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[syndromeofadown]

Hi all.

The issue I'm having is that MC is using the embedded metadata in my MKV files and it's overwriting my episode names for my TV Shows.

The field in the MKV that is causing problems shows up as [Title] in VLC, as [Movie Name] in Mediainfo, and [File title] in MKVToolNix. MC is using this value to fill the [Name] field in it's database.

The value for this field was filled in when videos were ripped with MakeMKV. The values vary by file but it's always something useless like "Series 1 Disc 1". I don't think this can be turned off in MakeMKV.

How it overwrites my sidecar [Name] values is complicated, but long story short, it happens when I move files and they are re-imported.

There are various workarounds I can do in MC to keep my Names intact and I think there is a way to batch remove this field from my MKV files. But before I invest a serious amount of time into this I thought I would post here.

Is there any chance MC could have the option to ignore embedded video metadata?

I ask not just to solve this problem but also because there isn't one video I have that has any metadata of any value. I do however have thousands of videos that MC gets metadata from. Hundreds of those have metadata that I would consider garbage that clutters up my library (mostly old wmv files).

Thanks

[thecrow]

What would be really cool would be if MC could update this meta data in the same way you can when tagging music files.

[syndromeofadown]

What would be really cool would be if MC could update this meta data in the same way you can when tagging music files.

This is true.

The value for this field was filled in when videos were ripped with MakeMKV. The values vary by file but it's always something useless like "Series 1 Disc 1". I don't think this can be turned off in MakeMKV.

It can be cleared in MakeMKV before ripping. When ripping a disc in MakeMKV there are properties options where the Name field is filled in by default. It looks like you can just clear this field before every rip. This would be a good idea when ripping TV Shows because it applies the same Name to all files.

[RoderickGI]

How it overwrites my sidecar [Name] values is complicated, but long story short, it happens when I move files and they are re-imported.

The obvious solution would be to use the MC "Rename, Move, and Copy Files" function to move the files. Then they won't be reimported, and so the [Name] tag won't be overwritten by the MKV Title metadata. But I guess your long story may explain why that isn't possible. I think you may have explained that previously. Recording on one server, transferring to another, and importing there?

MC is doing the correct thing when reimporting, BTW. In all metadata research I have done the Title field is the source of the [Name] tag for MC. Most metadata doesn't have a "Name" field. It is almost always called "Title", or some variation of "Title", as you noted.

A quick solution for TV Series would be to select all the affected files and run the "Get Movie and TV Info" function on them, as long as the [Series], [Season], and [Episode] tags are correct, which means that data would need to be in the file name for CARNAC to extract during import, or in the sidecar file you copy across with the MKV file.

I did read in the forum somewhere what gets priority for tag values, the tags in the files or the sidecar file. But I can't remember now which it was. Perhaps a search would find it. If the sidecar has priority, you could change the setting in "Options > General > Importing & Tagging > Sidecar tagging mode" to save tags in both the file and the sidecar file, and then MC would respect the [Name] tag in the sidecar file over the metadata in the file. Worth some research or testing.


But it might be good if MC supported writing tags to MKV files where that is possible, instead of or as well as putting them in the sidecar file. If there was a good standard for writing metadata to MKV files. The [Name] tag is supposed to be written to the file, if possible, and it doesn't seem to be as none of my MKV files seem to have the Title metadata in them. So it is a bit strange that it reads the metadata field on import. Sort of half a solution.

[syndromeofadown]

Thanks RoderickGI

As with most of my concerns this is likely specific to me due to my apparently non-typical use of MC.
I have limited electricity and internet so I rip and scrape when and where I can.
I have lots of computers and they are all setup for tag on import of critical fields. I then scrape for the less critical fields.
All tags are saved to sidecar. When I move my files to my main HTPC or to a travel PC, files are re-imported using the same tag on import rules. This has worked for at least 5 years without issue. Until somewhat recently.

This is how it happens:
1
I import my MKV files into MC with a bunch of tag on import rules. The Name value is always blank for TV Shows because the rule only applies to Movies and Music. This is good. Here's the rule:

Code: [Select]

regex([Filename],/#\\Video\\(.+?)\\(Movie|Music|Other)\\(.+?)\\(.+?)\s+\((.+)_(\d{1,4})\)\\(.+?)_#/,4)
2
I scrape all videos. Name value for TV Shows is filled in from TVDB. This value is saved in sidecar file.

3
I move my videos to a new directory/PC so they are re-imported using the same rules. All metadata appears fine except for [Name] on TV Shows. There is no longer a Name field in the sidecar and in MC the name field is filled with the MKV metadata that makemkv put in there. Note that it's in MC's database only. The sidecar value was removed not updated.

I tagged a bunch of TV Shows today and copied the Name field to a field I made called "Name Backup".
I suspect my fix for this problem will be to have an importing folder with tag on import rules then move files to a new folder without rules.

I'm not expecting JRiver to fix my specific problem. I'm just posting in case there's something simple I'm missing or the small chance MC is acting not as it should. Or wishfull thinking that MC will stop using MKV metadata or get the ability to write it.

[RoderickGI]

If it has been working for five years, and recently stopped working, I'm wondering if there has been a change in MakeMKV that has added the contents to the Name field. Maybe check any recent changes for MakeMKV, if your copy has been updated in the same timeframe.

Fixing the problem at the source by clearing that field, or preventing it from ever being populated, would seem like the simplest solution to me.