Help please to tweak image downloading commands

[undecided]

Hi, I was using filebot a while ago and recently created a media archive again so came back to test and see if filebot covers my needs. When I pull fanart for a movie I now only get one fanart image, when I used filebot previously I was able to get a separate folder containing all the fanart images for the film. This was very useful as the default fanart is almost always terrible (usually a big splashscreen with the movie name in huge writing as if you couldn't work out what film you were looking at from the poster image, or even worse when the main fanart image it pulls is just a few actors stood in cheesy poses that has nothing to do with the actual film at all - not even a scene from the film!), was great that I could get what I wanted quickly and easily without having to manually visit TMDB to download a replacement - kind of makes the filebot automation pointless if there's still lots of manual downloading from TMDB website required 95% of the time... Sometimes I swap the fanart as well so having them all in one folder is a real time saver.

I asked around various friends who also loved that feature and seems it's been broken for quite a while?, did the command change and none of us have managed to find the right value or is it really still broken? Given the number of people I know who really want this to work there's certainly demand for fixing this, there must be many more disappointed users out there that I don't know personally as well if there's no currently working option for this. Previously you could use --def extras=y for it.

I also noticed when downloading images and NFOs for TV show episodes I can't find any option to download the episode images, there must be an option somewhere as it can download everything else but I simply can't find it, could you please let me know what command should be used to pull those? Would be incredibly time consuming to have to manually download those even though everything else gets pulled (imagine manually downloading these for a long running show with many hundreds of episodes like The Simpsons or Family Guy!), for example see image from Family Guy S01E01:
https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/ep ... 181115.jpg

If I can find a fix for those two then I think I've managed to find commands that do everything I'd need to which would be great, I did have a look around but couldn't find the commands for these myself, hopefully someone better informed can let me know the correct current commands to use.

Thanks

[rednoah]

What command are you currently using?

After a bit of searching, there seems to have been a --def extras parameter in the artwork.* scripts that was removed some 5 years ago. Looking at the code it seems to have been primarily about just dumping the entire artwork collection. Presumably hundreds of files per movie / series. That doesn't quite sound like what you are trying to do? If batch downloading all artwork without limitation is indeed what you're looking for then the code for that would be just a few lines as user-defined script. Nobody has asked for that in recent years so there's no copy & paste code at this point in time.

TMDB does support artwork ratings and FileBot will tend to choose the highest rated one. Few people rate artwork so if you choose to add your rating then there's a good chance that FileBot will pick that in the future. Maybe try positively rating the backdrops you like? That'll make things work better for everyone.




Maybe you can provide a specific sample file path as text where you're not getting good artwork for whichever command you're currently running?

e.g. processing Alias.1x01.mkv with --apply artwork nfo thumbnail (see --apply post-processing features) adds fine artwork as far as I can tell:

Console Output: Select all

$ filebot -rename *.mkv --db TheMovieDB::TV --output . --format "{plex.id}" --apply artwork nfo thumbnail
Rename episodes using [TheMovieDB] with [Airdate Order]
Lookup via [Alias] [Alias]
Fetching episode data for [Alias]
* Alias [2046] | 105 episodes | 1x01-22 .. 2x01-22 .. 3x01-22 .. 4x01-22 .. 5x01-17
[MOVE] from [Alias.1x01.mkv] to [TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/Season 01/Alias - S01E01 - Truth Be Told.mkv]
[ARTWORK] https://assets.fanart.tv/fanart/tv/75930/seasonthumb/Alias.jpg (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/Season 01/landscape.png)
[ARTWORK] https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/MasKO3CnMXL5rMGnBrV583y2mB.jpg (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/poster.jpg)
[ARTWORK] https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/4eufRkflTkrmmONcswo02A4S6en.jpg (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/backdrop.jpg)
[ARTWORK] https://assets.fanart.tv/fanart/tv/75930/hdclearart/alias-51bcfd1b24e30.png (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/clearart.png)
[ARTWORK] https://assets.fanart.tv/fanart/tv/75930/hdtvlogo/alias-503c0da536819.png (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/logo.png)
[ARTWORK] https://assets.fanart.tv/fanart/tv/75930/tvthumb/alias-4ead42d3e7c64.jpg (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/landscape.png)
[NFO] TheMovieDB::TV::2046 (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/tvshow.nfo)
[THUMBNAIL] https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/6SnHJxvJ4R0rfaHZ36lK655Gzd4.jpg (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/Season 01/Alias - S01E01 - Truth Be Told.mkv)
[THUMBNAIL] 1280x720 (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/Season 01/Alias - S01E01 - Truth Be Told.jpg)
Processed 1 file

