OTA File Naming Convention Configurations with Schedules Direct

[JulsPlus 0]

Hello,

 

I’ve been using Emby Server for a few years now and absolutely love it. Thank you Emby developers! Admittedly, I can barely manage to stumble through the setup and configurations. I need some additional assistance in displaying the season and episode numbers correctly for our TV shows that have been recorded OTA.

 

Currently, every single episode I’ve recorded “this year” is displayed with season 20 and episode 18. Yes, that’s right, every OTA recording....errrr! After reading through a few forum threads, I took a quick look at our wtv file naming convention. Here is an example (Last Man Standing_KTLADT_2018_05_25_01_28_00.wtv). I’m fairly confident that the file naming convention is the issue.  We use Schedules Direct with a Hauppauge WinTV 418 BDA Tuner. Strangely enough the season and episodes are displayed correctly for “Live TV” section of Emby. So the issue must not be with Schedules Direct, correct?  I manually renamed one of the pre-existing OTA recording file names with S**E** and it now displays correctly in Emby. So here is my question (finally….):

• Where can I change the OTA recording wtv file naming convention configuration? Is it in Emby or Schedules Direct configuration?

Thank you in advance,

Julie

[JulsPlus 0]

Hello All,

 

I found the episode and season numbers are populated to the "Windows Recorded TV Show Episode Name" metadata information.

 

Windows Media Center (which we are no longer using) reads the metadata correctly and displays it for us. However, Emby is displaying information based on the physical file name. Is this a setting or configuration that can be changed?

 

I've also been reading about how to change the file naming conversion for WMC in the registry. While you can designate episode names as part of the file name, it didn't seem to have values for season and episode numbers.

 

Thank you in advance, any assistance is greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you,

Julie

Edited May 28, 2018 by JulsPlus

[Luke 38493]

Hi there @@JulsPlus, can you give an exact example of a recording file name? Because Emby Dvr never saves with the .wtv file extension.

 

Also are you running Emby Server 3.4.1?

[JulsPlus 0]

Hello,

 

This is an OTA recorded file that was scheduled through the Emby’s Live TV Guide section. Here is an example:

 

                File Name: Last Man Standing_KTLADT_2018_05_30_01_28_00.wtv

 

                The nfo file is populated incorrectly (below). Maybe this was populated from the file name. Not sure.

  <episode>18</episode>

  <season>20</season>

 

The correct information can be viewed in the Windows Explorer file properties of the wtv file. It has the correct episode name, season#, episode#, program description, etc.

 

          I’ve added a library that points to my Recorded TV shows location. The library is displaying all the recordings with S20E18. Is the solution to fix the way the nfo file is populated or configure the file naming convention differently?

 

Is there a log file that I can provide to assist in troubleshooting? If so, where may I find it?

 

I am running Emby Server Version 3.2.50.0 and have automatic server updates enabled. Sounds like it might be out of date. I thought the automatic updates would take care of this for me. Is that not the case?

 

Side Note: I’ve also begun to experimenting with MCE Buddy recently as a work around to this issue. I thought perhaps I could convert and rename the files to make them more Emby friendly. Although I’d rather not do this. My system is already slow enough.

 

Thank you in advance, your assistance is always greatly appreciated.

 

Julie

[Luke 38493]

Are you using a live tv plugin such as server wmc? because emby does not record to .wtv files.

 

And yes, your server version is out of date. Newer versions of the server will parse the file name correctly and realize that it is a daily episode without season and episode numbers.

 

I would suggest installing the latest version from the website, on top of your existing version. Thanks.

 

Thanks.

[JulsPlus 0]

Hello,

 

Thank you for the quick and helpful replies, always appreciated.

 

Yes, I have ServerWMC 1.0.0.62 build 1244 installed. Are there settings here that could help me correct this issue? I found a config.xml on the advance tab of the ServerWMC app.

