File naming for newbies!

[peterm]

Jellyfin 10.11.11/Ubuntu 26.04 LTS

Apologies in advance - my first post. I suspect like many new jellyfin users I struggle with file naming.

I have a boxed set containing three DVDs. I found the imdbid - call it tt1111111 for example.

So my top level directory I called something similar to "The title (1066) [imdbid-tt1111111]".

Underneath that I have (at the moment) three directories called Disc1/2/3, and each of these contains a VIDEO_TS directory.

But my "Testing" Library, of type "Movies" sees three separate films all called the same "The title (1066)".

What I would like is to see one item in my library containing the three separate disks. Can this be done? If so, how should I name the files to achieve this?

And if I can sneak in a supplementary question, what benefits/disadvantages of saving my discs as VIDEO_TS directories compared with saving them as .mkv files? (At the moment I'm not bothered about space. Later on I may use Handbrake to generate .mp4 files, but "one thing at a time"!)

(I can create a separate post if the supplementary question is not allowed here.)

Thanks in advance -- Peter

[TheDreadPirate]

I think this is what you want.

https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server...iple-parts

[peterm]

Many thanks for responding.

I did study the articles on how to name files when starting out with jellyfin, but I'm obviously missing something here!

To be explicit, this is my directory structure:

The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013) [imdbid-tt3503462]/
    cover.jpg
    The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013) - part 1 The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll
        VIDEO_TS
    The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013) - part 2 The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll
        VIDEO_TS
    The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013) - part 3 Après Cavaillé-Coll
        VIDEO_TS

[Cavaillé-Coll was a French organ builder who built instruments in many of France's major churches and cathedrals.]

In my "Testing" library, I still see three videos all called "The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013)", and incidentally, there is no cover image displayed. And there is no indication that any metadata from the internet has been found, which has worked OK for a few other DVDs I have been experimenting with.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks again -- Peter

[TheDreadPirate]

I should have read our documentation more closely.

Most common video formats are supported by Jellyfin, such as mp4 and mkv. In addition, VIDEO_TS and BDMV folders are supported for movies and music videos. VIDEO_TS or BDMV folders do not support multiple versions, multiple parts or external subtitle/audio tracks.

[peterm]

Firstly, I really appreciate the help you are giving to a complete newbie - very much appreciated!

I am trying to learn how this file-naming business works, before embarking on a long-term project to put my DVD collection into a jellyfin server, so it's important to get this right before I spend a lot of time on this.

And I have quite a few multi-DVD boxed sets, so this is something I really need to understand.

For this boxed set, there is only one imdbid covering the box of three disks.

I now have two libraries, "Testing" and "Testing1". "Testing" has .mkv files, as you pointed out that multiple parts and VIDEO_TS directories doesn't work. "Testing1" has the version that does have the VIDEO_TS files.

In both cases the directory hierarchy is the same:

The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013) [imdbid-tt3503462]
    The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013) [imdbid-tt3503462] - 1 The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll
    The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013) [imdbid-tt3503462] - 2 The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll
    The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013) [imdbid-tt3503462] - 3 Après Cavaillé-Coll

And then either a VIDEO_TS directory, or a series of .mkv files in each of those three directories. One question here - what are the constraints on the naming of the multiple .mkv files? Since makemkv calls them things like I7_t33.mkv, this is another thing I need to get right.

But in either case, I still see three entries when I select the library, and they are all called "The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013)". 

Since I have a boxed set of all of Verdi's operas on 30 disks, that isn't going to work 

What I ideally want is one icon to click on in the top level of the library for the whole boxed set, where I can then drill down and select one of the three disks (or 30 for Verdi operas!). But at the moment I seem to be constrained to have one top level icon per disk. With the added problem of them all being named the same thing.

Thanks again -- Peter

[TheDreadPirate]

If you had an MKV instead of a VIDEO_TS directory, THEN you could use the multiple part syntax. It is strictly on VIDEO_TS directories where multiple parts is not supported.

Code:

The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013) [imdbid-tt3503462]/
    cover.jpg
    The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013) [imdbid-tt3503462]-part1.mkv
    The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013) [imdbid-tt3503462]-part2.mkv
    The Genius of Cavaillé-Coll (2013) [imdbid-tt3503462]-part3.mkv

Please note that there is NO SPACE between the IMDB ID block and the part number. That is intentional.

[peterm]

Many thanks again.

In your code above, your three parts are three .mkv files

What I've been doing is to rip each DVD into a separate directory under a top level directory corresponding to the boxed set.

Either "dvdbackup -> VIDEO_TS" or "makemkv -> .mkv files".

So I have been working with either

Code:

Movie (2021) [imdbid-tt1234567]/
  Movie (2021) [imdbid-tt1234567] Disc 1/
      A file.mkv
      Another file.mkv
  Movie (2021) [imdbid-tt1234567] Disc 2/
      Yet more.mkv
      And more.mkv
  Movie (2021) [imdbid-tt1234567] Disc 3/
      Nearly there.mkv
      Last One.mkv

or

Code:

Movie (2021) [imdbid-tt1234567]/
  Movie (2021) [imdbid-tt1234567] Disc 1/
      VIDEO_TS/
  Movie (2021) [imdbid-tt1234567] Disc 2/
      VIDEO_TS/
  Movie (2021) [imdbid-tt1234567] Disc 3/
      VIDEO_TS/

(For me VIDEO_TS has the advantage that I don't have to identify and rename possibly dozens of .mkv files, but I'll do that if I have to.)

In my library, I would ideally like to see one top-level icon for "Movie (2021)" with the separate discs visible when I click on the top-level icon.

Before you run out of patience, could I trouble you to modify my code to how you would deal with a multi-disc boxed set?

Thanks once again -- Peter

[TheDreadPirate]

For what you're trying to do, multiple parts under one listing, you cannot use VIDEO_TS. It is explicitly not supported. Only monolithic video files (mkv, mpv, etc.). The file naming syntax and organization for this multi-part functionality is very particular, and the example I provided in my last post is the only way it will trigger the function.

Nesting the videos in a sub folder is not supported for multi-part functionality. And you will have to use makemkv instead of dvdbackup.

If you want to modify the code, feel free. But do note that for things like this, it isn't a single block of code that handles this functionality. There are a lot of interdependencies in other sections of code.

[peterm]

I haven't used VIDEO_TS since you said it wouldn't work, so everything is .mkv

I think I now understand that my attempts to use the filesystem hierarchy to model the boxed-set structure were doomed to failure!

So everything (apart from things like "extras", "backdrops") has to be in a single directory, with the disk hierarchy mimicked with the filenames. That will present interesting challenges, as each individual dvd can convert to quite a few .mkv files. Particularly with my 30 DVDs of all Verdi's operas! But if that's the way it is, I will just have to knuckle under!

Thanks again for your patience explaining this stuff to a newcomer.

Best wishes -- Peter