Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[skarsol]

When auto-importing TV files MC keeps getting the episode name wrong (because it's not in the filename) but it's not fixing it even though I have "Get movie and TV info" checked in the auto-import configuration. Running "Get Movie & TV Info" manually on the files gets the correct info. I'm guessing the auto-import is not using the good results because Carnac has already populated bad info? Is there a way I can tell Carnac to not populate the episode title?

ex: The.Blacklist.S02E02.SD.TV-LOL.mp4
Populates episode as "Sd tv". Manual get info runs correctly due to series and s02e02 being picked up properly.

[RoderickGI]

What is this Carnac thing?

Okay, so based on a little research it does this: "automatic identification and tagging using available meta data sources­ on import and as required", but is it even still part of MC, or has it been absorbed into the current MC functionality, or replaced?

I'm always interested in getting better metadata, but I seem to have missed this Carnac thing all together, unless it only existed for older versions I never used.

[skarsol]

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Carnac

[glynor]

Carnac is still part of Media Center, and happens automatically when you use Auto-Import to import your files.  Carnac will parse the filename you provided properly, and should fill in the [Series], [Season], and [Episode] tags correctly when you import a file named like that.

Then, it will have all the information needed to perform the Get Movie & TV Info process automatically as part of the Auto-Import process.  Very occasionally the automatic metadata lookup process could fail, because it relies upon external websites (thetvdb.com, tmdb, and Rotten Tomatoes, among others) to be up and responsive.  However, these issues are typically very rare, and wouldn't impact Carnac's ability to parse the filename and get the tags listed above entered correctly.

If this isn't working for you with files named like the example you gave, then something is going wrong.  But, I'm a bit confused from your initial description.  Can you describe exactly what you are doing to test this behavior?

Please Note: Removing a file that has already been imported and then re-importing it will not re-trigger the "regular" Auto-Import system (including Carnac).  To re-test with a file that has already been imported, you'll need to remove it twice.  See:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=72593.msg491631#msg491631

[skarsol]

To test, a file is retrieved on my server and inserted into a folder that MC is set to auto import (W:/The Blacklist/Season 2/ in this case) and when autoimport runs on schedule it's pulling SD.TV from the filename as the episode title and not correcting it with info from tvdb. When I then manually run the get info it pulls it up fine. If it matters, its doing the scheduled import because its not getting file notifications from the network share. (And it seems to run less often than the advertised 2 hours)

[glynor]

To test, a file is retrieved on my server and inserted into a folder that MC is set to auto import (W:/The Blacklist/Season 2/ in this case) and when autoimport runs on schedule it's pulling...

Unfortunately, that doesn't answer my question.  The question is: Has MC ever seen this particular file before?

Here's why: MC remembers files that have been previously removed from the Library, and if it ever sees the same file again, it "un-removes" it, rather than re-importing it.  You cannot test with files that have already been imported previously without taking additional action to remove it from the hidden Removed Items database, as is described in the thread I linked.

If they are completely fresh, brand-new files never before touched by MC, then that can be ignored.  Your answer was ambiguous, though.

it's pulling SD.TV from the filename as the episode title and not correcting it with info from tvdb. When I then manually run the get info it pulls it up fine.

Assuming it isn't what was discussed above, then what I want to know is if the [Episode], [Series], and [Season] tags have been appropriately filled when MC imports the file.

Importing the file and parsing the [Name] as SD.TV is expected for the filename you described.  The Carnac feature extracts the file tags it can from the filename, looking for naming patterns like the one you provided in your example, and then dumps what is "left over" in the [Name] field.

If it is getting the proper [Series], [Season], and [Episode] tags, though, and thetvdb.com is not down (and the API interface isn't overloaded) at that particular moment, then it should fill the [Name] field (and [Description] and whatnot) in for you within a few seconds of completing the Auto-Import scan.  This second step is separate from Carnac, and is the automatic metadata lookup (which accesses the Internet and tries to look up more info, if there is enough there for it to find the right entry online).

* If it is not getting [Series], [Season], and [Episode] then something is messing up within Carnac, and we can investigate causes there.
* If it is getting those details from filenames like the one you provided, then it has nothing at all to do with Carnac (which has done its job) and it is the online lookup that is failing, so we need to investigate possible causes there.

Hope that makes sense.

