some DVDs not scanned

[peteybaby]

Sorry if my issue has been raised before but I tried a few searches... I don't think I know the correct terminology to use.

I have a bunch of ripped DVDs, but the Boxee Box is only recognizing about 85% of them. What can I do to recognize the remaining ones?

Also, I have three HDDs containing ripped DVDs, and I am able to successfully add two of them as source file locations, but not the third one. The two successful ones are an internal NTFS drive and an external FAT32 USB drive.

The unsuccessful one is an external NTFS USB drive, 2 TB (it's an ioSafe). When I try to add it as a data source, my Boxee Box sees it on the network, so I can select it, but the Boxee Box doesn't "go into" the drive; it just stays on the screen that lists the available shared folders on the network. With the two successfully added drives, when I select one from this list, the Boxee Box goes into that drive and I see all the DVD folders in it.

Any ideas? Thanks very much in advance.

[Ronald]

Sorry if my issue has been raised before but I tried a few searches... I don't think I know the correct terminology to use.

I have a bunch of ripped DVDs, but the Boxee Box is only recognizing about 85% of them. What can I do to recognize the remaining ones?

If your rips are in the form of DVD ISO files, then the basic method is to name each such ISO file exactly, or as closely as possible, as that movie is named at IMDB.com, so searching there can give you good examples of filenames to use. A typical example from my own ISO collection is this:
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974).ISO"

If your rips are not in ISO form, but merely consists of copied VIDEO_TS folders, then you need to place each such folder inside another folder named using the method I described above (except for skipping the ".ISO" extension).

Unfortunately some of the 'names' used at IMDB are impossible to use in file names though, as they contain special characters not permitted by the normal HDD filesystems, nor by the SMB protocol.

For such cases you can use NFO files to specify exactly how you want the movie presented in the lists. You'll find more info on this in the 'sticky' thread on "NFO resources".

Also, I have three HDDs containing ripped DVDs, and I am able to successfully add two of them as source file locations, but not the third one. The two successful ones are an internal NTFS drive and an external FAT32 USB drive.

The unsuccessful one is an external NTFS USB drive, 2 TB (it's an ioSafe). When I try to add it as a data source, my Boxee Box sees it on the network,

I take it then that all three of these drives are in fact neither internally (impossible) nor externally connected to the Boxee, but rather to one of your computers, and accessed by Boxee only through SMB filesharing.

This means that Boxee will deal with all of the HDDs identically regardless of their hardware characteristics, which it is not even aware of. It is only to your computer, to which the drives are connected, that their hardware and formatting matters.

so I can select it, but the Boxee Box doesn't "go into" the drive; it just stays on the screen that lists the available shared folders on the network.

That is unusual. When a fileshare fails access due to configuration problems it usually shows itself in one of two ways:

1: The fileshare does not appear at all in Boxee's listing of remote shares
2: The fileshare does appear, but any attempt to browse it yields an empty list when going beneath the root directory of the remote HDD. (So if the fileshare is not a root directory, you'd get an empty list at the first level.)

Thus it is very unusual for the fileshare to be displayed, but have the attempt to browse it result in no response at all, with an unchanged list like you say.

With the two successfully added drives, when I select one from this list, the Boxee Box goes into that drive and I see all the DVD folders in it.

That is of course the normal behaviour.

Any ideas? Thanks very much in advance.

The first thing that comes to mind is incorrect configuration of fileshare and/or security access permissions for the failing drive, and here I speak only of the PC configuration.

You need to make sure that the PC OS allows access and filesharing of that HDD to the user account defined in the SMB client settings of your Boxee Box. Those SMB client settings are probably correct already, since access works for two of the remote HDDs. So it is most likely the PC configuration for that third HDD which somehow differs from that of the others.

And if you want detailed help on such configuration, then you'll need to give us more details about your PC and the OS you use on it.

