# Group transfered mpg files into folders on Now Playing Tivo menu



## mike212 (Apr 7, 2006)

I have about 50 mpg videos that I've transferred to my Tivo. All the videos are related so I'd like them to all appear in the same folder in my now playing list. Is that possible?


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## Enrique (May 15, 2006)

How are they related? TV show, Movie, other?


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

pyTivo will do it.


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## mike212 (Apr 7, 2006)

Enrique said:


> How are they related? TV show, Movie, other?


They are all mpg files I created. They weren't recorded via Tivo originally. There isn't any specific attribute about them that makes them related, just that I'd like them all in one folder.


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## mike212 (Apr 7, 2006)

ggieseke said:


> pyTivo will do it.


I saw that pyTivo will show folders when files that are on the computer are accessed, but what if I move the files to the Tivo and shut down all computers in my house? Will these mpg files display in one folder on my Now Playing list?


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## Enrique (May 15, 2006)

mike212 said:


> They are all mpg files I created. They weren't recorded via Tivo originally. There isn't any specific attribute about them that makes them related, just that I'd like them all in one folder.


Then you can't. The only thing I've found that works is MetaGenerator but it only works for TV shows and movies(For now).

http://pytivo.krkeegan.com/metagenerator-version-2-beta-t555.html


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## Yoav (Jan 13, 2007)

The short version is 'no'.
Tivo only groups 'by folder' shows that have the same name and 'seriesID'.
the 'folders' don't even exist. It's just a pretty display convenience if you select 'group shows by name'. Inside the tivo the shows are stored in a flat hierarchy.


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## mike212 (Apr 7, 2006)

Yoav said:


> The short version is 'no'.
> Tivo only groups 'by folder' shows that have the same name and 'seriesID'.
> the 'folders' don't even exist. It's just a pretty display convenience if you select 'group shows by name'. Inside the tivo the shows are stored in a flat hierarchy.


So there isn't any way to manually edit the name and 'seriesID' of my non .tivo files?


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## westside_guy (Mar 13, 2005)

mike212 said:


> So there isn't any way to manually edit the name and 'seriesID' of my non .tivo files?


Yes, there is. Just use a text editor, and create a file with the same name as your video - but with ".txt" appended to it.

Let's say I (hypothetically, of course) have a ripped version of one of my DVDs - let's call that hypothetical video file "Dr._No.mp4". Here's what the hypothetical metadata file for that video - let's call it "Dr._No.mp4.txt" - might look like:


```
title : Dr. No
episodeTitle : Dr. No
originalAirDate : 1963-05-08T21:00:00Z
description : James Bond's investigation of a missing colleague in Jamaica leads him to the island of the mysterious Dr. No and a scheme to end the US space program. 
isEpisode : false
seriesId : MV142857
seriesTitle : Dr. No
episodeNumber : 1
vProgramGenre : Drama
vSeriesGenre : Drama
vDirector : Terrence Young
vWriter : Johanna Harwood
vWriter : Berkely Mather
vActor : Sean Connery
vActor : Bernard Lee
vActor : Lois Maxwell
vActor : Jack Lord
vActor : Joseph Wiseman
vActor : John Kitzmiller
```
You could leave most of this out and have it still work. The seriesId entry is certainly a must, however.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Just to add to what westside_guy said, then your must serve the videos back to the Tivos again using *pyTivo* as it's the only application which can use the .mpg.txt metadata files in conjunction with the .mpg files (Tivo Desktop will not work).


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## mike212 (Apr 7, 2006)

moyekj said:


> Just to add to what westside_guy said, then your must serve the videos back to the Tivos again using *pyTivo* as it's the only application which can use the .mpg.txt metadata files in conjunction with the .mpg files (Tivo Desktop will not work).


Was just logging in to ask that, because I couldn't get it to work with Tivo Desktop. I'll try installing pyTivo tonight.


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## Yoav (Jan 13, 2007)

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe the seriesID will need to match the show name. So you'll need to make sure all your unrelated 'videos' are 'episodes' of the same 'show'.. (whose episode name is the title of your movie)

In some other thread (possibly on the pytivo forums) someone found a TV show whose name was something like "Movies" or something useful like that, and posted the seriesID for it too.. I can't seem to find that thread though, so someone else may be able to chime in...


