.WTV Files Missing Metadata after Processing

[Neil]

Hi-

Wanted to first compliment you on your great software. I use VAP6 to recode .WTV files from MPEG-4 to MPEG-2 since my media extender can't play MPEG-4 (Hewlett-Packard x280n.) I'm not cutting commercials or doing anything else.

I noticed that VAP6 removes all "metadata" (is that the right word...?) in the output file. The title, synopsis, channel, etc. are all missing. See 1st attached. But when I run VRD manually this doesn't happen; all metadata is preserved. See 2nd attached. VAP also changes the time of recording to its time of processing, while running VRD directly preserves the original recording time. Is there some setting I can tweak to populate the metadata as per the original file?

I put my system info and the logfile below. Thanks again for a great product.



-Neil



System Info
OpSys: Win7-64 bit
VideoReDo TVSuite V6 (v 6.60.6.810)
VAP6
Windows Media Center
CPU: i5 - 2405S
Motherboard: Asus P8H67-M LE
RAM: 16GB
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti

Logfile
12/18/2019 1:29:35 PM TMDb search succeeded for "Need for Speed (2014)"
12/18/2019 1:29:35 PM Getting input file encoding for: Need for Speed_SYFYHD-2019_12_18_13_13_56.wtv
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM H.264 is encoding for: Need for Speed_SYFYHD-2019_12_18_13_13_56.wtv
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM H.264 is encoding for: Need for Speed_SYFYHD-2019_12_18_13_13_56.wtv
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM 0 file ignore keys were read
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM 0 file wildcard match keys were read
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM Read 0 input filename metadata parsing template(s)
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM Read 0 title translation data lines
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM Read 0 profile match list items
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM Metadata-based templates:
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM Series Output Folder = ""
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM Series Output file = ""
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM Movie Output Folder = ""
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM Movie Output File Name = ""
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM Title = ""
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM 1280 is video width for: Need for Speed_SYFYHD-2019_12_18_13_13_56.wtv
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM H.264 is encoding for: Need for Speed_SYFYHD-2019_12_18_13_13_56.wtv
12/18/2019 1:29:36 PM Started QSF, input: Need for Speed_SYFYHD-2019_12_18_13_13_56.wtv
12/18/2019 1:29:37 PM Using filter dimensions from MediaInfo: 1280 X 720
12/18/2019 1:29:37 PM Using profile: WTV - MPEG2
12/18/2019 1:29:38 PM VideoReDo said: INFO: VideoReDo version 6.60.6.810 - Dec 8 2019
12/18/2019 1:29:39 PM VideoReDo said: INFO: Applying QSF filter: 1280X720
12/18/2019 1:29:51 PM VideoReDo said: INFO: Starting 2nd (save) step of Smart QSF
12/18/2019 1:31:11 PM VideoReDo completed QSF on input: D:\Unconverted HD\Need for Speed_SYFYHD-2019_12_18_13_13_56.wtv
12/18/2019 1:31:11 PM Output file was not renamed
12/18/2019 1:31:22 PM Transferred metadata to: D:\Recorded TV\Need for Speed_SYFYHD-2019_12_18_13_13_56.wtv

 

[dlflannery]

Here is a download link for a utility that dumps WTV metadata:
ToubMetaReader
Select a file and run. It displays the meta items but it also saves a .txt file of them beside the input file.
Please run this on your input and output wtv files and attach the results to a post.

I tried to duplicate your process. Had to guess what the WTV-MPEG2 profile was and my test file didn't have much metadata in it. VAP6 inserted the metadata in the output file. The last statement in the log excerpt you provided indicates the metadata was inserted.

I don't know much about WMC so I'm not sure what exactly is required in the metadata to accomplish the display as you showed, but comparing the input and output meta items may provide insight.

For further testing, a WTV file with your metadata in it would help -- as short as possible, since the recode from H.264 to mpeg2 is very slow on my PC. And the details of how you created the WTV-MPEG2 profile.

 

[Neil]

Thank you for replying. Sorry, should've provided the "WTV-MPEG2" profile. I attached a screen shot of it. It's exactly the same as the WTV profile with only one change: Output codec is set to MPEG-2.

I also included the three metadata dumps:
1. The original file
2. The VRD-processed file
3. The VAP-processed file.

The VRD-processed file is like the original. But the VAP-processed file is missing much of the metadata. Oddly, what there is of the metadata does appear in WMC after a 15 minutes, but it's merely a subset of the original. Even more strangely, VAP seems to be getting some of the data elsewhere. The show's description is actually different from the original:

Original
WM/SubTitleDescription: String: Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul), a mechanic...

VAP
WM/SubTitleDescription: String: The film revolves around a local street-racer...


I recorded only the last two minutes of an "Need for Speed" to have a small file for testing (57MB.)
Thank you again for your help.

-Neil

 

[dlflannery]

Ok, thanks for the meta files. I created my version of the output profile the same way you did, so no issue there.

