INTERACT FORUM

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?  (Read 10454 times)

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« on: July 03, 2013, 08:54:43 am »

Hi, I am a newbie with this software, having downloaded it for the first time yesterday. Coming from Windows MCE I am hugely impressed! All my music was imported in a single go, with 99.9 % accuracy in terms of organizing, images etc. This is a massive improvement over Windows' less than 50 %. Also, the possibility of watching videos in a meaningful way is fantastic! I was never able to do this with Windows MCE.

I tried importing my videos in one go, like for my music. For my movies this worked fine (mostly), but for my TV Shows the result was rather messy. I have all my videos on a NAS, and since they are ripped copies of my own DVDs using AnyDVD, they are organized by DVDs. TV Series are typically organized in folders with the Series, then subfolders for each season, and sub-sub folders for each disc of the set. Accessing the different episodes is then done by starting the DVD and selecting from the disc menu, rather than selecting the episode from the Media Player. I cannot find if JRiver supports this? Since I have several thousand discs I cannot possibly do a manual one by one import....

I have so far only tried to import to series, Joey Season 1 and Private Practice Seasons 4 and 5. For Joey I manually named each file as Disc X and manually pasted the art I wanted. However, when I tried to automatically import Private Practice it sets up the seasons correctly, but does not give me the disc numbers (the folders the discs are stored in are Called Disc 1, Disc 2 etc). Instead I get a list of file names all being Video_TS, without art and not even in order, so the first one is disc 5, the second disc 3 etc.

Can anyone help me to set this up correctly? Since the files stored on the NAS primarily are used as backup for another entertainment system's files I don't really want to have to reorganize or rename the files on the NAS.

I appreciate your patience with a newcomer asking silly/simple questions. Also, since I am a non-native English speaker I apologize if I am less than clear/correct in my language.

Best regards
Christopher
Logged

JimH

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 72367
  • Where did I put my teeth?
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2013, 09:15:19 am »

Welcome to the forum.  Here's a wiki topic that may help:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/TV_Shows_-_Series,_Seasons_%26_Episodes
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2013, 10:24:40 am »

Hi Jim,

thanks for the response. I did look at this topic first, and that I where i found out that the structuring of TV Shows seems to be Episode based rather than Disc based. I am sure that makes a lot of sense when organizing content for people who have downloaded their TV series one episode at a time (I guess that might be how "the kids" do it these days from Netflix, Amazon etc), but old folks like me (soon 47) might still think in terms of physical media, i.e. discs.

From what I was able to understand from the wiki topic, there was not much I can do? I am not sure what tags or metadata are, but I have organized my files as suggested in the wiki topic, except I have not renamed any files.

The present set up works in the sense that it shows the series and the seasons, as well as the correct link/starting point of each disc, but it does not show a meaningful name for the file that starts each disc, and it doesn't sort them in any understandable order. So for a 6 Disc show like Season 5 of Private Practice I get 6 instances of Video_TS in a list, but where the first instance is not the first disc. How do I go about importing this in a way that will show the file Video_TS that is found in the folder named Disc 1 as Disc 1 instead of Video_TS, the file Video_TS that is found in the folder named Disc 2 as Disc 2 instead of Video_TS etc?

Since most of my video content is TV Shows it is really important that I get this right if I am to spend money on it. On the other hand, if I get this to work properly I will gladly purchase my license :-)

BR
Chris
Logged

MrC

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10462
  • Your life is short. Give me your money.
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2013, 10:33:46 am »

Don't fret.  You can grab the disc # from the folder path or filename on import, or afterwards.  Folks like you who have consistent organization find this easy.  Show some of your full file paths and names and you'll get some advice.

Also to note, MC can take a ripped DVD and using Particles, break it apart virtually into the chapters (or episodes).
Logged
The opinions I express represent my own folly.

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2013, 10:55:29 am »

Thanks MrC! This is the full path for Disc 1 of Private Practice Season 4: \\READYNASULTRA6\Movies\JRiverVideos\Shows\Private Practice\Season 4\1
In this case I tried calling the folder simply 1, instead of Disc 1, to see if it made any difference, but it didn't.


