View Full Version : Frustrating Scraper Problems
Hi, I've recently hopped onto XBMC from mediaportal. I am having a few problems with the scrapers and I've tried reading the guide, faqs, and forums and I hope someone can help me specifically.
1. When using scrapers, where is all this information stored? Where does the fanart go (so i can use it as a background)?
TV
2. Is there a way to upload all TV episode information, if you do not have the episodes on your hard drive?
3. I am having a problem with one tv series (BSG) with the scraper. It will recognize the series by the folder name, but not the individual episodes.
Example:
D:\TV\Battlestar Galactica (2003)\Season 4\Battlestar.Galactica.S04E01.720p.HDTV.x264-2HD.mkv
D:\TV\Battlestar Galactica (2003)\Season 0\Battlestar Galactica - 0x01.mkv
Movies
4. I am able to scrape my movie files, however, there are duplicates that appear in my library due to sample files that are normally included in HD encodes, like
Perfume.The.Story.Of.A.Murderer.720p.HDDVD.DTS.x26 4-ESiR-Sample.mkv
Is there a way to fix the duplicate file without manually going through my entire library?
Music
5. XBMC says it can use embedded album art (i have some from itunes), however, the embedded album art shows for some, and not for others. Also, is there a way to set the embedded album art thumb as the artist thumb, in the case that there is no artist thumb?
Thanks for any help!
jmarshall
2008-09-09, 03:06
Hi, and welcome to the forums!
1. The info is stored in your userdata folder, which on windows is in the Application Data/ folder under your user profile. There's a couple of SQL databases under the Database/ path, and all thumbnails and fanart are stored under the Thumbnails/ path.
2. Not currently, no. You'd have to add a bunch of dummy files for the episodes you don't have.
3. It's possibly picking up the information for the original BSG series perhaps, and this won't have the same number of episodes? Refreshing the show information from TV Show Information dialog should allow you to manually choose the correct year. Certainly that episode naming should be picked up no problem at all.
4. Sample files of that format should be filtered out by default. When you click on the files from your library does it play the sample?
5. If the art is actually in the file, it should be saved as the album art (based on album name and album artist). iTunes does not necessarily embed the album art in to the files. You can set artist thumbs manually if you wish from the Artist Information dialog.
Cheers,
Jonathan
Thanks for the quick reply,
I was able to fix the TV problem.
As with the movie files, it reads the first movie, and its sample as well, and scrapes them both so I have duplicate entries in my library. Is there a way around this? I can delete it manually, but it'll automatically get scraped again in the future
jmarshall
2008-09-09, 06:59
In order to diagnose the problem we need:
1. The exact naming of both files, and how they reside in the filesystem.
2. A full debug log while it scans said folder.
3. What happens when you click each entry in the library - does the sample play?
Hi,
I won't be able to post the debug log until tomorrow morning (HTPC not open right now), but I can answer your other 2 requests at the moment.
There are several instances of the duplicate entries, but here are some examples:
D:\Movies\Chocolat.2000.HDTV.720p.AC3.x264-DiR\Chocolat.2000.HDTV.720p.AC3.x264.Sample-DiR.mkv
D:\Movies\Chocolat.2000.HDTV.720p.AC3.x264-DiR\Chocolat.2000.HDTV.720p.AC3.x264-DiR.mkv
D:\Movies\Perfume.The.Story.Of.A.Murderer.720p.HDD VD.DTS.x264-ESiR\Perfume.The.Story.Of.A.Murderer.720p.HDDVD.DT S.x264-ESiR-Sample.mkv
D:\Movies\Perfume.The.Story.Of.A.Murderer.720p.HDD VD.DTS.x264-ESiR\Perfume.The.Story.Of.A.Murderer.720p.HDDVD.DT S.x264-ESiR.mkv
In these cases, xbmc downloads information for both files, and they show up as duplicate posters in library showcase view. Both the sample and the movie file are able to be played. =(
In a separate scraper related situation.... is there any way to to put a collection together, such as the individual shorts by pixar?
An immediate solution for your movie sample problem would be to keep your samples in a seperate folder from the main movies.
I dont think its an XBMC bug, its just that maybe a feature can be added which scans for keywords like sample and trailer in the file names and tries to handle it differently than the main movies.
jmarshall
2008-09-09, 12:42
XBMC already picks up samples and trailers via a regexp. The regexp in question is:
[-\._ ](sample|trailer)[-\._ ]
This should match the above filenames I think?
Gamester17
2008-09-09, 14:35
3. I am having a problem with one tv series (BSG) with the scraper. It will recognize the series by the folder name, but not the individual episodes.
Example:
D:\TV\Battlestar Galactica (2003)\Season 4\Battlestar.Galactica.S04E01.720p.HDTV.x264-2HD.mkv
D:\TV\Battlestar Galactica (2003)\Season 0\Battlestar Galactica - 0x01.mkvThis is a known issue, please post comments on your experince here to help solve it => http://xbmc.org/trac/ticket/4744
I just rescanned a folder for a debug log
http://pastebin.ca/1198277
xeonicxpression
2008-09-09, 19:14
So I tried looking in the wiki and searching the forum but I can't seem to find the answer to this. Is there any difference between -sample and -trailer? I've never heard of -sample before.
AFAIK folder containing sample in the name should be ignored when scanning to library.
It would seem logical the same would apply to sample files?
I just rescanned a folder for a debug log
http://pastebin.ca/1198277
Should be fixed in SVN revision 15487. Only lowercase sample files were discarded while scanning.
