Renaming folders and files

[wayner]

I am assuming if I rename a file that it will lose its metadata since the metadata resides in wiz.bin and is keyed to the file name. Is that correct?

What about if I rename a folder above where the file resides - ie I change from:
\\server\videos\Dora\Boo!.avi

to

\\server\videos\Dora the Explorer\Boo!.avi

I want to change all of my folder names to be consistent with the Show Title to facilitate moving files automatically via the Sage Transcoder and SJQ.

Will that also hose the metadata?

Can I resolve this problem by creating .properties files before doing the change - will the metadata (including Fanart - assuming that the Fanart is saved under a TV Show called Dora the Explorer rather than as a movie linked to the file name) then be reimported from the .properties files? Obviously if I rename the files then I will have to rename the .properties files so that they remain consistent. But this is easy to do with a batch file renamer.

[Fuzzy]

Without renaming the file itself, sage SHOULD recognize it ant re-associate the wiz.bin metadata with it. That said, a .properties file will also work well or this. Also, if a program is recorded in v7, it will contain the metadata in the file itself, and sage will read that embedded data back in on re-import.

[wayner]

These files are not necessarily from Sage7. Some are from Sage6, some are from MCE, others from Tivo. The files do not have the show ID in the title any more.

So you are saying that if I move Boo!.avi from one folder to another that Sage will still keep the metadata and Fanart?

[OneOfMany]

I am not 100% sure if this is how Sage7 and BMT works, but it what I believe based on my fiddling with metadata and fanart.

1 - On a recorded TV show, Sage gets basic metadata and a screenshot of the show. I believe the metadata comes from the Zap2It guide information. The screenshot appears from a frame of the show.

2 - If BMT is installed, and set to automatically scrape, it will search the appropriate website, eg. TVDB, and fill in any missing metadata (and possibly overwrite some like descriptions). It then updates the Sage metadata with the revisions.

BMT then checks whether a fanart directory for that particular show exists, and if not, will create it, and appropriate sub-directories. It will then download available fanart images to this directory if they are not already there.

3 - When various screens in Sage display the recorded TV show, if fanart is available (and the screen supports it), it will look in the fanart directory (in this case \\fanart\TV\showname) and if fanart exists, use what is there - otherwise it will use the a .jpg that exists in the same directory as the recording (with the same filename), then finally the screenshot as a last resort.

I constantly move recordings for my daughter from the original recording directory to another computer for archiving. I simply copy the original .mpg, the .jpg, and the mpg.properties files to an imported directory path. All show up properly. In my case, I am moving from a no folder situation to a folder (eg. \\TVShows\Hannah Montana) so I would think there should be no issues at all.

Anytime I have had a problem with fanart (which is rarely), the BMT WebUI will display the path it believes the fanart should be in. Simply changing the actual folder name in my fanart directory has resolved this.

Grant

I also have been adding my collection of TV episodes that have no recording information. As long as the displayed fanart path in the BMT WebUI matches one in the fanart directory, I simply add or remove fanart I download to customize what is displayed.

[adone36]

just use a file renamer and add the prefix

"Dora the Explorer -- " to all file names and BMT will get all the metadata and fanart.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by adone36

just use a file renamer and add the prefix

"Dora the Explorer -- " to all file names and BMT will get all the metadata and fanart.

That's the first part of my plan, I want to then remove Dora the Explorer -- to rename the files back to just the original filename and retain the metadata. In the folder view, which is what we use, the files are listed by filenames so it makes the filenames rather long and it is also redundant to have files in \videos\Kids' Shows\Dora\Dora the Explorer -- Boo.

I also want to change the folder names to use the exact show name to facilitate automatic archiving into folders.

[Fuzzy]

Yet another reason to put episodic content (tv shows) in the recording library - use the Malore menus instead of folder view.. ;-)

[wayner]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Yet another reason to put episodic content (tv shows) in the recording library - use the Malore menus instead of folder view.. ;-)

I actually use SageMC which sorts by filename but displays the episode name in the folder view. The problem is if you just try to use these files from Windows Explorer - the filenames can becamse too long and it is just a waste of space to have the show name in the folder structure and in the filename.