Naming video files/Movies

Template:XBMC wiki toc Inline In order to be scanned correctly, movie file names should only have the title and the year (optional) followed by the file extension.

To improve the matching add the year within parenthesis to the end of the file or foldername, depending on your scanning method (before the extension, if filename), this naming standard seems to yield the best results. Note that the same goes for some TV Shows such as "Battlestar Galactica", "Doctor Who" and "Knight Rider" which can yield multiple results.

\Movies\Pulp Fiction (1994).avi
\Movies\Reservoir Dogs (1992).avi
\Movies\The Usual Suspects (1995).avi

\Movies\The Usual Suspects (1995)\somefilename.avi

\TV\Battlestar Galactica (2003)\files.avi

And for DVD-Video movies stored in file-mode on the harddrive:

\Movies\Alien (1979)\VIDEO_TS.IFO
\Movies\Léon (1994)\VIDEO_TS.IFO
\Movies\Scarface (1983)\VIDEO_TS.IFO

Additional information

Based on the naming scheme of your movie files, lookups may or may not be effective. The filename is referenced by a search within the online resource records and the closest matches are presented. If the filename is not exactly or very close to the movie title the automatic scan may not always offer accurate matches. You can always do a manual lookup instead from the context menu. This allows you to choose between several matches and/or refine your query to obtain the correct movie.

If you would like to remove the entire video database (after a bad scan, or for whatever reason) you can simply remove/rename the file called MyVideos*.db in the UserData-directory (see The UserData Folder to find out where the UserData Folder is located on your installation). Restart XBMC and the IMDb information can be rescanned.

*TIP!: If you like to use lookup to catalog off-line DVD-Video library (or other movies stored on DVD/CD media) see: Media stubs