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[glynor]

I now have a growing library of video files that have .my (and .properties) sidecar files.  These sidecar files are simple text tag files that contain all of the relevant metadata about the recordings.  The video recordings also have some level of in-file tagging (where supported) and .jpg cover art sidecar files.

I'd like to be able to watch this recording location via MC's Auto-Import, and have it automatically import all of the relevant metadata, so that I am able to use MC to manage all of my video in my library.  Just one clarification: I don't need MC to be able to write-back to these sidecar files.  Having MC create it's own JRSidecar.xml files is perfect for my needs.  I just need Read-only support on ingest (and manual Update Library from Tags).

Here is an example of one of the .my files (a special "short" recording I made tonight for this express purpose):

Code: [Select]

title=Law and Order
TVEpisode=Home Sweet
TVOverview=An 8-year-old girl dies in the explosion of an Upper East Side brownstone; detectives determine faulty wiring is to blame, but with little evidence it is difficult to prove the case.
overview=An 8-year-old girl dies in the explosion of an Upper East Side brownstone; detectives determine faulty wiring is to blame, but with little evidence it is difficult to prove the case.
TVGenre=Crime drama
TVActors=Sam Waterston, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jesse L. Martin, Fred Dalton Thompson, Milena Govich, Alana De La Garza
actors=Sam Waterston, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jesse L. Martin, Fred Dalton Thompson, Milena Govich, Alana De La Garza
TVExecutiveProducer=Dick Wolf, William Finkelstein, Arthur Penn
TVOriginalAiringDate=10/6/06
TVStartDate=9/7/10
TVStartTime=6:00 PM
TVEndTime=7:00 PM
TVChannelNumber=745
TVChannelName=TNTHD
TVChannelDescription=TNTHD (TNT-HD)
TVFirstRun=false
TVFavorite=false
TVManual=true
TVLibrary=false
TVExternalID=EP0176170397
MediaFormatFull=MPEG2-TS[H.264 16:9 720p@60fps, Dolby Digital/384Kbps@48kHz Stereo]
MediaFormat=MPEG2-TS
MediaVideo=H.264
MediaAspect=16:9
MediaResolution=720p@60fps
MediaAudio=Dolby
MediaChannels=Digital/384Kbps@48kHz Stereo
MediaFileFull=T:\recordings\LawOrder-HomeSweet-241904-0.ts
MediaFile=LawOrder-HomeSweet-241904-0.ts
Here is the contents of the .properties file for the same recording:

Code: [Select]

Title=Law and Order
Description=An 8-year-old girl dies in the explosion of an Upper East Side brownstone; detectives determine faulty wiring is to blame, but with little evidence it is difficult to prove the case.
Genre=Crime drama
Actor=Sam Waterston; S. Epatha Merkerson; Jesse L. Martin; Fred Dalton Thompson; Milena Govich; Alana De La Garza
Executive_Producer=Dick Wolf; William Finkelstein; Arthur Penn
ExternalID=EP0176170397
ChannelName=TNTHD
ChannelNumber=745
ChannelDescription=TNTHD (TNT-HD)
Library=false
StartDate=9/7/10
FirstRun=false
EndTime=7:00 PM
Manual=true
StartTime=6:00 PM
Favorite=false
I have this same stuff, along with the .ts recording itself, and I'm going to package it up in a ZIP file and put it up on my webserver as soon as I get the chance (and I'll update this thread with the download link then). (UPDATE: Here it is.)

For what it's worth, the .my files are a metadata sidecar format from MYHTPC, the old precursor to Meedio.  That format is still supported by some open-source metadata tools.  The .properties sidecar file is a JAVA parameters file, which stores metadata for files in SageTV.  I'm not sure if they are used in other applications in this way, but it is possible.  The .my files seem to contain additional metadata not included in the .properties files (I'm guessing because the .properties file references the ExternalID which allows Sage to look the show up in it's data source).  The extra info included in the .my files is important stuff, like the Episode title, original air date, and stuff like that.

So, the reason I want this...

[glynor]

I've now switched over to SageTV for my DVR Software.  I'd love to use MC for this, but I need:

1. Automatic, reliable, and easy-to-setup control of my Motorola external Digital Cable box via the IR blaster included in my HD-PVR.
2. The ability to watch live TV on a remote system over the local network with a program guide and everything as if I were watching it on the computer that has the HD-PVR, PCI Tuners, and cable box physically connected to it.

