Videos will be identified as TV Shows if and only if season and episode numbering is present in the file name or folder name. The numbering must be present in the file name in one of the supported formats (for example S01E04, 01x04 or 01-04 to indicate episode 4 of season 1; or 01.01.2001 to indicate the air date). The part before the numbering is considered to be the show name, the part after the numbering is the episode name. All options to identify TV shows can be found on the TV Shows tab of the preferences panel.

Ideal file name of a TV Show episode

As an example, consider the following videos that are to be imported. They will all be added as Movies, except the four Lost episodes and the one Prison Break episode, which will be identified correctly as TV Shows.

Importing 4 movies, 4 episodes of Lost and 1 episode of Prison Break (based on file names)

If the file name does not contain enough information to correctly identify TV Shows, there is an alternative. If the name of the folder the video is stored in, contains the word ‘Season’ the video will also be identified as a TV Show. In that case, the show name is taken from the folder one level up, the season number is retrieved from the folder and the episode number is determined by counting the files in the folder in alphabetical order. In the example below, the six videos will be added as episodes 1 to 6 of season 1 of Prison Break. The name of the episodes will be equal to the respective file names. Any possible season or episode information in the name will be disregarded (e.g. video S01E03 will be added as episode 5 instead of episode 3 because it is the 5th file). 

Importing 6 episodes of Prison Break Season 1 (based on folder names)

By default, all videos added to iTunes will be categorized as movies. The name of the movie is taken from a QuickTime annotation (if present), or alternatively from the file name. If the option ‘Identify movies by folder name instead of file name’ on the metadata tab of the preference panel is enabled, you indicate that all videos in one subfolder are part of the same movie. Then, the name of the folder will be used as the movie name, instead of the file name.

Next, the name will be cleaned (if the option ‘clean file and folder names’ is checked) and used to browse for additional metadata online (if the ‘Search Online’ options are checked) . If your file or folder names are heavily polluted it is possible that VideoDrive will identify the movie incorrectly and retrieve the wrong metadata. To address this, enable the option to ‘ask confirmation before saving information found online’ on the main window. When all videos are imported and online information is retrieved, VideoDrive will present you with the found information where you have to ability to accept, reject, edit or search again.

VideoDrive can search online and find metadata automatically for you. Make sure the option ‘Automatic Metadata’ is selected on the Metadata main window. You have the option to search online for missing data (descriptions, production year, viewer ratings, taglines, ...) as well as artwork.

the Metadata main window

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