So for Joey Season 1, this is the path: \\READYNASULTRA6\Movies\JRiverVideos\Shows\Joey\Season 1\Disc 1\Disc 1
This is how I normally organize my collection.

The file in the folder which starts playback is called VIDEO_TS.IFO for all discs. This is the name that shows up, and it works, but it is the same name for all of my many thousand discs....

I will greatly appreciate any advice, tips, comments and answers on this :-)

Chris
Logged

MrC

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10462
  • Your life is short. Give me your money.
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2013, 11:09:07 am »

In this case, use the Fill properties from filename tool.  Select a file in MC, right-click, and use:

   Library Tools > File properties from filename

and select Directories and/or Filenames, and include in them the template the grabs the components you need.  The pulldowns should give you the idea.  MC will match what it can using the text and field patterns you enter as the template.
Logged
The opinions I express represent my own folly.

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2013, 12:50:21 pm »

Great, I'll try that! :-)  This will then apply to all discs imported after I establish the rule, right? (It doesn't have to be done on a disc by disc basis manually?)
Logged

MrC

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10462
  • Your life is short. Give me your money.
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2013, 03:57:52 pm »

It will fill the properties, pulling from the Filename field, for all the selected files that match the pattern.  Its very easy.  Those that don't match, you can do in another pass with another pattern if necessary.  There's also a more complicated, but richer way to grab patterns.  Ask if the Fill properties tool is not working out.
Logged
The opinions I express represent my own folly.

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #8 on: July 04, 2013, 04:53:56 am »

I am really not having any success with the Fill Properties Tool (other than creating an extra instance of Disc 5 of Season 5 of Private Practice, which was the file I tested on). I simply don't understand what I am supposed to do, nor exactly what I should expect to happen, so I don't know if I am doing things right.

I know what I want to achieve: I want to have something show up as Disc 1, Disc 2, Disc 3 etc for each season of each TV shows I have in the folder named \\READYNASULTRA6\Movies\JRiverVideos\Shows. I have been able to import files from this folder, and the program imports the series and the seasons correctly. It also imports (or links to) the correct file (VIDEO_TS.IFO) for starting each disc. However, I really need that link or file to be shown with the disc # for that disc. The VIDEO_TS.IFO file is placed in a sub-folder which has the same name as the Disc # I want to see, but that information doesn't show up. I guess I could perhaps manually rename each one of the VIDEO_TS.IFO files, but (1) there are thousands of them, (2) it would screw up the operations of my main home theatre which is running a different system than JRiver and (3) I am not even certain that this would solve my problem.

I want to use JRiver in Theatre View, but I do all my Library management in standard view. The Audio part, the Movie part and most of the Shows (the art work in particular) part look and operate really wonderfully, but there are three issues I still struggle with:

1 - Establishing meaningful sub-entitites within each show season that will start each disc (see above)
2 - For some of the discs shown (all under the confusing name of VIDEO_TS) there is a check mark. Wha does it mean, and how do I get rid of it?
3 - At some stage during the import process a lot of very strange comments are added to the files, so that when I use JRiver in Theatre mode and start clicking on the discs I might want to watch I get some aburd and incorrect descriptions of the contents of the discs, normally describing the DVD Video format in general, or some completely unrelated movie or TV show. Where does that infor come from, how can I remove it, and how can I put in my own correct descriptions?

Again, I appreciate eveyone's patience in reading these probably stupid questions, but I feel I am so frustratingly close to having a wonderful system, but I simply have not been able to cross the finishing line.

BR
Chris

PS I am setting up this system on my wife's pc in the living room, and then if I can get it to work, on each of the kids' PCs too. ALl the files I link to are placed on a backup server for my own main system, which runs Cinemar software (which controls all my DVD and BluRay disc changers). Since the files used on JRiver are a back-up of the Cinemar server, I don't want to have to rename the files, as this would leave the files useless as backup files.
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #9 on: July 04, 2013, 08:12:39 am »

Hi, I am updating myself a little here, so I hope those reading will read this AND my previous post to see my problem :-)

This is what I have achieved so far with the Fill Properties Tool (I have tried both inserting and attaching a print screen, don't know if I am successful):

In words: I have managed to import the files I want from the correct place. I have manages to get them in the correct place (Shows), and with the correct Series names and art, correct Season with art. I also get the correct discs in (andI have managed to manually place art on the disc logos). However; I don't get the filename I want (Disc #) and I get incorrect text in some strange file called JRiverSidecar...

