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XML & NFO Questions


moviefan

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unisoft

For anyone else migrating from MediaBrowser 2.6.2 to Emby, and having lots of XML files with their meta data, here is what I had to do for it to be succesful!

 

  • Install the XML plugin into Emby Server as that is required
  • Initially change server options to favour XML to make sure only XML files are read first
  • My server folder structure for my TV library was \\servername\Multimedia\TV Archive\[Genre]\[series Name]\[season X]\[Video Filename]

e.g. \\server1\Multimedia\TV Archive\Comedy\Only Fools & Horses\Season 1\S01E01 Only Fools & Horses - Big Brother.ts

In this situation, I needed to add EACH genre sub-folder as a folder to the TV library setup in Emby Server. So my TV library setup had a folder to each of the genres. Adding as \\server1\Multimedia\TV Archive would not work properly (in line with the WIKI help).

  • In television library, ensure all MOVIE.XML is renamed to SERIES.XML. You do NOT need to do this in your Movie library as for this library, the XML plugin is expecting movie.xml in that library type.
  • In TV library, ensure the XML filename EXACTLY matches the video filename - else content won't import. this includes the upper/lower CaSE of the name.
  • To enabled genres to work, correct single line <genre>Comedy</genre> (example) in every file to be similar to:

<Genres>

  <Genre>Crime</Genre>
</Genres>

  • Ensure the genres only exist in above tags for the genres you want it to appear in. Multiple genres slows stuff down and you may not want repeated views of a programme in different genre
  • Edit studios tags to only include the studios you want to appear under the NETWORKS menu option in the Emby client because if you don't upload an image for each network, it will have default placeholder. I usually just use the network who made it or owned it, or broadcasted it to cut down the number.

<Studios>
  <Studio>BBC Two</Studio>
  <Studio>Masterpiece</Studio>
 </Studios>

  • Finally, go into emby server options, enable NFO and make default over XML and then Refresh all meta data in each of your libraries. This should now write NFO in each of your folders (assuming the EmbySvr user has permissions to your multimedia share). You could at that point rename the movie.xml you had renamed to series.xml so that they continue to work on Mb 2.6.2 if you planned to keep, say, an HTPC with MB 2.6.2 on it. This MB 2.6.2 version I found needed movie.xml where the season folders did not exist (typically TV movies or one off programmes without a season sub-folder). Your Emby server will now see the .NFO files generated for Emby, so this is how to make the two co-exist.
  • As stated before, you don't need to do this for your Movies library just television.

 

If you had legacy mymovies.xml - in the TV library, treat it as if it were named movie.xml in the help above and rename to series.xml.

 

 

  • There are good utilities like "Advanced File Name Renamer" (currently v3.83) which I used as I renamed all my .MPG content which was MPEG2, to .TS as reading around this was supported more widely by clients as MPG was really intended for MPEG1 content. 

 

  • There are also bulk XML renaming utilities - I experimented on a temp source first before trying against my actual (large) library to ensure the statements in the app were correct output.

 

  • I use .TS for MPEG2 content, .MP4 for PAL 50hz content, and 24p content is in a MKV file. This allows MB 2.6.2 to differentiate between mp4 and TS being played in Windows Media Center, and MKV being played in Arcsoft Total Media Theatre or another application like MPC-HC so it allows the 23/24hz switching which Media Player in Windows Media Center cannot do. MB 2.6.2 knows by extension it needs to call an external script to change resolution/refresh rate or application that can do this to handle it (if you use its MB configuration editor to define this). At the moment, I believe the Emby app on Apple TV device (4K) has to have MKV transcoded, but this may change when the Emby team use a new integrated player on that platform instead of native Apple app.

 

 

Hope this helps other people - as these were the issues I found coming from MB 2.6.2 to Emby client!!!

 

P.S. The reasons why some people may want to co-exist with MB 2.6.2 for now, is that MB 2.6.2 allows custom menu entry points for each library into the Windows Media Center menu and Emby for WMC cannot do this and has one entry point into an app screen that shows all its libraries. This is probably the main reason why MB 2.6.2 is still around as for many it was a key feature/requirement to look as if WMC.

