Unable to scan folder ....

[jusjoken]

I just installed BMT 4.1 on a clean v7 setup.

From the web ui I can click on individual shows/movies and scan for metadata and it works. But every folder I try to scan I get the message "Unable to scan folder xxxxx"

The log files don't sohw any errors.

Any thoughts?

[stuckless]

I was made aware of that issue in another thread. I'm hoping to have a build out tomorrow that will fix that issue, plus a few others that people have been having.

[jusjoken]

This is working now... and now that it is working I have another question.

When processing an AVI file or a folder of AVI files that are named for TV Series as...

"Burn Notice S01E02 Identity.avi"

BMT changes the title or episode name to "Identity" which is correct, however, the folder in Sage is now sorted alphabetically by this name rather than by the file name and so the episodes are out of order.

Is there a way for me to customize the process BMT uses so the Episode Name would become...

"Burn Notice S01E02 Identity"

and then the sort would work again.

Thanks

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by jusjoken

This is working now... and now that it is working I have another question.

When processing an AVI file or a folder of AVI files that are named for TV Series as...

"Burn Notice S01E02 Identity.avi"

BMT changes the title or episode name to "Identity" which is correct, however, the folder in Sage is now sorted alphabetically by this name rather than by the file name and so the episodes are out of order.

Is there a way for me to customize the process BMT uses so the Episode Name would become...

"Burn Notice S01E02 Identity"

and then the sort would work again.

Thanks

I removed the title masks from bmt because I think it's the wrong solution. I'm hoping that someone will update the stv (ie create a plugin) that will present the TV media types using the Title, EpisodeName, Season and Episode. Rewriting the titles should be a part of the display and not the data.

[jusjoken]

I agree... perhaps I will take a shot at it.

[jusjoken]

Now that I said I agree and then spent some time reviewing the issue, I need to retract partly. I do agree that Sage needs some sorting features added but given the different uses of the folder views it will be a complex solution.

A request... perhaps a compromise...

A configurable setting like... "Preserve Original Episode Name" in the Fanart/Metadata Options. If set, just leave the episode name as is which would leave it as the file name excluding extension. Then the sort would work again for the few of us that have raised this.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by jusjoken

Now that I said I agree and then spent some time reviewing the issue, I need to retract partly. I do agree that Sage needs some sorting features added but given the different uses of the folder views it will be a complex solution.

A request... perhaps a compromise...

A configurable setting like... "Preserve Original Episode Name" in the Fanart/Metadata Options. If set, just leave the episode name as is which would leave it as the file name excluding extension. Then the sort would work again for the few of us that have raised this.

That setting does exist. In the web ui, Configure -> Phoenix -> Fanart / Metadata Options -> Preserve Original Metadata for Recordings. By default this is turned on, which prevent BMT for updating core metadata values for recordings. In a nutshell, when this is turned on, only fanart title, season and episode get populated, which is all is needed for TV fanart.

[jusjoken]

Understood, but the issue is with the Episode Name which sage uses for the sort. Even with this setting on, the Episode Name gets changed from the filename, to just the episode. I guess thats the field I want to protect so it would stay as the original filename... but I can see how that name is likely important to the tool and the metadata.

Perhaps I just need to find a way to make Sage sort by the original filename rather than the episode name.

[Fuzzy]

The real problem is that Sage's media library is not aware of season and episode (or any sort of numerical sort, such as Original Air Date, ShowID, etc). It is designed for movies, and other 'on-off' videos. If you want proper sorting, the best option would be to bring the TV shows into the TV Show database (SageTV Recordings) where this data IS sortable. If Slugger adds auto changing the ExternalID to EPtvdb[tvdbID]s00e00 format as I've been manually doing, it will automatically move them to the recordings database, where OAD and ShowID are sortable. (I also made a quick and dirty stvi that displays the s00e00 format instead of the ShowID if it detects SeasonNumber and EpisodeNumber metadata in the malore menus that I will hopefully publish in the morning, once I figure out the whole manifest thing)

Also, when changing this ExternalID as I have been doing, it sets the Archive flag on the resultant 'recording', making it easy to filter between short-term recordings, and your 'archived' tv shows.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by jusjoken

Understood, but the issue is with the Episode Name which sage uses for the sort. Even with this setting on, the Episode Name gets changed from the filename, to just the episode. I guess thats the field I want to protect so it would stay as the original filename... but I can see how that name is likely important to the tool and the metadata.

Perhaps I just need to find a way to make Sage sort by the original filename rather than the episode name.