Despite all of the advances in MC's TV support, it doesn't yet do this, and I'm also not sure how reliable or easy to configure the program guide data is for someone using a combination of analog cable and digital cable in the US with multiple tuners.

For these reasons, I've settled on SageTV for now as it meets those needs.  The UI is kinda crappy though.  It works, but it is no where near as polished or slick as MC's Theater View.  So, my goal is to: Use SageTV primarily as a background video recording application on the server and extremely occasionally for "live TV" viewing (sports and whatnot), and to use MC for everything else.  I want to be able to tell my wife: "No matter what show it is, what type of media it is, or where it came from, you go to MC to watch it, view it, or listen to it, unless it is live."  This will make her very happy, and me too, since I won't have to deal with Sage's UI as often.

In order to accomplish this goal, though, I need MC to be able to auto-import my files and automatically tag them with metadata which is right there in a machine-readable format.  Sure, it would be ideal to get SageTV to spit out JRSidecar.xml files, but that isn't going to happen realistically.  (But if someone with some JAVA-Foo wants to write an extension that does that, I'd be all over it.)  This seems like a pretty simple thing to do, and it would be nice to have additional video-tagging file format support.  MC already supports all sorts of wildly different tagging schemes for in-file tags, and since in-file tags for videos are so few and far between, I think this could be a great addition that would add to the versatility and compatibility of MC for relatively minor development costs (they are just simple text files with a pretty standard syntax.)

What do you think?

[glynor]

My example file is uploading to my server now.  I'll post the link later when it finishes.  (Here it is.)

It is 331 MB.  That's a roughly 5 minute 720p recording on my system from my HD-PVR, with the metadata files.

One other little detail that'd be nice to auto-ingest, would be the cover art files.  Sage  can also generates sidecar jpg files that are nice (if low-resolution) cover art for the videos.  These have an identical file name to the recording (just like the other sidecar files) only with the .jpg extension.  Here is an example:



And, just for kicks, here's the .my file for that recording:

Code: [Select]

title=NOVA
TVEpisode=Becoming Human: Birth of Humanity
TVOverview=How ancestors survived in a savannah with vicious predators; when and why they left the African cradle to colonize the earth.
overview=How ancestors survived in a savannah with vicious predators; when and why they left the African cradle to colonize the earth.
TVGenre=Anthology/Science
TVOriginalAiringDate=11/10/09
TVStartDate=9/7/10
TVStartTime=8:00 PM
TVEndTime=9:00 PM
TVChannelNumber=712
TVChannelName=WMEBDT
TVChannelDescription=WMEBDT (WMEB-DT) Bangor
TVFirstRun=false
TVFavorite=true
TVManual=false
TVLibrary=false
TVExternalID=EP0031630587
MediaFormatFull=MPEG2-TS[H.264 16:9 720p@60fps, Dolby Digital/384Kbps@48kHz Stereo]
MediaFormat=MPEG2-TS
MediaVideo=H.264
MediaAspect=16:9
MediaResolution=720p@60fps
MediaAudio=Dolby
MediaChannels=Digital/384Kbps@48kHz Stereo
MediaFileFull=T:\recordings\NOVA-BecomingHumanBirthofHumanity-254030-0.ts
MediaFile=NOVA-BecomingHumanBirthofHumanity-254030-0.ts
And here's a movie example:

Code: [Select]

title=Alive
TVOverview=Members of an Uruguayan rugby team do what they must to survive a 1970s plane crash in the frigid Andes.
overview=Members of an Uruguayan rugby team do what they must to survive a 1970s plane crash in the frigid Andes.
TVGenre=Movie/Docudrama
TVActors=Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, Josh Hamilton, Bruce Ramsay, John Haymes Newton, David Kriegel, Kevin Breznahan, Sam Behrens, Illeana Douglas, Jack Noseworthy, Christian Meoli
actors=Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, Josh Hamilton, Bruce Ramsay, John Haymes Newton, David Kriegel, Kevin Breznahan, Sam Behrens, Illeana Douglas, Jack Noseworthy, Christian Meoli
TVDirector=Frank Marshall
TVProducer=Robert Watts, Kathleen Kennedy
TVRating=R
TVExpandedRatings=Violence
TVYear=1993
released=1993
TVLanguage=English
TVStartDate=9/5/10
TVStartTime=6:00 AM
TVEndTime=8:10 AM
TVDuration=127
TVChannelNumber=698
TVChannelName=HBOZHD
TVChannelDescription=HBO Zone HD
TVFirstRun=false
TVFavorite=false
TVManual=true
TVLibrary=false
TVExternalID=MV0362160000
MediaFormatFull=MPEG2-TS[H.264 16:9 720p@60fps, Dolby Digital/384Kbps@48kHz Stereo]
MediaFormat=MPEG2-TS
MediaVideo=H.264
MediaAspect=16:9
MediaResolution=720p@60fps
MediaAudio=Dolby
MediaChannels=Digital/384Kbps@48kHz Stereo
MediaFileFull=T:\recordings\Alive-208500-0.ts
MediaFile=Alive-208500-0.ts
And the .properties file for Alive:

Code: [Select]

Title=Alive
Description=Members of an Uruguayan rugby team do what they must to survive a 1970s plane crash in the frigid Andes.
Duration=7620000
Genre=Movie/Docudrama
Actor=Ethan Hawke; Vincent Spano; Josh Hamilton; Bruce Ramsay; John Haymes Newton; David Kriegel; Kevin Breznahan; Sam Behrens; Illeana Douglas; Jack Noseworthy; Christian Meoli
Director=Frank Marshall
Producer=Robert Watts; Kathleen Kennedy
Rated=R
ExtendedRatings=Violence
Year=1993
Misc=**+, Touchstone Pictures
Language=English
ExternalID=MV0362160000
ChannelName=HBOZHD
ChannelNumber=698
ChannelDescription=HBO Zone HD
Library=false
StartDate=9/5/10
FirstRun=false
EndTime=8:10 AM
Manual=true
StartTime=6:00 AM
Favorite=false
UPDATE: It looks like MC already grabs the jpg files and uses them as cover art properly.  I just need it to ingest the info in the .my file.  Also, I believe these .my files can be created by other "tv recording metadata auto-collection" tools as well, but I'm no expert at these.  Perhaps someone else can chime in...

[glynor]

Here's the file:

http://glynor.com/temp/my_metadata_example.zip

It is a 331 MB ZIP file.  It contains one 5 minute-ish long H264 compressed TS file, recorded with my HD-PVR by SageTV and the associated metadata files.

I'm not going to keep this up on my site forever, but I thought it might be useful to have an example.

[jmone]

The other option maybe to create a small app that parses these files into the MPL format, eg along the following lines (sample from that created by the MoviesSeriesInfo 3rd party tool)

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<MPL Version="2.0" Title="Film">
<Item>
<Field Name="Filename">\\RUMPUS\Media3\Video\Movies\Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009).iso</Field>
<Field Name="Image File">C:\Users\Mum and Dad\Downloads\MoviesSeriesInfosv8.9\Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009).jpg</Field>
<Field Name="Name">Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince</Field>
<Field Name="Media Type">Video</Field>
<Field Name="Media Sub Type">Movie</Field>
<Field Name="Year">2009</Field>
<Field Name="Tag line">Once again I must ask too much of you, Harry</Field>
<Field Name="Country">UK;USA</Field>
<Field Name="AKAS"></Field>
<Field Name="Trivia">The sixth of eight movies based on the Harry Potter book series by J.K. Rowling.</Field>
<Field Name="IMDB Rating">7.4</Field>
<Field Name="Rating">3.7</Field>
<Field Name="IMDB Code">0417741</Field>
<Field Name="Language"></Field>
<Field Name="Subtitle"></Field>
<Field Name="MPAA Rating">Rated PG for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality.</Field>
<Field Name="Similar">Electric Spoofaloo (2009);Smosh (2009);81st Annual Academy Awards (2009);2009 MTV Movie Awards (2009);Late Show with David Letterman (2009);Late Show with David Letterman (2009);Hot Fuzz (2007);Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001);Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002);Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004);Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005);Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007);Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (2010);Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (2011);Funny People (2009);Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (2009);</Field>
<Field Name="Description">As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past.</Field>
<Field Name="Long Description">In the sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, and in both wizard and muggle worlds Lord Voldemort and his henchmen are increasingly active. With vacancies to fill at Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore persuades Horace Slughorn, back from retirement to become the potions teacher, while Professor Snape receives long awaited news. Harry Potter, together with Dumbledore, must face treacherous tasks to defeat his evil nemesis.</Field>
<Field Name="Genres">Action;Adventure;Family;Fantasy;Mystery;Romance</Field>
<Field Name="Director">David Yates</Field>
<Field Name="Writers">Steve Kloves;J.K. Rowling</Field>
<Field Name="Actors">Daniel Radcliffe;Rupert Grint;Emma Watson;Jim Broadbent;Elarica Gallacher;Robbie Coltrane;Michael Gambon;Maggie Smith;Alan Rickman;Bonnie Wright;James Phelps;Oliver Phelps;Julie Walters;Mark Williams;David Thewlis</Field>
<Field Name="Actors Roles">Daniel Radcliffe -> Harry Potter;Rupert Grint -> Ron Weasley;Emma Watson -> Hermione Granger;Jim Broadbent -> Professor Horace Slughorn;Elarica Gallacher -> Waitress;Robbie Coltrane -> Rubeus Hagrid;Michael Gambon -> Professor Albus Dumbledore;Maggie Smith -> Professor Minerva McGonagall;Alan Rickman -> Professor Severus Snape;Bonnie Wright -> Ginny Weasley;James Phelps -> Fred Weasley;Oliver Phelps -> George Weasley;Julie Walters -> Molly Weasley;Mark Williams -> Arthur Weasley;David Thewlis -> Remus Lupin;</Field>
<Field Name="Web Media URL">http://harrypotter.warnerbros.co.jp/site/mainsite/;http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthehalf-bloodprince/;http://harrypotter.warnerbros.fr/;http://www.halfbloodprince.com.au/;</Field>
<Field Name="Metadata Import Date">20091213</Field>
</Item>
</MPL>