[RoderickGI]

Thanks guys. I guess there is some history around the naming buried somewhere in the Wiki or Forum. I searched the forum but didn't find anything of value. Basically I knew about the functionality, but not the name carnac.

I have now bookmarked that thread Glynor, and set up a quick Smartlist to understand it. I think I will have to start playing with Views as the Smartlist shows I have lots of deleted TV programs, so I probably want to search by database as per MrC's suggestion. That or delete all the deleted TV records!

I have learnt some more about MC, so all is good. Well, for me, if not for you Skarsol.  

EDIT:

Hope that makes sense.

That makes complete sense, and helps me understand the Auto import process a whole lot better, particularly for files with structured names, as with the example Skarsol used.

[glynor]

Thanks guys. I guess there is some history around the naming buried somewhere in the Wiki or Forum.

They like fun, silly names for features sometimes.  Carnac refers to Carnac The Magnificent.  That's also why the video auto-configuration system is Red October (because we were on the "hunt" for something that was very, very difficult to track down).

Theater View used to be called Hairstyle.

There's a bunch of examples.

EDIT: You might want to check out the Wiki article again.  I just gave it a good once-over.  There's some fun old threads in there at the bottom too.

[JimH]

They like fun, silly names for features sometimes.  Carnac refers to Carnac The Magnificent.  That's also why the video auto-configuration system is Red October (because we were on the "hunt" for something that was very, very difficult to track down).

DirectShow was one of most difficult missions.

Theater View used to be called Hairstyle.

I still miss Hairstyle.  Matt and I both regretted removing it.

Thanks for sharing some old memories.

[RoderickGI]

You guys really enjoy what you do, don't you, and love to share a . . . quirky|strange|unique|unusual|obscure* sense of humour. I love it. 

*Programmers humour, and I'm not even a programmer!   

[CountryBumkin]

ex: The.Blacklist.S02E02.SD.TV-LOL.mp4
Populates episode as "Sd tv". Manual get info runs correctly due to series and s02e02 being picked up properly.

I think you may have too much information in your file name. Can you simplify it some? Like "The Blacklist S02E02 SD.mp4" (assuming "SD" in the episode name). I use "SeriesName Sxx.Exx. EpisodeName.mkv" and that works well for me.

[glynor]

I think you may have too much information in your file name. Can you simplify it some? Like "The Blacklist S02E02 SD.mp4" (assuming "SD" in the episode name). I use "SeriesName Sxx.Exx. EpisodeName.mkv" and that works well for me.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves. We need to figure out where the problem is happening. I strongly suspect that Carnac is working, and the online lookup is failing.

If Carnac is working, then the filename is irrelevant. If it isn't working, it should, so we need to figure out why.

[skarsol]

Unfortunately, that doesn't answer my question.  The question is: Has MC ever seen this particular file before?

Here's why: MC remembers files that have been previously removed from the Library, and if it ever sees the same file again, it "un-removes" it, rather than re-importing it.  You cannot test with files that have already been imported previously without taking additional action to remove it from the hidden Removed Items database, as is described in the thread I linked.

Ah, sorry, I misunderstood. These are brand new files MC hasn't seen before. I've not run any "testing" per se, these have been the results of my normal "new show" workflow. I've enabled logging now and am waiting to see it happen again to see if that gives me more info.

Assuming it isn't what was discussed above, then what I want to know is if the [Episode], [Series], and [Season] tags have been appropriately filled when MC imports the file.

These three fields populate properly on import.

* If it is getting those details from filenames like the one you provided, then it has nothing at all to do with Carnac (which has done its job) and it is the online lookup that is failing, so we need to investigate possible causes there.

This appears to be the case. I'm currently waiting for it to happen again and I'll look for online lookup related errors in the logs. Thanks.

[glynor]

Ah, sorry, I misunderstood.

No worries.  Now you know.

These three fields populate properly on import.

Perfect.  That means that whatever issue you're encountering is NOT caused by Carnac, and so anything relating to the filename or any of that can be disregarded.  It is doing its job properly.

One last thing is to double-check is to verify that the [Media Sub Type] is coming in as TV Show.  I forgot to ask that before, but I'd assume that's probably fine too (unless the particular recording is very-long or very-short).  I do get an occasional TV Show that is movie-length (or a partial recording only a few minutes long) that come in wrong.  But generally this is rare (and if you have a specific case where they get messed up, it can be overriden on a case-by-case basis if needed).