You have the setting that I mentioned earlier turned on? If so, then BMT should not be touching the episodename field, and if it is, then it's a bug. When that setting is enabled (ie, don't update metadata for recordings), then only the Fanart Title, Season # and Episode # are updated. If there are not originally recordings, then BMT will update all fields including the episode name. I think that it would be better for someone to write a small plugin for Sage7 that updates Sage's media browser to add in the Season and Episode information to the title as it's being displayed... although I realize that doesn't fix your sorting issue.

[jusjoken]

I do have this setting turned on, however, these files are DVD Rips and not originally recordings. So it's not a bug.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by jusjoken

I do have this setting turned on, however, these files are DVD Rips and not originally recordings. So it's not a bug.

I've added an issue to enable the support for a custom title mask on import. This mask will not behave like it did is 4.0, instead, the mask will be used ONLY during an automatic import/scan, and it will only be used for TV media files that are NOT being imported as TV. Bottom line, I want to restrict the use of masks as much as possible, since I believe the UI should be updated to support the various display/sorting methods.

[Fuzzy]

I would also agree with not manipulating metadata simply for the purpose of sorting. An Episode title should only contain JUST that. With metadata tags such as SeasonNumber and EpisodeNumber, there is no reason to mess with 'falsifying' titles. It should be relatively trivial to add new sort categories in the UI to take advantage of the season and episode tags...

The only thing that prevents it from being a super easy fix is there is no 'single' metadata tag that signifies some specific season-episode sort order - currently. What needs to be done is to either add a new metadata category called SeasonEpisode (which would just be the s00e00 string - but that's redundant with the separate tags), or, preferred, create a specific ShowID for such as mentioned previously, that is sortable, and add ShowID as a sort category to the UI.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

I would also agree with not manipulating metadata simply for the purpose of sorting. An Episode title should only contain JUST that. With metadata tags such as SeasonNumber and EpisodeNumber, there is no reason to mess with 'falsifying' titles. It should be relatively trivial to add new sort categories in the UI to take advantage of the season and episode tags...

The only thing that prevents it from being a super easy fix is there is no 'single' metadata tag that signifies some specific season-episode sort order - currently. What needs to be done is to either add a new metadata category called SeasonEpisode (which would just be the s00e00 string - but that's redundant with the separate tags), or, preferred, create a specific ShowID for such as mentioned previously, that is sortable, and add ShowID as a sort category to the UI.

Just realized a problem with sorting The video library by ExternalID... movies and such would NOT work well that way.. well, unless the ExternalID for them was set to 'MF[MovieTitle]'.. could get complicated... just move the TV shows into recordings, and everything is simpler.. :-)

[Fuzzy]

Just posted up my first v7 import. Season-Episode for Malore Recordings. If SeasonNumber is present, it will show s00e00 notation instead of the last 4 digits of the ExternalID. Liking it so far...

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Just posted up my first v7 import. Season-Episode for Malore Recordings. If SeasonNumber is present, it will show s00e00 notation instead of the last 4 digits of the ExternalID. Liking it so far...

Looks good... see, my plan is working already... i removed it from bmt, and already there is a plugin to fill the gap

[Fuzzy]

well, this plugin doesn't move the recordings, nor does it set the ID to something sortable by season-episode. that's what you're plugin should do.. ;-) (well, in all honesty, I made one that does that as well, but it currently has to be done individually from each imported episode, after BMT has assigned the season and episode to it...) not really sure how to automate it... figured BMT 4.3 would do that for me.. ;-)

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

What needs to be done is to either add a new metadata category called SeasonEpisode (which would just be the s00e00 string - but that's redundant with the separate tags)

If a SeasonEpisode property was added, i would create an interger that is

SeasonEpisode =  SeasonNumber * 100 + EpisodeNumber

This is what i did for TVE to do proper season/episode sorting. You only run into a problem if are more then 100 episodes for a given season (highly unlikely). However, this is easy enough to do with a simple java method so don't think its necessary to clutter up the custom properties any more.

[jusjoken]

I think I solved this for myself... at least it works for how I store my files. I created a 1 line STVI that changes the following code...

FolderMediaList = SortLexical( DataUnion(FolderMediaList), false, "GetShowEpisode" )

To

FolderMediaList = SortLexical( DataUnion(FolderMediaList), false, "GetMediaFileRelativePath" )

Now the Folder view sorts by the FileName and not the Episode Name and as I name my files in a sortable manner ("Burn Notice S01E02 Identity.avi"), it does not matter that BMT changes the Episode Name.

Now I can continue with making my STVI Custom Folder View use the new metadata rather than the parsing I was doing before (and then perhaps I can share that STVI for beta testing).