Constant problem with some titles

[adone36]

For TV I have "preserve metadata" turned on and Sage uses the stock metadata. However several eps etc are always listed in the "Missing Metadata" view. Even if I search and re-save metadata within BMT in addition several movies are ALWAYS in missing metadata view:

Vampireland (2012)
The Headsman (2007)
The Expatriate (2012)
The Day (2011)
Special Forces (2012)
Snowtown (2012)
Henry's Crime (2011)
Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past (2009)
Deadfall (2012)

If I search and update the metadata in BMT, the next time Sage scans, it wipes these films data out and they are in "missing metadata" again.

How can i stop this.

[stuckless]

If a sagetv scan "wipes" them, do you have the creation of .properties turned ON. That is the only way to really preserve metadata.

[adone36]

Sean,

I remember turning off using sage.properties files somewhere a long time ago and I can't seem to find it again. In BMT "update .properties" is unchecked.

A while ago I asked you what constituted "missing properties" and I checked and the fields in the Sage TV recordings had the fields you mentioned populated. I even searched in BMT and updated metadata for these shows (preserve metadata is checked) and they still come up in "missing metadata" view. They have full plots, ratings, fanart, etc.

Usually I might have a movie with missing metadata that when I use the GUI and search, it's found easily and when saved it does not show up again. The ones I listed are easily found exactly as is in the BMT GUI, but after saving, they will be blank again after a SAGE scan.

[stuckless]

I suspect that with that "Update .properties" turned off, then sometimes when sage is re-scanning the files, then it just drops the existing metadata. I think the only solution is to enable the creation of .properties so that when sagetv reloads the media item, it can reassign the properties. A Missing Metadata scan, only looks at MediaType and MediaTitle (and SeasonNumber for TV shows).

I never notice this myself, but I've never turned off the option for creating/updating .properties.

Originally Posted by adone36

Sean,

I remember turning off using sage.properties files somewhere a long time ago and I can't seem to find it again. In BMT "update .properties" is unchecked.

A while ago I asked you what constituted "missing properties" and I checked and the fields in the Sage TV recordings had the fields you mentioned populated. I even searched in BMT and updated metadata for these shows (preserve metadata is checked) and they still come up in "missing metadata" view. They have full plots, ratings, fanart, etc.

Usually I might have a movie with missing metadata that when I use the GUI and search, it's found easily and when saved it does not show up again. The ones I listed are easily found exactly as is in the BMT GUI, but after saving, they will be blank again after a SAGE scan.

[adone36]

I reset "update properties". When I use the gui and lookup metadata, it is not saving for these title. If I search (ex: Title contains 'Vampireland') nothing is found for any of these titles. Searching on others works though.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by adone36

I reset "update properties". When I use the gui and lookup metadata, it is not saving for these title. If I search (ex: Title contains 'Vampireland') nothing is found for any of these titles. Searching on others works though.

I have one episode of The Office where it will not save the metadata as well. I'm not sure the reason, but sometimes a video file(s) gets corrupted in the Wiz.bin and can never be updated. Typically when this happens, I remove the files, rescan, and then restart sagetv, and then I re-add the files, and then rescan, again. (and by rescan here, I mean, tell sagetv to to look for new media)

[adone36]

Before you replied I did move the files, scan, replace, and scan again. Same problem. The OTHER strange thing I just noticed is different cover art. One sage client is also a file server. For all my dvds on disk I have a "folder.jpg" and all video files have a "file name.jpg" file. Because of the online databases not separating foreign covers, it's easier to add the cover art when the titles are added then going back and changing a hundred out of thousands after a scan. Well my sage client has the right covers, but the Sage server has different covers (some foreign) for some titles.

After checking "update properties", have a few property files, but not for any affected titles. I assume Sage reads the properties files in preference to Phoenix the way it uses folder.jpg and title.jpg. I never used the properties file because even if I had to do a manual correction in the gui, BMT was fine and never had an issue unless the title was moved.

[stuckless]

I'll try to clarify a few points...

Phoenix will load the "local" fanart (ie, moviename.jpg) in addition to the downloaded fanart, but, it will prioritize the downloaded fanart over the local fanart. So, the local poster is only ever used if there is no central fanart. I be working with jusjoken on some fanart enhancements, especially as it relates to local fanart (ie, fanart in the same folder as the media items), and when I do, I'll see about adding a configuration property to prefer local fanart.

