How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi

How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi - Printable Version

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How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi - davethabass - 2020-07-07

I have a library of 2300 films, about half of which are watched, which I recently compiled onto EMM. I need to transfer the library to Kodi with watched status included.

I searched this forum and found that Kodi needs advancedsettings.xml to be created in the userdata folder in order to read watched status from .nfo files, so I wrote this and installed it:

xml:


<advancedsettings version="1.0">

    <videolibrary>

    <allitemsonbottom>false</allitemsonbottom>  <!-- sorts the "*All" items at the bottom of the list when in Ascending order -->

    <cleanonupdate>true</cleanonupdate>  <!-- default set to false to prevent Kodi from removing items from the database while updating.  -->

    <recentlyaddeditems>50</recentlyaddeditems> <!-- number of recently added items. Defaults to 25 -->

    <importwatchedstate>true</importwatchedstate>  <!-- import previously exported playdate and playcount from .nfo files. Defaults to false -->

  </videolibrary>

</advancedsettings>

I then deleted the old library on Kodi and created a new one. However this did not work, watched status was not imported. I noticed however that items marked as watched in the old library were marked as watched in the new library, which means Kodi had retained info from the old library. Perhaps I should have used a different name?

EMM's .nfo files contain the following when an item has been watched:

xml:


<playcount>1</playcount>

  <lastplayed>2020-07-02 19:55:05</lastplayed>

i.e. nothing called watchedstate.

There is something I've missed here but I can't work out what it is... any help much appreciated!

Cheers, Dave

RE: How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi - FumbDuck - 2020-07-10

You don't need to to anything complicated. Once you have set up sync between Ember & Kodi you can sync watched status both ways:

To sync the watched status from Kodi to Ember: in Ember go to Tools >Kodi Interface >Get watched state.
To sync the watched state from Ember to Kodi: In Ember, go to Tools >Kodi Interface >Update Library.

Setting up sync is straightforward. For a Windows system:

Install Bonjour

In Kodi:

system >service settings (webserver) >allow control via http = yes
Share my libraries = yes
Announce library updates = yes
Allow remote control via UPnP = yes

In Ember:

Settings >Modules >Kodi
Add your source ie your Kodi system name
Enable "Get watched status from" & select your Kodi system name from the dropdown menu
You can test sync by highlighting your Kodi system name in the Ember Kodi module then select edit
Ensure that "enable real time sync" is ticked
Also add your movie set artwork folder path
Add your Kodi sources ie your Movie path, TV Show path etc. I found I had to be extremely precise with my mouse clicks (on the line between "Kodi source" & the down arrow at the end of the box)

RE: How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi - davethabass - 2020-07-14

(2020-07-10, 19:59)FumbDuck Wrote: You don't need to to anything complicated. Once you have set up sync between Ember & Kodi you can sync watched status both ways:

To sync the watched status from Kodi to Ember: in Ember go to Tools >Kodi Interface >Get watched state.
To sync the watched state from Ember to Kodi: In Ember, go to Tools >Kodi Interface >Update Library.

Setting up sync is straightforward. For a Windows system:
Install Bonjour

In Kodi:
system >service settings (webserver) >allow control via http = yes

Share my libraries = yes

Announce library updates = yes

Allow remote control via UPnP = yes

In Ember:
Settings >Modules >Kodi

Add your source ie your Kodi system name

Enable "Get watched status from" & select your Kodi system name from the dropdown menu

You can test sync by highlighting your Kodi system name in the Ember Kodi module then select edit

Ensure that "enable real time sync" is ticked

Also add your movie set artwork folder path

Add your Kodi sources ie your Movie path, TV Show path etc. I found I had to be extremely precise with my mouse clicks (on the line between "Kodi source" & the down arrow at the end of the box)

Thank you FumbDuck for your helpful and detailed reply. After a couple of days I still can't get it to work - I get a message saying "There was a problem communicating with host" when I try to check the connection. This may be because I'm using Kodi Portable because of occasional use of different devices.
I'll have another go at getting advancedsettings.xml to work.

