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[tunes0710]

Hi all,
I know there have been posts in the past  about "The Flash (2014)", but the error I'm getting is that when it imports, it attributes the correct season/episode/tvdb tag, but doesn't populate the name under the series tag. As such it cannot do an automatic "get movie & tv info" and although it has the correct episode name, it doesn't group it with the rest of the tv series and is just a random episode floating about under Shows (as if it is its' own show)

For me, this happens on
The Flash (2014)
The Crystal Maze (2017)
A League of Their Own

When I go in and manually edit the Series tag, the lookup works fine - it's just for these 3 particular episodes, this isn't automatic.

Any ideas?
Cheers :-)

[RoderickGI]

When MC starts a TV recording, it takes the data from the EPG for the program and uses that to work out what it is, and hence populate the Library fields and if appropriate, file tags.

When MC imports a file it takes whatever tags are in the file and uses them to work out what it is and hence populate the Library fields and if appropriate, file tags. If there are no tags for key fields, MC uses a function called CARNAC to try to guess what the file is based on the file name. So if the file is structured, for example, if you recorded the file using other software and/or renamed the file in a structured way, then CARNAC might fill in extra fields that were not in the file tags.

But if the DVR software you used put some rubbish data into the Title field, which is copied to the [Series] field usually, CARNAC won't overwrite that value, as file tags take higher precedence. Or these is no data in the Title tag, and CARNAC can't work out what Series the program belongs to.

If anything is in the Title, and hence put into the [Series] field, even a space character, CARNAC won't overwrite that value.

Note also that if the [Series] field is empty, MC won't even try to look up the metadata, as the [Series] tag is a required field, even when TheTVDB ID is provided. You need [Series] plus either [Season] and [Episode], or [Name], in order for the "Get Movie & Tv Info..." function to work. In this situation, the automatic lookup done when I file is imported can't do anything, as it has no series data.

See image for what happens with a blank [Series] field. If you aren't seeing that message when you try to do a manual lookup without editing the [Series] field, then there must be some junk in the [Series] field.

When you edit the [Series] field before doing a manual lookup you are overwriting whatever is in there.



TL;DR: There is some junk data in the Title field of the file, which is being imported into the [Series] field in MC. Or there isn't enough information in the file name, or it isn't structured well enough for CARNAC to work out the Series name.

[tunes0710]

Thanks for your reply.
I've checked one of the files for the flash and under properties / Details tab, there is no information under description/origin or content sections.
However, for a series that does work ok (for example Blue Bloods), that is exactly the same.

I've also checked in the series field for the flash and it isn't showing any whitespace or anything like that, unless it is some sort of character that can't be displayed.

Unless it is hidden/undisplayable characters, would Carnac not use the folder name to try and distinguish tags? as the folder name it is in is exactly the same as the series tag required.
Is there any way of trying to find out if MC is importing illegal characters in to the series field that aren't being displayed when I check it?

[RoderickGI]

Yeah, I knew where the files were coming from. I was being obtuse, because, you know, Big Brother is watching. There have been several reports of downloaded MKV files having incorrect values in the Title tag. I suspect a change in the software used to create the files, probably MakeMKV, or one of the associated tools. Maybe some smarty worked out that the Title in the files was rubbish and just deleted it, rather than entering a valid Title.

Note though that is MC doesn't find anything in the Series tag, it will put what is in the Title tag into the [Series] field in MC, as it must have a value in the [Series] field. At least that is what MC does with recordings when using the EPG data.

To the best of my knowledge CARNAC only uses the filename to guess what a file is, and doesn't use the folder structure at all.

If you run the "Get Movie & Tv Info..." function without editing the [Series] field first, do you get the message I posted? Then the [Series] field is empty.
Or, if you delete all contents in the [Series] field, then run the "Get Movie & Tv Info..." function, do you now get the message I posted, whereas you didn't before? The the [Series] field has junk in it.
If you edit the [Series] field in MC and select all, is a character width highlighted? If so, copy that, paste it into an editor, and see if you can make it visible. Notepad++ may help, or a Hex editor.


If the [Series] field is just empty in MC, maybe the simplest answer is to rename the files before importing, adding the Series name to them. Or change your setup with Sonarr so that it includes the Series name, if that is possible.

[tunes0710]

Thanks for the reply.. and yes, sorry I do get the message you posted earlier, which leads me to believe that the series field is completely empty

I do have rename set up in the client, so for example the latest entry is renamed to
The Flash (2014) - S05E10.mkv
The Series title (for the group) is The Flash (2014)

Even if it doesn't use the folder structure, surely from that, carnac should be able to take a reasonable guess?

[RoderickGI]

Okay... That didn't go well.

I created a video file and named it "The Flash (2014) - S05E10.avi", then imported it. MC totally got it wrong, selecting a "Looney Tunes 3D short directed by Matthew O'Callaghan starring Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner." 

But anyway, I see the problem now.

MC requires a value in the [Name] field, for all records, as lots of functionality revolves around that field. When importing any video file it will look at the data available, and if it can only find one descriptive element, it puts that in the [Name] field. Hence, the [Series] field gets left blank. Hence your issues and the failed lookup.

There is only one descriptive element in "The Flash (2014) - S05E10.mkv", the Series tag is empty, so MC puts "The Flash" into the [Name] field, "2014" into the [Year] field, because it doesn't consider that part of the name (lots of discussion about that sort of issue with TheTVDB records), and ignores the Season and Episode data as it doesn't know the Series name.

If you could get Sonarr to add the episode name into the file name, such as;
The Flash (2014) - S05E10 - The Flash & The Furious.mkv

MC would then lookup the item correctly. Although it did still put "2014" into the [Year] field in my test, but that issue is fixed if the [TheTVDB Series ID] tag has a value in it, or if the scraped Series name matches a [Series] name already in MC, and that [Series] already has a [TheTVDB Series ID] value associated with it, because that is a relational value (only one value possible for a Series).

Even a file name such as;
The Flash (2014) - S05E10 - Unkown.mkv
should still work, with the Series set to "The Flash" and the [Name] field initially set to "Unknown". The "Get Movie & Tv Info..." function should then use the [TheTVDB Series ID] value if available, or the [Series] name, plus the [Season] and [Episode] fields to look up the correct Episode name and put it into the [Name] field.


Simple really.

[tunes0710]

Aha! additional tags to the filename, well that's going to play havoc with my OCD 😂
I'll make the tweak and see how it goes.
Thank you for your research in to this! I'll report back next week once the next episode comes out.

[tunes0710]

You are a superstar! :-)
By adding the additional tag, it's now categorising everything correctly!

Thanks again for your help...