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MetaX (for mac) alternative?

chenks

chenks

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 23, 2007
1,214
545
UK
can anyone recommend a good working alternative to MetaX (for mac) ?

for some reason, since i started using the latest released SVN (2907) of handbrake, MetaX corrupts every file so that it is unplayable. revert back to the current release (0.9.3) of handbrake and MetaX works fine. strangely though, the windows version of MetaX doesn't corrupt the files.

i tried Lostify, but that seems to strip all the chapters from a file run thru it.
 
You might want to try Subler. It has never caused me any problems.

I do not have any problems with MetaX 2.4.6 and the recent Handbrake SVN loads (currently svn2907). I do not use the MetaX retrieve from outside sources option. I just data-fill the fields.
 
hmmm, every file i have put thru metax (and that has been about 7 so far) when using handbrake SVN has resulted in corrupted file.

file is created from DVDR to AppleTV preset in handbrake. file plays perfect before putting it thru MetaX.

all data is manually input.

actually, i just ran one thru Lostify again to double check the chapters issues, and that has also corrupted the file.

something is not right here.

tried Subler and that seems to have worked all OK.
was very quick at writing the tags though, compared to MetaX and Lostify.
 
yes, Subler is quick at writing the changes

I had similar problems with MetaX and Handbrake 0.9.3. The trouble continued with the SVN loads and then I checked my MetaX version and there was a later version available. I upgraded MetaX to 2.4.6 and everything has been fine.
 
it's MetaX 2.4.6 that i was using, worked fine with current 0.9.3 release of Handbrake, corrupts every file made with SVN.
 
SurfMacJpMtb said:
You might want to try Subler. It has never caused me any problems.

I do not have any problems with MetaX 2.4.6 and the recent Handbrake SVN loads (currently svn2907). I do not use the MetaX retrieve from outside sources option. I just data-fill the fields.
Click to expand...

I don't understand how subler would automatically pull the information. And there are no directions on how to use it either. Help!
 
Subler does not pull from outside sources

Subler is kinda cryptic...

select "Metadata" and the plus sign in the lower left to add fields
 
Subler will *not* automatically get the info for the meta tags. It was originally written by one of the hb devs as a side project to mux subtitles into mp4's. however ritsuka has expanded it way beyond that to handle quite a bit of you're common tagging needs and now can actually mux tracks right from an mkv into mp4 ( though it still a bit experimental ). Subler uses the same mp4 muxer mp4v2 and is extremely fast and stable. As far as automatically searching for meta info, its a no go. You have to get that yourself. The mac version of metax ( in fact the original ) was written by Rodney Kerstetter and was heavily developed around HB 0.9.2 and 0.9.3 and used a modded version of Atomic Parsley to write the tags. However since then Amazon changed it api for scraping for info. Kerstetter has yet to resurface to update the mac version of metax. Meanwhile Dan Hinsley created a windows version of metaX and has kept it up to date. Among other things he modified it to use HB and Sublers libmp4v2 for tagging and also adapted it to handle the new Amazon api for scraping info. In the mac world we all await kerstetters return to update the original metax for mac. Until then it a bit of a manual affair and afaic Subler is the best choice.
 
dynaflash said:
Subler will *not* automatically get the info for the meta tags.
Click to expand...

Just found Subler, and it looks great (considering MetaX is in "ground-up rewrite to make it corrupt fewer files" mode).

Just a note: It does (as of now) import most metadata from tagChimp (ie, same as MetaX)! You go to File | Import | tagChimp, then type in the search, click through the various options, and pick the one you like.

It's not as nice as MetaX for mix-and-match (I like the description of one entry but want the actors from another), and doesn't include the artwork, but I've found that the artwork coming from MetaX for some reason tends to fail to show up on the AppleTV (although iTunes shows it just fine), so that's not a big deal.

I've only seen a few files corrupted by MetaX, but using currently-supported software is always a good thing. I'm switching over to Subler for the rest of my disk-ripping duties.
 
I use Subler for movies and Metax for tv shows. I do this because, as far as I can figure out, Subler doesn't let you batch edit, so it's to time consuming to tag six or so tv shows at once. I've only had Metax corrupt a batch tag once.

As for the artwork, I use a site called getvideoartwork.com. It has great posters that are really high resolution and have had all the credits and review quotes and whatnot removed. Great site. They have had all but a few movies I've looked for.
 
Artwork can be added in iTunes, and you can add artwork to multiple episodes of the same TV show in one go.