As for .properties. SageTV creates thoses automatically whenever somethings (such as bmt or phoenix) updates the metadata for media file. It's more like a backup of the data, in case something happens, and SageTV needs to reload metadata. You can manually modify the .properties as well, but typically that's not needed, if you use something like to BMT to edit the metadata. By default SageTV will create .properties, but you can turn that feature off, but it's not recommended, because, as I mentioned, it's a good backup SageTV ONLY reads the properties if the .properties or the mediafile timestamp changes, or, if SageTV decides for some reason to just re-read it because it's internal data was corrupted. Phoenix doesn't read the properties as all. Phoenix relies of the state of the data in the SageTV database.

Originally Posted by adone36

Before you replied I did move the files, scan, replace, and scan again. Same problem. The OTHER strange thing I just noticed is different cover art. One sage client is also a file server. For all my dvds on disk I have a "folder.jpg" and all video files have a "file name.jpg" file. Because of the online databases not separating foreign covers, it's easier to add the cover art when the titles are added then going back and changing a hundred out of thousands after a scan. Well my sage client has the right covers, but the Sage server has different covers (some foreign) for some titles.

After checking "update properties", have a few property files, but not for any affected titles. I assume Sage reads the properties files in preference to Phoenix the way it uses folder.jpg and title.jpg. I never used the properties file because even if I had to do a manual correction in the gui, BMT was fine and never had an issue unless the title was moved.

[adone36]

Gotcha, thanks.

Is there anyway to export a "properties file" in BMT? That could fix a lot of my issues. I didn't see anything on the menus.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by adone36

Gotcha, thanks.

Is there anyway to export a "properties file" in BMT? That could fix a lot of my issues. I didn't see anything on the menus.

Browse to the view where you files are located, and then from the "Batch Operations" drop down list, select "Export .properties". It will apply that action to all the files in that view.

[adone36]

Thanks Sean. It can be handy in the future, but I discovered (DUH!!!) that if it won't save metadata, there is nothing to export. I also tried renaming files ("The Expatriate ---> "Expatriate") ("The Code" ----> "Thick as Thieves" alt title). Still won't save metadata. The weirdest thing is I have "The Day" as a DVD on hard disk as well as an avi in a video directory. The DVD has metadata, the avi none and can't be saved. Maybe there's a clue to the issue there.

[jorton]

Are you putting the year in the titles?

Here is what a search on www.IMDB.com returns,

The Day (I) (2011)
The Children (2008) aka "The Day"
The Day (2011) (Video)
The Day (II) (2011) (Short)
The Day (1914)
Der Tag (2009) aka "The Day"
The Day (2009) (Video)

Thick as Thieves (I) (2009) aka "The Code"
The Omega Code (1999) aka "The Code"


The Expatriate (2012)
The Expatriate (1957) (TV Episode) - The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (1957) (TV Series)
The Expatriate (1996) (TV Episode) - Promised Land (1996) (TV Series)


Try renaming them,

The Day (2011)
Thick as Theives (2009)
The Expatriate (2012)

Looks like it wouldn't be able to pick one over the other without the year.. Worth a try.

I always name my files with the year to exactly match IMDB.com including the year in brackets or use stuckless' command line app to rename and then verify its the right year etc...

EDIT: Looks like you had dates in the names in your initial post, ignore me

[adone36]

Yes the titles were exactly as posted. The real problem is that even if I manually search in the gui and update the metadata, it is not saved.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by adone36

Yes the titles were exactly as posted. The real problem is that even if I manually search in the gui and update the metadata, it is not saved.

Yeah, the only time I ever see this happen is when the Wiz.bin is currupted

[reggie14]

I'm noticing that BMT is struggling to find a match with a number of my shows..

Notably, it can't find a single match on:

• Saturday Night Live
• Glee
• Law & Order
• Bones
• The Office

Sometimes it seems to not be able to find a match because there's non-US versions of the show. "The Office" is a good example of that. Sometimes its because other contain the same title; "Bones" versus "Bag of Bones" is an example of that.

Sometimes I can't even figure out why it can't find a match. "Law & Order" is confused with "Law and Order," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

Any pointers for how I deal with these?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I'm noticing that BMT is struggling to find a match with a number of my shows..

Notably, it can't find a single match on:

• Saturday Night Live
• Glee
• Law & Order
• Bones
• The Office

Sometimes it seems to not be able to find a match because there's non-US versions of the show. "The Office" is a good example of that. Sometimes its because other contain the same title; "Bones" versus "Bag of Bones" is an example of that.

Sometimes I can't even figure out why it can't find a match. "Law & Order" is confused with "Law and Order," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

Any pointers for how I deal with these?

Sometimes things fail because it can't find a match on the Series. TVDB is extremely picky when it comes matching, so while BMT can find a best match where there multiple items returned, it can't find a best match when no items are returns. Sadly TVDB returns no items in many cases. So, what I do, is try to find the item on TVDB, and make sure that my Title matches exactly to theirs. ie, Law & Order will probably return no results if the show is Law and Order on tvdb.

