SageMC, Fanart, MediaScraper & Central FanArt folder structure – Help requested

[rmac321]

Edit:
The problem has been found, see post #19. When I find an automated way to update all the properties files, I'll update and mark Fixed.


Like several others, my basic problem is that in some places FanArt works and some places it doesn’t. I’m hoping to put enough detail here that this will help me and others find that final clue to get FanArt fully enabled on SageMC.

What works: FanArt displays properly for recorded TV shows when I am in “My TV”. It also displays FanArt properly for imported movies when I’m in “My Videos.”

What doesn't work: TV shows that are stored in my media import directory and accessed via “My Videos.” It doesn’t matter if it is an mkv ripped from a DVD or a show recorded with Sage and transferred to the Server for archiving. A couple of other threads ended with this question unresolved, so I believe I am not the only one that is at this current juncture.

Current setup:

SageTV  6.5.16.211
Java  1.6.0_11
SageMC  6.3.9a_41	
Sagemc.jar  6.3.8
Df_sageutils.jar  2.2
Phoenix.jar  1.30	
HD200 firmware  20090602 0

I have added MetadataFanartTools-SageMC.xml, but have not finished configuring it yet. If I understand correctly, it is not necessary to the operation of FanArt in SageMC. Perhaps that is where my problem is?

I have been playing with MediaScraper (Thanks EP!!) for a week or so and it has done a great job of building my central folder structure and pulling in metadata and FanArt.

My folder structure for imported media and FanArt is:

\\Server\Videos\Fanart\Movies\MovieName\Backgrounds\filenames.jpg
\\Server\Videos\Fanart\Movies\MovieName\Posters\filenames.jpg

\\Server\Videos\Fanart\TV\SeriesName\Actors\filenames.jpg
\\Server\Videos\Fanart\TV\SeriesName\Backgrounds\filenames.jpg
\\Server\Videos\Fanart\TV\SeriesName\Banners\filenames.jpg
\\Server\Videos\Fanart\TV\SeriesName\Posters\filenames.jpg
\\Server\Videos\Fanart\TV\SeriesName\Season1\filenames.jpg

\\Server\Videos\Movies\MovieName.info
\\Server\Videos\Movies\MovieName.mkv
\\Server\Videos\Movies\MovieName.mkv.properties
\\Server\Videos\Movies\MovieName.my

\\Server\Videos\TV\SeriesName\Season1\EpisodeTitle.info
\\Server\Videos\TV\SeriesName\Season1\EpisodeTitle.jpg
\\Server\Videos\TV\SeriesName\Season1\EpisodeTitle.mkv
\\Server\Videos\TV\SeriesName\Season1\EpisodeTitle.mkv.propertties
\\Server\Videos\TV\SeriesName\Season1\EpisodeTitle.my

My FanArt Options settings in SageMC are:

Fan Art Support	Enabled
Fan Art Central path	\\Server\Videos\Fanart
Rest of Fan Art settings set to Enabled

I'm aware that I could use the xml import stuff in MediaScraper to import these tv shows into my recorded TV, but I prefer to keep my archived tv in "My Videos."

Anybody see what I'm misssing?

[ohpleaseno]

I'm having the SAME exact problem as you. Thanks for starting this thread. I hope to get some more insight to get this resolved.

I have the same setup and structure as you do and am using all of the same plugins. One thing I've noticed is that if I go to an archived TV show in My Videos and use the Metadata/Fanart search under options, the fanart that already exists is found in no time at all and works from there on out.

I wish there was a way to make this happen more seamlessly. Having Sage rediscover all the fanart that is already there is a bit of a pain.

[stuckless]

I have added MetadataFanartTools-SageMC.xml, but have not finished configuring it yet. If I understand correctly, it is not necessary to the operation of FanArt in SageMC. Perhaps that is where my problem is?

This is not required at all for your setup. This is an import for when you are using BMT (Metadata Tools), but you are using mediaScraper, so there is no need to import this at all.