MetaX expands on what iTunes can do, including tagging chapters with titles, but it cannot add an HD tag or cnID (necessary for storing HD and SD versions of the same file under one library entry).

Subler can do the HD tag and cnID, but not (AFAIK) chapters.

I end up using a combination of all three to tag my movies. It's a pain, and I wish someone would come up with software that can do the whole thing with any reasonable aplomb.
 
I use a combination of MetaX, Subler, Metadata Hootenanny, and iTunes to tag my files. I too wish one program could do all this.

MetaX is good because it can look up chapter titles.
Subler is good because it is fast and can designate HD and cnID
Metadata Hootenanny was able add a chapter track when no such track existed (HD DVD's from Any DVD)
iTunes for sorting and other clean-up

Note: changes made in iTunes are not made part of the file and are lost if your iTunes library needs to be rebuilt or the file re added to the library.
 
rayward said:
Subler can do the HD tag and cnID, but not (AFAIK) chapters.
Click to expand...

While I haven not checked with him ritsuka, subler's author is also an hb dev. My guess is that he saw no reason to add hb's existing chapter naming capability to subler. Since it would be redundant. Just my guess.
 
You can attach a properly-formatted text file with chapter names and positions, or rename existing chapter titles from a Handbrake encode in Subler. You just have to click on the chapter track and the lower window will change to allow you to enter them.

That said, I don't know if it will auto-download chapter title info from TagChimp (never use that functionality).
 
I gave up on MetaX for my movies. Tried it today for a TV Series with the same (bad) results. Downloaded MetaZ and while they aren't finished adding some of the buttons and whistles it work in tagging a TV Series.

It also connects better to tagChimp than Subler. I can press "Save" on tagChimp then immediately go to MetaZ and see my tag. While Subler is quick/easy to use, not sure why I don't have the same results with it.
 
txtxyeha said:
It also connects better to tagChimp than Subler. I can press "Save" on tagChimp then immediately go to MetaZ and see my tag. While Subler is quick/easy to use, not sure why I don't have the same results with it.
Click to expand...
Probably because its sole developer only stuck tagchimp search as an add on. Subler while it does a fine job of tagging also has much more functionality than "just" taggers (remux mkv's to mp4's, awesome subititle capabilities etc.). The right tool for the right job. :)
 
I am getting quite frustrated with all of these metadata scrappers - none seem to be great!

MetaX for the mac is rubbish now
Subler - no idea how it works and it cant batch tag
Iflicks - is ok for films but not tv shows
and the otheres althouh not tested as much as the top 3 are not all complete solutions

MetaZ does show promise and i am going to try iDentify 2 tonight.

When i had the XBMC the scrapper it used was great and found everything! wish thhose guys could make a stand alone scrapper for mac! - so the search continues for a perfect metadata scrapper!
 
eddtr1 said:
I am getting quite frustrated with all of these metadata scrappers - none seem to be great!

MetaX for the mac is rubbish now
Subler - no idea how it works and it cant batch tag
Iflicks - is ok for films but not tv shows
and the otheres althouh not tested as much as the top 3 are not all complete solutions

MetaZ does show promise and i am going to try iDentify 2 tonight.

When i had the XBMC the scrapper it used was great and found everything! wish thhose guys could make a stand alone scrapper for mac! - so the search continues for a perfect metadata scrapper!
Click to expand...

I'll disagree regarding MetaX--looks like it has some new life. It certainly lost it's appeal for about a year and a half but the Tagchimp dev recently made some changes on his end that once again allow the mac version of MetaX to pull current info from their db so it's been working great for me recently. My only complaint/wish is that Metax could add HD and cnID tags so I could forgoe also having to use Subler.
 
tbayrgs said:
I'll disagree regarding MetaX--looks like it has some new life. It certainly lost it's appeal for about a year and a half but the Tagchimp dev recently made some changes on his end that once again allow the mac version of MetaX to pull current info from their db so it's been working great for me recently. My only complaint/wish is that Metax could add HD and cnID tags so I could forgoe also having to use Subler.
Click to expand...

You do know that subler can also import from TagChimp now, right?
 
NightStorm said:
You do know that subler can also import from TagChimp now, right?
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, also a very nice feature but as eddtr1 mentioned, you can't run batches of encodes and the search feature doesn't work quite as well as MetaX. Also, doesn't import chapter names (if included) on the search imports like MetaX. I can't actually watch my blu-ray disks since my only BD drive is the external attached to my mini so I have no way looking up chapter titles to add to my encode in Handbrake--nice to find entries in MetaX search from Tagchimp where other's have already done it :D.
 
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