Naming video files/TV shows: Difference between revisions

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{{:Adding videos to the library/Contents}}
{{VideoLibraryCreate}}
{{#lst:Adding videos to the library/Naming files|naming files}}
{{mininav| [[Video library]] |[[HOW-TO:Create_Video_Library|Create Video Library]] }}


The TV Show lookup scraper relies on the following naming conventions in order to work as intended.


== Directory structure and file names ==
= Introduction =
[[File:Library.videos.tvshowsfanart.WSCR.jpg|right|400px]]
There are two components to TV Shows that need to be accurate for a successful scrape:
XBMC needs a TV show folder with just the TV show name and then it needs file names that contain both episode numbers and season numbers. There can be season folders between the TV show folder and the episode files, but XBMC will not use these to figure out what the seasons are (it uses episode names for that). While XBMC and scrapers can sometimes be forgiving of extra data in the file name, it's best to keep it simple. Advanced users can tweak the matching patterns that XBMC uses for this with regex and [[advancedsettings.xml#.3Ctvshowmatching.3E|these advancedsettings.xml settings]].
# Correct '''naming''' of the TV Show
# Correct '''numbering''' of the Episodes


;Directory layout example
{{note|This page details the TV Show folder. Season folders and episodes are discussed in the following pages.}}
:{|
|
<pre>
TV Shows
  |----TV Show 1
  |      |----Season #
  |            |--Files
  |----TV Show 2 (year)
  |      |--Files
  |----TV Show 3
  |      |----2008
  |            |--Files
</pre>
|}
[[File:Library.videos.tvshowinfo.WSCR.jpg|right|400px]]
;Default TV show folder naming conventions
*'''(year)''' - can be helpful for some TV Shows such as "Battlestar Galactica", "Doctor Who" and "Knight Rider" which can yield multiple results.
:Name
:Name (year)


;Default episode file naming conventions
= TV Show Folders =
*'''name''' - can be the TV show name, episode name, something else, or you can exclude the name and only have the season and episode numbers. You can also place the name after the season and episode numbers. Text within [brackets] is ignored all together.
{|
*'''ext''' - The file extension, such as .mkv, .avi, .iso, etc.
! scope="row" colspan="10"  style="width:300px; background-color:#; text-align:left;"|
*Spaces and underscores are interchangeable in the examples below.
! scope="row" ! |
*Periods can be used to break up text, but they cannot be used in between season number and episode number
|-
:''name''.s01e01.''ext''
| style="background-color:#;"| [[File:Video-TVShow Folder.png|left|400px|Image 1- TV Show folders]] || style="background-color:#;"|
:''name''.s01.e01.''ext''
'''{{resize|1.3em|{{red|Each TV Show requires its own folder in the Source folder}} }}'''
:''name''.s01_e01.''ext''
:''name'' [s01] [e01].''ext''
:''name''.1x01.''ext''
:''name''.101.''ext''


;Defaults for two-part TV Show Episode will match:
The naming of your TV Show folder is '''critical''' to ensure the scrapers can correctly identify the TV Show and its episodes.
:''name''.s01e01-02.''ext''
:''name''_[s01]_[e01-02]_.''ext''
:''name''.1x01.1x02.''ext''


;Same with three- or four-part TV Show Episode:
'''''TV Show Name (Year)''''' - This is the correct naming format for the TV Show folder
:''name''.s01e01-02-03-04.''ext''
:''name''_[s01]_[e01-02-03-04]_.''ext''
:''name''.1x01.1x02.1x03.1x04.''ext''


* The TV Show folders are saved inside the '''''[[Source_folder|Source folder]]'''''
* Adding the (Year) makes scraping more accurate and differentiates between original and remake versions.
* For '''Country of Origin''' TV Shows, the (Year) is replaced with the country code. eg ''Hells Kitchen (UK), Hells Kitchen (US), Hells Kitchen (AU)'' etc.
* '''The title and (year) displayed at the scraper site is how you should name your show.'''
<br>
<br>
'''Note:''' If you are unsure of the name or year, then check which scraper you are using and visit the appropriate site for correct naming:
* '''''[https://www.themoviedb.org/ TheMovieDB]''''' - ''(the default scraper)''
* '''''[https://www.thetvdb.com/ TVDB]'''''
* '''''[https://www.tvmaze.com/ TV Maze]'''''
|-
! scope="row" colspan="10"  style="width:300px; background-color:#; text-align:left;"|
|}


