DVR naming convention

Channels DVR Server
#1

Please consider / discuss a modification to the current DVR file naming convention.

The current recording naming rules are turning out to be confusing to Plex, Emby, and infuse, resulting in media not always being ‘matched’ and correct metadata downloaded, for two reasons:

  1. The inclusion of both SxxExx (SeasonEpisode notation) and Date notation (which appears to be both FirstAired and DateRecorded) appears to be the root cause ambiguity.

  2. The absence of a delimiter between the identifiers does not allow the regex (regular expression) parsers to clearly identify which element(s) of the file name are to be used for identification and which are purely informative.

Plex accepts either SxxExx identification (in various forms) or Date notation (in various forms) but not both.
Emby shares this as both came from the same predecessor media server roots.

The general format for Plex and Emby, which Infuse also readily accepts, is:
Series <delimiter> SxxExx <optional delimiter <optional title>>.ext

To cite an example:

As currently recorded: Krypton S01E02 2018-03-28 House of El 2018-03-29-2359.mpg
Please discuss and consider: Krypton - S01E02 - 2018-03-28 House of El 2018-03-29-2359.mpg
Ideal resultant naming for this type is: Krypton - S01E02 - House of El.mpg

The dates are not needed in the resultant file name because the SeasonEpisode identifier is more than sufficient.

Should you wish to consider ideal naming with structure, Addition of a “Season” directory would be considered perfect.

e.g.

Krypton/
   Season 01/
     Krypton - S01E02 - House of El.mpg
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#2

cc @MattBTweet @mavsfan815 @timstephens24

#3

Use MCEBuddy to covert/rename the files

#4

I’ve had no problems with Plex (PMS 1.12.1.4885) scanning, matching & playing the Channels Movies & TV directories. I actually like that all that data is right in the filename. I wish Plex would have done this for their DVR. I’d be extremely hesitant to change your product to work with a competing product. Especially when you can move and rename those files if need be.

#5

I don’t have an issue with Infuse or Plex with the naming scheme for TV Shows (generally). I’m not at the house to verify Infuse (and using their beta so it’s all using Plex anyways), but I added the Channels DVR to Plex just now and they all scanned in perfectly.

Season folders would be nice, but my real issue is Gracenote messes up kid show episode numbers a lot (and occasionally double episodes where the scene naming scheme is 2 episodes (i.e. 5 and 6) but gracenote just says it’s episode 5. Renaming the file for the episodes would be an amazing addition, so you could manual fix what’s wrong.

#6

FileBot does the naming now.

I have no problem with all the information being in the file name.

I do have issue with not everything matching in Plex or Infuse because there are no delimiters

Delineation of which is which is the only reason for this request. Is it “SxxExx” or is it date-based?
What if I recorded episode 2 after episode 3 aired? Now what happens to the matching? Look at the dates, it will confuse them.

As far as Plex’s DVR. I’m not even considering it. I don’t use it.

PS: The idea of having automation is to avoid a separate step (e.g. No FileBot or MCEbuddy) right? Plus, I am Linux only so that leaves 90% of the tools out for me.

PPS: What’s wrong with embedding date information as tags on the end?

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#7

I’m confused about why it sometimes work and sometimes doesn’t? What does it look like in Plex or Infuse when it doesn’t match correctly?

#8

No plans to add another level of subdirectories.

This doesn’t work if you try to record the same episode twice. Having the timestamp of when the recording started is a requirement so that recordings have unique filenames.

Basically this request boils down to adding dashes on either side of the season/episode string. I’m not opposed to doing this if it helps interop with other media platforms without breaking anyone’s existing setup.

#9

Which show are you having that issue with? If it’s something OTA I can try and grab it and see what Plex does. I just added all mine and they all matched fine in Plex.

#10

If you have already recorded an episode, why would you want / have need to record it again?

Perhaps the idea situation in the case of potential duplication is to replace SD recordings with the better HD recordings?
Is this the conflict you’re thinking of?

#11

If the original version started late because of overlap, was interrupted or had signal issues during the recording.

