Is there a way to achieve good metadata?

[SolihullRog]

I was very pleased when I tried Mezzmo - it was the easiest software to drive my media from my PC to my TV.

But now I've got greedy. I want to have it properly organised so that my wife can find her way around my movies. (I can do it, myself, because I know the folder structures).

It's sad that most of my requirements would be achieved by correctly populating the Artist(s), Genre, and Year fields without keying these into a large number of movies - but I can't achieve it.

I've tried tips from another thread, which advises using tinyMediaManager and/or MediaMonkey. I've also discovered Ember Media Manager. None works in a simple, consistent way without bugs. It's impossible to differentiate between wrong actions and bugs. The whole of this sector seems to assume that only nerds do this kind of thing - so there don't appear to be any instructions included with any software.

My best hope seems to be if I can get Mezzmo to process the .nfo files that I can get out of tinymediamanager, I could then modify these as required.

But I've done this:

Generated some .nfo files using tinymediamanager. These are generated in the same folder as the movie, which are all mp4's.
I have Mezzmo set to "Get text metadata and artwork fromXBMC (.nfo/tbn) files".
I have the radio button "Update all attributes ..." set.
I then delete my 'test' folder from Mezzmo and add it again.
The contents of the .nfo file don't appear.

Could you tell me what I'm doing wrong, or point me to a Dummies Guide to actioning .nfo file updates in Mezzmo?

[smitbret]

I was very pleased when I tried Mezzmo - it was the easiest software to drive my media from my PC to my TV.

But now I've got greedy. I want to have it properly organised so that my wife can find her way around my movies. (I can do it, myself, because I know the folder structures).

It's sad that most of my requirements would be achieved by correctly populating the Artist(s), Genre, and Year fields without keying these into a large number of movies - but I can't achieve it.

I've tried tips from another thread, which advises using tinyMediaManager and/or MediaMonkey. I've also discovered Ember Media Manager. None works in a simple, consistent way without bugs. It's impossible to differentiate between wrong actions and bugs. The whole of this sector seems to assume that only nerds do this kind of thing - so there don't appear to be any instructions included with any software.

My best hope seems to be if I can get Mezzmo to process the .nfo files that I can get out of tinymediamanager, I could then modify these as required.

But I've done this:

Generated some .nfo files using tinymediamanager. These are generated in the same folder as the movie, which are all mp4's.
I have Mezzmo set to "Get text metadata and artwork fromXBMC (.nfo/tbn) files".
I have the radio button "Update all attributes ..." set.
I then delete my 'test' folder from Mezzmo and add it again.
The contents of the .nfo file don't appear.

Could you tell me what I'm doing wrong, or point me to a Dummies Guide to actioning .nfo file updates in Mezzmo?

Hmmm, it should be that simple.


Is the .nfo file in the same folder as the original video file and is it named exactly the same as the original video file? A lot of the media managers will append the title with something like <Filename>-nfo.nfo. If it is off by an extra space or has a suffix or something generic like "movie.nfo" then it won't work.

For each movie I have:
<filename>.mkv or (.mp4 or .m4v or whatever)
<filename>.jpg
<filename>.nfo

For Example:
Gladiator (2000).mkv
Gladiator (2000).nfo
Gladiator (2000).jpg

What won't work is:
Gladiator (2000).mkv
Gladiator.nfo
Gladiator-poster.jpg

Have you inspected the .nfo files by opening them in MemoPad (or Notepad) and making sure the information is getting in there? TinyMediaManager has selectable fields for things like Plot, Rating, Tagline, etc. and if they aren't selected when you scan the files then that info doesn't get populated.

Under Tools>Options>Retrieving Metadata>Metadata Retrieval settings I have everything deselected except "Get Artwork from External Files" and "Get Test Metadata and Artwork from XBMC (.nfo/.tbn) files. If you don't deselect everything else then stuff can get pulled in from different places.

If I were to delete my entire Mezzmo database today, I could simply start over by adding the folders and then "Maintain Library". I would have to set up my Playlists again, but the metadata shows up every time.

[Paul]

All good tips from smitbret.

If you still don't have any success, then email one of your .nfo files to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com and we'll try it here to make sure it works OK.

[SolihullRog]

Rats!

I just did it really slowly, documenting every step of the way, and it worked!

The only thing that I did differently, which might explain it, was that I disabled all other sources on the Metadata Retrieval Settings panel - so things like 'Get text metadata from file path' etc were unticked.

I was previously thinking "I want data from every possible source". Perhaps this led to a conflict?

So this works, and maps fields into Mezzano correctly. When I was trying to use MediaMonkey (MM), MM's 'Director' was being mapped into Mezzmo's 'Artist', and MM's 'Series' was going into 'Album'.

Sorry to have troubled you, and thanks for your help...

[smitbret]

Rats!

I just did it really slowly, documenting every step of the way, and it worked!

The only thing that I did differently, which might explain it, was that I disabled all other sources on the Metadata Retrieval Settings panel - so things like 'Get text metadata from file path' etc were unticked.

I was previously thinking "I want data from every possible source". Perhaps this led to a conflict?

So this works, and maps fields into Mezzano correctly. When I was trying to use MediaMonkey (MM), MM's 'Director' was being mapped into Mezzmo's 'Artist', and MM's 'Series' was going into 'Album'.

Sorry to have troubled you, and thanks for your help...

Glad you got it.

This way is really awesome because you can make batch changes, too. I have found that I like the Taglines from TMDB a lot better than I do from IMDB so I can change my default metadata source and unselect everything but Taglines, run my files through and get 'em updated. Works for things like genre inconsistency, too, especially among Movies in a series. For instance IMDB tags all of the Bourne Movies as Action, Thriller but it adds the Mystery tag to ONLY The Bourne Identity. That kind of thing violates my sense of OCD so I can go in and either add or remove Mystery for all of them so they all fall under the same genres.

I had found, too, that if I hadn't unticked all of the metadata choices I would get some inconsistency.

[SolihullRog]

Glad you got it.

This way is really awesome because you can make batch changes, too. I have found that I like the Taglines from TMDB a lot better than I do from IMDB so I can change my default metadata source and unselect everything but Taglines, run my files through and get 'em updated. Works for things like genre inconsistency, too, especially among Movies in a series. For instance IMDB tags all of the Bourne Movies as Action, Thriller but it adds the Mystery tag to ONLY The Bourne Identity. That kind of thing violates my sense of OCD so I can go in and either add or remove Mystery for all of them so they all fall under the same genres.

I had found, too, that if I hadn't unticked all of the metadata choices I would get some inconsistency.

We're on the same wavelength. Total domination!

[SolihullRog]

The user-friendliness of my commercial movies is now awesome - thanks to Mezzmo and tinyMediaManager.

My music collection has always been under control - courtesy of Tag & Rename and MP3Tag.

I also make great use of Bulk Rename Utility - an essential tool for anybody with media

I'm now about to embark on my photos and home movies.

Does anybody have any tips of the best metadata software, or of a way of going about it other than simply via my folder structures?

[Paul]

Glad you have a nice streaming solution now :). And thanks for sharing the tools that you use for other Mezzmo users.