This appears to be the case. I'm currently waiting for it to happen again and I'll look for online lookup related errors in the logs. Thanks.

Yes.

One thing worth mentioning... thetvdb.com lookups rely on an API key given to JRiver by the TVDB folks.  The API key does have some "limits" on usage, which means occasionally we get stuck in a situation where lookups start failing all the time for apparently no reason, and it is just because MC has suddenly become more popular and is exceeding the API key limits set by the TVDB folks.

JRiver has gotten their limits bumped a few times.  I do not think there's a serious problem here now, because I'm not seeing the issue constantly right now on my own system.  Usually if we get in one of those states, there are a TON of people here all complaining.

Still, though, it is worth understanding that this lookup feature relies on a third-party website which can occasionally have issues.  If you're seeing constant problems with them importing and not auto-looking-up, then that's not it.  However, an oddball here and there once every month or so is not unexpected.

[skarsol]

Okay, I found another instance in my logs. Looks like this is the culprit:

182283642: 1544: Import: GetVideoMetadata: Getting movie & TV info: W:\Ink Master\Season 05\Ink.Master.S05E07.SD.TV-YesTV.mp4
182283642: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Open: Start
182283642: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Open: Opening http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%22Ink%20Master%20S5E7%22%20film&fulltext=Search&limit=20&offset=0
182283642: 1424: Reader: CWinINetReader::Thread: Start
182283642: 1424: Reader: CWinINetReader::Connect: Start
182283642: 1424: Reader: CWinINetReader::Connect: Finish (0 ms)
182283642: 1424: Reader: CWinINetReader::DownloadFromHTTPURL: Start
182283954: 1424: Reader: CWinINetReader::DownloadFromHTTPURL: Success
182283954: 1424: Reader: CWinINetReader::DownloadFromHTTPURL: Finish (312 ms)
182283954: 1424: Reader: CWinINetReader::Thread: Finish (312 ms)
182283954: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Open: Finish (312 ms)
182283970: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Close: Start
182283970: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Close: Finish (0 ms)
182283970: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Open: Start
182283970: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Open: Opening http://www.thetvdb.com/api/GetSeries.php?seriesname=Ink%20Master&language=all
182283970: 2888: Reader: CWinINetReader::Thread: Start
182283970: 2888: Reader: CWinINetReader::Connect: Start
182283970: 2888: Reader: CWinINetReader::Connect: Finish (0 ms)
182283970: 2888: Reader: CWinINetReader::DownloadFromHTTPURL: Start
182284890: 2888: Reader: CWinINetReader::DownloadFromHTTPURL: Success
182284890: 2888: Reader: CWinINetReader::DownloadFromHTTPURL: Finish (920 ms)
182284890: 2888: Reader: CWinINetReader::Thread: Finish (920 ms)
182284890: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Open: Finish (920 ms)
182284890: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Read: InternetReadFile returned true with zero bytes read: EOF
182284890: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Close: Start
182284890: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Close: Finish (0 ms)
182284890: 1544: Import: CTheTVDB::GetEpisodeInformation: Start
182284890: 1544: Import: CTheTVDB::GetEpisodeInformation: Looking up episode information for series 4867663, season 5, episode 7
182284890: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Open: Start
182284890: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Open: Opening http://thetvdb.com/api/REDACTED/series/4867663/all/en.zip
182284890: 3048: Reader: CWinINetReader::Thread: Start
182284890: 3048: Reader: CWinINetReader::Connect: Start
182284890: 3048: Reader: CWinINetReader::Connect: Finish (0 ms)
182284890: 3048: Reader: CWinINetReader::DownloadFromHTTPURL: Start
182285077: 3048: Reader: CWinINetReader::DownloadFromHTTPURL: Failed (header status code: 404)
182285077: 3048: Reader: CWinINetReader::DownloadFromHTTPURL: Finish (187 ms)
182285077: 3048: Reader: CWinINetReader::Thread: Finish (187 ms)
182285077: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Open: ConnectToURL failed, m_bConnectError=true, URL=http://thetvdb.com/api/REDACTED/series/4867663/all/en.zip
182285077: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Close: Start
182285077: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Close: Finish (0 ms)

Looking at http://www.thetvdb.com/api/GetSeries.php?seriesname=Ink%20Master&language=all it seems to me the proper series id is 254986 but then MC looks for 4867663 which doesn't exist, so it fails out. Looking at the file, MC has [TheTVDB Series ID] as 4867663, but I'm not sure when/where that's getting set.

