Switch from DVD to airdate order (or vice versa)

[courtarro]

Hi. I have a bunch of videos that I've ripped from my own DVDs using MakeMKV. It creates files named title01, title02, etc. In the case of DVDs these are usually in the right order to follow TVDB's "DVD Order", in which case FileBot does well renaming them in "DVD Order" mode.

Unfortunately I operate Kodi in "Airdate Order" mode.

What I want is to use FileBot to rename my files by recognizing them as DVD order but switch them to Airdate order. Let's pretend I have a DVD with these three files from a TV show I just made up:

Files:

• title01.mkv
  title02.mkv
  title03.mkv

Correct episode assignments as they appear on the DVD:

• title01.mkv -> TV Show - S01E01 - The Show Strikes Back.mkv
  title02.mkv -> TV Show - S01E02 - The Return of the Show.mkv
  title03.mkv -> TV Show - S01E03 - The Season Premiere.mkv

But I want them as they aired, which is like this:

• title03.mkv -> TV Show - S01E01 - The Season Premiere.mkv
  title01.mkv -> TV Show - S01E02 - The Show Strikes Back.mkv
  title02.mkv -> TV Show - S01E03 - The Return of the Show.mkv

My files are natively in DVD order, but I want to rename them to be in Airdate order. How can I do this in FileBot (using the GUI, if possible)? Thanks in advance.

[rednoah]

If the numbering or title is misleading you can always align files with episode data manually.

The video tutorial cover various techniques that allow you to quickly deal with files that can't be handled (fully) automatically.

@see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7tas1c ... -5RoMclWPt

[courtarro]

I watched that video before, and it's helpful, but I wasn't able to figure out how to do what I want from it.

Here is my current workaround:

1. Load the files on the left
2. Search for the correct episodes on the Episodes tab, using DVD order
3. Paste the episodes on the right (now they already match because the orders match)
4. Use the format "{n} - {t}" (which omits the episode number) to rename the files
5. Clear the file list
6. Reload the list of files on the left
7. Search for the correct episodes on the Episodes tab, using Airdate order
8. Paste the episodes on the right
9. Click "Match" to sync everything up based on title
10. Change the format to "{n} - {s00e00} - {t}" and rename the files again

It's a convoluted process, but it ends up with the files named as desired. The middle step, where the files are named with their episode name but NOT their episode number, is vital. Otherwise all of the matching processes try to match up the numbers, but I'm specifically trying to change the numbers.