Login at Kodi Home

Mavii · 2024-06-25, 02:58

I've been using YAMJ on the PCH for the past 15 years. My device finally died, and I am looking to switch over to KODI. Are there any tools or tips for converting filenames and folder structures from the YAMJ convention to the KODI convention?

**Karellen** · 2024-06-25, 03:37

I am not familiar with YAMJ, so don't know what conventions it uses.

Check my signature below for How-To's to creating the libraries.

**scott967** · 2024-06-25, 23:28

Sorry, no help but years ago I was looking at PCH but then found out about Boxee Box and its program could run on Windows, which turned out to be a fork of xbmc.

scott s.
.

Mavii · 2024-06-27, 02:14

(2024-06-25, 03:37)Karellen Wrote: I am not familiar with YAMJ, so don't know what conventions it uses.

Check my signature below for How-To's to creating the libraries.

I'll check the links out tonight. I appreciate your help. YAMJ (Yet Another Movie Jukebox) is an app that ran on the popcorn hour (among other devices). It had its own naming convention and folder structure. I guess I'll have to rename and organize things one file at a time. Bummer!

**Karellen** · 2024-06-27, 02:44

(2024-06-27, 02:14)Mavii Wrote: I guess I'll have to rename and organize things one file at a time. Bummer!

There are programs that can do that for you. The Media Managers in the Supplementary Tools section should do that. Filebot is another one, but IIRC that requires a licence.
But first check how much work is involved. I can't imagine the conventions being radically different.

Mavii · 2024-06-28, 03:58

I'm slowly figuring out KODI's naming convention. I found out that a posters and fanart should be named:

[filename]-poster.jpg
[filename]-fanart.jpg

Is there a comprehensive list somewhere of all of the naming conventions. I looked on the wiki but didn't find anything.

Also, I used exclusively NFO files with my popcornhour/yamj. I would like to use them again, but I also like the additional info scrapped by KODI such as actors. Is there a way to use both NFO files and scarped data? In other words, use scrapped data unless it is found in the NFO file. In the case where it is in the NFO file it should use what is in the NFO file.

Last question, is there a comprehensive list somewhere of all the NFO tags?

**Karellen** · 2024-06-28, 04:07

(2024-06-28, 03:58)Mavii Wrote: Is there a comprehensive list somewhere of all of the naming conventions.

Not really. If you look at the images in those HOW-TO pages, it shows how all the media should be named. I tried to include all the sorts of items users would want included - trailers, subtitles, artwork etc.

(2024-06-28, 03:58)Mavii Wrote: Also, I used exclusively NFO files with my popcornhour/yamj. I would like to use them again

Can you post the nfo files for 1 movie, 1 tv show, and 1 episode and I can do a quick check if they are compatible.
Post to Kodi Paste Site and provide the three links here.

(2024-06-28, 03:58)Mavii Wrote: Is there a way to use both NFO files and scarped data?

No, it is one or the other.

(2024-06-28, 03:58)Mavii Wrote: Last question, is there a comprehensive list somewhere of all the NFO tags?

Yes, here... https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files

And you might find some of these other pages helpful... https://kodi.wiki/view/Category:Karellen
Don't forget movie universes if you are into that sort of thing... https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Movie_universe

Mavii · 2024-06-28, 04:08

OK, I just found this article on the wiki that says how to make a combo NFO file that will combine scrapped and NFO data.

LINK TO ARTICLE

What makes it a combo NFO file? The addition of the URL at the end? Can I use IMDB?

**Karellen** · 2024-06-28, 04:43

(2024-06-28, 04:08)Mavii Wrote: What makes it a combo NFO file? The addition of the URL at the end? Can I use IMDB?

Correct, the URL at the end.
No, you cannot use IMDB because we don't have a working IMDB scraper.

Careful how you use this. Don't just add the link at the end hoping it all works. The nfo file can only contain the tags you want to keep. So if you have the Plot, in the nfo file, but you expect a new plot to be scraped, then it won't.
Also, I still don't know if your nfo files are compatible, so it may not work.

Mavii · 2024-07-01, 23:31

(2024-06-28, 04:43)Karellen Wrote: Careful how you use this. Don't just add the link at the end hoping it all works. The nfo file can only contain the tags you want to keep. So if you have the Plot, in the nfo file, but you expect a new plot to be scraped, then it won't.
Also, I still don't know if your nfo files are compatible, so it may not work.

So far, I've been able to get my NFO files to work. I had very simple NFO files before KODI with only the title, sorttitle, length, aspect ratio, genres, plot, and sets. Nothing more. (I'm only looking at my Movie files at the moment. Things might get more complicated once I get to my TV files.) So far, all is working fine. Once I add the URL to the NFO, KODI scraps everything else that is needed for the skin I am using.

