[RESOLVED] CMC lost all my metadata and I can't display my collection

[Teddyboy]

RESOLVED - User Error. I misunderstood how syncing works.

I was trying to get my music collection to show up. I had added my movie and music folder for syncing. Since I'm using the exporter to generate all the metadata for my movie collection, I thought I would go into settings and remove the movie folder and then sync my music folder so it would show up. when I saved the change the sync icon went away. I mean it just disappeared. I went back into settings again and added the movie folder back. When I did that the sync icon appeared again. I did this several times, and it happened each and every time. I decided to sync my music folder with the movie folder because if I removed it from the sync watched section the sync icon would go away. Worse case I would have to re export my movie collection again if it wiped it out. Well it did wipe it out and I haven't been able to get it back! I re exported, but the collection refuses to display. I rebooted my htpc to no avail. Here are some screen shots. I've attached a debug file as well. I can restore the folder to its known last working state which was yesterday, because I back up my PCs with server essentials backup service. I may do that but no just yet.

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[Pauven]

Okay, I think you have a few misconceptions on CMC, so let me see if I can help you straighten them out.

First, there are two modes for CMC. There's the Movie Library mode, and then there's the Music Library mode. The Sync for each is completely separate. To sync Movies, you have to be in the Movie Library mode, and to sync Music you have to be in the Music Library mode.

The Settings screen has been unified, so you can configure both Movie and Music Library settings no matter which mode you are in.

It is correct that the Sync icon in the Movie Library disappears when you remove all Movie folders. That has nothing to do with the Music Library Sync.

Maybe you haven't discovered this yet: to reach the Music Library, you need to go UP to the menu icons, and then go UP again, which drops down the Mode Bar, which has a silver brushed metal appearance:

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From there you go right and select the music note, which opens the Music Library. There you will see a similar top menu bar with a Sync Icon. Running this Sync only syncs your music:

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Worse case I would have to re export my movie collection again if it wiped it out.

This is not correct. CMC did not wipe out your movie collection, and you would not have to re-export it. I think you've realized this, because you re-exported from CME, and it didn't fix the issue. Your exported data was never altered by CMC - it always just reads the exported data, but never modifies or deletes it, so it is impossible for CMC to wipe out your movie collection.

Well it did wipe it out and I haven't been able to get it back! I re exported, but the collection refuses to display.

It appears that what has happened is that CMC's SmartSync feature has become confused by you adding/removing/re-adding folders. The SmartSync takes a snapshot of your media folders, and then each time you run a new SmartSync, it makes a new snapshot, compares it to the previous snapshot, and identifies any changes from the previous snapshot. In certain circumstances, like adding/removing/adding folders, the snapshot's get out of sync, and CMC thinks there are no changes. So you removed a folder(s), which ended up removing the titles from CMC's local DB, but then after re-adding the folders you ran another SmartSync, and it's just not seeing any changes, so it's not re-adding the titles.

While the SmartSync feature runs right 99% of the time, it can get confused like this on occasion. The solution is simple, just run a Full Sync.

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The Full Sync ignores the SmartSync snapshot, and instead re-imports all titles and rebuilds the local CMC DB from scratch. This is effectively what you were trying to accomplish by re-exporting everything from CME, but you just needed to run the Full Sync to re-import everything.

[Teddyboy]

Okay. It appears that I have it mixed up. Now that you’ve explained it to me it makes sense now. I did see the mode bar, and I edited it to only have the apps that I want to run. All the icons are evenly spaced, but at first glance the music note and pandora looked like they were together. If I would have clicked further, I would have realized that the music note and pandora are separate. I have not configured any apps yet. That will be the very last thing I do after I fix my debacle. Then correct some MM titles and re-export.

To recap. I need to be in movie library mode which basically I am when I m viewing my movie collection to sync movies. I’ll add the folder back in so the sync icon reappears and do a full sync (not smart sync) which should bring my collection back into view. Then I’ll go into music library which puts me in that mode to do a full sync to make my music collection available. When in doubt do a full sync if smart sync doesn’t pick up the changes in either mode if I make changes to my collection.

