MetaGenerator

Application which is a GUI for creating MetaData files for pyTivo.

The application can be downloaded here

Data

Data is gathered from two sources: TVDB and Movie-xml.com. Here is the way I am getting data from Movie-xml.com:

<Item>
<id>373342</id>
   <SeriesName>Transformers</SeriesName>
   <SeriesID>tt0418279</SeriesID>
<Status/>
   <MainLanguage>English</MainLanguage>
   <Yearmade>2007</Yearmade>
   <FirstAired/>
   <Network>Dreamworks SKG & Paramount Pictures</Network>
   <Director>Michael Bay</Director>
   <Writer>|Roberto Orci|Alex Kurtzman|</Writer>
   <Similar/>
   <Runtime>144</Runtime>
   <Genre>|Action|Adventure|Fantasy|Sci-Fi|Thriller|</Genre>
   <Actors>
|Shia LaBeouf|Megan Fox|Josh Duhamel|Tyrese Gibson|Rachael Taylor|Anthony Anderson|Jon Voight|John Turturro|Michael O'Neill|Kevin Dunn|
</Actors>
   <Actorsrole>
|Sam Witwicky|Mikaela Banes|Captain Lennox|USAF Tech Sergeant Epps|Maggie Madsen|Glen Whitmann|Defense Secretary John Keller|Agent Simmons|Tom Banachek|Ron Witwicky|
</Actorsrole>
   <Tagline>Their war. Our world.</Tagline>
   <Overview>
A long time ago, far away on the planet of Cybertron, a war was being waged between the noble Autobots (led by the wise Optimus Prime) and the devious Decepticons (commanded by the dreaded Megatron) for control over the Allspark, a mystical talisman that would grant unlimited power to whoever possessed it. The Autobots managed to smuggle the Allspark off the planet, but Megatron blasted off in search of it. He eventually tracked it to the planet of Earth (circa 1850), but his reckless desire for power sent him right into the Arctic Ocean, and the sheer cold forced him into a paralyzed state. His body was later found by Captain Archibald Witwicky, and before going into a comatose state Megatron used the last of his energy to engrave a map, showing the location of the Allspark, into the Captain's glasses, and send a transmission to Cybertron. He is then carted away by the Captain's ship. A century later, Sam Witwicky, nicknamed Spike by his friends, buys his first car. To his shock, he discovers it to be Bumblebee, an Autobot in disguise who is to protect Spike, as he bears the Captain's glasses and the map carved on them. But Bumblebee is not the only Transformer to have arrived on Earth - in the desert of Qatar, the Decepticons Blackout and Scorponok attack a U.S. military base, causing the Pentagon to send their special Sector Seven agents to capture all "specimens of this alien race," and Spike and his girlfriend Mikaela find themselves in the middle of a grand battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons, stretching from Hoover Dam all the way to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, within the depths of Hoover Dam, the cryogenically stored form of Megatron awakens...
</Overview>
   <Shortoverview>
A war re-erupts on Earth between two robotic clans, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, leaving the fate of mankind hanging in the balance.
</Shortoverview>
   <Score>7.6</Score>
   <Budget>150</Budget>
   <Worldboxoffice/>
   <Trailerlink>
http://www.transformersmovie.com/flv/trailer_prestreet.flv
</Trailerlink>
   <bannerrequest>0</bannerrequest>
   <lastupdated>1198367514</lastupdated>
   <Airs_DayOfWeek/>
<Airs_Time/>
   <Certification>PG-13</Certification>
   <flagged>0</flagged>
   <forceupdate>1</forceupdate>
   <hits>229</hits>
   <MatchValue>11.775504757378</MatchValue>
   <SortName>Transformers</SortName>
</Item>

The data that is gathered from TVDB is a two step process. First, the general series information is found by getting xml data like:

