Windows 7 Can't Edit video files Details

[Esh]

i've notices windows 7 add all sort of new meta data for it's video files..
which is cool, but for some reason i cant edit those details. they seems to be locked..

How can i Edit video details??

 

[heartborne]

Indeed a problem for people that like things organized.

I hope I can post here more often but, for now I have the same issue.

As Esh said, I can't really edit details - metadata - in most video files. I've been testing and, for example, you can actually edit the sample videos in the "sample video folder". I've been able to edit some random Mp4 but, the files I've created with my handycam - which are MPG's - are not allowed at all.
I suppose this "feature" is there to prevent some sort of copyright infringement but, in my view it's really not that well implemented. I mean, I was the one that actually recorded that footage with my camera, why wouldn't I be able to edit the details, like title, comments etc ? It's not like my camera allows me to do that on.the.fly ( which, by it self would be pretty hard, as you might imagine.. ), nor can I do it in a program like vegas, which I use for editing them.

I hope someone has some sort of answer, a fix ? a way around ? Is there ANOTHER way to actually edit this ? They even have "ranking" in there, why would you have ranking and not allow the user to rank the files ?

This is, for sure, one of the main reasons why I can't switch to win7. If I can't work, there's no point quitting windows XP. I like it otherwise.

Thank you in advanced.

ps.

For those who still don't know what we are talking about, we mean going to a random video file > properties > DETAILS (tab) and trying to edit the metadata like "title" "ranking" "tags" "comments". This details are OBVIOUSLY useful for people that like to keep things organized ( eg. imagine you have 300 video files with random-camera-given-names like MOV0345345.mpg ; you want to be able to add an extra column in windows explorer like, "title" and actually READ what that file has) and clean without the need to opening them. This also looks some sort of "permissions" thing but, I've been testing and can't see the difference.

Check "Attached Files" for a quick glance of this description.


I sure hope this is "fixable" - just like it was part of windows xp workflow.

 

[dispair]

Resolution

I have been able to edit over 100 video files on my computer in windows media player it is kind of outta the way but here is how to resolve this issue!

• Click the Start button Link Removed due to 404 Error, click All Programs, and then click Windows Media Player.
  If the Player is currently open and you’re in Now Playing mode, click the Switch to Library button Link Removed due to 404 Error in the upper-right corner of the Player.
• In the Player Library, click the View options button Link Removed due to 404 Error, and then click details
• In the Player Library, right-click the item title, artist name, or other media information attribute, and then click Edit. If you want to make the same attribute change for several items, you can save time by selecting the group of items before you right-click the attribute. To select multiple adjacent items, press and hold the Shift key while making your selection. To select non-adjacent items, press and hold the Ctrl key while making your selection.
• Type the information that you want to add or fix, and then press Enter.
  The information is added to the Player Library. After some time (which varies depending on how many changes you have made and whether the Player is performing other actions), the information is also added to the file. To force the Player to update the file immediately, click Organize, and then click Apply media information changes.

This information was found at Add or edit media information in Windows Media Player

 

[heartborne]

I have been able to edit over 100 video files on my computer in windows media player it is kind of outta the way but here is how to resolve this issue!

• Click the Start button Link Removed due to 404 Error, click All Programs, and then click Windows Media Player.
  If the Player is currently open and you’re in Now Playing mode, click the Switch to Library button Link Removed due to 404 Error in the upper-right corner of the Player.
• In the Player Library, click the View options button Link Removed due to 404 Error, and then click details
• In the Player Library, right-click the item title, artist name, or other media information attribute, and then click Edit. If you want to make the same attribute change for several items, you can save time by selecting the group of items before you right-click the attribute. To select multiple adjacent items, press and hold the Shift key while making your selection. To select non-adjacent items, press and hold the Ctrl key while making your selection.
• Type the information that you want to add or fix, and then press Enter.
  The information is added to the Player Library. After some time (which varies depending on how many changes you have made and whether the Player is performing other actions), the information is also added to the file. To force the Player to update the file immediately, click Organize, and then click Apply media information changes.

This information was found at Add or edit media information in Windows Media Player

Hei, I'm really grateful that someone took the time and actually read and replied to this thread.

Even tho what you mentioned is correct, yes, I'm able to change metadata on some video files (mainly wmv's and mp4's...) it still doesn't work for some formats, there seems to be some sort of problem on some particular ones mainly mpg/mpeg and avi file which are basically the ones I use.
I can add them to the playlist and change the details WHILE in WMP, but, it seems like it's not reflected on the actual file. The metadata added doesn't show up on windows explorer like it does with mp4 and/or wmv files. Is it a mpg/avi limitation under win7?


