Tools and other software Media-Buddy - the MKV Buddy successor. (5 Viewers)

[sridharb]

Yes, I do see the NFO and FanArt files in the media item folders. tMM does its job fine.

Why I use Browse Media mode is because I have organized the folders in a way I can find the media faster. The other view uses different sorting methods that don't always get me to the item that I am looking for quickly.

For e.g. if I use the library view and sort by actor, ideally, I should see a list of actors (possibly sorted alphabetically, but changeable) and then when that actor is selected, his movies, possibly alphabetically (or ideally, by release date). However, what I see is a big mass of movies, possibly sorted by actor, but missing that first level organization of the list of actors. That is important. Otherwise, just a bunch of movies sorted differently (but you don't know where the boundaries between baskets are (for e.g. where schwartzmann ends and Schwarzenegger begins) is useless.

 

[sridharb]

Hi Lehmden,

Thank you for a detailed answer to this question. I realize now that tMM keeps data in MP1 format. I switched from MP1 to MP2 because MP2 supported TV series much better. I liked the FanArt etc and thought by organizing my media with tMM, I will make MP2 use the data, but it looks like it is not using at least some of it.

I like what you are doing about using as many sources as possible. You may be using an atomic approach - i.e. for media item 1, try source 1. If not available, try source 2 etc. Can I suggest a slightly more refined approach? Media item 1, try source 1. If found, download what is available. If some things are missing, try source 2 for those missing items. If not found, try source 3 etc. Clearly, we would have had source 1, 2, 3 configured in priority order. That way, we have a complete set of meta data. Ideally, we should track where we got the information from in case the user wants to refresh the data (online sources keep getting updated). There should also be an option to reimport (i.e. junk all the data and start afresh).

Somethings are not clear.

What can I do with the version today?

1. Can I scan my existing media folders and make it understand meta data and "rewrite" it in MP2 format?
2. If not, can I make it scan existing media folders, make it download metadata from the internet, reorganize folders in the way it likes (as opposed to tMM) and most importantly, write metadata in MP2 format?
3. Do I understand correctly that the summer version will contain kodi/MP2 compatibility for items that are currently kodi only?

Thanks,
Sridhar

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.

You may be using an atomic approach - i.e. for media item 1, try source 1. If not available, try source 2 etc.

Not really. We are using a more complex logic behind, especially for series. It's close to :

, try source 1. If found, download what is available. If some things are missing, try source 2 for those missing items. If not found, try source 3 etc.

but not exactly this way, it's even more "intelligent" than this. Some type of fanart only is available on fanart.tv. This includes "Clearlogo", "Clearart", "Discart", and "Movie Thumbs" (for Kodi this has to be named "landscape.jpg" to be recognized. MP2 likes it named "thumb.jpg", another example of not compatible file names). This fanart- type only is searched on fanart.tv as it makes no sense looking for those somewhere else.
The more general data is first searched on TheMovieDB. This is due to the available localized metadata on TMDB. I know this is not that important for you as an US citizen, but there are many languages spoken all over the world, not only English. As we (the developers of Media-Buddy) are living in Germany localized metadata is very important for us. IMDB did not deliver any localized data at all it only is used as a "fallback", if a movie is not listed at TMDB... In meantime there are even some movies, especially non- US movies, that are listed on TMDB but not on IMDB... For movies the logic is not too complex this way, nearly "atomic". Try TMDB. If it finds something it's done. If it didn't find anything, try IMDB...
But things are different a bit for series. Here Media-Buddy tries to "guess" which metadata the user would like the best. So it searches both, TMDB and TVDB every time. Then it tries to combine both sources to get the best possible metadata... As example the description... First Media-Buddy looks if there is a localized description available on at least one source. If yes it looks which one is the longer text and use this. Other things that are only available on one of the sources are used from wherever the data could be found.

There should also be an option to reimport (i.e. junk all the data and start afresh).

This already is implemented even in the public releases...

1. Can I scan my existing media folders and make it understand meta data and "rewrite" it in MP2 format?

Yes. But It's possible that not all locally available fanart is re-used as it may not be recognized by Media-Buddy. This "pseudo- missing" fanart then is downloaded again and stored in a MP2 compatible form... General fanart like poster, banner or backdrops are always recognized but some additional fanart may not.

can I make it scan existing media folders, make it download metadata from the internet, reorganize folders in the way it likes (as opposed to tMM) and most importantly, write metadata in MP2 format?

Partially. You can organize the output folder structure widely. But there are some restrictions. You can not use the root of a disk as the "working" folder. Means you need to have e.g. "Series" or "Movies" folder in which all your series/movies are stored. You need to select this folder for Media-Buddy to work properly. You also need different folders for movies and series. You can not mix them. And series needs to be stored in a sub- folder named after the series (best named as close as possible to the series name found on TVDB). A potentially series name in the video name is not used for recognition at all.
Those are the "basics" that must be used. But everything else is nearly completely up to you. You can use Season folders, but you're not forced to use them, you can use the "one movie, one folder" structure but you're not forced to use it. Every other structure you have set up is respected as Media-Buddy scans recursively.. Some examples:

At first some not working examples:
D:\Avatar (2009)\avatar.avi
Here you are using the Root of a drive as "working" folder. Not possible.

