Server: Windows 10
Server Version#: 1.20.3.3483
Player: Plex Web
Player Version#: 4.45.0
Library Type: Other Videos
Scanner: Plex Video Files Scanner
Agent: Personal Media
I’ve noticed since updating to the version posted above that no longer is the year meta data being read out from my MP4 files. It used to be that if I had the year populated with either one of two formats, it would be loaded into the Plex DB.
Format 1: yyyy (ex: 1999)
Format 2: mm/dd/yyyy (ex: 12/01/1999)
If the year metadata was empty, the current date would be used. After the update, the metadata in the MP4 seems to be ignored and the current date is always used.
I’ve updated to server Version 1.20.4.3517. The bug still persists. Also, when doing a manual “Refresh Metadata” via the triple dots on the media item, the current date is written to the metadata field “Originally Available”. This happens despite any date that is recorded to the MP4’s tag fields. I’ve tested both the “year” tag and the “origavail” tag with a YYYY formatted year. Neither has any effect. A manual metadata refresh records the current date into Plex metadata.
It seems strange this hasn’t had any mention or traction yet. It still seems to be an issue for me. Is this just a me thing? Maybe there is something about the personal video metadata handling that I am misunderstanding? Usually the devs are quick to patch up little bugs like this. Hmmm.
I think I just figured out what I was missing. It seems as though the metadata agent for the personal video library type reads the last modified date of the file rather than embedded tag data. It makes working with the metadata a bit more difficult but I can see the rational for it as well. Maybe this will help someone who runs into this in the future.
One quick note for the devs on this. When I use software to edit the metadate of the video files in the personal library, it updates the last modified date on the file. Unless you know and remember to reset that date you’ll begin getting videos that are inconsistently dated in your library. I’m not sure if there is any better way to handle this but it may be something to consider.
