Finding and organizing?

rernst

23-10-2008 04:53:43

I downloaded the latest version today. I entered 'Deep Space Nine' and it finds all seasons, no problem. When I go to 'Missing' and check it shows all shows missing although I point to proper folder. These are mkv files and use 'my own' numbering scheme. So I go to 'Finding and Organizing' and add as Search folder' the directory that contains these files. Then I press 'Find' and nothing happens. I expected the episodes to come back.

I go to the 'Renaming' tab and click 'Check' - Nothing happens.

In essence I would like to use this in conjunction with XMBC to get the proper naming and titles to show up in the XBMC guide.

Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong?

FencerJP

23-10-2008 21:16:02

Ok, you say you entered Deep Space Nine, and it found all seasons. I'm going to work under the assumption that means you successfully entered the show into the 'My Shows' tab. What you see there is just information downloaded off of TheTVDB.com, not information gleaned from the files on your computer. Now, the reason that all the shows came up in Missing is because tvrename only (IIRC) works with .avi files atm. Also, 'my own' numbering scheme won't work- this program is designed to take the filename you downloaded it with, and change it to a more human-readable filename, and index those files to easily see what's missing and find them. THUS, it has to be able to tell WHAT episode a given file is, and it does that by checking for each episode's season and episode numbers. E.g., S02E07- season 2 episode 7. If you use a numbering system different from that upon thetvdb.com, it won't find it (ATM- steve is working on that).

So to summarize- it (probably) didn't find your episodes initially, that's why they were in the missing tab. it won't find .mkv's, and it won't work with custom numbering methods, that's why they didn't pop up under the finding and organizing tab.

Read the 'Quickstart Guide' for more info (Help-Quickstart Guide), and post in the right forum, this isn't a bug. It's user error.

ScoopD

23-10-2008 22:53:44

tvrename only works with .avi files atm
Not really Fencer.
Go to Options -> Preferences and you will see the list of file extensions it works with. You can add more if you want to but mkv is already in my list and I don't remember adding it.

Regarding "My Own numbering scheme", I think rernst is referring to the current file names. The best way for us to know what you mean is by giving us a filename example.

Regarding adding a new show - there are two ways to do this.
1. Add a folder into the "Folder Monitor" tab. This folder would usually be a level above the Show folder. eg. if you have a directory structure like this "x:\My TV Shows\Deep Space Nine" then add "X:\My Shows" then click "Check" this will list all the folders it finds and try to automagically match them to a show. You have to confirm (or ignore) each one, so you can set a folder name of "DS9" for example to the correct show title of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". It will also try to work out if you already have a "Folder per season" setup, but you can force this setting as well. All of that will associate the folder to the show and try to find files inside it to match the episodes it know about. It will be looking for some clear indication of season and episode to work this out.

2. The second approach is to go to My Shows and click Add. In the dialog box, enter the show name at the top, then search to match to the exact show name and show code. What is also required here is to enter the directory of the Base folder (eg. "x:\My TV Shows\Deep Space Nine") and also tick or untick the folder per season option as appropriate for your requirement. After you click OK it will download the information regarding the episodes and also query the directory to try to match files to episodes. You can see how successful this is by clicking on a season and seeing if any episodes have "SEARCH WATCH" beside them - if it only has SEARCH then it has not "joined" a file to that episode. Alternatively you can run the missing action and see what it has not found.

After either of the above you can run the check action on the rename tab and this will show you how it has matched the files to the episodes and what it will rename them to if you click rename.

I think the vital piece of info rernst has missed is to add the Base Folder into the show configuration. Alternatively the applications can't match your current filename. Give us an example and we will be able to tell you if that is the problem. If you ask Steve nicely he might even be able to accommodate a resolution from your filename style (I can't promise what Steve will do, but he is VERY helpful). Failing that I can direct you to a batch renamer http://www.antp.be/software/renamer that can do an initial reorder of your file names to a searchable style. I will often use ant renamer if I have something that I have to tweak in a bunch of files.

