DMS v2.0.1.2 Cannot update the internal disk library search path

[SaturnV]

When you add a USB drive to the DMS, you can specify search paths like the following:

.../DVDFab/Movies (of type "Movies")
.../DVDFab/TV Shows (of type "TV Shows"

..and also store media you don't want scraped in a directory outside the above search path eg "..../DVDFab/My stuff I don't want scraped"

However, you can't do that for the internal disk.

The DMS automatically adds the internal disk to the library search path as /mnt/sata2 (or similar) - which you can't edit or remove (I think you could edit this on previous versions).
You can add additional search paths pointing to the internal disk, such as "smb/.../dvdfab/TV Shows" (of type "TV Shows"), but this seems pointless because you can't remove the /mnt/sata2 path which searches everything as "Mixed"..

This is particularly annoying when you have large numbers of programs that refuse to scrape. I've given up on trying to get these to be recognised and just wanted to move them to a folder outside the search path so they don't keep re-appearing incorrectly each time I update or rebuild the library. I can do this on an attached USB drive, but not on the internal hard disk.

This leads me to another issue on 2.0.1.2. Usually (but not always) when I click "Rebuild Library" it says it's clearing the library, then says it will re-boot. However it doesn't do either and the library is unchanged. Very rarely, this does work as expected.

One further problem - some of my TV series it finds and adds a single DVD to the TV Shows Poster wall, but never adds the other episodes or seasons. Also, the missing iso files don't get added to the the DMS Videos section so there is no way to correct and add them to a poster wall. They do however exist in the folder structure - from where they can be played.
I also can't find the missing seasons being added to the wrong TV Show.

I thought all video should exist in either the "Movies" or "TV Shows" poster walls, or under "DMS Video". Obviously not - making it impossible to correct some bad scrapes.

[signals]

If you want some items not to be scraped, put them in a folder named nomedia (enter it exactly as typed here).

The paths can easily be expanded/modified/deleted on the page shown below. It is accessed from the Function Menu on the Movies page (click up).

[SaturnV]

Signals, thanks for that, I didn't know about "nomedia" being a special folder that is not scraped.

Are "Movies" and "TV Shows" also special folder names? I don't think they are. If they aren't, it is impossible to specify separate scrape paths for Movies and TV shows on the internal hard disk which don't conflict with the default path.

While you can add and delete library paths, unless you can tell me how, the only modification you can make to the internal drive path /mnt/sata/sata2 is to change "Mix" to "Movies" or "TV Shows". Other than this, the internal disk path cannot be modified or removed.

For example, adding separate paths for Movies and TV Shows on the internal disk, you would then have overlapping search paths with conflicting media types - which cannot be a good thing!

Mix /mnt/sata/sata2 (which can't be modified or deleted - other than changing the media type)
Movies SMB/......../sata2/Movies
TV Shows SMB/......../sata2/TV Shows


Whereas what you really want is to be able to explicitly specify something like the following:

Movies /mnt/sata/sata2/DVDFab/Movies
TV Shows /mnt/sata/sata2/DVDFab/TV Shows
Mix /mnt/sata/sata2/DVDFab/Mix


I believe you were able to set this up on earlier versions of the software - although to be honest, you still got TV shows in the Movies Poster wall, so I'm not sure what effect the media type field actually has!

I hope that makes sense, it's surprisingly hard to describe what appears to be a simple issue!

[SaturnV]

The "nomedia" folder does not work to prevent scraping. After eventually managing to trigger a "Rebuild Library", media placed in the nomedia folder is still scraped (wrongly) as before. I actually saw the scraper searching files that only exist in that folder..

[intvfan]

When you add a USB drive to the DMS, you can specify search paths like the following:

.../DVDFab/Movies (of type "Movies")
.../DVDFab/TV Shows (of type "TV Shows"

..and also store media you don't want scraped in a directory outside the above search path eg "..../DVDFab/My stuff I don't want scraped"

However, you can't do that for the internal disk.

The DMS automatically adds the internal disk to the library search path as /mnt/sata2 (or similar) - which you can't edit or remove (I think you could edit this on previous versions).
You can add additional search paths pointing to the internal disk, such as "smb/.../dvdfab/TV Shows" (of type "TV Shows"), but this seems pointless because you can't remove the /mnt/sata2 path which searches everything as "Mixed"..