[glynor]

Yeah, I thought of that.  I could also conceivably write a small app that would convert them directly into the JRSidecar.xml files.  However, the .my and .properties files are automatically created immediately when the recording is created.  The JRSidecar.xml or MPL file would not be.  This could lead to some issues.

If I wrote a converter (either an application or a script), it would need to be run on a scheduled basis. Even if you ran it a LOT (like every 15 minutes or something, assuming my coding was good enough that this was possible), the JRSidecar.xml or mpl files would still not always be up to date.  If MC is running when the recording starts, then the Auto-Import will "see" the new video file and import it, but the conversion script won't have run yet, so the JRSidecar.xml/MPL won't exist yet.  That means that MC will import the file with no metadata, and you'll have to manually update it yourself.

That breaks the use-case I'm looking for, which is for it to "Just Work" for my wife.  I need her to be able to open MC, when I'm not even home, and for all the new recordings to just be there (or show up in short order as Auto-Import grabs them), properly tagged and available to be browsed and played via Theater View.  The metadata is there, I just need MC to be able to see and use it.

[glynor]

PS. I could also ask the developer of the SageTV plugin I'm using that creates those .my and .properties files to add a MPL or JRSidecar.xml option to his plugin.  Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have a lot of success there.  I'd be asking an unpaid guy who developed a useful, free plugin to spend time supporting a third-party commercial application that he probably doesn't use or need.  Maybe I'd get lucky and he'd take pity on us, but probably not.

It seems like this is something that, if it is going to happen, probably needs to happen from JRiver.  It fits anyway... If they want MC to be the tool to manage all of our media, then it needs to be able to read the tags from as many sources as it can.

Again, I'd love to ditch Sage completely, but MC doesn't have quite the PVR feature set that I need, and that a lot of power HTPC users are going to demand.  The TV features in v15 are great, but if you need certain advanced capabilities (like remote live viewing and multiple external tuner support), you currently need to go to something third party.  Making MC work with and compliment the best of those external applications seems like a no-brainer to me.  With the abandonment of BeyondTV, the choices on Windows are clearly SageTV and Windows Media Center edition.  MCE is DRM-laden and locked down (and MC pretty much beats it on features anyway), so SageTV is the obvious choice.

[jmone]

Of course...the "real" answer is to use MC for TV Recording (and hence for you convincing the JR folk on adding your features).  FYI - I have a Dual Tuner HDHomeRun that presents 2 network based tuners to any/all of my PC, using MC with EPG to then browse, watch and record TV.  Schedule TV Recoding from the EPG is good (with the ability to record a show, a time slot, or a series / search string).  I've not tried to use the Blaster feature in MC to control / capture other device input so can not comment on how "user" friendly it is / is not.
Thanks.
Nathan

FYI - Its not all beer and skittles, Yaobing is looking at some issues for us DVB-T folk on the recoding formats (JTV / TS).