There are also many shows that lack season/episode and original airdate information. For example, I record re-runs of Match Game from the 70s. The only unique part of the filename is the recording date/time:

'Match Game 1962-12-31 2018-03-16-1300.mpg'
'Match Game 1962-12-31 2018-03-16-1330.mpg'
'Match Game 1962-12-31 2018-03-16-2300.mpg'
'Match Game 1962-12-31 2018-03-16-2330.mpg'
'Match Game 1962-12-31 2018-03-19-1330.mpg'
'Match Game 1962-12-31 2018-03-19-2330.mpg'
'Match Game 1962-12-31 2018-03-20-0730.mpg'
#12

The “Match Game” is a date-based series, not a Season-Episode based series.

I apologize for not being clear distinguishing Season based from Date based

Match Game/
  Season 1962/
    Match Game (1962-12-31) - 2018-03-16-1300.mpg
    Match Game (1962-12-31) - 2018-03-16-1330.mpg
   ...

Would allow the recording date/time to exist separate from the core identifier.
There would be no filename collision. All recordings would be listed as duplicates (multiple versions) in Plex/Emby

#13

They’re not duplicates though. We just don’t have accurate airdates for them, as gracenote only provides us with the date when the show first started.

I guess you’re saying the two formats are:

Show - SxxExx - Episode info.ext

Show (YYYY-MM-DD) - Episode info.ext

That’s a pretty big departure from what we have today, and requires two different formats instead of just the one we use now. I’d like to hear more about what exactly is breaking with the current filenames (especially considering others are saying it works fine), so we can be sure there’s no other easier fixes.

#14

You have a fixed format. I respect that.

Were I to ask what I initially had hoped to request: “User-specified formatting”
I would think this information is already available to you in the database with the recording event?

If I may reference FileBot’s convention:

{n} = Series Name
{s} = Season
{s00e00} = Season/Episode format
{airdate} = Date Format
{t} = title

I could then specify {n}/Season {s}/{n} - {s00e00} - {t}
(directories resolved by a simple mkdir -p approach )

It becomes a simple text substitution resulting in Krypton/Season 01/Krypton - S01E02 - House of El

You have control of the file extension so specifying it is not needed.
Extending the above to give user control over custom format allows for recording date

{n} - ({airdate}) - {recorddate}

resulting in:

Match Game - (1962-12-31) - 2018-03-20-0730.mpg

This is what you want for output for your Date-based series.

I can appreciate the lack of anything being accurate in Gracenote. :frowning:

Following this track would result in a fork:

  1. Season/Episode based: use default format “x” possibly allow user custom format e.g FileBot style
  2. Date based: Use default format “y”. possibly allow user custom format .e.g hybrid example above.

This leaves the DVR function naming agnostic and easily extensible by the customer to whatever format he needs.

your thoughts?

#15

User-specific formats are a whole bag of worms that I’m not interested in opening right now. The recording engine expects unique filenames per recording- if your custom format breaks that expectation, bad things will happen.

If the main purpose of this thread is to end up with filenames that you personally prefer, then you’re better off renaming the files yourself. You can query the DVR’s API to fetch the metadata required to construct your own filename, or enable the mcebuddy hack to end up with a json file next to each mpg with the file’s metadata.

If the purpose here is to fix Plex/Infuse/Kodi/Embdy mis-identifying some files, please provide some examples as this is something that I would like to work automatically for most users without any fiddling.

#16

I will obtain and post.

As for custom naming, thanks for taking the time to explain.

#17

The only issues I’ve had between Channels, Plex, and Infuse in the filenames were addressed in the filename changes made in June 2017. I’ve not seen any additional issues with filenames between these apps. The issues I see now are related to the data Gracenote provides Channels vs. data The TV DB provides Plex.

#18

That might be at the root of the issue and makes perfect sense.

TheTvDB has had a lot of operational issues these past two weeks and Plex has been not been at all reliable.

If this is the case, I will withdraw the request.

#19

As promised and with due humility, I am reporting back.

TheTVDB instability, Plex changes, and Infuse alpha testing all conspired. I was totally misdirected.

I apologize for taking up your time.

Please feel free to close this thread.

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#20

Dear Chuck, I found your approach and conclusion to this thread so refreshing, and so very rare, that I am writing simply to express my appreciation. Thank you!

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