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File import issues w/new iTunes

J

JMEANS

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2012
172
5
Ya know the 'new & improved' iTunes is really starting to get on my last nerve! We go thru all the trouble of ripping, tagging and importing our backup files for what ? For iTunes to magically lose Cover Art and sometimes the file itself! I have come to the conclusion it has something to do with Time Machine. You make changes while its working and anything can happen which leads me to my situation.

First I will say that at least I found some freeware called TimeMachine editor that lets you manage when and how often TM backs stuff up so that is the good news. Now the bad news,

I open up TV SHOWS and 3 seasons of one program loses its Cover Art and won't display in iTunes?! However the files still contain the images as tagged. Odd? Yes as has happened in the past with movie files - But this is 3 seasons if a show and who has the freakin time?!!

So best practice RE import the 3 seasons so iTunes can play nice again with these files right?

Well this is the new iTunes and I add the folder and it dumps all 3 seasons, that are all ready meta tagged into separate files in the HOME VIDEO tab?!!! WTF?!!

Do I now have to change every damn episode to 'TVSHOW' in the option tab...? Apparently so!

Or not? Is there a better way to RE Import my 3 seasons so they go back to where they were originally?

Keep in mind I deleted the Cover artless files before I tried to do the RE import and they still all ended up in HOME VIDEO : (

if you have any ideas what is going on with the new iTunes info would be greatly appreciated, thanks JIM
 
FreakinEurekan

FreakinEurekan

macrumors 603
Sep 8, 2011
5,529
2,586
On the new iTunes imported video is assumed to be "Home Video". You can change it once imported.

I use IDentify (from the Mac app store) to set the cover art & metadata, IDentify then exports the files straight to iTunes. It's a painless process, I've done a couple hundred movies & TV episodes over the past few weeks (converting my DVD collection) and not a hiccup. This eliminates the need to edit the type to Movie or TV Show after importing, it's all done automatically.
 
M

mic j

macrumors 68030
Mar 15, 2012
2,663
156
JMEANS said:
Ya know the 'new & improved' iTunes is really starting to get on my last nerve! We go thru all the trouble of ripping, tagging and importing our backup files for what ? For iTunes to magically lose Cover Art and sometimes the file itself! I have come to the conclusion it has something to do with Time Machine. You make changes while its working and anything can happen which leads me to my situation.

First I will say that at least I found some freeware called TimeMachine editor that lets you manage when and how often TM backs stuff up so that is the good news. Now the bad news,

I open up TV SHOWS and 3 seasons of one program loses its Cover Art and won't display in iTunes?! However the files still contain the images as tagged. Odd? Yes as has happened in the past with movie files - But this is 3 seasons if a show and who has the freakin time?!!

So best practice RE import the 3 seasons so iTunes can play nice again with these files right?

Well this is the new iTunes and I add the folder and it dumps all 3 seasons, that are all ready meta tagged into separate files in the HOME VIDEO tab?!!! WTF?!!

Do I now have to change every damn episode to 'TVSHOW' in the option tab...? Apparently so!

Or not? Is there a better way to RE Import my 3 seasons so they go back to where they were originally?

Keep in mind I deleted the Cover artless files before I tried to do the RE import and they still all ended up in HOME VIDEO : (

if you have any ideas what is going on with the new iTunes info would be greatly appreciated, thanks JIM
Click to expand...
I had a similar problem a long time ago. I just deleted all the videos in iTunes and loaded everything back it. I think the database got a corruption. I have not had the issue re-occur since doing that.

As for the import into Home Movies, if files are not tagged as Movies or TV Shows, they go into Home Movies. No way to get around it as the tag is part of the files metadata. I used Subler to edit the tags, load up the queue and save.
 
J

JMEANS

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2012
172
5
But they were tagged as TV Shows that's the thing. The steps I took we're as follows:

I copied the main folder containing the 3 seasons onto another HD then I went and deleted the cover artless seasons completely from iTunes. Then I took the fresh 3 season folder and added it back via 'add file to library' option. They came from iTunes to begin with and were all properly ragged 'TV SHOW' so I don't understand how a fresh RE import would dump them in HOME VIDEOS?