Edited by unisoft
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moviefan

@@Happy2Play Do you still really use MCM for anything?

 

I've given up on it completely except for file/folder renaming and trailer downloading.  I immediately delete everything else it creates before moving the folders to the Emby managed directories.

 

Not only are the ratings still wrong and don't work with Emby at all because it prefixes everything to rating, when it creates NFO files it uses the MovieDB ID as the IMDB ID and this breaks all of the Emby fetchers after the fact.

 

I am not sure if MCM is being developed anymore at all but it is certainly not a product I would ever recommend to anyone trying to use Emby in the current state.

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Happy2Play

@@Happy2Play Do you still really use MCM for anything?

 

I've given up on it completely except for file/folder renaming and trailer downloading.  I immediately delete everything else it creates before moving the folders to the Emby managed directories.

 

Not only are the ratings still wrong and don't work with Emby at all because it prefixes everything to rating, when it creates NFO files it uses the MovieDB ID as the IMDB ID and this breaks all of the Emby fetchers after the fact.

 

I am not sure if MCM is being developed anymore at all but it is certainly not a product I would ever recommend to anyone trying to use Emby in the current state.

 

Yes I use xml and don't bother with nfo, at least for Movies and TV.  I would day 95+% of everything in the xml is read without issue.  One issue would be Episode provider links don't exist since MCM doesn't provide TVDBID and IMDBID at episode level, only EpisodeID and xml plugin doesn't read that field.

 

There is a option to fix the rating issue on the Kodi/XMBC?Emby tab.

 

Pete put a update out Sept 15th to fix the IMDB rating/score issue.

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moviefan

There is a option to fix the rating issue on the Kodi/XMBC?Emby tab.

 

This option doesn't work.  I opened a feature request back in March to have this addressed and it was never responded to.  You have to manually edit the NFO afterwards and removed the Rated prefix for Emby to recognize the value.

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  • 5 months later...
gtmnyc

Im scraping live events using strm files.. i have have my scraper set up to write nfo... everything shows up apart from fan and thumbs.. it in a mixed use lib.. i have it pulling trailer or recaps from the previous game etc from youtube. All is goig well apart for art work... Can anyone see why?

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<tvshow>
<plot>you synopsis here</plot>
<outline /><lockdata>false</lockdata>
<title>NASCAR STP 500 , Mar 24, 2019</title>
<trailer>plugin://plugin.video.youtube/?action=play_video&videoid=xxxxxxxx</trailer>
<art>
</art>
</tvshow>
 
 
thanks in advance!
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gtmnyc

caught the little typo in the scraper.. but still not showing

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<tvshow>
<plot>you synopsis here</plot>
<outline />
<lockdata>false</lockdata>
<title>NASCAR STP 500 , Mar 24, 2019</title>
<trailer>plugin://plugin.video.youtube/?action=play_video&videoid=xxxxxxxxxxx</trailer>
<art>
</art>
</tvshow>
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At this point we don't read image urls from those attributes. You will have to use images the normal way and put them next to your strm files.

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gtmnyc

I  copied the format from an nfo for a star is born ??!!

