Plugin to add videos to My TV area?

mrbenji · 2008-04-15, 19:39

Hi all,

I've spent a good couple hours searching for an existing solution for this to no avail.

What I want to do is take converted TV shows (which show up and play correctly in My Videos) and add them to the "My TV" area. This is a "wife test" hurdle... she wants one stop shopping for TV, a la TiVo, where any TV shows we might watch are under a "Now Playing" area (i.e. My TV). The issue is that not all of these shows are recorded OTA: some are XVID or x264 videos. Of course, she could care less where the programs were sourced from... i.e. when she wants to watch TV she wants to press the Recorded TV button on our MCE remote and see all her options categorized by show, rather than poke around there AND drill into the various folders in the video area.

It appears that the "MP plugin for Video Transcoding" replaces the original recording's link in "My TV" with a link to the compressed video... so how do I shoehorn a new tv episode video in like this?

Thanks,
Benji

mrbenji · 2008-04-18, 23:10

(bump)

Any help on this? I've tried modifying another episode's XML file to match the compressed show, then moving the compressed show into my recorded TV area and naming it appropriately... but it doesn't show up when I do a database import in SetupTV.

jburnette · 2008-04-18, 23:36

Have you thought about using the TV-Series plugin instead of the My TV area? It would allow you to use your recorded/downloaded/recorded&compressed episodes, and it has a very pretty interface with lots of shiny colorful objects (which my wife finds fascinating).

mrbenji · 2008-04-19, 00:18

Wasn't aware of that plugin... thanks, I'll give it a try! ("Wife test" is always a top priority, ain't it?)

On a sidenote, I discovered that, strangely enough, if I just rename an .mkv to .mpg the XML file works, the episode is imported on database import, and amazingly enough it plays! Don't ask me how.

The only remaining issue with this method is that the date and length are messed up. I get the same date as the XML I sourced from (even though I changed the filename to include 2008-04-10 instead of 2008-04-17), and the time is totally wacky... it's like 1 hr and 29 minutes later. I don't know where the date/time are coming from, as 2008-04-17@10:38pm doesn't seem to be in any of the files in that directory, nor is it the timestamp of any file in that directory.

Anyway, for what it's worth, this method mostly works. Here's hoping that the TV-Series plugin is a better solution for me.

2008-04-15, 19:39	#1 (permalink)
mrbenji Portal Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 35 Thanks: 1 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Country:	Plugin to add videos to My TV area? Hi all, I've spent a good couple hours searching for an existing solution for this to no avail. What I want to do is take converted TV shows (which show up and play correctly in My Videos) and add them to the "My TV" area. This is a "wife test" hurdle... she wants one stop shopping for TV, a la TiVo, where any TV shows we might watch are under a "Now Playing" area (i.e. My TV). The issue is that not all of these shows are recorded OTA: some are XVID or x264 videos. Of course, she could care less where the programs were sourced from... i.e. when she wants to watch TV she wants to press the Recorded TV button on our MCE remote and see all her options categorized by show, rather than poke around there AND drill into the various folders in the video area. It appears that the "MP plugin for Video Transcoding" replaces the original recording's link in "My TV" with a link to the compressed video... so how do I shoehorn a new tv episode video in like this? Thanks, Benji

2008-04-18, 23:10	#2 (permalink)
mrbenji Portal Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 35 Thanks: 1 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Country:	(bump) Any help on this? I've tried modifying another episode's XML file to match the compressed show, then moving the compressed show into my recorded TV area and naming it appropriately... but it doesn't show up when I do a database import in SetupTV. Last edited by mrbenji; 2008-04-18 at 23:14.

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2008-04-18, 23:36	#3 (permalink)
jburnette Portal Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Kentucky Age: 23 Posts: 687 Thanks: 121 Thanked 87 Times in 46 Posts Country: My System	Have you thought about using the TV-Series plugin instead of the My TV area? It would allow you to use your recorded/downloaded/recorded&compressed episodes, and it has a very pretty interface with lots of shiny colorful objects (which my wife finds fascinating).

2008-04-19, 00:18	#4 (permalink)
mrbenji Portal Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 35 Thanks: 1 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Country:	Wasn't aware of that plugin... thanks, I'll give it a try! ("Wife test" is always a top priority, ain't it?) On a sidenote, I discovered that, strangely enough, if I just rename an .mkv to .mpg the XML file works, the episode is imported on database import, and amazingly enough it plays! Don't ask me how. The only remaining issue with this method is that the date and length are messed up. I get the same date as the XML I sourced from (even though I changed the filename to include 2008-04-10 instead of 2008-04-17), and the time is totally wacky... it's like 1 hr and 29 minutes later. I don't know where the date/time are coming from, as 2008-04-17@10:38pm doesn't seem to be in any of the files in that directory, nor is it the timestamp of any file in that directory. Anyway, for what it's worth, this method mostly works. Here's hoping that the TV-Series plugin is a better solution for me.