DVD .iso TV Show Naming Hack

[ruddog]

Problem: You just ripped all your TV show DVDs to .isos files, which have more than one episode per file, but Boxee doesn't know how to handle them because it expects a single episode per file.

Solution: Symbolic links. Symbolic links only take up a few bytes on your file system, but to applications they look like the whole file they point to. Just name the .iso file after the first episode on the DVD and create links pointing to it for every other episode.

Say you have Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso, but that DVD image contains 20 episodes: 10 episodes for season 1 and 10 episodes for season 2. You would create 9 links for season 1 called Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E02.iso through Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E10.iso and 10 links for season 2 called Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S02E01.iso through Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S02E10.iso.

This is what it should look like when you are done:

$ ls -lh
total 8.8G
-rwx------+ 1 ruddog ruddog 4.4G 2009-10-02 00:44 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E02.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E03.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E04.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E05.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E06.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E07.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E08.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E09.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:57 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E10.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S02E01.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S02E02.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S02E03.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S02E04.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S02E05.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S02E06.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S02E07.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S02E08.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:55 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S02E09.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:57 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S02E10.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
-rwx------+ 1 ruddog ruddog 4.4G 2009-10-01 23:54 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S03E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:56 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S03E02.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S03E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:56 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S03E03.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S03E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:56 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S03E04.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S03E01.iso
lrwxrwxrwx  1 ruddog ruddog   38 2010-02-15 22:56 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S03E05.iso -> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S03E01.iso

How to create a link varies depending on your OS:

Linux or OS X: Use the ln command with the -s option in a terminal. The syntax is:

ln -s "real_file_name" "link_name"

Include single or double quotes around the file names.

To save time, you can use a for loop, if you know how they work:

for ((i=2;i<10;i++)); do ln -s Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.\(2003\).S01E01.iso Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.\(2003\).S01E0$i.iso; done

Windows: Symbolic links were added in Vista, so you need it or 7. In a cmd window Run as Administrator:

mklink "link_name" "real_file_name"

C:\Users\ruddog\Desktop>mklink "Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E02.iso" "Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso"
symbolic link created for Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E02.iso <<===>> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso

C:\Users\ruddog\Desktop>dir

 Directory of C:\Users\ruddog\Desktop

02/16/2010  15:24    <DIR>          .
02/16/2010  15:24    <DIR>          ..
02/16/2010  14:49        47,229,170 boxee-0.9.20.10408.exe
02/16/2010  14:55        27,969,346 Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso
02/16/2010  15:24    <SYMLINK> Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E02.iso [Star.Wars.Clone.Wars.(2003).S01E01.iso]

I hope this helps anyone looking to have their TV show DVDs show up under TV Shows.

[NomadDNA]

Post added to the FAQ thread

http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=14946

[ruddog]

I just confirmed this works in Vista and OS X, and updated my original post.

Post added to the FAQ thread

NomadDNA, thanks for posting this on the FAQ. However, a better title might be "How can I get Boxee to recognize a single file as multiple files?"

[nastri83]

Does this actually point Boxee to the episode, or do you still have to navigate the DVD menu and choose the episode when the episode is selected in the Boxee UI?

[kristallin]

Does this actually point Boxee to the episode, or do you still have to navigate the DVD menu and choose the episode when the episode is selected in the Boxee UI?

It'll point to the DVD itself, so you would have to navigate the DVD menu. This just makes the episodes show up under TV Shows rather than having to hunt for the DVDs in the File Manager

[ddrager]

I just wanted to say, THANKS! Until Boxee supports TV ISO files this will work to get them to show up as show/EP.

Also, I did not see this issue brought up in JIRA so I added an entry here: http://jira.boxee.tv/browse/BOXEE-4821

[amibd]

Why not rip straight to MKVs ?
there is a great application (completely free) called MakeMKV
can find it here http://www.makemkv.com/download/
i'm using it all the time, it can rip any DVD to mkv and also can rip separated episodes of TV show DVDs.

try it, i hope you will find it useful, also works great with my Boxee...

[gamerscircle]

For me, I like to have the full DVD experience, so this is why I do .ISO versus mkv or avi files.

I also find it easier to just put in the DVD, let the ripping process start and then walk away.

I do understand that the individual files will not take up that much space compared, but I a little lazy.

[TrikinCurt]

Why not rip straight to MKVs ?
there is a great application (completely free) called MakeMKV
can find it here http://www.makemkv.com/download/
i'm using it all the time, it can rip any DVD to mkv and also can rip separated episodes of TV show DVDs.

try it, i hope you will find it useful, also works great with my Boxee...

Am I missing something? I am using MakeMKV to rip my movies / tv shows. It works great, except with TV Series that have multiple episodes as ONE CHAPTER. For example, Friends the Complete Series.

With that I end up with one 5gig MKV containing 5 or 6 episodes. Since I don't have the menu data I can't do symbolic links. For the life of me I can't find something to split the MKV apart by chapter (well, Handbrake can, but I don't want to also be converting it).

[flunkerf]

I can't seem to get this procedure to work. I'm using OSX to create the symbolic links and then put them on my HD connected to my BB. The BB doesn't show anything after refresh. Also tried to rename the link to.avi and still no result.

Suggestions?

The HD is NTFS. Do I need to create the links in Win7 for it to work?

Is there any way to do it in XP?