TV recordings are automatically imported at the moment recording is started, and updated at the moment recording ends. It has nothing to do with whether or when the folder is watched for analysis.
I concluded that is what was happening some time back. Importing (and updating) of recorded TV shows at the time of recording, and Auto-Import with its settings, are completely different functions. Which means that the Auto-Import functions aren't run at the end of the recording, at the moment recording finishes. Which means;
- Audio Analysis isn't done when a recording finishes, which would be the earliest time it could be done. So if I watch recently recorded programs, I tend to get volume issues. I expect to get volume issues if I watch a program while it is being recorded, but not if I watch it after it has finished and had time to be analysed, which is only minutes.
- "Get Movie & TV Info..." isn't run when a recording finishes, or if it is, it is set to not overwrite any tags with existing data. This is a good default, as it means that the data from the EPG is retained. Overwriting tags from the EPG with values from TheTVDB would be fraught with issues if the EPG didn't correctly identify the program Series, Season, and Episode correctly. But it is a little strange to me that the only time I see an option to overwrite existing values in tags is when I select multiple video files, then run "Get Movie & TV Info..." manually. Well, I guess I get the option when running the function against individual files as well, via the "Use image" and "Use information" checkboxes.
I would like "Get Movie & TV Info..." to be run at the end of a recording, and all empty tags to be updated from TheTVDB, including Episode Cover Art. I don't believe that happens at the moment.
- As a consequence of the above, Thumbnails are built without having Episode Cover Art already downloaded. So MC takes a video frame and adds that as the Thumbnail image. That frame grab is often from the commercials run before the program, so I get very weird and annoying Thumbnails. Then if "Get Movie & TV Info..." is automatically run later, and it is set to not overwrite existing tags, including the Thumbnail image it seems, I get stuck with the frame grab as a Thumbnail until I manual run "Get Movie & TV Info...". These programs have no value in the [Image File] tag, so if the "Get Movie & TV Info..." grabbed the Episode Cover Art and wrote that tag, the Thumbnail build process should update the Thumbnail. That doesn't happen, until I manually run "Get Movie & TV Info...". I don't know if the sequence of settings in the Auto-Import configuration dialogue implies anything about the sequence the processes are run, but I would expect the Thumbnail build process to run after the "Get Cover Art" and "Get Movie & TV Info..." processes, so that the correct images are used to build Thumbnails. While there does seem to be some issues with Thumbnails being updated on MC Client PCs, as the local Thumbnail database isn't always being updated correctly, I see the above issues on my HTPC which is the MC Server.
- Series and Season Cover Art are not collected when an episode from a new season is recorded. This should happen, for example, if I had all of Season 1 recorded, and then recorded the first episode of Season 2. Currently, as evidenced by several threads, Series and Season Cover Art is collected "at some time after the recording", or not at all, until a manual collection is done. I do tend to manually change the Series and Season Cover Art to my preferred images, so that each Season matches, but I think MC should have a go to get the Cover Art immediately after a new Series or Season is recorded.
I think all of the above issues could be fixed if Auto-Import was run for the recording folder when each recording is completed, and it used the Auto-Import settings to do so. There would probably need to be an option in the "Get Movie & TV Info..." function in Auto-Import to overwrite all tags, with the default being to just fill empty tags. That would be a new option in the Auto-Import configuration dialogue. Certainly the Episode Cover Art should be collected, and Thumbnails should be built after that is done.
If the current process relies on Auto-Import detecting the new files, or changes in files, that isn't working, as once a program recording is complete, and the program is imported into MC, most program files won't change at all. So they will never trigger the Auto-Import processes for them. A user would need to create a change in the file, for example by running the "Get Movie & TV Info..." function, to trigger Auto-Import to run audio analysis and collect Series and Season Cover Art.
If I am wrong on the above, please do tell us how it works Yaobing, with respect to "Getting (Series and Season) Cover Art", "Getting Movie & TV Info..." including Episode Cover Art, and "Building Thumbnails".
Sorry for the wall of text, and thanks for reading the above.