I can't believe people don't react or actually miss these features. How can one organize a huge library of video files without changing the actual name of the files ? It seems logical to use metadata to accomplish this goal. Do any of you recommend some other solution ? Maybe a 3rd party software or something ?

I really wonder how people that do video production that are actually using "7" organize the data...?

Again, thank you for the reply. If anyone else has some more input or knowledge on this it would be a great help!

p.s. I tried loading both "xp mode" in windows 7 and just a plain old xp copy on a virtual machine and-with no surprise-I was not able to change the metadata on ANY file (be it an image, sound or video file). I guess it's limited for security reasons in virtual machines...
I'm even considering assembling an external XP machine just to host the video files and change the metadata.. this seems some sort of half-assed solution for a really simple "problem" that the Win7 devs could and SHOULD solve.

 

[dispair]

Even tho what you mentioned is correct, yes, I'm able to change metadata on some video files (mainly wmv's and mp4's...) it still doesn't work for some formats, there seems to be some sort of problem on some particular ones mainly mpg/mpeg and avi file which are basically the ones I use.
I can add them to the playlist and change the details WHILE in WMP, but, it seems like it's not reflected on the actual file. The metadata added doesn't show up on windows explorer like it does with mp4 and/or wmv files. Is it a mpg/avi limitation under win7?http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Add-or-edit-media-information-in-Windows-Media-Player

When i did this, i changed all the video files names as well so instead of Dec-32-2009.avi i changed it to Road trip 2009.avi and then edited the media information, and on my extender (XBox 360) it showed the correct Titles, but just changing the File name did not resolve the issue in the extender that is why i assumed it was working, now that i go back and right click and go to properties i see no information there! So there must be a glitch that MS will have to patch some day when they feel like it!

 

[heartborne]

Step up your game MS.

When i did this, i changed all the video files names as well so instead of Dec-32-2009.avi i changed it to Road trip 2009.avi and then edited the media information, and on my extender (XBox 360) it showed the correct Titles, but just changing the File name did not resolve the issue in the extender that is why i assumed it was working, now that i go back and right click and go to properties i see no information there! So there must be a glitch that MS will have to patch some day when they feel like it!

Exactly! It really seems like the ball it's on Microsoft's court. Maybe they don't even know it's happening. I guess there are ways to send tickets and such... If only enough people were aware of this...

Thank you for taking the time and replying.

 

[koolrip]

Re: Step up your game MS.

I know this is an old thread, but I just found a program that you can use to edit the meta data for ANY file, you can download it at MetadataTouch for Windows 7 - A powerful tool to view and edit metadata - Windows 7 Download I hope this helps anyone that finds this forum ^_^

 

[Musketeer]

Re: Step up your game MS.

I know this is an old thread, but I just found a program that you can use to edit the meta data for ANY file, you can download it at MetadataTouch for Windows 7 - A powerful tool to view and edit metadata - Windows 7 Download I hope this helps anyone that finds this forum ^_^

MetadataTouch is only a 7 day free trial. They don't tell you that until after you've downloaded it. You can accomplish the same metadata editing by using VLC media player, in the media information tab.... and it seems to work faster than MetadataTouch.

http://www.videolan.org

 

[shepherd1291]

Re: Step up your game MS.

MetadataTouch is only a 7 day free trial. They don't tell you that until after you've downloaded it. You can accomplish the same metadata editing by using VLC media player, in the media information tab.... and it seems to work faster than MetadataTouch.

VideoLAN - VLC: Official site - Free multimedia solutions for all OS!

This post is wrong on pretty much every count. In the file name of MetaDataTouch it says TRIAL in all caps. You had to double click on it to run it, and it's two weeks, not one. Also, VLC does NOT change meta data on everything, only MetaDataTouch will. I had a simple mpeg-1 .avi and windows was useless, so was wmp, and so was vlc. I use vlc all the time and love it, but not for this. And as far as speed goes, vlc will change metadata in about 0.1 of a second, while MetaDataTouch will do it in about 0.15 seconds - really a big deal?

 

[boondocks]

How did we get into editing meta-data? There seems to be some confusion here about what we want to edit. Read the P.S. in the second post at the top of this thread. The guy is not interested in changing the bit rate or frames per second (the kind of things MediaInfo will show you. These are pretty much a given thing which depends on how the video was made (or edited). But Windows 7 adds a whole bunch of possible new column headings for when you display "details" in a video folder. You can add or remove these column headings, but you cannot fill them in for each video! Some, like "Length" (in mins and secs) or "Bit rate" might show up for an .mp4 file, but others like "Priority", "Content type", "Source" or "Rating" are clearly subjective things the user might like to enter. For example, I can give my videos a "Priority" from " 1" to "10". By clicking on the heading for this column, I would expect to see them in alphabetical order (or reverse alphabetical order). But as far a I can see, Windows 7 provides no way to give each video a "Priority" the way that Windows XP did! Also Windows 7 will not display the columns I added in Windows XP (like "Comments"). Of course, the user might like to change the video name not just rename the file, but that is not what the founder of this thread was talking about. Why not try answering the question that was asked, instead of the one that is in your head!

