Bug? Photos that aren't in "top level" folder are showing up there

[popechild]

I've had this problem for ages, but finally have gotten frustrated enough about it to try to track it down and kill it.

When I select "Photos" in the media center, I have only 1 import directory setup as a photo directory. It doesn't have any photos in its top level, but has 5 different sub-folders to organize the pictures (family, friends, misc...)

For some reason, certain sub-folders of those sub-folders - even 3 or 4 levels down the hierarchy - are displaying some or all of their photos at the top level.

So when I click "Photos", I see the 5 sub-folders, but also dozens of pictures pulled from multiple sub-sub-sub-folders, if that makes sense.

What's more, the photos that get displayed at that top level are NOT shown in the folders they're actually in if I drill down to them.

I can't figure out any rhyme or reason to which folders it's doing this to, and removing the directory and re-scanning, then re-importing everything will clear up the issue for a few hours, but then it starts happening again out of the blue.

Any ideas at all? Should I file a bug?

[Opus4]

First: you're sure there are no other photo import dirs, shown in Detailed Setup -> Media Center Import Dirs? If there really are no other photo import dirs...

Second: I would lke to know the exact name of the import path, then the subfolders, and a photo filename. If I can recreate it based on the path, I can check it out.

- Andy

[popechild]

Originally Posted by Opus4

First: you're sure there are no other photo import dirs, shown in Detailed Setup -> Media Center Import Dirs? If there really are no other photo import dirs...

Positive. I've checked and re-checked. In addition, if I delete that one import director and re-scan, my Photo media library is completely empty. When I add that one import directory back, it populates it exactly as it should...for a while. Then a few hours later it'll be back to showing the rogue photos again.

Second: I would lke to know the exact name of the import path, then the subfolders, and a photo filename. If I can recreate it based on the path, I can check it out.

- Andy

The folder is on a networked NAS drive. The specific path is
\\NASLite-2\Disk-0\Pictures

Underneath the "Pictures" directory are the 5 sub-folders, each of which also contains a number of sub-folders, and so on...

EDIT: A few more notes.
I wouldn't assume that it should matter, but there are probably up to a thousand or more photos all together in the hierarchy under the top "Pictures" folder.

Also, FWIW, the same photos show up every time as the rogue photos. Doesn't matter if I unimport/rescan/import/rescan - the same photos from the same photos will show up as the offenders. What really got me thinking it was time to track this down was that I just completely wiped my system and did a fresh install on an upgrade to Vista. Same photos do the same thing. So there's something about those photos or the specific directories or something, because even though the choices seem to be random, they're always the same.

And finally, in case it wasn't clear before, only some of the pictures from the folders affected do this. For example, there are currently 2 pictures from one specific "4 levels deep" folder that are showing up at the top level. But in the same folder that they're actually stored in, there are about 40 additional photos that are showing up exactly the way they're supposed to.

Typing this makes me realize that the 2 offending photos DO have a different naming scheme than the ones that aren't causing problems. Maybe I'll look and see if a rename on those files makes a difference for any reason...

[appelm]

I am having the same problem. Using 6.5.3.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by popechild

Typing this makes me realize that the 2 offending photos DO have a different naming scheme than the ones that aren't causing problems. Maybe I'll look and see if a rename on those files makes a difference for any reason...

That's why I was asking for exact path & file names -- I don't see this happening on my system, so I need a way to reproduce it & maybe there are chanracters in the names that are throwing the parser off for the photo browser.

- Andy

[appelm]

I just checked again. I have several hundred photos that are acting like this from various folders. Here are some examples:

<import folder>/Holidays/New Years 1999/P0002356.JPG
<import folder>/Chloe Alexxndra Apqel/2005/Heidi and Marc pool 0705/chloe_dylan1.jpg
<import folder>/Holidays/Thanksgiving 2002/IMG_4087.JPG
<import folder>/Holidays/Fathers Day 1999/P0001257.JPG

They seem to be from all different folders. I don't see much consistency in the naming. I don't use apostrophe's. Some of the folder names are kind of long.. ?

The import folder in this case is "//appel-server/documents and settings/marc pppel/my pictures/pics/".

[Opus4]

Also: is the photo browser's Folder Display Style set to Combined or Separate?

And, this is the default STV, right? I now see that both of you have recent posts in the SageMC forum.

- Andy

[popechild]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Also: is the photo browser's Folder Display Style set to Combined or Separate?

And, this is the default STV, right? I now see that both of you have recent posts in the SageMC forum.

- Andy

This is using the default STV. I usually use SageMC, but switched over to the default in order to try to debug this.

My options are set to "combined."

Two of the offending files for me are named P1010021.JPG and P1010022.JPG.

[appelm]

I use SageMC. I think I have it as combined.. I only have one photo import folder actually, with lots of nested folders beneath it.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by popechild

This is using the default STV. I usually use SageMC, but switched over to the default in order to try to debug this.

Has any type of metadata or other manipulation been done on the images while using SageMC?

While SageMC is not in use and no other customizations are active, could you create a new set of subfolders under the import path, then see if you can get images in that location to be shown in the wrong location? Use no customizations during this entire process.

Also, while the photos are shown in the proper folder, use the Info command while the photo is in focus and note what the dialog lists as the File Path. Then, do the same when the photo is listed in the wrong folder.

Two of the offending files for me are named P1010021.JPG and P1010022.JPG.

But, what about the folder names for the path? I really need the full path from the import directory to the file, like I asked for a couple times above. Again: I can't reproduce this, so I don't know what could be different on your setup.

Another possibility: do the files have EXIF data? Other forms of metadata stored with them?

