How to change the file naming convention at DVinfo.net

Bruce Dempsey · November 11th, 2014, 10:14 AM

I like the file naming system which uses the date and time which ensures each clip has a different file name but after I format a card in camera the new files I shoot are once again named C0001.mp4, C0002,mp4, C0003.mp4 and so on. Well I have many more files of the same name and this is going to be a big problem forsure. How does one avoid this issue please and thank you
Bruce

this issue is with xavc files only

Vince Pachiano · November 12th, 2014, 04:20 PM

The simplest method is to use Folders for each event, then it doesn't matter if you have 2 files of the same name. If you have duplicate file names of a single event, then you can use Sub-folders like Card1, Card2...
Or Camera-A, Camera-B...

The next method might be to use any number of programs (FastStone?) that allow Bulk Renaming, so you can rename your files and give them some contextual name: SmithWedding001, SmithWedding002...
Or in your case, you can use the Time Stamp of the file as part of its name: 2014-11-12 10;30.mp4

Bruce Dempsey · November 13th, 2014, 05:35 AM

This is an issue I'm having with the ax100
In theSetup Menu there is an item called "File Number" which has two options "Series" or "Reset"
Trouble is the "Series" option behaves in the same exact manner as the "Reset" option. You can't have a bunch of files on a computer all with the same name even if they are in different directories because sooner or later some will get overwritten. I have sent an email to Sony Support several days ago and have not received a response as yet
Do other ax100 users experience the same issue? or is it just my camera?
BTW this problem of the file numbers reseting every time only exists when shooting xavc-s

Gildo Houtekamer · November 13th, 2014, 06:37 AM

Jep. Got the same thing.

Mike Buckhout · November 13th, 2014, 03:38 PM

I just make a new folder on my drive for each shoot. Premiere can handle clips with the same name in the same bin, but the OS cannot have two files with the exact same name in the same folder, as you say.

Robert Young · November 13th, 2014, 07:06 PM

I agree that the lack of proper naming for the XAVC files is very lame.
I would hope that this can be fixed with a firmware update.
To me this is just another example of how this codec, in the case of the X70, has been released with very little collateral technology or infrastructure, making it inconvenient and annoying to use at present.

Christopher Young · November 13th, 2014, 07:22 PM

Don't you use batch rename? In Windows all I do once the files are imported is to do a batch rename using the Shift / Select method selecting the the whole batch of clips, let's say clips 0001 to 0100. While all clips are selected and highlighted I rename the first clip, for example let's say 'World Series Cam #1 Card #1.' All selected clips will will now have this name but with a numeral after it such as:

World Series Cam #1 Card #1 (1)
World Series Cam #1 Card #1 (2)
World Series Cam #1 Card #1 (3)
etc. etc.

Of course the naming convention you use is entirely up to you and your requirements and imagination.

Very often I will batch rename using shot descriptions such as 'Joe Bloggs Interview CU' for all the close up shots and 'Joe Bloggs Interview MCU' for all the medium close up shots.

This way I am assured that there are never two shots in the system with the same name unless it's through my own stupidity. I have been doing this with XDCam disc footage with great success ever since we left tape behind in 2007.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

Bruce Dempsey · November 14th, 2014, 04:18 AM

There are work-around methods as pointed out. However can also possibly lead to a major screw up especially if one is dealing with hundreds of clips per day.
Changing the names of files right out of the cameras is fraught with risk and sooner or later will end in a crisis and an overwriting error could be a disaster of major proportions.
Sony Canada have still not even responded to my email to support on the issue. Is it normal for Sony Support to avoid this type of email?

Christopher Young · November 14th, 2014, 08:38 AM

Well I am five eps into a major doco series that has over 3000 hours of archive footage and hundred and sixty hours of XDCam disc interview footage shot over a seven year period where every disc starts with C0001.MXF to whatever number clips there are on the disc and I can assure you that with good housekeeping you can be pretty safe and okay with batch renaming. An XL spreadsheet for each disc contains all the original file names / numbers and all the batch file renames so always possible to tie them together. Not lost or overwritten a clip in seven years on this job... so far... touch wood!