 

[Qua Couron]

How did we get into editing meta-data? There seems to be some confusion here about what we want to edit. Read the P.S. in the second post at the top of this thread. The guy is not interested in changing the bit rate or frames per second (the kind of things MediaInfo will show you. These are pretty much a given thing which depends on how the video was made (or edited). But Windows 7 adds a whole bunch of possible new column headings for when you display "details" in a video folder. You can add or remove these column headings, but you cannot fill them in for each video! Some, like "Length" (in mins and secs) or "Bit rate" might show up for an .mp4 file, but others like "Priority", "Content type", "Source" or "Rating" are clearly subjective things the user might like to enter. For example, I can give my videos a "Priority" from " 1" to "10". By clicking on the heading for this column, I would expect to see them in alphabetical order (or reverse alphabetical order). But as far a I can see, Windows 7 provides no way to give each video a "Priority" the way that Windows XP did! Also Windows 7 will not display the columns I added in Windows XP (like "Comments"). Of course, the user might like to change the video name not just rename the file, but that is not what the founder of this thread was talking about. Why not try answering the question that was asked, instead of the one that is in your head!

You sir, are not only stupid, but kind of a dick. Maybe YOU should know what YOU'RE talking about before spouting off like that, because what he wants to change is ALL METADATA. That's what all of those "details" are. Metadata is not just the things like frames per second etc, it is every bit of details and information about the file. Those things are all metadata, therefore, you are entirely wrong and being a jerk for no reason. The point is, the poster, and some of us, would just like to be able to edit specific metadata that we are unable to because windows is being lame. That is EXACTLY what these people are trying to help with and giving us the information they know. Maybe you could, you know, be thankful someone is trying to help, instead of being ungrateful, rude and stupid.

 

[boondocks]

Just so you know; I know perfectly well what metadata is. But editing metadata or advertising one's favorite tool for editing metadata is not specifically the question this thread is trying to address. Perhaps you would like to start a thread for that purpose somewhere else. There are already plenty of threads on the topic of editing metadata within a video file itself. I asked readers to please review the questions of Esh and heartborne. Apparently, Qua Couron did not do this.

On 06-29-2009, heartborne says:

Quote: ps.

For those who still don't know what we are talking about, we mean going to a random video file > properties > DETAILS (tab) and trying to edit the metadata like "title" "ranking" "tags" "comments". This details are OBVIOUSLY useful for people that like to keep things organized ( eg. imagine you have 300 video files with random-camera-given-names like MOV0345345.mpg ; you want to be able to add an extra column in windows explorer like, "title" and actually READ what that file has) and clean without the need to opening them. This also looks some sort of "permissions" thing but, I've been testing and can't see the difference.

Check "Attached Files" for a quick glance of this description.

I sure hope this is "fixable" - just like it was part of windows xp workflow.
End-quote.


To make the point still clearer, I wrote:

"Windows 7 adds a whole bunch of possible new column headings for when you display "details" in a video folder. You can add or remove these column headings, but you cannot fill them in for each video! Some, like "Length" (in mins and secs) or "Bit rate" might show up for an .mp4 file, but others like "Priority", "Content type", "Source" or "Rating" are clearly subjective things the user might like to enter. For example, I can give my videos a "Priority" from " 1" to "10". By clicking on the heading for this column, I would expect to see them in alphabetical order (or reverse alphabetical order). But as far a I can see, Windows 7 provides no way to give each video a "Priority" the way that Windows XP did! Also Windows 7 will not display the columns I added in Windows XP (like "Comments")."

Let me emphasize, Windows XP allowed one to add certain given "headings" that appear at the top of additional columns when doing a "details" listing of a folder containing video files. I could give each video a rating from " 1" to "16" and then alphabetize the videos according to that property. Windows 7 gives lots more "canned" headings but appears to provide no way to fill them in! This is one of the most pathetic, loose ends that Windows 7 left dangling. If there is a way to do this, we are waiting to hear it!

Until then, I will continue to repeat the original topic of this thread. I refuse to let this thread be sidetracked into yet another thread about editing metadata. There is no need to be insulting. When writing in a public forum, please try to leave your temper at home.

 

[lovnmyredhead]

Use this - abc AVI Tag Editor It works and works well.