The MediaTitles is in place to help address some of this. So, if I have a problem show, I use BMT to find the Metadata, and then I use the "Add Matcher" button in BMT to add a Matcher to the MediaTitles to help resolve future issues.

The second reason that TV shows fails is if the TVDB data hasn't been updated. ie, BMT attempts to find the metadata for a show once the recording has been done. If there isn't an epsisode specific entry then it fails. When you check it the next day, it might be there, but it may not have been there at the time that bmt first tried. In these cases, you need to manually update metadata.

The third reason why stuff fails is network timeouts to TVDB. This is a heavily used site that is overworked to say the least. I'm seeing and and more network timeouts

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Sometimes things fail because it can't find a match on the Series. TVDB is extremely picky when it comes matching, so while BMT can find a best match where there multiple items returned, it can't find a best match when no items are returns. Sadly TVDB returns no items in many cases. So, what I do, is try to find the item on TVDB, and make sure that my Title matches exactly to theirs. ie, Law & Order will probably return no results if the show is Law and Order on tvdb.

Actually, I seem to have the opposite problem. The show is "Law & Order" in both Sage and thetvdb, but BMT seems to not be pulling metadata. When I search for metadata manually within BMT, I see it pops up a bunch of options, including one for "Law and Order."

Originally Posted by stuckless

The MediaTitles is in place to help address some of this. So, if I have a problem show, I use BMT to find the Metadata, and then I use the "Add Matcher" button in BMT to add a Matcher to the MediaTitles to help resolve future issues.

Ahhh, I saw that, but initially I couldn't figure out how to use it. Thanks for pointing me back to that. After some trial and error, it looks like I just need to enter "TheOffice-" in the "match filename pattern" box. Do you have any pointers for using that functionality?

Originally Posted by stuckless

The third reason why stuff fails is network timeouts to TVDB. This is a heavily used site that is overworked to say the least. I'm seeing and and more network timeouts

I figured this was part of it too. Does the automatic retry count setting determine how many tries BMT attempts?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by reggie14

Ahhh, I saw that, but initially I couldn't figure out how to use it. Thanks for pointing me back to that. After some trial and error, it looks like I just need to enter "TheOffice-" in the "match filename pattern" box. Do you have any pointers for using that functionality?

Trial and error seems to be the tip. For recorded shows, I tend to do what you did, which is the first part of the name followed by dash. For imported TV shows, I'll use the directory filter, and enter the directory name which is usually the Series name.

I figured this was part of it too. Does the automatic retry count setting determine how many tries BMT attempts?

The automatic retry count may affect this... but if you set it to 100 you may annoy the tvdb site with too many requests.

[reggie14]

I'm still having problems with several titles. Here's an excerpt from my mediatitles.xml file. Can you take a look at it and tell me if you know any reason why lookups always fail on Colbert Report episodes?

  <match>
    <regex>[\\/]TheColbertReport-.*</regex>
    <metadata type="TV" name="tvdb">79274</metadata>
  </match>

Update:
Ahh, I think I see what's happening. It tends to be with Colbert Report, Daily Show, and SNL episodes. I think the problem is when there's a field empty from the EPG data, BMT can't/won't update the empty field if "preserve original metadata" is checked. So, BMT keeps reporting it as missing metadata. Is there some better way to handle this other than 1) semi-manually updating each entry, or 2) unchecking preserve metadata in the BMT options?

I'm nervous about unchecking that. TheTVDB occasionally screws things up (mostly with DVD rips, but I imagine it could happen with recordings too). It would be nice to let BMT update empty fields.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I'm still having problems with several titles. Here's an excerpt from my mediatitles.xml file. Can you take a look at it and tell me if you know any reason why lookups always fail on Colbert Report episodes?

  <match>
    <regex>[\\/]TheColbertReport-.*</regex>
    <metadata type="TV" name="tvdb">79274</metadata>
  </match>

Update:
Ahh, I think I see what's happening. It tends to be with Colbert Report, Daily Show, and SNL episodes. I think the problem is when there's a field empty from the EPG data, BMT can't/won't update the empty field if "preserve original metadata" is checked. So, BMT keeps reporting it as missing metadata. Is there some better way to handle this other than 1) semi-manually updating each entry, or 2) unchecking preserve metadata in the BMT options?

I'm nervous about unchecking that. TheTVDB occasionally screws things up (mostly with DVD rips, but I imagine it could happen with recordings too). It would be nice to let BMT update empty fields.

It probably should be updated... but sadly, I'm not sure I have much time in the near future to do it (you can enter a bug at http://code.google.com/p/customsagetv/ and that way I won't forget about it.. forever)