I tried simplifying the file structure one lever, so the VIDEO_TS.IFO file was stored in a folder named Disc 1, which was a subfolder of Season X, rather then the system previously used where there was a subfolder called Disc 1 in the folder Disc 1. (This is how the AnyDVD ripping set the structure up originally, don't know why). However, there seems to be no difference on the way JRiver displays the content, so I am probably leaving the original structure.

What I think I might have worked out in terms of logic is this:

When the filename/path of the file I want to play is: "\\READYNASULTRA6\Movies\JRiverVideos\Shows\Joey\Season 1\Disc 1\Disc 1\VIDEO_TS.IFO"; between each set of slashes is one information element, so, starting from the back I have:

1 VIDEO_TS.IFO - this is the filename, whichI want to show up as "Disc 1"
2 Disc 1 - This is a subfolder containing the different files of the ripped DVD
3 Disc 1 - This is a folder containing the subfolder with the ripped DVD and some extra info in an xml file added byAnyDVD during rippiing
4 Season 1 - This is the file containing all the DVDs of the Season
5 Joey - This is the name of the TV Show, the file contains one or more seasons of the show
6 Shows - This is the folder containing all Shows that are imported into JRiver
7 JRiverVideos - This is the folder containing all video content I use with JRiver
8 Movies - This is the folder on my NAS containing a back-up of all my video from the main Cinemar system. Some material here, like extras and full frame versions of movies, are stored in other files than JRiiverVideos because I don't want this imported to JRiver (my wife's system which I want to keep neat and tidy).
9 READYNASULTRA6 - This is the name of the NAS were all my media content is backed up

So, all the info from levels 9-4 (inclusive) are handled perfectly during importing now. Levels 2 and 3 are disregarded, which is OK and Level 1 is shown, and the file shown triggers the playing of the correct disc. The problem is that the info shown should be the name of the Level 2 info for that file, i.e. the Folder Name ("Disc X"), not the file name itself ("VIDEO_TS-IFO"), since this is entirely generic and confusing.
Logged

csimon

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1686
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #10 on: July 04, 2013, 08:16:17 am »

If you are certain that you've got all releveant tags populated with all the relevant information that would be required to do ewhat you want to do, then try playing around with the way the Theater View menus are constructed (Tools/Options/Theater View) - you are able to completely customes how files are presented, sorted and categorised. Try to be clear in your own mind as to what you want to see on the screen adn what levels you want to see, then recreate that in Theater View.

Taking music as an example, if you want to see a list of Artists first then you add a Catgegory called Artist that uses the Artist tag.  Then if you want to see a list of that Artist's albums when you select an artist, add a cetagory underneth Artist called Album that uses thet Album tag.

Use the same theory for your videos, where you will have tags called Name, Disk #, Series, etc.

Remember that Theater View views are configured separately freom Standard View views, so if you've got Standard View views working as you want them then simply go into the Theater View setup and use Add Library Item From Standard View to copy them across.

To remove data from tags, expand the Tags pane on the left, find the tag that you want to remove information from, and remove it.  MC will automatically find movie and TV information from the internet but if it gets it wrong then you can search for more choices with Get Movie & TV Info from the right-click library tools menu, or delete it completely as mentioned.
Logged

csimon

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1686
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2013, 08:19:34 am »

Sidecar files are what MC creates for metadata when the file format doesn't allow tags to be stored in the files. You don't really need them and you can turn the creation of them off in Tools/Options somewhere.
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #12 on: July 04, 2013, 09:24:52 am »

This is my problem, see the attached file. How can I get the text on the buttons to read Disc 1 - Disc 5 instead of all reading VIDEO_TS? I don't know which tags I have or which ones are required... :-( Being stupid is frustrating!
Logged

csimon

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1686
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #13 on: July 04, 2013, 09:33:03 am »

You can view the tags in the Tags pane that is on the left in Standard View.

