iphone 4 running iOS4.2 not sorting tv shows correctly

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Level 1

77 points

iphone 4 running iOS4.2 not sorting tv shows correctly

I've upgraded my iphone to the newest os, 4.2. I also have itunes 10.1.

On my phone, tv shows synced from itunes don't sort into separate show sections like they used to in iOS 4.1. So instead of having separate section for (for example) Glee, Lost, and House, with the several shows for each within that section, they all get lumped together in one section labeled with just one of the shows, seeming randomly chosen. For example, all the various shows are now in a section labeled House.

It's not a big problem, as all the shows are still there, but it's odd. FWIW, all the shows are labeled and tagged correctly, as they used to sort correctly. I've also tried deleting everything and resyncing, one show at a time with no change. I'm using the manual managing music and videos method.

black macbook(2007), iphone 4, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Nov 22, 2010 10:18 AM

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Answer 1

Nihkel

Level 1

0 points

Nov 22, 2010 11:47 AM in response to sduck409

i have 3gs and the same problem. so not an issue on iphone 4 only.

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Answer 2

Nov 22, 2010 12:44 PM in response to Nihkel

I am having this exact same issue. iPhone 4, 4.2.1 software.

When I first installed it, and went to play a video on my phone it did not have any content at all. I re-synced and they showed up, but all of the videos are under one show header now. Very annoying.

How did anyone not catch this bug during testing?

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Answer 3

Nov 22, 2010 1:34 PM in response to sduck409

I just updated my iPhone 3GS and noticed the same thing. The only additional clue I have is that two shows in my library purchased from the iTunes Store show up properly, with the individual show listed. It is other videos that were not purchased through iTunes that all get lumped together in one group, also with a seemingly somewhat random show title attributed to all. Again, all the media is there. It's just been lumped together under one show name.

So it's (a) either a bug that somehow slipped through or (b) a deliberate attempt by Apple to relegate any television show file NOT purchased through the iTunes Store to this random jumble category. In either case, it's definitely a step backwards over what was there before.

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Answer 4

sduck409 Author

Level 1

77 points

Nov 22, 2010 2:20 PM in response to Jim Bridges1

Thanks Jim for pointing in the right direction to fix this.

It seems the new ios is using a different tag to sort the shows. The problem I had was similar to yours - all the shows I currently had were all from disks I had ripped myself using handbrake, and not from the itunes store.

I compared the tags (in the get info menu option) of the shows I'd ripped against the tags in store bought shows, and added info to the tags under the sorting tab, specifically the sort show field. I think that's the one that makes the difference, although I added a bunch more of them, so I'm not sure. Delete the old version from your phone, sync the new version to the phone (or you can change the tags right on the phone) and the sorting is fixed!

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Answer 5

Nov 22, 2010 2:37 PM in response to sduck409

I have tried this to no avail. I tried populating all of the Sort fields, and I also tried deleting all of the info that was there before and re-entering all of them. It's still grouping them together incorrectly. 😟

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Answer 6

SC::UK

Level 1

80 points

Nov 22, 2010 2:39 PM in response to Jeremy Spring

I noticed that EyeTV exports still work. They put the show name in the Artist sort field. Wonder if that's it...

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Answer 7

saadiq

Level 1

15 points

Nov 22, 2010 2:57 PM in response to Jim Bridges1

I just updated both my iPhone 4 and my iPad. iPad still has shows sorted fine even though all shows are bunched together on the iPhone. That'd lead me to believe that it isn't the tags at all.

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Answer 8

Nov 22, 2010 3:24 PM in response to sduck409

Yup, same thing happening here. Wouldn't be so bad except I have a lot of short training videos loaded, so finding the four TV episodes amongst 100+ other videos is annoying, to say the least...

I've tried setting the "Sort" fields, and I've looked at the props of the file which is being used as the title of the group, but no joy. Odd.

Message was edited by: Steamrunner TTT

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Answer 9

Nov 22, 2010 3:27 PM in response to Steamrunner TTT

Same issue for me too. I've tried filling in all the tags (they were already tagged pretty comprehensively), but to no avail.

As others have reported it's just shows I've ripped from DVD myself which are now showing up under a single, random folder.

I do wish Apple would test things more thoroughly before releasing a new version of the OS. How long will it take them to fix this? Another 6 months?

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Answer 10

NyxoLyno

Level 1

10 points

Nov 22, 2010 4:04 PM in response to sduck409

I figured this out, as I too was having this very issue.

iOS 4.2 does NOT read the "TV Show" tag. It reads the "Artist" tag for the show title.

If you put the name of the TV show in the "Artist" field, it will sort them correctly.

Also, episode numbers are now derived from the "Track" field, instead of the episode number (like it SHOULD)

If you have an episode that is the sixth episode, you should put "6" in the track field.

Why Apple has decided to do this is beyond me.

I guess it's their little way to aggregate people who get their media from places other than iTunes!

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Answer 11

Nov 22, 2010 4:33 PM in response to NyxoLyno

Thanks Nyxo!

That did the trick for me. I don't like having to do the extra work, but at least it works the way it did before Apple's Geniuses broke it with their update.

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Answer 12

NyxoLyno

Level 1

10 points

Nov 22, 2010 4:41 PM in response to Jeremy Spring

Not a problem.

To help speed up the process, I've sorted my iTunes library by show, selected all episodes of that show, did "get info," filled in the "artist" info, and hit the button to make it so.

It would have been nice if Apple considered this! I really am one of their biggest supporters, but this was a very stupid move!

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Answer 13

NyxoLyno

Level 1

10 points

Nov 22, 2010 4:43 PM in response to sduck409

Also, to get ALL your media to show up again, turn your phone off by holding in the lock switch, slide the power off slider, and restart your phone. Plug it into your computer, resync in iTunes, and everything should be there.

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Answer 14

Pegasus8

Level 1

5 points

Nov 22, 2010 5:58 PM in response to sduck409

I have the same problem. Can't believe Apple missed a bug as major as these:

- Having to re-sync for iTunes library to show up. All the files are there but library does not show contents until after a re-sync.
- Sorting of TV shows is all messed up after upgrade.

The same thing happened to my iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch after the upgrade. All the "media pundits" out there will have a field day on this.

Using "Artist" tag for sorting is a temporary fix but should really sort TV shows based on "TV Show".

I hope Apple will fix them soon.

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Answer 15

Skeeve

Level 1

4 points

Nov 23, 2010 11:14 AM in response to NyxoLyno

It seems the episode number need not be in the track field.

I seem to have solved my issues with this small AppleScript (Note: It is for german OS X. You might want to fix the names in the first 2 lines)

The script searches for all TV shows having no episode ID (this was true for mine) and copies the show name, season and episode number to different other fields.

If your episode ID is not empty, remove 'whose episode ID = ""'.

set seasontext to "Staffel" set tvlist to "TV" tell application "iTunes"      set workaround to tracks of playlist tvlist whose episode ID = ""            set oldfi to fixed indexing      set fixed indexing to true            repeat with tr in workaround           -- Show           set newValue to show of tr as text           --           set artist of tr to newValue           set album artist of tr to newValue           set sort artist of tr to newValue           set sort album artist of tr to newValue           set sort show of tr to newValue                      -- Show & Season           set newValue to (show of tr as text) & ", " & seasontext & " " & season number of tr as text           --           set album of tr to newValue           set sort album of tr to newValue                      -- Episode ID           set episode ID of tr to ((show of tr as text) & "_s" & season number of tr as text) & "_e" & episode number of tr as text      end repeat            set fixed indexing to oldfi end tell

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