Does your Apple TV show the release year?

[J@ffa]

So… I've got a Mac Mini serving up films and TV shows to an ATV3. I tag it all myself pretty meticulously, including the release date. However, no part of the date — all of it, or just the year — shows up when browsing movies. Needless to say, this sucks a bit on a large collection. I can remember roughly when movies were made, but it'd be nice if the other people browsing had that info.

My question, then, is whether I'm doing something wrong (is there another metadata field for just the year?), or if the new Apple TV UI doesn't show this. I'm sure it used to before, but I can't check and searching for this is a bit of a nightmare because it just shows up articles about the release date for the Apple TV itself.

 

[mic j]

So… I've got a Mac Mini serving up films and TV shows to an ATV3. I tag it all myself pretty meticulously, including the release date. However, no part of the date — all of it, or just the year — shows up when browsing movies. Needless to say, this sucks a bit on a large collection. I can remember roughly when movies were made, but it'd be nice if the other people browsing had that info.

My question, then, is whether I'm doing something wrong (is there another metadata field for just the year?), or if the new Apple TV UI doesn't show this. I'm sure it used to before, but I can't check and searching for this is a bit of a nightmare because it just shows up articles about the release date for the Apple TV itself.

WOW!!! I just noticed to day that none of my movie release dates were displayed. Funny, though, the movie duration is displayed twice, once under the cover art on the left and on the right side under the movie title. I would love to replace the one on the left with release date.

 

[hafr]

So… I've got a Mac Mini serving up films and TV shows to an ATV3. I tag it all myself pretty meticulously, including the release date. However, no part of the date — all of it, or just the year — shows up when browsing movies. Needless to say, this sucks a bit on a large collection. I can remember roughly when movies were made, but it'd be nice if the other people browsing had that info.

My question, then, is whether I'm doing something wrong (is there another metadata field for just the year?), or if the new Apple TV UI doesn't show this. I'm sure it used to before, but I can't check and searching for this is a bit of a nightmare because it just shows up articles about the release date for the Apple TV itself.

You do have three alternative solutions though. Either you can add the year as the first word in the description of the movie, or in the title of the movie, or in "sorting name". The last idea might be less interesting though, since it means all of your movies will be sorted by release date and not alphabetically... But either of the two first options should be good.

 

[mic j]

Nope, the year is only shown in iTunes, not in ATV. You do have three alternative solutions though. Either you can add the year as the first word in the description of the movie, or in the title of the movie, or in "sorting name". The last idea might be less interesting though, since it means all of your movies will be sorted by release date and not alphabetically... But either of the two first options should be good.

I vote for Apple fixing the whole thing and making it so that a full metadata screen is displayed when the movie is selected...just like they do with their iTunes products.

 

[The DRis]

I vote for Apple fixing the whole thing and making it so that a full metadata screen is displayed when the movie is selected...just like they do with their iTunes products.

Yeah, there is alot that doesn't show on the Apple TV. I limit it to Cast, Description, Director, Studio, and Year. And like you said, it doesn't show all of the description if it's too long. It would be nice if it scrolled, or if you could scroll it. It doesn't even show cast. *Wait, unconfrimed

The interface on the iPad shows more metadata than the Apple TV.

 

[GarrettL1979]

I use iFlicks and all of the metadata shows up for me. No difference between my encodes and my iTunes downloads.

 

[mic j]

I use iFlicks and all of the metadata shows up for me. No difference between my encodes and my iTunes downloads.

If you do "Get Info" on a local movie in iTunes, where is your release date located?

Also, no difference in iTunes or no difference on the aTV? What aTV FW version are you using?

 

[Teknologee]

I also wish that Apple would update their atv interface for movies similar to some of the other media center apps like plex and boxee.
I had the same problem b/c I couldn't remember which of my movies were new or ones that I had just added to my collection.
This is what I figured out and did for my movies section. It will work for all of your media (movies, tv shows, music)
I also have a mac mini serving my iTunes media and so on my mac mini under iTunes I created several smart playlists.
I named the playlists by years.
So for example here is my first playlist: attached

Tip: in order to add the second rule that matches Any and the year 2012, first set your media kind rule to movie, then hold down the option key and then click on the plus sign. that will give you the 3 dots for a staggered rule set.

After you have set up all your playlists in iTunes, then you need to go to your atv settings and go under audio and video and change show playlists to all instead of just music only.
Like I said, this is what helped me. I don't know if this is what you are looking for but maybe it will help somebody.

 

[The DRis]

Ok, this is the Metadata that I add via Subler:

This is what iTunes shows under get info:

This is what the Apple TV 3 shows:

This is what the iPad shows when the movie isn't on your iPad and you have just clicked "Shared Movies":

This is what the iPad shows when you've loaded it onto the iPad:

My next step would be to pick a movie and start putting a number in each field, staring with 1 and going all the way up until the last field, then seeing what is displayed on the Apple TV and iPads.

 

[hafr]

My next step would be to pick a movie and start putting a number in each field, staring with 1 and going all the way up until the last field, then seeing what is displayed on the Apple TV and iPads.

Sounds like a good idea, but myself, I'd probably enter the name of the field in order to see it straight away instead of having to backtrack

 

[mic j]

Can't wait to see the results of this.

 

[The DRis]

Sounds like a good idea, but myself, I'd probably enter the name of the field in order to see it straight away instead of having to backtrack

Damn, you be smart. Ok, that's what I"ll be doing.