Typically, when TV that is in the Video library is NOT working, it's because you have not configured the custom metadata fields that is required by bmt,mediaScraper, and Pheonix. For fanart to work, it will check the MediaType field for a given media item and use that as the basis for looking up fanart. Non Sage Recording that DON'T have the MediaType field set correctly will have a hard time finding fanart, because the tool will have identified it has being a TV show, so the Fanart will go to the TV area, but phoenix will not see it as a TV show, and only look in the Movies area.

[rmac321]

Originally Posted by wallybio

I'm having the SAME exact problem as you. Thanks for starting this thread. I hope to get some more insight to get this resolved.

I have the same setup and structure as you do and am using all of the same plugins. One thing I've noticed is that if I go to an archived TV show in My Videos and use the Metadata/Fanart search under options, the fanart that already exists is found in no time at all and works from there on out.

I wish there was a way to make this happen more seamlessly. Having Sage rediscover all the fanart that is already there is a bit of a pain.

Yours is one of the posts/threads I was referring to that was left hanging. I think wayner may be another and I'm pretty sure there is one more with almost the exact same symptoms and structure.

Part of the frustration is that things have changed so much in the last few months and there isn't one place to look to find the best current setup. The threads with the best info are 20 to 50 pages long or more and there is no way to know where to start reading them to make sure you are getting the current methodology, so you have to read all the way through.

The developers have their hands full just trying to keep up with the changes as they are bombarded with feature requests and bug fixes as well. I don't blame them for not having time to create documentation that will be out of date within days. Since the central folder structure seems to be set, I hope this thread will be a good resource for others once we sort out the issue.

[rmac321]

Originally Posted by stuckless

This is not required at all for your setup. This is an import for when you are using BMT (Metadata Tools), but you are using mediaScraper, so there is no need to import this at all.

I thought this was the case. I read somewhere that if you were planning to use BMT that it had the necessary phoenix files, so I went ahead and downloaded it. I'm only 1/4 way through reading the BMT thread though, hence I haven't finished setting it up.

Originally Posted by stuckless

Typically, when TV that is in the Video library is NOT working, it's because you have not configured the custom metadata fields that is required by bmt,mediaScraper, and Pheonix. For fanart to work, it will check the MediaType field for a given media item and use that as the basis for looking up fanart. Non Sage Recording that DON'T have the MediaType field set correctly will have a hard time finding fanart, because the tool will have identified it has being a TV show, so the Fanart will go to the TV area, but phoenix will not see it as a TV show, and only look in the Movies area.

This sounds like the explanation we have been looking for. What is the best way to reset that field? Will this sort itself out on its own when I get done setting up BMT?

Edit:
I need a little more hand holding. Do I change the MediaType to "movie" in the properties file? Is a re-scan of imports sufficient to get this uploaded?

[rmac321]

Originally Posted by stuckless

For fanart to work, it will check the MediaType field for a given media item and use that as the basis for looking up fanart. Non Sage Recording that DON'T have the MediaType field set correctly will have a hard time finding fanart, because the tool will have identified it has being a TV show, so the Fanart will go to the TV area, but phoenix will not see it as a TV show, and only look in the Movies area.

EP, any chance you're reading this thread? Any chance of adding a switch to MediaScraper that could set this field?

[stuckless]

I would think that mediaScraper sets this field (i'm guessing), but the issue, is that if sagetv custom fields were not configured with the extra fields at the time the item was scanned, then you'll have to rescan the items for that field to get picked up. Typically, a scraper will build a .properties file that sagetv will import when the date/time on the mediafile changes. if the .properties file has the MediaType field set correctly, then sage should pull it in and update the field accordingly.

[rmac321]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I would think that mediaScraper sets this field (i'm guessing), but the issue, is that if sagetv custom fields were not configured with the extra fields at the time the item was scanned, then you'll have to rescan the items for that field to get picked up. Typically, a scraper will build a .properties file that sagetv will import when the date/time on the mediafile changes. if the .properties file has the MediaType field set correctly, then sage should pull it in and update the field accordingly.

Thanks for the help. I'm still not having any success. Can you clarify the metadata field and setting? Should the MediaType field be set to TV, Movie, Movies, MOVIE or something else? The properties files for my actual movies don't have this field, so I'm not sure what the setting should be.