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

Bruce Dempsey · November 14th, 2014, 06:31 PM

You are no doubt correctly handling those files and I'll just have to stop being lax with directory structure.
Another thing I don't understand is whether you guys down under have to flip all your footage 180 to view it in the northern hemisphere? lolol

Robert Young · November 15th, 2014, 12:05 AM

My hat is off to you for having a good system and having the discipline to make it bulletproof.
However, I am spoiled by the AVCHD naming that includes the date as well as a unique number.
For me it's a great starting point because it's automatic, and it's not necessary to do anything further unless I want to.
I don't know why it would be any more difficult for Sony to provide that for XAVC than it is for AVCHD.
Hopefully they will get around to it eventually.

Bruce Dempsey · December 15th, 2014, 04:07 AM

Well it happened I inadvertently loaded files into a folder already containing video with the same name from a different card
I use Playmemories Home as the file management/browser and to its credit automatically renamed the incoming files by adding a (1), (2) etc to the file names so no harm done except for the momentary heart attack

Paul Anderegg · December 15th, 2014, 05:30 PM

I just ran into this issue this morning with FCP X. Loaded video off of two separate cards, and was seeing CLIP 58 as two separate files in my project and they were not showing up in the order they were shot. The newer clips were placed "back in time" just under the older clips with the same clip number, and not chronologically like the display preferences for the project media was set to. Annoying with a lot of clips.....yes.

Paul

Robert Garvey · December 16th, 2014, 05:24 AM

Adobe Bridge will batch re-name video clips, will also replay them (XAVCs) on a suitable machine. You can include a number of fields to suite your needs.

I tried using the new Sony Catalyst, but as far as I can make out, you can only re-name one clip at a time:(

Cheers,
Rob

Mike Buckhout · December 16th, 2014, 08:19 AM

For any Mac-users, the Automator.app program can make batch renaming of any files quite easy.

November 12th, 2014, 04:20 PM	#2
Vince Pachiano Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: Dayton, OH Posts: 307	Re: How to change the file naming convention The simplest method is to use Folders for each event, then it doesn't matter if you have 2 files of the same name. If you have duplicate file names of a single event, then you can use Sub-folders like Card1, Card2... Or Camera-A, Camera-B... The next method might be to use any number of programs (FastStone?) that allow Bulk Renaming, so you can rename your files and give them some contextual name: SmithWedding001, SmithWedding002... Or in your case, you can use the Time Stamp of the file as part of its name: 2014-11-12 10;30.mp4

November 13th, 2014, 05:35 AM	#3
Bruce Dempsey Major Player Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Atlantic Coast Canada Posts: 599	Re: How to change the file naming convention This is an issue I'm having with the ax100 In theSetup Menu there is an item called "File Number" which has two options "Series" or "Reset" Trouble is the "Series" option behaves in the same exact manner as the "Reset" option. You can't have a bunch of files on a computer all with the same name even if they are in different directories because sooner or later some will get overwritten. I have sent an email to Sony Support several days ago and have not received a response as yet Do other ax100 users experience the same issue? or is it just my camera? BTW this problem of the file numbers reseting every time only exists when shooting xavc-s

November 13th, 2014, 06:37 AM	#4
Gildo Houtekamer Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Wemeldinge, Netherlands Posts: 125	Re: How to change the file naming convention Jep. Got the same thing.

November 13th, 2014, 03:38 PM	#5
Mike Buckhout Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Silver Spring, MD Posts: 62	Re: How to change the file naming convention I just make a new folder on my drive for each shoot. Premiere can handle clips with the same name in the same bin, but the OS cannot have two files with the exact same name in the same folder, as you say.

November 13th, 2014, 07:06 PM	#6
Robert Young Trustee Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Coronado Island Posts: 1,472	Re: How to change the file naming convention I agree that the lack of proper naming for the XAVC files is very lame. I would hope that this can be fixed with a firmware update. To me this is just another example of how this codec, in the case of the X70, has been released with very little collateral technology or infrastructure, making it inconvenient and annoying to use at present. __________________ Bob

November 11th, 2014, 10:14 AM	#1
Bruce Dempsey Major Player Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Atlantic Coast Canada Posts: 599	How to change the file naming convention I like the file naming system which uses the date and time which ensures each clip has a different file name but after I format a card in camera the new files I shoot are once again named C0001.mp4, C0002,mp4, C0003.mp4 and so on. Well I have many more files of the same name and this is going to be a big problem forsure. How does one avoid this issue please and thank you Bruce this issue is with xavc files only Last edited by Bruce Dempsey; November 11th, 2014 at 11:48 AM.

