Smart Playlist Sorting Issues

[larrymcg]

Using v 4.1.3.xx I have a Smart Playlist called AtoC with 3 selection criteria and a sorting criteria. All 4 criteria are Artist/Actors. I have attached an image of the Properties of the playlist. There are several issues with the listing of the playlist contents. Without making any changes to any of the files involved, without doing any library or folder or other maintenance, I can get two quite different listings. I am attaching two images showing the first few items listed by Mezzmo. I have not clicked on any of the display column heading to change the sort. There are many differences in the two version farther down the list.

I have not been able to reliably reproduce the issue where I get two different listings of the same playlist. However, it happens quite often - just can not make it happen when I want it to happen.

I will do another post in this thread showing some bad ordering within the playlist listing.

-- Larry

[larrymcg]

Within the playlist listing there should be items where the Artist/Actors should start with an A or B or C. For the most part that is true. However, the listing cycles around with some A's, some B's, some C's and then back to A's, etc.

I am attaching an image showing one of these areas and will also include the FFmpeg info on some of the files.

The image has a Count Basie item at the top (there are many more above but out of view) but below that are items beginning with B and then it gets back into C's but they should have been listed before Count Basie. This is not the only place in the list where this kind of thing happens.

784

Here are the FFmpeg infos for a couple of the files that are out of order:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ffmpeg version N-66094-gbb8b752 Copyright (c) 2000-2014 the FFmpeg developers
built on Sep 4 2014 16:23:51 with gcc 4.8.2 (GCC)
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86_64 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=x86_64-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl64 --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc32/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc64/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads --enable-libvpx --enable-libvorbis
libavutil 54. 7.100 / 54. 7.100
libavcodec 56. 1.100 / 56. 1.100
libavformat 56. 4.100 / 56. 4.100
libavdevice 56. 0.100 / 56. 0.100
libavfilter 5. 0.103 / 5. 0.103
libswscale 3. 0.100 / 3. 0.100
libswresample 1. 1.100 / 1. 1.100
[mp3 @ 0000000001daeca0] Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate
Input #0, mp3, from 'C:\Users\Owner\Music\MP3 Lib\Frank Sinatra - Duets\03 I've Got a Crush on You.mp3':
Metadata:
TLEN : 203906
album : Duets
title : I've Got a Crush on You
track : 3
genre : Vocal
publisher : DCC Compact Classics
album_artist : Frank Sinatra
composer : George Gershwin
artist : Barbra Streisand; Frank Sinatra
date : 1993
Duration: 00:03:23.74, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 192 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Audio: mp3, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16p, 192 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1


---> DB Level Info: 0, -99
---> Frame rate:
---> Aspect ratio:
---> Duration: 00:03:23
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ffmpeg version N-66094-gbb8b752 Copyright (c) 2000-2014 the FFmpeg developers
built on Sep 4 2014 16:23:51 with gcc 4.8.2 (GCC)
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86_64 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=x86_64-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl64 --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc32/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc64/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads --enable-libvpx --enable-libvorbis
libavutil 54. 7.100 / 54. 7.100
libavcodec 56. 1.100 / 56. 1.100
libavformat 56. 4.100 / 56. 4.100
libavdevice 56. 0.100 / 56. 0.100
libavfilter 5. 0.103 / 5. 0.103
libswscale 3. 0.100 / 3. 0.100
libswresample 1. 1.100 / 1. 1.100
[mp3 @ 000000000033ed00] Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate
Input #0, mp3, from 'C:\Users\Owner\Music\MP3 Lib\Gerry Mulligan - Carnegie Hall Concert\01 Line for Lyons.mp3':
Metadata:
track : 1
publisher : Epic
album : Carnegie Hall Concert
TLEN : 494066
title : Line for Lyons
genre : Jazz
album_artist : Gerry Mulligan
composer : Gerry Mulligan
artist : Chet Baker/Gerry Mulligan
date : 1974
Duration: 00:08:13.47, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 191 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Audio: mp3, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16p, 192 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1


---> DB Level Info: 0, -99
---> Frame rate:
---> Aspect ratio:
---> Duration: 00:08:13
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- Larry

[larrymcg]

This sorting issue also occurs when I set the playlist to sort by Genre. The playlist listing is not even close to being sorted by Genre. I'm wondering if I'm just looking at the playlist incorrectly.

-- Larry

[Paul]

Hi Larry,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. We've replicated your issue and will fix it for the next version. If you like, email us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com and we'll provide a patch for you to try.

[larrymcg]

Paul, I tried the patch. Things I have tried are almost perfect! I have been testing mostly using Album Artist for the selection criteria and for sorting. I have also tried sorting by Genre and by Artist / Actors. There are some things that are not quite right.

When sorting by Album Artist, if the name contains a "/" (ex: Chet Atkins/Les Paul ), those entries will be sorted to the wrong place and Mezzmo also tends to display the "/" as a comma. I think the entry is sorted incorrectly even when considering the comma rather than the "/". Sorting on other fields containing a "/" might also be handled incorrectly but I have not tested them. When I changed the example to "Chet Atkins - Les Paul", the entries sorted correctly. If I remember correctly, "Chet Atkins / Les Paul" (spaces around the "/") also sorted incorrectly. So there is something going on with names with a "/" in them.

When sorting by Artist / Actor, if the Artist field contains multiple names it is not at all clear what name is used. It sometimes is the first name but other times it is one of the other names. I can't see a consistency in which name is used.

I also have some Artist names and Album Artist names with "&" in them - seem to work fine.

Maybe your testers can set up some simple cases and see what is happening. I could present some if you wanted.

Anyway, the sorting is much improved with just some edge cases not working as they should.

I will start another thread with some issues with exported playlists.

Cheers,
Larry

[Paul]

Hi Larry,

See this FAQ - http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/6225-Tutorial-Working-with-multiple-genres-actors-artists-etc. It explains how Mezzmo treats multiple values in metadata fields.

[larrymcg]

Paul, Thanks for the link to the tutorial. That explains some things. I don't think it explains all the sorting results though. I have an example smart playlist that selects all the Artists/Actors that start with an "a" and it is sorted by Artists/Actors ascending. I picked the letter a because that picks up an ABBA album with 24 tracks. Three of the tracks just have ABBA as the Artist/Actor. The other 21 tracks have ABBA followed by a varying number of other names. The resulting playlist turns out as follows:

The first 3 tracks are the ones with just ABBA as the artist. This is correct.

Further down the playlist between Andre Previn and Andy LaVerne is an ABBA track with "ABBA, Lisa Stokke, Company, Andrew Langtree". Why would it be there? Did it sort based on Andrew Langtree?

At the end of the playlist, following tracks by Arturo Sandoval, are the other 20 tracks with artist ABBA followed by various other names. Why would these be down at the end of the listing.

And then there is, following the 20 ABBA tracks, one more track with artist Al Cohn,Zoot Sims. Is this entry sorted based on Zoot Sims rather than Al Cohn?

I am going to try to attach images of the beginning of the playlist with 3 ABBA tracks, the middle with the single ABBA track, and the end of the listing.

-- Larry

[Paul]

Hi Larry,

You are right - when there are multiple values for (in your case) Artist/Actors, then the sorting takes place on these multiple values and some of these multiple values will cause the music files to be placed positions you may not think are right. The fix for this is to put quotes around these multiple value fields and then Mezzmo will treat it as a single value. For example: ABBA, Lisa Stokke, Company, Andrew Langtree -> "ABBA, Lisa Stokke, Company, Andrew Langtree".