FencerJP

23-10-2008 23:27:06

tvrename only works with .avi files atm
Not really Fencer.
Go to Options -> Preferences and you will see the list of file extensions it works with. You can add more if you want to but mkv is already in my list and I don't remember adding it.

I accept my utter defeat with humility. I just looked, and my list actually has .mkv twice.

However, he does say he pointed tvrename to the right folder, so I'm guessing that means that he added it to the show listing.
Also, because it sounds to me like he didn't read the quickstart guide (or not fully), I assumed that he didn't know about the folder monitor method of adding shows. (Sorry if that sounds rather asshole-ish, I spent all day dealing with junior high school students, and it's warped my sense of politeness.) Ernst, that might be your best bet for working this out automagically.

I do agree that we need more info before we can be of much help in regards to his specific problem. I do plan to be helpful, really! I'm not *just* a troll!

rernst

24-10-2008 00:00:06

Fencer,

I read the Quickstart guide but maybe I glossed over some things. Here is my full process:

a.) I added the show under 'My shows'. It finds it fin, a season guide pops up.
b.) I used the tab 'Folder Monitor' and under 'Monitor Folders' I clicked 'Add' and entered 'd:\HB_out'. This folder contains all shows.
c.) I went under the same tab to TVDB code and found Deep Space Nine again and clicked 'Check' at the top. Nothing changed on this tab. I then clicked 'Full Auto' at the bottom but nothing happened there, either.
d.) I went to 'Missing' and clicked 'Check'. Dialog boxes popped up for every season and, since I only worked with season 2, I skipped over all others. However, all dialog boxes showed 'Browse' button. I used this one to navigate to 'd:\HB_Out'. In the end it showed all episodes from Season 2 missing.
e.) I went to the 'Find and Organising tab'. Once again, under 'Search folders' I added 'd:\HB_out'. I clicked 'Find'. Nothing showed up.

At this point I did not know what to do anymore.

The episodes originate from DVDs. they are numbered in the following manner:

10/22/2008 04:04 PM 670,167,740 DS9S1D1-2-1-8.mkv
10/22/2008 05:03 PM 672,371,179 DS9S1D1-3-1-8.mkv
10/22/2008 12:33 AM 677,338,439 DS9S1D2-1-1-8.mkv
10/22/2008 01:30 AM 675,502,138 DS9S1D2-2-1-8.mkv
10/22/2008 02:26 AM 674,610,342 DS9S1D2-3-1-8.mkv
10/22/2008 03:22 AM 671,521,540 DS9S1D2-4-1-8.mkv
10/22/2008 04:21 AM 676,865,259 DS9S1D4-1-1-8.mkv
10/22/2008 05:17 AM 675,937,720 DS9S1D4-2-1-8.mkv
10/22/2008 06:13 AM 676,596,136 DS9S1D4-3-1-8.mkv
10/22/2008 07:09 AM 677,083,117 DS9S1D4-4-1-8.mkv

etc.

The DVDs were ripped and then processed using Handbrake, the best tools to do so. It is GPL and will pop up first in Google if you enter 'Handbrake'.

'DS9S1D1' originates from the directory the DVD was ripped into. It is, of course, very easy to rename this directory. In this case it stands for 'Deep Space Nine', 'Season 1', 'Disk 1'. It is then followed by the title of the disk. 99% of the time the titles are the episodes of the disk in ascending order. In this case you see '-1', '-2' etc. This *cannot* be changed easily without going through every title. It is then followed by the chapters on the disk. This is optional for Handbrake, at least the latest version, so it could be ignored.

Note that these disks are in ascending order. I hadn't ripped disk3, yet, so it is missing.