[rednoah]

I typed out a little custom post-processing script to get a conversation started:

Groovy: Select all

{ source, target, metadata ->
	metadata.artwork.take(5).eachWithIndex{ a, i ->
		if (a.language ==~ /en/) {
			def file = target.dir / "artwork/${i+1}.${a.url.path.extension}"
			if (!file.exists()) {
				println file
				a.url.saveAs(file)
			}
		}
	}
}

But looking at the result, I don't find it very useful as you probably won't ever need the vast majority of artwork files if you decide to download all artwork, and in this case it's just the posters section:





There might be a better way to get the artwork you want. Maybe the Top 3 rated posters will be good enough? Maybe you prefer posters without any text?

[undecided]

Hi,
Sorry for late reply, these are what I've been using.

New TV show first time run (pulls some overall series images and tvshow.nfo):

Shell: Select all

cmd /c filebot -script fn:artwork.tvdb "PATH_TO_MEDIA" --def extras=y --log-file context.log

New TV show episode (renames media as I specified):

Shell: Select all

cmd /c filebot -script "C:/Program Files/FileBot/cmdlets/tv_shows.groovy/" "PATH_TO_MEDIA" --db TheTVDB -non-strict --log-file context.log

New TV show episode (run immediately after tv_shows.groovy to pull TV show episode NFO)

Shell: Select all

cmd /c filebot -script "C:/Program Files/FileBot/cmdlets/nfo.groovy/" "PATH_TO_MEDIA" --def extras=y --log-file context.log

New Movie (pull images and NFO, as mentioned --def extras=y now doesn't look to do anything):

Shell: Select all

cmd /c filebot -script fn:artwork.tmdb "PATH_TO_MEDIA" --def artwork=y --def extras=y

These all work fine but running tv_shows.groovy and nfo.groovy between them will only rename and get NFO for the individual tv episode, artwork.tvdb just works at a high level to get the basic overall posters etc but doesn't do anything for individual TV episodes. I'm looking for the missing piece which is to also pull the individual TV episode images, as an example see below Family Guy link then click into one of the episodes, like 'Death Has a Shadow' for S01E01, at the top of the screen next to the TV episode title and plot is the TV episode image in the top left corner, this is what I need to pull. With previously used options these would be downloaded and saved with an extension of ".videoimage.jpg" (example "Family Guy S01E01.videoimage.jpg"), I was expecting filebot could easily grab these like all the others but this seems to be the only image filebot can't get unless I missed something obvious?

https://www.thetvdb.com/series/family-g ... official/1
Actual image I'd want to save as Family Guy S01E01.videoimage.jpg: https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/ep ... 181115.jpg

That post-processing script looks promising if I could swap poster for fanart and have it just pull all the fanart images to a folder? Was only really the fanart images I was after although I can see occasions where the poster pulls could be useful (where it pulls a poster with actors names or reviews in the image, I prefer a clean look).

How would I go about utilising this post processing script in the above command I'd use for pulling movie images and NFO, do I need to paste that somewhere into a local copy of artwork.tmdb or do I need to save it as a groovy file and run it directly after artwork.tmdb (probably better option?)


I guess that must be why --def extras=y on artwork.tmdb stopped working if you removed code but I'm not sure who said it was rarely used and certainly something we'd love back again, was something I was definitely using before and many friends I know were as well but they're not the type to join forums or create any noise (I probably set it up for them which would explain why they all said same sort of time it stopped when I asked around), it was definitely working for a lot longer than that though, all rather odd... I do rate the artwork I like on TMDB but it seems more people prefer what I consider really bad artwork, just fighting a losing battle there!


Thanks for the help with this, feels like I'm really close...

[rednoah]

You seem to be using a couple of custom *.groovy scripts. Presumably, you needed something more than filebot -rename for some reason. If you could share those *.groovy scripts then I might have a better idea as to what that something might be.


