RESEARCH: Media Library Organization

Channels DVR Server
#1

Do you have recordings from another DVR system, or maintain your own media library of home videos, DVD rips, etc? We would like to hear more about how your media is organized.

I will start with some examples of how my DVD rips and DVR recordings from my homebrew DVR (before Channels existed) are organized. Please use the same template to provide examples from your library. You can use the find command in a Linux/Mac terminal or tree on Windows to get a listing, then copy/paste some representative examples within ``` *paste* ``` in a comment on this thread.

DVR Software: custom
Media Software: custom

Movies/Horror/Happy Death Day 2U.mkv
Movies/Horror/Insidious Chapter 2.mkv
Movies/Science Fiction/The Titan.mkv
Movies/Comedy/Super Troopers.mp4
Movies/Comedy/The Inbetweeners 2.mp4
Movies/Action/The Triangle.avi
TV/We Bare Bears/Season 1/1x10.mkv
TV/We Bare Bears/Season 1/1x11.mkv
TV/We Bare Bears/Season 1/1x12.mkv
TV/This Is Us/Season 2/2x4.mkv
TV/This Is Us/Season 2/2x5.mkv
TV/The Boondocks/Season 1/1x2.avi
TV/The Boondocks/Season 1/1x3.avi
TV/South Park/Season 1/1x10.m4v
TV/Sealab 2021/Season 3/3x1.m4v
TV/Sealab 2021/Season 3/3x2.m4v

(I have a mix of mkv, avi, m4v/mp4 files. TV shows are stored within show/season folders, and always use NxN filenames. Movies are sorted into genre folders).

We would love to see examples like this from WMC, SageTV, NextPVR, etc, as well as from users' existing Plex, Emby, Infuse, Kodi libraries.

This is purely for research purposes at this point, and will help us get a better understanding that may inform our future development efforts.

Imports?
Beta: Metadata Editing
Importing existing content?
Local Content Issue
Unable to add new local content TV source
Ability to search DVR recordings?
Imports?
Channels Feature request
Imports?
Importing media (Movies/TV Shows) into Channels DVR - PRE-ALPHA Discussion
Questions about import (beta)
#2

Emby
MyTVShows\American Pickers (2010)\Season 15\American Pickers S15E02 Tick Tock Pick.ts
MyTVShows\The Goldbergs (2013)\Season 3\The Goldbergs S03E09 Wingmom.ts

MyMovies\Days of Thunder (1990)\Days of Thunder (1990).ts

#3

Plex. Majority mkv in the plex naming and sorting convention

The Series Title (2010) - S01E01 - Episode Title (1)

The Movie Title (2010)