The first instance of 4867663  in the log is it looking for cover art:
181974963: 1544: Import: GetCoverArt: Getting art: W:\Ink Master\Season 05\Ink.Master.S05E07.SD.TV-YesTV.mp4
181974963: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Open: Start
181974963: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Open: Opening http://thetvdb.com/api/F5860DFCA1B05538/series/4867663/all/en.zip
181974963: 1988: Reader: CWinINetReader::Thread: Start
181974963: 1988: Reader: CWinINetReader::Connect: Start
181974963: 1988: Reader: CWinINetReader::Connect: Finish (0 ms)
181974963: 1988: Reader: CWinINetReader::DownloadFromHTTPURL: Start
181975181: 1988: Reader: CWinINetReader::DownloadFromHTTPURL: Failed (header status code: 404)
181975181: 1988: Reader: CWinINetReader::DownloadFromHTTPURL: Finish (218 ms)
181975181: 1988: Reader: CWinINetReader::Thread: Finish (218 ms)
181975181: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Open: ConnectToURL failed, m_bConnectError=true, URL=http://thetvdb.com/api/REDACTED/series/4867663/all/en.zip
181975181: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Close: Start
181975181: 1544: Reader: CWinINetReader::Close: Finish (0 ms)

Looking at previous episodes in the series, they all have 4867663 set for [TheTVDB Series ID], but all but the most recent 4 have the correct name, etc. Thinking about it, the failures to lookup started after my switch to MC20. Would that have corrupted that field somehow?

Going through some other shows having the same issue but that don't show in the log I have I see that there are some issues with pulling the wrong ID based on name "Once Upon a Time" vs "Once Upon a Time (2011)". Once Upon a Time (2011)/Season 04/Once.Upon.a.Time.2011.S04E03.SD.TV-LOL.mp4 is being pulled in as the former and thus getting a 404 because that show only has one season while the latter is the current one. [Date] is getting set as 2011 but [TheTVDB Series ID] is 83822.

I guess unless I hear differently from you shortly, I'll go through and sanitize all the [TheTVDB Series ID] fields to be valid and then see if going forward it keeps with that or continues to generate spurious ones.

[glynor]

A few things, though I don't have much time.

1. [TheTVDB Series ID] is a relational field, keyed on [Series].  That means, each [Series] should only have one [TheTVDB Series ID], and if you change one, it changes all of them for that Series.

2. [TheTVDB Series ID] is set automatically for a particular series when you do a manual lookup on a single file, and choose the proper result from the list.  This allows it to still look up and properly tag files where the Series name you may prefer doesn't match the naming scheme at thetvdb.com.

3. If [TheTVDB Series ID] exists for a [Series], it "wins".  MC searches on the [Series] text if there isn't an existing [TheTVDB Series ID].  But if that field is filled, it is used instead.  This is certainly the cause of your lookup failures.

Good job sussing that out.  I was going to direct you to check that very thing.

It is possible that you messed up by playing around with manual lookups at some point, and now the affected [Series] fail to look up because they have an invalid [TheTVDB Series ID].  Not sure.  Or, perhaps, it got messed up some other way.  In any case, it should be pretty easy to fix.  Just find one offending file from each [Series] and do the manual Get Movie & TV Info on it (again, you have to do a single file, or else you don't get the search wizard and [TheTVDB Series ID] doesn't get set).

Since that field is relational, it should (unless something is badly borked in your Library) fix all of them at once for that particular [Series].

[skarsol]

Okay, after my cleanup last night The Blacklist and The Originals imported fine this morning (I'll start another thread on the (in)frequency of auto-import running soon ). Castle did not. Looks like the 2009 isn't being handled well. I expect this is the same issue I'm having with Once Upon a Time (2011).

