[Triggeh]

I have a ton of shows that are not being picked up due to folders having OVAS, Specials, Openings/Endings and what not in the folder. I don't want to move these files elsewhere and change change file/folder structure just to have Kodi display the shows correctly.

So my question: Is it possible to have Kodi ignore scraping episode information and have it only gather info on the series name? I have no need at all for kodi to even gather any data on the episodes. If not, is there any alternative software that can do this that works on an Nvidia Shield TV?

[Karellen]

Hello Triggeh

Is it possible to have Kodi ignore scraping episode information and have it only gather info on the series name?

Short answer is no. If you scrape only the TV Show, but no episodes, then there will be no episodes displayed under the TV Show.

Consider just using Video>Files. Other than that, I don't know of an alternative software that you can use. Maybe just use a stand alone player like VLC and Windows Explorer.

[Triggeh]

This really seems like a basic feature that should be implemented, especially for anime. Why is it not possible to just scrape the folder names for each series then show files after opening the corresponding folder.

This would mean i don't have to spend ages messing around with regex in advanced settings and still running into issues where i will need to move OP/ED files and what not elsewhere and rename hundreds of files.
I'm viewing the media on my TV with a Nvidia Shield TV which is grabbing the files off my NAS. Kodi works well for movies and some shows but this feature would basically make it fool-proof for TV shows.

[DarrenHill]

That's basically what file view mode is.

There are various other scrapers available from the official repo (and one or two other 3rd party ones iirc) which may be more appropriate for your media. But in the end one of the driving forces behind using Kodi rather than a simpler stand-alone media player like VLC is the inclusion of metadata and other items like fanart. That can only come via scrapers and their media databases, which is where the file naming limitations etc come in.

[Triggeh]

That's basically what file view mode is.

File view mode/Videos is not what I want either because even though it can show shows with no metadata, it still shows metadata on episodes rather than filenames which causes me some issues. For instance, if i have OP/EDs or specials Kodi will see them as episode 1 and i will have multiple duplicate entries of episodes. There is also some other issues, but you get the idea.

All my episode filenames sort alphabetically so there is no need for me to have this extra bit of information that is causing much more harm than good.

But in the end one of the driving forces behind using Kodi rather than a simpler stand-alone media player like VLC is the inclusion of metadata and other items like fanart. That can only come via scrapers and their media databases, which is where the file naming limitations etc come in.

 
I still want metadata and fanart, i just don't want it on each episode, there's no reason why it wouldn't be possible to just scrape the folder name only for fanart of the series and metadata but nothing on the episodes.I could spend days changing my filenames and move OP/EDs etc into separate folders which will mean they will be missing from the TV Shows (as there's no info to be scraped) or I can see them in the Files view but then I see two entries for each series one of which has no metadata. Neither is a good solution and both requires me to spend a lot of time re-organizing when I'm completely fine with kodi ignoring episode metadata all-together.

BTW i am using the anidb scraper, but the this isn't the issue.

[ponkotsu]

Just out of curiosity, how are your files named? In file view mode, my OP/EDs show as distinct files and not duplicates of episode 1.



I'm not sure this would work, but if you scrape the empty show folder to get show fanart and metadata, and afterwards put the episodes/OAVs/OPs/EDs/whatnot into the folder, and make sure there is no "Library Auto Update" or anything going on, would that then allow you to use file view mode to get the desired outcome? (fanart as in my screenshot, but plain filenames for the contents of the folder similar to the unscraped OPEDs in screenshot above, if I'm understanding correctly) Maybe one of the devs or mods can confirm/refute my theory?

[jjd-uk]

This would mean i don't have to spend ages messing around with regex in advanced settings and still running into issues where i will need to move OP/ED files and what not elsewhere and rename hundreds of files.
I'm viewing the media on my TV with a Nvidia Shield TV which is grabbing the files off my NAS. Kodi works well for movies and some shows but this feature would basically make it fool-proof for TV shows.

Messing with regex is going to be the only way to get what you want.

So to prevent stuff being looked at by the scraper you need to make use of <excludefromscan> for movie sources and <excludetvshowsfromscan>for TV sources, then if you don't want certain things to appear in Files view you need to make use of <excludefromlisting> see https://kodi.wiki/view/advancedsettings....y_settings

[Triggeh]

Messing with regex is going to be the only way to get what you want.

This is my problem, all i want is for it to scrape series info from the foldername and ignore files/episodes, I wish this was possible.

The regex i'm using currently is: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=259499 it picks up most episodes but not everything and as i said before it shows duplicate episodes when folders have OP/EDs or OVAs or specials etc in the folder.

Filenames have not been changed from what was being used by fansub groups, and changing them isn't really an option.