1 Like
#4

DVR Software: from multiple sources over the years
Media Software: various

Movies/Gravity (2013)/Gravity (2013).jpg
Movies/Gravity (2013)/Gravity (2013).nfo
Movies/Gravity (2013)/Gravity (2013).ts
Movies/Gravity (2013)/Gravity (2013).txt
Movies/Gravity (2013)/Gravity (2013)-banner.jpg
Movies/Gravity (2013)/Gravity (2013)-clearart.png
Movies/Gravity (2013)/Gravity (2013)-clearlogo.png
Movies/Gravity (2013)/Gravity (2013)-discart.png
Movies/Gravity (2013)/Gravity (2013)-fanart.jpg
Movies/Gravity (2013)/Gravity (2013)-logo.png
Movies/Gravity (2013)/poster.jpg
Movies/Gravity (2013)/poster02.jpg
Movies/Gravity (2013)/thumb.jpg
...
TV Shows/Climbing Redwood Giants (2012-09-02).mpg
TV Shows/Climbing Redwood Giants (2012-09-02).txt
...
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/banner.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/clearlogo.png
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/fanart.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/logo.png
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/poster.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/season 01-poster.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/season 02-poster.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/season 03-poster.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/season 04-poster.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/season 1-poster.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/season 2-poster.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/season 3-poster.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/season 4-poster.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/season01-poster.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/season02-poster.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/season03-poster.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/season04-poster.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/thumb.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/tvshow.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E01 - After the Rescue.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E01 - After the Rescue.mpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E01 - After the Rescue.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E01 - After the Rescue.txt
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E02 - Alone Making the Cut.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E02 - Alone Making the Cut.ts
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E02 - Alone Making the Cut.txt
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E03 - Alone The Reunion.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E03 - Alone The Reunion.ts
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E03 - Alone The Reunion.txt
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E04 - Making the Cut Season 3.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E04 - Making the Cut Season 3.ts
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E05 - Season 3 Reunion Special.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E05 - Season 3 Reunion Special.ts
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E06 - Making the Cut Season 4.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E06 - Making the Cut Season 4.ts
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E07 - Tales From the Island.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 00/Alone (2015) - S00E07 - Tales From the Island.ts
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E01 - And So It Begins.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E01 - And So It Begins.mpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E01 - And So It Begins.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E01 - And So It Begins.txt
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E02 - Of Wolf and Man.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E02 - Of Wolf and Man.mpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E02 - Of Wolf and Man.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E02 - Of Wolf and Man.txt
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E03 - The Talons of Fear.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E03 - The Talons of Fear.mpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E03 - The Talons of Fear.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E03 - The Talons of Fear.txt
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E04 - Stalked.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E04 - Stalked.mpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E04 - Stalked.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E04 - Stalked.txt
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E05 - Winds Of Hell.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E05 - Winds Of Hell.mpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E05 - Winds Of Hell.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E05 - Winds Of Hell.txt
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E06 - Rain of Terror.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E06 - Rain of Terror.mpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E06 - Rain of Terror.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E06 - Rain of Terror.txt
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E07 - The Hunger.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E07 - The Hunger.mpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E07 - The Hunger.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E07 - The Hunger.txt
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E08 - The Freeze.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E08 - The Freeze.mpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E08 - The Freeze.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E08 - The Freeze.txt
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E09 - Brokedown Palace.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E09 - Brokedown Palace.mpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E09 - Brokedown Palace.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E09 - Brokedown Palace.txt
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E10 - Triumph.jpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E10 - Triumph.mpg
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E10 - Triumph.nfo
TV Shows/Alone (2015)/Season 01/Alone (2015) - S01E10 - Triumph.txt
...
TV Shows/Man vs. Wild (2006)/folder.jpg
TV Shows/Man vs. Wild (2006)/Season 00/Man vs. Wild (2006) - S00E01 - Bears Mission Everest (2007-11-09).jpg
TV Shows/Man vs. Wild (2006)/Season 00/Man vs. Wild (2006) - S00E01 - Bears Mission Everest (2007-11-09).mpg
TV Shows/Man vs. Wild (2006)/Season 00/Man vs. Wild (2006) - S00E01 - Bears Mission Everest (2007-11-09).txt
TV Shows/Man vs. Wild (2006)/Season 00/Man vs. Wild (2006) - S00E02 - Men vs Wild Sweden with Will Ferrell (2009-06-02).mpg
TV Shows/Man vs. Wild (2006)/Season 00/Man vs. Wild (2006) - S00E02 - Men vs Wild Sweden with Will Ferrell (2009-06-02).txt
TV Shows/Man vs. Wild (2006)/Season 00/Man vs. Wild (2006) - S00E03 - Bears Top 25 Man Moments (2010-06-19).mpg
TV Shows/Man vs. Wild (2006)/Season 00/Man vs. Wild (2006) - S00E03 - Bears Top 25 Man Moments (2010-06-19).txt
TV Shows/Man vs. Wild (2006)/Season 00/Man vs. Wild (2006) - S00E04 - Never Before Seen (2007-07-20).mpg
TV Shows/Man vs. Wild (2006)/Season 00/Man vs. Wild (2006) - S00E04 - Never Before Seen (2007-07-20).txt
TV Shows/Man vs. Wild (2006)/Season 01/Man vs. Wild (2006) - S01E01 - The Rockies (2006-10-27).ts
TV Shows/Man vs. Wild (2006)/Season 01/Man vs. Wild (2006) - S01E01 - The Rockies (2006-10-27).txt
...