It would be nice if TVRenamer could in some way support this but I can also live with a different naming scheme. I have this renaming tool which can assign sequential numbers there somewhere, i.e. dragging and dropping seasons into separate folders is no problem, renumbering the filers in the folder in some sort of sequential manner is easy as well. However, I would need to know what is the 'minimum' file information that TVRenamer needs to recognize an episode. Is it 'S01E01' ? Or 'Deep Space Nine Season 01 Episode 01'? Either way can be done easily by *me*, probably not by other users.

I presume it does not need the title of the episode as it looks that one up?

Many thanks for your help in advance.

sstteevvee

24-10-2008 00:07:56

Hi Rernst...

The Missing Check, Renaming, and Finding and Organising, need to be able to automatically pick out the season and episode numbers from the filenames, and (in the case of Finding & Organising) find the series name in there too.

Can you give me an example of one or two of your DS9 filenames that its not finding? It may be something subtle (or a bug) that's making them not be picked up. When you go to "My Shows" and click "Edit" for DS9, you should see its folder entered for "Base Folder" - where it is in your media library.

As ScoopD points out.. TVRename supports .mkv by default, as well as a number of other "movie" extensions, and you can add your own in the preferences dialog. You can use the "Folder Monitor" tab to fairly easily and automatically get your entire media library imported into TVRename, too.

You can do some more in-depth trouble shooting by going to Help->Bug Report, turning on just "Folder Scan", clicking "Create" and looking at the output. It should go trough your media library and print out stuff like:

74845 : Weeds : S3
Folder: s:\media2\Weeds\Season 3
s:\media2\Weeds\Season 3\Weeds - S03E01 - Doing the Backstroke.avi (OK 3,1 Y)
s:\media2\Weeds\Season 3\Weeds - S03E02 - A Pool and His Money.avi (OK 3,2 Y)
[...]

...so you can see it knows about your show, is looking for it in the right folder in your media library, and is detecting the season+episode number correctly.

"Rename" and "Missing" check operate on your media library itself, suggesting new filenames and showing you where gaps in your collection are. "Finding and Organising" is intended to look where you download files to (the monitor folders), and move/copy/rename them into your main media library collection. Also, Find&Organise only looks for things that were found as missing during the last "Missing" check you did.

Anyway.. Give me an example or two of the filenames it's not picking up, and I'll see if I can see why they're not being noticed.

Another thing to try is (temporarily) renaming one of your DS9 episodes to the style "Deep Space Nine - S01E03.mkv" and seeing if it finds it when you do a "Rename" check (<Show Name> - S<two digit season number>E<two digit episode number>).

FencerJP

24-10-2008 00:27:46

lol you're getting some fast turnaround tonight!
first off, go to 'my shows', select DS9, and click 'edit' at the bottom of the page. The window that opens should be familiar to you. Note the 'folders' section- this is where you want to list the base folder of the show, and any other folders for other seasons. also check/uncheck "folder by season" as appropriate. You might need the 'dvd order' option turned on, but I have no experience with that, so don't trust me- just try it if nothing else works. hit ok to save the changes. now try going to rename, run a check, and see if it finds your episodes.
I'm 99% sure that the filenames won't work as-is. If you can trim them down, as steve recommends, to "Deep Space Nine S##E##.mkv", it'll almost certainly find them.
lastly, just for my curiosity, what is the -1-8 at the end of the filename for?

sstteevvee

24-10-2008 00:29:23

Sorry.. I didn't see your reply when I posted mine!

Main reason it won't be working is that your filenames aren't in the general format of "Showname - <seasonnumber> <episode number>". It can be S01E02, 1x02, or similar. (Have a look at the renaming styles in the preference dialog). You'd have to rename your files to fit that general scheme, so it can (a) pick up the season+episode from each, and (b) map that onto thetvdb's idea of seasons and episodes.

If handbrake is making multiple files per episode (e.g. chapters), then TVRename is gonna make a mess of things. You'd need to re-rip them as one file per episode.