Getting movie & TV info: W:\Castle (2009)\Season 07\Castle.2009.S07E04.SD.TV-LOL.mp4
Opening http://www.thetvdb.com/api/GetSeries.php?seriesname=Castle&language=all
Looking up episode information for series 82607, season 7, episode 4

82607 is a 2003 show about Castles. All other instances of this show in my library are 83462. The correct XML entry is:
<Series><seriesid>83462</seriesid><language>en</language><SeriesName>Castle (2009)</SeriesName><banner>graphical/83462-g20.jpg</banner><Overview>Rick Castle is one of the world's most successful crime authors. But when his rock star lifestyle isn't enough, this bad boy goes looking for new trouble and finds it working with smart, beautiful Detective Kate Beckett. Inspired by her professional record and intrigued by her buttoned-up personality, Castle's found the model for his bold new character whether she likes it or not. Now with the mayor's permission, Castle is helping solve crime with his own twist.</Overview><FirstAired>2009-03-09</FirstAired><Network>ABC</Network><IMDB_ID>tt1219024</IMDB_ID><zap2it_id>EP01085588</zap2it_id><id>83462</id></Series>

[glynor]

Yep.  The [TheTVDB Series ID] is the way to fix that.

All you have to do is set it once for a particular series, by using the Get Movie & TV Info tool on a single file, and then it should be right from then on.  So, even if you wanted (for some oddball reason) the series "Castle" to be called "Cheeseball" in your setup, you just:

* Tag any episodes already in your Library "properly" as [Series] = "Cheeseball"
* Then, select one of them and do Right-Click > Get Movie & TV Info.
* In the lookup dialog, change the search as needed to find the series you want, and select it.
* This will tag that episode properly, and set the [TheTVDB Series ID] field.
* Then, you can select the rest and do Get Movie & TV Info on the whole batch and it'll look them all up properly.

If you have files regularly importing for which Carnac doesn't do what you want it to do (so the Series name ends up dumb or you want it set to "Cheeseball" or whatever), then you can fix this by creating a Tag On Import Rule.

[skarsol]

Okay, great, so looks like rules for If(IsEqual([Series],Castle,1),Castle (2009),[Series]) and If(IsEqual([Series],Once Upon a Time,1),Once Upon a Time (2011),[Series]) should fix those issues. Thanks!

If I were acquiring episodes for both Castle and Castle (2009) at the same time (backfilling an old show for example), would I be SOL on the auto-import lookups (corner case, just curious if there's other features I don't know about)?

[BartMan01]

All you have to do is set it once for a particular series, by using the Get Movie & TV Info tool on a single file, and then it should be right from then on.  So, even if you wanted (for some oddball reason) the series "Castle" to be called "Cheeseball" in your setup, you just:

Maybe I am missing something in my setup, but this does not seem to be working for me.  All of my 'Doctor Who' (original series) shows have the series of 'Doctor Who'.  All of my 'Doctor Who (2005)' (new series) shows have the series of 'Doctor Who (2005)'.  When I import they start out with 'Doctor Who (2005)' as the series,  but when I do a 'Get Info' pass that is replaced with 'Doctor Who' and I have to change it back.  Is there a way to have it keep the series as 'Doctor Who (2005)' instead of changing it each time?

[skarsol]

Ah, yeah, my Doctor Who (2005) are coming in as Doctor Who as well. So If(IsEqual([Series],Doctor Who,1),Doctor Who (2005),[Series]) for that one too? I'm still acquiring shows from the original series, so I guess I'll have to do a manual lookup on those when imported.

[skarsol]

Ooooh, you know what would be awesome is if I could throw a connect from Sickbeard to JRiver since Sickbeard already knows all the tvdb data and such for the associated file. Does JRiver support any way of notifying it of a new file and associated metadata?

[BryanC]

You can run manual post-processing in Sickbeard if all of the files are in the same folder.

[skarsol]

What would that get me? I guess I could rename them to try and put more relevant info in the filename? Trying to get away from anything manual though.

[BryanC]

What would that get me? I guess I could rename them to try and put more relevant info in the filename? Trying to get away from anything manual though.

You should definitely set up a custom naming scheme in Sickbeard (or Sabnzbd). The crap naming conventions that most scene groups use will confuse Carnac. Sickbeard and Sabnzbd are designed to interpret the scene group naming conventions while Carnac is better for user-entered naming conventions and the default naming rules used by iTunes, MediaMonkey, T&R, etc.

Under Sickbeard post-processing options, enter a custom naming system that is known to work with Carnac, e.g.

Code: [Select]

Season %0S\%SN - S%0SE%0E - %EN
This way the 'hard work' is done in Sickbeard.

Or perhaps I'm not understanding your workflow?