The views that Theater View is using to categorise and list your items are set up in Tools/Options/Theater View.

You need to match the two up! When it gets to the actual file list, it will display the file's Name.

The first thought that strikes me that VIDEO_TS is in the Name tag?  If it is then you need to change the Name tag.  You can either do that manually or, since it appears that the name you want ("Disc #") is available as part of the filename, then use Fill Properties From Filename as has been described above.

Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #14 on: July 04, 2013, 09:54:49 am »

But how do I get the information about the disc number (which is the name of the folder the file is in) out of the filename or the filepath, where does that info end up and what do I do with it to make it show up as the name on the applicable button?

I understand that the information can be seen using Library Tools, I notice when using the looking glass that "Disc #" is available on the pull down menu and I see in the Tags Pane of Standard view that the present name of each file is VIDEO_TS and that it can be edited. What I lack is the intelligence and/or expertise to connect these dots in such a way that when I import content, the file label for each VIDEO_TS.IFO file is displayed (preferably in all views, but definetely in Theatre View) as the folder name (i.e. Disc x) and not the file name (which is always VIDEO_TS).

I am guessing this question is to basic that all of you experts don't even understand what I am actually askign, since the answer is probably obvious to you, but to me there is a logical canyon i haven't yet been able to cross....
Logged

csimon

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1686
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #15 on: July 04, 2013, 10:06:57 am »

Have a look at http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=80318.0 to see if that gives you any ideas.

The Disc # you see in pull-down menus is the actual tag for disk number where the name of the item is the actual name, such as "X Files Episode 1: The Beginning", but I think what you're asking is to have the disk number as the name.
Logged

csimon

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1686
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #16 on: July 04, 2013, 10:12:08 am »

If that works, then you can have this populated automatically on importing new files rather than having to manually Fill Properties From Filename.  There are facilities to do similar pattern matching and rules on the import settings.

I an not at a MC computer right now so I can't tell you exactly what to do, but have a look around in the import settings to see what you can find out.
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #17 on: July 04, 2013, 03:22:35 pm »

I am afraid I am close to giving up on what otherwise seems like a fantastic program. JRiver seems to perfectly fit my Home Theatre needs, with wonderful looking interfaces, near perfect import of all my Audio, ability to play Movies in a meaningful way, and great flexibility in organizing TV Shows. However, it seems that the near automatic import of Audio and Movies does not work for TV Shows. The flexibility just becomes complexity for someone with my limited technical understanding. Without being able to engage in what seems detailed programming like activities it is impossible to do automatic importing of TV Shows that are disc based (as opposed to episode based), and that leaves me with either a few thousand discs all named VIDEO_TS and shown in random order, or I must manually rename every single disc. Great pity! :-(  I have spent 2 days doing nothing else than trying, and much more time I can not justify spending on this when I am making no progress. I think I would say I got to a 90% perfect result within 15 minutes of downloading the software, after that I have made no progress.

I would gladly pay someone to remotely log in to my PC to fix this for me...!? :-) PayPal can be arranged.

Thanks to everyone who has responded to my posts. I am afraid I am simply not at a level where your replies makes any sense to me  :-[
Logged

MrC

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10462
  • Your life is short. Give me your money.
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #18 on: July 04, 2013, 03:33:28 pm »

There's a lot of magic to new users in Theater View - it can take a little while to figure out where all the pieces come from.

Your screenshot above shows a list of Video Ts √ entries.  These are captions, driven by Options > Theater View > Appearance > Customize file info panel... and under Templates > TV Show > Manage > Edit Template.  The expression shown in the Regular Caption is what is creating Video Ts √ .  It essential outputs from a function named TVInfo(), depending upon the titles present.

If all titles are in the same series, you'll get:

    Season.Episode [Name]

Otherwise, you'll get a version of [Name] [Date]

And there are Watched() checkmarks as well when applicable.

If you want your Disc # to appear, add something like:

   Disc [Disc #]

to the expression.

I find these expressions easier to work with in a Standard view.  Add them as columns to a file list so you can see the results for your titles.  Once you have the desired layout, then transfer them to Theater View.
Logged
The opinions I express represent my own folly.

