Manually created NFO tips

**StevenR** · May 16th, 2011, 01:21 PM

There are some cases where Boxee is displaying incorrect information for a movie where it is just as easy to manually create an NFO file to fix this than to use a tool. I've successfully used manual NFO files like this for a few of my movies, where it doesn't necessarily warrant using one of the NFO tools.
Fortunately, providing you include the IMDB id of the movie in the [i]id[/b] element of the NFO file you only need to include the items which need to be corrected.

Here are a couple of examples of incorrect data which can corrected in this way:

Incorrect or alternative title
Sometimes Boxee may list the movie with a different title than that by which you know it by. For example, I am in the UK and have some movies which were released here with one title and in the US with a different title (such as the 1955 film "The Quatermass Xperiment" which was also known as "The Creeping Unknown" in the US).
An NFO file to fix this just needs:

<movie>
<id>imdb id</id>
<title>Your Preferred Title</title>
</movie>

Incorrect or missing runtime
Sometimes Boxee is missing the runtime of a movie, or lists a runtime which is different from the version of the movie you have. For example, I have the extended DVD versions of The Lord of the Rings movies. Boxee was showing these with the runtime as that of the original theatrical releases.
To fix this just needs:
<movie>
<id>imdb id</id>
<runtime>actual runtime in minutes</runtime>
</movie>

Note: The Boxee NFO documentation shows the value for runtime in the format "nnmin" (where nn is the runtime in minutes) but the "min" part appears to be optional (some NFO generators include it and some don't) and Boxee seems to support it with or without.

These are just a couple of examples, but there are others which can be done in the same way (e.g. release year, rating, etc.).

**Brian** · May 16th, 2011, 01:58 PM

Excellent tips, thanks!

**bryan** · May 16th, 2011, 03:49 PM

also, only minutes work at this time. I had everything listed for hours and minutes but in BB, only the hour would show up and it would be listed as minutes.

For example, 2:30 would show up as 02 minutes. Or something similar to that

**Rhoq** · May 18th, 2011, 03:47 PM

I had to create 3 NFO files. For two of them, I was given the choice to use the NFO to identify, but the 3rd I am not it just take me straight to the regular search box.

**Synozeer** · May 18th, 2011, 04:11 PM

Have you found this works for TV shows too using tvshow.nfo and putting it in the highest folder in the hierarchy rather than in every season folder?

**n0thng2bdone** · May 21st, 2011, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by Rhoq

I had to create 3 NFO files. For two of them, I was given the choice to use the NFO to identify, but the 3rd I am not it just take me straight to the regular search box.

was it for a video_ts or iso?

**Rhoq** · May 23rd, 2011, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by n0thng2bdone

was it for a video_ts or iso?

It was for a video_ts

**war59312** · May 23rd, 2011, 08:14 PM

The #1 Tip For .nfo Support Using May 2011 Firmware

Must use automatic scanning of a source or else thumbnails for Shows will be incorrectly applied. Movies' billboards get applied correctly.

You must clear both, thumbnails & database in Advanced options for .nfo to be applied correctly for both Movies and Shows.

Manually identifying Movies works as expected (correct billboard image applied). Manually identifying Shows is broken at the moment, breaks episode thumbnails.

If you get stuck on "Identifying" the last file in file sources then simply reboot your Boxee Box and it will finish identifying that last file correctly. Once identifying has completed, your file source will show up as "Last Scanned" in file sources.

All of these issues are known and are being worked on. Should be fixed soon, we hope.

#2 Tip For .nfo Support Using May 2011 Firmware

Use Ember Media Manager To Make .nfo Files For You: http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=33055

#3 Tip For .nfo Support Using May 2011 Firmware

If you are adding a new show, there is no need to clean out the entire database to get the new thumbnails generated correctly.

You can simply remove the source and add it back. This works, because no thumbnails have been cached for that show, of course (seeing as it's a new show you are adding).