Could you tell me how you added your files back into iTunes? Maybe I did it wrong... I really don't want to add each episode back one at a time here. Thanks Mic J
 
J

JMEANS

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2012
172
5
FreakinEurekan said:
On the new iTunes imported video is assumed to be "Home Video". You can change it once imported.

I use IDentify (from the Mac app store) to set the cover art & metadata, IDentify then exports the files straight to iTunes. It's a painless process, I've done a couple hundred movies & TV episodes over the past few weeks (converting my DVD collection) and not a hiccup. This eliminates the need to edit the type to Movie or TV Show after importing, it's all done automatically.
Click to expand...

I hear ya and thanks for chiming in but all these files are all ready tagged and formally displayed where they were suppose to. Just the covers were not displaying. So on RE import you would think they would know where to go again
 
M

mic j

macrumors 68030
Mar 15, 2012
2,663
156
JMEANS said:
But they were tagged as TV Shows that's the thing. The steps I took we're as follows:

I copied the main folder containing the 3 seasons onto another HD then I went and deleted the cover artless seasons completely from iTunes. Then I took the fresh 3 season folder and added it back via 'add file to library' option. They came from iTunes to begin with and were all properly ragged 'TV SHOW' so I don't understand how a fresh RE import would dump them in HOME VIDEOS?

Could you tell me how you added your files back into iTunes? Maybe I did it wrong... I really don't want to add each episode back one at a time here. Thanks Mic J
Click to expand...
Do you have Subler or some other app that you can open the file with and check it's metadata? Or even look at them with iTunes "get info"? Let's verify that the tags are correct.

First thing I did was to delete everything in the iTunes movie/tv show library. Next, since I have all my movies in a movie folder and my tv shows in a tv show folder, I just did a "Add to Library" and selected the Movie and TV show folders. That's it. No magic. Just cleaned out the database of everything and added everything back in. Note: the key word is EVERYTHING.
 
J

JMEANS

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2012
172
5
Yep Mic J that's the thing, that's how it used to work because I familiar with that process, but now that this HOME VIDEO option is there anything new it seems defaults there. My 3 Seasons of TV SHOW files are all properly tagged, checked in SUBLER.

What's weird is when I tag MOVIES using SUBLER they import and go where they are suppose to but today when I tagged a BATES MOTEL episode with TV SHOW it defaulted to HOME VIDEOS too? That was today so maybe it's a glitch with the TV SHOW tag in iTunes?!

Think I know what I did, will try something and get back tomorrow
 
Last edited:
M

mic j

macrumors 68030
Mar 15, 2012
2,663
156
JMEANS said:
Yep Mic J that's the thing, that's how it used to work because I familiar with that process, but now that this HOME VIDEO option is there anything new it seems defaults there. My 3 Seasons of TV SHOW files are all properly tagged, checked in SUBLER.

What's weird is when I tag MOVIES using SUBLER they import and go where they are suppose to but today when I tagged a BATES MOTEL episode with TV SHOW it defaulted to HOME VIDEOS too? That was today so maybe it's a glitch with the TV SHOW tag in iTunes?!
Click to expand...

So...it's only TV Shows that has the issue...right? Ya got me stumped!!:eek:

If you do a "get info" in iTunes on one of the problem files, go to the "options" tab, does the media kind say tv show or home video? What happens if you change it to Movie, hit OK? Does it move to Movies? If it does, do the same thing and change it to TV Show. Does it then move to TV Shows?

Also check that you have season and episode #'s on the video tab.
 
Last edited:
J

JMEANS

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2012
172
5
Will try some of that and get back tomorrow ! Thanks mic j
 
C

CTay

macrumors member
Apr 18, 2013
89
0
Well it seems to me the simple thing would be to select all the episodes at one time and right click to pull up "get info." Then change them all to tv show. You can do them all at once. It doesn't seem to fix your glitch but it is a quick repair that takes 2 seconds.