MrC

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10462
  • Your life is short. Give me your money.
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #19 on: July 04, 2013, 03:36:18 pm »

I started my post before your reply, but finished and posted it after.

You're trying to take on a lot very quickly, so I can imagine you're feeling overwhelmed.  Don't' fret. I'll help you out.  Contact me when you are ready.
Logged
The opinions I express represent my own folly.

MrC

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10462
  • Your life is short. Give me your money.
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #20 on: July 04, 2013, 07:50:32 pm »

In addition to our offline conversation, since we seem to be half a world apart, here's some additional reading that might be useful until we're both awake at the same time:

    http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=68462.10
Logged
The opinions I express represent my own folly.

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #21 on: July 05, 2013, 02:19:10 pm »

Hi,

I am still struggling here, despite MrC's kind efforts to point me in the right direction. My problem is this:

When importing TV Shows everything works well except: every single disc in a multi-disc set (as TV shows often are) is called Video_TS. So I have a structure that looks like this:

Video
 TV Shows
  Series
   Season
    Video_TS (found in a folder named Disc X)
    Video_TS (found in a folder named Disc X)
    Video_TS (found in a folder named Disc X)
    Video_TS (found in a folder named Disc X)
    Video_TS (found in a folder named Disc X)

Since the folders in a season are apparently not imported in  order, or at least not listed in order, the first instance of Video_TS is not necessarily Disc 1, and so on. This makes it very difficult to start the Disc I want to view. Also, the discs show up with images that are from other discs (normally movies) and with dates on them that might be the date of release of the movie that is depicted on the incorrect image. Disc 2 from Season 1 of According to Jim had an image from the movie Cleopatra attached to it, and the text 5 jun 1963. Other than this, the artwork for the Series background is wonderful, and I have been able to successfully insert Season and Disc art myself. I want to run the program in Theatre View, and so I am trying to optimize the visuals and functionality for this purpose. My wife will have this as her Theatre system, using a remote control only. I will do importing etc from a separate PC in my home office.

Therefore, 2 questions to you experts out there:

1. How can I get the Disc X to show up as a Name rather than the Video_TS (which I guess if the name of the file that initiates play of the disc, the Video_TS.IFO file)
2. How can I stop JRiver from adding images and dates to my discs?

I have had lots of responses to these questions already, but I am afraid they are beyond my level of understanding. Just like I don't need to understand the theory behind the internal combustion engine to understand instructions on how to drive to the store, I hope I don't need need to understand exactly what "parsing" is, or the difference between views or panes? I realize that these are essential elements if I want to continue to tailor the system to my eccentric preferences, but at this time I would really like very simple and practical advice on how to achieve the very limited goals explained above. After that i will try to slowly work up my understanding to the level of other people, but I don't want to spend every day on this for six months before I can show my wife that this is a great program that even she can use :-)

Best regards
Christopher

PS Please accept my apologies if the language or tone of my posts seems rude or ungrateful! English is not my first language and I am desperate, so I might be more crass than I should be, but please understand that I am really very appreciative of all your attempts to get me to understand what I am doing!!
Logged

MrC

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10462
  • Your life is short. Give me your money.
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #22 on: July 05, 2013, 02:51:37 pm »

While we are trying to find a time to remote connect, maybe someone will jump in and help out.

For your Theater View, a simple modification to the TV Show caption is all that's necessary.  It will conditionally include the text:

   Disc [Disc #]

in the right spot in the expression that generates the caption.

Of course, [Disc #] needs to have a valid value already.

It would help others to see the tags for a typical TV Show video.  You can use Tag Action Window, or a file list with the necessary columns.  It might be most fail safe to simply select a few videos and File > Export Playlist, and select type: Text File (CSV) and include All fields, but only the Selected files.  Zip and attach the CSV file to a post here so we can examine the tag values.
Logged
The opinions I express represent my own folly.

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #23 on: July 05, 2013, 04:06:42 pm »



For your Theater View, a simple modification to the TV Show caption is all that's necessary.  I will conditionally include the text:

   Disc [Disc #]

in the right spot in the expression that generates the caption.