{{-}}
== Multi-part episodes ==
Handling of multi-part episodes (two part episodes in one file, multiple episodes in DVD images, etc.) is supported. The first matched tvshowmatching regexp and "[-EeXx]+([0-9]+)" will be repeatedly applied against a file name until no more seasons or episodes are found.
;This allows for file names such as:
:showname_s01e01e02e03_s02e01e02
:showname.104-05-06-201-02
:showname.1x07x08x09
To break the file up in episodes that XBMC can work with you will have to create an nfo file with <epbookmark> tags.
More information can be found on the [[Import - Export Library#TV Episodes|Import - Export Library]] page.
Note that when using a custom RegExp to match a custom file naming convention, add (.*) to the end of the RegExp so that the 3rd RegExp capture is found for the second episode.
<!--== Multi-file episodes ==
'''This feature has been temporarily disabled, the plan is to implement it in a better fashion at a future date.'''<br />
You can stack multiple files into one episode.
For that to be available the [[Videos Settings#Library|Stack Duplicate TV Shows]] Video Library setting needs to be enabled.
All the files must have the same season and episode number and they all have to be in the same folder. (This is to prevent unwanted stacking of true duplicates in different folders). The items will be automatically stacked in sequential order based off the filenames being sorted in a "natural" order (like this: -part1.avi, -part2.avi, ..., -part10.avi.)-->
== TV Show specials ==
Special episodes are currently supported with [[TheTVDB.com (Video Library)|TheTVDB.com]] scraper. In order for the XBMC scraper regular expressions to recognize them, they should be part of season 0. (Specials naming order can be observed in the Specials Season of the relevant TV show at [http://TheTVDB.com TheTVDB.com]).
;Example
:[http://thetvdb.com/?tab=season&seriesid=76736&seasonid=24194&lid=7 Black Adder's Christmas Carol] should have a file name that matches season 0 episode 3 (e.g. contain s00e03).
<pre>
TV Shows
  |----BlackAdder
  |      |----Season 0
  |            |--filename.s00e01.tittle.*
  |            |--BlackAdder.s00e03.Blackadder's Christmas Carol.*
  |            |--etc...
</pre>
== Single or no season (anime, series, etc) ==
Some scrapers, such as the [[TheTVDB.com (Video Library)|TVDB.com]] scraper support absolute numbering via [[Video_library/Setting_content_and_scanning#TV_show_content_options|scraper settings]]. That allows you to add shows to the library that have no season enumeration in the filename. This is especially useful for anime.
Naming conventions for absolute order follow similar conventions to normal episodes, but require "ep" rather than just "e" for the episode, and (obviously) do not have a season number.
;Examples
:showname ep01.ext
:showname.ep01.ext
:showname ep 01.ext
:ep01.ext
==DVD order==
In TV Shows with series like '''Firefly''' you can set for instance the main TV Shows and set content to [[TheTVDB.com (Video Library)|TVDB]] with regular scraper settings, say '''No''' to scrapping content at this time, then navigate your way to the Firefly folder and set sub-content setting TVDB and changing scraper settings to.
# Folder contains a single TV show
# Either to absolute ordering single season or DVD order
# Scan everything by saying yes when you get prompted by XBMC at this time.
'''e.g.''' This will set main source with normal content and sub-folder with specific settings.
<pre>
TV Shows                  <<TVDB normal Settings all seasons>>
  |----TV Show 1
  |      |----Season 0
  |            |--Files
  |----TV Show 2
  |      |----Season #
  |            |--Files
  |----Firefly            <<TVDB Settings altered for single season and DVD order or absolute ordering>>
  |      |----Files
</pre>
== Tweaking matches ==
''You can also use [[Add-on:XWMM]] to edit library entires from a web browser.''
=== The scraper picks the wrong TV Show ===
You can influence the search by having [[Import - Export Library#Video nfo Files|nfo]] files alongside your media
You can also try appending the year to the TV Show folder-name. (Note the showname on the selected site to be scraped must then include the year).
This might be needed for some TV Shows such as "Battlestar Galactica", "Doctor Who", "Jericho", and "Knight Rider" which will have multiple entries on a given TV metadata database because of remakes of the original show.
See the examples below:
<pre>
\TV Shows\Battlestar Galactica\Season 1\Battlestar Galactica - S01E01.avi (TheTVDB omits the year from the original shows)
\TV Shows\Battlestar Galactica 2003\Season 1\Battlestar Galactica - S01E01.avi (Remakes will include year at theTVDB.com)
\TV Shows\Cupid 1998\Season 1\Cupid - S01E01.avi
\TV Shows\Cupid 2003\Season 1\Cupid - S01E01.avi
\TV Shows\Cupid 2009\Season 1\Cupid - S01E01.avi
\TV Shows\Doctor Who\Season 1\Doctor Who - S01E01.avi
\TV Shows\Doctor Who 2005\Season 1\Doctor Who - S01E01.avi
\TV Shows\Jericho 1995\Season 1\Jericho - S01E01.avi
\TV Shows\Jericho 2006\Season 1\Jericho - S01E01.avi
\TV Shows\Knight Rider 1982\Season 1\Knight Rider - S01E01.avi
\TV Shows\Knight Rider 2008\Season 1\Knight Rider - S01E01.avi
</pre>
Note! "AVI" is just an example, as this applies to all video formats that XBMC supports.
Another good example is Merlin (which gets picked up as Mr Merlin series from 70's)and Merlin 2008 (which gets picked up as the current Merlin Series.
A directory structure should look something like.
<pre>
TV Shows
  |----Merlin 2008
  |      |----Season #
  |            |--Files
</pre>
[[File:Therenamer.JPG|right|thumb|500px|Settings can be changed to use '''s01e01''' or '''1x01''' or '''101''' capitalizing the S or E depending on how you like it.]]
To further simplify scraping you can cleanup the files before adding them to XBMC with [[Supplemental tools]]
An example of the settings for a popular tool [[Therenamer]] which should conform with the above naming conventions.
{{-}}
=== Custom directory structure and file names ===
You can make your own naming conventions / rules by adding or editing regular expressions in the [[advancedsettings.xml]] file, with the [[advancedsettings.xml#.3Ctvshowmatching.3E|tvshowmatching]] tag. When enumerating episodes for a series, XBMC '''only''' cares about the season and episode, so when designing regexps you should '''only''' be concerned with these things.
Here are several common naming schemes and corresponding regexps and examples.
'''\Season #\##''' (Season# is at very end of directory name, and filename starts with episode name, neither have to be a specific number of digits) :
<source lang="xml">
<tvshowmatching>
    <regexp>Season[\._ ]([0-9]+)[\\/]([0-9]+)[^\\/]*</regexp>
</tvshowmatching>
</source>
'''Example''' : \Battlestar Galactica\Season 3\01 - Occupation.avi (Season 3, Episode 1)