Z:\Series\Game of Thrones -S1E1.mkv
Here you are not using series specific sub- folder. Not possible.

F:\Videos\Avatar (2009)\avatar.avi
combined with
F:\Videos\Game of Thrones\Season 01\S1E1.mkv
Here you mix up movies and series. Not possible.

Some working examples for movies
D:\Movies\Avatar (2009)\avatar.avi
D:\Movies\Parents\BD-Rips\Science-Fiction\UHD\Avatar (2009).mkv
Here you need to use "D:\Movies\" as "working" folder in Media-Buddy for both

And for Series:
Z:\Series\Adult\Fantasy\Game of Thrones\Season 01\S01E01.mp4
Z:\Series\Game of Thrones\S01E01.mp4
Here you need to use "Z:\Series\" as "working" folder in Media-Buddy for both

Media-Buddy is meant for not only add metadata and fanart to "ready" video files but it also can "prepare" the videos (transcode, remux, clean up, rename) for you with a single mouse click.. If you do so all existing folders inside the input folder are created in the output folder too with additional movie folder (if wanted by the user) or season folder (if wanted by the user)... So in some way it combines "handbrake" with "tMM" in one step fired up with one single mouse click... But you always can use only one of those steps separately, prepare the videos or add metadata. Useful especially on already "finished" videos...

the summer version will contain kodi/MP2 compatibility for items that are currently kodi only?

It's the other way round. We're recently adding Kodi support while keeping the long time existing MP2 support In current Media-Buddy versions those items are "MP2 only"...

In the final version both should be supported even at the same time. For those who are using a mixed environment with MP and Kodi on different devices...

 

[Lehmden]

Some screenshots of the recent status:

Completely configurable way how local artwork should be stored.

Tools to circumvent some lacks that Kodi has regarding Movieset fanart. A Backup function for the Databases will later be included too (for both, MP and Kodi)...

 

[ge2301]

For e.g. if I use the library view and sort by actor, ideally, I should see a list of actors (possibly sorted alphabetically, but changeable) and then when that actor is selected, his movies, possibly alphabetically (or ideally, by release date). However, what I see is a big mass of movies, possibly sorted by actor, but missing that first level organization of the list of actors. That is important. Otherwise, just a bunch of movies sorted differently (but you don't know where the boundaries between baskets are (for e.g. where schwartzmann ends and Schwarzenegger begins) is useless.

By this you loose basically the biggest advantages of the software. If you filter for artists, you see them alphabetically and when selecting an artist all the movies with this artist should appear. By selecting the sorting filter you can customize the view further. I think everything you want to do is possible directly or indirectly.

Yes, I do see the NFO and FanArt files in the media item folders. tMM does its job fine.

The output format of tMM is compatible with MP2, even I change settings to Kodi. Please open a thread in MP2 problem forum with your log files after import, if you need further help about it. The problem is not related to tMM or wrong fanart format.

 

[BlueMax1916]

Lehmden,

Some screenshots of the recent status:
...
Completely configurable way how local artwork should be stored.

...
Tools to circumvent some lacks that Kodi has regarding Movieset fanart. A Backup function for the Databases will later be included too (for both, MP and Kodi)...

this is looking very promising. I presume the .nfo files will be also compatible to Emby Server as there is already a good compatibility to Kodi.


Cheers

Blue Max

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.

the .nfo files will be also compatible to Emby Server

I don't know as Emby is very special in this aspect. It always overwrites existing .nfo (at least in default configuration) and it uses a lot of special tags not used anywhere else... Emby is not really meant for people that are maintaining their collection from outside... You may use the .nfo to identify all episodes and movies for sure but you better don't put too much effort in storing "perfect" data inside the .nfo. EMby always uses it as Emby "think" it has to be used...

Personally I only had very bad experiences with Emby so I'm not really interested in destroying my metadata again as happened as I first tried Emby... I had to work for many months until I had repaired all the damage Emby did to my collection...

 

[BlueMax1916]

Hi,

meanwhile Emby can be configured to not overwrite existing tags and to not write new tags. It also can write new tags without touching the existing ones. But I feel your pain. I also would not like to let damage my .nfo files by another software. Waiting for the next Media Buddy version

Cheers

Blue Max

 

[sridharb]

Hi Lehmden,

This is great news and this is going to be my project for the weekend! Thanks for the detailed reply as well as the screenshots. BTW, I am actually in India now and even when I was in the US, I would have had some "Indian" movies for which a pure/US-centric meta data database doesn't work. This is all the work that I have already put in tMM to identify such movies. I am looking forward to media-buddy using that work.

 

[Gcarr]

Is it possible to mux atsc subtitles into the mkv file using Media-Buddy? I have not been able to do it, I might be missing something in my settings?