Alright, I've finished coding all of the above and have submitted a pull request to the SickBeard developer, so that he can update the main project with my changes. Once that's done, you'll have official releases with MC support.
In the meantime, if you want to have MC support in your SickBeard, hop over to http://www.multiupload.com/UJVM40PTNK and get my build. Do the following:
- Shut down SickBeard
- Backup your entire SickBeard installation by making a copy the folder you've installed it in
- Unzip my build on top of your SickBeard installation
- Start SickBeard again
If you then go to Config -> Post Processing, you'll see the drop-down now has "MC" in there. Select that, check the options you want, and press Save Changes.
That's it, you're done! Now any new stuff you get will get MC metadata!
... but I want to add support for dates as well (shouldn't be hard, as soon as I figure out exactly how MC represents dates in those files).
I haven't got episode thumbnails to work, but if anyone can point me to the default filename that JRiver would use to recognize a thumbnail for a file (if there are multiple files in the same folder), I'd be happy to add that too. Otherwise I'll see if pointing to a thumbnail file in the sidecar will cause MC to import that thumbnail.
For some reason MC does not save the Image File field to a sidecar file, but fortunately the value can be read if it exists. For example:
<Field Name="Image File">Video - S05E19 The Wheel Of Fire.jpg</Field>
show_root\folder.jpg (poster for the series)
show_root\backdrop.jpg (fanart for the series)
show_root\Season 01\folder.jpg (thumbnail for the season)
show_root\Season 01\<filename>_<ext>_JRSidecar.xml (episode metadata)
show_root\Season 01\thumbnails\<filename>.jpg (thumbnail for the episode)
I just wanted to thank you again. This works really well. If anybody wants to add information to their already downloaded files, they should install your version, delete all the jpgs/xml/nfo files in explorer and then run an update/rename/rescan in Sickbeard. Then fire up MC and choose to update library from tags. Voila!
This takes my HTPC to a whole new level, especially now that I can utilize JRiver sub-type guessing and TVDB artwork.
I'm wondering if you can get "Guest Stars". They're associated with episodes, while the "Actors" you're getting are the regulars associated with the series. The field is not always filled, but if it is, it's often the most interesting of the people information available. I suppose you would just assign it to a "Guest Stars" field, and users would create that in MC if they were interested.
2- Create a new Guest Stars field, as you suggest. This is probably the best option, but I need to test how MC reacts to a field it doesn't know in a sidecar.I believe it will work only if the user creates the field.
I believe it will work only if the user creates the field.
<Data>
<Series>
<id>73800</id>
<Actors>|Teri Hatcher|Marcia Cross|Eva Longoria Parker|Felicity Huffman|Dana Delany|Nicollette Sheridan|Neal McDonough|Lyndsy Fonseca|Josh Henderson|Dougray Scott|Alfre Woodard|Joy Lauren|Shawn Pyfrom|Brenda Strong|Kyle MacLachlan|Doug Savant|Cody Kasch|James Denton|Mark Moses|Steven Culp|Ricardo Antonio Chavira|Jesse Metcalfe|Andrea Bowen|Vanessa Williams|Mason Vale Cotton|Madison de la Garza|Kendall Applegate|Joshua Logan Moore|Max Carver|Charlie Carver|Beau Mirchoff|Jeffrey Nordling|Kathryn Joosten|Maiara Walsh|Drea de Matteo|</Actors>
<Airs_DayOfWeek>Sunday</Airs_DayOfWeek>
<Airs_Time>9:00 PM</Airs_Time>
<ContentRating>TV-PG</ContentRating>
<FirstAired>2004-10-03</FirstAired>
<Genre>|Comedy|Drama|</Genre>
<IMDB_ID>tt0410975</IMDB_ID>
<Language>en</Language>
<Network>ABC</Network>
<NetworkID></NetworkID>
<Overview>What dark secrets lie behind the well-manicured front lawns of Wisteria Lane? Murder? Suicide? Sex? Adultery? Try all the above, and that's just the first episode.
Desperate Housewives has enraptured millions with its steamy tales of supposedly mild-mannered suburbanites. Whether it's Lynette struggling to raise her three rambunctious boys, or Gabrielle trying to prove she's more than just a token trophy wife, the women of Desperate Housewives never fail to keep the thrills coming and the audience's temperature rising.</Overview>
<Rating>7.8</Rating>
<RatingCount>124</RatingCount>
<Runtime>60</Runtime>
<SeriesID>24641</SeriesID>
<SeriesName>Desperate Housewives</SeriesName>
<Status>Continuing</Status>
<added></added>
<addedBy></addedBy>
<banner>graphical/73800-g11.jpg</banner>
<fanart>fanart/original/73800-12.jpg</fanart>
<lastupdated>1304877976</lastupdated>
<poster>posters/73800-9.jpg</poster>
<zap2it_id>SH00672318</zap2it_id>
</Series>
</Data>
I believe it will work only if the user creates the field.
Thanks for your work.
(...)
Anyway, this is just food for thought. I think these things warrant some discussion about how the information might be used in MC before you consider further development.
