Convert BTV recordings to SageTV recordings?

[ertman]

I currently have about 200GB of recordings from my BeyondTV 4.6 system. Does anyone know a way I could convert these to SageTV recordings? I want to be able to keep the show information (description, date recorded, channel recorded, even the smart-skip info if possible) when I view the recordings in SageTV, but I can't find a decent way to do this.

This is one of the big things that has kept me from moving to using Sage as my full-time PVR for a while now.

[GKusnick]

I don't know if there's an off-the-shelf solution that does exactly what you want, but if you can convert the BTV show info into SageTV properties files, then SageTV V6.1 has a way to import those files into its database. There are also some third-party add-ons for reading show information in various other text file formats (such as .my files). So if you can get your data into one of those formats, there's probably a way of getting it into Sage. Check the Downloads area for details.

Nielm's webserver has a way of entering the data by hand, but I'm guessing you don't want to do that for several dozen files.

Or if you're good with Java, you can write your own importer to put the data directly into the Sage database.

[JREkiwi]

I've had a quick look , but can't find any examples of the XML format that BTV uses. If I had a sample I could see if I could incorporate support into the RW Metadata import.

John

[ertman]

Here is a snippet of the LibraryFolders.xml file that BTV appears to use to store all of the show info. Let me know if you want more, but I think that everything you would need is in this example:

<LibraryFolders>
    <LibraryFolder>
        <Property>
            <Name>FullName</Name>
            <Value>D:\Video</Value>
        </Property>
        <Property>
            <Name>Recurse</Name>
            <Value>False</Value>
        </Property>
        <Property>
            <Name>Managed</Name>
            <Value>True</Value>
        </Property>
        <Property>
            <Name>Description</Name>
            <Value />
        </Property>
        <Shows>
            <Show>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Actors</Name>
                    <Value />
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>ActualStart</Name>
                    <Value>127747692113767200</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Added</Name>
                    <Value>128162823444655936</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>AddedBias</Name>
                    <Value>420</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Channel</Name>
                    <Value>0</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Description</Name>
                    <Value />
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>DisplayTitle</Name>
                    <Value>It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Duration</Name>
                    <Value>18500000000</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>DVDReady</Name>
                    <Value>True</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Editable</Name>
                    <Value>TRUE</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>EPGID</Name>
                    <Value>SH1978800000</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>EpisodeDescription</Name>
                    <Value>Linus waits in the pumpkin patch for the elusive Halloween symbol to appear.</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>EpisodeTitle</Name>
                    <Value>It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>FileFormat</Name>
                    <Value>MPEG-2</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Folder</Name>
                    <Value>Video</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>FullName</Name>
                    <Value>D:\Video\It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown-2005-10-25-0.mpg</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Genre</Name>
                    <Value>None</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>LastExistsTime</Name>
                    <Value>128201809801756272</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>LastPosition</Name>
                    <Value>17646471341</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>LastWriteTime</Name>
                    <Value>128118114112400352</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Length</Name>
                    <Value>811468826</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Managed</Name>
                    <Value>False</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>MovieYear</Name>
                    <Value />
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Name</Name>
                    <Value>It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown-2005-10-25-0.mpg</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>OriginalAirDate</Name>
                    <Value>19961025</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>ParentGUID</Name>
                    <Value>daa1ae45-5b3d-498d-9ec2-ebdd2dec1c72</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Rating</Name>
                    <Value />
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>ReadOnly</Name>
                    <Value>True</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Recommendation</Name>
                    <Value>False</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>StationCallsign</Name>
                    <Value>KXLY</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>TargetDuration</Name>
                    <Value>18000000000</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>TargetStart</Name>
                    <Value>127747692000000000</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Title</Name>
                    <Value>Movies</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>TZBias</Name>
                    <Value>420</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>UniqueChannelID</Name>
                    <Value>0371000000010836</Value>
                </Property>
                <Property>
                    <Name>Watched</Name>
                    <Value>True</Value>
                </Property>
            </Show>
        </Shows>
    </LibraryFolder>
</LibraryFolders>

[ertman]

Attached file for easier reading

[JREkiwi]

Thanks

So, is there just the one LibraryFolders.xml file with all the information for every show? or is there a way to get the data exported to individual files for each show?

John

[ertman]

That's correct, there is a single LibraryFolders.xml file that contains the information for every show recorded in BTV. Each recording is in a new <Show> container. Each folder which has recordings is in a <Library Folder> container. I took out all but one of each in the example above just to make the file smaller.

The only way I know to get information for each show is through using the BTV web services and SDK APIs (well, I don't know the specifics, but I know it is possible. Some more info here: http://www.snapstream.com/Partners/BeyondTVSDK.asp)

[JREkiwi]

Mmmm .... that sort of slips out of the realms of easy and into having to actually think about it.

John