File Naming Conventions

[bdushok]

I'm very new to Universal Media Server, I've just installed it a few hours ago! I've been a Serviio user for almost ten years.

I can't seem to find documentation which shows the naming conventions which should be used on TV episodes stored within shared content folders. Serviio likes TV episodes to be stored within a folder named after the series. Each episode needs to be name using a format similar to S01E01.mp4 for episode 1 of season 1 of this series.

I've pointed UMS at my TV share but nothing is getting added to the library. The debug log shows errors like:
DEBUG 2023-08-12 14:41:43.069 [Lookup Metadata background worker 1] OpenSubtitles hash for "S01E12.mp4" is 1570056c577b5e6f
DEBUG 2023-08-12 14:41:43.123 [Lookup Metadata background worker 1] API status was 404 for {"error":"Metadata not found."}
, https://api.universalmediaserver.com/ap ... 3014982734

It seems like my existing naming must not be working well with UMS.

Can anyone point me towards docs which provides details on naming?

Thanks!

[bdushok]

It looks like a format that works is the series name followed by a dash and the episode information. For example, Home Improvement - S01E01.mp4. The "Prettify Filename" feature makes the name look nice when browsing using DLNA or the web client.

The server appears to traverse folders but not use the folder hierarchy for DLNA or web navigation. I created a folder named Season 01 and placed S01*.mp4 within that. Both DLNA and web show all episodes under the series including those in folders, but they are not shown in folders.

I found a reference in another post which seemed to imply there is a way to group episodes by season, but I can't find this option. Does anyone know if it exists and, if so, where the setting exists for it?

Also, can UMS somehow mark the last viewed episode of a series? This will make it easier to know where to start when returning to view the next episode in a series.

Thanks,
Bob

[mik_s]

S01E01 is the most common used convention that is used but others should work as it tests a few others.

There may be another reason why it was not added to the library. Have you got the Cache enabled?
It just might not have been able to get online metadata at that time for that file. Either the API was down at the time, it does not exist, or was mis-identified. To get more information you will need to put your logs into trace mode (see the section in red above)

The file tree you set up on your system should be the same when browsing on your device.
It will be different when using the Media library virtual folder as this tries to groups everything like by TV series and has every episode listed in order.

When you watch an episode it will be marked as watched and its thumbnail will change to show that. Depending on your device you may have to reload that folder to see it change. Some can also cache thumbnails so even when UMS changes it you won't see that change on the device until there has been a new episode added or removed then it forces a reload of everything.

There is a recently played folder in the media library if enabled, but it would be good to have a play next episode in series option somewhere. I will make this suggestion to see if it can be added.

[bdushok]

Have you got the Cache enabled?

Yes, I'll either clear it or disable it. Thanks!

It will be different when using the Media library virtual folder as this tries to groups everything like by TV series and has every episode listed in order.

I was in the virtual folder! It's appearing ok when I go to my content folder.

When you watch an episode it will be marked as watched and its thumbnail will change to show that.

I haven't noticed this, but I also haven't watched a complete file since I began tinkering with UMS. I'll watch for this.

Thanks for your assistance!

Bob

[mik_s]

You will have to have the cache enabled to track played status and to speed up browsing on your devices. I think it is also needed for the media library.

To test if your device is keeping a copy of the thumbnail in its cache try renaming one of the files in that folder and this will force an update.

There are various options on what to do with a played video.
Have a look at the "Fully played action:" option in the navigation tab of the settings to see what it can do. It should be set to "mark media" as default.