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<movie>
  <plot>Seasoned musician Jackson Maine discovers—and falls in love with—struggling artist Ally. She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer—until Jack coaxes her into the spotlight. But even as Ally's career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is breaking down, as Jack fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons.</plot>
  <outline />
  <lockdata>false</lockdata>
  <dateadded>2019-01-13 11:09:24</dateadded>
  <title>A Star Is Born</title>
  <originaltitle>A Star Is Born</originaltitle>
  <director>Bradley Cooper</director>
  <trailer>plugin://plugin.video.youtube/?action=play_video&videoid=nSbzyEJ8X9E</trailer>
  <trailer>plugin://plugin.video.youtube/?action=play_video&videoid=I3h6TVdD268</trailer>
  <trailer>plugin://plugin.video.youtube/?action=play_video&videoid=ukg0fNQhy7M</trailer>
  <trailer>plugin://plugin.video.youtube/?action=play_video&videoid=3tnl9Kpw5jY</trailer>
  <trailer>plugin://plugin.video.youtube/?action=play_video&videoid=4eZuEXF_nRw</trailer>
  <rating>7.5</rating>
  <year>2018</year>
  <mpaa>R</mpaa>
  <imdbid>tt1517451</imdbid>
  <tmdbid>332562</tmdbid>
  <premiered>2018-10-03</premiered>
  <releasedate>2018-10-03</releasedate>
  <country>United States of America</country>
  <genre>Drama</genre>
  <genre>Music</genre>
  <genre>Romance</genre>
  <studio>Thunder Road Pictures</studio>
  <studio>22 & Green</studio>
  <studio>Gerber Pictures</studio>
  <studio>Joint Effort</studio>
  <studio>Malpaso Productions</studio>
  <studio>Warner Bros. Pictures</studio>
  <art>
  </art>
  <actor>
    <name>Bradley Cooper</name>
    <role>Jackson Maine</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Lady Gaga</name>
    <role>Ally Campana</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Sam Elliott</name>
    <role>Bobby Maine</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Andrew Dice Clay</name>
    <role>Lorenzo Campana</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Dave Chappelle</name>
    <role>George "Noodles" Stone</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Anthony Ramos</name>
    <role>Ramon</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Michael Harney</name>
    <role>Wolfie</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Rafi Gavron</name>
    <role>Rez Gavron</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Rebecca Field</name>
    <role>Gail</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>D.J. "Shangela" Pierce</name>
    <role>Drag Bar Emcee</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Willam Belli</name>
    <role>Emerald</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Greg Grunberg</name>
    <role>Phil</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Ron Rifkin</name>
    <role>Carl</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Lukas Nelson</name>
    <role>Jackson's band</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Anthony LoGerfo</name>
    <role>Jackson's band</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Corey McCormick</name>
    <role>Jackson's band</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Logan Metz</name>
    <role>Jackson's band</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Tato Melgar</name>
    <role>Jackson's band</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Eddie Griffin</name>
    <role>Preacher</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Luenell</name>
    <role>Cashier</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Marlon Williams</name>
    <role>Himself</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Brandi Carlile</name>
    <role>Herself</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Halsey</name>
    <role>Herself (uncredited)</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Alec Baldwin</name>
    <role>Himself</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Don Roy King</name>
    <role>Himself</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Barry Shabaka Henley</name>
    <role>Little Feet</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Michael D. Roberts</name>
    <role>Matty</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Drena De Niro</name>
    <role>Paulette Stone</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Gabe Fazio</name>
    <role>Tommy</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <actor>
    <name>Jacob Schick</name>
    <role>Bryan (Catering Manager)</role>
    <type>Actor</type>
  </actor>
  <id>tt1517451</id>
  <fileinfo>
    <streamdetails />
  </fileinfo>
</movie>
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Correct, but we only write those image urls for other apps to read them. When Emby imports nfo metadata, it doesn't do anything with those values.

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gtmnyc

ok im re-writing the scraper to download the images then over write the folders when the scraper is run the next time.

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  • 8 months later...

Yes I use xml and don't bother with nfo, at least for Movies and TV.  I would day 95+% of everything in the xml is read without issue.  One issue would be Episode provider links don't exist since MCM doesn't provide TVDBID and IMDBID at episode level, only EpisodeID and xml plugin doesn't read that field.

 

There is a option to fix the rating issue on the Kodi/XMBC?Emby tab.

 

Pete put a update out Sept 15th to fix the IMDB rating/score issue.

I have just upgraded from 3.5.3.0. to the latest version of the Emby server, and I can see movies that have been added in the past scanned as added today, and movies that are plain incorrect now. The xml plugin does not seem to make any difference.

I have movie.xml files in each movie directory, have tested converting the xml to nfo and it did fix the issue of incorrect movie identification.

I will test tonight correcting the date added issue by converting to nfo.

To be fair I never noticed the issue with the rating on MCM as I don't search by rating but by genre or actor. Are there any other drawbacks than the rating incorrect to converting my 4k+ xml files into nfo?