'''###''' ([season#][episode#] with nothing in between all in filename, assumes episode number is always 2 digits) :
== Split folders ==
<source lang="xml">
Split folders are TV Shows that have episodes split between two or more folders located in different Sources.<br>
<tvshowmatching>
This may occur when a long running show is progressively saved on one drive but, over time, the drive has been filled with other content, forcing you to save new episodes on another drive.
    <regexp>([0-9]+)([0-9][0-9])[^\\/]*</regexp>
</tvshowmatching>
</source>
'''Example''' : \24\Season 6\601 - 6:00am to 7:00am.avi (Season 6, Episode 1)<br />
'''Example 2''' : \Lost\Season 1\Lost - 101.avi (Season 1, Episode 1)<br />
'''Example 3''' : \24\601 - 6:00am to 7:00am.avi (Season 6, Episode 1)


To ensure these split TV Shows are correctly scraped as the same show, you '''must''' ensure that the TV Show folder names are identical. A slight variance could see a different show scraped for the second folder.


'''##x##''' ([season#]x[episode#] all in filename :
If using NFO Files, copy the NFO file from one location into the other split folders.
<source lang="xml">
<tvshowmatching>
  <regexp>([0-9]+)x([0-9]+)[^\\/]*</regexp>
</tvshowmatching>
</source>
'''Example''' : \Scrubs\Season 1\1x01.Pilot.avi (Season 1, Episode 1)


If you use leading 0's (for example, \Scrubs\01x01 - Pilot.avi instead of 1x1), and are having difficulty getting the TV Show scraper to work, try


'''##x##''' ([season#]x[episode#] all in filename :
<source lang="xml">
<tvshowmatching>
  <regexp>[0]*([0-9]+)x[0]*([0-9]+)[^\\/]*</regexp>
</tvshowmatching>
</source>
'''Example''' : \Scrubs\Season 1\01x01.Pilot.avi (Season 1, Episode 1)
which simply strips leading 0's from the result.


'''s##e##''' (s[season#]e[episode#] at beginning of filename)
<source lang="xml">
<tvshowmatching>
  <regexp>[\\/]s([0-9]+)e([0-9]+)</regexp>
</tvshowmatching>
</source>
'''Example''' : videos\mytv-comedy\Scrubs\season 1\s01e01 - Pilot (hdtv.xvid).avi


