Can MB3 use existing xbmc metadata?

[trpltongue 0]

You can use both... Let XBMC use your perfect data for now. Tell Media Browser to store its data centrally. It won't touch your XBMC data.

 

However, MediaBrowser currently pulls better metadata and imagery than I ever experienced with XMBC and the information is more accurate. Plus it has Genre and Studio Cleaning plugins to make sure those don't get out of hand because people enter them into the databases weird. Due to this, I allow MediaBrowser to pull data for both systems.

Only problem is that I really like my metadata with my items.  Makes maintaining it and keeping track of it so much easier!

[Koleckai Silvestri 1154]

Just laying out the options. I like mine with my items as well.

[pagali 62]

Another option is to use a third-party metadata manager like Media Center Master. It can be set to save in both XBMC and MB3 formats, simultaneously, and share the images. It's worked well for me during the last year when I've been bouncing back and forth between XBMC and MB3.   It will also move and rename movies and TV episodes if you choose, from designated folders of new stuff into the proper library locations.

[Luke 42077]

Another option is to use a third-party metadata manager like Media Center Master. It can be set to save in both XBMC and MB3 formats, simultaneously, and share the images. It's worked well for me during the last year when I've been bouncing back and forth between XBMC and MB3.   It will also move and rename movies and TV episodes if you choose, from designated folders of new stuff into the proper library locations.

 

And so can MBS. It can also save in both formats.

[trpltongue 0]

Hi all, 

 

I'm a brand new MB3 user here and I've been trying to scour the forum for information regarding MB3 and XBMC co-existing.

 

I use XBMC for local playback, but use MB3 for streaming to my tablets.

 

I have TV shows and movies with perfect xbmc metadata and I don't want to mess that up so I turned off the "download metadata from internet" option.

 

However, MB3 doesn't seem to use the *.nfo files for metadata.  It picks up the images, just none of the metadata.

 

Is it possible for MB3 to use the pre-existing nfo files that XBMC uses via some setting I'm missing?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Luke 42077]

no, at this time we don't support reading from nfo's.

 

but you could do it the other way around. we do support nfo saving using our nfo output plugin, so we can be a metadata manager for you that writes metadata to both MB and Xbmc formats.

[trpltongue 0]

Bummer  I understand that MB3 reads xml files though, correct?  I wonder if I couldn't just rename all my nfo's to xml?  Will MB3 overwrite data in the xml file if it is already existing?

 

My only concern is that I have spent a bit of time getting the metadata correct and I don't want to have it overwritten or to spend the time fixing it again after it's been downloaded by MB3

Edited January 14, 2014 by trpltongue

[trpltongue 0]

Well, I'm running into a bit more difficulty than I expected

 

I set up MB3 to not download any images, as I already have banners, fanart, etc. for all my TV shows, and fanart and covers for all my movies.  I did turn on "download from internet" as well as "save metadata and images in media folder" in the metadata options and now i have metadata.  However, there is no xml file showing up in the tv season folder?  I get a series.xml file in the series folder, but no xml file in the seasonxx folder.  However, the metadata is showing up in MB3 for each episode?

 

It *seems* like it's saving the individual episode metadata somewhere else?  Any way to tell where it is saving the episode data?

Edited January 14, 2014 by trpltongue

[Luke 42077]

That will not work. 

[Luke 42077]

we don't have a season.xml file unless we actually have season metadata from the internet. if you go to the edit page for a season and click save, it will also create the file.

[trpltongue 0]

Yeah, I just tried with a test db and realized that XBMC will not read the xml file even though xbmc nfo files are in fact xml files  Oh well, I guess I'll just disable MB3 from downloading images and only have it download the xml file.  That won't take up much space and it will give me metadata in MB3 as well as keep my nfo file in XBMC.  MB3 will also pickup my images as the images are the same format between MB3 and XBMC (at least the majority of them are, if not all).

 

Thanks!

[trpltongue 0]

So is there any way to get all of the metadata to save in the media directory or does some of it (specifically the individual episode data) have to be located in the system directory?  It's just a personal preference, but I like to have all of my TV show and movie metadata in the actual media directories so that I can keep track of it

 

I'm really trying to read through the FAQ's as much as possible to understand how everything is working behind the scenes, I really don't want to waste your time.

[Luke 42077]

if you've enabled the setting then that's all you need to do. if you enabled them after we already downloaded, then the save will occur the next time each item is saved. so best thing to do is just leave it and not worry about it, and it will all happen gradually.

[trpltongue 0]

I enabled the settings simultaneously.  I also stopped the server and went through and cleared out all the files and folders in "tvdb-v3" in the appdata folder then restarted the server and manually refreshed the metadata after the library scan was complete.  However, rather than save to the media directory it generated a ton of folders and xml files in the "tvdb-v3" directory again?