ETA: In doing this I found out that it's not Apple TV cutting off the description, there is a character limit inside of iTunes. I tried to finish typing the Description inside iTunes, but when I save it, it just cuts off again.

Another interesting thing is the Directors. They show up on the iPad and ATV3, but where is the field inside iTunes?

 

[heisenberg123]

Damn, you be smart. Ok, that's what I"ll be doing.

ETA: In doing this I found out that it's not Apple TV cutting off the description, there is a character limit inside of iTunes. I tried to finish typing the Description inside iTunes, but when I save it, it just cuts off again.

Another interesting thing is the Directors. They show up on the iPad and ATV3, but where is the field inside iTunes?

i would not recomend using iTunes to tag your movies, use iDentify it not only does it automatically but there are more fields you can add or alter to make your tags as you see fit

 

[hafr]

Another interesting thing is the Directors. They show up on the iPad and ATV3, but where is the field inside iTunes?

Artist, no?

 

[mic j]

Another interesting thing is the Directors. They show up on the iPad and ATV3, but where is the field inside iTunes?

Was just playing around with this and found the same thing about Directors that you did. Something strange going on, some metadata doesn't show up, other that there is no iTunes field for does. I think the whole iTunes/aTV metadata system needs some serious work.

Also, I tried adding every field I could using Subler (track #, album, artist, etc) and it populated iTunes metadata fields. Then I went into Subler, and deleted them all. Went back to iTunes and the data was still there. Using Get Info would not change the contents of the iTunes metadata fields. Had to delete and re-add to iTunes to get the fields updated.

Anyway, having the release date would be nice, but not enough to deal with creating playlists for it.

Garrett: are you absolutely sure using iFlicks to add metadata results in the release date showing up on the aTV?

 

[GarrettL1979]

Garrett: are you absolutely sure using iFlicks to add metadata results in the release date showing up on the aTV?

Sorry guys-- I checked last night, and I was wrong. Only TV shows have a "episode air date" (or something along those lines).

 

[hafr]

Was just playing around with this and found the same thing about Directors that you did. Something strange going on, some metadata doesn't show up, other that there is no iTunes field for does. I think the whole iTunes/aTV metadata system needs some serious work.

Also, I tried adding every field I could using Subler (track #, album, artist, etc) and it populated iTunes metadata fields. Then I went into Subler, and deleted them all. Went back to iTunes and the data was still there. Using Get Info would not change the contents of the iTunes metadata fields. Had to delete and re-add to iTunes to get the fields updated.

Anyway, having the release date would be nice, but not enough to deal with creating playlists for it.

Garrett: are you absolutely sure using iFlicks to add metadata results in the release date showing up on the aTV?

iFlicks doesn't add director (Artist in iTunes), but iVI does... Could be the same with date. A different tag that messes it up, because the information is there.

 

[The DRis]

i would not recomend using iTunes to tag your movies, use iDentify it not only does it automatically but there are more fields you can add or alter to make your tags as you see fit

I'm not using iTunes, I'm using Subler.

Artist, no?

Look at the 3rd picture. That is the "Get Info" inside iTunes after I've added the metadata using Subler. iTunes doesn't show where the cast or director fields are.

Was just playing around with this and found the same thing about Directors that you did. Something strange going on, some metadata doesn't show up, other that there is no iTunes field for does. I think the whole iTunes/aTV metadata system needs some serious work.

Also, I tried adding every field I could using Subler (track #, album, artist, etc) and it populated iTunes metadata fields. Then I went into Subler, and deleted them all. Went back to iTunes and the data was still there. Using Get Info would not change the contents of the iTunes metadata fields. Had to delete and re-add to iTunes to get the fields updated.

Anyway, having the release date would be nice, but not enough to deal with creating playlists for it.

Garrett: are you absolutely sure using iFlicks to add metadata results in the release date showing up on the aTV?

I would agree. It needs serious work.

Just to clarify. I use Subler and save the file on my external HDD, then I drag and drop the file into iTunes.

 

[mic j]

iFlicks doesn't add director (Artist in iTunes), but iVI does... Could be the same with date. A different tag that messes it up, because the information is there.

I think the aTV fields and iTunes fields are just different. The "date" is in the iTunes metadata. It shows up for TV shows but not for Movies. That leads me to believe that the source of the problem is with the aTV movies section. The "date" field just must not exist there.

Edit: I just tried Meta Z to fill in the Year field. Same result...no release year appears on the aTV. So in summary, iTunes, iFlicks, Subler and MetaZ do not work for getting the release date to show on the aTV. So it must be the aTV. Let's hope a future FW will improve this.

 

[benh911f]

I'm not using iTunes, I'm using Subler.



Look at the 3rd picture. That is the "Get Info" inside iTunes after I've added the metadata using Subler. iTunes doesn't show where the cast or director fields are.

Even though you have the Director slot filled out, you still have to put the Director's name under Artist in Subler as well in order for it to appear.

 

[mic j]

Even though you have the Director slot filled out, you still have to put the Director's name under Artist in Subler as well in order for it to appear.

No, if you fill in the Director field in Subler, it will show up on the aTV under "Director". Just did it a few hours ago. What doesn't happen is that the directors name does not show up in iTunes (like it's hidden field).

 

[The DRis]

Sorry guys, I was beat last night and didn't do anything.