That sidecar option did the trick, I don't think I would have figured that out on my own without much frustration. You guys are awesome. I think I am going to like it here
As far as the nfo file goes, it's standard XBMC stuff except for a few personal touches. I am new to this forum and am not sure what the preferred way to attach stuff so if you would like to see it just let me know how.
First, just let me say, I think I will be fine from this point forward. I will just spin up my Linux VM and get a script going to do the work. I don't do this stuff much any more but I still dabble here and there.
An import option for XBMC nfo files would be awesome. I am sure there are probably other XBMC folks who might find it helpful. Like I said, the nfo is an xml file that XBMC recognizes. My tweaks include a genre naming convention that includes special tags to identify how the mkv was ripped and bitrate stuff, if it's a movie, concert, or documentary, and a basic genre like action, fantasy etc... (I stick to a handful of genres) I chose to use the genre tag for this because XBMC is no where near as configurable as MC17 and was just convenient. Also, I am a technical detail nut I always ensure to set codec tags appropriately (i.e for me DTS MA is not the same as DTS) and I make use of the originaltitle field to embed media details.
Finally, I have been using XBMC for close to three years. As a media manager, it's beautiful. For playback quality it sucks. I invoke MPC-HC with madVR and LAV Filters for that. I use the XEON MQ3 skin and made my own little mods to it. I visit the madVR and LAV forums daily and MC17 is often mentioned by a few like SamuriHL, so after much thought I made the purchase and here I am
Thanks guys.