\harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2.bluray (2011).mp4 (if bluray version?)
\movies\harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2 3D (2011)\harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2.3d (2011).mp4
Reply
#3
(2014-08-12, 21:43)Mike_Doc Wrote: Think your best splitting every movie into its own folder, especially if your going to be using addons like artworkdownloader, I have 2 versions of some films and both are fine if in individual folders. so for instance split avatar like this

\movies\avatar (2009)\avatar.mp4
\movies\avatar SE (2009)\avatar_specialedition.mp4
\movies\avatar 3D (2009)\avatar_3d.mp4

for items like your watchmen directors commentary I think you'll perhaps need to look into the addon videoextras and how that works.

naming the harrypotters just harrypotter1...8 might not be right, not sure the scraper would find it, change these to same name as the folder i.e. for film name and try that. I have all 8 in individual folders and named like folder name and all 8 are in my library.

Some tips as well.

Include the (Year) in file name like folder as the scraper uses the file name.
If you want blu-ray/3d logos displayed then make sure file name contains '.bluray' / '.3d' accordingly.

i.e.

\movies\harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2 (2011)\harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2.bluray (2011).mp4 (if bluray version?)
\movies\harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2 3D (2011)\harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2.3d (2011).mp4

Thanks. I had not worried about the filename because the wiki appears to indicated the scraper gets its necessary info from the folder name. the samples indicate that as well. Or at least that's how I took the examples.

> examples from http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Nam...les/Movies

\Movies\Avatar (2009)\somefilename.mkv

\Movies\The Usual Suspects (1995)\somefilename.avi
\Movies\The Usual Suspects (1995)\somefilename-cd1.avi
\Movies\The Usual Suspects (1995)\somefilename-cd2.avi

\Movies\Avatar (2009)\Avatar (2009)-cd1.mkv
\Movies\Avatar (2009)\Avatar (2009)-cd2.mkv

I wasn't aware of the .bluray .3d attributes but can definitely add that to the file names. (all my movies are blu-ray. is it important to put bluray in the filename?)
Reply
#4
Quote:I wasn't aware of the .bluray .3d attributes but can definitely add that to the file names. (all my movies are blu-ray. is it important to put bluray in the filename?)

Depends on your skin and which look you like

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Media_flags

These "flags" ("bluray" or "3D" in file- oder foldername) can be used to show different cases for the specific skin. For expample if you take "bluray" as a flag in the file- or foldername, and you take AeonMQ5 as a skin, you will get a blue bluray case in "showcase" view. If non is selected, the skin takes DVD cases automatically.

So, if your movies are all BluRay, you can add these flags in your folder...like \Movies.Bluray\Avatar (2009)\Avatar.mkv

And if you have some 3D movies in it, you can add this flag to the filename \Movies.Bluray\Avatar (2009)\Avatar.3d.mkv

So you don´t have to rename every file in your folders. It´s important, that the flags are in the path for XBMC/the skin can "see" it.
Reply
#5
I'd recommend the use of a third party media manager, such as TMM or MediaElch.

This will allow you to download and choose all the art etc for each movie externally from XBMC, assign sets, change media ratings and other such cool stuff.

I used to just let XBMC do it's own scraping, and in 98% of cases it did what I wanted, but there were always a few niggles. For instance, as I live in the UK, I want BBFC ratings rather than MPAA so these need to be changed. Much easier to do with a third party manager.

Also, in my Pirates of the Caribbean collection, I have a blu-ray rip of one of the movies, but a DVD ISO of the same movie. Using a third party manager, it's easy to keep it in the right set, get the right synopsis and add (DVD) at the end of the name so I can distinguish it in XBMC's library.

Initially, using a third party manager can seem like a lot of work, especially as XBMC can do most of the work automatically, but once it's all done, adding new content becomes a breeze. You'll have more control over the text and images displayed and your library will have that 'WOW' factor when viewed.