Best regards: Ronald

[drunkwithpower]

When I try to browse to a shared resource and I can't drill down into it, I normally am forced to reboot the shared resource. I know that sounds absolutely stupid, but it works. I have a Windows 7 PC with both internal and external drives shared with Boxee, and a reboot will normally take care of any share issues I encounter. Ronald can probably back me up as I attribute this to an unusual implementation of SMB by Boxee. It's not an issue with the PC as all other PCs on the network can browse the shares normally.

Hope this helps.

[Ronald]

When I try to browse to a shared resource and I can't drill down into it, I normally am forced to reboot the shared resource. I know that sounds absolutely stupid, but it works. I have a Windows 7 PC with both internal and external drives shared with Boxee, and a reboot will normally take care of any share issues I encounter. Ronald can probably back me up as I attribute this to an unusual implementation of SMB by Boxee. It's not an issue with the PC as all other PCs on the network can browse the shares normally.

I do agree that the Boxee implementation of SMB differs from what Microsoft puts into its Windows releases, and that is one source of problems.

But in my LAN I almost never have to reboot a computer to regain contact with the Boxee Box. (Btw: All units in my LAN are active 24/7.) Instead it is the box I sometimes have to reboot when it has dropped connection to one or more of the fileshares, which seems to happen occasionally for no discernible reason.

As to why we have this difference, of you needing to reboot PCs while I need to reboot the box, I really have no clear explanation. But it probably has something to do with your use of Win7 as opposed to my own use of WinXP and Win2K. Apparently they have some difference in how they re-negotiate previously dropped connections.

However, I don't think this kind of reconnection need has anything to do with the problem 'peteybaby' describes, since he does not mention the failing fileshare as ever having worked with Boxee. And I assume that he has already rebooted his computer a few times in his attempts to make this sharing work

It is an obvious go_to response with most computer problems:
To just reboot and hope the problem goes away, which surprisingly often does help.

But this time I suspect he has already done that with no effect, and then he most likely needs to reconfigure access/sharing permissions, like I said in my previous post.

Best regards: Ronald

[peteybaby]

If your rips are in the form of DVD ISO files, then the basic method is to name each such ISO file exactly, or as closely as possible, as that movie is named at IMDB.com, so searching there can give you good examples of filenames to use. A typical example from my own ISO collection is this:
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974).ISO"

If your rips are not in ISO form, but merely consists of copied VIDEO_TS folders, then you need to place each such folder inside another folder named using the method I described above (except for skipping the ".ISO" extension).

Unfortunately some of the 'names' used at IMDB are impossible to use in file names though, as they contain special characters not permitted by the normal HDD filesystems, nor by the SMB protocol.

For such cases you can use NFO files to specify exactly how you want the movie presented in the lists. You'll find more info on this in the 'sticky' thread on "NFO resources".

Great! The renaming according to imdb.com worked. At first I thought it wasn't working though, because the first movie I tried was "The Dreamlife of Angels". imdb says the name is "La vie rêvée des anges", and when I changed the folder name to that, it didn't help. But then I tried another 2 or 3 DVDs, and they all worked. So the Dreamlife movie is still causing me a problem. Do you know how the Boxee software gets the movie titles from imdb? I copied and pasted the title directly from the imdb web page, so there were no spelling mistakes, yet the Boxee Box still doesn't recognize that movie. It doesn't appear under "dreamlife", or "the", or "la".

Another thing: I have a DVD rip of the movie "L'homme du train", and I had previously used the folder name "l'homme.du.train" because that's the title printed on my DVD. The Boxee Box correctly identified this movie, and it appeared in the movies list as Man On the Train (the English title for the same movie). But then I changed the folder name to "the man on the train" (imdb's title), and then the BB identified the movie as "the man on the train" but the 2011 version, not the 2006 version. So I used the Identify feature to select the 2006 version and all was well, but I noticed that the movie is shown as "man on the train" (no "the"). So here's one case where the imdb EN title isn't the best choice.

I will try the .NFO file for a movie like "Kill Bill: Vol.1". Thanks for the help!

