Best way to rename TV files

[GhostRider 49]

Hi,

I used to use the old and defunct MetaBrowser to rename my TV series, but today it stopped working for good. I understand from the Wiki the TV file naming format, but I am at a loss now on how to do the initial file rename to get the episodes named as show name S01E01 Episode Name.ext.

I was wondering if the forum could advise on this basic question how can I get my TV episodes renamed to this convention: show name S01E01 Episode Name.ext before adding into Emby?

Many thanks

Edited September 14, 2024 by GhostRider

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

I use FileBot to get things named correctly before I ever add the file to my library.

[GhostRider 49]

Many thanks I will give FileBot a try. I just had a look at TinyMediaManager and I do not like the way it will not take Sci-Fi as a genre and insists on changing it to Science Fiction.

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

Just now, GhostRider said:

Many thanks I will give FileBot a try. I just had a look at TinyMediaManager and I do not like the way it will not take Sci-Fi as a genre and insists on changing it to Science Fiction.

I do not know if genera is any consideration for FileBot at all but i think genera is meaningless for file naming. I let Emby handle genera while FileBot handles the naming. 

Note: There is a way, that I do not currently use, for Sonar to handle renaming and even properly adding to Emby's library. I do not really like Sonar but it does take files it finds and renames them and puts then in the proper show/season folders automagically. If you drop files into a Sonar monitored folder it will name them correctly and move them into your library properly. 
For me Sonar is, mostly, too complex for my needs but it does do jobs that no other program I have used works correctly for. 

[GrimReaper 4740]

49 minutes ago, GhostRider said:

I do not like the way it will not take Sci-Fi as a genre and insists on changing it to Science Fiction.

There's no "Sci-Fi" genre on TVDB, which is typically primary TV Shows provider, so whichever software you use for obtaining metadata from that provider (it being Emby, TMM, MCM or any other of your preference), you'll never get "Sci-Fi", it'll always be "Science Fiction". 

TVDB Genres

TMDB doesn't have it as a genre either, though it has it as "Sci-Fi & Fantasy", so you also wouldn't be getting "Sci-Fi" only. 

TMDB TV Genres

You can always map those genres afterwards with Genre Cleaner plugin once imported into Emby. 

Edited September 14, 2024 by GrimReaper

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

1 minute ago, GrimReaper said:

There's no "Sci-Fi" genre on TVDB, which is typically primary TV Shows provider, so whichever software you use for obtaining metadata from that provider (it being Emby, TMM, MCM or any other of your preference), you'll never get "Sci-Fi", it'll always be "Science Fiction". 

TVDB Genres

TMDB doesn't have it as a genre either, though it's "Sci-Fi & Fantasy", so you also won't be getting "Sci-Fi" only. 

TMDB TV Genres

I meant to address that as well and Emby does have "Genera Cleaner" as a plugin that can take whatever genera you have in you shows and movies and change it to whatever you want to call it. 

I do not use genera for much of anything but i do find all the myriad genera that the providers give to be irritating so I use "Genera cleaner" to narrow it down to manageable levels. 

I wish I could turn off everything genera related but I have not found a way but "Genera cleaner" does handle the genera glut I see from providers. I have only 5 genera in my library and I think that may be one too many. 

But, like I said earlier, I do not understand what genera has to do with file names.

[GrimReaper 4740]

1 minute ago, Gilgamesh_48 said:

But, like I said earlier, I do not understand what genera has to do with file names.

Absolutely nothing, I would assume OP was referring to item metadata upon scraping as TMM is primarily a metatada-manager, powerful Renamer is just one of its additional features. 

[KellyEmby 13]

I found this a few years ago and like it  https://www.tweaking4all.com/home-theatre/rename-my-tv-series-v2/  Tweaking4All.com - Rename My TV Series.  For me it has seemed to be consistent with TVDB and IMDB.

[GhostRider 49]

Yes, regarding TMM it looks like a full replacement for MetaBrowser, the free version only uses one metadata provider, but this is sufficient for the initial prep that I need including file renaming. In MetaBrowser I always replaced the Science Fiction genera with Sci-Fi manually. I then used to copy the whole folder: media, art work and NFO files over to Emby. Emby would use the Sci-Fi genera just fine. I had very little work to do in Emby for updating the metadata. Looking on the web it confirms TMM, for reasons I don't understand, does not permit a manual genera of Sci-Fi and goes and changes Sci-Fi to Science Fiction. As I have lots of Sci-Fi in Emby it would be a big challenge to change them all from Sci-Fi to Science Fiction manually. Maybe I should look at the Genera Cleaner plugin mentioned by Gilgamesh_48. I do prefer the name Sci-Fi so if I use TMM I will need to change the genera from Science Fiction to Sci-Fi in Emby which is doable.

Still to try FileBot and the Tweaking4All renaming tool.

 

 

Edited September 15, 2024 by GhostRider