# Adding Metadata to MPEG Files



## Technogod (Aug 22, 2009)

I have MPEG files captured from another DVR that I want to transfer to my TiVo. How can I add the metadata information to the files so TiVo will display the proper information and add them to the proper folder?


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## Stormspace (Apr 13, 2004)

Try this. Name your file like so:

Show Name - Title (Recorded Day Mon MM YYYY HH mm WXXX).mpg

example:
"Doctor Who - The Eleventh Hour (Recorded Fri Apr 02 2010 20 00 SYFY).mpg"

It will name the show correctly, but won't place it in folders.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

There are a couple metadata tools for PyTiVo but I never got them to work the way I want.


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## ajayabb (Jan 12, 2007)

I recommend MetaGenerator. It works really well.:up:
http://pytivo.sourceforge.net/forum/metagenerator-version-2-beta-t555.html


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

innocentfreak said:


> There are a couple metadata tools for PyTiVo but I never got them to work the way I want.





ajayabb said:


> I recommend MetaGenerator. It works really well.:up:
> http://pytivo.sourceforge.net/forum/metagenerator-version-2-beta-t555.html


MetaGenerator should work OK but you do need pyTiVo to transfer mpeg videos to the TiVo with metadata. MetaGenerator creates a pyTiVo metadata text file. If your video file is myVideo.mpg the metadata file will be myVideo.mpg.txt and it must be in the same folder as the video file.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

dlfl said:


> MetaGenerator should work OK but you do need pyTiVo to transfer mpeg videos to the TiVo with metadata. MetaGenerator creates a pyTiVo metadata text file. If your video file is myVideo.mpg the metadata file will be myVideo.mpg.txt and it must be in the same folder as the video file.


Yeah I tried it I believe and I just have too many videos. I was hoping to find something like the various automated metadata tools for Boxee and XBMC where it adds the season and episode number making it easier to browse my transfers.


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## Technogod (Aug 22, 2009)

PyTivo and MetaGenerator work great. How do I get the folders to work?


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Technogod said:


> PyTivo and MetaGenerator work great. How do I get the folders to work?


Browse the pyTiVo forum and wiki, or better yet try to get the attention of wmcbrine who is the de facto lead developer of pyTiVo and can answer this question quite handily. I'm a little hazy on it myself without doing some research to refresh my memory, in fact not totally sure of exactly what you mean by "get the folders to work".


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## NYHeel (Oct 7, 2003)

dlfl said:


> Browse the pyTiVo forum and wiki, or better yet try to get the attention of wmcbrine who is the de facto lead developer of pyTiVo and can answer this question quite handily. I'm a little hazy on it myself without doing some research to refresh my memory, in fact not totally sure of exactly what you mean by "get the folders to work".


I have the same issue. I had a bunch of mpeg files on my laptop (from my old Tivo) and transferred back to my new Tivo (well actually new hard drive, same Tivo) with PyTivo. I have Metadata for each of the files but when they transfer back they don't create folders. It's really annoying having 5 episodes of something with no folders in the list.


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## jaredmwright (Sep 6, 2004)

Here is a copy of the output file I use for pytivo to send shows into a folder. The folder shows up as Paid Programming due to the seriesId that I use. It works fine for me.

seriesTitle : Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue
isEpisode : true
seriesId : SH000001
description : Tinker Bell must team up with a rival fairy to keep their existence a secret from humans.
vSeriesGenre : Cartoon

make sure the name of the .txt file matches the filename as well:
My meta filename:
Tinker Bell & The Great Fairy Rescue.mkv.txt
My move filename:
Tinker Bell & The Great Fairy Rescue.mkv


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

I need to research and find an easy way to look up the TiVo show codes for every show. This way I could match my shows to the actual TiVo shows. I imagine they are on zap2it somewhere, but I usually see EP codes now.


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## Tivoitis (Sep 12, 2005)

innocentfreak said:


> I need to research and find an easy way to look up the TiVo show codes for every show. This way I could match my shows to the actual TiVo shows. I imagine they are on zap2it somewhere, but I usually see EP codes now.


If I recall correctly, you just need to use "isEpisode: true" and the same seriesId. You don't really need to capture the "real" seriesId - just make sure they're the same for all the shows that you want to keep grouped together.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

The goal is though I want to group transferred shows with recorded shows if the series matches.


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## bobfrank (Mar 17, 2005)

Below is a link to an earlier thread which shows how to put uploaded video files into a Tivo folder of your choice.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7555181#post7555181

The seriesId can be almost anything you want, KidsMovies, VacationVideos, etc.

This works great for me.

Bob


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## Technogod (Aug 22, 2009)

I'd like to thank everybody for their help.


