Photos Library - Video Timeline all showing Jan 1 1900

Plex Media Server Metadata & Adding Files
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1

Server Version#: 1.18.2.2015
Player Version#: Plex Web Version 4.12.2

Hi All,
The past couple of hours I’ve been trying with increasing frustration to resolve a long standing issue on my CCTV files (MOV Format) that do not display in the timeline tab correctly, they all display with the date Jan 1 1900. This date does not exist anywhere in the metadata of the file so why is Plex using it, and not the correct value stored within the file !!?!?!?!.

I’ve included the metadata extract from one of the files in question at the bottom of this post.

As I thought initially there was an issue with the metadata in the files in question, not with plex’s file scanner being dumb, I decided to create an exiftool script, to modify the metadata in all existing and newly generated video files, prior to plex seeing them. The modification is to ensure the Media Created and Date Created values align to the correct date and with each other. All files dates are spread over the last few months of this year (2019). The script works perfect, and moves any new files to the folder plex is monitoring every hour at present.

Even with those changes, which I shouldn’t of had to do anyway, as I assumed plex needed to work off the Media Created date, it wasn’t smart enough to work of Date Created, the plex timeline is still refusing to show the videos aligned to the correct date.

I’ve deleted libraries, deleted and renamed folders, cleared bundles, optimsed databases, emptied trash, rebooted this and that, but the stupid plex file scanner still can’t do something so trivial and read the right date from each file.

Can someone please show me the light before I throw my plex server in a skip?

Thanks
S.

---- ExifTool ----
ExifTool Version Number : 11.73
---- File ----
File Name : 2019-11-09_18-22-10.mov
Directory : .
File Size : 28 MB
File Modification Date/Time : 2019:11:09 18:37:08+00:00
File Access Date/Time : 2019:11:09 18:37:08+00:00
File Creation Date/Time : 2019:11:09 18:22:10+00:00
File Permissions : rw-rw-rw-
File Type : MOV
File Type Extension : mov
MIME Type : video/quicktime
---- QuickTime ----
Major Brand : Apple QuickTime (.MOV/QT)
Minor Version : 0.2.0
Compatible Brands : qt
Movie Header Version : 0
Create Date : 2019:11:09 18:22:10
Modify Date : 2019:11:09 18:22:10
Time Scale : 1000
Duration : 0:01:01
Preferred Rate : 1
Preferred Volume : 100.00%
Matrix Structure : 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Preview Time : 0 s
Preview Duration : 0 s
Poster Time : 0 s
Selection Time : 0 s
Selection Duration : 0 s
Current Time : 0 s
Next Track ID : 3
Track Header Version : 0
Track Create Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Track Modify Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Track ID : 1
Track Duration : 0:00:59
Track Layer : 0
Track Volume : 0.00%
Matrix Structure : 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Image Width : 1280
Image Height : 720
Media Header Version : 0
Media Create Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Media Modify Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Media Time Scale : 1000
Media Duration : 0:00:59
Handler Class : Media Handler
Handler Type : Video Track
Handler Description : VideoHandler
Graphics Mode : srcCopy
Op Color : 0 0 0
Handler Class : Data Handler
Handler Type : URL
Handler Description : DataHandler
Compressor ID : avc1
Vendor ID : FFmpeg
Source Image Width : 1280
Source Image Height : 720
X Resolution : 72
Y Resolution : 72
Bit Depth : 24
Video Frame Rate : 6.297
Track Header Version : 0
Track Create Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Track Modify Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Track ID : 2
Track Duration : 0:01:01
Track Layer : 0
Track Volume : 100.00%
Matrix Structure : 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Media Header Version : 0
Media Create Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Media Modify Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Media Time Scale : 8000
Media Duration : 0:01:01
Handler Class : Media Handler
Handler Type : Audio Track
Handler Description : SoundHandler
Balance : 0
Handler Class : Data Handler
Handler Type : URL
Handler Description : DataHandler
Audio Format : mp4a
Audio Channels : 1
Audio Bits Per Sample : 16
Audio Sample Rate : 8000
Purchase File Format : mp4a
Requirements : QuickTime 6.0 or greater
Encoder ID : Lavf51.10.0
Date/Time Original : 2019:11:09 18:22:10+00:00
Movie Data Size : 29283906
Movie Data Offset : 11113
---- XMP ----
XMP Toolkit : Image::ExifTool 11.73
Date/Time Original : 2019:11:09 18:22:10+00:00
Create Date : 2019:11:09 18:22:10+00:00
Modify Date : 2019:11:09 18:22:10+00:00
---- Composite ----
Image Size : 1280x720
Megapixels : 0.922
Avg Bitrate : 3.86 Mbps
Rotation : 0

2

I am having this issue as well, the videos show in the right spot, but with the date Jan 1 1900

3

Thanks for responding, I was going to try and bump this again today to try in hope someone from Plex support finally responds and takes some interest in resolving this issue.

My ‘Camera - Front’ and ‘Camera - Garage’ Library’s which are mov files just show everything as Jan 1, 1900 in the Timeline. My ‘Camera - Rear’ library which is mp4 files show everything as May 16, 2019.

I’m going to switch the library from photos back to other videos, just to waste more time messing around with something that should just work.

I don’t understand why Plex spends so much time introducing noise such as Web Shows and News Junkie stuff at the detriment of nailing the local media content delivery solution which is what has drawn customers to its platform in the first place. That playback of local media content is the core bread and butter functionality of Plex that should just work, and it can’t at present manage the basics of showing videos in a timeline order. The year is 2019?

4

Bump.

5

Seeing same issue with some of my files. It seems to be random. All the data in the file is there, capture date, file date, etc.

6

I’ve got the same problem. Timeline shows some items for 1900, I don’t remember taking any with my Digital camera then. :thinking:

7

Acknowledged and probably also fixed.

8

Has this fix rolled out yet, nothing has changed for me?

Frustrated that such basic functionality doesn’t work and been like this for moons and moons.

9

it should be out in the 1.18.6 release soon. ( i don’t have an exact date it will be released)

2 Likes
10

That’s brill, thanks for taking time out to reply.

11

The 1900 bug has indeed been solved in the lasted releases However it seems to have been replaced by a 2017 bug. I have now suddenly a lot of pictures showing up under May 27, 2017. This while they were taken at other dates.

12

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