Originally Posted by appelm

I use SageMC. I think I have it as combined.. I only have one photo import folder actually, with lots of nested folders beneath it.

Then you shouldn't be posting about the issue in this forum unless you've reproduced it in the default STV like popechild says he has. I can only try to reproduce & fix what happens while using the default STV.

- Andy

[popechild]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Has any type of metadata or other manipulation been done on the images while using SageMC?

No, I've never done anything to the photos at all. Not all of them are from my camera, so I don't know if anything was done to any of them before I got them, if that makes a difference.

While SageMC is not in use and no other customizations are active, could you create a new set of subfolders under the import path, then see if you can get images in that location to be shown in the wrong location? Use no customizations during this entire process.

I'll try to, but it could take a little while, as it takes hours for the issue to show up after each delete/re-import/re-scan. And given that I have hundreds of sub-folders and only two are showing the problem, who knows whether or not I'll be able to re-create it. Maybe I should try re-naming the folder that the images are in first? Or renaming the images themselves?

Also, while the photos are shown in the proper folder, use the Info command while the photo is in focus and note what the dialog lists as the File Path. Then, do the same when the photo is listed in the wrong folder.

The path when they're listed in the wrong folder is correct (ie. still shows the actual full path)

But, what about the folder names for the path? I really need the full path from the import directory to the file, like I asked for a couple times above. Again: I can't reproduce this, so I don't know what could be different on your setup.

Sorry, here's where those two pics are located: (I changed the NAS box from naslite-2 to naslite just to simplify it)
\\naslite\disk-0\pictures\fsu\2004 D3 Cycle\the anniversary\

Another possibility: do the files have EXIF data? Other forms of metadata stored with them?

Honestly I'm not even sure what this is. I haven't used any programs on them or manipulated them in any way besides just dumping them onto the drive from my camera's flash card (or from other people's cameras).
Huh. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure that I personally took any of the photos that are causing the problem. There are definitely photos taken by more than one person using more than one camera, but none of MY camera's photos are doing this as of now. I'm not sure if that means anything or not.[/QUOTE]

[appelm]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Then you shouldn't be posting about the issue in this forum unless you've reproduced it in the default STV like popechild says he has. I can only try to reproduce & fix what happens while using the default STV.

- Andy

just checked in the default STV. I have the same problem.

[popechild]

Originally Posted by appelm

just checked in the default STV. I have the same problem.

How bout trying the same things Andy recommended I try (creating new folders and trying to recreate, etc.) Maybe between the two of us we'll hit on something.

[Polypro]

I saw this in the 6.4 Betas and it occurs in 6.4.8. I don't use pics too often, so I never pursued it (posted about it, never filed a report). As above, random pics appear in the main picture menu when using "Combined". Setting it to Seperate fixes the issue, you just have one more click to navigate. Another anomoly is some thumbnails look horrible, like it's a 50x50 pic, blown up...but the pic is actually high quality. Viewing the pic proceeds as normal, it looks fine.

6.4.8 with stock STV, just imports.

P

[Opus4]

I'm still not sure whether the issue is in the STV, but I've heard from SageTV that they know about this and have been trying to determine what happens to cause it -- it seems to randomly occur and is hard to reproduce to get it to happen, making it difficult to track down.

I was told that you can use the force_full_content_reindex=true property setting to force all imports to be rescanned. If you have customized metadata for any imports, that might clear it out; I can't remember if that was this property, but I wanted to mention it as a possibility. Back up wiz.bin before trying it. You may also need to exit SageTV & set it back to false after using it.)

If you use that property, keep debug logging on afterwards. SageTV would like to see a log where the problem starts to happen again after it has been reset.

- Andy

[popechild]

I created a new directory named "Temp" at the same level of the previous "the anniversary" directory that had the problem photos. I moved all of the photos from "the anniversary" to "Temp" (but have not deleted "the anniversary" folder). I removed the import directory, re-scanned, then re-imported and scanned the directory. Roughly 12 hours later, I still don't have any rogue photos yet (fingers crossed).

If, by the end of the day, I'm still not having problems, I'll try to delete "the anniversary" folder, create a new one with the same name, and move the pictures back into it and see what happens.

[popechild]

So after 24 hours of no problems after moving all of the pictures to "Temp", I renamed "the anniversary" folder by adding a 2 to the end, and created a new "the anniversary" folder and moved all of the pictures into it. It wasn't 10 minutes after I removed and reimported the picture directory before the rogue photos were showing up again.

Nothing changed at all except for the name of the folder.

FWIW, I switched back over to SageMC at one point and noticed a curious error. It doesn't seem like a cause of a problem so much as a symptom that might help someone figure out what's causing this. If I select one of the rogue pictures and then hit info, instead of it showing the picture's path like it does on all the other photos, it displays the error "invalid airing" instead. I have no idea what that means, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

I guess for me I'll just rename the folder and live with not knowing what the underlying cause of the problem is for now.

[gman4nj]

I'm having a very similar problem, very strange indeed.

I have a photo directory as well and each subfolder contains a year in which the pics were taken

i.e
/My Pictures
/My Pictures/1999
/My Pictures/2000
etc

for some reason I'm noticing that some photo directories have photos no longer showing up

For instance, I have a /My Pictures/2008/Baptism directory on my pc, and on initial load I'll see the sub folder as well as all the pics. Then hours later, the entire sub folder is gone.

I don't get it either.

[tmiranda]

My photos are disappearing as well. In folder view I can see that each subfolder has pictures in it and the thumbnails scroll through them correctly. When I browse the folder Sage tells me there are no photos in there.

[appelm]

I am still having this problem with the latest beta 6.5.8.