Upcoming NFO Support

[darcilicious]

Was wandering around the Support Site and ran across this:

http://support.boxee.tv/entries/5102...-for-boxee-1-1

[war59312]

OMG: "Nfo file will only be implemented into the library on an automatic scan ,if you manually identify a movie it will take the relevant information from IMDB/TVDB."

BOO! BOO! BOO!

Son of bit**!!! Ugh!

I don't trust auto scanning with a 9 ft pole.

Thus I prefer to manually identify everything. Hell you'd think if you want to manually identify something that means you want to control it, so you'd think if anything it would be the other way around.

[twistybox]

OMG: "Nfo file will only be implemented into the library on an automatic scan

I don't know how they've implemented it, but this sounds like the right way to do it.

Of course it will only work on an auto scan. What you're failing to recognise is that an auto scan will pick up the NFO file, so you won't ever have any unidentified movies if you have NFO files for them.

Manually identifying hits the internet, and wouldn't make any sense to use a local NFO, as that would already be in place and would have already been scraped.

[war59312]

That's how it currently works, yes.

But of course that could change. If the user does a manual scan on a new file and an .nfo file exists in that folder by the same name then do the same darn thing that auto scan will do.

That simple, really is.

It's not that I don't trust auto scanning to add the file as an unidentified movie if I have a .nfo file.

I don't know about you, but when I first get a movie I just want to watch the darn thing. I don't want to have to add the .nfo file right then and there, if there is an issue.

Given BB's track record of miss identifying, I would have lots of unidentified files if I used auto scanning, until I took the time to create the .nfo files.

Which is why I do not use auto scanning and only manually identify the file when I have taken the time to set it up correctly.

I highly doubt I am alone.

[minimeh]

Manually identifying hits the internet, and wouldn't make any sense to use a local NFO, as that would already be in place and would have already been scraped.

Eh? If I've just added a file with the nfo for it and proceed to manually identify it to get it into the Movies or Shows menu system, you think I shouldn't be surprised that the nfo is ignored?

I'm pretty sure I would expect the nfo to be used. I would be surprised if now that the file has been (mis)identified (and the nfo was ignored) that the only way to get the nfo into play is to force deletion of the database and then rescan everything.

Why would I in any circumstance want my nfo ignored? I'm trying hard here, but I'm not getting it.

[twistybox]

I highly doubt I am alone.

I have over 800 movies. How many do you have?

Why would I in any circumstance want my nfo ignored? I'm trying hard here, but I'm not getting it.

I didn't say you would. I wouldn't necessarily, but I was trying to explain the likely reason behind the current implementation. Perhaps the team still wanted a way to hit the server for an ID. If that's the case, then there would be no other way to do that. I suppose they also expect that everyone is using auto scan of some sort. Since you need to have scanning source to start building the database.

"Manually identify" is also known as "query Boxee's server to identify this title" - that implies it's not going to use local NFO data. The existing purpose of the functionality is mutually exclusive with local metadata. If local metadata is already there, it will be picked up on the next scan. If you don't want to wait until the next scan, you can tell Boxee to scan immediately. If you don't want to wait for that, then I suppose the devs will need to create a NEW function that is not called "Manually ID" but instead "Scan this title for local metadata." Feel free to suggest a more consumer-friendly and shorter name for that function of course.

Obviously they can merge the functionality and make it so that a manual ID will first look for NFO and only if it's missing hit the server. But that, as I mentioned, gets rid of the ability to forcefully hit the server if existing nfo data i present. Not likely to be a big problem in my opinion, since local NFO would have to have been put there on purpose.

I would expect that on a new scan (auto or manually fired), Boxee would pick up NFO content that was not there on a previous scan, without needing to rebuild the database. If that's not implemented, then they need to finish this off properly.

[soundoftheground]

OMG: "Nfo file will only be implemented into the library on an automatic scan ,if you manually identify a movie it will take the relevant information from IMDB/TVDB."

BOO! BOO! BOO!

Son of bit**!!! Ugh!

I don't trust auto scanning with a 9 ft pole.

Thus I prefer to manually identify everything. Hell you'd think if you want to manually identify something that means you want to control it, so you'd think if anything it would be the other way around.

have you had a lot of issues with boxee identifying titles? with auto scanning i get 99.9% of my correctly named files found. personally i think boxee's scanning and identifying works pretty well without me having to intervene too much.

[war59312]

Yes it often miss identifies them. I have to add a .nfo wile with a link to the correct IMDB page for it to pick it up correctly.

The 1 that it always misses are movies that start with a number, like 127 Hours.

But lots of just random ones. I have already reported all of them on the report misidentified movies and shows pages.

And lots and lots and lots and lots of TV Show episodes are miss identified.

Almost all of season 2 of Stargate Universe and almost every episode of Hawaii Five, just for two quick examples.

I have 300+ Shows and almost every single one of them has miss identified episodes. Every single one of them are named correctly (as in the right format and correct season and episode number).

[war59312]

I have over 800 movies. How many do you have?

Over 5,000, a little over 15TB worth. Many (a few hundred) are at least 720p HD rips from BluRay or HD-DVD. Re-doing most now in 1080p since I now have two 1080p TVs. So will get even larger over time and seeing as still 2/3 + are only 480p DVD rips. And another few hundred are only 320p, if that. Hard to find stuff.

I have NOT allowed BB to index them. It was screwing up big time just with a few hundred. So I cleared out the database and started again fresh.

At the moment I have manually identified, 158 of them. I prefer to know for sure they are correct before adding them. I tested each and every single one of them after manually identifying to make sure they showed up correctly.

Yes I know I have way many more to do by hand and sounds crazy but at least I know what is what. No guessing. Or having to then go back and remove all the ones auto scanning screwed up on. Plus I really only do it when I, friend, or family member wants to watch the movie or Show. That or when I am bored (not often).

So yes if BB were smart enough to first check to see if a .nfo file exists when doing a manual scan before getting the info from the IMDB, that would rock! I'd still be able to do as I wish and auto scanning would still work great for those who use it.

So a win, win in my eyes as long as both support .nfo files. So I hope they change their mind. Doubtful, they are pretty darn stubborn in my experience.

[Athena]

"Nfo file will only be implemented into the library on an automatic scan ,if you manually identify a movie it will take the relevant information from IMDB/TVDB."

No,
No,
No,
and again, NO.

auto scan
mis-identified/dosen't identify a movie/tv show
create an NFO
manually identify, new button 'USE LOCAL NFO FILE'
click
done

no need to go thru a full scan of anything.

if there IS an NFO there during the autoscan, use it of course