[glynor]

Yeah, unfortunately all of that stuff is to support tuners that receive broadcasts in the clear, which is useless for most of those of us in the US market.  The cable companies are dumb here, but I literally can't get any HD channels worth zilch without my proprietary digital cable box.  I can't get HBO.  I can't get CNN HD.  I can't get ESPN HD.  I can't even get ABC in HD.

I have an QAM capable HD tuner in my box downstairs hooked up to my cable.  I seriously get ONLY public television (which has a bunch of "versions" that I can't find accurate guide data for anywhere), and a bunch of Pay-per-View preview channels.  It sucks, but it is how we live over here.  It is that, or CableCard, which is SERIOUSLY never going to happen in MC.

I'd love it if they'd spend a bunch of resources building a true SageTV competitor out of MC.  But seriously?  SageTV is a $100 application and MC has a LONG way to go.  I don't even know if I want them spending that much of their resources, when there are other things I'd like to see them do more (client/server improvements, BluRay, etc).  If they have to pick and choose, then that's fine.  This seems like a simple way to support their users, with minimal development efforts.  Oh, and by the way... I'm not alone using MC along with Sage.  There is a well-liked plugin for Sage that allows data to flow the other way, from MC into Sage, that has already been updated to work with the new v7 of Sage and which is actively developed.  If I wanted to use the Sage UI exclusively and abandon Theater View (using MC only to manage my media in Standard View), I could do that right now.

I don't, because it is miles behind MC in my opinion, but I could.

[jmone]

Likewise 95% of our TV Viewing / Recording is actually done using the Pay TV's DVR (in Oz there is one big PayTV Provider and they retransmit "most" Free To Air (FTA) commercial channels as well)...and as DVRs go it is pretty good.  Unfortunatly it is also encrupted so there is no easy digital access to either the raw TS streams or even to the recoded files.  You are stuck with an Analog transfer if you want to grab anything...so instead I use MC (or will when the recording format stuff is sorted out) for the FTA stuff I want to keep in the "Video Library".  I came very close to buying the HD PVR a year ago but for once figured it was too hard for the benefit of moving my DVR recordings!

[Bill Kearney]

Seems like the quickest route would be to use an external program to convert the metadata into the format MC uses.  Transcoding text data into XML (which is basically text) is a relatively trivial process.

[glynor]

Seems like the quickest route would be to use an external program to convert the metadata into the format MC uses.  Transcoding text data into XML (which is basically text) is a relatively trivial process.

Like I said above... I could do this, but there are SERIOUS issues when files get imported without metadata because the XML conversion script hasn't run yet.  How would you suggest I solve them myself?

And, besides, MC reads Tags from all sorts of file formats from other applications and file formats (like FLAC or OGG or iTunes-specific tags for example), I'm just hoping they can allow MC to read these tags as well.  That seems like a good feature to have!  MC wants to handle all of our media.  This is an opportunity for them to easily expand the functionality and compatibility of the product.  I'm hoping they'll take it.

[Bill Kearney]

I don't know the import process well enough to know what does or doesn't work.  Pardon me if I state the obvious. 

Tags inside a file are one thing, but external ones raise other issues.  Does MC handle importing other files with adjacent metadata?  If so, then might it work to transcode the metadata into one of those formats? 

If the file format being used supports it's own internal metadata, then how about putting it inside the files themselves?  Granted with some formats the tools to do this can be a hassle in their own right.  I imagine that's why some programs use the external form.  That and wanting to store more metadata that what the format supports.   But for easing the process of the initial import this might be a decent work-around.

[glynor]

Tags inside a file are one thing, but external ones raise other issues.  Does MC handle importing other files with adjacent metadata?  If so, then might it work to transcode the metadata into one of those formats?  

Yes.  That is the JRSidecar.xml and MPL files we were discussing above.  I explained it above, but the problem with transcoding the metadata into one of those formats is this:

These recordings are exactly like a DVR.  They happen at all hours of the day and night.  The very instant a recording begins, the computer creates a video file on disk and creates these .MY files along with it. If MC is running at that time, it will see this new video file and import it immediately.

However, unless the timing was amazingly lucky, the metadata (.MY file to JRSidecar.xml file) conversion would not have happened yet!  MC only reads the JRSidecar.xml (or MPL) metadata files when it imports a new file.  Once a file is imported, the only way to get these tags is to either remove and reimport the file, or to manually update the Library from Tags.

So, the problem is, if MC is running at the time when a recording starts (or at any point between then and when the converter script runs), it will import those files and NOT import the metadata.  Even if the script later runs and creates the JRSidecar files, MC will ignore them because it has already imported their associated video files.