Itunes is squirly. Short of uninstalling and reinstalling....I would go this route.
 
O

Omne666

macrumors 6502a
Sep 16, 2010
503
0
Melbourne, Australia
Just as a side note...can I suggest you backup the database itself separately.

I've had issues over the years with iTunes database, and done exactly that....deleted the faulty items and dropped them back in. The problem I found is twofold for me:

1. it stuffs up dynamic playlists based on play counts, date added, watched versus unwatched.
2. Using the existing database file usually meant the problem came back fairly quickly.

And of course making a new database from scratch only makes point 1 even worse ( I have 2 major playlists that get a lot of use....added in last 30 days, and most recently watched movies...very helpful when the wife watches a new addition without me...saves me hunting it down as it disappears from the recently added playlist once watched)

By having even a slightly out of date copy alleviates a lot of grief for me, though I must say...it's been a long time since I needed it.
 
J

JMEANS

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2012
172
5
Here's the skinny guys and thanks for all the perspective and tips!
Well as we know any file added to the current iTunes UNtagged defaults to HOME VIDEO! This is an issue if your workflow isn't consistent like mine. I always try to tag before anything goes into iTunes but on occasion when it comes to downloaded TV episodes I just want to watch 1st and tag later. That being the case when I did get around to tagging 6 episodes of BATES MOTEL in Subler they still remained in the HOME VIDEO section... Why? Because each file wasnt tagged initially upon first import so the OPTION tab of each file sticks to the initial HOME VIDEO check even after tagging?!

All you do as suggested above is 'get info' on the 6 episode files and check TV SHOW and bam! They go to the TV SHOW section.

On the 3 seasons of a show import I tried and failed at originally I did not do the 'add file to library' correctly the 1st time, but I followed the steps from MIC J and succeed with 2 seasons landing in TV SHOWS and season 3 defaulting to HOME VIDEOS because they were not properly tagged in the first place : (

So I did what I described above for 25 episodes, went to 'get info' and changed all 25 shows to TV SHOW and they joined the other 2 seasons!!
Got it all now guys so thanks! Still annoying as Hell that iTunes loses cover art etc. but I still believe that has to do with how often TIME MACHINE backs up stuff... At least that's my best guess.
 
M

mic j

macrumors 68030
Mar 15, 2012
2,663
156
JMEANS said:
Here's the skinny guys and thanks for all the perspective and tips!
Well as we know any file added to the current iTunes UNtagged defaults to HOME VIDEO! This is an issue if your workflow isn't consistent like mine. I always try to tag before anything goes into iTunes but on occasion when it comes to downloaded TV episodes I just want to watch 1st and tag later. That being the case when I did get around to tagging 6 episodes of BATES MOTEL in Subler they still remained in the HOME VIDEO section... Why? Because each file wasnt tagged initially upon first import so the OPTION tab of each file sticks to the initial HOME VIDEO check even after tagging?!

All you do as suggested above is 'get info' on the 6 episode files and check TV SHOW and bam! They go to the TV SHOW section.

On the 3 seasons of a show import I tried and failed at originally I did not do the 'add file to library' correctly the 1st time, but I followed the steps from MIC J and succeed with 2 seasons landing in TV SHOWS and season 3 defaulting to HOME VIDEOS because they were not properly tagged in the first place : (

So I did what I described above for 25 episodes, went to 'get info' and changed all 25 shows to TV SHOW and they joined the other 2 seasons!!
Got it all now guys so thanks! Still annoying as Hell that iTunes loses cover art etc. but I still believe that has to do with how often TIME MACHINE backs up stuff... At least that's my best guess.
Click to expand...
Happy you figured it out and got it solved!

By the way, I use TM for backups and have not had an issue since rebuilding the library. But who knows. :confused:
 
J

JMEANS

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2012
172
5
Yeah who knows why... Just sux but thanks so much as always Mic J! Your guidance is always greatly appreciated! have a great weekend : )
 
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