About TV shows scraping, please provide your directory tree[29 July updated]

Discussion in 'HDD Media player(RTD 1619DR)' started by mirror, Jun 22, 2021.

  1. HDGuy

    HDGuy Active Member

    Is there a way to batch rename a missed show instead of doing one episode at a time? For a show with multiple seasons this can take forever.
     
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  2. Inikad

    Inikad Active Member

    Rename my TV Series 2 to start with a good nomenclature for all the episodes (my settings in Rename my TV Series 2 : %N (%Y).S%SZE%EZ to get "name of the serie" (year).S01E01).

    Batch Edition for the Zidoo could also work.
     
    Last edited: Oct 31, 2021
  3. Joe C

    Joe C Member

    Has something changed here? I had to reset my Z1000 Pro yesterday due to some odd behaviour, and now when scraping with TV set to TVDB (which it was before) about 1.5k of my various TV episodes aren’t being matched anymore.

    The file paths have changed, it’s only the reset of the unit that’s occurred
     
  4. Six66Mike

    Six66Mike Member

    Copy of my directory structure for TV shows, would like to see the folder path included in identifying show titles.

    Why do people use NFO's or have artwork stored locally, isn't this pulled from TVDB/TMDB as part of the scanning process?
     

    Attached Files:

  5. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    I have NFO scraping and local artwork switched on.

    When I add a new movie there is no NFO or local artwork so the scraper pulls the info and artwork from TMDB, ClearLogo from fanart.tv and trailers from IMDB. I'll then maybe change artwork if I don't like the default.

    You can absolutely leave it like that but I then prefer to export NFOs, artwork and add a local trailer (and if needs be, a local ClearLogo) as a belt and braces approach since I reset my boxes on a regular basis for testing and having local info guarantees that when I rescrape, the library comes back exactly as it was before and I also have one trailer of my choosing (more if you want, but I stick with one).

    The NFO is in Kodi format so you could also use external scrapers if you want but I've never felt the need to do that.
     
  6. Netmask

    Netmask Well-Known Member

    Currently I'm not getting the synopsis info on Foundation or Doctor Who. I had to manual edit using HT on my PC to insert this information. I use TMM to get the info, trying a variety of sources. Movies are OK
     
  7. Joe C

    Joe C Member

    Foundation is one that did work for me and has suddenly stopped
     
  8. Six66Mike

    Six66Mike Member

    I'm not sure why online DB's would be a bad thing, it's better than nothing and the overwhelming majority of content is correctly presented. Who really has time to sit there and screenshot 14,000 episodes? For any content missing artwork, I've added thousands of images to TVDB/TMDB, it means someone else won't have the hassle of doing it themselves.


    I read in another post that the file metadata isn't scraped via MediaInfo, so that should be part of the filename such as resolution and audio type, is that still the case? For films I just use "Film Title (Year).ext" and that's it. My collection is setup for Zappiti which I've been using since before they made their own hardware, and I'm trying to find a way of switching to Zidoo due to the cost difference but the simplicity isn't there, and if it is, it's not presented well for new users trying to figure it out. It seems like there's a hell of a lot of work required when compared to Zappiti Video or previous ZMC incarnations and it's really off-putting.
     
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  9. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    No that's not the case anymore - media info is used and file name suffixes are not needed, or indeed used, now.
     
    Six66Mike likes this.
  10. Six66Mike

    Six66Mike Member

    That's good news. So my only concern now would be getting the TV shows scanned, feedback is movies are named well and would almost entirely be accurate.
     
  11. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    Unfortunately I can't really help there, I don't use the Zidoo for TV shows, only movies.
     
  12. Im extremely frustrated with this device right now. Ive only had it about a week and I cannot get my TV show directory to scan in properly. HT also keeps crashing all the time and the posters load slowly...the caching method (going to all media and letting the posters load in) does NOT work for me. I don't know where this cache is being stored, but it certainly isn't being saved as far as I can tell. Sometimes HT will crash just from trying to load all the posters in..

    I have scanned this TV shows folder like 10 times in the past week and it takes several hours each time. My directory tree is normal:

    > Media
    >>TV
    >>Show (Year)
    >>>Season #
    >>>>Episodes

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    My directory tree works perfectly fine with Kodi, Plex, and Emby...but HT is choking on it. This is a shame because I was loving the device until I started experiencing these constant issues with my library. After the library scans, sometimes HT just crashes back to the main menu of the device and I have to launch HT again. I have 12,000+ episodes in my TV directory and they all have proper NFO and images....when HT scans them, the scan will end saying it read 0/12000 files (and will still have a status of "scanning") even when I watched for hours as it found matches for things. It seems to be finding part of the library as I am able to watch some things in HT, but its missing a lot of files as well. I tried to watch Hawkeye yesterday and realized it wasnt even in HT.

    Anyone have any suggestions before I end up returning this?
     
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2021
    Six66Mike likes this.
  13. Gelto

    Gelto Member

    I feel you. I'm a long time Kodi user with a centralized database running fine on my router's Entware MariaDB. I tried to use and like HT4, but it doesn't like my Kodi structure (for instance 'Extras' folder with .nomedia is not being ignored for scanning, TV shows structure etc.) and appears somewhat unfinished both visually and functionally to me.

