Adding TV Shows (and TV Show Episodes) to XBMC's video library database?
#1
Question 
Hi,

I'm new to XBMC and are currently trying to add some TV-Series Episodes to the Database.

I have a NAS running and added the Share for my Videos as Source in the Video Section.

I read the Online Manual over and over, but I think I am missing something essential.

The Structure is as follows:

smb://NASDev/Video
- Movies
- TV-Series
|- TV-Series Name
[INDENT]|- EpisodeName.S01E01.avi
[/INDENT]
[INDENT]|- EpisodeName.S01E02.avi
[/INDENT]

I set the Content type on "TV-Series" and "TV-Series Name" to TV-Series.
But in the Context Menu I have no option to add the TV-Series to database.
The option to add to Database I only have in the Context menu for the Episode-Files.

Do I really have to add every single episode file to database, or is there an option to add a complete directory?

And help is welcome.

Thanks!
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#2
It's really easy, I can guarantee you are making it difficult for yourself. I'll explain it to you on the condition that you improve the content in the online manual. Deal?
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#3
OK, Deal. But you have to explain me how to update the Wiki, I have no Idea about that.

I just see, that in my initial post it not really clear, that the episode files are in the folder "TV-Series Name". They are in this folder.
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#4
John McClane Wrote:OK, Deal. But you have to explain me how to update the Wiki, I have no Idea about that.

I just see, that in my initial post it not really clear, that the episode files are in the folder "TV-Series Name". They are in this folder.

Any luck with this so far?

If not, let me know.... but a clue for you...

XBMC can definitely find all your shows in one go for you, but it requires you to name your files within a few specific ways.
You CAN keep your own custom naming scheme too, and 'teach' XBMC what your own custom naming scheme is... but this is done with a special technique called 'Regular Expressions' or RegEx for short.

The easiest of the two options is normally just to name all your TV stuff in the recommended format, since RegEx is a little mindboggling at first (even though it's easy one you're fully versed in how to do it).

Anyway, let me know if you're up and running yet... if not, we'll sort the issue out for you :-)
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#5
No, I don't have it running yet.

I read the naming conventions over and over, but I don't see where my error is. The Names I gave my episode files match the default naming convention, or don't they?
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#6
John McClane Wrote:No, I don't have it running yet.

I read the naming conventions over and over, but I don't see where my error is. The Names I gave my episode files match the default naming convention, or don't they?


OK here's some options:

Option 1 ************* (Preferred option first)

Create a new 'source' using XBMC files mode.
Point the source to smb://NASDev/Video/TV-Series
Set the content type for that source to TV Shows, make sure you turn on 'Automated Scan' and turn off 'Selected Folder Contains A Single TV Show'
Choose scan for new content on your newly created 'Source'

I believe, this SHOULD find you files given your naming convention

End of Option 1 ***********



Option 2 *************

Rename your episode files in the following manner
<tvshowname.s01e01.avi (all lower case)

End of Option 2 ********



Option 3 ********
Structure your episode files in the following manner (since it looks like you like to have the episode name in the filename)
<TVShowName>
----<Season xx>
--------Episode xx - <Episode name>.avi

Then edit your advancedsettings.xml file (you may have to CREATE it) to contain the following:
<advancedsettings>
<tvshowmatching>
[INDENT]<regexp>Season[\._ ]([0-9]+)[\\/]Episode ([0-9]+)[^\\/]*</regexp>
</tvshowmatching>[/INDENT]
</advancedsettings>

End Of Option 3 *********
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#7
Option 1 did not work.
If I activate 'Automated Scan' on my new Source, it does not remain active.

Additionally I renamed my files to
tvshowname.s01e01.Episodename.avi
and moved then to the root of my source.
Still no luck

The TV Series I do my testing is a very old german/swedisch TV-Series from the 70s.

What if this TV Series Name can not be found in the online Databases?
Are those files ignores then?
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#8
zirytowany Wrote:If you're using TheTVDB, try searching for your show in your browser first. In my experience it's great when working, but for the most part covers new series in addition to the absolutely most popular older ones.

I would have helped if you'd mentioned it was a highly obscure tv series!

Try with a dummy file structure, like this

Friends
---Season 01
------ s01e01.avi

We can then at least try and work things out then. The avi doesn't have to be a real avi... just some dummy file.

(I am assuming you CAN see your files in file mode right?)
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#9
Hi,

I did some testing here at work on a virtual machine with your suggested structure. And yes, it works.

So I did some further testing here with my "obscure" TV Show.
I cerated a stucture called

Michel von Lönneberga
- s01e01.avi

I used "TheTVDB.com" and set it to override the language to "de".
Also worked.

Than I tried this:

Michel von Lönneberga
- s01e01-Name of Episode.avi

This also worked. All information for the TV Shows are downloaded in german.

So when I'm at home later on, I will try again with the real files.
The only thing I recognized is, that no pictures or posters are downloaded.
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#10
John McClane Wrote:Hi,

I did some testing here at work on a virtual machine with your suggested structure. And yes, it works.

So I did some further testing here with my "obscure" TV Show.
I cerated a stucture called

Michel von Lönneberga
- s01e01.avi

I used "TheTVDB.com" and set it to override the language to "de".
Also worked.

Than I tried this:

Michel von Lönneberga
- s01e01-Name of Episode.avi

This also worked. All information for the TV Shows are downloaded in german.

So when I'm at home later on, I will try again with the real files.
The only thing I recognized is, that no pictures or posters are downloaded.


Great work, are reasonably good news then....

The chances are, there is no artwork available for very obscure media. However, if you have some, you can upload it to moviedb or tvdb :-)
If you don't wish to upload it, you can still set up the artwork locally on your machine.

If you need help with this, let me know
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#11
At Home, with my real files, it works including artwork.
But I don't know where the difference in the setup is, between my installtion at home and here in my Virual Machine. Maybe xbmc has problems displaying Artwork and images in a VM.

Thanks for your help.
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Adding TV Shows (and TV Show Episodes) to XBMC's video library database?0