I think I successfully did this yesterday, but after removing the sidecar files and incorrect images I didn't work any longer, even for new series. I must have accidentally changes something else too?
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #24 on: July 05, 2013, 04:24:47 pm »

I just noticed that the file structure I have has a lot to do with how this is displayed: If I leave out the Season folder, and just have Disc 1 - Disc 6 in a Series (like Pacific, which has no seasons), then I get "buttons" which say Disc 1, Disc 2 etc., rather than just the filename VIDEO_TS which I get when placing the Disc folder in a mid-level folder Season X within the series folder. However, this will obviously not solve the problem in a useful way as I will then have hundreds of discs 1 directly under the Shows button in Theatre View. But at least this might point me in the right direction?
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #25 on: July 06, 2013, 12:26:09 pm »

 It might be most fail safe to simply select a few videos and File > Export Playlist, and select type: Text File (CSV) and include All fields, but only the Selected files.  Zip and attach the CSV file to a post here so we can examine the tag values.

I have tried attaching it, though not zipped (don't know how to zip). It seems to have been accepted by the Forum, and it is only 14kB, so it should be OK?

That didn't work, will see if I can find out how to zip....
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #26 on: July 06, 2013, 12:30:03 pm »

Did the file attache this time?
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Final attempt before throwing in the towel
« Reply #27 on: July 07, 2013, 03:57:01 am »

Hi,

I first stumbled across JRiver Media Center a week ago when looking for an alternative to Windows Media Center, which I had try to configure on my wife's PC for playing music from the family's ripped CD collection stored on a NAS. I had become increasingly frustrated with the erratic import, sort and display issues with Windows MC, as many CD were showing with no album covers, incorrect album covers or a single CD split into several different instances with different album covers.

Our audio and video collection is stored on an HTPC in the library/home theatre (my room), and back-up of all content is on the NAS. The HTPC runs Cinemar software, which controls a number of DVD and BluRay changers, along with my receiver, Plasma screen etc. We like to watch movies in my room, but my wife prefers to watch TV Shows and listen to music in the main living room (her room), which she says is less gloomy.

So, I was looking for alternatives to Windows and came across JRiver. I downloaded it, and was amazed: Within minutes - literally - my entire CD collection (about 300 CDs I guess) was imported and displayed (and played) perfectly!  :)

Then I noticed that JRiver could also be used for video content, something I had tried, but completely failed with, on Windows. So I imported my video collection, which consists of copies of DVD ripped with AnyDVD, probably around a 1000 DVDs worth, of which I estimate 80 % are TV Shows. This worked near perfectly for my movies, but not for my TV series. Since my files are disc based, and not downloaded from the internet or recorded from TV (episode based?), my TV Series imported into correct folders, series and seasons, with great artwork. However, the discs, which is the lowest entity/unit/component of my collection, whilst downloaded and working correctly, where displayed in a useless way, all approximately 800 of them appear as ViIDEO_TS. See attached screen grab 1.

Since I want to run the program in Theatre Mode I wish to optimize the set up accordingly, with a clean and simple look for my wife. However, the result is like in screen grab 2: the component for starting the virtual disc is there, in the form of buttons which link to and start the play of the correct files. However, since the buttons are all called the same, and are not listed in order, i.e. the top button may not be Disc 1 ad the bottom button may not be the last disc in a series, this makes it extremely difficult for my wife to know which button to press to start a show she wants to watch (or to be precise, she can start the correct show, but cannot find the disc containing the episode she wants to watch). Since the primary purpose of the files on the NAS are as back-up for the main HTPC system in my room, I don't want to changes files names, file structure or anything along those lines. My filepath looks like this: "\\READYNASULTRA6\Video\Shows\2 Broke Girls\Season 1\Disc 1\VIDEO_TS.IFO"

As can be seen, the information on the disc I want to play is right there as the folder name for the file that is being shown, in this case Disc 1. I did mess around with the settings in Theatre View Customize File Info Panel, and managed - briefly - to achieve something along the lines I wanted, see screen grab 3. However, since this resulted in the importing of incorrect artwork and description/dates etc, I tried to get rid of the incorrect info, and deleted the sidecar files and images imported into the Disc folders. After that i have been unable to recreate the buttons with the disc numbers, even though I have reinstalled MC18 and re-imported the files I have been testing on.

