.properties files

[wayner]

In my RecordedTV folder I appear to have a .properties file for every TV show file - for me that is several hundred files as I tend to keep shows around for a while. These files seem to be getting updated on a very regular basis and the Date Modified and Date Created file is pretty much always today - for example all of these files currently have a date and time of Dec 2, 2010 09:46am.

I don't like this as when I go into the folder using Windows Explorer and sort by date I like to see my most recent TV files first - in case I want to clean up files, etc.

What is creating the .properties files - is it BMT?

Is this Sage itself? (I am 99% sure that I didn't see all of these .properties files recreated every day on Sage6)

I don't think that I have any other plugins installed that would be creating/updating these files.

Do you need the .properties files?

If I need the files is there any way to change settings so that the date/time settings are of the original recording rather than always being the current day?

[PLUCKYHD]

You shouldn't need them for recorded tv in version 7 as I believe that is written to file now (metadata)

BMT doesn't create the properties files anymore at all IIRC. Sagetv does if you have the property line set to true (Can't remember what it is off the top of my head).

[Opus4]

What info is in those properties files? That may give a hint why the files are there & getting updated.

- Andy

[wayner]

Here is the example of a .properties file for a 30Rock episode:

Title=30 Rock
Description=Jack tries to influence a congressional election to help a candidate (John Slattery) for the benefit of the network; Jenna helps Liz find the perfect pair of jeans.
Genre=Sitcom
Actor=Tina Fey; Alec Baldwin; Tracy Morgan; Jane Krakowski; Jack McBrayer; Scott Adsit; Judah Friedlander; Keith Powell; Katrina Bowden
Guest_Star=John Slattery
Executive_Producer=Tina Fey; Lorne Michaels; Jo Ann Alfano; David Miner; Marci Klein
ExternalID=EP8483570089
ChannelName=KINGDT
ChannelNumber=529
ChannelDescription=KINGDT (KING-DT) Seattle-Tacoma
Library=false
StartDate=11/11/10
FirstRun=true
EndTime=12:00 AM
Manual=false
StartTime=11:30 PM
Favorite

=true

[stuckless]

As Plucky noted, sage has a property that controls whether or not .properties get created or not. The property is update_external_properties_files_on_metadata_changes, and it can be set via the bmt web ui (Configuration -> SageTV -> Metadata Settings ->
Update .properties when changed )

Basically metadata tools like BMT may set certain metadata fields and what that happens, if that property it set to true, then SageTV will write out a .properties file.

You can clear all .properties files from the web ui as well, Tools -> Remove .properties Files

[wayner]

Thanks Stuckless -I have done all of that. the update .properties field was on so I turned it off.

[wrems]

stuckless,

So, basically you're saying the properties files are optional? What are there pros/cons to keeping or eliminating them per your suggestion?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by wrems

stuckless,

So, basically you're saying the properties files are optional? What are there pros/cons to keeping or eliminating them per your suggestion?

Personally, I no longer use them. In v6 they were pretty much required to get metadata into sagetv, butin v7, they are not necessary at all.

The only advantage to keeping them, is that they will be a back for your metadata. If you were to remove an import directory, and then re-add it later, and it contained all the .properties, then the import would happen fairly quickly and you'd still have all your metadata. Without the .properties, then bmt would have to go and automatically fetch it all again.

[wayner]

What about if you are going to build a new Sage Server, as I plan to do over the next few weeks. Are they needed for that or can you just copy over your wiz.bin and will that do the trick?

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by wayner

What about if you are going to build a new Sage Server, as I plan to do over the next few weeks. Are they needed for that or can you just copy over your wiz.bin and will that do the trick?

I believe the wiz.bin only would help with tv recordings/schedules things of that nature. The tv recordings still has the metadata written to the file in v7 but for videos and movies you would need the properties files or a rescan.

[wayner]

Doesn't BMT go through your video library and attempt to find metadata for your movie files? And the .properties files don't point to Fanart as far as I am aware. I use Fanart extensively as I still far prefer the SageMC UI to the stock Sage7 UI, I hope to switch to one of the new UIs when they arrive.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by wayner

Doesn't BMT go through your video library and attempt to find metadata for your movie files? And the .properties files don't point to Fanart as far as I am aware. I use Fanart extensively as I still far prefer the SageMC UI to the stock Sage7 UI, I hope to switch to one of the new UIs when they arrive.

The .properties do contain information that is used by the phoenix apis for determining fanart. ie, MediaType, MediaTitle, and SeasonNumber are used.

If the .properties are not there, then bmt will try to automatically scrape the filename and find the metadata and download the fanart. BMT will skip files that have an existing .properties.

So, if you were looking at creating a new wiz.bin, you could use the bmt web ui, and tell it to create a .properties for all your media. And then when you imported thoses files back into a new sagetv server, you'd have all the metadata instantly, instead of waiting for bmt to scrape it. And if you set your Central Fanart folder to your fanart location, then you'll have complete fanart as well.

[JREkiwi]

wayner, the properties file you posted is from the RW Metadata plugin. By default it shouldn't be updating it once it has been created.

Check the setting at
"Detailed Setup / Customize/ Metadata Options / Automatic Create and Delete Options / Overwrite existing Metadata Files", it should be set to No to prevent the .properties files from regularly being overwritten.

John

[wayner]

What is the RW Metadata plugin? Does that come with Sage7 - I don't remember installing it.

[JREkiwi]

It's a V7 plugin. The full name is "Read, Write and Edit Metadata". It's been around as an stvi import since about SageTV V3.

John