Home Theater 4 overview

Sorry - I thought when you said "movieset" you meant the name of the set or collection, not the literal text

So, no, collection art needs to be <collectionName>-poster.jpg

 

I am using the classic view - and depending on the choosen size of the thumbs HT shows for some films no poster.
For one collection I see for one size an old image and when I decrease the size then HT displays another one (the new one).
Any idea how to solve this (except to clear the library)?

 

Home Theater uses an internal cache for the images located in the data folder.
I'd suggest to backup your library, clear the cache of Home Theater app under Android settings and restore the backup.

 

Does there exist an official guide from Zidoo about naming conventions?

Which artwork does HT support for TV Shows?

 

How can I persuade HT to read the NFO file when there is a multipart film?
I have this structure

test.nfo
test.part1.mkv
test.part2.mkv
test.part3.mkv
test-poster.jpg

But nfo and poster are ignored.

 

Try this:

test.nfo
test.(#part1).mkv
test.(#part2).mkv
test.(#part3).mkv
test-poster.jpg

 

Does also not work.
But would that have been kodi conform?
And would other media manager support this?

Btw - you said that you do not use tmm. Which tool are you using to scrape and create the nfo file?
I tested now several other. But they want to (by default) rename *.nfo to *.info
Do you know whether HT would read also *.info?

 

Right - sorry, I was thinking about collection artwork and trailer.mp4 which will work with multipart movies, without the multipart suffixes.

For the individual parts, each has its own nfo, coverart and fanart:

test.part1.nfo
test.part1.mkv
test.part1-poster.jpg
test.part1-fanart.jpg

etc.

I don't use Kodi and have only tried TMM with the Zidoo. HT needs a .NFO file.

Personally, I use the Zidoo to export NFO, coverart and fanart.

So initially I got the library as I wanted it in terms of coverart and fanart then exported NFO etc from HT4

Now when I add a movie, I scrape online, chose the artwork I want then export the NFO etc again so that if I need to rescrape in the future, the artwork etc will be from local sources. I also grab the trailer from the likes of "Trailer Addict" and only use local trailers.

The ideal way would be an offline manager such as TMM but I've never quite got it to work as I want. Probably time I revisited that though.

The only manual bit is grabbing CollectionName-poster.jpg and CollectionName-fanart from the .hometheatre directory and saving that (if required of course), but once you've figured all this out it's a very fast and painless process.

 

Do you know a batch to copy all
nfo, poster & fanart to files with a filename which contain part1, part2, ...?
(recursive for all folders)

 

Still does not work. HT shows me 3x the same film

I guess that only

test.(#part1).mkv
test.(#part1).nfo
test.(#part2).mkv
test.(#part2).nfo
test.(#part3).mkv
test.(#part3).nfo

would work.
But I do not want to use this.

I started using nfo files with so much enthusiasm. But the whole thing is really frustrating.

Even local trailers, if you want to use more than one, are problematic if you want to maintain compatibility.

 

I guess it’s always a problem trying to keep 2 systems running side by side.

 

I tried now (#part1)...(#part3)
Unfortunately it also does not work.

I have several films where I used this naming.
But for some I can do what I want - it does not work (anymore?). Cleared even the library.
Also renamed them and moved to another folder.
This happens for instance with RED (2010). All the extras appear as separate items.
With RED I had earlier (before I added extras) always problems - also without nfo files.

The nfo-files which you use in such a case are always identical ones which are only renamed?
And depending on the <uniqueid>-tag HT should recognise them as the same film?

 

I know now that something is wrong with some of the generated NFO files. They cause this problem.
Either something is missing or something is causing the scraper not to scrape everything.
It will take some time but I hope I will find out which tag is causing this problem.

 

All the nfo files I use are generated by HT.

There are so many permutations with badges and part numbers etc, but I don't use badges at all and the only emovie I have reason to split is Star Wars as in this post:

http://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?threads/home-theater-4-overview.81358/page-6#post-156465

And that works just fine - again, the nfos are generated by HT so will not be identical.

 

I finished now checking the NFOs. This took me several hours :-(
For some reason HT is very picky when you want to group up films.
The NFO has to contain not only the required
<movie></movie>
<title></title>
<uniqueid type="" default=""></uniqueid>
tags but also

<thumb aspect="poster">...</thumb>
And it is not enough to have a poster link. It seems so whether it has to be one starting with

Code:

<thumb aspect="poster">https://image.tmdb.org/
or even
<thumb aspect="poster">https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/

My problematic films are either without a poster link and or with a link starting with

Code:

<thumb aspect="poster">https://m.media-amazon.com/images/

These ones HT does not group together as one film.
I also disconnected my Zidoo from the network. It does not matter.
It wants a link and that one has to be a very specific one.