I take it then that all three of these drives are in fact neither internally (impossible) nor externally connected to the Boxee, but rather to one of your computers, and accessed by Boxee only through SMB filesharing.

That's correct.

You need to make sure that the PC OS allows access and filesharing of that HDD to the user account defined in the SMB client settings of your Boxee Box. Those SMB client settings are probably correct already, since access works for two of the remote HDDs. So it is most likely the PC configuration for that third HDD which somehow differs from that of the others.

And if you want detailed help on such configuration, then you'll need to give us more details about your PC and the OS you use on it.

It's a Compaq PC, running Windows XP (the latest SP). The ioSafe external drive is connected via USB 2.0 port. For the other two drives: one is an internal drive, and the other is an external drive connected via firewire port. Those two drives worked with the Boxee Box without me having to do anything.

I've rebooted the Boxee Box and my PC, I've renamed the shared folder on the ioSafe to make it simple and short, I've unmounted and remounted the ioSafe... I don't know what else to try.

[Ronald]

Great! The renaming according to imdb.com worked. At first I thought it wasn't working though, because the first movie I tried was "The Dreamlife of Angels". imdb says the name is "La vie rêvée des anges", and when I changed the folder name to that, it didn't help. But then I tried another 2 or 3 DVDs, and they all worked. So the Dreamlife movie is still causing me a problem.

I'm afraid this happens sometimes, as the database used by the Boxee server is not identical in everything to that of IMDB.

Do you know how the Boxee software gets the movie titles from imdb?

They've made a deal with IMDB for permission to copy the relevant parts of their database (but don't ask me what parts they considered relevant...). They've also made similar deals with others, such as TVDB, so the Boxee server database is a mixture from several different sources.

I copied and pasted the title directly from the imdb web page, so there were no spelling mistakes, yet the Boxee Box still doesn't recognize that movie. It doesn't appear under "dreamlife", or "the", or "la".

Like I said, this just happens sometimes, and there is nothing we can do about it to change how the search is made. But we can fix it by placing a properly edited NFO file with such movies or shows, to override the search entirely.

Another thing: I have a DVD rip of the movie "L'homme du train", and I had previously used the folder name "l'homme.du.train" because that's the title printed on my DVD. The Boxee Box correctly identified this movie, and it appeared in the movies list as Man On the Train (the English title for the same movie).

The search done by Boxee is a 'fuzzy' one, where for many cases (but not all) period characters are treated as spaces and character casing is usually (but not always) ignored.

But then I changed the folder name to "the man on the train" (imdb's title), and then the BB identified the movie as "the man on the train" but the 2011 version, not the 2006 version. So I used the Identify feature to select the 2006 version and all was well, but I noticed that the movie is shown as "man on the train" (no "the"). So here's one case where the imdb EN title isn't the best choice.

I'm afraid these issues are quite common, and even specifying the year in the title does not always help. There is also a bug causing 4-digit numbers inside movie or show episode titles to mess up the search.

For all these cases the best cure is to use NFO files. Not only do they allow you to nail down the identification to a precise IMDB or TVDB identification code, but you can also alter the titles used for Boxee display (and sorting) to anything you please.

I will try the .NFO file for a movie like "Kill Bill: Vol.1".

That's probably a good idea, as it seems dependent on a colon.

That's not always the case though, even if a name contains a colon (or other odd characters). Sometimes a search can be made to work just by leaving out such a character, or replacing it by another separator string, like " - ". But using an NFO file eliminates the waste of time trying to find a string that works in the search. With a properly made NFO file you KNOW that it will work as you wish, and that's well worth the effort of making it.

Thanks for the help!

That's what these forums are really all about.
Helping each other get the most fun out of our boxes.

It's a Compaq PC, running Windows XP (the latest SP).

I too use WinXP, fully updated, on two of my Dell desktop computers, though I use WinXP Pro, rather than the standard version. I also use Win2K server on a third Dell computer. So we are both using SMB implementations of the same generation (which defines protocol variations).