I have a mix of .mp4, .mpg and .ts(MPEG2 and H.264) files for media plus a mix of .json, .nfo, .txt and .vsmeta files for metadata.

Series TV shows are stored within Series (PremiereYEAR)/Season ##/ folders (with Season 00 being specials) and always use S##E## filenames with some having Original Air Date (OAD).ext .

non-Series Documentaries and Specials are stored in the TV Shows/ directory.

Movies are stored in separate Title (ReleaseYEAR)/ folders for each one.

Some folders also include art (image) files as .gif, .jpg, .png, etc.

#5

TV Shows/Avatar the Last Airbender/Season 1/Avatar the Last Airbender S01E01.mp4

Movies/Ant-Man.mp4

#6

For remote streaming purposes, most of my library has been converted to Plex's naming scheme.

Personally, though, Plex's scheme is a bit more restrictive than Kodi's naming conventions.

https://kodi.wiki/view/Naming_video_files
https://support.plex.tv/articles/categories/your-media/

1 Like
#7

One thing it definitely needs the year next to the title as there are so many remakes.. MacGyver .. Halloween.. Hawaii 50 etc .. Magnum PI

#8

I use kmttg for Tivo with the following file naming template which produces a Plex compatible name. It works for tv series & movies.
[mainTitle][".S" season]["E" episode]["-" episodeTitle ][" (" movieYear ")"]

1 Like
#11

My movies:
Movies/Name (YYYY)/Name (YYYY) - Remux-1080p DTS-HD MA 5.1.mkv
Movies/Name (YYYY)/Name (YYYY) - Remux-2160p Atmos TrueHD 7.1.mkv

My TV:
TV/TV Show/Season 1/Name.S01E01.Title (HDTV-720p).mkv

1 Like
Suggestions for organizing Movies?
#12

Mostly using the organization recommended by Plex, which is driven by the need to scavenge metadata from various sources (TheTVDB, TheMovieDB, etc). This often breaks down for shows that have remakes (Hawaii Five 0, Magnum PI, etc), and especially for Dateline. For example, Plex insists on matching "Dateline" on KTVU Plus (channel 36) to "Dateline SBS", an Australian show not shown in the Bay Area. The problem is that NBC sells the content to many distributors (Discovery ID, OWN, and others), with the NBC-specific parts stripped out, so the same episode is shown many times with different hosts/introductions. The metadata for Dateline in the TVDB is rubbish! So, the DVR should use the guide metadata when it doesn't match the source being looked up... Or, maybe just use the guide data! Gracenote is usually pretty good.

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#13

We keep all of our movies in an iTunes library so if you support that we'll be covered. Of course, I would not expect DRM movies/shows to be accessible just the rips.

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#14

Also use kmttg to download with Plex format with file names formatted using filebot after download . [mainTitle] "-" [SeriesEpNumber] "-" [episodeTitle].

Individual folder with original year for each TV show with separate folder for each season

#15

My archives are a mess as I've bounced around various
DVRs and Tivo for 20 + years; I believe it would be a
major win for us & Channels folk to be able to import select
movies and/or TV shows and have the Channels DB process
and recognize them; I realize the issues however with
gobs of differing metadata and naming formats so it may
simply be " a feature too far" to even consider..

#16

Does this mean that there is hope for changing the Movie Section in the Clients ... Trying to watch movies in chronological order is pain staking.

#17

Please provide some examples of file names that you would like to import.

How are the files and folders organized?

#18

Top level:

Apple Music Home Videos Podcasts
Audiobooks Mobile Applications TV Shows
Automatically Add to iTunes.localized Movies
Downloads Music

The two main sub-directories of interest are:

Home Videos and Movies. TV shows are mostly purchased from Apple so include DRM.

All files, in my case, are m4v.

