[solved] [Solved] How to import TV series Videos Not in any online source? (1 Viewer)

[raffe]

Hi!

I have videos that I want to show in TV-Series, such as personal TV series and educational series. As some examples I have video clips of my daughter that I have since 2006 made to episodes, now we are at Season 4 and episode 7 and counting. I also have several educational videos about photo, making movies etc with lots of seasons and episodes and series from trips etc etc.

In MP-TVseries there is this solution (see damienhaynes/mptvseries ):

If you have videos that you want to show in MP-TVSeries, and its not appropriate to create it at thetvdb.com, such as personal movies recorded on video cameras etc, you can try the following - Recommend that you use MP-TVSeries v2.9 or higher.

• Create proper filenames with season and episode syntax e.g.
  • My Trip to Fiji - S01E01.avi
  • My Trip to Fiji - S01E02.avi
  • My Trip to Fiji - S01E03.avi
  • My Trip to Fiji - S01E04.avi
• Load Media Portal Configuration, MP-TVSeries plugin.
• Start the Import Wizard, and select Skip when no match is found for the My Trip to Fiji
• Finish Import
• Select Details tab.
• Find your Series, Enter Series and Episode info (This will create USEREDIT fields in database)
• Right Click on series and select Ignore on Scan so we dont prompt to match series everytime an import is run.
• Enter GUI and select series, then play!

Also

By default MP-TVSeries will automatically generate episode titles if they dont exist online e.g Episode 1, Episode 2 etc. If this behaviour is not wanted you can manually edit the Options Table in the database and set AutoGenerateEpisodeTitles to Zero. This change will only take affect for NEW episodes added to database, if you want to respect episode titles from filenames for existing files that have been import then you need to clear the database and re-import.

So if I have a special episode not in online sources or a private series, the episode will get the name from the file name. Eg episode Digital.Video.Production.S06E01.Introduction.OpenShot.Video.Editor.mkv will be named "Introduction OpenShot Video Editor" and Red.Dwarf.S00E24.Dave.Listers.US.vacation.avi will be named "Dave Listers US vacation"

Are there some similar hacks you can use in MP2?

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.
You can create .nfo files for your "private" series. You need a "tvshow.nfo" in the root- folder of the series and an "{episodetitle}.nfo" for every episode, no matter if they are in the root folder or if they are organized in season folders.
Aside this you can add fanart, poster, banner, clearart and thumbs to your files, so your private series is looking exactly as if it was a "real" series.
I also have some series not listed online so I've done this some times already. This method has a big advantage over editing and/or hacking the database (like MP1 does). As long as you keep the graphics and the .nfo files alongside "your" series every HTPC program excerpt for MP1 can import this series with no further interaction. Sadly TVSeries never supported .nfo files also it is a must nowadays...

There are tools out there that can create such .nfo for you. Personally I'm using Media-Buddy (because I wrote this program...) But there are other tools too...

I've attached a complete folder of a series not listed online but will import in any known HTPC tool excerpt of MP1 (as explained). I got this working in MP2, in Emby, in Plex, in Kodi and so on. Only the video files are replaced by .stub files. It's a German series but you will get a clue nevertheless, I'm sure...

Edit:
If you have a closer look at the .nfo files (they are text files with some sort of XML syntax) you will find a <id> tag with the value of "-123" This is a "remaining" from older programs that are in a need for a TVDB-ID. If there is none you could use a random negative value instead. As far as I know it is no longer necessary to add a "negative" ID. But it did not hurt in any way...

 

[raffe]

Thanks for your reply Lehmden!

I had .nfo files for most files (got them with the tool I did for getting info from MP-TVSeries), but not for the never ones I have made. Have now run my old tool again, and that is now OK. Maybe I will make a tool that will make the process of making new nfo:s for new episodes easier.

I also tried your tool Media-Buddy > Metadata series to download banners etc, create .nfo:s etc. (I have found a miss in translation, but I will post that in the right thread).

The other problem was that wide banners and posters did not show for all "private" series. But then I realized I only had this problems with private series that have folders for different seasons. After copying poster.jpg and banner.jpg from the series root to every single season folder, they showed up in MP2 after removing and then re-adding the source folder (just re-import did not work).

Thanks for your moral support

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.

After copying poster.jpg and banner.jpg from the series root to every single season folder, they showed up in MP2 after removing and then re-adding the source folder

Season poster and banner must be named seasonxx-poster.jpg or seasonxx-banner.jpg to be recognized, If they are in root folder. MP2 can use poster.jpg in season folder but most other tools (e.g. Kodi) can not. They need seasonxx-poster.jpg to import them automatically...

 

[raffe]

If they are in root folder. MP2 can use poster.jpg in season folder but most other tools (e.g. Kodi) can not. They need seasonxx-poster.jpg to import them automatically...

I mean that the main banner.jpg and poster.jpg was not recognized when it only is in the root folder of the series. As an example, I tried this right now. If I have this file structure:

My.Private.Series/banner.jpg
My.Private.Series/poster.jpg
My.Private.Series/season01-poster.jpg
My.Private.Series/season02-poster.jpg
My.Private.Series/tvshow.nfo
My.Private.Series/S01/My.Private.Series.S01E01.mkv
My.Private.Series/S01/My.Private.Series.S01E01.nfo
My.Private.Series/S01/My.Private.Series.S01E01.jpg
My.Private.Series/S01/My.Private.Series.S01E02.mkv
My.Private.Series/S01/My.Private.Series.S01E02.nfo
My.Private.Series/S01/My.Private.Series.S01E02.jpg
My.Private.Series/S02/My.Private.Series.S02E01.mkv
My.Private.Series/S02/My.Private.Series.S02E01.nfo
My.Private.Series/S02/My.Private.Series.S02E01.jpg
My.Private.Series/S02/My.Private.Series.S02E02.mkv
My.Private.Series/S02/My.Private.Series.S02E02.nfo
My.Private.Series/S02/My.Private.Series.S02E02.jpg

If I check "Grid" view, I get this:

And in "Covers" view

NOTE: Season posters works fine!

If I copy the two files My.Private.Series/banner.jpg and My.Private.Series/poster.jpg to the folders My.Private.Series/S01/ and My.Private.Series/S02/ then I get the right pictures both in "Grid" view and "Covers" view.

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.
This is not right. Seems to me like a bug in latest MP2 version. For me this always worked and it is supposed to work. But since some time I've changed my hardware from expensive, big and noisy PC to cheap, tiny and silent Android TV boxes. For this I had to change over to Kodi as MP2 did not run on Android. But as long as I've used MP2 it always worked this way (at least since this feature was included in MP2).

poster.jpg and banner.jpg in season folders are season poster and banner, not for the whole series...

May I ask which version of MP2 you've installed?

 

[raffe]

May I ask which version of MP2 you've installed?

Sure, I downloaded the MediaPortal 2.3.2 Release to check if it is time to make the switch. I think I will still wait for trailers and a solution for favorite TV series, we use those a lot as we have a huge collection. But otherwise MP2 is really good and cool now, well done everyone!

 

[ge2301]

I can not confirm the problem, it works here with your folder structure and images.
Best is to move My.Private.Series once out of the share and start the import process for series, then add the folder back and import again.
Alternatively you can open the context menu on the menu item and select the reimport option by a online match. This does an reimport on for the selected media item (but does not use local data).

 

[raffe]

select the reimport option by a online match. This does an reimport on for the selected media item (but does not use local data).

This is not possible if it is a self made series, like personal travel videos etc.