'''Season ## - Episode ##''' (Season [season#] - Episode [episode#] in the beginning or middle of filename)
<center>
<source lang="xml">
{| style="border: 1px solid black;"
<tvshowmatching>
| scope="row" rowspan="2" style=" text-align:center;" | [[File:Mergefrom.gif|60px|link=Naming_video_files/Movies]]
  <regexp>Season ([0-9]+) - Episode ([0-9]+)[^\\/]*</regexp>
| style="width:200px; text-align:center;" | '''Previous step'''  
</tvshowmatching>
| style="width:200px; text-align:center;" | '''Next step'''  
</source>
| scope="row" rowspan="2" style=" text-align:center;" | [[File:Merge-arrow.gif|60px|link=Naming_video_files/Seasons]]
'''Example''' : TV Shows\Scrubs\Season 1\Scrubs - Season 1 - Episode 01 - Pilot.avi
|-
| style="width:200px; text-align:center;" | '''[[Naming_video_files/Movies|Movie Setup]]'''
| style="width:200px; text-align:center;" | '''[[Naming_video_files/Seasons|Seasons Setup]]'''
|}</center>


'''TV Shows in DVD Folders'''
Using the same directory structures as above, you can name DVD folders by adding the following xml to advancedsettings.xml. This information was gleaned from [[forum:55497|this forum thread]].
<source lang="xml">
<tvshowmatching append="no">
    <regexp>\[[Ss]([0-9]+)\]_\[[Ee]([0-9]+)\]?([^\\/]*)(?:(?:[\\/]video_ts)[\\/]video_ts.ifo)?</regexp>
    <regexp>[\._ \[\-\\/]([0-9]+)x([0-9]+)([^\\/]*)(?:(?:[\\/]video_ts)[\\/]video_ts.ifo)?</regexp>
    <regexp>[Ss]([0-9]+)[\.\-]?[Ee]([0-9]+)([^\\/]*)(?:(?:[\\/]video_ts)[\\/]video_ts.ifo)?</regexp>
    <regexp>[\._ \-\\/]([0-9]+)([0-9][0-9])([\._ \-][^\\/]*)(?:(?:[\\/]video_ts)[\\/]video_ts.ifo)?</regexp>
  </tvshowmatching>
</source>


===Understanding Season Ordering===
To get a match for episodes you need to understand thetvdb.com data has 3 different ways of ordering the episode numbers;
* DVD Order
* Absolute Order (aka Single Season)
* Aired Order
In the configuration of the [[Add-on:The_TVDB|TVDB Addon]] if neither of the 2 tick boxes for '''DVD Order''' or '''Absolute Order are ticked''' then the order of episodes will be in Aired/Broadcast order and this is the default listing order on thetvdb.com.


{{note|Important that there is a global setting for these and also each folder has it's own setting which can be checked via Video->files->"highlight show folder"->context menu->change content->settings. The folder's setting has precedence over the global setting.
{{top}}
{{updated|20}}


It is also important to understand thetvdb.com does not have absolute ordering for some shows and thus ticking the Absolute Order button may result in the episode number not being found and thus no match found or an incorrect match.
[[Category:Guides]]
[[Category:Video]]
[[Category:Karellen]]
[[Category:XBMC Manual]]
[[Category:Video library]]
[[Category:First time user]]

Revision as of 04:01, 13 February 2023

Create Video Libraries
1. The Basics
2. Source Folder
3. Movie Setup
4a. TV Show Setup
4b. Seasons Setup
4c. Episodes Setup
5. Music Videos Setup
6. Add Source & Scrape
7. Scraping Problems
Home icon grey.png   ▶ Video library ▶ Create Video Library ▶ TV shows


Introduction

There are two components to TV Shows that need to be accurate for a successful scrape:

  1. Correct naming of the TV Show
  2. Correct numbering of the Episodes

Note: This page details the TV Show folder. Season folders and episodes are discussed in the following pages.

TV Show Folders

Image 1- TV Show folders

Each TV Show requires its own folder in the Source folder

The naming of your TV Show folder is critical to ensure the scrapers can correctly identify the TV Show and its episodes.

TV Show Name (Year) - This is the correct naming format for the TV Show folder

  • The TV Show folders are saved inside the Source folder
  • Adding the (Year) makes scraping more accurate and differentiates between original and remake versions.
  • For Country of Origin TV Shows, the (Year) is replaced with the country code. eg Hells Kitchen (UK), Hells Kitchen (US), Hells Kitchen (AU) etc.
  • The title and (year) displayed at the scraper site is how you should name your show.



Note: If you are unsure of the name or year, then check which scraper you are using and visit the appropriate site for correct naming:


Split folders

Split folders are TV Shows that have episodes split between two or more folders located in different Sources.
This may occur when a long running show is progressively saved on one drive but, over time, the drive has been filled with other content, forcing you to save new episodes on another drive.

To ensure these split TV Shows are correctly scraped as the same show, you must ensure that the TV Show folder names are identical. A slight variance could see a different show scraped for the second folder.

If using NFO Files, copy the NFO file from one location into the other split folders.



Mergefrom.gif Previous step Next step Merge-arrow.gif
Movie Setup Seasons Setup


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