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AppleTV Movie Descriptions

Paratel

Paratel

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 26, 2005
318
0
Somewhere in the US
OKay so I have about 500 movies that I have converted to work on both my AppleTV 1st and 2nd generation. MY question is...I have all these movies and I have all the artwork but I have no descriptions about each movie like you would get if you purchased a movie. Is there a program that will find and insert this?
 
If you can run Plex (which I believe works on jailbroken ATVs), it will automatically download metatag data and artwork for movies and TV shows. I use a Mac mini as my media server and Plex does an outstanding job in managing and delivering video content.
 
MetaX will find the tagging infor for you, and has a IMDB sub-app built in to find the info yourself if Meta X can't. You can then add the description to your movies.

Points to note: you can add the description to your movies in iTunes, but this will be iTunes-only data and is not added to the movie file. If you ever moved or copied the file to another iTunes library, the data would not follow. However, if you tag the movie with the data, you may have to re-copy the file to iTunes to get it to show up on your Apple TV.
 
Are plex and MetaX just for jailbroken Atvs? Do you have to do the conversion in MetaX to add the data? also where is good place to find MetaX?
 
Try iDentify too. I'm not familiar with Plex. iDentify and MetaX are tagging apps, so they just edit the metadata. But they pull it down from Amazon, TMDB, TagChimp, etc.
 
I use iVI from the Mac Appstore, it converts the video and provides all the meta data and artwork, etc....great app
 
iphone1105 said:
I use iVI from the Mac Appstore, it converts the video and provides all the meta data and artwork, etc....great app
Click to expand...

How does iVl encoding compare to that of Handbrake? better, worse, same?

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Paratel said:
Downloaded MetaX and it's working perfectly!! thanks
Click to expand...

I might have been premature when posting this. it works great on some movies and then on others the movie would not have any sound. Anyone know why this would happen. Had to restore about 10 movies.
 
MetaX shouldn't do anything to a movie's sound.

Note that if you update metadata with MetaX and iTunes doesn't recognize the changes, all you have to do is right click on the file and select get info. iTunes will update the metadata -- no need to recopy the file into iTunes.

Also note that Plex does not update on-file metadata. It populates a database with metadata from the internet, but that database isn't available to any other media player/media management software, such as iTunes.
 
Paratel said:
How does iVl encoding compare to that of Handbrake? better, worse, same?

----------



I might have been premature when posting this. it works great on some movies and then on others the movie would not have any sound. Anyone know why this would happen. Had to restore about 10 movies.
Click to expand...

Stay away from MetaX for Mac--no longer supported by developer and there are far superior options. Try iDentify2 (my choice) or iFlicks.
 
Paratel said:
How does iVl encoding compare to that of Handbrake? better, worse, same?
Click to expand...


iVI is just a GUI; it uses Handbrake to do the encoding. Quality is great just like Handbrake.

As for MetaX on Mac, I agree. It's crap. Has to completely rewrite the entire M4V to put tags in. The Windows version is FAR superior. There's one called MetaZ for the Mac which apparently is a continuation of the MetaX/Mac project by a different developer but I've not tried it and can't vouch for it.
 
BladesOfSteel said:
I know I'm late to the party, but I prefer Subler over MetaX. It just seemed quicker to tag everything.
Click to expand...

I use both of these in tandem. MetaX is great for series' (since you can edit multiple files at the same time and use templates). Subler for individual files and optimization.
 
GGJstudios said:
That might have something to do with the fact this is a Mac forum. Just guessing. :D
Click to expand...

I realize that, I was just hoping one of them would have versions available for both Mac and PC. Or that someone here would be familiar with the PC programs available. It looks like MetaX is available for PC, but I'm not sure if it would be the best or only choice. Not to mention there seems to be different versions all over the place with people claiming to be the person who wrote it. Some for free, and some paid versions. I'm not opposed to paying for software, I just want to make sure I'm not getting ripped off paying some guy $10 to download the program from his site when it's the same thing I can get for free somewhere else (not counting illegal torrents).

I've already got two iPhone 4, and a iPad, and have been thinking about picking up an ATV 2 (or waiting for an ATV 3 if it comes out soon). I would like to be able to get all the info embedded in my video files, but don't really feel the need to replace the desktop I just built last year with a Mac. Not to mention all I've ever used is PCs, and I'm not familiar with Macs at all.