I have been working almost all day every day for the last week on this. I achieved an almost perfect result on import of all files in less than 15 minutes, but have not been able to do anything worth while after that despite a lot of work (obviously not good work, but still hard work). Audio and Movies are great, but since we will not be watching movies using MC18, and the TV show part at present is useless, due to the issue on not being able to see which discs have been imported, I am thinking that for me MC18 can only be used as an Audio player, and that I need to look elsewhere for a media player for my ripped DVDs.

I am hoping that someone will prove me wrong! ? I have received quite a lot of help and friendly offers of assistance here on the forum, but so far, after about a week, I am no further towards my goal. My wife, who is no paragon of virtue when it comes to patience, is getting annoyed that i am spending so much time on something "that will obviously not work...". I would very much like to prove her wrong  8)

SO, CAN SOMEONE GIVE ME SOME TIPS ON HOW I CAN GET THE DISC NUMBER (THE FOLDER NAME FOR THE FILE) TO SHOW US AS THE LABEL OF THE FILE I WANT TO PLAY? I ONLY NEED TO SEE IT IN THEATRE VIEW, BUT OBVIOUSLY IT COULD BE USEFUL ALSO TO SEE IT IN STANDARD VIEW.

I am about to throw in the towel, but would like to make a final effort. I will be very grateful, and willing to pay a reasonable gratuity, so the person who can help me! I can let you log into the PC, I can call you on the phone, or do this via e-mail.

best regards
Christopher


PS I am working from Oslo, Norway, so i am on Central European Summer Time, i.e. GMT+2
Logged

6233638

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 5353
Re: Final attempt before throwing in the towel
« Reply #28 on: July 07, 2013, 05:07:29 am »

That is very different from how I have things set up, but does this work for you?

Tools > Library Tools > Fill Properties From Filename…

Go to Template and in the Directories field, try:

Code: [Select]
\\READYNASULTRA6\Video\Shows\[Series]\Season [Season]\[Name]\
Hopefully that will fill out the Series, Season, and Name fields correctly.
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: Final attempt before throwing in the towel
« Reply #29 on: July 07, 2013, 06:29:39 am »

That is very different from how I have things set up, but does this work for you?

Tools > Library Tools > Fill Properties From Filename…

Go to Template and in the Directories field, try:

Code: [Select]
\\READYNASULTRA6\Video\Shows\[Series]\Season [Season]\[Name]\
Hopefully that will fill out the Series, Season, and Name fields correctly.

YES!!!  ;D THANK YOU VERY MUCH!  :)

Now, how do I get the program to do that for every file?

Christopher
Logged

6233638

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 5353
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #30 on: July 07, 2013, 06:45:50 am »

If they are all set up the same way, you should be able to select them all and apply to everything.
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #31 on: July 07, 2013, 06:54:01 am »

If they are all set up the same way, you should be able to select them all and apply to everything.

OK, I see, no way to have them imported that way?
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #32 on: July 07, 2013, 07:07:25 am »

When importing, or when running Library Tools (?), I do get some incorrect information, see the marked areas of the screen grab. Is there any way of not having this "pollution" added to the files? If not, is there any way I can delete it, or at least not show it? The incorrect imaghes I have been able to delete, but don't know where the Date comes from, why it is dipsplayed, and also i am not sure what the big green Play icon means.

Christopher
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #33 on: July 07, 2013, 07:13:56 am »

Also in Standard View a lot of incorrect information is automatically added on import, or on running Library Tools, see atcched screen grab. Again, where does this come from, how to avoid it, and how do I get rid of it?  ?

Christopher
Logged

6233638

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 5353
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #34 on: July 07, 2013, 07:28:59 am »

OK, I see, no way to have them imported that way?
I'm sure it can probably be done. I'm not certain on how though. Hopefully someone else can help you with that.
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #35 on: July 07, 2013, 08:54:03 am »

That's OK, I just realized that it takes me about 30 minutes per series to move into the right file for JRiver to use anyway, and then a bit of tidying up discnames/-paths, so an extra 10 seconds per season is OK :-)
Logged

csimon

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1686
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #36 on: July 07, 2013, 09:14:50 am »

OK, I see, no way to have them imported that way?