I wouldn't now go back to letting XBMC scrape it's own data - good though it is, there was too much editing to do and as it was all done with a remote it was a chore. This way everything is how I want it before its imported to XBMC.

Just my thoughts on it.
Learning Linux the hard way !!
Reply
#6
I'd second black_eagle's comment. You get much better results spending a bit of time in sorting it all out in MediaElch or Ember (which is what I use).

Having said that, if you'd rather carry on as is, your file naming needs some work. Personally, I'd make sure all my file names have the IMDB reference (usually tt1234567) in the filename, so something like 'Back.To.The.Future.1985.tt1234567.mkv'. That way, XBMC is almost certain to get the right result on scraping.

You can also make sure that the file is read correctly from a format perspective, so something like 'Back.To.The.Future.1985.BRRip.720p.tt1234567.mkv' would show as 720p quality BluRay rip and so on.

Depending on the size of your library, this can be a lot of manual work and a media manager can do this sort of thing for you.
Reply
#7
Thanks for all the information. I had planned to move to TMM if necessary, and really only because I found that one before Ember. I had not run across MediaElch before. I'll spend time looking into them more.

I had completely missed the media flag option, which helps me understand why I'd see so many examples where people had those in their file names. I was wondering why.

I really appreciate all the help!
Reply
#8
@David1977, the folder level solution you mentioned, does that also work for dics logos? I use aeon nox gotham and it shows the disc type logo but I believe I need to put .bluray in the actual filename to get the bluray logo in the bottom left corner in the showcase view. The film already has the bluray case just not the logo. Do you know if your file solution will correct this or do I need to continue renaming my bluray films accordingly.?

I used to use media companion but had problems and tried ember and also had problems. I'll try ember again and see how it goes.

@black_eagle, is it an easy change to switch to BBFC ratings? Is it film by film or can I do my whole collection at once?
Reply
#9
(2014-08-13, 10:00)JesusOnEez Wrote: I'd second black_eagle's comment. You get much better results spending a bit of time in sorting it all out in MediaElch or Ember (which is what I use).

Having said that, if you'd rather carry on as is, your file naming needs some work. Personally, I'd make sure all my file names have the IMDB reference (usually tt1234567) in the filename, so something like 'Back.To.The.Future.1985.tt1234567.mkv'. That way, XBMC is almost certain to get the right result on scraping.

You can also make sure that the file is read correctly from a format perspective, so something like 'Back.To.The.Future.1985.BRRip.720p.tt1234567.mkv' would show as 720p quality BluRay rip and so on.

Depending on the size of your library, this can be a lot of manual work and a media manager can do this sort of thing for you.

So I started working on this and came up with a couple of questions if you don't mind.

Is there a list of media tags? I looked around, seemingly hard enough to find a list, but wasn't able to.

Is there a reason to use imdb vs tmdb? Is there a tag for tmdb like tt for imdb? Do you have to have your scraper set for the one you want to use (or does the explicit use of ttxxx or tmdbxxx cause it to use that site? (sorry, didn't realize it would be so many questions).
Reply
#10
(2014-08-13, 23:22)Mike_Doc Wrote: @David1977, the folder level solution you mentioned, does that also work for dics logos? I use aeon nox gotham and it shows the disc type logo but I believe I need to put .bluray in the actual filename to get the bluray logo in the bottom left corner in the showcase view. The film already has the bluray case just not the logo. Do you know if your file solution will correct this or do I need to continue renaming my bluray films accordingly.?

I used to use media companion but had problems and tried ember and also had problems. I'll try ember again and see how it goes.

I will take a look at this if I´m at home. Will report back. But I don´t know if it helps you, because I´m using AeonMQ5. Maybe it differs between the skins.
Reply
#11
(2014-08-13, 23:22)Mike_Doc Wrote: @David1977, the folder level solution you mentioned, does that also work for dics logos? I use aeon nox gotham and it shows the disc type logo but I believe I need to put .bluray in the actual filename to get the bluray logo in the bottom left corner in the showcase view. The film already has the bluray case just not the logo. Do you know if your file solution will correct this or do I need to continue renaming my bluray films accordingly.?

