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[adphil]

I've configured MC so it writes all my tag changes into the respective files as well.

This works perfectly for audio files. As an example, I can quit MC, go to a file and move it into another watched folder. After restarting MC, doing a "run auto-import now", that audio file will be found and all my changes are still there.

However, doing that same thing with a video file will lose all my changes like genre, name etc. I'm mainly using mkv and avi files. Running MC 21.0.55.

Is there an extra setting for video files that I'm missing?

[RoderickGI]

Make sure "Options>General>Importing & Tagging>Store tags in external sidecar files if the file type does not support tagging:" has Video ticked.

Many video files formats do not support saving tags into the files themselves, unlike many audio file types which do support saving tags into the files. I'll let you research if MKV and AVI files support saving tags. Even if they do in some form, MC may not support it for those formats. Test by saving some tags, and checking the media file and the sidecar file.

You can check what tags have been written to any media file from within MC. Just highlight the file, open the tag window, and click on the first line at the top of the tag Action Window, which shows the file type, duration, and size for audio files. See the first image. Then the tags stored in the file are shown in the Action Window. See second image. Sidecar files can be viewed with any text or XML file viewer. I use Notepad++ as it is a little intelligent and easier to use.

Regardless, almost all video file types that MC manages end up with some tags in sidecar files. So in your test, if you moved both the video and its sidecar file, MC would import all your customised tags.

If you have specific tags, perhaps custom tags, that you want saved, then go into Options>Library  Folders>Manage Library Fields, then for any field (which can be stored as a tag), make sure that the "Save in file tags (when possible)" checkbox is ticked. Most of the important ones are ticked by default. If you have been keying data into a tag that isn't saved in the file by default, then you can tell MC to write all that data to the files, as below.

To have MC to write the metadata you have entered into the library to your audio (or sidecar) files on the hard disk, select a few files for testing and right click on one, then select "Library Tools>Update Tags (from library)". Check the results. If that does what you want, select portions of your library and run the same process until all your files are updated. You could do the whole library in one go, but it is better to test on a few, then update sections at a time, so if something goes wrong you don't mess up all you files. Use views in MC to manage how you select groups of files for the update.

[blgentry]

It's very simple:

1.  MC will not write tags *inside* of any video files except for WMVs.  All others, it uses XML sidecar files.  If you move these files with the video files, MC should import all of the tags too because they are in the sidecars.  You should probably move the JPG files too, as that's where MC puts the cover art.
2.  But really, you shouldn't be moving files around externally.  Instead, use the Rename, Move, and Copy tool.  It will do all of the required steps and will NOT require an import when you are done.  RMC knows how to move the XML and JPG files and it preserves the tags and it preserves the import date, number of views, etc, etc.  It's fully automated, so it "just works".

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Rename,_Move,_and_Copy_Files

Brian.

[adphil]

Make sure "Options>General>Importing & Tagging>Store tags in external sidecar files if the file type does not support tagging:" has Video ticked.

Many video files formats do not support saving tags into the files themselves, unlike many audio file types which do support saving tags into the files. I'll let you research if MKV and AVI files support saving tags. Even if they do in some form, MC may not support it for those formats. Test by saving some tags, and checking the media file and the sidecar file . . . .

Sure enough, Video was not ticked, so it's not on by default. A jpg file for cover art had already been created, however. I never knew about that sidecar file 

So, now it is working as planned. I'm presently updating tags from library, which is taking a long time!

Thank you very much for your helpful advice, I appreciate it!

[adphil]

It's very simple:

1.  MC will not write tags *inside* of any video files except for WMVs.  All others, it uses XML sidecar files.  If you move these files with the video files, MC should import all of the tags too because they are in the sidecars.  You should probably move the JPG files too, as that's where MC puts the cover art.
2.  But really, you shouldn't be moving files around externally.  Instead, use the Rename, Move, and Copy tool.  It will do all of the required steps and will NOT require an import when you are done.  RMC knows how to move the XML and JPG files and it preserves the tags and it preserves the import date, number of views, etc, etc.  It's fully automated, so it "just works".

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Rename,_Move,_and_Copy_Files

Brian.

Maybe you want to do everything from inside MC, I don't. Especially when moving big amounts of data (several TB) I'm not going to trust MC to perform without a hiccup. I'll use the copy function of my OS. It will be fail save and also a lot faster. Despite using the MC database, I still like to organize my files in a simple folder structure, a folder per artist and album for audio, a folder per genre for videos. Therefore, I'll be moving folders and not individual files, so jpg and sidecar files will not be forgotten.

Having all the metadata in or with the video files also gives me the possibility, if needed, to install everything from scratch starting with the OS, and then importing all my files without having lost all that tagging work. I can't see why you would only rely on that MC database if you don't have to.

[blgentry]

Maybe you want to do everything from inside MC, I don't. Especially when moving big amounts of data (several TB) I'm not going to trust MC to perform without a hiccup.

Agreed.  When I move large amounts of data, I use an external tool (rysnc in my case) to do the actual file moves.  *Then* I use the Rename, Move, and Copy tool in "update only" mode.  This tells MC "hey I moved all of these files, update your internal file lists to the new location".  Since I told MC that I moved the files *ALL* of the metatdata is preserved.  There's no need to treat anything specially because MC is just updating a file pointer.  All of the metadata stays the same as it was.

Having all the metadata in or with the video files also gives me the possibility, if needed, to install everything from scratch starting with the OS, and then importing all my files without having lost all that tagging work. I can't see why you would only rely on that MC database if you don't have to.

For an emergency I can definitely see the appeal of having the tags inside files (for audio) or sidecar files (for video).  But in terms of doing a restore, you can easily back up MC library.  In fact, MC backs up it's library automatically every few days.  Then, when you put your data files (music, video) back on disk, MC should know where it is, because the database will have been restored from the MC database backup.  But what if you moved your files to a new drive as part of your OS reinstall?  No problem.  RM&C in update only mode can update the file locations of all of the files in one shot.

MC's database is very powerful for metadata.  All of the things I'm suggesting are mainly to keep that metadata intact and to avoid having to re-import things that you already imported.  With RM&C and external file move/copy tools, you can be the master of MC and all of your media files.

Brian.

[RoderickGI]

Happy to help Adphil.

Good couple of posts there also Brian. Only WMVs hold tags then. I should try to remember that. I only have a couple of test pattern WMVs though, with no tags, so not much to test with. I pretty much just assume all my videos will have sidecar files.

The external move and then using RM&C in Update mode, retaining all usage history, is also a good tip I will try to remember.