Episode Name and Synopsis

[JustinKaze]

For some reason there are recorded TV shows that have the wrong episode name and description, so I have tried many different ways to modify the “Episode Name” and the Synopsis (or Program Description) in order to make it display correctly in Windows Media Center 7. I right-click in the appropriate *.WTV file and edit the fields and they show correctly in the Windows Explorer file details, however WMC keeps showing the wrong information no matter what I do. How to make WMC display the correctly modified information in the file?

[Space]

There is separate metadata that WMC uses that can be edited with certain editors.

The one I am aware of is described here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/toub/archive/20 ... 16874.aspx

Unfortunately the download link is broken, and I was unable to find an alternative download location, maybe you will have better luck.


I also found this:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/toub/archive/20 ... 16874.aspx

But I am unfamiliar with that one.

[CyberSimian]

I right-click in the appropriate *.WTV file and edit the fields and they show correctly in the Windows Explorer file details, however WMC keeps showing the wrong information no matter what I do. How to make WMC display the correctly modified information in the file?

WMC keeps the metadata cached in its internal database (presumably for performance reasons). So when the metadata is displayed on a WMC screen, it is the metadata from the database that is used, not the metadata in the WTV file.

I think that the suggested solution to this problem is the following:

(1) Exit WMC.

(2) Update the metadata as you want.

(3) Move the files with the modified metadata to folders that are not part of the WMC libraries.

(4) Start WMC and give it time to notice that those files no longer exist. This should cause WMC to delete those files from its database.

(5) Exit WMC.

(6) Move the files back to their original folder.

(7) Start WMC and give it time to notice the "new" files, extract the metadata from the WTV files, and cache it in the database.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[JustinKaze]

There is separate metadata that WMC uses that can be edited with certain editors.
The one I am aware of is described here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/toub/archive/20 ... 16874.aspx

Thank you so very much for the information Space! Sorry for replying until now, but I have been quite busy lately. I was able to download the file EditDvrmsMetadata.zip from the hyperlink you provided, and it allows me to edit the metadata and seems to be quite useful. However Media Center somehow still shows the previous wrong data, even though the WTV file itself contains the correct information. I wish Media Center had the option to edit the metadata within it.

[JustinKaze]

I right-click in the appropriate *.WTV file and edit the fields and they show correctly in the Windows Explorer file details, however WMC keeps showing the wrong information no matter what I do. How to make WMC display the correctly modified information in the file?

WMC keeps the metadata cached in its internal database (presumably for performance reasons). So when the metadata is displayed on a WMC screen, it is the metadata from the database that is used, not the metadata in the WTV file.

Hello CyberSimian! I greatly appreciate your advice! Sorry it took me so long to reply, but my days have been extremely busy lately. I tried the 7 step sequence you describe but unfortunately Media Center continues to show the previous data, so obviously is not directly reading it from the file. Also, I attempted slight variations of the sequence you suggested, like moving the file out before editing it, rebooting before adding it again, and also renaming the WTV file itself, but still the same results.

[JustinKaze]

Thanks Space and CyberSimian for taking the time to answer my question! I really appreciate your time and effort to help me! I wanted to let you know that I have used both of your suggestions to come up with an alternative solution:
(1) Exit WMC.
(2) COPY the WTV file with incorrect information to a folder that is not part of the WMC libraries.
(3) Use EditDvrmsMetadata.exe to modify the copied WTV file with the correct information.
(4) Start WMC and manually delete the original file that has the wrong metadata from within WMC.
(5) Exit WMC.
(6) Move the correctly modified WTV file back to the original folder.
(7) Start WMC and give it time to notice the "new" file, and this time the file shows up with the updated information! =-)
Most likely WMC identifies the file the first time it opens it and populates the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\mcepg2-0.db database in such a unique way that it never attempts to read the metadata from the file itself again; even if it changes the filename it “knows” is the same file so it is just doing its job and efficiently displays the metadata without losing time re-reading the metadata all over again.
Copying the file to an alternate location and then editing it, followed by a deletion from within Media Center and then placing the copied and modified WTV file back in the monitored folder actually counts as a brand new file for WMC so it reads the metadata from it and populates the database accordingly with the correct information, which makes me very happy! =-)
I wanted to thank Space and CyberSimian for their advice, because without it I would have never been able to find a solution for this situation. THANKS FOLKS! I APPRECIATE YOUR TIME AND HELP VERY MUCH!
Live long and prosper!

[CyberSimian]

I have used both of your suggestions to come up with an alternative solution

Excellent!

Thank you for posting the correct sequence of actions needed; it will be of use in the future to others who have the same problem.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[Space]

Hi Justin,

I was away for a while, and just read your replies, you're welcome and congrats!

As a coincidence, I just had a need to rename a show as well (for some reason it was a completely different show name displayed in WMC (in Polish!) than what was actually in the wtv file itself ("Title" metadata). I hope this was just a freak occurrence and does not mean I have disk corruption or something... Anyway...

I tried your method, but it did not work for me, but I found another way that did work!

What I did was modify (using EditDvrmsMetadata) the value of WM/WMRVProgramID. When you change this, WMC thinks it's a new video and re-reads the metadata. So I guess it reads this value, and if it is already in it's database, it doesn't bother re-reading all the other metadata, but if it is new, it loads in all the other metadata from the file as a new entry in the DB.

I did not need to exit WMC while I did this, it updates the name in the GUI on-the-fly as you do it...

As for what value you should use in the ID, I am not sure, but I just added a 0 to the end of it, I don't know how WMC decides what value to use here, but hopefully it will not be duplicated in the future, potentially causing problems (although I would think I would watch and delete the recording long before that would happen).

Thanks again!

[Space]

I just remembered one extra step that I believe I had to do to get WMC to recognize that I made a change to the metadata. I changed the extension for the wmv file so that it was removed from the WMC listing (.wmv -> .wmvx), then I changed it back. It then came back in the WMC listing with the correct/changed name.