This is particularly annoying when you have large numbers of programs that refuse to scrape. I've given up on trying to get these to be recognised and just wanted to move them to a folder outside the search path so they don't keep re-appearing incorrectly each time I update or rebuild the library. I can do this on an attached USB drive, but not on the internal hard disk.

This leads me to another issue on 2.0.1.2. Usually (but not always) when I click "Rebuild Library" it says it's clearing the library, then says it will re-boot. However it doesn't do either and the library is unchanged. Very rarely, this does work as expected.

One further problem - some of my TV series it finds and adds a single DVD to the TV Shows Poster wall, but never adds the other episodes or seasons. Also, the missing iso files don't get added to the the DMS Videos section so there is no way to correct and add them to a poster wall. They do however exist in the folder structure - from where they can be played.
I also can't find the missing seasons being added to the wrong TV Show.

I thought all video should exist in either the "Movies" or "TV Shows" poster walls, or under "DMS Video". Obviously not - making it impossible to correct some bad scrapes.

I talked about this a while back.
I found adding the paths again actually change the results. I agree the base path is hard set and should include everything! And should be removable. But I guess this is for the standard user.

https://forum.dvdfab.cn/forum/dvdfab-english/dvdfab-movie-server/367725-a-few-issues

[signals]

Try putting a file named "nomedia" with no file suffix (make it with Notepad) in the folder. This worked in earlier versions and is (or was) an android os function. I will try that again and see.

The TV shows on the movie wall was a metadata problem in earlier versions, it should not happen in the future or at least not as often. It does not with mine....

[SaturnV]

With the latest version v2.0.1.3, library search paths with a /mnt prefix are now automatically added for each attached USB drive.

This has fixed the problem I had when you could only add /smb search paths, where NONE of the scraped video on these drives would ever play from the poster walls, but would play from "VIDEOS" (yes I know some people managed to play USB videos from the poster walls, but it never worked for me). Now for the first time, they do play directly from the poster walls (Hooray!)

HOWEVER.... because the "nomedia" folder or file option does not work at all (they are ALWAYS scraped), where previoously I could work around this by adding for example /smb....../DVDFab as a library search path - so only files in the DVDFab folder are scraped, now EVERYTHING on these drives is scraped. My MOVIE poster wall jumped from about 450 to 1500 - full up with videos not in the Movie DB, so are always scraped incorrectly. I had to delete them from the disks because it is not feasible to manually correct or remove 1000 wrong scrapes (far easier to not have them in the search path).

So Catch 22

- If I keep the automatically added /mnt paths - everything is in the search path, including nomedia and the poster walls are swamped with matches that will not scrape correctly

- If I delete the automatically added /mnt paths and add /smb library search paths, I can specify search paths that do not include the video I don't want scraped, but then USB movies will not play from a poster wall. (actually, I think the /mnt search paths are probably automatically added back again if deleted them, so this is probably not an option)

PLEASE,

- Fix the "nomedia" (no scrape) directory, and/or
- when /mnt paths are automatically added to the Library search path, add them all with a /DVDFab suffix. That way only videos in the DVDFab directory are searched

Alternatively allow us to manually edit these search /mnt paths....

[Dead Eye]

There are at least 3 copies of that file '.nomedia' (...and yes, that is a period before the 'nomedia') in the DMS main share. One is at...
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\\android_xxxxxx\share\sdcard\Android\data\org.dvd fab.box.launcher\temp - replace the 'xxxxxx' with the numbers that match your unit.
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It prevents the scraper from looking at content in a designated directory structure. I watch a lot of older documentaries and other obscure content that I get at Half Priced Books that if allowed to be scraped would generate a lot of false meta data and posters. I for one do not use the poster wall that much, but the few times I have looked at it I know that it would drive me crazy to put the time in to try and correct them. My documentaries folder has a lot of sub-folders so I just put this file in the root of that directory, then nothing below that gets scanned. The only directory on my unit that gets scanned is the movies directory. This makes sure my poster wall stays as accurate as possible.

[SaturnV]

Thanks Dead Eye, I shall try ".nomedia" (signals didn't tell me about the dot prefix in his above response - OK, we all have a bad day). No wonder it doesn't work for me. I shall try it out

I too have loads of old documentaries and many obscure DVDs, particularly about the Apollo Space Program (hence the "SaturnV"). None of these have any chance of a good scrape, and whilst it is possible to correct bad matches, it is a slow, painful process when you have thousands to correct. To make matters worse, when you do invest the time to sort out the poster wall, for one reason or another you end up having to rebuild the library from scratch and do it all over again (although .nfo files help a bit). I would much prefer that instead of this automated (and often wrong) process, to instead have a simple method to manually add your own poster wall entries, supplying your own images and description. Create it once and be able to save it, never have to re-do anything other than add new entries.

