Instructions For Re-organising your Movies (1 Viewer)

[kcpent]

firstly a little history...

Step 1 - I began with 650 movies in one folder, with no other files in that folder.

Step 2 - I imported all movies into MoPi and customized the details i wanted, ensured backdrops and cover art was available for most of, if not all my files, and saved my database, creating a MoPi backup folder on my pc, containing "movingpictures.db3" and copies of the "backdrops" and "Covers" folder.

Step 3 - I finally successfully used the "MP Folder Organizer v0.3" application to re-organize all movies into separate folders. (this was done with a few little hassles, eg, found out that for some reason it did not move any "disc 2's" into their correct folder. This i accomplished by simply dragging them into the correct folder, for instance my "LOTR The Two Towers" folder contains both disc one and disc 2 for that movie. Also found that it did not move a couple of single disc movies, for instance "Police Academy 5_Back In Training" I overcame this by manually creating the folder, then dragging the movie into the folder. For some reason MoPi automatically updated it's database for these manual changes.).

Step 4 - Used the "MP Artwork and Info Copier v0.5.1" application to copy artwork (covers and backdrops) into respective movie folders, named as folder.jpg and backdrop.jpg. Also used same application to create imdb link in respective folder, named as "movie file name" details. Finally created nfo file for each respective movie using same application (found that the application does not like the symbol "&". The application would not create .nfo file for movies containing that symbol in their folder name or file name.

Step 5 - After ensuring I had a 2 proper full backups of my customized original database, deleted my MoPi database and rescanned, using the manual importer, set only to use the xbmc import method for details, covers and backdrops. This i found painfully slow considering all info is stored locally using the .nfo file, the folder.jpg and the backdrop.jpg files, But none the less was done successfully.

Therefore, all my customisations for movie titles, covers and backdrops are now saved and stored locally (.nfo file, backdrop.jpg and folder.jpg) for easy import in the future if necessary (new pc, A different pc, whatever).

My question now is.... what do i do for future movies that i add to my collection??? Can someone confirm if the following is correct???
Step 1 - Manually put new movie into it's own folder.

Step 2 - Allow MoPi Importer to scan for the movie, download info, cover and backdrop for the movie from the net (i assume i just enable the other scripts, placing them lower in the list than the xbmc script so that the xbmc script has priority, followed by the online scripts to gather info if there is no .nfo file) then after making my customisations and checking that backdrops and covers are all available, exit MoPi.

Step 3 - Run "MP Artwork and Info Copier v0.5.1" which will create and insert .nfo file into the new movie's folder, insert folder.jpg and backdrop.jpg into movies folder and create an imdb link file in the new movie's folder.

Step 4 - Go back to MoPi Importer and send new movie back to importer and by rights this should then import the information (granted it will be the same info) back into MoPi, only this time the info will be sourced from .nfo file, backdrop.jpg and folder.jpg.


I am sorry to type such a long post, but if people out there are as particular as me this may help them to understand the procedure. Especially if you are new to nfo files like myself.

If someone can just confirm that the steps i have taken are correct, and that the procedure i will use in the future is correct that will be great.

It would also be great if MoPi importer also had the capability to do all of this on its own. HINT HINT HINT!!!!!!

Also any suggestions at all will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much, Phil.

 

[BlueBomber]

This is the exact same procedure I would like to use, but am unfortunately unable to successfully import from my nfo files currently :-/.

It would be nice if the MP Artwork and Info Copier v0.5.1 could somehow be integrated into the MovingPictures importer to cut down on some of these steps for people who like to preserve there customizations through the use of nfo files, but I don't see this happening anytime soon (if at all, since it seems that only a small portion of users actually utilize the .nfo files).

One can dream though!

 

[RoChess]

The "XBMC NFO" system is NOT the same as the "NFO Scanner" system that is also supported (the little checkbox on "Importer Settings" tab). So to avoid confusion with people reading this; this method explained by kcpent uses the XBMC NFO system. The simple NFO Scanner system only looks for an IMDb-ID, such as for example tt1234567, ignoring any other info, and then uses that IMDB-ID to get all the movie information via the IMDb scraper.