[JimH]

Carnac is pretty smart.  If you find something it won't parse, let us know the details.

[skarsol]

Carnac seems to not be having an issue with naming other than ignoring dates (and that seems to be more an issue with the Get TV Info logic than Carnac itself) which I'm now fixing with the custom tag rule on import provided above. Would the provided naming string resolve that? (IE: distinguish between Dr Who and Dr Who (2005) when either comes from Sickbeard)

I've also put in a lot of effort into preserving scene names, especially with Cartoons as it's much easier to source better quality encodes and replace bad caps when I know the original filename, so I'm loathe to do that. Although if it will fix the import issue, I could write a post-process script to create a symbolic link of the new name to the scene name like I currently do manually with Cartoons.

[BryanC]

Carnac seems to not be having an issue with naming other than ignoring dates (and that seems to be more an issue with the Get TV Info logic than Carnac itself) which I'm now fixing with the custom tag rule on import provided above. Would the provided naming string resolve that? (IE: distinguish between Dr Who and Dr Who (2005) when either comes from Sickbeard)

I've also put in a lot of effort into preserving scene names, especially with Cartoons as it's much easier to source better quality encodes and replace bad caps when I know the original filename, so I'm loathe to do that. Although if it will fix the import issue, I could write a post-process script to create a symbolic link of the new name to the scene name like I currently do manually with Cartoons.

I had assumed you knew about this feature, but this will be of interest to you: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=87442.0

All of the info can be written to XBMC .nfo files in Sickbeard so Carnac doesn't have to do anything. Under Sickbeard post-processing options Metadata type, select XBMC 12+, and enable "Show metadata", "Episode metadata", and "Episode Thumbnails".

If you want Sickbeard to handle the artwork, in addition to the XBMC metadata settings, under the WDTV metadata type, select "Show Poster" and "Season Poster"

All of the files created by Sickbeard will be read into MC. You don't have to touch the filenames if you want to keep them intact. You can also create a custom naming convention like I showed you above and tack on "%RN" and "%RG" to add the release name and release group.

[skarsol]

Ahha! Last time I tried that JRiver happily ignored it. (I've been using this since 11, and I don't keep abreast of new features as much as I used to) Thanks, I'll get that set up again.

[glynor]

The Dr Who example you gave CAN be solved without external tools.  It works like I described. I'm Too busy to say more until later tonight.

[skarsol]

Okay, now I figured out why all my stuff went to pot. I upgraded/reconfigured Sickbeard at about the same time I went to MC 20, and at that point Sickbeard stopped creating the .nfo files (I'd been playing with XBMC, so it was still turned on till then) so MC had to handle the shows on its own, and that's when the flaws in my tags and the funkiness with the dated shows popped up. I've got SB making the .nfos again now, so that should make everything happy in my world.

[BartMan01]

The Dr Who example you gave CAN be solved without external tools.  It works like I described. I'm Too busy to say more until later tonight.

I looked at my series ID information, and it looks like there is an issue with TVDB.  At least one of the old Doctor Who listings has the same Show ID as the new Doctor Who listings and somehow that ended up as the show ID in my library.  I manually changed the old Doctor Who to the correct entry (76017) and now when I do a find on the new series it is showing the name including the (2005).

[skarsol]

Okay, so it looks like the XBMC .nfo files are using the episode id in <uniqueid> now instead of the series id that MC is expecting. So when it goes to load in the newest episode of Once Upon a Time (2011) it brings it in, checks the nfo, looks for series 4973698 on TVDB which doesn't exist, and then leaves the name unchanged and the series incorrect as "Once Upon a Time" and doesn't even look at <showtitle> which is correct in the nfo.

The episode link: http://thetvdb.com/index.php?tab=episode&seriesid=248835&seasonid=590600&id=4973698

Relevant portion of the XBMC nfo:

<episodedetails>
  <title>Breaking Glass</title>
  <showtitle>Once Upon a Time (2011)</showtitle>
  <season>4</season>
  <episode>5</episode>
  <uniqueid>4973698</uniqueid>
  <aired>2014-10-26</aired>

[Hendrik]

Works just fine here. I created a nfo file next to a media file with  the contents you provided, and imported it into MC, and the show is set properly, as is the episode title and everything else.