November 13th, 2014, 07:22 PM	#7
Christopher Young Trustee Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 1,567	Re: How to change the file naming convention Don't you use batch rename? In Windows all I do once the files are imported is to do a batch rename using the Shift / Select method selecting the the whole batch of clips, let's say clips 0001 to 0100. While all clips are selected and highlighted I rename the first clip, for example let's say 'World Series Cam #1 Card #1.' All selected clips will will now have this name but with a numeral after it such as: World Series Cam #1 Card #1 (1) World Series Cam #1 Card #1 (2) World Series Cam #1 Card #1 (3) etc. etc. Of course the naming convention you use is entirely up to you and your requirements and imagination. Very often I will batch rename using shot descriptions such as 'Joe Bloggs Interview CU' for all the close up shots and 'Joe Bloggs Interview MCU' for all the medium close up shots. This way I am assured that there are never two shots in the system with the same name unless it's through my own stupidity. I have been doing this with XDCam disc footage with great success ever since we left tape behind in 2007. Chris Young CYV Productions Sydney

November 14th, 2014, 04:18 AM	#8
Bruce Dempsey Major Player Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Atlantic Coast Canada Posts: 599	Re: How to change the file naming convention There are work-around methods as pointed out. However can also possibly lead to a major screw up especially if one is dealing with hundreds of clips per day. Changing the names of files right out of the cameras is fraught with risk and sooner or later will end in a crisis and an overwriting error could be a disaster of major proportions. Sony Canada have still not even responded to my email to support on the issue. Is it normal for Sony Support to avoid this type of email?

November 14th, 2014, 08:38 AM	#9
Christopher Young Trustee Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 1,567	Re: How to change the file naming convention Well I am five eps into a major doco series that has over 3000 hours of archive footage and hundred and sixty hours of XDCam disc interview footage shot over a seven year period where every disc starts with C0001.MXF to whatever number clips there are on the disc and I can assure you that with good housekeeping you can be pretty safe and okay with batch renaming. An XL spreadsheet for each disc contains all the original file names / numbers and all the batch file renames so always possible to tie them together. Not lost or overwritten a clip in seven years on this job... so far... touch wood! Chris Young CYV Productions Sydney

November 14th, 2014, 06:31 PM	#10
Bruce Dempsey Major Player Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Atlantic Coast Canada Posts: 599	Re: How to change the file naming convention You are no doubt correctly handling those files and I'll just have to stop being lax with directory structure. Another thing I don't understand is whether you guys down under have to flip all your footage 180 to view it in the northern hemisphere? lolol

November 15th, 2014, 12:05 AM	#11
Robert Young Trustee Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Coronado Island Posts: 1,472	Re: How to change the file naming convention My hat is off to you for having a good system and having the discipline to make it bulletproof. However, I am spoiled by the AVCHD naming that includes the date as well as a unique number. For me it's a great starting point because it's automatic, and it's not necessary to do anything further unless I want to. I don't know why it would be any more difficult for Sony to provide that for XAVC than it is for AVCHD. Hopefully they will get around to it eventually. __________________ Bob

December 15th, 2014, 04:07 AM	#12
Bruce Dempsey Major Player Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Atlantic Coast Canada Posts: 599	Re: How to change the file naming convention Well it happened I inadvertently loaded files into a folder already containing video with the same name from a different card I use Playmemories Home as the file management/browser and to its credit automatically renamed the incoming files by adding a (1), (2) etc to the file names so no harm done except for the momentary heart attack

December 15th, 2014, 05:30 PM	#13
Paul Anderegg Trustee Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: San Diego, Califonia Posts: 1,559	Re: How to change the file naming convention I just ran into this issue this morning with FCP X. Loaded video off of two separate cards, and was seeing CLIP 58 as two separate files in my project and they were not showing up in the order they were shot. The newer clips were placed "back in time" just under the older clips with the same clip number, and not chronologically like the display preferences for the project media was set to. Annoying with a lot of clips.....yes. Paul

December 16th, 2014, 05:24 AM	#14
Robert Garvey Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Western Australia Posts: 100	Re: How to change the file naming convention Adobe Bridge will batch re-name video clips, will also replay them (XAVCs) on a suitable machine. You can include a number of fields to suite your needs. I tried using the new Sony Catalyst, but as far as I can make out, you can only re-name one clip at a time:( Cheers, Rob __________________ Robert Garvey Photographer www.garvey.com.au

December 16th, 2014, 08:19 AM	#15
Mike Buckhout Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Silver Spring, MD Posts: 62	Re: How to change the file naming convention For any Mac-users, the Automator.app program can make batch renaming of any files quite easy.