Mavii · 2024-07-01, 23:46

(2024-06-28, 04:07)Karellen Wrote:
(2024-06-28, 03:58)Mavii Wrote: Is there a comprehensive list somewhere of all of the naming conventions.
Not really. If you look at the images in those HOW-TO pages, it shows how all the media should be named. I tried to include all the sorts of items users would want included - trailers, subtitles, artwork etc.

(2024-06-28, 03:58)Mavii Wrote: Also, I used exclusively NFO files with my popcornhour/yamj. I would like to use them again
Can you post the nfo files for 1 movie, 1 tv show, and 1 episode and I can do a quick check if they are compatible.
Post to Kodi Paste Site and provide the three links here.

(2024-06-28, 03:58)Mavii Wrote: Is there a way to use both NFO files and scarped data?
No, it is one or the other.

(2024-06-28, 03:58)Mavii Wrote: Last question, is there a comprehensive list somewhere of all the NFO tags?
Yes, here... https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files

And you might find some of these other pages helpful... https://kodi.wiki/view/Category:Karellen
Don't forget movie universes if you are into that sort of thing... https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Movie_universe

1) I think I'm getting the hang of the naming conventions.
2) I won't post any NFO files for now. My Movie NFO files seem to be working. If I have trouble with my TV Show NFO files, I'll make a new post to address specific questions.
3) I probable didn't state my questions clearly, but adding the URL to the NFO got the result I wanted. KODI keeps what is in the NFO, and scraps anything else that is missing.
4) Thank you for the link to the NFO files. Are the examples on the link you sent represent and exhaustive list of tags, or are there things that can be used in NFO files that aren't listed on this page? For example, some of my NFO files contain the following variation of the <set></set> tag to assign the order of a movie in a set.

<set order="1">
<name></name>
<overview></overview>
</set>

Does this work in KODI?

**Karellen** · 2024-07-02, 00:12

(2024-07-01, 23:46)Mavii Wrote: Are the examples on the link you sent represent and exhaustive list of tags, or are there things that can be used in NFO files that aren't listed on this page?

Depends on which page you are looking at. If you are looking at the Templates page, then there are more tags that can be used.
If you are looking at the movie/tv show/episode nfo pages, that long list of tags is the complete list.

That <set order> tag won't work. Probably the set information will be scanned, but the order will be ignored.
To use an order in sets, use the <sorttitle> tag. See... https://kodi.wiki/view/Movie_sets

**bossanova808** · 2024-07-02, 01:47

Just out of curiosity - why use NFO files etc at all? Why now just name things correctly (and Kodi is _reasonably_ flexible and clever with various forms of naming) - and then let things scrape as normal? The old PCH approach of needing pre-made files to explain eveything is long gone, surely...unless you have strange/unusual things in your library or want to force a structure that is different to the online DBs...

No criticism, it just doesn't seem there's a clear reason present here to use NFO files at all. Most of the time Kodi does the hard work for you, as long as your naming is ok to start with....and that might not be clear to someone coming from the old PCH world...

Mavii · 2024-07-04, 18:51

(2024-07-02, 01:47)bossanova808 Wrote: Just out of curiosity - why use NFO files etc at all? Why now just name things correctly (and Kodi is _reasonably_ flexible and clever with various forms of naming) - and then let things scrape as normal? The old PCH approach of needing pre-made files to explain eveything is long gone, surely...unless you have strange/unusual things in your library or want to force a structure that is different to the online DBs...

No criticism, it just doesn't seem there's a clear reason present here to use NFO files at all. Most of the time Kodi does the hard work for you, as long as your naming is ok to start with....and that might not be clear to someone coming from the old PCH world...

Those are good questions.

1) I like to store everything local so that scraping isn't needed. Once I have a movie in my collection, I like to get the artwork and meta data just how I want it and then know it will never change because of a scrapper change, a web page change, etc.
2) I do a lot of editing to my movies. I have small kids and hope to have grandkids at some point. I've spent a considerable amount of time editing bad language, etc. out of movies that they would otherwise enjoy. I like to have custom meta data and artwork for movies I've edited.
3) I have a lot of home movies I stream. Thier information cannot be scrapped.

I hope that shares some insights into why I still use NFO files. But I will admit, scrappers have come a long way in the last 15 years.

Mavii · 2024-07-04, 19:01

(2024-07-02, 00:12)Karellen Wrote: That <set order> tag won't work. Probably the set information will be scanned, but the order will be ignored.
To use an order in sets, use the <sorttitle> tag. See... https://kodi.wiki/view/Movie_sets

As a future point of reference, the set tag was scanned, but the order was not. I just got done testing it. I'll use the sorttitle tag.