Metadata being locked, randomly. Unclear how to bulk-unlock

[CBMe 1]

I've been trying to make some minor changes to the metadata to address a few titles that MB can't automatically figure out and I noticed that a lot of titles where marked as 'locked' though I never did it.   This prevents updating of content I don't have like Logo (though even after unlocking I'm unclear how to get it to auto downlad this type of missing content as hitting the refresh all button on a title didn't do it).    I tried to lock and unlock at the top level which looked like it unlocked all movies but then after editing one the images on the left refreshed and still showed most as being locked.
So I shut down the server, went into the DB in Users/app data and deleted all the DB and cache files (per another post on topic of trying to clear out/reset MB), cleared out and refreshed all the MyMovies metadata in the folders and then started the server back up.   It scanned through for a while and now even more movies are marked as locked.
Am I doing something wrong or just some missing some setting that is causing titles to be locked?   Or is there a way to get it to fill in missing content regardless of whether it is marked as locked or not?

 

Side issue/bug: When I got to a locked title, the metadata lock is unchecked, showing all the individual lock items.  If I then click on People or Images and then back to Metadata on the title, the box is checked and the individual items aren't available.

 

Edited March 21, 2014 by Curtis

[Luke 42078]

It probably has to do with locking at the top, global level. So you'll probably want to undo that first.

[CBMe 1]

It probably has to do with locking at the top, global level. So you'll probably want to undo that first.

No, unfortunately not.   The top level was not locked.  

 

I tried to lock the top level, save, then unlock, save and it would appear that all the locks have been removed.   I then tried to refresh medata data at the top level (assuming this is how it is done as it extremely is unclear)  to replace missing data ( like meta score, critic summary etc, though replace missing and replace all seem to do the exact same thing and neither populates some things like Aspect ratio even though that is in the MyMovies file..).  After about 5-10mins it finished, I hit save, and all the titles that were locked were showing the locked icon again and none had the missing logo updated.  They did appear to have the additional data filled out however after doing something else and going back to the collection I found that it was all missing again.

I can't find any pattern to the ones that are locked vs. not. Mix of blu-ray (movie-only MKV) and DVD (movie-only VOB files).  Every folder has the movie file (or the videots folder) a movies.xml file in it from MyMovies for MediaBrowser, a Folder and number of Backdrop .jpgs, and the 3 mymovies files (front, back hidden jpegs & mymovies.xml).  I'm not sure if this is a new or old issue as this is my first time since somewhere in the v2 days to make a real effort to see whether the metadata management had improved enough that I can use MediaBrowser as our primary media UI .

 

Please let me know if there is anything you'd like me to try or useful log files I can send.

 

Edited March 22, 2014 by Curtis

[Luke 42078]

Ok well keep in mind the only place in the system that changes the lock setting is the editor page.

 

Also, did you say you have a mymovies file? We don't actually support MyMovies format. 

[CBMe 1]

Ok, well then I won't keep poking around through other pages looking for some hidden lever.   Let me know if you have any other thoughts on how to resolve or if there is something useful for me to submit to the team to uncover what the bug is. 

 

In regards to the mymovies files, yes they are in the folder but are hidden (see attached for the files I have in most folders).  I mention them only in case they have any relevance to why Media Browser would automatically lock a title and not allow it to be unlocked.    The only one that is relevant is the movie.xml it writes when you select the option to save metadata for Media Browser's use.  Are you saying Media Browser doesn't use that file if it is present?  (I'll do a bulk delete of them if not).

 

Edited March 22, 2014 by Curtis

[Luke 42078]

We definitely don't use mymovies.xml, so you can delete those.

 

It's hard for me to think of anything because I'm honestly unsure of what the specific issue is. If you can give me a specific scenario with exact steps to reproduce then I can try it out. Otherwise I would think just unlock them and you'll be fine.

[CBMe 1]

Not mymovies.xml, that is for mymovies and is needed for that app.  The "movie.xml" is the file it can create for media browser which they did back when the cut off the use of the unecrypted mymovies file (which if I recall, media browser used back in the v1 days).
 

As for the repro steps, I listed all the steps I did to try to unlock at the top level.  But neither that, nor unlocking at the individual title sticks.  I appears to but again, after I go back to it, it is showing as relocked.   All the titles were simply added by the standard means of adding them to the library.   All titles are on this physical machine with the media browser server software.   Not sure what else might be relevant.
 

If there is nothing of use to learn about why Media Browser isn't working on my system I can try to uninstall, hunting down any and all media browser left behind files and reinstall (after reboot) to see if it happens again.     If there is a way to wipe/reset Media Browser w/o doing all this please let me know as I can't find it in the app or on the site.  Thanks!

 

[Luke 42078]

you could review the server log for errors, and/or post it here. you could also delete those movie.xml files. having never seen them I can't comment on the quality of the data MyMovies produces, and considering it was designed for MB2 format that's another possible issue there. But posting one such file might also be helpful.

[CBMe 1]

Thanks, will review the log to see if there are errors and try removing the movie.xml files but I don't see that being the issue as they are in every folder and there isn't any patter to the movie type or attributes.

 

In regards to the mymovies data, I'm assuming it is still good unless something was changed with v3 to specifically not use the movie.xml file anymore.  If you weren't here back then, it was what media browser relied on until Brian@mymovies locked it down as it was causing issues due to other apps changing the data for their own purposes, negatively affecting the mymovies app.   I did a quick search and it was Dec 2011 that it was encrypted and shortly after that the switch from mymovies.xml to movie.xml was made with MyMovies supporting movie.xml files in June of 2012.  http://community.mediabrowser.tv/permalinks/9844/attn-3rd-party-meta-providers---change-required    There was a bit of an issue back then as it was a 'surprise' to the MB team but it turned out Brian had tried to contact Sam let him know the change was coming but Sam hadn't gotten the message http://www.mymovies.dk/forum.aspx?g=posts&t=25102 (EBR is the one who engaged with Brian).  Anyway, the two systems don't have all the same data fields (given MM is about the Disc-based Movie/TV collection and MB is just about the Movie or TV show)  but I haven't seen anything saying that the MM generated file has any issues.   I see a semi-related post on the new forum but it looks like ebr didn't comment one way or the other http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/1231-mymoviesxml-or-moviesxml/.      I've attached a screen shot of what their metadata output options look like, and a movie.xml file as a FYI in case you are interested.
 

movie.zip

Edited March 22, 2014 by Curtis