Scripting conversion from .MY to a MC-compatible sidecar file would ONLY work if you NEVER used Auto-Import, which would also ruin my goal, which is to have MC be able to handle all of my media all of the time, and only use SageTV for recording and live TV.

[rick.ca]

So, the problem is, if MC is running at the time when a recording starts (or at any point between then and when the converter script runs), it will import those files and NOT import the metadata.

I understand the ideal solution is for MC to recognize the .MY files, but for the sake of idle musing about workarounds... Might SageTV have an option to run a script upon completion of a recording? If so, a script could do a .MY to JRSidecar.xml conversion, and then move the files from SageTV's recordings folder—not monitored by MC—to another folder that is monitored by MC. I suppose a regularly run script could to the same thing. Either way, however, I suppose this might mess-up SageTV and however it keeps track of what it has recorded.

[jmone]

Still not a good solution, but you could exclude the folder the recordings are made in, but then import the the xml/mpl file once it is made from the .my files.  That way the recordings would be imported with the correct tags at that time.  If you used say a single "ImportTV.mpl" file then regardless of the location it was in, MC would then create the correct xml sidecar file next too the recording (this is how the MySeriesInfos does it).

[glynor]

I suppose a regularly run script could to the same thing. Either way, however, I suppose this might mess-up SageTV and however it keeps track of what it has recorded.

I can only really do this if I can cause Sage to execute the command after it finishes the recording (I don't know about this at all).

The problem with doing it on a timer is in-progress recordings "look" to the file system identical to completed ones, except that they grow bigger over time.  If the script moves the files around, and runs on a schedule, if a recording is in-progress when the script runs, it'll get all borked up as it tries to move the in-progress file.

Even with the "execute on completion" option, there is a pretty big issue.  With certain shows (mostly sports and HBO series), we like to watch them "semi-live".  We start watching 15-20 minutes after the show starts, so that we can skip through commercials.  If the file gets moved and broken in Sage immediately upon completion, we wouldn't be able to do that anymore (because we probably would not be "done" watching it when the recording stops, and it wants to be moved).  You might be able to work around this with timers and stuff (move the files 1 hour after they finish recording), but that seems klunky and prone to failure.

I'd rather not move the files around.  I might decide to go this route, but I'm more likely to just abandon my awesome plan to use MC's UI exclusively.  And that's too bad because it is an awesome plan.

[glynor]

Still not a good solution, but you could exclude the folder the recordings are made in, but then import the the xml/mpl file once it is made from the .my files.  That way the recordings would be imported with the correct tags at that time.  If you used say a single "ImportTV.mpl" file then regardless of the location it was in, MC would then create the correct xml sidecar file next too the recording (this is how the MySeriesInfos does it).

This might be an option.  Can MC's Auto-Import "import" an already-imported MPL when it detects that it has changed?  This also seems pretty darn clunky, but it could maybe work if I could get the converters to all work in perfect sync.

It would be so much easier if MC could just support the .my file types though.  They are a semi-standard, after all.  It isn't just Sage that uses them (in fact, Sage doesn't actually USE them for anything, it is just capable of writing them and importing them for interoperability purposes).  Lots of other indie metadata software applications use them, including MyMovies and similar programs.

[Lasse_Lus]

Can MC's Auto-Import "import" an already-imported MPL when it detects that it has changed?

Yes, but MC will only pick up none (library) existent files

[Bill Kearney]

Here's another take on it, how about not keeping the recordings in an automatically loaded folder.  But instead use a script to trigger an import.  That way you'd be in control of what data is or isn't available to MC when it does the import.  That said, I do not know how reliably you can script this activity from outside MC.

[Lasse_Lus]

Here's another take on it, how about not keeping the recordings in an automatically loaded folder.  But instead use a script to trigger an import.  That way you'd be in control of what data is or isn't available to MC when it does the import.  That said, I do not know how reliably you can script this activity from outside MC.

For import scripts you have MC1x.exe @ your service

[jmone]

This might be an option.  Can MC's Auto-Import "import" an already-imported MPL when it detects that it has changed?  This also seems pretty darn clunky, but it could maybe work if I could get the converters to all work in perfect sync.

That is how MySeriesInfos does it.  It writes the tags to a single MPL file then executes it - You get the unique source file and all the tags imported into the library.  Next time it does the same thing again....and again...