copy recordings to another PC?

[Fields-NextPVR]

couldn't find the answer to this but perhaps I missed it...  I have NPVR on my home (desktop) PC.  When we travel in the motorhome I take a laptop.  I have NPVR installed on the laptop - is there a way to copy recordings from one to the other?  I tried the KISS approach (just copied one of the recording sub-folders from one to the other PC) and it didn't seem to work.  Nothing shows up under Recordings.

[mvallevand]

There is no way to copy the state resume positions, deletes etc. but NextTool can import recordings from an location. Do you create the separate xml file with recordings?

Martin

[Fields-NextPVR]

yes, each "episode" has both ts and xml file.
I don't need to "resume" etc, just would like to copy saved recordings for viewing (from the beginning) on other device.

[mvallevand]

For me I would just use Kodi or the NextPVR VIdeo Library for basic viewing but having the xml files will make the import simple. Copy the folder(s) over and the run NextTool I keep saying I will upload it to the wiki but i still have one mode I'm testing,

This version of NextTool should be fine https://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.ph...#pid565838 Unzip into c:\Program Files\NextPVR and delete NextTool.runtimeconfig.json

For importing the syntax is

NextTool.exe --import foldername

The import will bring in all videos not just NextPVR recordings.

If you won't have the Internet or have limited internet you can either copy all the media/shows folder over too. While you are at home with internet on the laptop go to the browser and load the recordings so NextPVR gets the art.

Martin

[Fields-NextPVR]

Martin -
Forgive me for being a bit slow/dense today...
I downloaded the zip file, extracted it to the indicated folder and then located and deleted the json file. Then...

I am using NPVR to record OTA programs so in my recording directory on the home PC there are sub-folders for each program (and season). So to test, I copied just one program folder (all episodes) to the recording directory on the laptop. Is this correct?
Where/how do I do the importing?
(Yes, internet is usually limited [or non-existent] when traveling so I need to plan ahead and do this at home!)

thanks
Tara

[mvallevand]

It will depend on how you plan on keeping them in sync when you return home for the next load

If I was doing this I would use robocopy and share my NextPVR host.

For importing you could use any of these and

--import with no parameters (strongly not recommended it would do all the drives)
--import C: (strongly not recommended)
--import C:\NextPVR
--import "C:\NextPVR\TV Shows"
--import "C:\NextPVR\TV Shows\MacGyver"

and you can run it on multiple times on folders. The import will only add a file once and it adds it by full folder name so that should stay consistent no matter where you start.

Martin

[Fields-NextPVR]

Martin -
After some fiddling (and assistance from DH) I  got it to work.  Thanks!  Now have a quick way to import many shows once they are copied over to the laptop.
Here's what I did/found:
  couldn't get it to run correctly until I opened CMD and used that to help troubleshoot.
  navigated to correct folder (c:\program files\NextPVR) then typed
  NextTool --import c:\path...

note that I had to use two dashes before "import" (auto correct both here and in WORD changes this to a long-dash so wasn't clear until I could see CMD help)
AND I had to rename the show folder so it was a single word ("show" not "the show" or "NCISHawaii" not "NCIS Hawaii" which is how the recording folder was named/set up/saved by NPVR)

I also tried to run the program from "RUN" but had to give entire path to nexttool.exe as well as change show folder name to single word.  

So for me, best way seems to be to run from CMD so if things don't work (e.g poor typing) I can see what the issue is! But it works!

Regards,
Tara

[mvallevand]

Yes it is definitely a command line tool and since NextPVR is not in your path you need in fully qualified. I need it to be a tool that can run on non Windows platforms and on NAS, Raspberry Pi and other headless servers.

I am pretty sure I strip off the dashes in front of the action verb so it can probably be --import -import or import. I don't know what a long dash is but that is a good comment.

You shouldn't need to rename the folder put you do need to have the parameter in quotes as I showed in the example with "TV Shows" Some like NCIS Hawaii might contain accented characters.

A hint for the next time is to use command completion so if you don't want to do a master folder type

NextTool --import :"C:\Recordings\NCI"

and before hitting enter, hit tab to cycle through your options

Martin

[Fields-NextPVR]

Thanks for the hints for next time and thanks for all the work you do on this. Great program!

[gEd]

Martin

Nexttool is super-useful. I've used it a several times to re-add recordings that I've accidentally removed from the DB when hacking around with my transcoding script.

I was thinking that if it's now ready for primetime, it might be worth posting a new thread / announcement about it in community announcements to document all of it's capabilities in one place.