[skarsol]

Ah, you're right, that was one of those stupid sample files messing me up since it doesn't have an nfo. Looks like it's working okay then without having to do the post-import rules. Thanks for the help and sorry for the false report. I've got the sample files veto'd in samba now, so they shouldn't mess things up anymore.

[BartMan01]

I looked at my series ID information, and it looks like there is an issue with TVDB.  At least one of the old Doctor Who listings has the same Show ID as the new Doctor Who listings and somehow that ended up as the show ID in my library.  I manually changed the old Doctor Who to the correct entry (76017) and now when I do a find on the new series it is showing the name including the (2005).

That wasn't it after all.  Seems that CARNAC is ignoring the (2005) in the series name during import...

[glynor]

That wasn't it after all.  Seems that CARNAC is ignoring the (2005) in the series name during import...

Carnac doesn't have anything to do with the lookup phase.

Carnac will process the "(2005)" in a filename and tag [Year]=2005.  Then, the Automatic Metadata Lookup system looks up the episode using the [Series], [Season], and [Episode] fields.  The metadata lookup system does not search using [Year] because you can't count on it to be reliable in files (it isn't always present) and the TMDB lookup doesn't always include the year (they only include it when there are multiple versions of a series).

I tried to explain this above.  I'll try again.

If you want:

* The [Series] field to actually be "Dr. Who (2005)" then you'll want to add a Tag on Import rule that looks for any file that has both "Dr. Who" and "2005" in the filename and, if so, sets the [Series] name to what you want.

* The [Series] field to be "Dr. Who" but for all episodes that are tagged that way to be treated as the series on TMDB called "Dr. Who (2005)", then you don't need any Tag on Import rules.  You simply need to select a single episode example of one of these, and do the lookup manually.  When you do this, it gives you a search box and you can alter the default search however you'd like.  Find the right series, select it, and then from then on, any file tagged [Series] = "Dr. Who" in Media Center will be treated as that series (and not the original or whatever) for future Metadata lookups.

[BartMan01]

I will have to add that, but Carnac really should be picking that up.  The filename is SeriesName.SXXEXX.YYYYMMDD.EpsiodeName.ext

It properly picks up the series, episode, date, and name, but for some reason totally ignores the (2005) in the series name.  Will it remember the import rule from (manual) import to import, or will I have to put it in each time?  I don't use auto import for these.

[glynor]

It isn't ignoring it.  It is parsing it just the way it is designed.

The problem is that it doesn't use the date to look up the episode (as I explained, that's not how searching in TVDB works, and even if it did, most files aren't so nicely named).  It uses ONLY [Series], [Season], and [Episode], which is enough to find the show.  If, the [Series] name matches what TVDB calls it.

If the [Series] name does not match TVDB's name, you can override the search for a [Series] by text, by adding the TVDB ID (which happens automatically when you do the manual lookup).  That associates whatever files you have tagged with the same [Series] field with that particular TVDB ID, and then that is used for all future lookups.

The only thing you can't do is have two (or more) different series tagged with the same [Series] field.  The [Series] field needs to be unique to a particular show if you want the Automatic Metadata Lookup to work properly.

Tag on Import rules apply to Importing via any of the following means:
* Auto-Import in the background
* Tools > Import > Run Auto-Import Now
* Tools > Import > Import a Single Folder

[glynor]

Hmmm... I just tested it thoroughly.

Everything I said held true, except something is broken.  Suddenly the standard [The TVDB Series ID] field is no longer a relational field keyed on [Series], which breaks the whole system.

So, it works exactly as I said.  You can import a file with the exact name you provided, with fake values inserted for your stand-in numbers, but not the names (which means, the Series lookup will fail, because there is no series called SeriesName).

SeriesName.S03E10.19851027.EpsiodeName.mkv


Click to play.

Everything works right.  It comes in as:

Series: SeriesName
Season: 3
Episode: 10
Date: 10/27/1985

So, Carnac is working correctly.  Its job is done once that happens.  Of course, the metadata lookup fails (as expected).

But, for whatever reason, you want your actual series to be called this in MC (you're weird).  So, you do a search on it, and change it to the Dr. Who series you want.  It tags the file, and even fills in the [The TVDB Series ID] field.  So, then, if the series ID field was relational like it is supposed to be, when you import the second example, it would look it up and "treat" it as Dr. Who (2005), even though it isn't called that.

But it doesn't, because [The TVDB Series ID] field for the new file is empty, since it isn't working like a relational field anymore.  I know this was working before, so something got broken.

