Sony A6500 Video File Number Resetting after Video Card Reformat

[shooter71]

Hello, 

 

I have a Sony A6500 and Sony FDR-AX53 video camera and they are doing something that I was not expecting related to the video file name convention.  On either camera, if I take a video file, the file convention name is similar, such as C0001, C0002, C0003, etc and incrementally goes up by one for each new video file created.

 

If I remove all the existing video files from the camera SD Card, and then start taking more video files, the video file names continued where the last clip was taken so in my example, it continued from C0004 and incrementally went up from there.  I also deleted the thumbnails at the same time in case that had anything to do with keeping the file name convention intack and not reset the video file back to C0001 but from what I can tell, the thumbnails do not control the file name number.  There must be some other file in the folder structure that is telling the camera what the next video file number should be, such as C0005, when the video clips and thumbnails of C0001-C0004 have been removed.

 

Now, what I am surprised at is that if I reformat the video card on either camera, the video clip file name goes back to C0001 and doe not continue to the next incremental file number of the last clip taken.  I contacted Sony Customer support to inquire if this is expected behavior and "Eddy" did not think so. He tried a Sony A6300 he had and did a similar test where he reformatted his SD card and took another video clip and his video file number did not go back to C0001 but incrementally added to the last video clip number that was last taken.  He could not explain why in my case, the video file name was going back to C0001 after a SD Card Format.

 

Can anyone else confirm when they reformat their SD Card on their A6500, what happens to their video clip file number?  I am looking to confirm if this is consistent/expected behavior on Sony A6500.

[LiveShots]

If you have this set to RESET then I think you will get the bahaviour that you stated, if you want the count to keep going up regardless of folder contents or format SERIES should give you want you want.

 

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[shooter71]

For the Sony A6500, I already have this setting set to Series.  As previously mentioned, I only have the reset issue on video file file names not photo file names.  I therefore conclude that the SERIES settings is only applicable to the Photos which is behaving as I would expect it in the file numbers continue from where the last photo was taken regardless if the SD card was reformatted.  Looking in the menu, I don't see separate setting options for Photo and Video unless I am missing a separate SERIES setting for Video File numbers.

[LiveShots]

What format are you using for the movies, the manual states that the FileNumber (Series/Reset) is for Still Images and MP4. Perhaps you and 'Eddy' have different a movie format set  and thats why the results are different ?

[shooter71]

I am recording in MP4 files on my A6500 and FDR-AX53.  I don't know what Eddy from Sony Tech support was using on his A6300 as I did not think of asking that question.  He forwarded my case to 2nd level tech support so when they call back, hopefully I can ask some additional questions.

 

I appreciate your responses and assistance.  Do you by chance have any of these similar cameras that can confirm my results with what you are getting on your video files?  I assume likely not as you probably would have already shared that fact and your personal experience if you had either of my cameras, but just thought I would ask.

[LiveShots]

I was not at home earlier so I could not confirm what you were getting. I have both A6300 and A6500, with both set to Series I can see that a format does NOT affect the count, it continues to rise even after reformatting. I can see the file number in the Play Index and it does not get reset to 0001. The folder name shows as 100, I have Folder Name set to Standard Form.

 

I have the latest firmware for both cameras.

[shooter71]

ok, thank you for the additional information and I now understand what is going on.

 

My camera is operating like yours but the nuance that I was not getting is that when it was stated that the series functionality only works for MP4 files, that means it only works when you are recording in the MP4 mode.  I realize that sounds obvious to some but where I was getting confused is that I am recording in the XAVC 4K video mode with also creates an MP4 file when I transfer the files from the SD card to my PC.  Evidently, recording in MP4 mode and recording in XAVC 4K mode that creates a MP4 file is not one of the same in terms of the output of the SERIES file number format.

 

Thank you for the help in clarifying at least how your camera is working.  I guess I still find it odd the the SERIES functionality does not work in the other recording modes that put out a MP4 file. 