    So I'm happy that ZDMC is working okay for me and I can easily use my existing Kodi database. I suggest you simply use that, too; no need to return the device because of HT4, for it's a very good media device otherwise (Dolby Vision/HDR, HD audio formats, you name it) :)
     
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2021
  14. Nicholas Hewitt

    Nicholas Hewitt Active Member

    Episodes should be name as follows: "The 100 S01E01" that is all and everything will work correctly most of the time. When you start putting episode names in HT it gets confused.
     
  15. No. HT getting confused by the presence of episode names sounds like a programming issue and they need to fix it. Episode names should actually help to find 1:1 matches...not confuse the program....o_O

    I am not changing my directory structure just because HT is awful at scraping TV shows. As I said before, my directory tree works perfectly fine in Emby, Plex, and Kodi. I have been organizing my library like this for over 3 years.

    This is ridiculous. It seems like every response on this forum to something that is wrong with this product is "just enjoy the player" or trying to tell someone they are doing something wrong. I'm not trying to be combative here, but that is incredibly frustrating.
     
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  16. Nicholas Hewitt

    Nicholas Hewitt Active Member

    Honestly, they don't have to do jack sh@t! just cause you're too lazy to rename your files. Everybody else has........ maybe look into another box if you're that lazy! I have hundreds of shows and out of all of them maybe 2 of them are named incorrectly in HT. Of course, I wasn't as lazy as you and renamed a bunch of them. You can't just walk into a store and start barking orders at the owner because you don't agree with how he does things, dude.
     
  17. mirror

    mirror Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Zidoo TECH Supporter

    Provide a NFO file to us.
    upload_2021-12-17_10-40-3.png
     
  18. Six66Mike

    Six66Mike Member

    PineapplePizza have you tried without the NFO's?

    Your use case is very similar to mine, and it's post like this that have me holding off on buying a player due to HT issues with TV shows.

    @mirror , any thoughts on my list from the previous page? (I tried to link to the previous post but the forum thinks the URL is spam...)

    I don't use NFO's or anything else, it's just the episode files in each folder, I see everything else as clutter and would rather metadata sit at the application layer rather than file layer. Am I likely to have these sorts of issues too with caching and identification? Folder names are still not used for scanning content so I assume at the very least I need to duplicate the series name before SxEx in the filename even though it's already in the path name?

    Any chance of that being fixed in future? Folder structures are essentially the same for most users, it's Show Name\Season\Episode files. Can the scraper look at Show Name and Episode in the file path to identify the content and remove redundant information?

    Have seen too many caching issues posted here, that's a worry for the size of my collection over 12,000 episodes and 2600 movies.
     
    Last edited: Dec 20, 2021
  19. vddan

    vddan Active Member

    It must be recognized that 'HT' works well if you let it do the scratching on its own ... it becomes unstable with return to the basic screen / blocking of the zidoo etc ........
    Conclusion there is still a little work to make it stable. :cool:
     
  20. Its amazing that you think I am "lazy" because I wont reorganize my files for a single program that is terrible at matching. I have over 12,000 files as I've previously stated. HomeTheater is the ONLY program that has issues matching them. Yes, I am SO lazy that I have a meticulously organized media library. Interesting.

    My file organization is standardized and is understood by a number of popular media programs. Clearly HT 4.0 is the problem and not me. I'm not changing anything. Sorry you are mad about that and want to attack me over it. *shrug*

    Maybe I will look into another box because this community has too many users like you who gaslight users who have issues with HT.

    I find it laughable that you think I'm "barking orders". I did no such thing and simply expressed my frustration with TV matching which is CLEARLY an issue since this thread exists. I provided my directory tree like I was asked...it was you who decided to comment that my files were the issue. You obviously have no clue what you are talking about. A number of users in this thread have their files organized just like I do and they most likely use popular media organizers like TMM or Sonarr to achieve that. Obviously the devs know that matching isnt up to par with other programs, this thread didn't create itself.


    I'll post it for you as soon as I get home from work in a few hours. I appreciate your willingness to look into it. Thank you.


    If I try without the NFO files being read as a priority, HT makes all sorts of ridiculous matches.

    For example: I have Insecure (2016) a fairly popular TV show in HBO. HT matches it to a movie with the same name from the same year. There's dozens of other shows it will do this to. Since there's no frustration-free method of fixing incorrect matches in HT, I end up clearing the source data and matching again with NFO being set as a priority...only then will it match a show correctly...but it takes hours to get through my library and HT will crash while doing it. You basically have to check on it to make sure that the program hasnt crashed, and if you do find that it crashed, you have to go back in and "update" the source so it can scan again and get back to matching things.

    It seems to be unable to distinguish between a TV show vs a movie sometimes and that creates issues. Perhaps, if they let us specify what the library is that we are scanning, it would work better.

    To your point about not keeping metadata like that in your folders, it seems like its extra space that is taken up...but it is definitely nice to have because sometimes TMDB or TVDB will have its entries sabotaged or something like that and so you get all sorts of wacky info in Kodi or Plex until the entry gets fixed.

    Its certainly up to preference though and I understand not wanting to bother with it. I scrutinize my file server way too much sometimes and I like to make sure I have absolutely everything because I don't like dealing with problems later on, haha.
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2021
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