Subject:How to improve Media Manger speed?

Posted by: knowbody

Date:3/27/2005 3:09:27 AM

I thought using Tags would be quicker than using the quick text search but with the data base I have this isn't the case. I have a database of 23,290 items. These are Data Becker Loops. Before scanning I created some tags based on folder names. When I search using a tag the Media Manger quickly tells me that more than 300 loops match that tag. But to get a full list of files with the tag takes around one minute. To get the initial result of more than 300 files using the quick text search takes longer but to get the full list is quicker so the overall time is around the same at one minute. Windows Explorer Search was much faster for the same search.

If I save the tag information back to the files themselves will this make the process any faster? I have over 100,000 loops altogether and I want to find the most efficient way to find files. A search time of one minute is too slow to be very useful and this is only around a quarter of all the loops I have.

I'm using a Pentium 4 with a 2GB processor and 1 GB of RAM. Any tips on how to speed Media Manger up?

Thanks,

Chris (Hunt)

Subject:RE: How to improve Media Manger speed?

Reply by: jwf

Date:3/28/2005 8:01:23 AM

We are working on performance for larger result sets.

Is a list or grid view of 23000 items useful? You can't audition that many loops easily - even scrolling down to view them all would take a ton of time (imagine having a single folder with 23000+ files in it).

Usability and speed is why Google doesn't return more than page of info at a time. We are looking at adding paging type capabilities to a future version of MM. That would give you more of what you are looking for I believe.

Windows Explorer search does let you search by file name, but that's about it (size and date I guess also). The media manager gives you a lot more power in terms of media attributes to search on (tempo, key, acid loop type, comments, copyright, artist, etc.).

In the mean time I would suggest using more granular tags. If your desire for large result lists is driven by wanting to tag a lot media files, you could try building up your library by adding a few thousand loops, then tagging them, then saving the tags back to the files. Then start a new library and move to your next few thousand. When you are done, you have everything tagged at a pretty granular level and then when you dump them all into a larger database the speed of tag matching is better since your results sets won't be so huge.

Subject:RE: How to improve Media Manger speed?

Reply by: knowbody

Date:3/28/2005 6:00:02 PM

Thanks for the reply, does this mean that if an individual search uses more tags it is actually faster? I assumed the size of the database is the predominant factor. I don't want to be able to view 23000 items in one go - as you mention it isn't practical. But I do thing it is important to be able to access loops through some kind of paging capability.

The problem is how to balance the specificity of the search versus the total number of results. If I set Acid to show me the first 300 results then there isn't a good way to get at the 301st result. Unless it has some tag that will bring it into the first 300 Media Manger will never find it. The granular tag approach sounds useful. Are there any tips on what kinds of tags to make?

Thanks,

Chris

Subject:RE: How to improve Media Manger speed?

Reply by: jwf

Date:3/29/2005 7:50:03 AM

If you look in My Documents\Sony Media Libraries you will find a Sony Tag Tree for Library Development.medialib file that is our "full" tag tree primarily for sound developers so they can tag their own products prior to distribution. That way if you buy Company A's library and Company B's library, the snare drum tag would be used by both (instead of ending up with two slightly different tags that are less useful).

That is just one example. The initial tag tree for new empty libraries is smaller so we don't overwhelm folks with too many decisions (who wants to look through 500 tags to figure out which 3 are "correct" in their mind).

We have a soon to be published white paper on tagging for sound developers and power users coming out. We'll be sure to stick a note in the forum when this is ready.

There are some other tagging tips I posted here a couple of weeks back if you search a bit for my posts.

Subject:RE: How to improve Media Manger speed?

Reply by: Illogical

Date:3/31/2005 8:12:41 AM

I wanted to ask this before, but now I've read the manual and can do so with some confidence: What the heck is the tick box next to the search box in media manager for?

It would've been really nice in the manual to have a screen-shot of the entire media manager window, with each esoteric icon and parameter labeled and explained.

Subject:RE: How to improve Media Manger speed?

Reply by: jwf

Date:3/31/2005 9:14:42 AM

Tick box? Do you mean checkbox - the one in front/to left of the "quick text search"?

That controls whether or not we include that filter/criteria in the search. Same in the advanced section of the search pane (each filter/criteria can be included as part of the search or not depending on the state of the checkbox).

Essentially the checkboxes in front of the filter/critera let you easily toggle whether the filter/criteria is active so you can see what effect (if any) it is having on your search.

You can always view a text version of what the current search is by looking at the yellowish bar above the search results. When you have something typed into the quick text search box, when you toggle the checkbox in front of it, you'll see the actual search description change.