I used to use media companion but had problems and tried ember and also had problems. I'll try ember again and see how it goes.

@black_eagle, is it an easy change to switch to BBFC ratings? Is it film by film or can I do my whole collection at once?

Film by film, but if you are using Linux & nfo files, it should be an easy task to write a shell script to iterate through your film library and change the nfo accordingly. Sadly, I sat with MediaElch and changed them one at a time. Note, your skin has to support BBFC flags. Aeon MQ5 does, by changing the MPAA rating from 'PG' to 'UK: PG' etc (without the space after the colon )

As regards the media flags (blu-ray, dvd etc) MQ5 also shows the correct flags for me based on a 'Name of Movie 2010 BluRay 1080p DTS x264.mkv' type filename. The same naming convention works in confluence too, so I assume that it is reasonably correct.
Learning Linux the hard way !!
Reply
#12
(2014-08-13, 09:20)black_eagle Wrote: I'd recommend the use of a third party media manager, such as TMM or MediaElch.

This will allow you to download and choose all the art etc for each movie externally from XBMC, assign sets, change media ratings and other such cool stuff.

I used to just let XBMC do it's own scraping, and in 98% of cases it did what I wanted, but there were always a few niggles. For instance, as I live in the UK, I want BBFC ratings rather than MPAA so these need to be changed. Much easier to do with a third party manager.

Also, in my Pirates of the Caribbean collection, I have a blu-ray rip of one of the movies, but a DVD ISO of the same movie. Using a third party manager, it's easy to keep it in the right set, get the right synopsis and add (DVD) at the end of the name so I can distinguish it in XBMC's library.

Initially, using a third party manager can seem like a lot of work, especially as XBMC can do most of the work automatically, but once it's all done, adding new content becomes a breeze. You'll have more control over the text and images displayed and your library will have that 'WOW' factor when viewed.

I wouldn't now go back to letting XBMC scrape it's own data - good though it is, there was too much editing to do and as it was all done with a remote it was a chore. This way everything is how I want it before its imported to XBMC.

Just my thoughts on it.

I ended up using TMM to sort this out. It was definitely better to use this, especially for the multiple-version movies.

I have it all working, but not all my movie sets in XBMC show set art that TMM collected and appears to be there. Actually, some sets do have art, but it's just the first movie art in the group, not the art that TMM has. I posted asking about this here, but haven't heard anything yet. http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=202293

Once I get that fixed, I'll have a nice working library. Thanks.
Reply
#13
Philip, probably easier just to press c and go into context menu, then choose manage then choose art and finally select what you want to change and the the relevant Image. I found it easier to have a movie set folder, then a folder for each collection / trilogy and then dump you art In there. The only annoying thing is that after you update one image, say poster, then it doesn't return to choose art, just back to menu so it'll get annoying having to go back in again and again for each item you want to change.
Reply
#14
(2014-08-17, 22:13)Mike_Doc Wrote: Philip, probably easier just to press c and go into context menu, then choose manage then choose art and finally select what you want to change and the the relevant Image. I found it easier to have a movie set folder, then a folder for each collection / trilogy and then dump you art In there. The only annoying thing is that after you update one image, say poster, then it doesn't return to choose art, just back to menu so it'll get annoying having to go back in again and again for each item you want to change.

Thanks. I'll do that as well.

Probably the worst part will be that I have 3 computers to do it on.
Reply
#15
(2014-08-17, 22:43)PhilipW Wrote: Probably the worst part will be that I have 3 computers to do it on.

You should have set up a MySQL shared library. Then you only have to do it on one Wink
Learning Linux the hard way !!
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
Need advice on file naming / structure0