Here are the things I've tried in the last hour or so.

experiment 1) I re-scraped (with MediaScraper) my Fringe directory so that both the media and properties files would be touched. I then rescanned my imports. I then opened My Videos->TV->Fringe. As I was pushing the remote to select Fringe, I saw the screen flash to a picture which may have been a background for fringe, but since I was already pushing the enter button on the remote, the picture went away and the "Fringe" screen came up with the normal SageMC screen. I backed out one level to the screen that shows all the TV show folders, but the pic didn't come back. (nothing I have done has reproduced this, so I'm starting to question what I saw) I went back into Fringe, selected Season 1 and selected an episode. None of these selections produced any Fanart.

experiment 2) I re-scraped my Fringe directory to touch all the files. I then manually edited each property file in the fringe directory and changed MediaType from TV to Movie. I next rescanned my import library. Starting at My Videos, I slowly drilled my way down to the episodes of Fringe. At no point did I see any FanArt.

experiment 3) I re-scraped again to retouch all the files and reset the MediaType. Rescanned and then drilled through the menus again and again no fanart.

Sorry if I'm being dense

[rmac321]

stuckless,

Is the following still the case? I didn't stop/start my service when I was palying with the MediaType field as I thout a rescan would be sufficient if the files had been touched.

from http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...503#post348503 :

Originally Posted by jaminben

Thought I'd add my 10 pence worth and say that it only works once, and thats when it gets imported. If you try and re-import it with updated metadata it doesn't get used unless you restart the whole service/system.

Update:
I just re-did the experiments listed above but also stopped and started the service in between, but still no FanArt. Of course it is still possible that when you perform the rescan could affect this procedure. If you stop the service, edit/touch files, restart service and rescan, you may not see the same results as if you edit/touch files, rescan and then stop and start the service.

[stuckless]

rmac, my original post was only a theory, it may be that the media file does in fact have a valid MediaType field and this may be a totally different issue. It sounds like you are doing everything correct.

On a side note, part of the final bmt 3.0 release will include an editor (web ui) that will allow you to see/edit the various metadata fields. This way, if a TV show is scanned as a "Movie", you'll be able to edit the field directly to fix it.

[rmac321]

Originally Posted by stuckless

rmac, my original post was only a theory, it may be that the media file does in fact have a valid MediaType field and this may be a totally different issue. It sounds like you are doing everything correct.

I appreciate your help and it was certainly worth a shot. I'm leaning toward it being something in the way SageMC handles FanArt, likely some form of interaction between SageMC and phoenix (as you hinted earlier) that needs to be tweaked. I can see that the field is there, but that doesn't mean it is being used. Hopefully Mike (MeInMaui) will see this and offer a suggestion. It could easily still be something I have set up wrong. In the meantime I'm continuing to read the various development threads related to phoenix, FanArt and central folder structure hoping to see a clue.

Originally Posted by stuckless

On a side note, part of the final bmt 3.0 release will include an editor (web ui) that will allow you to see/edit the various metadata fields. This way, if a TV show is scanned as a "Movie", you'll be able to edit the field directly to fix it.

It also seems that some people have had better success with this after getting BMT fully setup, so I need to finish wading through the BMT thread so I can finish setting that up.

[Peter_h]

Why don't you try importing those TV shows into recorded TV. They will appear as archived but I'm pretty sure it will fix all your problems.Try this.

1.) move the recorded TV show and properties file to your recorded TV directory.
2.) Import the show to recorded TV via Neilms web interface (EP's mediascraper can do this automaticlly)
3.) Run BMT to grab the pictures again and reassociate it to the file and new directy/file location.

Edit: Saw the last line of your post and that you want to keep the shows in My Videos. Is there a reason for this?

[rmac321]

Originally Posted by Peter_h

Edit: Saw the last line of your post and that you want to keep the shows in My Videos. Is there a reason for this?

I don't know if my reasoning is valid or not.

For one I like the series\season\episode structure of the import directories for both file storage and visually in the gui. Perhaps the import to db system displays this way in the gui or will in the future, I haven't actually checked into that aspect.