The ioSafe external drive is connected via USB 2.0 port. For the other two drives: one is an internal drive, and the other is an external drive connected via firewire port.

I don't use Firewire myself, though I do have such a port on one of the PCs. But the connection method should not really affect this, as long as the drives are all used as normal drives under Windows.

Those two drives worked with the Boxee Box without me having to do anything.

Hmmm. It could be due to a difference in default permissions set for the internal and firewire connected drives as opposed to the USB connected drive, since USB is so often used for transportation of files between computers. Thus it might not by default be included with the same filesharing settings as the other drives.

For my own setup I too have had permission troubles some time ago, when I wanted to share drives of all my computers both with my PS2 consoles (using SMB to play game ISOs as well as media files), and with an older and simpler media player I had (a Roxcore/MviX unit, also using SMB). Unfortunatly I do not now recall all the details I had trouble with, but the solution did include the methods I describe below.

I've rebooted the Boxee Box and my PC, I've renamed the shared folder on the ioSafe to make it simple and short, I've unmounted and remounted the ioSafe... I don't know what else to try.

None of that would help with a permission issue.
And there are two types of permission configuration to consider here.

One such issue is that you need to have correct access security permissions set for the physical folder tree to be accessed.

These settings are found by right-clicking on a folder (or drive) entry in Windows Explorer and choosing "Properties" in the resulting popup menu. That opens the usual property dialog box where you then switch to the "Security" tab, and check that you have proper access permissions for the user account defined in you Boxee "SMB client" settings. Note that this is normally done by setting permissions for the user 'group' to which that account belongs, as defined elsewhere in your PC configuration.

Two commonly used groups are "Everyone" and "Users (your_computer_name\Users)". Just remember NOT to give write access permission to "Everyone", as that might lead to fatal accidents in future...

The other permission issue is that the fileshare itself has separate permission settings which you also need to check in the same way, except that you use the "Sharing" tab instead of the "Security" tab of the property dialog, and must then also open an additional popup dialog box by clicking on a button labeled "Permissions".

Again, if you choose to use the group "Everyone", then make sure to give it only "Read" permission. (That's all you need for media playing.)

Best regards: Ronald

[peteybaby]

Yeah!! After 2 hours of digging and trying things, I can finally access that ioSafe USB drive from the Boxee. Thanks very much to you Ronald for your help. What your post led me to do, is try connecting to the ioSafe shared folder from a laptop on my home network. Surprisingly (to me), it was not accessible, while the other two drives' shared folders were accessible. Then I did a google search for "share usb drive", which ultimately led me to this web page: http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/46-194653

The post that (almost) did the trick was the one about the parameter "IrpStackSize". It sounded like it should work, but it didn't. Then I googled the exact error message I was seeing on my laptop, and found this MS kb article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/177078

and in that article I saw that the parameter is capitalized like this: "IRPStackSize", and it made the difference. Sweet!

Now that that little problem is out of the way, one last question: if all I want to do is have the Boxee Box see my ripped DVDs (video_ts folders), and display the artwork image and description/synopsis from imdb.com, how many of the xml elements do I need in the .nfo file? I tried creating an nfo file for Kill Bill Vol 1, containing just the <id> element, and the Boxee Box recognized the movie, but it didn't display the artwork image or description.

[Ronald]

Yeah!! After 2 hours of digging and trying things, I can finally access that ioSafe USB drive from the Boxee. Thanks very much to you Ronald for your help.

I'm glad it worked out for you. I was pretty sure it was a configuration problem at the PC end, and so it was, if not quite the one I was speaking of.

Now that that little problem is out of the way, one last question: if all I want to do is have the Boxee Box see my ripped DVDs (video_ts folders), and display the artwork image and description/synopsis from imdb.com, how many of the xml elements do I need in the .nfo file? I tried creating an nfo file for Kill Bill Vol 1, containing just the <id> element, and the Boxee Box recognized the movie, but it didn't display the artwork image or description.

