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[KoolADE]

Hello,

I have been experimenting with having two different libraries on different computers. The libraries have some overlap in that they both auto-import from a few of the same folders on a network drive. One of those folders contains video files.

I notice that when I update the video file tags from one library, that a "JRSidecar" file gets created and/or updated. This seems like an awesome way to handle the metadata. However, my other library doesn't pick up on the fact that the JRSidecar file changed, and it consequently doesn't get the newly tagged information.

Both libraries have "Update for external changes" turned on. This seems to update the library when the actual media files update (tagging an mp3 file, for example), but not when the extra metadata file changes.

Is this by design? Could there be an option to watch for JRSidecar file changes?

[CountryBumkin]

What version are you running? is it the same version on both computers?

[KoolADE]

Yep, it's 17.0.60 on both computers. But I've noticed this in previous versions of 17 too.
Are libraries supposed to update their metadata when the sidecar file changes?

[Alex B]

Are libraries supposed to update their metadata when the sidecar file changes?

I guess not. Apparently only the video file exists in the database and has the "Date Modified" field. You may need to manually do "Update Library (from tags)".

I think this would be a good feature request. The developers could add a new library field, a "Sidecar Date Modified" field. MC could initially populate this field whenever a sidecar file is first used (created or read). MC could then use this field value and inspect also the sidecar file when it looks for external changes. After a tag read it would sync the field value with the file system "date modified" time stamp.

[Matt]

AlexB is exactly right (as usual).

I had wondered if we could just keep the date modified in step between the file and sidecar, but this might cause trouble with backup schemes. 

Conversely we could keep a sidecar date modified in the library.  This would be a little painful on upgrade because I think the system would want to 'Update Library (from tags)' for all files since the sidecar date modified would be empty.

Advice?

[Alex B]

Conversely we could keep a sidecar date modified in the library.  This would be a little painful on upgrade because I think the system would want to 'Update Library (from tags)' for all files since the sidecar date modified would be empty.

Why should this be a problem?

Actually, I was about to suggest two additional fields, the other new field would have been a boolean field that would show if a sidecar file has ever been created or read, but then I realized that an empty "Sidecar Date Modified" field would already indicate the "boolean zero" value and if the field has a value it would indicate that a sidecar file has been created or read. Naturally MC would need to write/update the "Sidecar Date Modified" value whenever it creates a new sidecar file or reads an existing file.

Could it go like this:

1. check the Date Modified library field:
- if the media file's OS time stamp is newer => reread file info
- if the field is up-to-date => go to 2.

2. check the Sidecar Date Modified library field value
- if the sidecar file's OS time stamp is newer => reread file info
- if the field is up-to-date => do nothing
- if the field is empty => go to 3.

3. check if a sidecar file exists on the disk
- if exists => reread file info (a sidecar file is most likely added by another MC library instance)
- if does not exist => do nothing

[KoolADE]

I don't have any insights into the implementation of this

But in case anyone else is following this problem, Alex B's suggestion to manually run "Update Library (from tags)" works perfectly.
I'm fine with doing manual updates for now, but still think that automatic updating would be a really great feature to tie to the "Update for external changes" library setting.

[JustinChase]

Can anyone tell me the point of the sidecar file?  I deleted all mine about a month ago, and don't notice any practical change in daily use of MC since.

What/how are they supposed to help?

[Mr ChriZ]

Can anyone tell me the point of the sidecar file?  I deleted all mine about a month ago, and don't notice any practical change in daily use of MC since.

What/how are they supposed to help?

Some filetypes don't support writting tags into the file.  The side car file contains this information as a sepearte XML file.
The idea being that if you wish to reimport the files in to a new library at a later date you don't lose all the tags.

[glynor]

Some filetypes don't support writting tags into the file.  The side car file contains this information as a sepearte XML file.
The idea being that if you wish to reimport the files in to a new library at a later date you don't lose all the tags.

They also allow you to interchange metadata with other external applications (including other copies of MC running with their own libraries, and other applications where you might read the contents of the XML file with a custom script).

There are other handy things you can do with them too, but basically, they are the video file equivalent of in-file tags.

[JustinChase]

Okay, that's kinda what I figured.  As long as I never "lose" my MC library, they're basically 'unnecessary' for the MC library.

They are for 'safety' and 'portability' really?

Thanks for clarifying that *I* don't need them cluttering up my folders

Sorry for the off-topicness 

[lise]

I just wrote out the exact same question and found this one.

Has anything been implemented?
I'm trying so hard to make my libraries work and stay up to date but it's not going well.

[Sauzee]

It's an issue for me to. I keep lots of stuff on an external HDD which I plugin to 2 PC's. All the video tagging I do on one PC doesn't get updated on the other. Manually updating from tags for a whole hard drive is a pain to get the updates which may just be for a few files.

So every now and again I end up deleting and re-importing all the files from the external HDD to get the tag updates.

If a solution is found, hopefully it won't update the actual video file modified date as that results in lots of extra work in backing up or syncing the files.

[justsomeguy]

I would really like to see this as well. I've recently setup another computer in the house that is running theater view. If tag changes are made from another computer they don't show up on the other system. I can do an "update library from tags" but this requires exiting MC selecting all my files, running the command and then re-enter theater view. It works but gets annoying and others in the house aren't willing or know how to do this.
Maybe a hotkey that could be assigned to a button on my remote that would force an update of all files so that someone wouldn't have to pull out the keyboard would work. Automatic in the background without user interaction would be best though.

[Alex B]

No one has commented my proposition:

1. check the Date Modified library field:
- if the media file's OS time stamp is newer => reread file info
- if the field is up-to-date => go to 2.

2. check the Sidecar Date Modified library field value
- if the sidecar file's OS time stamp is newer => reread file info
- if the field is up-to-date => do nothing
- if the field is empty => go to 3.

3. check if a sidecar file exists on the disk
- if exists => reread file info (a sidecar file is most likely added by another MC library instance)
- if does not exist => do nothing

EDIT

Conversely we could keep a sidecar date modified in the library.  This would be a little painful on upgrade because I think the system would want to 'Update Library (from tags)' for all files since the sidecar date modified would be empty.

Of course the above would probably happen, but could MC just read the sidecar tags instead of rereading the video files' complete format info in case the video file itself has not changed? I guess that reading only the tags would be quite a bit faster. In any case it would happen only once.

[lise]

AlexB, that should work. At least for those video files that generate sidecars. Now if only my 300+ ISOs would generate them

Not exactly off-topic, if I have MC set to import played files, and I play one of my physical dvds or BluRays, do those generate sidecars? It would be cool if they did. That way, given an 'update library' solution, my "movies we haven't seen" or "movies we've seen" views could display accurate info on any database in the house.