Having both the "NFO Scanner" and "XBMC (Local)" Scraper enabled (NOTE: Remember to adjust priority in top position or it is ignored in most cases), might be the reason some people are having problems, or delays.

Step 4 - Go back to MoPi Importer and send new movie back to importer and by rights this should then import the information (granted it will be the same info) back into MoPi, only this time the info will be sourced from .nfo file, backdrop.jpg and folder.jpg.

As for your 2nd Step #4, this is pointless, like you said you are redoing the same information. The whole key behind the XBMC NFO system is for the initial import process based on those NFO files being generated already, or after disaster strikes and you want to rebuild your HTPC. Redoing it directly after all the information is already correct is redundant.

So you have to look at it more like a backup system for future recovery. This is why you don't have to re-run the XBMC NFO generator everytime you import a new movie, unless you are extremly paranoid on your backups. So once a week/month suffices.

It would also be great if MoPi importer also had the capability to do all of this on its own. HINT HINT HINT!!!!!!

All the functionality will eventually be build into MovingPictures itself, based on "Enhancement Issues" submitted to the Google SVN website (see my signature on how to do so). So you don't have to submit again, as these are existing issues. The "MP Folder Organizer v0.3" functionality for example has already been made functional in the MovingPictures v1.1 source code in a better way, including undo option. It didn't make the deadline to get integrated into MovingPictures v1.0, so you have to be patient longer. It would be unfair to keep prosponing a new release from becoming stable, just so another feature can get added. If that was the case it would remain beta forever, as there is always a new thing to add. You are however free to download the v1.1 source code and compile it yourself to get all the new functionality. I run a v1.1 version myself as well, due to Moving Pictures source code revision 1036. That one didn't make the cut into version 1.0 either (as you can see it shows /trunk/ (reference for future code) and not /branches/ (reference for next stable version code) in the path), but I couldn't wait

The only thing added to the v1.0 branch right now is bug fixes, but everything is pretty much fixed to a satisfactory level (it will never be 100% bug free), so expect version 1.0 to be released soon. The small bugs still found will then be fixed in v1.0.xx releases (we are already at v1.0.4 actually), and then later you can expect a new v1.1 beta as the whole development process repeats itself.

That's the whole benefit of these small applications, is that they can be written quickly to do one task, but to integrate them in an existing application takes a lot more effort and testing (to make sure nothing else stopped working).

A better solution would be for those contributions to be written in C# directly (the language MediaPortal and MovingPictures are written in) and submitted as a patch, but that's just not always an option for the person who has the time to do the contribution to begin with.

PS: regarding '&', not sure if you are the same poster, but there is a difference between '&' and '&' at usage level for an application (the '&' is an HTML 4.0 URL encoding entity to represent '&'). Check your database to see what encoding was used to process the '&' char originally.

 

[BlueBomber]

RoChess - I think you may have just found my problem. I just remotely logged in to my HTPC and saw that I had the NFO scanner enabled, as well as the XBMC scraper. I think that I just assumed that because the scraper was the only thing enabled in the data sources section, that it did not matter whether the NFO scanner was enabled or not.

I will have to wait until I get home later tonight to do a test (as I turned off my media server before I left this morning ), but this makes sense to me as to why my logs show that it was trying to hit IMDB during the import process.

Man, I hope this fixes everything, as this was the only thing that I could not get to work correctly in MovingPictures!

 

[kcpent]

Thanks for your info RoChess, That makes things clear now... i should turn off the NFO Scanner system (uncheck the little box) because i do not want to use the imdb id link that i have in the folder... this would download new info for the movie without my customizations... all i need to do is place the xbmc nfo script in the top priority to import these movies from the .nfo files i created with the "MP Artwork and Info Copier v0.5.1" application. This will import them with the custom info that i have already entered and exported.

As to my 2nd step 4, i only do that step as i am majorly organised and want all my imported movies to be imported from the same source.. no point, i know, trust me it's an O.C.D (obsessive compulsive disorder) thing. LOL!!!!

