[Caithness]

Hope this is the right place.

I'm tiding up as part of my move to a RPi4, new 6TB HDD. I've found a number (c500) entries in movie where there is no title (ie c00). Looking through the various folders on the 6TB HDD it seems that its where there is no thumbnail.

I have the source set to Local Information Only. Looking at the .nfo files they all have a title attribute set. What would cause the title to be missing in the movie table?

[Karellen]

What would cause the title to be missing in the movie table?

No idea. It shouldn't be missing.

Post the contents of your nfo file to Kodi Paste Site and provide the link and I can check it.

[Caithness]

I generated a list from the new install and I think it may be from things I've loaded without any .nfo initially - its a bit difficult to remember from 2018 <G>

https://paste.kodi.tv/mobezocada

Here's the link but don't spend to much time on it since I'm going to write a bit of code to generate a thumbnail and .nfo for all the videos without a jpg which should sort things out.

[Karellen]

https://paste.kodi.tv/mobezocada

Thanks, I can see the problem.
XML tags are case-sensitive. Must be lowercase.
You have... <Title>Asterix & Ceasar</Title>

I'm going to write a bit of code to generate a thumbnail and .nfo for all the videos without a jpg

I cringe whenever I read that. Invariably, most attempts of quickly automating nfo creation en-masse, lead to defective nfo files.
Some tags are mandatory, and in your example you have not added them, as well as having incorrect tags.
Please look at the templates and use them as your minimum info requirements.... https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files/Templates
Why not just scrape the movies using the Kodi scrapers. If you want nfo files, then use the Export function of Kodi.

[Caithness]

Here's one I know I've created

https://paste.kodi.tv/isucalocub

Its missing a few of the tags in the link you gave so I'll add those, I'll also add the xml version. I know I copied the template from a kodi site on the web. No idea where now.

The link is a bit confusing since the example shown has tags that aren't in the template eg <sorttitle>. I'm assuming the template is the one showing the mandated tags.

The majority of the .nfo files created by my software (c6500) are fine its just c350 without jpgs that are wrong. A quick look shows that they have Title rather than title, but the rest of the tags are all in lower case - weird.

Thanks - I hadn't realised the xml was case sensitive so at least I know the problem now.

[Karellen]

The link is a bit confusing since the example shown has tags that aren't in the template eg <sorttitle>.

It is expected that the majority of users will use scrapers or a media manager to populate the library the first time. It is unusual to manually create nfo files for moves that are listed at scraper sites.
With that in mind, the templates are created for users that have home movies, sporting events, or other media that are difficult/impossible to scrape. If all the tags in the template have values added, then it provides the minimum information for correctness and "usefulness". Its explained at the start of the page, where it also says, if you need more tags, then add them which is why the samples are there as well as all the linked pages which details all the available tags.

The majority of the .nfo files created by my software (c6500) are fine

I don't know what c6500 software is, but I disagree. Your nfo file tags are incorrect. Your "Set" and "Ratings" and "year" are wrong. You have no UniqueID (mandatory), you have added "thumb" when it is not needed.
Like I said previously, if your movies are distributed movies, then they are listed at the scraper sites. Use the scrapers.

[Caithness]

<<It is expected that the majority of users will use scrapers or a media manager to populate the library the first time. It is unusual to manually create nfo files for moves that are listed at scraper sites.>>

Fair enough and as you indicate probably true for the majority of users. Sorry for being different <G>

<<I don't know what c6500 software is>>

c6500 = circa 6,500 videos of various sorts

<<but I disagree.>>

My definition of "fine" is that the .nfo files I created work happily with Kodi, the thumbnail and plot are shown.  Unfortunately my memory is not sufficient that I can remember where I found the tag definitions back in 2018, maybe back then those tags were what were on the wiki. What really puzzles me is that 350 out of 7000 have no thumnail associated and those are the ones with the duff .nfo files. Looking through the list of the 350 with <Title> they mostly seem to be among the first stuff I would have loaded and often via a route of VHS tape -> DVD -> Kodi.

"You have no UniqueID (mandatory)," looking here https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files/Movies this is an id for a scraper site. I don't use scraper sites and an unlikely to start so why is it mandatory? 

Final questions
- how does Kodi handle comments in the xml files? I'm guessing they're OK
- I've been experimenting with EXPORT for the library as advised above - the nfo files produced use html format eg Dad&apos;s Army rather than Dad's Army. Is that the right approach?

[DaVu]

What i've done in the past when I started to create and write my own NFO files....

I scraped a few movies (100-300) and searched for the movie which shows the most info on the skin. I also played those movies to get streamdetails. I then exported those movies, compared the NFOs and took the one which has the most tags in use. Then I removed all the content at those tags and used that as a template. 

Over the years and experimenting with NFO files I learned which tags affecting which fields at the DB. The wiki @Karellen mentioned is very good help to see available tags. I guess it's 100% complete.

Nowadays I'm only writing NFO files if it's absolutely needed. Hence I agree with the statement "Use the scrapers"

[Caithness]

Thanks for the advice but using the scrapers is not the route I intend to take. I have little or no interest in much of the information Kodi can store (eg I don't care what role a specific actor played in the movie) so I'm quite happy with the minimal information I put into the .nfo.

The critical piece of information I'd forgotten was that xml is case sensitive and I still have no idea where the capital T came from in the 5% or so.  Loking at them they all seem to be ones that transitioned fom VHS -> DVD -> digital and would have been transfered to Kodi without an nfo file or thumbnail.