There are settings in the import that allow you to auto-populate tags based on literals, expressions, pattern matching etc. In case you don't know how to configure the import, go to File/Library/Import and then Configure Auto Import, press Next, highlight the import folder previously set up, press Edit, than add tags that you want to auto-populate in the apply these tags (optional) box, toogether with teh expression you wish to populate them with.

Here is a page about the functions you can use in expressions, maybe to extract tags from the file and folder path? http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Center_expression_language
Logged

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #37 on: July 07, 2013, 10:01:50 am »

Wow, thanks!  :o  For now I think I'll just stick to pressing the Library Tools button whenever I import a new series   :P

What percentage of the Forum users here do you think understand this type of complexity? If it is a sizeable portion it makes me feel like I have gaet crashed a MENSA meeting...  :)
Logged

MrC

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10462
  • Your life is short. Give me your money.
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #38 on: July 07, 2013, 01:50:32 pm »

I was unable to reply yesterday.

I looked at your spreadsheet.  The field Disc # is empty, and the field Name is set to Video Ts, so this may have been the reason for your initial troubles configuring theater view to show it.  Early in this thread, it was mentioned to first use the Fill properties from filename tool to grab these values.  I think you mentioned that wasn't successful.  See attached screenshot for how it can be done.

Some of your videos are in folders that contain the word "Disc " - just add that to the template for those that do.

You're trying to do three interrelated things at once, and the incompleteness is frustrating your efforts.

So, do things in this order for now:

1) Verify your tag values; this means, know what tags you need to look at, where to look at them, and how to change them (manually, or Fill Properties from filename, or with expressions)
2) Configure auto-import to correctly grab the values you need - both Carnac and auto-import rules will be part of this solution.  Note the dependency on step (1) above.
3) Customize Theater View (or other views) to show the data you've verified (1) and pulled into MC (2).

You've been working at (3), without working through (1) and (2).

Note: ignore the actual filename in the attached screenshot - it was just a dummy test file to show how you can do the property filling.
Logged
The opinions I express represent my own folly.

cgroth

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #39 on: July 07, 2013, 03:05:14 pm »

I was unable to reply yesterday.

I looked at your spreadsheet.  The field Disc # is empty, and the field Name is set to Video Ts, so this may have been the reason for your initial troubles configuring theater view to show it.  Early in this thread, it was mentioned to first use the Fill properties from filename tool to grab these values.  I think you mentioned that wasn't successful.  See attached screenshot for how it can be done.

Some of your videos are in folders that contain the word "Disc " - just add that to the template for those that do.

You're trying to do three interrelated things at once, and the incompleteness is frustrating your efforts.

So, do things in this order for now:

1) Verify your tag values; this means, know what tags you need to look at, where to look at them, and how to change them (manually, or Fill Properties from filename, or with expressions)
2) Configure auto-import to correctly grab the values you need - both Carnac and auto-import rules will be part of this solution.  Note the dependency on step (1) above.
3) Customize Theater View (or other views) to show the data you've verified (1) and pulled into MC (2).

You've been working at (3), without working through (1) and (2).

Note: ignore the actual filename in the attached screenshot - it was just a dummy test file to show how you can do the property filling.

Thanks MrC,

I have solved this now (or rather csimon did it for me), so as far as I am concerned this thread can be closed now (if that's how things are done here).  My new, and much more limited problems are in a new thread http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=81792.0

Some of the issues there I raised yesterday, but I think I am getting there. I have beeen a good boy and not thrashed at all today (except for uninstalling and reinstalling MC18 once, to get back to the starting point).

THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR HELP ON THIS EVERYONE; SEE YOU AT http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=81792.0  :)
Logged

MrC

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10462
  • Your life is short. Give me your money.
Re: TV Shows organized by Disc rather than episode?
« Reply #40 on: July 07, 2013, 04:55:05 pm »

Update: We did some remote support work and cgroth now has a better handle on how to accomplish the tasks.
Logged
The opinions I express represent my own folly.
Pages: [1]   Go Up