 

It appears to save the series.xml to the correct folder, but the episode xml files are saved to the user appdata folder instead of the media directory.

Edited January 14, 2014 by trpltongue

[Luke 42077]

Those are just cached files. Best thing to do is follow my previous statement - just leave it and let it handle it over time. 

[pagali 62]

And so can MBS. It can also save in both formats.

Yes, I'm aware of that. I was just pointing out that there are more alternatives than just XBMC or MB3 for managing metadata.

 

And MBS won't move or rename your files.. right?

[ebr 16170]

Episode metadata is saved in a "metadata" folder inside the season folder.

[trpltongue 0]

Those are just cached files. Best thing to do is follow my previous statement - just leave it and let it handle it over time. 

Ok.  I'll let it sit for a few days.  I do notice that more and more of the series.xml files are getting loaded up with data over time.  Initially everything was blank, but now some of them have details in them.  I guess it just runs in the background for a while?

 

Episode metadata is saved in a "metadata" folder inside the season folder.

I don't see a "metadata" folder inside any of my season folders, yet I do see metadata for individual episodes.  That is what is confusing me.  Apparently MB3 is writing everything to cache in the appdata folder initially and then over time moving it to the appropriate media folder?  

 

So eventually all the episode metadata xml files should be in the media folders, right?

[Luke 42077]

The only reason the metadata isn't all there is because you may have enabled the setting late. In any event best not to go looking for problems, and instead just start using it. Then when there's actually a problem, we're here to help.

[Koleckai Silvestri 1154]

You can use both... Let XBMC use your perfect data for now. Tell Media Browser to store its data centrally. It won't touch your XBMC data.

 

However, MediaBrowser currently pulls better metadata and imagery than I ever experienced with XMBC and the information is more accurate. Plus it has Genre and Studio Cleaning plugins to make sure those don't get out of hand because people enter them into the databases weird. Due to this, I allow MediaBrowser to pull data for both systems.

[trpltongue 0]

Ha  good point.  The thing is, it's sort of a problem right now.  Only some of my TV shows have series metadata and episode metadata.  I don't know why.  I presume it just isn't done downloading everything?  But that should have only taken a few minutes.  

 

The problem is that for some of my shows, when I go to a tv show and select a season, I don't see any metadata for the individual episodes so it can be confusing to figure out which episode is which.  

 

The other strange thing is that even though I've enabled "download metadata from the internet", when I go to the metadata browser for individual series, the "enable internet metadata providers for this item" is toggled off.  If I manually refresh the metadata from that screen I get nothing.  However, if I toggle the "enable internet metadata providers for this item" on, and then refresh metadata, I get everything.

[trpltongue 0]

Does MB3 pull all the requisite imagery for TV shows?  Specifically, right now I like to use the following imagery for TV shows in XBMC:

 

TV Series folder -

banner.jpg - wide graphical banner for the series

poster.jpg - normal poster for the series

fanart.jpg - background fanart for the series

extrafanartx.jpg - extra fanart stored in an "Extrafanart" folder for the series

season-all-banner.jpg - graphical wide banner for the "all seasons" selection

season-all-poster.jpg - poster for all seasons

season-all-fanart.jpg - fanart for all seasons

season[XX]-banner.jpg - graphical wide banner for each season

season-[XX]-poster.jpg - poster for each season

season-[XX]-fanart.jpg - fanart for each season

season-specials-banner.jpg - graphical wide banner for the "specials" selection

season-specials-poster.jpg - poster for the specials

season-specials-fanart.jpg - fanart for the specials

 

SeasonXX folder -

EpisodeX-thumb.jpg - individual episode jpgs

 

I'm having a hard time trying to sort out what imagery MB3 actually pulls but I think I understand that it expects the episode images in the "additional metadata" folder under the season, whereas xbmc expects them in the season folder? 

I think I'm going to do a fresh MB3 install tonight with a test DB and enable images one at a time and just see what gets downloaded.

[Koleckai Silvestri 1154]

MB3 pulls all the artwork, including any from fanart.tv. There is a setting in the dashboard to tell it to save the images in an XBMC format. There are plugins to pull trailers and to write out XBMC's .nfo files.

[trpltongue 0]

That is good to hear.  I have enabled the xbmc compatible format but it didn't seem to be pulling the images as I expected (didn't see some of the image names and the banner was not a graphical wide style, but rather a non-graphical, slightly taller style).  I think I just need to start from scratch with a test db and let MB3 do it's thing to see exactly what it pulls.

[Koleckai Silvestri 1154]

If the system pulls images that you don't like, you can change these by clicking the edit button on the server. You'll be able to download new images from the server or "upload" them from your local machine. Works similarly to the Artwork Downloader plugin in XBMC.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Wayne Luke