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## SMWinnie (Aug 17, 2002)

westside_guy said:


> ```
> title : Dr. No
> episodeTitle : Dr. No
> originalAirDate : 1963-05-08T21:00:00Z
> ...


After serving back to the TiVo, would this group with other entries that have the same seriesId?

I've been trying to do this, without success, with a handful of SHXXXXXX codes on the assumption that the TiVo will only group TV series rather than movies.


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## berkshires (Feb 22, 2007)

Will the shows group if there are no episodes in the current program info? That's been an issue in the past where even .tivos transferred back don't regroup.


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## Enrique (May 15, 2006)

berkshires said:


> Will the shows group if there are no episodes in the current program info? That's been an issue in the past where even .tivos transferred back don't regroup.


Yes, I downloaded(via Bittorrent) the The Wonder Years S1 and it grouped fine.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Enrique said:


> Yes, I downloaded(via Bittorrent) the The Wonder Years S1 and it grouped fine.


Then there must be at least one episode of The Wonder Years somewhere in your guide data. TiVo will only group programs if the same series ID exists somewhere in the current guide data. It doesn't matter if the show is transfered from a PC or another TiVo via MRV, if the show doesn't exist in the current guide data it will not group. That being said, once it does group it will stay grouped even if the program disappears guide data after the transfer.

OP - There are two ways to get your self made MPEG files to group on the TiVo...

1) There are a few generic SeriesID values used for things like Amazon and One True Media you can use with pyTiVo that will cause the programs to group on the TiVo. Although they will be grouped along with programs which were actually downloaded from those services.

2) The newest version of TiVo Desktop Plus has an auto transfer feature where you can have it transfer all the files in a given folder automatically. When TiVo downloads files this way it adds some sort of SeriesID that allows the programs to group. The downfall is that it's not very reliable and if you want to transfer anything other then compliant .mpg files you'll have to pay $25 for the Plus version

Dan


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## jmemmott (Jul 12, 2003)

Dan203 said:


> Then there must be at least one episode of The Wonder Years somewhere in your guide data. TiVo will only group programs if the same series ID exists somewhere in the current guide data. It doesn't matter if the show is transfered from a PC or another TiVo via MRV, if the show doesn't exist in the current guide data it will not group.


As a minor note they also appear to group if a season pass still exists even if the program is no longer in the guide data. I watched _Charlie Jade_ on SciFi last summer and missed some episodes. Later, I was able to get those episodes from another source. When I sent them back using pyTivo and handcrafted metadata, they grouped correctly. The program was no longer in any lineup and all of the programs were gone from my Tivo but I had not deleted the season pass I had been using during the summer.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Hmm.. Didn't know that. They may have added this to appease people who use the auto transfer feature to offload programs to their PC and then transfer them back at a later date. 

OK so I should have said... If the series information does not already exist on the TiVo, in one form or another, then transfered programs will not group, even if they all have the same SeriesID.

Dan


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## Rdian06 (Apr 12, 2008)

I've only ever tried to group for TV shows (isEpisode = True). Not sure what happens with movies.

As others have said, the seriesID must have existed somewhere in your guide data currently or at some point.

AND the group name will be taken from the guide data based on the seriesID once two episodes have been transferred. So you can't just make up your own name using the seriesTitle field. And I believe the seriesTitle fields don't have to match, just the seriesID fields.


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## jlb (Dec 13, 2001)

If all you want to do is have them all in one folder, and you don't mind a small fee, then you can do this "easily" with TiVo Desktop +.

If you don't have the files still on the PC, then first transfer the files back to the PC. Then, put them all in one subfolder within you TiVo Recordings folder. Then you can "publish" that folder witih TiVo Desktop+ and it will transfer everything in that folder. The only possible issue is there may be a KAM limit on the published folder. You may need to break it down into smaller groups.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong.


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## txporter (Sep 18, 2006)

Rdian06 said:


> I've only ever tried to group for TV shows (isEpisode = True). Not sure what happens with movies.


I tried this over last weekend with some movies. Using the list found in this thread, I simply added a seriesID = SHxxxxxx (can't open file here at work, blocked by firewall) that corresponded to the 2nd instance of 'Movie'. I left the isEpisode = False and they group just fine.

Jason


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