[mythtv-users] Mythlink Questions

[Michael Wisniewski]

On Sat, Oct 10, 2015 at 3:27 PM, Mike Perkins <mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk>
wrote:

> On 10/10/15 19:40, Michael Wisniewski wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 4:22 PM, Mike Perkins <
>> mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk>
>> wrote:
>>
>> On 09/10/15 22:05, Michael Wisniewski wrote:
>>>
>>> I've been using MythTV for about 6 months now and have developed a pretty
>>>> decent library.  After the recording, I transcode the videos using a
>>>> user
>>>> job that executes handbrake.  After the transcode, I end up with
>>>> something
>>>> like:
>>>>
>>>> 1225_20150417133000.mp4
>>>>
>>>> What I would like to do is rename these files to something more useful,
>>>> such as
>>>>
>>>> <TV Show Name>\<Season x>\<Episode Name.mp4>
>>>>
>>>> It looks like Mythlink can do this, but I don't want to execute it
>>>> before
>>>> I
>>>> actually know it won't mess things up.  Reading the instructions, it
>>>> looks
>>>> like it just creates a symlink in the format above (with a bit of work).
>>>> You then rename the episode permanently and remove the symlink.
>>>>
>>>> Is this correct?  If so, how does MythTV know to play the updated
>>>> filename
>>>> and not the numerical one?  I would think that if I did this, all the
>>>> recordings would break because the database points to
>>>> "1225_20150417133000.mp4" instead of the expanded name.
>>>>
>>>> Thank you in advanced!
>>>>
>>>> That's because, once you have edited and transcoded your files, you are
>>>>
>>> supposed to move them to the Video library. If you go there you'll see
>>> that
>>> the directory structure you give as an example is one of the ways that
>>> library can be arranged.
>>>
>>> Mythlink is a utility which is designed to give a human-readable link to
>>> files in the Recordings directories (as opposed to the Video
>>> directories).
>>> It was never intended for those names to replace the filenames in the
>>> myth
>>> database.
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>>
>>> When you say "Video Library", what do you mean?  In the MythTV menus, I
>> have "Watch Recordings" and "Watch Videos".  When I go to "Watch Videos",
>> it doesn't seem as easy to navigate as the Recordings are.  Basically the
>> recordings are Show -> Episode List with pretty pictures and descriptions.
>> The Videos are just file folders with filenames.
>>
>> I took it as the Recordings are stuff that's been recorded.  The Videos is
>> your existing video library of things that you've ripped or acquired over
>> the years.
>>
>> In either case, it sounds like Myth likes to use the numerical names and
>> if
>> I want to change it over to what I was thinking, I would have to almost
>> export it out of myth.
>>
>> Recordings is everything you have recorded using a tuner and not done
> anything with. In general, this would be any program you would watch and
> discard, like the news, sports or maybe documentaries, etc. These just have
> a filename consisting of Channel ID plus date and time the recording
> started. This is what is stored in the database, this is *not* a text field.
>
> Videos is where you would put anything that you want to keep, like
> favorite movies or particular series that you enjoy and want to view again,
> or maybe children's programs which get seen over and over again. These can
> be stuff you ripped or programs you exported from Recordings. There are a
> number of scripts around which can do this for you. You get to choose the
> name and directory structure, but there are certain arrangements that
> mythtv will automatically understand[1].
>
> Mythlink is a utility program to help you view *recordings* outside of the
> myth system by just accessing the directory directly - perhaps using Samba
> or NFS. Since the filenames are impenetrable, this just allows you to
> provide something human-readable.
>
> In the Video storage directories, you could set it up the same as
> Recordings appears, ie set up subdirectories with Show -> Series ->
> Episode. Doing it this way is one of the ways Myth understands[1] and it is
> also easy for humans to follow.
>
> [1] Myth will automatically look up metadata and artwork for you if you
> follow one of these schemes.
>
>
>
Thank you very much for the in depth explanation.  I never knew this and
will have to start utilizing this feature.  Also, thank you for explaining
the filename structure...I always wondered if there was a rhyme or reason
to the numbers.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20151010/ffd540c9/attachment.html>