Import recording .properties file

[VCRUser]

Is there a way to import saved .properties files to correct bad metadata in recordings? My server now periodically gets confused about a batch of recordings - often 10-40 at a pop every 2-3 weeks, changing a show that was recorded in 2011 or 2014 (that seems to be the current binge it's on) to something that will be recorded in the future, and has a different title, description, etc.

To assist myself in recovering the metadata I used BMT to create .properties files for everything & stashed those in a zip file for later use. While I can manually enter the data from the .properties file in a variety of ways to correct the record, is there a way to just tell BMT or Sage (I use the older Sage Web server to do most of it) to import the data from the .properties file for the affected recording? I use the file name to identify the recording and locate the .properties file that I would like to import, but have found no way to automagically import the .properties file and save myself some manual data entry.

Note that although I understand that in theory, metadata are saved in the original recordings, it has been my long-term practice to convert (using Sage's tools) recordings into smaller-sized formats, since I have multiple terabytes on hand. So far as I know, there's no way to preserve that data inside the file - and if it was preserved, it's not obvious how to recover it - especially without risking the metadata in all of the other files.

I'm working through the current batch of 14 or so (though I haven't checked for a spate of "no data" files which often seem to accompany each spate of wrong-data files, so there may be a bunch of those to handle too), but it would be great to have something less time-consuming to use for the next round that will inevitably occur.

Interestingly, I had this problem a lot before updating from Sage 6 to Sage 9, and though my problems were over, but they resurfaced this past June.

[MattHelm]

I think all you need to do, is change the time stamp on the .property file. This SHOULD force SageTV to read the file and overwrite the data in it's database.

[VCRUser]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

I think all you need to do, is change the time stamp on the .property file. This SHOULD force SageTV to read the file and overwrite the data in it's database.

I keep the .properties files zipped offline. I can extract the relevant ones & put them in the locations they came from (i.e. where the recordings are, which could be in one of a few locations.) I actually used BMT to create properties files for everything a week or so ago, then moved those files offline. By changing the date, do you mean I should give them today's date, or at least a date later than their original creation date? Do I need to do anything in particular to make Sage read these files?

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

I think all you need to do, is change the time stamp on the .property file. This SHOULD force SageTV to read the file and overwrite the data in it's database.

You need to change the timestamp on the video file so that SageTV will reimport the metadata.

John

[VCRUser]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

You need to change the timestamp on the video file so that SageTV will reimport the metadata.

John

I did that on one for a test, and re-uploaded it to the same location as the video file. I added a bit of text to the show description in the .properties file so that I could see if anything changed. Should I have made the change after I uploaded the file to the server (so far I see no changes, a few hours having passed). I'll change the date again - now that it's in the right place - and see what happens. Is there a known interval at which Sage scans for such things, or something I can do to force it to do so?
edit:
Oh - you mean the stamp on the video file, not the .properties file. I should have read more carefully. So I just changed the "modified" date on both the video & the .properties file to the current date & time (or do I need to change the "created by" also? Any idea of how long I should give it to sort itself out, or anything I can do to nudge it?

[JREkiwi]

From the Home screen. Setup -> Scan Imported Media

[VCRUser]

This worked on a file that was counted as imported media, but not on two I tested that are counted as recordings. It's recordings, not imported videos (so far at least) that periodically get their metadata messed up.

For each test, I copied over the .properties file from its zip archive to the folder where the associated media file is stored, made a test-addition to the show's description in the .properties file, so I could determine if anything changed, changed the timestamp (created & modified dates) on both the .properties and media file to the current date/time, and scanned imported media. The change was visible in the description of the imported video, but not in the two recordings.

It makes sense that scan imported media would do nothing for recordings, so, is there a way to force recordings to update their properties from the .properties file? As I was running these tests, a whole new crop of messed-up metadata recordings appeared, so it would be great if there were a way to make this process work for them.

[UgaData]

In BMT, there is a check box about preserving original metadata, maybe that needs to be unchecked for the recordings.

[VCRUser]

Originally Posted by UgaData

In BMT, there is a check box about preserving original metadata, maybe that needs to be unchecked for the recordings.

That didn't help, and now for some reason, when I add files to import directories, they're treated as recordings, not imports. I had tried that setting briefly, but it didn't help with this situation, so I reset it. But the reset hasn't taken, and now, while copying my problem files to a new location and giving them the current timestamp (both the media file & the .properties file), then rescanning gets them correct metadata, even though I also copy the .properties file to the original folder and re-time those as well, the original one, which is in the folder I want it to be in, still has the wrong metadata attached. I could delete the original, but then I'd build up files in the "fix" folder, which isn't where I want them. Or I could go back to fixing each original by hand, but would rather not. And, I'd like to be able to have imported videos treated as imported videos when I tell Sage to treat them that way. I can't figure out why I can't get that setting to go back to its default.