<Item>
   <id>72449</id>
   <SeriesName>Stargate SG-1</SeriesName>
   <SeriesID>185</SeriesID>
   <Status>Ended</Status>
   <FirstAired>1997-07-01</FirstAired>
   <Network>SciFi</Network>
   <Runtime>60 mins</Runtime>
   <Genre>|Science-Fiction|</Genre>
   <Actors>
|Beau Bridges|Richard Dean Anderson|Don S. Davis|Amanda Tapping|Michael Shanks|Corin Nemec|Ben Browder|Christopher Judge|
</Actors>
   <Overview>
This sequel to the 1994 movie Stargate chronicles the further adventures of SGC (Stargate Command). It turned out that the Goa'uld Ra was only one of many alien System Lords who used the Stargates to conquer much of the universe. When Earth uncovers a working cartouche to decipher the coding system of Earth's stargate, they can now travel anywhere. Earth's military sends out SG teams to explore new planets, find technology, and oppose the Goa'uld. Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson from the movie are part of SG-1. They are joined by Sam Carter, a scientist, and Teal'c, a Jaffa who is convinced the Goa'uld are not gods. After Daniel Jackson was temporarily killed off in Season 6 (when actor Michael Shanks left the show for a year) they brought in Jonas Quinn, a scientist from another planet, to take Jackson's place. In Season 9, Jack O'Neill left the team and was replaced by Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell as team leader.
</Overview>
   <bannerrequest>11</bannerrequest>
   <lastupdated>1188783631</lastupdated>
   <Airs_DayOfWeek>Friday</Airs_DayOfWeek>
   <Airs_Time>8:00 PM</Airs_Time>
   <Rating/>
   <flagged>0</flagged>
   <forceupdate>0</forceupdate>
   <hits>123537</hits>
   <updateID>0</updateID>
   <requestcomment/>
   <locked>no</locked>
   <mirrorupdate>2007-12-31 10:16:54</mirrorupdate>
   <lockedby>0</lockedby>
   <autoimport/>
   <disabled>No</disabled>
   <MatchValue>8.0699024200439</MatchValue>
   <SortName>Stargate SG-1</SortName>
   <EpisodeOrders>|Aired|DVD|</EpisodeOrders>
</Item>

Then taking this information and then getting individual episode information with the following xml example:

<Item>
   <id>85912</id>
   <seasonid>4155</seasonid>
   <EpisodeNumber>8</EpisodeNumber>
   <EpisodeName>Covenant</EpisodeName>
   <FirstAired>2004-08-27</FirstAired>
   <GuestStars>
|Charles Shaughnessy|Tom O'Brien|Kendall Cross|Chris Shields|Ingrid Torrance|Brad Proctor|Morris Chapdelaine|George Grove|Nicolas Podbrey|Todd Masters|Paul Hoosen|
</GuestStars>
   <Director>|Martin Wood|Ron Wilkerson|</Director>
   <Writer>|Ron Wilkerson|Robert C. Cooper|</Writer>
   <Overview>
A rich industrialist has evidence to prove that there is alien life on other planets and gives the governments of the world 24 hours to reveal the truth or he's revealing it. The Air Force tries to discredit him. Then Carter is given the job to tell him about the Stargate and the Goa'uld to try to convince him that the world doesn't need to know. The Trust also tries to silence him.
</Overview>
   <ProductionCode>808</ProductionCode>
   <ShowURL/>
   <lastupdated>1193521671</lastupdated>
   <flagged>0</flagged>
   <DVD_discid/>
   <DVD_season>8</DVD_season>
   <DVD_episodenumber>8.0</DVD_episodenumber>
   <DVD_chapter/>
   <absolute_number/>
   <filename>episodes/72449-85912.jpg</filename>
   <seriesid>72449</seriesid>
   <lastupdatedby>1412</lastupdatedby>
   <mirrorupdate>2007-10-27 15:47:51</mirrorupdate>
   <lockedby>0</lockedby>
   <SeasonNumber>8</SeasonNumber>
</Item>

The only thing that is lacking is obtaining the valid seriesID. To get this, there is two databases that contain the series name and a seriesID. There is a small DB which has about 3,523 entries and a large DB which contains about 10,216 entries. The main reason to have two instead of just one big one is due the amount of data in the large DB. Normally you will find your seriesID in the small one, so the recommendation is to use the small DB and you can't find the series, then try to the large DB