As far as I can tell, nowadays a simple filebot -rename command with --apply artwork nfo thumbnail will do everything you need:

e.g. processing Alias.1x01.mkv with --apply artwork nfo thumbnail (see --apply post-processing features) adds fine artwork as far as I can tell:

Console Output: Select all

$ filebot -rename *.mkv --db TheMovieDB::TV --output . --format "{plex.id}" --apply artwork nfo thumbnail
Rename episodes using [TheMovieDB] with [Airdate Order]
Lookup via [Alias] [Alias]
Fetching episode data for [Alias]
* Alias [2046] | 105 episodes | 1x01-22 .. 2x01-22 .. 3x01-22 .. 4x01-22 .. 5x01-17
[MOVE] from [Alias.1x01.mkv] to [TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/Season 01/Alias - S01E01 - Truth Be Told.mkv]
[ARTWORK] https://assets.fanart.tv/fanart/tv/75930/seasonthumb/Alias.jpg (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/Season 01/landscape.png)
[ARTWORK] https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/MasKO3CnMXL5rMGnBrV583y2mB.jpg (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/poster.jpg)
[ARTWORK] https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/4eufRkflTkrmmONcswo02A4S6en.jpg (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/backdrop.jpg)
[ARTWORK] https://assets.fanart.tv/fanart/tv/75930/hdclearart/alias-51bcfd1b24e30.png (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/clearart.png)
[ARTWORK] https://assets.fanart.tv/fanart/tv/75930/hdtvlogo/alias-503c0da536819.png (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/logo.png)
[ARTWORK] https://assets.fanart.tv/fanart/tv/75930/tvthumb/alias-4ead42d3e7c64.jpg (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/landscape.png)
[NFO] TheMovieDB::TV::2046 (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/tvshow.nfo)
[THUMBNAIL] https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/6SnHJxvJ4R0rfaHZ36lK655Gzd4.jpg (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/Season 01/Alias - S01E01 - Truth Be Told.mkv)
[THUMBNAIL] 1280x720 (TV Shows/Alias {tmdb-2046}/Season 01/Alias - S01E01 - Truth Be Told.jpg)
Processed 1 file

The console output can be read as follows:
* -rename renames / organizes files according to --db TheMovieDB::TV and --format "{plex.id}" as usual
* --apply artwork generates the poster.jpg / backdrop.jpg from --db TheMovieDB::TV and clearart.png / logo.png / landscape.png artwork from fanart.tv
* --apply nfo generates the series-level tvshow.nfo file
* --apply thumbnail generates the episode-level Alias - S01E01 - Truth Be Told.jpg file (NOTE: this is the missing piece you are looking for)


Please read the console log above line by line and let me know if this is what you're trying to do, and if not, how so?




Looking at the 5 year old code, all that the --def extras=y option did was dumping hundreds of images per movie, only posters and backdrops, notably no "fanart" from fanart.tv as far as I can tell, definitely no .videoimage.jpg files either since official episode-level thumbnail support wasn't introduced until 2024.

I have a feeling that we could find a really good solution for your specific needs if you could explain your needs in detail. I have a feeling that dumping hundreds of images per movie is not actually what you need. Maybe having 10 extra posters / backdrops locally to choose from is more like it? Maybe you prefer no-text backdrops? Maybe you prefer images of a specific size? Maybe you prefer artwork from fanart.tv instead? (NOTE: if you could answer each of these questions, that would get a conversation going)

[undecided]

Hi, sorry for late reply, all been rather busy recently.

Yes these old commands I made a note of used local groovy files, I can't remember without checking through everything if there is any current valid reason why I'd still need local groovy files. I don't remember anything specific I was changing from standard, just the parts specified in the cmd (eg --def artwork=y --def extras=y) and a fairly long file rename format but that is held elsewhere and worked fine anyway.

If it turns out I do have a valid reason for a local groovy file though how should it look to incorporate thumbnail with existing cmd? Maybe this?:

Shell: Select all

cmd /c filebot -script "C:/Program Files/FileBot/cmdlets/tv_shows.groovy/" "PATH_TO_MEDIA" --db TheTVDB -non-strict --def thumbnail=y --log-file context.log 

You said '--apply artwork generates the poster.jpg / backdrop.jpg from --db TheMovieDB::TV and clearart.png / logo.png / landscape.png artwork from fanart.tv', where does --apply thumbnail take the image from, do they come from TheMovieDB::TV as well or TVDB? I don't really use TMDB for TV but I checked and can see there are episode images on TMDB so it should also work if that's what is being pulled.

