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TVDb Logo TVDb Logo The TV Database

Optional Step

This step is optional for all users.

The TV Database (hereafter referred to as TVDb for brevity) is a free, publicly accessible database which can serve as an Episode Data Source and Image Source.

  1. Under the TVDb section, click the Add Connection button.

  2. Click the external link icon next to API Key and open the TVDb API page.

  3. Follow their instructions to generate an API key for yourself (this will require a TVDb account). Copy the generated API key.

    Security Warning

    Keep this API key private, as it can be used to submit API requests on your behalf (although there's no real danger to your TVDb account - I mean who would steal a free API key?).

  4. Paste your API key into the API Key input box.

  5. Check Include Movies if you do not want TCM to reject Episodes which are also movies (most common for Anime).

  6. Enter your desired minimum image resolution. This is personal preference based on your own quality threshold of images. If you truly don't care about image quality, you can enter 0x0.

    What if there are no images above this threshold?

    If none of the available images are above both the minimum width and height you specify, then TCM will move to the next Connection in your global Image Source Priority.

    Threshold Application

    This threshold only applies to automatically-gathered Source Images. Logos, posters, and Source Images selected manually via the UI have no minimum resolution.

  7. Click Create.

  8. Once the page has reloaded, you may change the Episode Ordering to however you want TCM to grab data from TVDb in. Most users should leave it as Default.

    Missing Episode Ordering

    If a non-Default value is selected and a Series does not have the selected ordering, then TCM will be unable to grab any Episode data for that Series.

    If you want to use separate orderings for separate Series, consider creating multiple TVDb Connections in TCM (these can be use the same API key), changing the ordering for each, and then assigning the appropriate Connection to your Series as-needed.