 

I plan to download and install the latest server version this weekend. You indicated I should install it "on top" of the existing version. Will this preserve all my settings, configurations, and plug-ins? I also use Emby Theater version

 

Julie

[Luke 38493]

I don't know too much about server wmc but all you really need to do is update the server and then record something new. Yes it will preserve data. Thanks.

[JulsPlus 0]

Hello Luke,

 

Thank you for all your assistance. Here is a quick outline of my understanding, conclusions, and work around. Please confirm and correct my understanding. I enjoy learning and appreciate any clarification or corrections you may provide on any of the below assumptions and conclusions.

 

My System’s Moving Pieces:

• SchedulesDirect – Source of TV guide listings and metadata (service, no app)
• ServerWMC – Responsible for Live TV viewing and Live TV Recordings
• EPG123 – Fetches selected data from SchedulesDirect.
  • Prefix episode name with season and episode numbers (selected option). This is not the file name but is the episode name inside the *.wtv file properties.
    • ****I think this setting is important to my workaround, below.
• Unknown – *.wtv file naming
  • I still haven’t figure out which system is responsible for *.wtv file naming. I strongly suspect its ServerWMC but can’t confirm.
  • *.wtv files are named with the series name, TV station, and recording date-time
  • Example: I Love Lucy_KCBSDT2_2018_06_04_06_00_01.wtv
• Emby - Creates nfo files with all sorts of wonderful information.
  • I’ve added the TV recording directory (contains my *.wtv) as an Emby Library.  The *.nfo files are created.
  • With a previously Emby version, the recording date in the *.wtv file name was mistakenly assumed to be the season and episode numbers. As a result everything was displayed with S20E18 in the nfo files and Emby Theater. After updating Emby server to the most recent version, this no longer occurs.  The nfo file does not contain the episode or season numbers at all. As a result, the season and episode numbers are not displayed in Emby. Conclusion: No information is better the incorrect information. But I still found a work around, below.

Workaround with MCEBuddy (it’s a bit bulky because I don’t have enough moving pieces to maintain above)

• MCEBuddy - Monitor the TV recording directory (contains *.wtv)
• MCEBuddy - Add a conversion task
  • Enable custom file renaming - %showname%_%episodename%
    • MCEBuddy is able to read the file properties of the *.wtv file. Since EPG123 prefixed the episode name (in the file properties) with season and episode numbers (S**E**). As a result, the new file name contains S**E**. Hoorah!
    • Example:
      • Original File Name: I Love Lucy_KCBSDT2_2018_06_04_06_00_01.wtv
      • File Properties Episode Name: s06e19_Lucy Raises Chickens
      • New File Name: I Love Lucy_ s06e19_Lucy Raises Chickens.mkv (I also converted it to mkv since I’m using MCEBuddy anyways).
  • Pick new directory location for converted and renamed files.
• Emby - Add new directory location (containing newly renamed and converted *.mkv files) to Emby as a library.
  • Emby creates new nfo files with season and episode numbers
  • The season and episode numbers are nicely displayed in Emby Theater, web browsers, Android app, and Roku app. All is well in the world once again.

Outstanding Question: Which component is ultimately responsible for the original *.wtv file naming convention (ServerWMC or EPG123) and can it be changed? I’m still not sure, they both have configurations for file naming. If I could figure this out, then perhaps MCE Buddy workaround would not be needed.

 

As always, thank you in advance,

Juls

[Luke 38493]

Those are two external programs so I don't know everything they are doing but I would guess that server wmc is creating the wtv.

[garyan2 53]

@JulsPlus: WMC is the one responsible for naming the WTV files, not serverWMC nor EPG123. Luckily, though, the filename pattern can be modified using a registry key on the machine running WMC.

 

If you open the EPG123 Client and then click the [Tweak WMC] button, you will be able to modify that filename pattern. Since you already said you prefix the episode title with the SxxEyy numbers, if you add the episode title to the filename pattern, then it will be saved there too. No need for MCEBuddy to change it.