File naming conventions

[red+black]

Pretty geeky topic, but as you accumulate more and more stuff from various sources, it kind of helps to have a consistent system to naming your files. Many people probably don't give it much thought while some may be as retentive as I am.

For example, what do you do with torrent files, especially tv shows?

http://www.downloadacademy.com/tutorials/torrent-naming-conventions/

Do you prefer 101, 1-01, 1x01, 1x01, s1e1, s01e01, etc? I tend to use leading 0s to aid sorting but must admit I have a mix of 1-01 and s01e01.

Do you add the show name to each file? What about the episode name? Do you use spaces, dashes, underscores, periods or a mix of all of them?

What do you do with the Quality (eg. HDTV), Format (eg. XviD) and Maker (eg. -AT)? Do you leave them all in? Strip them all out?

Do you create separate directories for each season or just lump all files in one directory?

I don't mean for this discussion to be solely about torrent files, but any files to be honest.

 

[red+black]

An example from http://epguides.com/Simpsons/

467    22-03               10/Oct/10   Money Bart

You could have a single directory (The Simpsons) with all files, or season subdirectories (The Simpsons - Season 22 or just Season 22).

Then how about naming the file above?

22-03 Money Bart.avi
22x03 - Money Bart.avi
The.Simpsons.s22e03.Money.Bart.avi

 

[sblack]

I need an auto renaming script/program. I have too many, so can't be bothered to sit there and rename everything.

I have my files extremely organised, except for names.

I normally leave them as they come, which usually is the Full Stop style.

 

[Spermbird]

After it is expanded from the torrent file I tend to go:

The Simpsons S22E03

If the title is in the file name then it would stay, but I am not searching for it.

Anything else is stripped from the title except for [720] if it is in HD.

Also the file will be stored in the Media/TV/The Simpsons/Season 22 folder

It takes a bit of effort to set up but really all you need to do is copy the first file name of each season (up to S01E01) and then paste it in changing the last number. Takes about 5 mins a season

 

[alfy!]

I used to have it as S01E01 [episode name], but now have changed to 1.01 [episode name].

 

[grimlock]

Show.Name.s01e01.Episode.Title for me

I use The Renamer - it's a great little program for retrieving episode titles and renaming it to your preferred style

http://www.therenamer.com/

 

[ManWithNoName]

People who can't tag music properly should be shot. Seriously. I downloaded an album once and the artist name was in the album tag, and the track number was in the artist tag. Song name nowhere to be seen.

 

[Borgsta]

After it is expanded from the torrent file I tend to go:

The Simpsons S22E03

That's what I do with the . in the middle.

 

[Spermbird]

People who can't tag music properly should be shot. Seriously. I downloaded an album once and the artist name was in the album tag, and the track number was in the artist tag. Song name nowhere to be seen.

The amount of songs I have had to correct and fight through the crap on the internet to get right is astounding

 

[sblack]

Show.Name.s01e01.Episode.Title for me

I use The Renamer - it's a great little program for retrieving episode titles and renaming it to your preferred style

http://www.therenamer.com/

I love you.

 

[red+black]

Windows only . Probably about time I set up my Windows VM.

 

[grimlock]

Windows only . Probably about time I set up my Windows VM.

This is a Java program, haven't used it myself

http://code.google.com/p/tv-renamer/

 

[red+black]

Found some Mac tools

http://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFinderRename/index.html
http://manytricks.com/namemangler/
http://renamer4mac.com/
http://gotoes.org/sales/Batch_File_Rename/index.htm
http://development.christopherdrum.com/software/filewrangler/index.html

 

[Vinnie Vegas]

For TV shows, I update a text file with properly formatted and titled names, and paste them as the filename as I (legally ) download them.

For instance, for this season of The Office:

The Office (US) - 707 - Christening
The Office (US) - 708 - Viewing Party
The Office (US) - 709 -
The Office (US) - 710 -

I'll usually go through and update with any new future episode titles about once every two weeks and just add them in.

Then they go into folders that are "Show Title > Season No. > Episode files"

With music, honestly, if I get something and it's not tagged correctly, I'm about as likely to just download another torrent of the same thing that will likely have correct formatting than to go in and correct it - It's actually quicker.

 

[Biggy_Boy]

Show.Name.s01e01.Episode.Title for me

I use The Renamer - it's a great little program for retrieving episode titles and renaming it to your preferred style

http://www.therenamer.com/

Thanks. Neat little program. I've never usually bothered with creating my own file name conventions. I will usually just sort them into a folder by show then season and leave the file names as is. I might use this though as it's a pretty quick and easy process.

People who can't tag music properly should be shot. Seriously. I downloaded an album once and the artist name was in the album tag, and the track number was in the artist tag. Song name nowhere to be seen.

Improperly tagged music really annoys me. It seemed to be something you would always expect when downloading music via clients such as Limewire. Most albums I torrent or download from trusted sources are named correctly nowadays though.

 

[smiths]

Show.Name.s01e01.Episode.Title for me

I use The Renamer - it's a great little program for retrieving episode titles and renaming it to your preferred style

http://www.therenamer.com/

Great program, thanks

 

[red+black]

My goal was to make things easy to read and helpful where necessary. I have set up folders as such:

Program Title (2006)
Program Title (2006-2009)
Program Title (2010- )

Sub-folders as such:

Season 1 (2006)
Season 2 (2007-2008)

I use spaces, but I do not use underscores or periods. If something had one season, or seasons are irrelevant, I don't use subfolders. If there are 10 or more seasons, or is likely to, I use a leading 0 to aid in sorting.

Filenames as such:

1x01 - Episode Title
Program Title - 1x01 (no episode names and Program Title = 1 word)
Program Title acronym - 1x01 (no episode names and Program Title > 1 word)

Again, if more than 10 seasons, 1x01 would become 01x01, again, to aid sorting. If the air date is important for some reason, I will append (yyyy-mm-dd).

 

[Knowlan]

I sort my stuff by folders:

Show Title
-- Season Folders
---- ShowTitle.S01E01.Source.Format-ReleaseGroup

Eg:
The Simpsons
-- Season 01
---- The.Simpsons.S01E01.DVDRip.Xvid-LOL

That way I can tell where it came from, what quality etc. I find it works best for XBMC as well.

 

[Smoooothy]

i use the same method as above

also use a program called EpNamer to rename my tv shows

windows 7 media centre + Xbox extender FTW