ALPHA: Import TV local content into DVR

I may have noticed a possible cause.. I have the drives on my Unraid server set to spin down.

When they wake up I have a lip sync issue. I tried quitting Channels and then going back in and playing again and the lip sync is either not there or not as noticable.

Will keep an eye on it - in the meantime I have turned off the spin down on the drives.

Quitting Channels should have no effect on this. You could just try playing the video again instead. You could also try pausing for a second, or seeking a bit, to see if it gets sync back on track.

IMPORT MATCHING

This was recorded on my first NAS using my TVE PBS source


and Imported on my second NAS. It automatched to this Spanish language title.

Wondering if you're using AI to determine it's about Mexican Caves, hence Spanish? :laughing:
I know I can correct it, but just pointing out it wasn't put in UNMATCHED, it just Imported it as the Spanish language title.

Here's the file.json for the imported recording if it helps.
I noticed Airing.SeriesID is 17127193-es (-es Spanish I assume)

{
    "ID": "3395",
    "JobID": "",
    "RuleID": "",
    "GroupID": "17127193",
    "Path": "Expedition With Steve Backshall/Expedition With Steve Backshall S01E10 Mexico  Flooded Caves 2021-04-29-0459.mpg",
    "Checksum": "",
    "CreatedAt": 1619701257,
    "Watched": false,
    "Deleted": false,
    "PlaybackTime": 0,
    "Duration": 3727.790733,
    "Commercials": null,
    "Delayed": false,
    "Corrupted": false,
    "Cancelled": false,
    "Completed": true,
    "Processed": true,
    "Favorited": false,
    "Locked": false,
    "Airing": {
        "Source": "tms",
        "Channel": "",
        "OriginalDate": "",
        "Time": 0,
        "Duration": 0,
        "Title": "Expediciones con Steve Backshall",
        "EpisodeTitle": "Cuevas subacuáticas",
        "Summary": "Steve leads a team into the largest unexplored cave network on Earth below the jungles of Mexico.",
        "Image": "https://tmsimg.fancybits.co/assets/p17127193_b_h9_ab.jpg?w=720&h=540",
        "Categories": ["Episode", "Series"],
        "Genres": ["Nature", "Travel", "Outdoors"],
        "Tags": ["HD", "Stereo"],
        "SeriesID": "17127193-es",
        "ProgramID": "EP032867470002",
        "TeamIDs": null,
        "SeasonNumber": 1,
        "EpisodeNumber": 10,
        "Directors": null,
        "Cast": ["Steve Backshall"],
        "Raw": {
            "startTime": "T00:00Z",
            "endTime": "",
            "duration": 0,
            "channels": null,
            "stationId": "",
            "qualifiers": null,
            "ratings": null,
            "program": {
                "tmsId": "EP032867470002",
                "rootId": "17168250",
                "seriesId": "17127193",
                "entityType": "Episode",
                "subType": "Series",
                "title": "Expediciones con Steve Backshall",
                "titleLang": "es",
                "episodeTitle": "Cuevas subacuáticas",
                "episodeNum": 10,
                "seasonNum": 1,
                "releaseYear": 0,
                "releaseDate": "",
                "origAirDate": "",
                "descriptionLang": "en",
                "shortDescription": "Steve leads a team into the largest unexplored cave network on Earth below the jungles of Mexico.",
                "longDescription": "Steve leads a team into the largest unexplored cave network on Earth below the jungles of Mexico, pushing further and deeper than anyone has gone before.",
                "topCast": ["Steve Backshall"],
                "genres": ["Nature", "Travel", "Outdoors"],
                "preferredImage": {
                    "uri": "https://tmsimg.fancybits.co/assets/p17127193_b_h9_ab.jpg?w=720&h=540",
                    "height": "540",
                    "width": "720",
                    "primary": "true",
                    "category": "Banner-L2",
                    "text": "yes",
                    "tier": "Series"
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "ChannelNumber": "",
    "DeviceID": "",
    "PlayedAt": 0,
    "UpdatedAt": 1619701394065,
    "DeletedAt": 0,
    "FavoritedAt": 0,
    "DeletedReason": "",
    "DeleteNow": false,
    "JobTime": 0,
    "JobDuration": 0,
    "HighestPTS": 0,
    "SignalStats": null,
    "CommercialsAligned": false,
    "CommercialsEdited": false,
    "CommercialsVerified": false,
    "CommercialDetectSource": "",
    "CloudComskip": {
        "Successful": false
    },
    "ImportPath": "/volume1/arkives/comskip1513TV",
    "ImportQuery": "Expedition With Steve Backshall",
    "ImportGroup": "17127193",
    "ImportedAt": 1619701392250,
    "StreamLinks": null,
    "DeleteScheduledFor": 864000000
}

Once again, in Spanish

TVE recording
Screenshot_2021-04-30 Channels Manage Recordings (1)
That TVE recording imported
Screenshot_2021-04-30 Channels Manage Recordings (2)

The PBS Father Brown series has a similar “goof.” The guide shows Father Brown. But after the show is recorded, you can only find it searching for Padre Brown. The episode title and description are in English. Just another odd example from the Guide source.

I have often found when searching in Zap2It the default version of a program that comes up is the Spanish or Portuguese one. Since Channels is using the same source, I'm going to blame Gracenote on this one.

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.