[Azimuth]

Just started using XBMC and I'm currently using the XBMC_for_Windows-Atlantis-Beta_1 and have a couple of questions that I'm sure are easy to answer...

1.) How does it check for new media?
I have shared a couple of movie and tv folders from my main PC to the XBMC PC. Each time the MC loads up I get a bar in the top right telling me it is scanning for new media. If it already has a record for the video file will it ignore it and not go off to the Internet to try and get updates?

I'm finding the often the Screenshots and thumbnails that go with season and episodes change each time I load it up. This would seem to suggest that it is scanning over the wifi then go off to get info from the Internet all the time. Is this the case? My internet speed is not great and it seems a bit pointless for the XBMC to keep querying the network and my main PC for information when it does not need?

2.) How come videos and not appearing in the Library?
As an example I have the tv show House on my main PC. the folder structure is

F:\Tv\House\Season 3\XX - The Show Title.Avi
F:\Tv\House\Season 4\XX - The Show Title.Avi
F:\Tv\House\Season 5\XX - The Show Title.Avi

I have added what I think is the correct custom tag:
<tvshowmatching>
<regexp>Season[\._ ]([0-9]+)[\\/]([0-9]+)[^\\/]*</regexp>
</tvshowmatching>

(taken from the http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=TV_Shows support page)

If I load up the 'File List' view I can browse to and play each episode from season 5 so far with no problem. But when I load up the library and browse to 'House' (via Title or Genre etc) I can see season 3 and 4, but not 5 - even though the naming convention is exactly the same. What could cause this? Its the same on a few different things, but I cannot figure out why?

3.) Does it work over RDP?
Simple one really, at the moment XBMC crashes when I connect to the PC via RDP, or I try and run the app (Windowed or not) when connected to RDP. Disconnecting from RDP and everything is happy. Is this common?

4). MediaStream10
I really like the look of the MediaStream10 skin on the Flickr screenshot page. Forgive a noob's innocence, but can I get hold of this skin (assuming it is a skin) and use it?

Thanks for having a read. I would really appreciate any help, especially on the first 2 points as I would love to get this working 100%. Its a fantastic application and I'm having a great time messing around with it!

Cheers
Azimuth

[althekiller]

These questions are so easy that this should quickly answer them all!

[AshsToAshs]

1.) How does it check for new media?
There is an option in the settings for XBMC to scan for new media on start-up. You can turn it off if you like, but i find it very useful.
Its in the Video Settings section i think.

2.) How come videos and not appearing in the Library?
Ya know, i used XBMC for like 3 years without he Library because i could never figure the damn thing out.
Its pretty simple once you know whats to do. Go to the file view section of videos, right-click on your "tv" folder, and hit "Set-Content". Its going to ask you something like "what kind of content is this?", tell its its for TV Shows. And then tell it to scrape from TheTVdb.com (thats by far the best scraper for tv shows, so use it!).
If your TV shows were named correctly then they will be added to your libary, if not then read this artical: http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=TV_Shows

3.) Does it work over RDP?
No clue, sorry. I dont remote into my system.

4). MediaStream
MediaSteam homepage: http://www.teamrazorfish.co.uk/mediastream.html
you can fallow the progress on this skin here:
http://forum.xbmc.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=69


Hope all that info helps!

-Ash-

[WinterMuteAu]

Well I can tell you it will not work over VNC/RDP or anything like that because it is a OpenGL program (like a game for example) and they doesn't transmit via remote control protocols.

[Azimuth]

Thanks for all the help guys.

I can live with the RDP stuff and soon I am going to get rid of the Wifi and cable everything up, so that should be much faster, but I do have another question around the library.

I have spent a long while reading the Tv Show Wiki page and understand where I am trying to go, but slipping up on the naming convention. Doing a load of searches as well (sorry for not doing it first althekiller), many other people have the same issue.

I am more than happy to change my current convention to a more standard setup assuming I can get everything to read as it should.

Is there a single accpeted 'Best Case Scenario' for naming convenstions - are there sure fire winners with regard to getting the library to work it it's full potential?

If there is no one 'Best' soulition, what kind of convention should I use if I want to keep 2 key elements in my File names:
1. The Episode number
2. The Episode title

(I am keen to keep the files in a nice readable format as I use them outside of XBMC as well, i.e. just S04E13 would not be great).

Thanks again all.

[matt_cyr]

i always name mine like so, and have never had a problem
Show Name - SxxExx - Show Title.avi

Edit: sorry, just read the last line of your post in regards to SxxExx.
I see you don't want to use that convention, but it does seem to be the best, and IMHO keeps the files readable.

[Azimuth]

i always name mine like so, and have never had a problem
Show Name - SxxExx - Show Title.avi

Edit: sorry, just read the last line of your post in regards to SxxExx.
I see you don't want to use that convention, but it does seem to be the best, and IMHO keeps the files readable.

So surrounding the SxxExx with the Show title and Ep title would still mean it should work? I was just trying to avoid just having SxxExx.avi for example.

Would...

C:\Tv\House\Season 1\S01E01 - Pilot.avi
C:\Tv\House\Season 2\S01E02 - The Foobar Dilemma.avi
etc

work?

I would really love to be able to keep all the seasons in thier own folders, and also not have the show title in the file name - just seems like duplicating information really.

Is this possible by default, or would a new RegExp be needed?

Thanks guys

[Freddo]

that'll work by default yep.

[rausch101]

If you're planning to rename every one of your episodes, you should definitely get a batch renaming program to do it. It'll save you hours (if your collection is big enough)

[WiSo]

Well I can tell you it will not work over VNC/RDP or anything like that because it is a OpenGL program (like a game for example) and they doesn't transmit via remote control protocols.

That's not completely true anymore. newest ultravnc is able to show XBMC on you clients desktop. It's rather slow but working

[Azimuth]

Excellent, thanks for the confirmation and advise guys.

Anyone suggest a good renaming application? I did try "tvrenamer.noansi.exe" but that put the name of the show into each episode title, something I was looking to avoid?