[nickr]

Pretty well the whole point of Kodi is the library. Just go with the flow and name your files properly, they should then scrape properly. I recommend filebot.

[jjd-uk]

Messing with regex is going to be the only way to get what you want.

This is my problem, all i want is for it to scrape series info from the foldername and ignore files/episodes, I wish this was possible.

The regex i'm using currently is: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=259499 it picks up most episodes but not everything and as i said before it shows duplicate episodes when folders have OP/EDs or OVAs or specials etc in the folder.

Filenames have not been changed from what was being used by fansub groups, and changing them isn't really an option.

It seems like you did not understand what I wrote.

I was suggesting adding regex to prevent the OP/EDs or OVAs being added to the Library and then an addition regex to prevent those file appearing in File view if you so wanted. This would allow your episodes to be scraped into the Library with no duplicate entries, that is assuming your filenaming is correct for the episode files.

[Triggeh]

Messing with regex is going to be the only way to get what you want.

This is my problem, all i want is for it to scrape series info from the foldername and ignore files/episodes, I wish this was possible.

The regex i'm using currently is: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=259499 it picks up most episodes but not everything and as i said before it shows duplicate episodes when folders have OP/EDs or OVAs or specials etc in the folder.

Filenames have not been changed from what was being used by fansub groups, and changing them isn't really an option. 

It seems like you did not understand what I wrote.

I was suggesting adding regex to prevent the OP/EDs or OVAs being added to the Library and then an addition regex to prevent those file appearing in File view if you so wanted. This would allow your episodes to be scraped into the Library with no duplicate entries, that is assuming your filenaming is correct for the episode files. 

This is my problem, i don't want to spend hours days messing with renaming files and improving the regex. I shouldn't have to learn regex or rename thousands of files just to get some simple functionality.

If Kodi could do what I suggested (ignore filenames and episodes all-together as an option) and only scrape folder names then

• Scraping would be much much faster.
  
• I could see the full filenames of everything
  
• No messing with regex
  
• No changing fille names
  
• Everything would just werk™
  

 

Pretty well the whole point of Kodi is the library. Just go with the flow and name your files properly, they should then scrape properly. I recommend filebot.

Renaming isn't an option on my 34TB nas, especially when i want to keep original filenames that have CRCs in them. (There is other reasons as well though)

"the whole point of Kodi is the library"
I never said to take it away, I just want to scrape folder names for the series and ignore episodes while showing original file names. I'm really surprised this isn't an option in Kodi or Plex.

[Karellen]

Can you provide a listing of a few TV Shows showing the TV Show name, and inside the folder showing the episodes and how they are named.

A screenshot of Windows Explorer (or similar) will do.

[Triggeh]

All my folder names are:
showname (BD)
showname (DVD)
showname (TV)
and so on with the brackets indicating the source.

Filenames are allover the place as I don't rename them, i've had some issues with an episode having two hyphens in it making the scraper no longer recognize any future episodes:
Episode 14 - Hiyou Pursuit - Successor.mkv

Problems with semicolons in the folder name:
Steins;Gate

Problems with special episodes and OP/EDs:
episode 00a - short story #1.mkv
[Yoroshiku]_REC_07.5_(H264)_[D150E024].mkv
[Elysium]K-ON!!.ED1(BD.720p.FLAC)[FD9D439F].mkv
[Commie] Kimi no Iru Machi OVA - 01 [5070FF62].mkv
Fate_Stay_Night_ED_[720p,BluRay,x264]_-_THORA.mkv
Eden_of_the_East_ED_[1080p,BluRay,x264]_-_gg-THORA.mkv
OVA 1 - Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu ~Matsuri~.mkv
[Hatsuyuki]_Ansatsu_Kyoushitsu_OVA_[848x480][10bit][6BE57B34].mkv
[MK] Assassination Classroom - 00 [BD 720p][Hi10][Dual Audio][D0A422C7].mkv

This is just a very brief example, hundreds of my shows do not get scraped properly, and hundreds of the folders that do show up have duplicate episodes and other issues.

I'm using https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=259499 + ani.db mod for scraping. It's extremely painful trying to get this all working perfectly so I wanted to just be able to scrape the folder names instead.

[Karellen]

Ok, I did have a suggestion, but no way it will work with your random file naming.

Filenames are allover the place as I don't rename them,

Sorry, but we just can't help you with that. You might need to just use a simple media player like VLC and a file browser... or just spend a bit of time on properly curating your collection.

Good luck

[nickr]

Honestly I thought all this renaming was a PITA when I started on Kodi (then XBMC). I have been a great fan of filebot and it helps immensely. Seriously, Kodi will TELL you without you having to name your files/folders with that info whether the files are BD quality or DVD quality.