Please tell me I don't have to start over!

[tesla1886]

Ok, instead of jumping in feet first I really wish I had done more research, before starting this project I am currently working on. It has been a project in progress for over 2 years at least.

I have ripped all of my DVDs to my PVR and am now attempting to import them all in to NextPVR (correctly). I have named all my files in the format of SXX EXX Name of Episode.m4v. SXX is the season number and EXX is episode number. The directory structure is \DVDs\TV\Full Series, TV\Full Series is substituted by Movies, Documentary etc. depending on the type followed by the movie title, series, name of documentary etc. So, the full path would be \DVDs\TV\Full Series\Name of Series\. I now realize that naming each individual file the way I did was wrong.

That being said, I have written a custom program (in Visual Basic .net if it matters) to create an XML file for each individual season of each series. The files import ok but some of the information is incorrect for SOME of the videos. For example, I imported season 1 of series last night. Of the thirteen episodes in the season all but the last episode had the correct start and end time, on the last episode an hour was added to each, despite each episode having the exact same date and times in the XML file. Importing the second season results in similar results except it is the first 6 files that report the wrong start and end time. The start and end time nodes of the XML file are below. If needed I can post the entire xml file.

<startTime>1971-01-14 02:30:00</startTime>
<endTime>1971-01-14 03:00:00</endTime>

I really don’t want to abandon this program for the amount of work and effort I have put into it. Nor do I want to lose the work and effort I have put in the XML files I have created. However, I have looked into using Nexttool written by Martin. However, if I read the help page correctly, because I did not name the files in a manner that nexttool can work with they would need to be renamed. The three media managers that are recommend seem to be hard to work with or no longer supported or has been a while since they have been, etc. For example, when running filebot for the first time it shows a message that it is recommended to watch a video before using for the first time. However, the link it opens in a web browser is a dead link, one of the others seems there is no way to open a file or folder and third seemingly has no download link.

I am searching the web for another media manager. But to be perfectly honest I am leery about using media managers as I used something similar on my audio files (MP3) and now some of them are messed up, files names are not named correctly etc. They were named correctly prior to using audio file media managers.

All this said I’d really appreciate some assistance in figuring out what the issue is with the XMLs that I create or my program if necessary. If not finding the issue with the XML and or program then figuring out what the best way for me to proceed would be, even if that is a combination of any of the above.

I am not trying to reinvent the wheel I know I don’t have to. In part one reason I am doing this is to learn more about programming and about XML files.

Apologies for the long-winded post.

[mvallevand]

NextTool doesn't need a good filename if you have a valid NextPVR XML file or an nfo file. There are lots of nfo file generators out there that are current and supported I didn't recommend any but these are the the standard for Plex Kodi and Emby so your project was a bit illfated. Some give a regex method of input

The --file option for NextTool might give a log error reading a malformed XML file

Martin

[tesla1886]

This is the output I received.

The XML file is also attached.

[Stanno]

The one hour time difference could be related to Dayllight Saving Time?  This happened to me when I imported my old WMP files and created xml files.  NPVR adjusts the time by an hour if the date is in a DST period.

Stanno

[mvallevand]

That is the wrong syntax for --file the parameter would be a media file and that xml is not an recording.xml file it is the import/export format.

There could be meta data managers that do read the name format. I did note that if you use NextPVR format XML and not NFO then then filename is expected to also be a ts file.

As a note it is very odd to choose m4v format over mp4 or mkv

Martin

[mvallevand]

I played around with NextTool so I could import the export format if a user incorrectly used it, but things look fine with your XML. You can probably include the timezone with the date time if you really want to, but out of curiosity, why it is important the you set the recording start and stop time to an artificial time that is wrong? It is before the original aired date and I expect the actual duration will be calculated incorrectly because a 30 minute show won't have commercials when ripped.



Martin

[tesla1886]

The one hour time difference could be related to Dayllight Saving Time?  This happened to me when I imported my old WMP files and created xml files.  NPVR adjusts the time by an hour if the date is in a DST period.

Stanno

I could go along with that, however DST in the US this years runs form March 13 to November 6.

One of the season I have imported thus far has 6 episodes in that time frame only one, the last episode of the season has had an hour added to it. All others have the correct start and end times.
The second season the first 6 episodes are outside that time frame with the extra hour added to the start and end times, the other 18 are with-in that time frame only one has the one hour added, the rest have the correct start times.