[glynor]

Reported as a bug:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=92737.msg640045#msg640045

I found the original build thread where this was implemented (and it says explicitly that it works as I described that it should, but does not anymore).  I know it used to work right, as I've made pretty substantial use of that system (for basically every series I collect that has a "sub-series" or "re-make" of some kind I dislike the TVDB naming pattern).

Something appears to have just gotten hosed with that field at some point.

[Hendrik]

It seems to be functioning here. I change the value on one episode, and it changes for all other episodes in the same series as well.
I import a new file to that Series, and it also gets the field set.

[glynor]

Thanks, Hendrik.

You can see if you watch my little movie above that it isn't for me, and at the end, I opened up the Field "editor" widget (which is not editable) and it lists that field as a standard one.

If it isn't happening everywhere, it happened to my Library at least, and I can't fix it.

However, I'm not sure if it is universal.  Many of my other shows do seem to have a valid TheTVDB Series ID fields (even newly recorded ones, but their lookups all succeed on their own, I'd guess), but that test scenario made it stand out.

[BartMan01]

Glynor:

The series name in TVDB IS 'Doctor Who (2005)' and not 'Doctor Who'.  I am not choosing to name it something different, I am naming it per the TVDB conventions.

Example file name is:  Doctor Who (2005).S01E01.2010-01-01.Name of the episode.mpg and is in the folder ..\Doctor Who (2005)\Season 01

Carnac is loading it as:
Series = Doctor Who
Season = 1
Episode = 1
Date = 1/1/2010
Name = Name of the Episode

It is seeing the '2010-01-01' as the date but still ignoring the (2005) in the season name.

[lepa]

Glynor:

The series name in TVDB IS 'Doctor Who (2005)' and not 'Doctor Who'.  I am not choosing to name it something different, I am naming it per the TVDB conventions.

Example file name is:  Doctor Who (2005).S01E01.2010-01-01.Name of the episode.mpg and is in the folder ..\Doctor Who (2005)\Season 01

Carnac is loading it as:
Series = Doctor Who
Season = 1
Episode = 1
Date = 1/1/2010
Name = Name of the Episode

It is seeing the '2010-01-01' as the date but still ignoring the (2005) in the season name.

I have recently noticed same thing. Before Carnac was removin only parenthesis but nowdays also year postfix is removed. Same with Castle (2009).

[glynor]

Example file name is:  Doctor Who (2005).S01E01.2010-01-01.Name of the episode.mpg and is in the folder ..\Doctor Who (2005)\Season 01

If you're ever asking for help with Carnac, always post a real-world example filename (not fake ones).  It is best to just copy/paste the full filename (but what you did above is close enough).  Had you done that, I would have been able to explain the issue immediately.  The issue is that your fake ones and descriptions didn't explain that your path had two conflicting dates.

The issue is that Carnac is processing that as:

Series: Doctor Who
Year: 2005
Season: 01
Episode: 01
Date: 01/01/2010

So, the issue is that [Year] = 2005 is set, but then immediately overwritten by the conflicting [Date] = 01/01/2010 part of the parsing.

Four-digit numbers in parenthesis are treated as [Year].  That's because that kind of notation is commonly used in filenames (especially for movies).  It doesn't know (and can't know, short of much more intelligent AI than is possible now) that in this particular instance the "(2005)" is part of the series name, and not a date that should be parsed away into the appropriate Date field.

I don't know if they can modify Carnac to react more smartly if it encounters two or more conflicting dates in the filename.

But, for now, you can work around this by adding a Tag on Import rule as I suggested above:

If you want:

* The [Series] field to actually be "Dr. Who (2005)" then you'll want to add a Tag on Import rule that looks for any file that has both "Dr. Who" and "2005" in the filename and, if so, sets the [Series] name to what you want.

If you can't figure out how to craft that Tag on Import rule to look for both items (you'll need an ifelse() with two isequal()s in substring mode), then ask and I'll make it for you.

[BartMan01]

For reference, here is the import rule that I ended up with and has been working fine so far:
Field: Series
Value: If(IsEqual([Filename (name)],Doctor Who /(2005/),8),Doctor Who /(2005/), [Series])

Basically it says - if 'Doctor Who (2005)' is in the file name, make series 'Doctor Who (2005)' otherwise leave it alone.