2nd, generally speaking (if my editing is up to date) stuff in "my TV" is very recent recordings that haven't been watched or have been watched and we have no desire to archive. Shows in "my videos" are either dvd rips or shows already watched and saved to possibly watch again.

Another consideration for me is that if I'm archiving something, I first edit the commercials and then shrink it with MediaShrink. Keeping the files in separate locations in the gui helps me keep track of which are edited files and which are raw. Comskip is great, but it still isn't perfect, so if we're watching a raw recording, it is necessary to keep the remote a little closer to manually override when the breaks aren't quite in the right spots. If we start a video, we can be pretty confident that we can just start it and relax.

The family has already gotten used to this system. changing will require retraining and possible glitches during the transistion.

With SageMC, I can disable "delete" on files in "My Videos".

Lastly, it is my impression that it is easier to import to db than it is to undo the import to db. Again, I could be wrong on that.

[Peter_h]

Originally Posted by rmac321

I don't know if my reasoning is valid or not.

For one I like the series\season\episode structure of the import directories for both file storage and visually in the gui. Perhaps the import to db system displays this way in the gui or will in the future, I haven't actually checked into that aspect.

2nd, generally speaking (if my editing is up to date) stuff in "my TV" is very recent recordings that haven't been watched or have been watched and we have no desire to archive. Shows in "my videos" are either dvd rips or shows already watched and saved to possibly watch again.

Another consideration for me is that if I'm archiving something, I first edit the commercials and then shrink it with MediaShrink. Keeping the files in separate locations in the gui helps me keep track of which are edited files and which are raw. Comskip is great, but it still isn't perfect, so if we're watching a raw recording, it is necessary to keep the remote a little closer to manually override when the breaks aren't quite in the right spots. If we start a video, we can be pretty confident that we can just start it and relax.

The family has already gotten used to this system. changing will require retraining and possible glitches during the transistion.

With SageMC, I can disable "delete" on files in "My Videos".

Lastly, it is my impression that it is easier to import to db than it is to undo the import to db. Again, I could be wrong on that.

I understand completely where you are coming from. I have bunch of TV boxed sets on DVD that i have been meaning to extract the episodes with media shrink and import into recorded TV. However, I haven't because all the tools aren't there yet.

The missing link right now is sorting by season. I think there are a few people working on plug ins for this. The idea is that you can keep all of the "TV" content in the recorded tv screen and you can navigate by Show -> Season -> Episode. I think once this is released, it will take care of what you need.

For now, I got nothing. I gave the new fanart system a try but I had some trouble and just didn't have the time to set it all up properly so I reverted back. I'm waiting for stuckless to release ver 3 of his BMT. I think that will be great and hopefully make the setup a lot easier for everyone.

[rmac321]

Originally Posted by Peter_h

The missing link right now is sorting by season. I think there are a few people working on plug ins for this. The idea is that you can keep all of the "TV" content in the recorded tv screen and you can navigate by Show -> Season -> Episode. I think once this is released, it will take care of what you need.

That will get me a lot closer, but I suspect in actual use it would be similar. For instance, If I want to watch something new, I would have to change the sort and/or filter to see what's new. To go look for something in the archives, I'd change the sort and/or filter to a convenient way of finding what I was looking for. As it is now I leave "my TV" setup in the most convenient way to find my most recent recordings and I leave "my Videos" setup in the most convenient way to find archived stuff and one click on the remote takes me to either one, so I think the relative benefits will be a wash.

I totally understated one of the best features of transferring stuff to "my videos" and that is the ability to hide the delete option. I probably should have listed that higher.

[wayner]

This is kind of OT but I don't remember seeing Season and Episode info in the general program description with the guide data that comes in Sage (which I believe comes from Zap2it), unless it comes in fields that you don't normally see. Why is this info not part of the "default info" in the program description - I would think that is hugely useful info? Original Air Date is there, not Season and Episode.

