How to name specials for tvmaze?

[Kolby Gospodinsky]

I am just wondering for tvmaze how do you number specials on jellyfin since they don't have proper episode or seeason numbers. I know on tvdb you can do S00Exx. But i am not sure how to handle tvmaze specials since they don't have proper numbering .

[TheDreadPirate]

Looking at the plugin code, I think you are supposed to continue using using the "S00" season number in your file names.

https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-plu...er.cs#L233

It is overriding the season number provided by TVMaze and setting it to 0 for specials.

The fact that our file naming documentation for shows doesn't mention anything about TVMaze confirms that IMO.

[Kolby Gospodinsky]

But how number them when all specials are Significant and Iniognificant they dont have an episode number on tvmaze.

[theguymadmax]

I read this and was, oh this must have a simple solution (haha!).

Jellyfin PR that added handling of TVmaze specials, explanation is in there: https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-plu...ze/pull/23

For reference Kodi documentation on TVmaze specials:
Handling Specials:
TVmaze does not follow TheTVDB's convention of naming special episodes using zero season number. Instead, it uses its own definition of "insignificant" and "significant" specials depending on their significance of the storyline of a show. Insignificant specials are listed separately while significant specials are listed within their respective seasons. Starting from v.1.0.6 the scraper follows this convention. To list significant special and regular episodes in their correct order you need to select "by date" ordering in Kodi view settings.

How to name special episode files to be listed correctly in Kodi when using TVmaze scraper:
Insignificant specials must have zero season number and episode number must correspond to the place of the episode in TVmaze "insignificant" listing. For example: Eureka.S00E01. See: https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/542/eureka/episodes
Significant specials must include episode airdate in their file names, for example: Doctor.Who.2021-01-01. See: https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/210/doctor-who/episodes
Possible issue with date-based naming may arise when several episodes have the same airdate. Currently there is no solution for this issue.


Have fun with that.

[TheDreadPirate]

@theguymadmax - thanks for the assist. I was approaching a similar conclusion. I hit the TVMaze API for a couple specials I have and there was no episode number.

Code:

{"id":1435875,"url":"https://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/1435875/violet-evergarden-s01-special-surely-someday-you-will-understand-love-ova","name":"Surely, Someday You Will Understand \"Love\" (OVA)",
"season":1,"number":null,    <-----  The important bits
"type":"insignificant_special","airdate":"2018-07-04","airtime":"00:00","airstamp":"2018-07-04T15:00:00+00:00","runtime":30,"rating":{"average":8.7},"image":{"medium":"https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/medium_landscape/163/408197.jpg","original":"https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/original_untouched/163/408197.jpg"},"summary":"<p>A story that takes place in the months between the fourth and fifth episode. Violet answers the request of a certain songstress.</p>","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.tvmaze.com/episodes/1435875"},"show":{"href":"https://api.tvmaze.com/shows/34013","name":"Violet Evergarden"}}}

Out of curiosity, why use TVMaze over TMDB or TVDB? Seems like a head ache.

[Kolby Gospodinsky]

@TheDreadPirate. I just prefer TVMaze for some shows and some specials so I wanted to know how it's handled since TVmaze has some specials listed on it that tvdb and tmdb don't have listed and i prefer the ordering for some shows as well since its how they are supposed to be listed and the airdate is lot more accurate too.