[Qbplus9]

Has anyone found a fix for this? I have a A6500 that does the same thing. After formatting card, recording in XAVC S 4K, XAVC S HD and AVCHD, resets the file number back to 0. Makes for a frustrating time when transferring to the computer.

[steeptrails]

I have the same problem.  It's very frustrating, like so much of what Sony has chosen to do with their firmware.  A very nice camera made complicated by poor software design.

[zakarewicz]

I have the same problem! Does anyone solve it?

[Streetwise]

Same issue here. Camera set to "Series", but restarts when card is formated. The OTHER annoying thing is that I can set the Prefix to whatever, and it gets ignored. "C001" seems to be the hard-coded default, at least with video.

[Tympani]

Has anyone managed to figure out how to get round this?  This is a real pain and the ONLY sony camera I have owned that does this.  All the other pro video cameras add sequential numbers when cards are reformatted.  I shoot LOADS and it is a real opportunity for confusing edits with many files with the same name.

[alloffroad]

same issue here, very annoying is there a fix by now??

[Streetwise]

Crickets....    Come on Sony!!

[Maximum Aperture]

Is there a file stored somewhere on the SD card that contains the last file name/series number? Maybe after a reformat, just add/edit that file to put the last series number?

[Maximum Aperture]

Bump! Anything? Anyone?

[jrm]

The reset to "C0001" for _video_ file naming happens on my 6400. I've seen this discussed in several places and have never seen a way around this. I can't say for certain it is the same with the 6500, but I am pretty certain the support person you spoke with is wrong. The "restart" of video file numbers is, to my knowledge, the expected behavior.

One of the "features" I have seen touted for the newly announced A7siii is the ability to have custom names for video files. The indexing system in that camera is supposed to do away with the reset to "0001" issue.

[Maximum Aperture]

Yes, the A7S III looks like a real beast of a “video” camera, and some day I would love to own one... but... at $4800 CAD body only, it will be quite some time before I will...

[Scott D]

I'm also having this issue on my a6400 for video files.  Whenever i reformat the SD card my numbering starts over again at 0001.  I have the correct setting for "Series" which is not supposed to reset numbering after card format or when using a different SD card.  This is a huge issue that I wish Sony would address especially when i use two cameras for video and the files keep overwriting other files because the names are the same.  Any update on a fix?

[Maximum Aperture]

On 8/2/2020 at 11:23 AM, Maximum Aperture said:

Yes, the A7S III looks like a real beast of a “video” camera, and some day I would love to own one... but... at $4800 CAD body only, it will be quite some time before I will...

Well, here we are 5 months later and still no fix... so I bit the bullet and picked up the a7s iii and the G Master 24mm 1.4 - what a sweeeeet combo!!

[shooter71]

More like 4 years later since I first posted this issue!? Cannot believe something so simple could not have addressed this and yes still dealing with it.  

[Scott D]

i just got off a chat with Sony support and it is so frustrating that this is working as intended but for STILLS ONLY.  The series function on the file number setting only applys to stills and does not work for AVCHD or XAVC-S HD or 4k.  How does that even remotely make sense for users that shoot video.  Very frustrating.

Further comment from support regarding my frustration with this intentional design, "I understand. However, we can guarantee you that this is not a bug but a restriction on the File Number function of the camera. We are sad to inform you that there is no firmware available to surpass or overcome this restrictions at the moment."

Edited March 17, 2021 by Scott D

[Phill]

I think I have a dirty fix. If you make a second long clip and copy it multiple times and name the videos sequentially C0008, C0009, C0010..... (you don't need to worry about the meta files or thumbnails) the next video recorded takes the next file name. Best part is that the copied files seem invisible to the camera picture viewer (i guess as there are is no XML data pointing to them)

[Phill]

This also works with a blank file with just the name C0xxx.MP4 so it doesn't waste a lot of memory