A sample of movies looks like:

./Movies/Apollo 13:
total 2809056
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 admin staff 1438232556 May 21 2015 13-01 Apollo 13.m4v

./Movies/Apollo 18:
total 2077920
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 admin staff 1063891402 May 21 2014 Apollo 18.m4v

./Movies/Arbitrage:
total 7597344
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 admin staff 3889831173 Aug 6 2015 Arbitrage (1080p HD).m4v

./Movies/Argo:
total 8163360
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 admin staff 4179629446 Mar 1 2014 Argo (HD).m4v

./Movies/Armageddon:
total 2538080
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 admin staff 1299494435 Dec 26 2013 Armageddon.m4v

Home videos:

./Home Videos:
total 457338016
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 admin staff 74915250 Jul 15 2015 1st Day of Pre-School - 2005 (HD).m4v
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 admin staff 188431986 Jul 15 2015 1st Day of School - 08-26-09 (HD).m4v
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 admin staff 898650840 Jul 15 2015 4th Grade Infomercials (HD).m4v
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 admin staff 660507668 Jul 15 2015 4th Grade Poetry Slam (HD).m4v
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 admin staff 906138737 Jul 15 2015 5th Grade Memories 2011-2012 (HD).m4v
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 admin staff 1015185002 Jul 15 2015 Arizona - 1999 (HD).m4v
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 admin staff 272226104 Jul 15 2015 Blizzard 2010 (HD).m4v
-rwxrwxrwx+ 1 admin staff 1186593753 Oct 10 2016 Bridal Shower v3.0.m4v
-rwxrwxrwx+ 1 admin staff 14818762224 Oct 10 2016 Bridal Shower v3.0.mov
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 admin staff 1926807110 Jul 15 2015 Brownie Songs - Oct 2008 (HD).m4v

1 Like
#19

DVR Software: I have used HDHomerun and Emby and currently Channels
Media Software: Emby

Movies/A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)/A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) - 1080p.mkv
Movies/A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)/A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) - 1080p.mkv
TV Shows/Archer (2009)/Season 01/ Archer - S01E01 - Mole Hunt (Aka Pilot).mkv
TV Shows/Archer (2009)/Season 01/ Archer - S01E02 - Training Day.mkv
TV Shows/Archer (2009)/Season 01/ Archer - S01E03 - Diversity Hire.mkv
TV Shows/Archer (2009)/Season 02/ Archer - S02E01 - Swiss Miss.mkv
TV Shows/Arrow (2012)/Season 08/Arrow - S08E01 - Starling City.mkv

All of my video files are in MKV format. The shows that were recorded via Channels or HDHomerun or whatever are run through MCEBuddy and converted to MKV. I have a lot of TV Shows that were purchased on Bluray and were ripped using MakeMKV and left intact with no compression. All of my movies are ripped Blurays that I own and were done via MakeMKV and left as they are without any compression.

I don't' have other video codecs because I don't download anything. I own everything I have.

IF the naming scheme from Channels was laid out like above, I would simply point Emby to that folder instead of running them through MCEBuddy and renaming. Otherwise Emby doesn't pick up the Shows well as they are currently named. The naming problem is the year being placed after the show name. Without this Emby, Plex and Kodi all have trouble with shows that have been re-done such as The Flash.

I also use Emby mainly for the benefits of the Trakt plugin for watching Shows. I would otherwise just watch all the shows from within Channels if there was such a plugin.

#20

*.eyetv recordings for nearly 10 years until service was dropped for the TVGuide scheduling in Feb 2019. Saved into separate show directories:

Directory Show 1
Show 1 S01E01
.
.
.
Show 1 E01E22
Directory Show 2
Show 2 S01E01 ...

And movies into a Movies directory organized by Movie Name.

Also use iTunes with its own structure. Eyetv allowed export into compatible iTunes formats.

Thanks.

Blue

#21

I'll convert mine to whatever format you'll support!

3 Likes
#22

In the early days of Channels DVR I recorded & saved a lot of movies/shows
that I can no longer get at with Channels as the DB is long gone; any
future plans for multiple recording locations and/or reconnection of
past recordings that have lost their Channels DB; right now, of course, I can watch
the stuff with Emby but it would be nice if I could get it all under the Channels
umbrella

1 Like