The "--def extras=y" option used to create a folder (named extras I think) and that would only contain additional fanart images, these were a match for all of those shown on TMDB so I think that's where it was pulling them from, it did not pull extra posters or any other image (definitely no .videoimage.jpg, I'd only ever run this for a movie anyway).
Yes 10 extra fanart (backdrop, no text) images would usually give me enough usable images to pick from although an ability to easy adjust the number from cmd would help on the other occasions would help, some films (Marvel especially bad for this) tend to have 30+ fanart images of literally every actor individually just stood in a studio or even cartoon versions of each character that have nothing to do with the film.

Hope that covers all the queries.



Ps When I tested previously I did so with one of my friends (who got very interested when I said I'd try and find why pulling the extra fanart images had stopped working), they're now on holiday and I'll be away for 3 weeks soon after they get back so chances of me getting a chance to meet up with them any time soon is remote. No problem I thought, I'll just install filebot to test the command as a trial but it seems there is no trial, I installed filebot for the first time on a new windows 11 pc and I immediately got licence error when testing from within program and also from cmd.

This thumbnail option sounds like it could be what I was after (although I'm not using it with a Synology or QNAP NAS), I just need a way to test it (without waiting a few months, I'd really like to try and find a solution whilst I have time to spend on this).

How am I meant to test this? I tried adding --action TEST on cmd but that just gave a response of "Processed 1 file", it didn't give any sort of output to know what it would have done (or any way of knowing if this thumbnail image is actually what I'd want, I'd really need to see an example output to know). The licence page states "FileBot may be downloaded and evaluated for free, however a license must be purchased for continued use" so it must be possible to test with it to evaluate or is that statement now incorrect and a licence is needed even to evaluate? Currently all I can evaluate is if filebot would throw an error or not... If I cannot try this myself could you run a test for say Murderbot.s01e03 for instance and upload the image somewhere so I can confirm it matches what I'd expect?

Yes I know it's only $6 for a year but if I can get filebot to do the videoimage files (and extra fanarts I hope) I'd want the lifetime licence instead, I'd rather not waste $6 for what's quite likely going to be just a few minutes of testing.

Thanks

[rednoah]

If you're doing -rename calls then you can just add --apply thumbnail to the command. I don't know if your tv_shows.groovy script is doing -rename calls. Please paste the contents of your tv_shows.groovy script so that we can see what you tv_shows.groovy script does.


The --apply thumbnail post-processing feature uses the episode image from the --db you have specified. I use --db TheMovieDB::TV in the example above but you can use --db TheTVDB instead:

Console Output: Select all

$ filebot -rename *.mkv --db TheTVDB --format "{plex.id}" --apply thumbnail
Rename episodes using [TheTVDB] with [Airdate Order]
...
[MOVE] from [Murderbot.s01e03.mkv] to [TV Shows/Murderbot {tvdb-443396}/Season 01/Murderbot - S01E03 - Risk Assessment.mkv]
[THUMBNAIL] https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/v4/episode/10973706/screencap/68268ebfce817.jpg (TV Shows/Murderbot {tvdb-443396}/Season 01/Murderbot - S01E03 - Risk Assessment.mkv)
[THUMBNAIL] 640x360 (TV Shows/Murderbot {tvdb-443396}/Season 01/Murderbot - S01E03 - Risk Assessment.jpg)

** We learn from the console output that FileBot fetches https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners/v4 ... fce817.jpg for the newly processed Murderbot - S01E03 - Risk Assessment.mkv file.


Unfortunately, post-processing features cannot be evaluated before purchasing a license since post-processing features only work on newly processed files. If you're already using filebot to rename files, then you presumably already have a license key. If you're using a FileBot release from 2017 or earlier then that would be important context because when I give command-line examples I implicitly assume that we're both running the latest and greatest. All of the --apply features discussed above were introduced rather recently, so none of that will work with older versions.