CME only exports and watches for changes through MM api. Then it exports those changes from MM. Running a sync will pick up those changes for the appropriate mode and display the changes. Do I have all this right?

[Pauven]

When in doubt do a full sync if smart sync doesn’t pick up the changes in either mode if I make changes to my collection.

Currently, the Music Library sync is a Full Sync only. I have it in my to-do to add the SmartSync feature to the Music Library.

The Movie Library SmartySync is designed to process changes only, and is much faster than a Full Sync. But there are some scenarios that trip up the logic, like I said. Major edits to TV Series is one, and adding/removing folders is another. But for most day to day changes (new titles, updated titles, removed titles, new artwork, etc.) it detects the changes and updates CMC's local DB correctly.

CME only exports and watches for changes through MM api. Then it exports those changes from MM. Running a sync will pick up those changes for the appropriate mode and display the changes. Do I have all this right?

Yes. And the SmartSync is the ideal Sync for this.

[Teddyboy]

When I get home I’ll go through the steps. Once I’m successful, I’ll mark the issue resolved due to user misinterpretation. It would be nice if full sync/smart sync was more automatic. I’m used to the changes for movies and music being automatically picked up and displayed. It’s been quite a while since I really started using my htpc. I’m starting to get back into it. I really do like the way you display media then say jriver does. You have to roll your own interface within the limits of the base interface for theatre view. Sage tv used to have sage studio which was neat.

Thanks for your patience and understanding Paul.

[Pauven]

Once you get the kinks worked out, you can configure CMC to auto-run a SmartSync on startup, that way it would always be up to date.

I have plans for a future version of CME to directly create the CMC database, and then when you start CMC it would ping CME to see if there was an updated DB, and make a copy if there is. That way the CMC Sync process would no longer be needed, as the CMC DB would be auto-updating as CME runs.

[Teddyboy]

That would be awesome Paul, but what about music? That would take out the extra steps. The only time smart sync would run is if the htpc needs to restart. Otherwise it’s up 24/7 although it does go to sleep.

[Teddyboy]

We're good Paul. Everything came back it was before I tried to be smart. LOL. All my music is now visible. The CD cover wall looks great. It scrolls smoothly. The Transition from my collection to playing a album is nice. I liked it when the text was surrounded by a border and it would pulse gently. I just need to clean up some tags with illegal characters (about 5 or 6 songs that are classical) and re-rip some albums that are missing.

Regarding the settings/filter sync bar. I set the transparency to 0 because I only want to see it when I actually need to use it. Also I would prefer that when I use it that the overlay does not fade out my entire movie collection when I use it. I use four rows of covers, so it's okay if it overlays the very top one but it should still be visible underneath. Does that make sense?

[Pauven]

That would be awesome Paul, but what about music? That would take out the extra steps. The only time smart sync would run is if the htpc needs to restart. Otherwise it’s up 24/7 although it does go to sleep.

Haven't thought about music that way. CME is managing the metadata flow from My Movies to CMC, so it makes sense that it could create the CMC DB directly.

The metadata flow for music is completely in CMC, by scanning for music files, reading them to extract the metadata, and building the local database. Once I add the SmartSync functionality, I think it won't be too much of a big deal to sync. Obviously right now it is a pain to sync small changes when you have to re-import the entire music library.

The CD cover wall looks great. It scrolls smoothly.

Thanks! That was a ton of work. I even had to write some custom re-sizing and anti-aliasing routines to eliminate flickering of small details and make the scrolling smooth.

And yes, I know you want everything to be animated like that. It is a lot of work to get these animations to work correctly, so this type of polish takes a back seat to adding functionality.

Also I would prefer that when I use it that the overlay does not fade out my entire movie collection when I use it. I use four rows of covers, so it's okay if it overlays the very top one but it should still be visible underneath. Does that make sense?

I'll look at making that configurable. I like it to fade out so I can see the background artwork, which I like to change to whatever I've watched last or for the season.


Glad you got it working again.