Series.Xml is blank for all TV Series

[psubsee2002 7]

I've run into a problem with the metadata that is stored in the individual TV Series files - every single one of them is just a blank XML.

 

Checking timestamps, all of the files were last modified on June 12th (about 3 weeks ago), but I cannot confirm that the files had any content at that time.  The last time I actually looked them was 2 months ago when I last tried to organize my newly recorded TV episodes.  They were definitely not blank at that time.  I don't remember specifically changing anything at that time that would have forced a refresh of the metadata.  The individual episode XML files are fine, as are the xml files for my movies.  It is just the TV Series that are affected.

 

This has not affected the functionality of MBC, Theater, the Roku app, or the Android app.  All have shown the appropriate metadata for every TV Series, however, my script that helps me sort and organize the metadata relies on that file to identify the series id's, so I'm wondering if there is a simply way to fix it for every TV.

 

I did manage to find a workaround to force it to update by deleting the empty Series.xml and manually refreshing the metadata from the Metadata Manager (this doesn't work if I don't delete the existing empty series.xml first), but I'm hoping there is a better fix.  Is there a setting or it there something else.  

 

Given the fact that the metadata is cached somewhere (since all of the Apps & the metadata manager still showed the correct metadata), is relying on the individual XML files a mistake?  

[Happy2Play 9352]

Did you try the Advanced refresh options at series level?

[psubsee2002 7]

Nope, neither Refresh or Advanced Refresh appear to work.  

 

In the Metadata Manager, all of the information exists and is accurate, but it won't overwrite the existing Series.xml until I delete the existing XML and click "Save" from the Metadata Manager.

[psubsee2002 7]

Just to add to this topic, I just found that the issue was not exclusive to TV Series.  I found 2 movies that had a similar issue.  Once I deleted the movie.xml and re-saved via the Metadata Manager, the xml file was valid again.  Still doesn't change the issue.  I've manually fixed all of the affected XML files, but I'm still interested in understanding what caused the issue in the first place.  why did refreshing (or advanced refreshing) not overwrite the xml file for the series or movie?

[Happy2Play 9352]

Do you have any other metadata providers create xmls?  I tested this by blanking out an xml and see what you are saying, but the database appears to get the information.  Nothing populates a blank xml (refresh, advanced refresh, or Identify).

 

Edit not shown in log but clicking save doesn't work either. 

 

2015-07-04 12:59:15.6860 Debug - ProviderManager: Saving C:\Users\user\Desktop\Video Test\TV Series\Bones [Comedy-Crime] to Emby Xml.
2015-07-04 12:59:15.6860 Error - ProviderManager: Error in metadata saver
 *** Error Report ***
 Version: 3.0.5663.25306
 Command line: C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\MediaBrowser-Server\System\MediaBrowser.ServerApplication.exe
 Operating system: Microsoft Windows NT 6.2.9200.0
 Processor count: 4
 64-Bit OS: True
 64-Bit Process: False
 Program data path: C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\MediaBrowser-Server
 Application Path: C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\MediaBrowser-Server\System\MediaBrowser.ServerApplication.exe
 Root element is missing.
 System.Xml.XmlException
    at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e)
    at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseDocumentContent()
    at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Read()
    at System.Xml.XmlReader.MoveToContent()
    at MediaBrowser.LocalMetadata.Savers.XmlSaverHelpers.GetCustomTags(String path, List`1 xmlTagsUsed)
    at MediaBrowser.LocalMetadata.Savers.XmlSaverHelpers.Save(StringBuilder xml, String path, List`1 xmlTagsUsed, IServerConfigurationManager config)
    at MediaBrowser.LocalMetadata.Savers.SeriesXmlSaver.Save(IHasMetadata item, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    at MediaBrowser.Providers.Manager.ProviderManager.<SaveMetadata>d__5e.MoveNext()

 

After deleting blank series.xml

2015-07-04 13:04:09.5466 Debug - ProviderManager: Saving C:\Users\user\Desktop\Video Test\TV Series\Bones [Comedy-Crime] to Emby Xml.
2015-07-04 13:04:09.5466 Debug - LibraryMonitor: Changed detected of type Created to C:\Users\user\Desktop\Video Test\TV Series\Bones [Comedy-Crime]\series.xml
2015-07-04 13:04:09.5466 Debug - LibraryMonitor: Ignoring change to C:\Users\user\Desktop\Video Test\TV Series\Bones [Comedy-Crime]\series.xml
2015-07-04 13:04:09.5779 Debug - LibraryMonitor: Changed detected of type Changed to C:\Users\user\Desktop\Video Test\TV Series\Bones [Comedy-Crime]\series.xml
2015-07-04 13:04:09.5779 Debug - LibraryMonitor: Ignoring change to C:\Users\user\Desktop\Video Test\TV Series\Bones [Comedy-Crime]\series.xml
2015-07-04 13:04:09.5779 Debug - App: Saving C:\Users\user\Desktop\Video Test\TV Series\Bones [Comedy-Crime] to database.

Edited July 4, 2015 by Happy2Play

[psubsee2002 7]

Do you have any other metadata providers create xmls?  I tested this by blanking out an xml and see what you are saying, but the database appears to get the information.  Nothing populates a blank xml (refresh, advanced refresh, or Identify).

 

If you are asking if I have something else running creating/editing the metadata XML, I do not.  I don't know when/why, but the blanking out of the XML seems to have been done by Server itself (no evidence of this, but nothing else is running that automatically interacts with the metadata).  The Metadata Manager still knew all of the info and it did not affect functionality of any of the clients in any way.  The only fix was completely deleting the XML and then manually trying to save it from the Metadata Manager again.