Easy (reliable) fix: Move the files to you media library, with one folder per season, and one file per episode. Name each file along the lines of "S01E01.mkv", "S01E02", etc. Renaming/missing check should behave somewhat better. Renaming/Missing checks do not need the show name to be in the filename.

Medium level fix: One file per episode, rename them to be "Star Trek Deep Space Nine - S01E03.mkv" etc. Tell TVRename that your media library is separate from where those files are (edit the show, set the base folder), do a missing check (it'll make a big list), go to finding&organising and set HB_out to be a monitored folder, and hit "Check". It should find your recently renamed files, and offer to move&rename them to your media library.

The hard way: If you put one season (not disc) per folder, and numbered them sequentially (e.g. 1-8 in first folder, 9-15 in second, etc.), then turned on "use sequential number matching" when editing the show in My Shows, then after doing a missing check and finding everything as missing, doing a find&organise (with "d:\HB_out" as a monitored folder) it should find them all, and offer to rename them to a tvrename-friendly style. If you edit the show and set the base folder to "d:\media library\ds9", it'll move them away from HB_out as it renames them too.

Note that Finding&Organising _requires_ that the show name be in the filename, and that's the name as set when you edit the show in "My Shows". The default, in this case, would be "Star Trek - Deep Space Nine", unless you've changed it. (Punctuation is ignored).

Hopefully that makes sense! Let me know how you get on.

Edited to put the easy solution first. :) ...and edit again to explain it slightly better. I really shouldn't give advice after midnight.

sstteevvee

24-10-2008 00:35:10

Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here's a couple showing how I have a couple of folders set up.

I only care about season 3 of this show, and I don't have a folder for each season:


This one, I've got all the seasons, and a folder for each:

FencerJP

24-10-2008 00:41:50

sorry to double-post, but I have a bad case of over-explaining-itis, and felt the need to clear up some (apparently) misunderstood points. feel free to ignore.

Finding and Organizing is used to move files from one directory (usually a default download/rip-to directory) to the correct folder for the show, renaming the file in the process if necessary. I, for example, just downloaded "South.Park.S12E10.DSR.XviD-0TV.avi" to "C:\downloads\". I open tvrename, go to f&o, hit find, and it pops up with a line saying, "Move C:\downloads\South.Park.S12E10.DSR.XviD-0TV.avi to C:\downloads\TV Programs\South Park - S12E10 - Pandemic.avi".
Folder Monitor is used to check your folders for a new show, and add it to the "My Shows" list. Example: I want to get into Doctor Who, so I download the first season, and move it into my C:\downloads\TV Programs\ folder. Then I have tvrename, under Folder Monitor, check C:\downloads\TV Programs\- it finds a folder named Doctor Who, searches thetvdb for "Doctor Who", and adds the show to the My Shows list. I can then rename the files to fit my preferred system, etc.

rernst

24-10-2008 01:27:23

sorry to double-post, but I have a bad case of over-explaining-itis, and felt the need to clear up some (apparently) misunderstood points. feel free to ignore.
<snip>

Ok, I see I have to give it a different naming scheme. I didn't try it out, yet, as I still have some transcodes working and would like to try on the whole batch.

Thanks so much for the advice. I think using my little rename tool this will be no problem.

BTW - the two numbers at the end of the title are {from chapter}-{to chapter} which is generally all chapter of this episode. HB lets you pick only some chapters if you want for reasons that are only clear to the authors. One can tell the program not to generate file names with those numbers in them.

I recently retitled Babylon 5 which is more than 100 episodes and am now retranscoding them because I am building a new multi-media box which can handle VFR ... well, for some reason. I was not looking forward to renaming all of those by hand again ;-).

Thanks again. Indeed, a picture is worth 1000 words.

rernst

25-10-2008 14:45:18

This did the trick. I needed to name the episodes 'Show name S##E##.mkv' and it found them just fine. What a timesaver.

Great job!

sstteevvee

26-10-2008 12:11:10

Excellent.. Great to hear you got it going! :)