RE: How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi - davethabass - 2020-07-18

Still stuck with this. Do any of the distinguished Ember / Kodi super-users have any ideas?

RE: How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi - komplex - 2020-07-18

Iv'e just tested this and importing watched state works fine.

(2020-07-07, 12:59)davethabass Wrote: I then deleted the old library on Kodi and created a new one. However this did not work, watched status was not imported. I noticed however that items marked as watched in the old library were marked as watched in the new library, which means Kodi had retained info from the old library. Perhaps I should have used a different name?

How did you remove the old source files? Did you get a pop up like this?

or did you just remove the source from Settings/Media/Library. Kodi doesn't auto refresh changed data in the nfo when you update your library or restart Kodi

RE: How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi - davethabass - 2020-07-19

Sorry komplex, which method did you test, advancedsettings.xml or sync?
I removed the source files by deleting the library and I got the box you're showing.

RE: How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi - komplex - 2020-07-19

(2020-07-19, 19:21)davethabass Wrote: Sorry komplex, which method did you test, advancedsettings.xml or sync?

Using the importwatchedstate in the advancedsettings.xml and marking it as watched in Ember which adds the <playcount>1</playcount>
<lastplayed>2020-07-18 18:40:58</lastplayed> to the .nfo.

(2020-07-07, 12:59)davethabass Wrote: I noticed however that items marked as watched in the old library were marked as watched in the new library, which means Kodi had retained info from the old library

This sounds like your library isn't being cleaned before you added it again or maybe you have something like the trakt addon running that is marking things was watched again

RE: How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi - davethabass - 2020-07-19

OK, got that, many thanks. I'll try it again tomorrow with a new library name. I don't use trakt.

RE: How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi - davethabass - 2020-07-23

Tried it again with a new library name, same problem, I could try fooling it by changing names in the path but that would have tedious knock-on implications.
Upon reflection having Ember and Kodi synced is probably more useful in the long run, so I'm going to have another try at syncing - perhaps I got some settings wrong.
Fumbduck could you please clarify
1. How I find my Kodi system name
2. What do I enter as Kodi IP in the settings dialogue box
3. The Ember source is entered automatically (where my movies are), the Kodi source is the same path so I should just enter that?
Many thanks for your help everyone!

RE: How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi - DanCooper - 2020-07-24

(2020-07-23, 19:59)davethabass Wrote: 1. How I find my Kodi system name

You don't need the Kodi system name. The "Name" field in Ember is only to differentiate multiple Kodi hosts if you add more than one (not needed if you're using MySQL in Kodi). You can enter any "Name" you want.

(2020-07-23, 19:59)davethabass Wrote: 2. What do I enter as Kodi IP in the settings dialogue box

Get the IP of your Kodi host in Kodi under Settings => System information => Network => IP Adress

(2020-07-23, 19:59)davethabass Wrote: 3. The Ember source is entered automatically (where my movies are), the Kodi source is the same path so I should just enter that?

If the "Check Connection" was successfully you can use the "Read Sources From Kodi" button to get the correct source paths from Kodi. The dropdown menu is now filled with the Kodi sources and you can map the Ember sources to the Kodi sources. Hint: sometimes you have to click two times to the dropdown menu to open it.

RE: How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi - davethabass - 2020-07-24

Thank you Dan, that worked perfectly! Ember and Kodi are now in sync and I have used the drop-down to set the Kodi path.
The only problem I have left is how to get the watched status of about half my 2300+ title library into Kodi. At the start of this discussion I showed how I used advancedsettings.xml in order to achieve this but Kodi still didn't import the watched status and retained its own watched info, even after I deleted, cleaned and reloaded the library. I must be doing something wrong...
Could you please advise what steps I should take?
Many thanks for your assistance.

RE: How to import watched status from EMM to Kodi - davethabass - 2020-08-10

Still stuck with this, does anyone know of a method which will work?