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## metronomadic (Feb 10, 2009)

It isn't automated, but if you want to look up series IDs manually / build a tool, it looks like there is a tool that wmcbrine made to lookup the series id of all your shows / a list of people submitting their shows.

I can't post links yet apparently, but try thread t=375589

You can submit yours to help make it a more exhaustive list. I might try the same sometime soon, but I just plugged my new box in over the weekend, and still have to setup most of my season passes.


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## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

metronomadic said:


> It isn't automated, but if you want to look up series IDs manually / build a tool, it looks like there is a tool that wmcbrine made to lookup the series id of all your shows / a list of people submitting their shows.
> 
> I can't post links yet apparently, but try thread t=375589
> 
> You can submit yours to help make it a more exhaustive list. I might try the same sometime soon, but I just plugged my new box in over the weekend, and still have to setup most of my season passes.


Helpin' out: http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=375589


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## metronomadic (Feb 10, 2009)

I found something new, and now I can post links!

The best thing I've found yet for looking up / making metadata files is this tool by MasterCephus called MetaGenerator Version 2 (beta). It's windows only afaik, but I just used it to tag some movies and it worked great. (It also searches TV shows, too.)


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

metronomadic said:


> It isn't automated, but if you want to look up series IDs manually / build a tool, it looks like there is a tool that wmcbrine made to lookup the series id of all your shows / a list of people submitting their shows.
> 
> I can't post links yet apparently, but try thread t=375589
> 
> You can submit yours to help make it a more exhaustive list. I might try the same sometime soon, but I just plugged my new box in over the weekend, and still have to setup most of my season passes.





orangeboy said:


> Helpin' out: http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=375589


Thanks. I will look at that tonight. It might come in handy in another application.


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## tiv0 newbie (Aug 28, 2015)

I know that this is an old thread, but I am hoping that someone can help me. I want to pull videos without metadata files from my PC to my Tivo and have them sorted into folders by the years that they were made. So, when I go to "My Shows" on the Tivo I can go into a folder labeled as "2008" and scroll through videos that I made in 2008 and so on. I have tried creating .txt files for a few test videos, but they will not sort into folders. Can anyone give me some help?


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

tiv0 newbie said:


> I know that this is an old thread, but I am hoping that someone can help me. I want to pull videos without metadata files from my PC to my Tivo and have them sorted into folders by the years that they were made. So, when I go to "My Shows" on the Tivo I can go into a folder labeled as "2008" and scroll through videos that I made in 2008 and so on. I have tried creating .txt files for a few test videos, but they will not sort into folders. Can anyone give me some help?


Did you see post #14 above, and go to the linked information--have you looked into MetaGenerator?


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## tiv0 newbie (Aug 28, 2015)

Mikeguy said:


> Did you see post #14 above, and go to the linked information--have you looked into MetaGenerator?


Mikeguy,
Thank you for the response. I did follow the thread linked in post #14, but what I saw required a "push" transfer which apparrently
is no longer working for Tivos. I have also looked into metagenerator, but that appears to be a tool to fetch metadata from the internet for published movies and TV series etc and not for home brew movies for which no metadata exists. However, I am very unsophisticated in these areas and I could be misinterpreting some things.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Check this post.

Metagenerator 3 -- Support & Downloads

Scott


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## tiv0 newbie (Aug 28, 2015)

HerronScott said:


> Check this post.
> 
> Metagenerator 3 -- Support & Downloads
> 
> Scott


HScott,
Thanks for the heads up. I will give it a try. Thank you very much.


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## tiv0 newbie (Aug 28, 2015)

HerronScott said:


> Check this post.
> 
> Metagenerator 3 -- Support & Downloads
> 
> Scott


I tried the method from the post you referenced. I still cannot get the videos to group in a particular folder.


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## Sparky1234 (May 8, 2006)

Technogod said:


> I have MPEG files captured from another DVR that I want to transfer to my TiVo. How can I add the metadata information to the files so TiVo will display the proper information and add them to the proper folder?


Tweaked again:

title : Movie Name
seriesTitle : Any Name you want for folder (shows on TiVo as the folder name)
episodeTitle : Movie Name (2015) (I add year in parentheses)
episodeNumber : 00000xx (create your own sequence of numbers)
description : Movie description from MG3 or pytivo
isEpisode : true
isEpisodic : true
seriesId : TSxxxxxxxx (TS with SAME 8 digit number)

referenced here:

Metagenerator 3 -- Support & Downloads


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## Sparky1234 (May 8, 2006)

Sparky1234 said:


> Tweaked again:
> 
> title : Movie Name
> seriesTitle : Any Name you want for folder (shows on TiVo as the folder name)
> ...


This works for TV shows or whatever programs you want in the same folder.


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