FileBot

I'm trying to set up an automated TV solution. Files get downloaded, they get auto sorted and renamed and then picked up by XBMC to use on my HTPC.

The problem is, I get my files from wherever I can. Which means I have no control over the input naming scheme. So, shows like American Dad, Sword Art Online (II), and Teen Titans Go! have rather random naming schemes because they've been released under names that TheTVDB doesn't agree with.

The scene decided American Dad's first season included the entirety of the second season. So now all episodes are 1 season behind what TheTVDB says.
Sword Art Online season 2 is being released as a separate season called Sword Art Online II.
Teen Titans Go! is being released with the episode titles S01E01A and S01E01B, which are their production codes (101a, 101b). However, some of the groups are releasing then using the proper numbering scheme.

This means that sometimes by download folder will contain:
Teen.Titans.Go.s02.e09a.avi (which is e17)
and
Teen.Titans.Go.s02.e18.avi

Now, the Teen Titans problem might be unsolvable by the other 2 are not. TVRage lists the scene numbering for both American Dad and Sword Art Online II. TheTVDB had Sword Art Online II added to its database but it was immediately removed as a duplicate.

My question is: is there a good way to have FileBot search BOTH TVRage and TheTVDB and if it finds a better match on one to use that one?

It seems like this is the simplest solution to my problem. If not, is there an easy way to specify which one to search on a per show basis? Or a way to auto rename episodes BEFORE checking against TheTVDB. Like, adding 1 to the Season number of American Dad and Sword Art Online.

I know I could rename most of these myself before running them against FileBot, but having to rename files manually or set up complex rules based on certain shows seems like a lot of work for a system that is designed to take the work out of downloading TV.

If this isn't possible, does anyone know of a better software than FileBot that can do this?

Please read:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1868

Assuming you're talking about the CLI, you can only specify one --db and if the data doesn't match your files then that's just bad luck.

If the numbers are bad there is little you can do, but maybe --filter might allow you to force FileBot into the match you want.

If the alias is unknown, I might be able to fix that, if you post more information:
http://www.filebot.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=360
http://www.filebot.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=359


If you're using the amc script I'd just add an ignore rule for the tricky ones and do them manually with the FileBot GUI.

Yes, I'm using the CLI with AMC at the moment.

Technically, the numbers are just "wrong", according to TheTVDB. But they are correct according to either AniDB or TVRage. The problem comes from a couple of different ways of interpreting the season and episode numbers.

Sword Art Online II S01E01 IS Sword Art Online S02E01 according to TheTVDB. However, TheTVDB has a strict policy against allowing people to create a show called Sword Art Online II, since as far as they are concerned, that is a duplicate of Sword Art Online. Many Anime shows do this. They rename the second season, call it a different show and start calling it season 1 again. Depending where you check online, it's likely that Sword Art Online II S01E01 is called either of the two names above OR Sword Art Online S01E26. Which are all technically correct.

The filter won't work very well because filtering Sword Art Online means it is more likely to choose another random series and assume is it S01E01 of that series instead. It is also a matter of attempting to play Whack-a-Mole with bad responses.

Manually running the FileBot GUI isn't really a solution. That makes the process 90% automated. However, 90% automated is the same as 0% automated since it still requires me to do work every day before I can watch TV.

So, I guess this is more of a feature request. Either create a settings file that allows us to specify a site for each matched show or allows us to create a per show modification. For instance:
American Dad: TVRage
OR
American Dad: Sn=Sn-1
So that before checking TheTVDB, it removes one from the Season Number.
OR
to allow us to manually specify that a filename is an alias for a different show:
Sword Art Online II=Sword Art Online: Sn=Sn+1
Criminal Mimes=Criminal Minds
CSI=CSI Crime Scene Investigation

Another feature request would be a function that searched TheTVDB, TVRage, AND AniDB and found the best match.

So in the case of Sword Art Online II:
TheTVDB: Finds only Sword Art Online
TVRage: Finds only Sword Art Online
AniDB: Finds Sword Art Online and Sword Art Online II

Then filebot notices that one of the shows is a closer match than the others and uses that site for all of the information about the show.

If you take Sword Art Online it's most likely gonna pick Sword Art Online II. It's best to just post the logs so I can figure out the best way to solve this, if possible.

Make a new thread like this:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1517

Have you tried --filter by airdate? You can easily exclude everything that wasn't aired recently:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=995&p=11582#p11404


Re: Adding custom rules
Features that are too difficult to use for 99% of users might not be there at all. Especially if it's a lot of work + maintenance.

Re: Checking more databases
I'd make things much slower for everyone, even though it's not necessary 99% of the time, put unnecessary load on external web services, for no good reason most of the time. And in the end you'll have nicely formatted files that Plex / XBMC / etc can't make sense of.

These features can be implemented by custom scripts though. How well that'd work depends how much time you're willing to spend on it.

e.g.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=280#p1135