G’day 
I wanted to report a reproducible import issue in Topaz Video Pro related to filename handling.
I had four .mp4 files that failed to import. The error shown in pop-up dialog for the failed import was basically the same level of detail as what I later found in the log - the error message in the log was:
“Warning Source file missing, skipping import”
However, the source files were definitely not missing. They were on a local drive, could be opened from File Explorer, played normally in media players, were not read-only, and were not blocked in Windows file properties.
After some troubleshooting (primarily playing around with the file names to make them simpler), I found that the issue was caused by curly brackets in the filenames. For example, the files used a naming pattern like:
Artist - Title {edition-Official Music Video} (WEBDL-1080p).mp4
When I renamed the exact same files in the exact same folder and changed only the curly brackets to dashes, the files imported successfully. For example:
Artist - Title -edition-Official Music Video- (WEBDL-1080p).mp4
This strongly suggests that Topaz is rejecting or mishandling filenames containing { and }, even though those characters are valid in Windows filenames. The current error log message is then somewhat misleading, because the file is not missing; the application appears to be failing to parse or accept the filename/path.
Luckily it didn’t take long to figure out what was going on/find a workaround in this case, but as an end user, it’s still frustrating to have a file with a filename & file path that is considered standard/compliant/supported by Windows itself, but not by Topaz - combined with an error message that then points you in the wrong direction.
If for whatever reason Topaz has a stricter filename/path validator than what Windows itself allows, it would be much more helpful for the app to either:
-
Accept all filenames/paths/characters that are valid under the host operating system’s rules (Windows in my case), or
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Have clearer error message that indicates the filenames contain unsupported characters, rather than reporting that the source file is missing.
I’m not sure how niche this problem is (I wasn’t able to find a prior reference to it on the forum, but my searching skills aren’t the best), but in my case there are media management tools I use that commonly store some metadata/identifiers/tags in different types of brackets within filenames in a standardised structure across my media files - in my particular case, it affects almost 100% of video files I would like to import into Topaz at some point haha.
At a minimum, pls consider improving the error message(s) associated with import validation so the cause of the import failure is more obvious to the end user. Ofc it would be even better and hugely appreciated if Topaz’s filename handling were aligned with Windows filenames rules, so that there just isn’t a mismatch between the OS standard and what the app expects.
If this is somehow unique to me and other peeps are having zero issues importing files with { or } in the filename, and changing them making the files work was just a fluke, please let me know what other troubleshooting steps I should pursue to eliminate this issue.
Tysm - appreciate your time & effort