I sure hope you didn't take any of my 1st post as criticism either, i was just trying to make sure i was doing things the correct way i guess.

One more question though, can you tell me any reason why the "MP Artwork and Info Copier v0.5.1" application will not create a .nfo file for "Barbie As Rapunzel.avi"? I have treated it the same as all my other movies with regards to naming etc, no special characters bla bla bla, but the application just does not seem to create a .nfo file for that folder/movie. i will attach the logs for "MP Artwork and Info Copier v0.5.1" application, but i guess i should post it in that applications thread instead.. just thought i would ask. View attachment 58416... The funny thing is after going through this log it says that the artwork was succesfully copied, which the were, but starngely enough it also says the info file was created, which it wasn't!!!

Thanks again for your clarification, love your work, keep up the support to all us newbies.

 

[mardup]

Thanks to all
I had also the same problems .... cause I also made the same error : enabling NFO Scanner AND using XMBC (Local)
So, one question now : when we will see in the same tool / plugin the functions of "MP Folder Organizer" and "MP Artwork and Info Copier" ?

Or better : when this 2 function will be added in MoPi ?

to the MP Community !!!

 

[Jocker_Boy]

This is just a ideia.
Try to use Ember Media Manager, that you will have your movies all organize.
Some time ago i have all my movies in one folder, then, using that software (EMM) i have all my movies in single folder, and with cover, fanart, *.nfo, trailer, everything.
It's very easy to use, and also it can rename you files as you want.

 

[mardup]

The *.NFO files generated by E M B, can they be imported by MoPi ?

 

[Jocker_Boy]

The *.NFO files generated by E M B, can they be imported by MoPi ?

When i change the imdb link "for example to: tt1014759" in the *.nfo file generated by EMM, the Media Portal go find the movie associated to that link, in this case: tt1014759 - Alice in Worderland.

I have tried this example with the movie "Shrek.mkv", in the folder "shrek (2001)" and with the file "shrek.nfo"
And the MoPi, have selected Alice in Wonderlad.

I don't understand to much of this, but i think the MoPi will imported the *.nfo.

And for me, the Ember Media Manager, ia almost perfect. And with the next release, it will support TV Shows also.

 

[BlueBomber]

***You guys - I'm very confused on where we are supposed to be talking about importing using the XBMC scraper. I don't know if it's this thread, the 'XBMC - Does it work?' thread, or the 'App to Copy Artwork and Details to Movie Folder' thread. Anyone care to clarify?***

I went home and had some mixed results. I found a couple of conditional situations with the ‘Title’ and ‘SortTitle’ fields within the NFO file and whether the ‘Auto Approve on Alternate Titles’ option was checked under the ‘Import Settings’ section.

Please note that the primary movie that I played around with was ‘Raiders of The Lost Ark’:
<title>Raiders of The Lost Ark</title>
<sorttitle>indiana jones 1</sorttitle>

Here are some of my findings on my machine:

1. A movie would NOT import unless the NFO was named 'VIDEO_TS.nfo' (This has to do with my library and my ripped DVD’s. I’m assuming the NFO needs to be named whatever the actual movies filename is. I used to have every NFO named 'movie.nfo')
   
2. If the ‘Auto Approve on Alternate Titles’ option is NOT checked, it will only import from an NFO if the ‘Title’ and ‘SortTitle’ fields within the NFO are the same.
   
3. If the ‘Auto Approve on Alternate Titles’ option IS checked, it will import from an NFO regardless of whether the ‘Title’ and ‘SortTitle’ fields within the NFO are the same, HOWEVER, it will then rename the ‘SortTitle’ field to whatever the ‘Title’ field is after the import.

Can anyone else confirm whether their import process behaves the same?


EDIT:

Interesting -

The NeverEnding Story just imported successfully without the Auto Approve option checked, and it has a slightly different Title / SortTitle.

<title>The NeverEnding Story</title>
<sorttitle>neverending story the</sorttitle>

This is...confusing .