At the beginning I did with tmm autoscraping. And I never had problems.
Later I decided to choose the poster I like. And I assume that this was the start of my struggle.

Is there anywhere a chance to report bugs?

I will later retest my part1, part2, part3 problem since that nfo was also a "bad" one.

 

This posting will have been seen already, but if you want to send an email it's service@zidoo.tv

 

I know they are currently working on better NFO support, so now would be a good time to email - keep it concise and clear.

 

So I've been reading Markswift2003 and DeuTa post for the last four pages and I will try to give some of my experience with using TMM.
I'am using a Z1000 Pro FW 6.3.22 HT 4.0.81
I do about 90% of my editing with TMM and the rest manually or using HT.
I let TMM create the NFO files and any poster work. If I want to use a custom poster or use another option that what was automatically selected I use TMM to perform that task.
I also let TMM add additional information to the file such as resolution and audio.
I will manually add any information to the file name to customize the information about the file.
If I want to add "Extras" to the file I do that manually or If I want to have two version of the same file i.e Theatrical Cut or Extended version 4k or 3D etc I do manually and let HT either combine the files or do it manually in HT.
I'll try to walk through an example of how I let TMM and HT create a file for me.
1. Here is the new file I add to my Directory It contains the MainFeature and a separate folder with the extras I want to include
As seen the EXTRAS folder contains the special features from the disk. Notice how I designate the files. It's important that the information in the last ( ) before the .ext be where it is located.
If you want to add resolution Audio profile it must be inserted between the (date) and the Last ( ) . Also note the numbering sequence. The Main Feature will always be (1#MainFeature) and the extras will start at (2#xxxx). I will add the 1#MainFeature latter.

In the source folder You will see the (2k.i) added this is custom info I add for my own info I will show how to handle this type of info with TMM. This comes in handy when you have two versions of same Movie (Step 9 below)

2. Next open TMM and do a "Update sourced(s) > /Volume/Movie"
This will add the Source file to TMM.
NOTE Don't do a scan with HT before scanning with TMM.


This is what the new line item in TMM looks like. The "2k I" after the name is what was in the sourced file name I will take care of the latter.

3. With the line selected (the line will have a slight blue tint) Select the "Rename & cleanup > Rename/ cleanup selected Movie(s)"

CAUTION !!!!! When I first started using TMM I had problems with items not responding the way I thought it should until I realized that I was not letting the various functions complete before going on to the next step. IN the lower right corned is a status bar that indicated the progress of the step you just activated. Some are completed within a second or so other may take a minute to complete (Update Sources is an example) Make sure you wait for the operation to complete prior to going on the next step.

When the Rename/cleanup function is completed the source file and line item will change. Depending on how your source file was originally name i.e if you had a custom naming sequence, The file may move in the source directory and in TMM.


After Rename/cleanup function. Notice how the renaming placed the 2k I prior to the date in both the folder name and file name. I will manually delete this info in both location but add back the (2k.i) after the date to the folder name. Also note that TMM added the resolution and audio info to the file name. At this point you can add additional information to the file name example I will add HDR for 4k movies or DV for DolbyVision movies or 3D. This info I add after the audio info, make sure you leave a space between entries.
Additionally this is when I add the (1#MainFeature) notation. again this has to be that last item added just prior to the .ext (mkv)
Also note nothing was changed in the Extras folder.


4. Back to TMM
With the Movie selected in TMM you want to again perform a "Update source(s) > /Volumes/Movies" . Watch the status bar in the lower right corner. This operation may take a while to perform depending on how large your library is.
When the operation is completed the Original Line in TMM may disappear and a new one will be created. This will depend on how the source file is named.
In my example since I added the (2k.i) to the end of the source File folder a new line items created. I will then need to edit this in TMM.
With the line highlighted in TMM control click (left click) and select "EDIT movie" from the options


I want to correct the file name and remove the 2k I

Deleted the 2k I above. The purpose for this step is to make sure the "Title" is exactly as it should appear. If there are any extra charters or possible spaces the Scraping function my not perform properly. When completed click "OK" in the lower right corner.
Notice how no other info is provided at this time, it will be populated when you Scrape the file in the next step.

