Questions for XBMC users

ShepsCrook

ShepsCrook

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Feb 16, 2003
Messages
9,440
Hello everyone, I've got a couple HTPC systems that are running XBMC and I feel as though I haven't really even scratched the surface of what I can do with it. The reason being, are that there are a few problems I have that I just have yet to get figured out.

1: XBMC using the build in TV scraper (I believe it's TVDB), does not detect some of my TV shows seasons.

File structure is as such:
TVShows\Archer FX\Season 01\*.* episodes

EX:
TVShows\
  • Archer FX\
    - Season 01\
    \ Archer S01E01 - Pilot - HDTV.mkv
    \ Archer S01E02 - Training Day - HDTV.mkv
    - Season 02
  • Dirty Jobs\
  • Big Bang Theory\
  • The Office\

Of course I didn't list each directory with shows, but I think you get the point.

However, despite being set up the exact same way, Archer FX\Season 02\ is not recognized at all.

2: What is the best movie scraper available? Whenever I go to view my movies, I'll sometimes have duplicates of a movie, or it will be WAY off that I need to go and change the information. I am willing to do go through my list and correct the movies as I do not expect 100% accuracy, especially when there are movies with the same title, one newer and one older.

3: I would love to be able to play roms on XBMC but sadly, anytime I try to use a launcher and an emulator through the xbmc add-on, it will not work.

Those are the major issues that are holding me back from exploring more.
 
1) I have mine as:

TV Shows\
Lost\
Season 1\
Lost.s01e01.mkv

That seems to pick them up really well. I dont know if I can change the 'label' so in the XBMC interface it looks nicer.

2) Whatever it set to :p I think I told it to use IMDB but it is now like MovieDB or something. I have only got one false positive but that was due to a typo on my end. Usually if it dosnt come up I IMDB the exact title and use that.

3) I havnt been able to get launcher to work either.
 
thetvdb.com is used for tv shows

it's looking at the folder only for the show name

for the season and episode number, it's looking for that in the filename of the video.

weeds_s1e01.avi
weeds_s2e01.avi

you can put them into any subfolder ya like, i think having season folders is the best route
 
Which is what I do, I have a folder for show name, a folder for season, and the filename also has the showname, and episode/season info, plus the programming name.
 
Here's what I found also, I'm using the Alaska skin, and in the "TV Shows" section, the lists are not up to date. If I go to the Video section, then to the subfolder of TV Shows, it's up to date and can see everything...
 
Someone else told me he was having issues with the Alaska skin. Switch to confluence and see if the problem exists?
 
I've tried switching skins and have had the same problems. It's very strange.
 
I will give that a try. However, I've read that my naming convention works with XMBC.
 
try putting one of the season 2 files into season 1 folder and see if it picks it up
if it doesn't it's either the filename or thetvdb doesn't have the data or the local cache of thetvdb's data is borked

try scanning the folders with UMM (Universal Media Manager available on sourceforge) or some other media Manager (like Media Info Plus or Media Companion). Those generate the .nfo files that tell xbmc about the show and episodes, also works for movies. When those files are there it uses that data and not what it finds by it's own searching. I use UMM, but I'm also one of the dev's of it, it's still alpha.
 
Media Companion

Absolutely fabulous.

Set your media files up as suggested above:

Movies
-NameofMovie
--movie.mkv

TV Shows
-NameofTVShow
--Season 1
---S01E01.mkv

You shouldn't have any problem. It will scrape everything you need. You can also change whatever you want as well (description, fanart, poster art).

I would definitely suggest checking out the AeonMQ 2 skin for XBMC with the showcase view.
 
Yeah, I renamed archer but of course now in the TVshows folder, it's not seen anymore. I've cleaned the database but it still doesn't show up. If I go to the video's section and then to TVShows, it's there and updated.
 
This is how I have it and theimdb scraper pics up all my episodes perfectly:

G:/
TV Shows/
Archer (2009)/
Season 1/
Archer S01E01.mkv
Archer S01E02.mkv
ect..
Season 2/
Archer S02E01.mkv
Archer S02E02.mkv
ect...
 
FWIW, the season folder structure is completely optional from what I read on XBMC forums and my structure confirms that as well:

Folder = TV show name + Year in most cases
files = all seasons mixed w/critical naming ".SxxExx." and anything else around it.

I have 4 seasons of some animes, seasons 1-6 of Sunny in Philly, etc. : all under a single folder for each TV show. However, if the ".SxxExx." is wrong at all, it will scrape wrong.

I believe the periods to separate title, year, etc., are pretty important to help the scraper.

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=TV_Shows_(Video_Library)#Directory_Structure_and_File_Names
for reference help.

If you still don't see Archer right in both places, I would suggest exit XBMC, rename folder in Explorer, start up XBMC, delete Archer from TV Shows Library list (but do NOT delete the files :) ), switch to File Mode, select the "Archer (2009)" folder and hit Info option. This should rescan the folder, and rescrape the episodes inside: adding it back to the Library.
 
I'm running Media Companion right now and I've started a slight overhaul on my movie naming. Movies that were mixed up in detection, I added the year it was made and have been trying to organize movies better.

Same with TV shows actually.
 
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