[Peter_h]

Originally Posted by wayner

This is kind of OT but I don't remember seeing Season and Episode info in the general program description with the guide data that comes in Sage (which I believe comes from Zap2it), unless it comes in fields that you don't normally see. Why is this info not part of the "default info" in the program description - I would think that is hugely useful info? Original Air Date is there, not Season and Episode.

I could be way off base but I have a vague recollection of reading about this recently. I think it is somewhere in the phoenix thread. I believe this was not a field that was stored or could be stored in the properties file until recently. I believe a recent beta added this. That's why there haven't been any plugins that have utilized it, yet.

[rmac321]

Edit 2: Problem Fixed, see next post
---------------------------------

Maybe my problem (and wallybio and wayner as well) relates to the MediaTitle Metadata field.

According to post 2 of the arbitrary metadata thread, there should be a MediaTitle entry in the .properties file:
"MediaTitle=This is the title of the series, it will be used for display and selecting fanart.

Is it possible that the missing MediaTitle entry is why SageMC/phoenix_api aren't finding the FanArt for the TV shows in the import directory? It would appear that MediaScraper is not creating that field, but I don't want to ask EP to add it if it isn't necessary.

edit:
I should point out that this occurred to me by playing with the BMT add-in. Even though I already had scraped these with MediaScraper, I thought I'd see what happened if I let BMT see what it could find. When I try to manually search for Fanart/Metadata for TV shows in the import\TV directory, I either get no hits and just a close button, or I get a bunch of movie hits based on the episode title.

Here is the .properties file:

Title=Babylon 5 1x01 - Midnight on the Firing Line
Actor=Bruce Boxleitner;Jerry Doyle;Claudia Christian;Mira Furlan;Andrea Thompson;Stephen Furst;Bill Mumy;Tracy Scoggins;Jeffrey Willerth;Peter Jurasik;Andreas Katsulas;Jason Carter;Patricia Tallman;Jeff Conaway;Mary Kay Adams;Michael O'Hare;Richard Biggs;Robert Rusler;
Guest=Paul Hampton;Peter Trencher;Jeff Austin;Mark Hendrickson;Douglas E. McCoy;
Director=Richard Compton;
Writer=J. Michael Straczynski;
Description=When the Narn attack a Centauri colony, Londo and G'Kar nearly come to blows.  Meanwhile, raiders are attacking transport ships near the station.
Rating=
SeasonNumber=1
EpisodeNumber=1
SeriesTitle=Babylon 5
EpisodeTitle=Midnight on the Firing Line
UserRating=3
OrignalAirDate=1994-01-26
MediaType=TV

the .my file is:

Title=Babylon 5
TVOriginalAiringDate=1994-01-26
actors=Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Claudia Christian, Mira Furlan, Andrea Thompson, Stephen Furst, Bill Mumy, Tracy Scoggins, Jeffrey Willerth, Peter Jurasik, Andreas Katsulas, Jason Carter, Patricia Tallman, Jeff Conaway, Mary Kay Adams, Michael O'Hare, Richard Biggs, Robert Rusler, Paul Hampton (Guest Star), Peter Trencher (Guest Star), Jeff Austin (Guest Star), Mark Hendrickson (Guest Star), Douglas E. McCoy (Guest Star), Richard Compton (Director), J. Michael Straczynski (Writer),
TVEpisode=1x01 - Midnight on the Firing Line
TVOverview=When the Narn attack a Centauri colony, Londo and G'Kar nearly come to blows.  Meanwhile, raiders are attacking transport ships near the station.
TVDuration=60
TVGenre=Science-Fiction
TVChannelName=Syndicated

[rmac321]

I manually added the "MediaTitle=Fringe" to 2 entries in my Fringe imports and the FanArt for Fringe now shows up in "My Videos".

I'll ask EP to adjust MediaScraper to add this field in the next release. In the meantime, does anybody have a simple little utility that could be used to adjust a single metadata field for all properties files in a folder?

[stuckless]

MediaTitle is critical for fanart, and it was added because otherwise you have to rely on the "Display Title". This means that in your care, without a MediaTitle=Babylon 5, it would be trying to find the fanart in the "Babylon 5 1x01 - Midnight on the Firing Line" directory.