The reason some items are different is that VAP is indeed getting some of them elsewhere, namely TMDb. Note the first line of the log file excerpt you provided. To prevent that check "Do not do TMDb (movie) searches" on the "Other" tab of the Advanced Configuration form. For that same reason you might want to also check "Do not do theTVDB (series) searches" on that same tab.

I assume the 15 minute delay is a WMC thing, perhaps normal? If there is some meta item that relates to that, I have no idea what it would be.

VAP doesn't try to copy all the WTV metadata items but I think it gets most of the important ones. If you can identify items that are critical to a good presentation in WMC, I will consider including them.

Actually the VRD version is not identical to the original. For example the original doesn't have a Description meta item. Both the VRD and VAP versions have that item and (interesting) they are identical. Looks like VRD does the same thing VAP does, i.e., uses the WM/SubTitleDescription value for Description.

As far as I've noticed, it looks like VAP is doing a reasonable job here -- but willing to consider suggestions.

 

[Neil]

Thank for the reply. I unchecked both "Do not do TMDb (movie) searches" and "Do not do theTVDB (series) searches" and the odd behavior continued; WMC displays the metadata for VRD-converted files but VAP6 files are missing episode title, channel numbers, cast + crew, etc. I agree the VAP6 metadata extract does show a lot of data but for some reason WMC isn't picking it up.

Is VAP6 creating the metadata itself? That is, not going through VRD? In WMC I see the date and time differently. VAP6 is showing the time the show was converted but VRD preserves the original showtime (more useful.) I uncheck the box Program Time to Edited Date and Time on the WTV / DVR-MS output tab in Tools->Options of VRD. It looks like VAP6 ignores or cannot access this setting in VRD. If this is the case I'd prefer the original showtime preserved if that can be tweaked.

There are also some differences in the metadata between VAP and the original. WM/SubTitleDescription is truncated in VAP6. VRD truncates it as well but oddly after a different number of characters.

In the end I feel I'm in Limbo; I agree the metadata looks pretty good but don't know why WMC isn't picking it up. Do you know of any way I can help expose this difference between VAP6 and VRD?

Also, I understand metadata can be exported to .XML? Can I create a batch file to somehow re-insert the original show's metadata into the converted one? Just spit-balling here....


Thank you again.

-Neil

 

[dlflannery]

VAP reads wmc certain items of metadata from the input file and them inserts them in the output file. However it doesn't copy all metadata. I don't know for sure if the metadata copying behavior of VRD when processing from WTV input to WTV output occurs for the VRD COM functions that VAP runs. However I didn't rely on that for VAP processing because many VAP process flows are not just WTV input to WTV output. Rather VAP stores the metadata it reads from WTV inputs into a data structure of the type it uses for all video files and then converts that back to WMC metadata elements to embed in WTV output files. So some elements get lost and a few get modified.

I don't use WMC and know little about it. Take a look at this thread, in case it might be of interest to you:

VAP Testing Version With Movie Metadata Search

Try substituting VAP test executable Ver. 1.42T3 (NOT AN INSTALLER) contained in the attached zip. EDIT: Attachment deleted -- superseded by T4 version attached to later post. It will attempt to use themoviedb.org (TMDb) searches to provide metadata for input files it thinks are movies. Two...

www.videoredo.net

The user who makes the second post (@jachin99 ) seems to be a WMC heavy user and he is active on the Green Button forum. And he has been using VAP. You might try contacting him to see if he can help.

 

[dlflannery]

Try substituting in the VAP6 executable (not an installer), version VAP6_b7, from the attached zip.
EDIT: Attachment removed. Superseded by release ver. 1.0B8

If both input and output files are .WTV, the metadata will be transferred to the output file just as TVSuite 6 does, with no modifications by VAP6, or from TMDb or theTVDB. This does not depend on whether TMDb or theTVDB searches are enabled or not.

In the released version this is controlled by a checkbox on the Other tab of Advanced Configuration. The only item I've noticed not being carried through by TVS6 is WMVRprogramId. With my luck I suppose that will turn out to be critical for your purposes.

 

[Neil]

I figured out the problem: it's with WMC. I specified VAP's output directory as WMC's working directory, that is the place where it stores recordings, "Recorded TV." If I instead specify a temporary directory and then move the file over it works fine and all metadata is visible in WMC.

It seems WMC gets confused by whatever final write operations are occurring with VAP6 and it fails to pull over the metadata. It's clear that WMC is constantly monitoring "Recorded TV" and I suspect it's reading metadata before the file is fully written (and then it likely never goes back to re-read it, because it got it already, right...?)

If I specify a temp directory and let VAP6 finish its business before moving the converted file over it works without a hitch. ALL the metadata in the original file is preserved and visible in WMC. Thank you again for your help.

 

[dlflannery]

You could use a VAPpostprocess script to do that move automatically. Just search VAPreadme.pdf on ‘postprocess’. There is also a script you can setup that runs once each time you shut down VAP, to do a bulk move. I think it’s called VAPonClose but am not where i could look it up right now.