If this question is out of bounds I'm sorry. I'll take it somewhere else.
 
Beerstalker said:
If this question is out of bounds I'm sorry. I'll take it somewhere else.
Click to expand...
The question isn't out of bounds (note the grin on my post), even though you may find more Windows app recommendations in a more Windows-oriented forum. Have you considered Plex, which I mentioned in my first post in this thread? It does come in a Windows flavor and might meet your needs, depending on what you're hoping to accomplish. It doesn't, however, embed the metadata in the files. There is an effort underway to develop an app that will take the metadata Plex downloads and embed it, but it may be weeks or months away from completion.
 
GGJstudios said:
The question isn't out of bounds (note the grin on my post), even though you may find more Windows app recommendations in a more Windows-oriented forum. Have you considered Plex, which I mentioned in my first post in this thread? It does come in a Windows flavor and might meet your needs, depending on what you're hoping to accomplish. It doesn't, however, embed the metadata in the files. There is an effort underway to develop an app that will take the metadata Plex downloads and embed it, but it may be weeks or months away from completion.
Click to expand...

Just making sure it was a joke :cool:

I come around here and AppleInsider a lot for new info on the iPhone/iPod/iPad stuff, but I don't mess in the forums all that much so I wasn't sure.

I did look at Plex, but it seems to be more than what I'm really looking for. I'm just looking to imbed the metadata into the MPEG4 video files I create when I rip a DVD to my hard drive. Wanting the same kind of stuff that shows up on my regular Digital Copies in itunes, on my iPhone/iPad, etc.

I was never a fan of Apple products until recently. Always though they were overpriced/overhyped/etc. After dealing with a Dell DJ, Microsoft Zune, Sony PSP, I finally decided to give in and give an iPod touch a try and I really liked it. So much so I upgraded my wife and myself both to iPhones when they first became available on Verizon (no AT&T service at my house). Then I bought her a first gen iPad for Christmas. Since I bought the iPad neither of our laptops have been used much over the last year. The desktop PC is still where I do all of the heavy computing , store all my files etc.

I'm getting to know the iPhone/iPad stuff better and better but still have a few issues. Like I mentioned here I'm looking for a way to get the metadata into my MPEG4 files, but I'm also looking for a similar program to update all my MP3 Metadata too if you know of one (or maybe one program that does both music and video files). Again I need it for a PC though.

Thanks for the help.
 
I'm like you Beerstalker -- a lot of Apple products, no Mac, and I drink a lot of beer. I've searched all over and all I've found is MetaX for inserting metadata with a Windows box. MetaX is a great product and continues to be updated from time to time. Definitely worth the $.

Here's the link: http://www.danhinsley.com/metax/metax.html
 
I'm in a similar boat regarding needing a tagging app for Windows. Shame MetaX for Windows isn't free anymore. If it didn't have an absolutely horrendously designed GUI I'd probably consider paying for it. Although it did make me chuckle how it used to be free 'donateware' but the developer had a piss and moan that he "wasn't getting enough donations" so he made it shareware...

Derp.

Googling for alternatives has been fruitless. The only things I've found was a GUI for Atomic Parsley that doesn't work, and MP3tag, which would work fine had it not been thoroughly designed specifically for music - you can add your own custom tags and thus can create mpeg4 tags correctly and insert them into video files but it's such a long winded and user-unfriendly process I gave up after twenty minutes of pissing around with it.
 
I didn't realize MetaX for Windows was no longer free but I used it before I switched to Mac and it would be well worth it. It was a fantastic app. I wouldn't hesitate to pay for it at all.
 
$10 bucks man. Why shouldn't the programer get paid for his work? Who cares about the GUI -- it's solid software.
 
I agree, Dan's port of MetaX to Windows has been fantastic. Best $10 I ever spent. I do the vast majority of my encoding now on a quad-core AMD Windows machine and having MetaX available to do the tagging is priceless. It works just great, he keeps it updated, no problem paying for it whatsoever.

In fact, since I bought it for Windows, I haven't even bothered to investigate the MetaX alternatives on Mac. I know Subler, I've used it in the past, but I just don't need it at this point. Also I use iVI when I do encoding on my Mac's (which is rare these days - the quad core makes quick work of stuff!) and it tags on its own with no issues.

I know it's a tough economy and $10 is $10 but I'd pay it and move on. If your time is worth anything it pays for itself almost immediately.
 
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