Z-Keeper · Matching tools — 1 of 7

The window that fixes one film

Right-click a title or a filename on nearly any screen and pick Matching tools. It opens on a single file and tells you what everyone involved thinks it is.

Matching tools

Current filename

Aladdin.mkv

Calculated movie title

Aladdin

Current Zidoo match

Aladdin

Three lines, all agreeing. Nothing here looks wrong.

the film you own
Aladdin · 1992

what the Zidoo shows
Aladdin · 2019

Same name, different film

There are several Aladdins, and the filename names none of them in particular. The Zidoo took the newest — it had no reason to know yours is the 1992 one.

The poster is the tell

Nothing in the text gives it away. You find this class of mistake by looking at the wall, which is why the window shows you the art beside the names.

Then you change the answer

Everything below that line in the window is a way to point this file at the right film — and which way is open to you depends on one thing.

One file, one window, one decision — this is the single-title workbench, not a batch tool.

Z-Keeper · Matching tools — 2 of 7

Two roads, and one question picks between them

Everything in this window is one of two approaches. Which one is open to you depends entirely on whether the player has ever registered this file.

Does the Zidoo already know this file?

Yes

Rematch it on the device

Z-Keeper drives the Zidoo's own rematch, the same one you'd use on the player itself. It takes effect immediately — no scan, no waiting — and Z-Keeper records what you decided in this device's Blueprint and cements it in your Master Catalog at the same time.

No

Leave a hint for the next scan

Nothing can be rematched, because there is nothing there to rematch. Instead you rename the file with the film's id, or write an NFO beside it, and let the Zidoo find it on its next scan.

A file in the Unmatched collection still counts as known — it has an entry, it just has no film attached. That is the easy case, not the hard one.

One asks the player to change its mind. The other changes what the file itself says it is.

Z-Keeper · Matching tools — 3 of 7

The green button: rematch on the player

The fastest fix there is — Z-Keeper searches, you pick the right film, and the correction goes straight to the Zidoo. Nothing else you do here lands this quickly.

Because this file is already known by the Zidoo, you can use the Zidoo matching tool to instantly match it to a different movie or series episode.

The Zidoo match button

Aladdin

Aladdin2019

Aladdin1992

Aladdin and the King of Thieves1996

Save

It is the player's own tool

The same rematch you would run on the Zidoo, or in its web app — driven from here so you never leave your desk. Which is also why the player has to be powered on: a sleeping Zidoo can't be told anything.

One entry, many files

When the entry holds several files — a series, or a film with extras — you choose which files to rematch. The others stay where they are.

All three layers, one save

The Zidoo is corrected, this device's Blueprint records the choice, and the identity is cemented in your Master Catalog — one click, all three. It is a decision, not a nudge.

What it can't do

It overrides the player's own answer in that player. Reset the Zidoo and the device's entry goes with it — your catalog still knows, and Push fixes can put it back, but the file on disk never learned anything.

Fast and cemented — this is the road to take when the player already knows the file.

Z-Keeper · Matching tools — 4 of 7

Four small buttons: finding the id

Both of the remaining fixes need one thing — the film's id. These buttons are how you get it without leaving the job half-done.

TV

Match to movie
Aladdin (1992)

TMDB — the good one

Needs the free TMDB key from Settings. It searches inside Z-Keeper, shows you posters as you hover, and fills the id in for you when you pick. No browser, no copying.

IMDb

Opens your browser, already searching for the calculated title. Mostly for movies — it has episodes too, but that isn't what it's for here.

TVDB

Opens your browser searching the calculated series title. For episodic shows, because the Zidoo keys episodes on TVDB.

Open folder

Opens the folder in Explorer with the file selected — for when the answer is easier to see with the other files beside it.

Without a TMDB key the other two still work — you just copy the id across by hand.

Z-Keeper · Matching tools — 5 of 7

Create NFO — without touching the filename

When the Zidoo won't register a video at all — no poster, no entry, nothing — an NFO states the identity in a file of its own, leaving your naming exactly as you like it.

TMDB ID, or IMDb ID (tt…)

812 → TMDB

Create NFO

Writes Aladdin (1992).nfo beside the video — a file the Zidoo reads and believes.

It states the identity outright

The NFO sits next to the video and names exactly which film or episode it is. The player doesn't have to guess from the filename — and your filenames stay as they are.

The catch worth knowing

The Zidoo reads it on its next scan only if the old match has been broken — if the file is still registered to the wrong film, the NFO is ignored. Clear the match first with right-click → Clear match (move to Unmatched).

With a key, and without

With a TMDB key you get the full NFO. Without one, Z-Keeper writes a minimal file carrying just the id and title — less complete, and still enough to match on.

Then tell the player to look

Run a library scan on the Zidoo afterwards. Nothing happens until it goes looking.

It does leave a file behind

An .nfo now sits in the folder beside every video you do this to. Plenty of people would rather not have sidecars in their library at all — if that's you, the rename does the same job with nothing left over.

A sidecar belongs to the file — every device that mounts that folder reads the same answer.

Z-Keeper · Matching tools — 6 of 7

Rename the file — the fix that travels

The one fix that doesn't depend on a database at all. The answer lives in the file's own name, so a brand-new player — or a fresh Z-Keeper on a new PC — reads it without being told anything.

File-naming rules ?

Renaming the file is the most reliable repair we know of — with the TMDB id in the name, the Zidoo matches on the id rather than guessing from the title.

Including the TMDB ID guarantees a Zidoo match.

✓Rename per title

✓Add (Year)

TMDB ID

New filename

Aladdin (1992).mkv

The official rules were never published

What the Zidoo accepts was worked out by trial and error across the community — and different Home Theater versions behave differently. The ? button shows the best rules we know.

The id ends the guessing

One capstone rule Zidoo verified: add [tmdbid-812] and the filename stops being a hint and becomes an instruction — the player matches on the id and cannot pick the wrong Aladdin. This is the fix to reach for when nothing else has held.

Watch it build

The new name is written live as you tick the boxes, so you see exactly what the file will be called before anything is renamed.

The order worth trying

Find the right title, rename with the year only, and stop there — it usually convinces the player, and it keeps the name clean. If it doesn't, tick TMDB ID and let the id settle it.

The only fix that travels with the file — no catalog, no player, no Z-Keeper required to read it.

Z-Keeper · Matching tools — 7 of 7

The third road to cement

Identify's review and approving matches during a Sync are the other two. This window is the third — and the only one that works one title at a time, whenever you happen to notice.

Fast

The Zidoo rematch lands the moment you save it, and writes through all three layers — the player, its Blueprint, and the cement in your Master Catalog. Nothing on disk changes.

Self-describing

A rename puts the answer in the file itself, so anything that ever reads that folder knows — no database in the middle. You won't know it landed until the Zidoo rescans and you run a full Sync, so don't count it done until you've seen it.

What you decide here becomes the answer in your Master Catalog.

No run required, no batch to schedule — one film, corrected, whenever you spot it.