That might be because the Boxee database doesn't include all that stuff, or at least not associated with the ID code you used. Like I told you before, the Boxee server database is an edited mixture of several others, and has both additions and subtractions compared to all of them...

For my own use I mostly use the following two templates for my NFO needs.

For "movie.nfo" I use:

<movie>
	<title></title>
	<id></id>
</movie>

For "tvshow.nfo" I use the very similar:

<tvshow>
	<title></title>
	<id></id>
</tvshow>

If I also want to define my own description, then I include one more tagline in either of these, just above the ID tagline. That order is important, as anything below the ID tagline will be replaced by whatever is found in the online database. This way I always define the precise title shown by Boxee myself, and also control the description for those special cases where I need to do so.

The taglines used for the description differ between movies and TV shows, so in a "movie.nfo" I add a line with "<outline></outline>", and for a "tvshow.nfo" I add a line with "<plot></plot>".

Inside an 'outline' or 'plot' description I normally use a long unbroken text description, but it is also OK to insert line breaks if you want to be sure of the display formatting (some descriptions make better sense with a new paragraph starting on a new line).

For cases where the database really doesn't have anything stored for your video, which happens to me occasionally, you should also add a tagline for the genre, using the tags "<genre></genre>", which are used the same way for both of these NFO file types.

And if the database really has no clue to anything about the video, then you may as well leave out the ID tagline completely, as it then serves no purpose. That is also what you need to do for those cases where the Boxee server database is in error, identifying your video as something other than what IMDB or TVDB shows for the same ID code. And whenever you leave out the ID tagline, for whatever reason, it becomes mandatory to have the title tagline.

For example, it is pointless to try using the TVDB ID codes for the Flash Gordon series from 1936, 1938, and 1940, since each of these will lead to the same title, cover art and episode descriptions that are correct only for the Flash Gordon series from 2007... Apparently the Boxee Database does not differentiate between any of these four different series. (Possibly related to the fact that the three old series do not exist as such at IMDB, which only recognizes the three movies based on contracted edits of each series...) So for each of those three old series I had no choice but to make my own NFOs without any ID taglines, and with episode NFOs added as well, so as to get any episode descriptions.

And that little anecdote gives you yet another example of one of the many ways in which the online database can fail to give us what we need.

As for getting a cover picture displayed, all you need to do is to store a picture named "folder.jpg" in the same folder as the video and NFO file, and that picture should ideally be dimensioned as 299x434 pixels (very strange format IMO, but it works).

That picture will definitely be used if the database doesn't have any picture for the video, and also if you don't use an ID tagline (thus cancelling the database search). But if you do have an ID tagline and there are pictures in the database, then a randomly chosen picture of those can still be shown instead of your "folder.jpg".

For a TV show you can also add episode thumbnails, and these should then be named identically to how the episode video file is named, except that they should have a filetype extension of ".tbn" (though created as JPG). The ideal format for such episode pictures is 299x160 (so another odd format).

User-supplied pictures will only be used if you also use an NFO file, which is one common reason for using NFO files even when it is not needed for proper identification.

Note also, that if you already have the show/movie in one of your sources, then adding pictures this way will usually have no effect. The old pictures will remain in use, and you can't be 100% sure of getting rid of them even by removing sources and then re-adding them. So there is a lot of debugging still to be done in these areas of the firmware behaviour.

Best regards: Ronald

[peteybaby]

Thanks again Ronald for all your help. I'll experiment more with .nfo files, but today I just manually identified most of the ones that the Boxee Box didn't resolve. Strangely, even some of the ones that I manually identified don't appear in the Local Movies list. I'll try making .nfo files for those.

[StevenR]

I tried creating an nfo file for Kill Bill Vol 1, containing just the <id> element, and the Boxee Box recognized the movie, but it didn't display the artwork image or description.

Go into Settings > Parental Controls and turn off the "Hide adult feeds and applications" option. For several versions this option has also applied to movies with ratings of NC-17 or equivalent, which happens to include Kill Bill Vol 1 among others (Scream and Clerks are two others that I believe are affected).