Why are you referring to Vorbis? Is there anything unusual about your tagging of FLAC files?
Jim
I am assuming that the internal Vorbis block detail (which can be viewed by clicking that FLAC link at the top of the tag window) is somehow responsible for the data that enters the actual MC library upon Auto Import. Of course I am happy to be wrong on this.
If MC is not getting it's metadata (specifically for FLAC files) for the library from the Vorbis block (upon auto import) - I would love to know where it is getting it from - because there is a problem here.
To your question - ALL my tagging occurs within MC (and has for years).
After my panic on this issue - to ensure I was not seeing things - I actually
moved a single album OUT of the file server location and over to my local drive (so I would force an instant drop within the HTPC library (when it does an auto import scan at it's interval).
Then using my personal PC instance of MC - I proceeded to strip ALL tag data from all ten songs (Select all->right click and choose Remove tags) After selecting this command - MC posts a message that all tags have been stripped.
Then if I go into the Vorbis block data for ALL files - there is zero tag info there. The Vorbis block is just 40 bytes with nothing relevant to the FLAC file except the required basic Vorbis block template data.
Then - I choose Analyze Audio on all files - let it run - and then examine the Vorbis block again. It is now is then filled with a ton of stuff ranging from DR values to my custom fields (like Chart and Peak), the basic fields like Artist, album, date and of course - you can now see a clear reference to the Ratings value - if any. About three or 4 lines into the block data segment - you will see something like Rating=1 (if one star is assigned). If the song has no rating at all - there is no reference to a rating value in the Vorbis block anywhere.
Then to ensure apples to apples - I take this super clean freshly tagged FLAC album and send it back out the music network location (\\SERVER\Music) and let the Auto Import mechanism on the HTPC pick it up. As expected - it imports that album identical in every way to how I see the files on my PC. The Vorbis block data is identical. Tagging data in the editor is identical and The rating stars on screen are identical - everything looks perfect.
Then for all important ratings test: If I increase the rating star values on just one track from that album - say from no stars to 1 star - using my personal PC to edit - and let that change be written to the FLAC file in the network location - and then quickly switch over to the HTPC instance of MC (using Remote Desktop) and run Auto import manually - the rating change - on JUST THAT SONG - is correctly picked up by MC.
This is what I was assuming Auot Import should do 24x7x365 with no worry.
But imagine my surprise when I discovered -
if I reduce the ratings stars on that same track (again - from MY PC) - but changing it from 1 star to no stars and let that change be written to the FLAC file - and do another manual auto-import on the HTPC (again via Remote desktop) - MC brings in the Vorbis block data identically (no ratings star value embedded) but the ratings stars on that track -
as it appears in a view onscreen - do NOT change. The rating sits at one star.
And no amount of refreshing, re-importing or Update Library from tags or anything else will actually make the intended song rating drop from 1 star to zero.
So that is my issue here. There is something funky going on in MC's Auto Import (especially Update for External Changes) or some other area (Media Server component?) when MC detects changes have occurred in the folder locations that I am asking our HTPC to monitor.
For certain - this very detailed test shows that even after a hard core forced removal of all existing tag data, then a replacement with clean data all using MC - Auto import (media server) is still not importing "reduced" ratings changes correctly.
VP