PS: Where does MCM get the movie rating from? I just tested fixing the movie Bandits (2001)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0219965/

On iMDB it shows " Motion Picture Rating (MPAARated PG-13 for some sexual content, language and violence"

After the MCM scan, it shows R as rating instead. I wonder where it gets the rating info from?

 

 

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Happy2Play

I have just upgraded from 3.5.3.0. to the latest version of the Emby server, and I can see movies that have been added in the past scanned as added today, and movies that are plain incorrect now. The xml plugin does not seem to make any difference.

I have movie.xml files in each movie directory, have tested converting the xml to nfo and it did fix the issue of incorrect movie identification.

I will test tonight correcting the date added issue by converting to nfo.

To be fair I never noticed the issue with the rating on MCM as I don't search by rating but by genre or actor. Are there any other drawbacks than the rating incorrect to converting my 4k+ xml files into nfo?

PS: Where does MCM get the movie rating from? I just tested fixing the movie Bandits (2001)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0219965/

On iMDB it shows " Motion Picture Rating (MPAARated PG-13 for some sexual content, language and violence"

After the MCM scan, it shows R as rating instead. I wonder where it gets the rating info from?

 

I have no idea, your xml is 10 years old, my movie.xml has PG-13.  

 

But fetching that movie today does not return content rating of R though.  It shows PG-13.

 

I still have no issue moving media with only xml files and having Emby read that metadata.

Edited by Happy2Play
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I have no idea, your xml is 10 years old, my movie.xml has PG-13.  

 

But fetching that movie today does not return content rating of R though.  It shows PG-13.

 

I still have no issue moving media with only xml files and having Emby read that metadata.

 

Thanks for that Happy2Play.

 

I appreciate that it was in the previous file, but I noticed that the process of creating the nfo from the xml changes the content and adds more (like <certification> for example)

 

I have just deleted the nfo and refreshed the title in MCM, and the nfo generated contains both

 

<certification>Argentina:13, Australia:M, Austria:12, Brazil:Livre, Denmark:11, Finland:K-11, France:Tous publics, Germany:12, Hong Kong:IIA, Ireland:15PG, Ireland:15, Malaysia:U, Netherlands:12, New Zealand:M, Norway:15, Peru:14, Philippines:PG-13, Singapore:PG, South Korea:12, Spain:13, Sweden:11, Switzerland:12, Switzerland:12, United Kingdom:12, United States:TV-PG, United States:PG-13</certification>
 
and 
 
<mpaa>Rated R</mpaa>
 
Now that MCM is set up to export nfo I run it on a folder that contains only a movie, no legacy data, and it pulls in both xml and nfo. 
Should I turn the xml generation off?
And the file contains both MPAA (Rated R) rating and certification (UK-15) for Matrix Revolutions.
 
Scanning Library to see how the update changes the files, and what emby shows for ratings.
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Happy2Play

 

Thanks for that Happy2Play.

 

I appreciate that it was in the previous file, but I noticed that the process of creating the nfo from the xml changes the content and adds more (like <certification> for example)

 

I have just deleted the nfo and refreshed the title in MCM, and the nfo generated contains both

 

<certification>Argentina:13, Australia:M, Austria:12, Brazil:Livre, Denmark:11, Finland:K-11, France:Tous publics, Germany:12, Hong Kong:IIA, Ireland:15PG, Ireland:15, Malaysia:U, Netherlands:12, New Zealand:M, Norway:15, Peru:14, Philippines:PG-13, Singapore:PG, South Korea:12, Spain:13, Sweden:11, Switzerland:12, Switzerland:12, United Kingdom:12, United States:TV-PG, United States:PG-13</certification>
 
and 
 
<mpaa>Rated R</mpaa>
 
Now that MCM is set up to export nfo I run it on a folder that contains only a movie, no legacy data, and it pulls in both xml and nfo. 
Should I turn the xml generation off?
And the file contains both MPAA (Rated R) rating and certification (UK-15) for Matrix Revolutions.
 