Even if NextPVR were about to figure out DST for years past (1971 and 21 in this case) it still wouldn't make sense because some episodes would still be outside of the proper time frame.


Either way if adding to the time zone helps straight this out I won't care why it needed to be added. I just need to know the correct way to add it.


[size=1], [/size]
[size=1]March 13

nday[/size]
, 
March 13

Sunday
, 
March 13

[tesla1886]

The --file option for NextTool might give a log error reading a malformed XML file

Martin

I am slightly confused given the statement above and the statement below. I may have read the statement above incorrectly by I took it as a what to trouble shoot the XML file.

That is the wrong syntax for --file the parameter would be a media file and that xml is not an recording.xml file it is the import/export format.

There could be meta data managers that do read the name format.  I did note that if you use NextPVR format XML and not  NFO then then filename is expected to also be a ts file.

As a note it is very odd to choose m4v format over mp4 or mkv

Martin

As I said in another thread, if I am watching TV whether live TV, a recording or a video I imported I will most likely use the default interface of NextPVR. But I also want the ability to watch via the web interface or through the Android app on either my tablet or phone if I am not home or in my home office where I do not currently have a TV. I also hope to be I do not remember where but I was told or read that mkv files are not very good for the, maybe it is due that Chrome will not play them without help. I do not know.

As I said above I used Handbrake to rip the DVD's and the only formats it supports is MP4 / M4V, MKV or WebM. I was betting that NextPVR could not read WebM files so I went with MP4 / M4V. I am obviously not an expert when it comes to audio / video files, codecs etc. As I said in the opening post of this thread I wish I had done more research and that is one of the items I should have done more research on.

I spend the majority of the day yesterday looking for a new program to rip dvds for two reasons

1. Handbrake cannot natively rip copy protected files
   
2. Nor can it rip Blurays, which added another step
   

I have downloaded DVDFab. It is also supposed to support more formats then just MP4 although I have not seen a full list. I need to contact support to ask several questions.

I played around with NextTool so I could import the export format if a user incorrectly used it, but things look fine with your XML.

That is good to know. Thank You

You can probably include the timezone with the date time if you really want to, 

What would be the proper way to enter the time zone. Of all the XML files I have looked at none of them (that I remember) have / had the time zone.

but out of curiosity, why it is important the you set the recording start and stop time to an artificial time that is wrong? It is before the original aired date and I expect the actual  duration will be calculated incorrectly because a 30 minute show won't have commercials when ripped. 

For the show I have tried putting the time into thus far, I googled its original air times and intend to do this for all shows I import, if / when this issue is resolve. Season 1 of this particular show originally aired at 9:30 PM. If I put 21:30 for the start time and 22:00 for the end time it shows as 4:30 PM and 5:00 PM respectfully in Next PVR. I figured that was because NextPVR was hard coded to use a specific time zone, or some other unknown reason. Much like if the original air date is entered as 7/21/2022 it is reported in NextPVR as 7/20/2022, so I just have my program add one day to the date (7/22/2022). In respect to the time I add 5 hours to the start and stop times. If entering the time zone will fix this as well then that'd be great. I did not add 5 hours to the originally record time because I did not get that far.

I only entered 30 minutes because that is how it would be listed if the program was recorded, in the program guide etc. If entering the actual length of time of the video file, will be of benefit then I will do it that way. Especially if putting it in as 30, 60 (or 1 hour) etc. will cause a problem with NextPVR.

With respect to the time zone I personally would have expected NextPVR or any program to use the time zone the computer is set to use.

Again sorry for the long posts. I like to give as much information as possible when I believe it might be pertinent just "expedite" things.

Thank you for taking the time to help me out with this issue. I appreciation does not show to well through typed text, but I really do appreciate it.

[Stanno]

I believe NPVR stores everything as the UTC time and then displays it based on your local time zone so when you import you need to set the time as UTC. So if you are the US east coast and the show was 15:00 local time you would set the time in NPVR to 20:00. You also need to allow for daylight saving time.

I am happy to be corrected if my understanding is incorrect.

Stanno

[NumberFive]

Are you trying to import your DVDs as though they are recordings?

Have you tried using ISO time format with timezone in the XML? That works for XMLTV listings.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601

"If a time zone designator is required, it follows the combined date and time. For example, "2007-04-05T14:30Z" or "2007-04-05T12:30−02:00"."