5. Search & scrape
After you click the OK button in the prior step a NFO file will be created and placed in the Source folder for the movie. If you open the NFO file at this time it won't have much info until you Scrape.
With the movie highlighted in TMM select the "Search & scrape > Search & scrape selected movie(s)"
A new search window will open

It should populate with the info for your movie BUT if you notice in the "Search result" column you could select another version if it did not select the proper one the first time.
I've only had to do this one time with all the movies I have done.
Click OK when done.
Note if you check the Source folder you will notice two new files have been created. Both are jpg files. One for the poster and the other for the Fanart. Also if you open the NFO file it has now been filled in with all the info. The .jpg files are the images in TMM if you edit these files in the step below the associated file in the Source folder will change.
IF you select a custom .jpg image for the Poster or Fanart the NFO file info will be blank for that line in the NFO file.

6. Edit
At this point if your happy with the poster/fanart selected you can skip this step and go the Zidoo and do a scan and jump to step 7.
If you want to edit the poster/fanart or edit some other portion read on.
With the line highlighted in TMM control click (left click) the line and select "Edit movie" a new window pops up The "Edit Movie" window
If you want to change the Poster click on the poster a new window appears and lets you select another poster. If you have a custom poster select "Choose file" at bottom of window and located your Poster. When done select "OK"
You can also edit the other item along the top of the window Details 2, Cast and crew etc. As far as editing other items the only item I have had to change is under the "Media files" tab.
In the "HDR format" block if the movie is HDR this will self populate but in some cases if the movie is a DolbyVision move I will change this to read DolbyVision.
NOTE:: If you have a Movie or TV program that does not come up with any Scrape info. This has happened with me on some Documentary films. This is where you could add all the info Manually. When you scan in HT it will populate that into the HT.

7. we've done just about everything we can with TMM now to Zidoo and scan HT
Do Scan with HT.
Go to the MOVIE guide and locate the movie. YOU will see two poster for the movie "My Cousin Rachel". One poster when opened will have the movie and the other will have the items in the EXTRAS folder. Now to combine them into ONE poster.

8. Manual combining posters.
I start with the poster that has the movie file and perform a "Re Match" in HT. After performing the Re Match this may or may not combine the two poster into one.
If it Does Not combine go to the Poster with the Extras and perform a Re Match to the Movie.

This should put everything into One poster and will look like this


NOTE The line item in the EXTRAS folder (2#trailer) did not show up with the other items. As noted before HT is sensitive to the word "trailer" so I renamed the line to (2#preview) and did a re-scan in HT.



The preview (trailer) was downloaded and included in the Extras folder.


9. One Movie Different Versions:
I handle these with same steps as used above THE Biggest difference is I put the different versions of the movie into sepersate Folder in my Source Directory.



This is where adding the info after the date in the folder name comes in handy.
Pay attrition to the naming of the mkv file ((DV) is for DolbyVision) However you want to designate the file number them is sequence. with (1#XXX) being the first movie to be selected once the movie is loaded into HT. In other words it will be the default movie to start without having to select a different version.

Use the same procedure in naming and creating the information using TMM.
Then scan into HT.
One of two things will happen.
1. If HT is doing what it suppose do (HT4.0 and latter) the two movies should appear behind one poster.


2. IF HT didn't combine the two then you will have to do manually following the instruction in step 8.

NOTE:: If movie is in a Collection and you want to add another version to the movie poster I recommend removing the movie from the collection before scanning HT. Then once the movies are behind the same poster add them back to the Collection.

The END

 

Forgot to ADD in Settings > Preference > NFO parse should be set to Precedence

 

Thanks for the long post.
I tried one time the clean-up function. It was messing more up. It deleted some files which I wanted to keep. If I remember right these were several versions of posters. Honestly - I do not dare to use it anymore.

I personally do not like the part where you merge the files in HT. I prefer to use copies of the same .nfo file - also for extras.
I do not want to have additional work if I move files to another disc.

But I do not keep that many extras. Otherwise I would have certainly wrote a script or small program to rename all files in the subfolder Extras (and copy the nfo file). Zidoo has with the HT some nice standalone features. The biggest problem is to persuade the developers of TMM to support them.
Zidoo does not have a documentation - so no programmer will start to add/support these features.
I can understand TMM.

I hope that TMM will have one day multi-trailer support (even if Kodi does not support it) or/and that HT will support trailers in a subfolder "Trailer(s)".
I also hope that HT will scrape one day files for resolution and audio codec (either from file itself or use the NFO) and does not only rely on file naming.
It will update the data after we start the film. But that's not what I meant.

Collections are another problem. Mainly in HT (very strict name for the poster) and some movies I have to add manually to a collection (the NFO is ignored)

I like TMM. It is not perfect for me. But I started to compromise.