Scanning Library to see how the update changes the files, and what emby shows for ratings.

 

 

You can not disable xml for MCM as it is the base metadata format and used to export to other metadata formats.  There is still a open issue to correct the Rated issue in Rated R.  MCM provide these additional fields as different software uses these fields differently.

 

Or are you referring to removing/disabling Emby xml reader?  If you want Emby to read the nfo then yes.

Edited by Happy2Play
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Think of how much simpler your whole process would be if you would just let Emby handle it all with it's own nfo capabilities rather than all of this complication trying to involve external software.

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Post Library Scan

 

Bandits Ratings: still R in the movie details in Emby. It obviously reads the MPAA ratings, not the certification

 

Die Another Day: Converted XML using MCM, and it has dropped the date added. So it still shows atop my added by date list. The date added is in the file but for some reason, it did not transfer it. II also checked the nfo for Bandits, and there is no date added? This is what it looks like in the movie.xml file

<Added>22/08/2007 23:57:59</Added>

 

when I use the emby edit metadata function, it says that die another day was added on the 21/12/2019, which is the day I upgraded, not the day that the movie was added to the old library.

 

I also tried to recreate a new nfo file, instead of the old one, and I cannot see date added anywhere in there either. How does it know when the movie was added?

Edited by gnollo
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Think of how much simpler your whole process would be if you would just let Emby handle it all with it's own nfo capabilities rather than all of this complication trying to involve external software.

I am all ears at this point.

What I am looking for:

- I have manually scanned over 4500 movies, which I know have movie.xml files which are absolutely accurate in terms of identifying the right movie 

- they are listed in terms of date added, which is what I want to preserve

If there is another way to ensure this, I am happy to try anything.

Right now the movie library has been scanned by emby without processing the movie.xml and I am trying to fix the result which includes

- emby showing wrong information for movies that I know have correct information in the xml

- emby showing as added recently movies that have been added much further in the past, which is filling up my latest movies with old movies

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Happy2Play

I honestly can't say what your system is doing unless there are xml error in your server.log.  With the xml plugin Emby read all my xml metadata.

 

There is no way for Emby to preserve your date added from the xml if is not read them currently.

 

I personally use the TimeLord plugins also so date added becomes irrelevant in Emby as all Dated Added is converted to Premiere dates in the database, but they are Premium plugins.

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I honestly can't say what your system is doing unless there are xml error in your server.log. With the xml plugin Emby read all my xml metadata.

 

There is no way for Emby to preserve your date added from the xml if is not read them currently.

 

I personally use the TimeLord plugins also so date added becomes irrelevant in Emby as all Dated Added is converted to Premiere dates in the database, but they are Premium plugins.

Time Lord would fix my date added problem for my entire old DVD section.

So this plugin does not use date added but theatrical release date, if it is older than the date added right? No option to just use the date added from the xml files?

 

Server log attached for xml plugin errors.

 

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

embyserverlog.txt

Edited by gnollo
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Installed and paid for the TimeLordMovies plugin. Restarted the server, Started the Time Lord schedule task "Change Movie date added to original Premier Date. Now we wait...

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I also noticed that if the movie folder has two mkv files (like my conversion of The Two Towers double dvd into two mkv files) it shows two folders with no metadata. Will this be fixed once I add the nfo file, or do I have to do something else in terms of folder structure, or do I need to merge the files into a single one?

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Installed and paid for the TimeLordMovies plugin. Restarted the server, Started the Time Lord schedule task "Change Movie date added to original Premier Date. Now we wait...

Well, Garbage in and Garbage out it seems. The list is now filled with movies that Emby had not recognised and created a decent nfo, although the movie.xml is correct. I will run the MCM conversion tonight on 4500 movie.xml files and then run the task once more. The list of incorrect movies at the top has now reduced though, from 10+ pages to two... On the right track, thanks Happy2Play

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Running MCM to create external nfos, I am getting a lot of "Couldn't write to: .nfo MCM:      System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Media Center Master\.nfo' is denied."

I will see at the end how many folders don't contain a .nfo and fix them individually
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