My latest gripe is the whole process for correcting bad matches. Why-oh-why do you have to painfully scroll through "DMS Videos" to find what you want? The scroll bar is barely visible and shrinks in height to the point that after a few pages it is beneath the windows task bar making it unuseable (why make it shrink???)! Page Up/Down also don't work so you end up HAVING to use the mouse scroll wheel to go further down the list, just to get back to the point where you made your last edit. Yes I know you can filter, but that's not much good when you don't know what's in the list! Why not just have it as a straight list? After all, by definition none of entries in DMS Videos will have an associated image...

[Dead Eye]

No problem SaturnV...glad to help. Another poster in here said that you can launch notepad then change the 'Save As' to 'all files'...by default it is *.txt, then just type '.nomedia'(..which makes it more like an extension with no file name) then click save. But like I said there copies of that file within the DMS file system already so you can find one, copy it and just paste it where you want it.
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I really think the 'Video' category should default into a 'List' view, exposing the the full path and file name right there so that it is viewed when determining what file is being dealt with without stepping into the 'Fix Metadata' screen. List should be an option in the 'View' grid selection anyways....like in this PIC...but that is just me.
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[Dead Eye]

Hey SaturnV...here is a PIC for your avatar! Resize and crop as necessary!
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[SaturnV]

Thanks Dead Eye a file called ".nomedia" did the trick (makes you wonder why DVDFab support didn't tell me this).

I totally agree with the option to display videos in list mode - together with the path and file name. It would be useful to have the same option on the Movies and TV Shows poster wall in the PC web tool. One of the problems I have is files going missing - they don't appear in "DMS VIDEOS", usually because they are incorrectly matched to something else - but a nightmare to find. I have several TV Shows where I just can't find some of the DVDs! I presume they're lurking somewhere under another TV series, or on the Movie wall, but as I say, a nightmare to find.

It would be very useful if there was an option from the VIDEOS list view, where you could select a file and have a "Where am I matched to?" option from the menu to display the name of the Movie or TV Show it's hiding under...

I presume the database itself isn't a simple XML file (or similar) that can't be found and viewed in notepad like you can for example do with iTunes?

[SaturnV]

Thanks Dead Eye a file called ".nomedia" did the trick (makes you wonder why DVDFab support didn't tell me this).

I totally agree with the option to display videos in list mode - together with the path and file name. It would be useful to have the same option on the Movies and TV Shows poster wall in the PC web tool. One of the problems I have is files going missing - they don't appear in "DMS VIDEOS", usually because they are incorrectly matched to something else - but a nightmare to find. I have several TV Shows where I just can't find some of the DVDs! I presume they're lurking somewhere under another TV series, or on the Movie wall, but as I say, a nightmare to find.

It would be very useful if there was an option from the VIDEOS list view, where you could select a file and have a "Where am I matched to?" option from the menu to display the name of the Movie or TV Show it's hiding under...

I presume the database itself isn't a simple XML file (or similar) that can't be found and viewed in notepad like you can for example do with iTunes?.

[Dead Eye]

Good job, I find it very useful. The extension for the database file is '.db4' I tried to open it in MS Access 2019 and it wouldn't open it. The '.nfo' files that the local web app creates can be opened in notepad. They look like '.xml' files internally. My sister is an ms access teacher and can program it. I asked her if she could create a web interface(web page) that has the input fields that those .nfo files have and save it in that format and extension. I'll find out soon what she comes up with.

With multi-tabed browsers it seems as though this would be a no brainer for the web programmers here, where you have on one locally loaded page(..the input page) and on another tab have your favorite movie database website and just copy the info for the fields in the input fields. Once populated you click on save and it would create the '.nfo' file for the movie. Public use laws should alleviate any copyright concerns...but maybe not...who knows?

[tbrown25]

The internal database on the media server can be opened with any SQLite app. I have done this a few times to correct problems, but I don't recommend doing this unless you have some database experience as you can quickly turn the database into garbage if you are not careful.

The nfo files are indeed xml files. They can be read and edited in notepad. The format is kind of a KODI standard. There are free apps out there that will allow you to create an nfo file manually.