ALPHA: Import TV local content into DVR

Channels seems pretty confused about series with remakes. For example, "All Creatures Great and Small", originally from the 70s and remade in the last year or 3. Although I store them in different folders, with the year in the folder name, Channels mixes them all together as if they were one continuous series. I have a couple other TV series like that, similarly scrambled. AFAICT, I am using the recommended structured naming convention (Series title/Season 1/...s01e01...)

The problem is that Channels DVR uses Gracenote guide data to match TV shows.
zap2it.com also uses Gracenote guide data, so you can search for the shows there.

You'll see they list 3 separate shows (different SeriesId's and tmsId's in the url).
Click the Episode Guide tab there to see the episodes.

The one from 1978
https://tvlistings.zap2it.com/overview.html?programSeriesId=SH02487590&tmsId=SH024875900000

The one from 2020
https://tvlistings.zap2it.com/overview.html?programSeriesId=SH03619593&tmsId=SH036195930000

Same one from 2020 but aired on Masterpiece
https://tvlistings.zap2it.com/overview.html?programSeriesId=SH03661147&tmsId=SH036611470000

You can match the one you want by using the tmsId in the find match window
i.e. SH024875900000 for the 1978 series

I don't want to be argumentative, but "the problem" is not that Channels uses Gracenote. The problem is that Channels is just not very good at this particular situation. Since it's either alpha or beta, depending on where you see it described, I hope my feedback helps someone know about it and improve it.

Well, I guess that did sound argumentative after all. Sorry about that! :slight_smile:

Thanks for your info about where to find precisely matching series IDs. I don't see how to actually use that information. If I am overlooking something, I'd appreciate it if someone would show me the error of my ways. I'm using the web app (Version 2021.03.30.0356), which I assume is the most versatile for this feature.

I don't see a way to browse by folders among my imported local content. If I navigate to Library > TV Shows, I see thumbnails under "Recently Updated", "Recently Added", and "Recently Watched". Each has a "More" button. Everything I have found so far shows me the combined collection for a series title that Channels has already decided is the correct one. If I could select a folder and "fix incorrect match", I think that would fix it ... but no way to do that.

If I select the (combined) series title, I see episodes from both the original and the reboot mixed in the same list. The series option "fix incorrect match" for the series updates the matches for the entire series. It makes them all either the original series or the reboot series. There are lots of candidates to choose from, including the two that I'm interested in.

If I select individual episodes via the selection checkbox, the "Action" drop-down doesn't offer "fix incorrect match".

If I use the "Options" dropdown for an individual episode and "fix incorrect match", I always get "no results found".

So, I don't see a way to use the information from zap2it. (You mentioned "find match". I assumed you meant "fix incorrect match". If there is a "find match" somewhere that offers different choices or whatever, I haven't been able to find that.)

I agree it's Alpha and don't think the devs have spent much time on this feature lately.

The web admin UI is the best place to do these things.
Depending on where you view from you'll see the following.
Find Match (i see this in DVR>Manage>Unmatched)
Find Show Match
Fix Incorrect Match

I pretty much gave up on mass importing when the devs quit fixing things.
Did a lot of testing when it was first introduced.

I see your point if the original series and the reboot are imported together as one series, there is currently no way to fix that and separate them.
Unfortunately you can only fix at the Series/Show level and not at the episode or folder level.

What I meant by "The problem is that Channels DVR uses Gracenote guide data to match TV shows" is that Gracenote is the only source they use for matching TV Shows, Movies can use Gracenote or TMDB. I used Plex years ago and they have multiple customizable scrapers and I think they used TVDB by default for TV Shows.

The tms id's are used in place of a title to get an exact match when you know the tms id for a Series/Show/Special/Movie.

Since nobody but you knows the specifics, it would help the devs if you could provide those.

i.e. I'm importing the two directory structures below as separate shows, but Channels DVR imports them as one (which one?)

Imports/TV/All Creatures Great and Small (1978)/S01E01 - Horse Sense (1978-01-08).mkv
Is being imported incorrectly as ...

Imports/TV/All Creatures Great and Small (2020)/S01E01 - You've Got To Dream (2020-09-01).mkv
Is being imported incorrectly as ...

as always, still loving all of this. but if there's any place to add a vote, please bring tmdb for tv shows too! :smiley: I can see the match for my tv show over in tmdb with ease but can't even find hide nor hair of it in gracenote/zap2it

seems like tmdb is pretty successful for asian tv shows / movies and you can even search in its native language!

Upvote :+1:t3:

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I'm attempting to import this:

C:\CHANNELS\Imports\DRONE WARS - S01E01.mp4

Doesn't seem to work. Please advise.

[This is a 4k drone video, I'm just using the show Drone Wars as a method to get the file to appear in Channels]

How about: C:\CHANNELS\Imports\TV Shows\DRONE WARS\DRONE WARS - S01E01.mp4

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Which of those directories in that path is the target for the TV Source Import

Never mind, I got it.

So to conclude, the custom path is required, I can't just dump a bunch of files in a directory and expect Channels to figure it out.

Is there an easier, more common sense method for importing drone videos that are unrelated to movies or shows?

No, arbitrary videos (like home movies) are not currently supported.

(I believe there are plans to implement this in the future, but there is nothing concrete right now.)

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There is a backhanded way to import video as a TV Show. Use C:\CHANNELS\Imports\TV Shows\DRONE WARS\DRONE WARS - S00E01 This video show XYZ about drones.mp4

The S00 is for show specials and channels DVR will import with both the show title, DRONE WARS, and episode title, i.e, This video show XYZ about drones, as a description. Because the show DRONE WARS cannot grab a image from the guide source, the generic channels rabbit ears TV image appears without the show title. Search works so just search for DRONE WARS. Try a couple of test videos to see how they appear. Have fun with Channels DVR.

Right. Thanks.

Before I jump in the deep end of the pool, can anyone confirm whether the path and filename structure below will import correctly into Channels DVR? I have a rather large library that is completely structured this way and would rather avoid blowing up my DVR instance because of unsupported filenames.

/Media/TV Shows/Family Guy/Season 1/Family Guy - S01E01 - Death Has a Shadow.mp4

Yes that is supported. You would add /Media/TV Shows under Imports > TV

Can I import files with multiple episodes in a single file or would I need to split into two files?

Example: Modern Family\Season 11\Modern Family - S11E17-E18 - Finale.mp4

It will expect 2 files. This is a limitation with the guide data.

If you want to keep it as a single file, just take the second episode number out of the file and your list of episodes will just be missing one. But things will work fine.

Is there a manual way to spoof this? As some cartoons record with multiple episodes per 30 min time slot it would be helpful to fill out the season. Not looking for it to go to the correct location in the file just looking to avoid needing to split the file.

I see you posted another thread about this, but if you can't match up to Zap2It or you don't like the match, you can always manually edit the metadata:

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