TV
2. Is there a way to upload all TV episode information, if you do not have the episodes on your hard drive?
I am hoping you can do this easier in future updates.
jmarshall
2008-09-09, 23:58
Hmm, I thought PCRE was configured to ignore case. Obviously not!
thanks for clarifying the cause. I just fixed it with ant renamer by lowercasing all sample files. Another source of this problem (which isn't affected by lowercase), is when "sample" is at the beginning of the filename such as sample.minority.report
that one we simply cannot handle, no way to distinguish it from a movie having sample in its name. granted, the one we have can also arse up but atleast its somewhat "secure"
Hi. I wonder if there is anybody here that can help me with this scraper problem. Sorry for my poor english. xmbc refuses to get info about my movies from imdb.
Google translate from my other thread on a swedish forum(http://www.minhembio.com/forum/index.php?s=&showtopic=190357&view=findpost&p=2114916 and http://www.minhembio.com/forum/index.php?s=&showtopic=190357&view=findpost&p=2115106 )
Translation:
I just installed XMBC and may not scrapers function to retrieve information from the IMDB on my films. Having followed the following guides, I have still not received it work (I have Atlantis 8.10 Beta 2):
http://www.xbmc.nu/index.php?option...0&Itemid=40
http://www.xbmc.nu/index.php?option...3&Itemid=40
I right-click and select "Set" content, I choose the movies in the folder and it will download info from IMDB. "Run automated scan" and "Use folder names for lookups" and "Scan recursively" is selected and "Folder contains a single Video" is NOT selected. Then when I press the OK button to happen is nothing.
I have found and brought to my files in XBMC and can watch them in there but it feels pretty pointless when I installed it because it would automatically download info about my films. Would be grateful if anyone had any idea. Is it necessary to open sometime in the port router? I checked so that it is not blocked in the windows firewall. NOD32 do I use as virus programs.
Or is it someone who has a good tip on a smooth program? the only feature I'm looking for is to update my movies to the Internet (IMDB) so that you can categorize them by genre, year, etc.
Sorry for the bad translation by google...;)
What is your folder structure like and where exactly do you set content?
Do you set content on "test filmer" and thereunder are all the movies in a separate folder?
(In that case you should not use "Scan recursively")
Also please psatebin a debug log (http://xbmc.org/wiki/index.php?title=HOW-TO_Submit_a_Proper_Bug_Report) from a scan
What is your folder structure like and where exactly do you set content?
Do you set content on "test filmer" and thereunder are all the movies in a separate folder?
(In that case you should not use "Scan recursively")
Also please psatebin a debug log (http://xbmc.org/wiki/index.php?title=HOW-TO_Submit_a_Proper_Bug_Report) from a scan
If you look here you will get a good look of my folder structure:
http://www.minhembio.com/forum/index.php?s=&showtopic=190357&view=findpost&p=2115381
I set the content by right clocking on the "test filmer" folder and there click Set content.
XBMC.log: http://pastebin.com/m4422f841
What does the "Stack" button do?
I've tested with and without "Scan recursively" and no progress.
jmarshall
2008-10-13, 01:03
Your problem is due to you having non-ascii characters in your windows profile name. This should have been fixed in Beta 2 which you have, so I'm not sure why it's not working. Can you check whether there are any .db files under the directory:
C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Ägaren\Application Data\XBMC\userdata\database
If there is, try deleting them and rerunning XBMC.
Please add some comments to this ticket:
http://xbmc.org/trac/ticket/5065
Thanks,
Jonathan
Your problem is due to you having non-ascii characters in your windows profile name. This should have been fixed in Beta 2 which you have, so I'm not sure why it's not working. Can you check whether there are any .db files under the directory:
C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Ägaren\Application Data\XBMC\userdata\database
If there is, try deleting them and rerunning XBMC.
Please add some comments to this ticket:
http://xbmc.org/trac/ticket/5065
Thanks,
Jonathan
I didn't even find the folder database in this search path C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Ägaren\Application Data\XBMC\userdata . In the usardata folder i hava a playlist folder and six files whith the names favourites,guisettings,LCD,profiles,RssFeeds and sources.
I tried to change my windows profile name to arowe17 but the search path to the folder was the same even after a restart, like: C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Ägaren\Applic....
I've solved the problem now. If I try to start it from Start/All Programs/XBMC Media Center it won't work. BUT!! C:\Program\XBMC it works great!! I don't know why this is a problem.. But there is one new problem now. C:\Program\XBMC it's only able to start in window mode and not full screen, can that be fixed?
Edit: found the fullscreen add ( -fs) but what does the -p do in the start file? ( C:\Program\XBMC\XBMC.exe -fs -p )
That's because you need to nuke your database file (or rename it if you want to keep it as a backup).
It's under either of these:
c:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\Application Data\XBMC\UserData\Database\MyVideos34.db
or
c:\Program Files\XBMC\UserData\Database\MyVideos34.db
Edit: this applies to your previous issue.
Edit: found the fullscreen add ( -fs) but what does the -p do in the start file? ( C:\Program\XBMC\XBMC.exe -fs -p )
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=XBMC_for_Windows_specific_FAQ#What_are_plat form_directories_.3F
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=XBMC_for_Windows_specific_FAQ#What_are_plat form_directories_.3F
Ok. Thanks! Then -p was the problem in my case. Now XBMC works perfectly!! Just what I was looking for!!