I'd be happy to provide any other fields, but I'm reluctant to start setting a "standard" ahead of what MC supports.
I think these things warrant some discussion about how the information might be used in MC before you consider further development.
By this I meant discussion between yourself and users who are interested in this. JRiver doesn't need to (and won't) pronounce any revision to "standards" to accommodate such things. It's up to you to determine what method serves users best and advise them of the fields to be added to support the service. In making that decision, you should recognize it will generally be best to provide more information than less. And unless you're really sure everyone wants the data to be put in a stock field, it may be better to have them use a custom field anyway. Users can ignore data they don't need, and have all the power of MC at their disposal to manipulate the data that is provided. For example, if you were to provide Actors\Roles in a custom field instead of Actors in [Actors], I could convert that to just Actors, use it as is in a nested list field, or reformat it (e.g., Actor • Role) in a regular list field.
Also, JRiver has already provided the ability to relate a field to [Series]. That doesn't mean they're dictating any standard. It's up to the user to decide whether that's better suited to their circumstances and preferences. So for those fields, you don't really have any choice but to arbitrarily set the field name. If they want the data, users will have to create that field. But they can still decide the field type, assign a display name they find more suitable, or use an expression field to convert it into a different form.
I'm not sure if the post-processing (renaming and moving files downloaded by µTorrent) is happening automatically, or only because I'm tinkering with Sick Beard and doing things like Force Full Update.
Once a sidecar file has been created, I'm not sure if or how it gets updated from the Sick Beard side (e.g., like when a few days after the release date, more information is available). In testing this, I've had to delete the sidecar file before Force Full Update will create another one, but maybe that's just because it knows there has been no change (I haven't attempted to find one where the information at theTVDb has in fact been updated). And, similar to my first point, even if updates do work, it's unclear to me whether or not they happen automatically.[/li][/list]
Regardless of those questions, it does seem to be a very good solution for managing episodes. I can continue to use PVD for series information, but this would be an acceptable complete solution for series if it got that as well.
So this is probably a good chance to ask: which fields would all of you like to see? Let me know what data you'd like to store, and I'll bounce a few ideas off of you before implementing anything.
TVDb | MC | Comment |
Episode Data: | ||
Director | Director | |
EpisodeName | Name | |
EpisodeNumber | Episode | |
FirstAired | Date | |
GuestStars | Guest Stars | |
IMDB_ID | x | see Series |
Language | x | |
Overview | Description | |
ProductionCode | x | |
Rating | x | unreliable - few voters |
SeasonNumber | Season | |
Writer | Screenwriter | |
Series Data: | ||
Actors | s.Actors | currently [Actors] which can't be related to Series |
Airs_DayOfWeek | s.AirDay | string |
Airs_Time | s.AirTime | string |
FirstAired | s.AirFirst | date |
Genre | s.Genre | list |
IMDB_ID | s.URL | for Link |
Language | x | |
Network | s.Network | string |
Overview | s.Overview | memo |
Rating | s.Rating | |
Runtime | x | we have duration from file |
SeriesName | Series | |
Status | s.Status | string |
and a folder named "metadata" inside the metadatafolder there is a jpg and xml for each episode. Is this right?
Furthermore it seems like MC only uses the folder.jpg, no other information is showed in theatre view.
Also the series is in the "other" under video in theatre view, not in "TV", can i fix this somehow?
If this could download new episodes as they are released as well, this would be a dream come true I guess.
The application has failed because it's side-by-side configuration is incorrect.
Activation context generation failed for "C:\MC\SickBeard-win32-alpha-build487\SickBeard.exe". Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.
This is not supported in Windows server 2008 R2 64 bit, or what? I get an error when trying to install original SickBeard.
Error message:Code: [Select]The application has failed because it's side-by-side configuration is incorrect.
More details in Event Viewer:Code: [Select]Activation context generation failed for "C:\MC\SickBeard-win32-alpha-build487\SickBeard.exe". Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.
Can i get the program to update data for instance every 24 hours? Or can i just put the folder i have all my TV-series in the "TV Download Dir"-setting in sickbeard? (seems like automatic downloading is only useful for people who use news)
If i for instance rip a new season of a series to mkv, and put it in my TV-folder, will sickbeard handle that kind of stuff? Or do i have to manually scan every time a add content that are not downloaded through sickbeard?
...I am enjoying getting all of my shows into sickbeard and MC.
Anyone tried to both use news, and also get sickbeard to watch a TV-download-dir used by a torrent-program? DOes this conflict in any way?
Alright, I've finished coding all of the above and have submitted a pull request to the SickBeard developer, so that he can update the main project with my changes. Once that's done, you'll have official releases with MC support.
In the meantime, if you want to have MC support in your SickBeard, hop over to http://www.multiupload.com/UJVM40PTNK and get my build. Do the following:
- Shut down SickBeard
- Backup your entire SickBeard installation by making a copy the folder you've installed it in
- Unzip my build on top of your SickBeard installation
- Start SickBeard again
If you then go to Config -> Post Processing, you'll see the drop-down now has "MC" in there. Select that, check the options you want, and press Save Changes.