Naming video files/Movies

Naming conventions

In order to be scanned correctly, movie folder names should only have the title and the year (optional). Media source flags can also be added via file names to indicate source/quality of the movie (see link for more info).

To improve matching add the year within parenthesis to the end of the foldername, or filename - depending on your scanning method and folder structure (before the extension, if filename), this naming standard seems to yield the best results.

Movies stored in individual folders

\Movies\The Man With the Golden Gun\goldengun.avi

\Movies\Avatar (2009)\somefilename.mkv
\Movies\The Usual Suspects (1995)\somefilename.avi

\Movies\The Usual Suspects (1995)\somefilename-cd1.avi
\Movies\The Usual Suspects (1995)\somefilename-cd2.avi
\Movies\Avatar (2009)\Avatar (2009)-cd1.mkv
\Movies\Avatar (2009)\Avatar (2009)-cd2.mkv

Note: If the wrong movie is picked up even if foldername or filename is correct, the movie can have an earlier original title. This often happens to movies made in 1950's and after.

Movies based on file name alone

\Movies\The Man With The Golden Gun.avi
\Movies\Pulp Fiction (1994).avi
\Movies\Reservoir Dogs (1992).avi
\Movies\The Usual Suspects (1995).avi

\Movies\Avatar (2009)-cd1.mkv
\Movies\Avatar (2009)-cd2.mkv

And for DVD-Video movies stored in file-mode on the harddrive or SMB NFS:

\Movies\Alien (1979)\VIDEO_TS.IFO
\Movies\Léon (1994)\VIDEO_TS.IFO
\Movies\Scarface (1983)\VIDEO_TS.IFO
Alternatively:
 \Movies\Alien (1979)\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO
 \Movies\Léon (1994)\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO
 \Movies\Scarface (1983)\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO

Note: If using VIDEO_TS folder structure you must enable "recursive" lookup when adding the source directory.

Split video files (file stacking)

Name extensions for stacking

For single files:

The following are default stacking extensions that can be added to file names These are for video file names that are in the same folder.

# can be 1 through 9 or A through D. No spaces between the extension and number.

• part#
• cd#
• dvd#
• pt#
• disk#
• disc#

You can also use:

• moviename#.ext

where # can be A through D.

For video files in folders:

Such as VIDEO_TS folders (DVD rips that are not in ISO format), you can stack them using the folder name that contains the movie name.

# can be 1 through 9. No spaces between the extension and number.

• cd#
• dvd#
• disc#
• disk#

Notes

• The default expressions will NOT stack files which use only a number as the volume token (eg movie1.avi, movie2.avi). This is intentional due to false positives which can occur with sequels in a flat directory layout. Some solutions to this problem (in order of best to worst) follow...
  1. Use a dir-per-movie directory layout, see the append example of the moviestacking advanced setting.
  2. Rename offending files to match one of the more specific volume tokens (ie. cd1, part1, etc).
  3. Create special-case regular expressions for those files that fail to stack (see #Advanced stacking options).