Cataloging/Tagging Video Files

[therock003]

I have lots of plain video files that i store in a nas. Videos like amateur clips from the internet, youtube content, video camera material etc. Is there a way to tag them like how we do with image files, and then have video players and frontends (kodi, or other libraries) categorize them

I need to properly organise my collection and easily find and playback what i'm looking for

[Bernix]

There are possibly tags and so in mkv, but easiest way is to name it right. Why not name_amateur_animation.mkv
You can batch name filtered videos there are several program, but best seems to me be Bulk rename utility. Of course it become harder when to comes to actors etc. you can do a list in for example Libre office. Of course it is hard work, but no pain, no game.

Bernix

[therock003]

Nah this is bad. I dont want to mess with filenames and rename thousands of files. It wont even accomplish what i want. I want a complete metadata tag management. Maybe i'll try lightroom or something, if this cant be done a simpler way

[Bernix]

You can use for mkv files VLC, but it means open video edit metadata. If you think there is some very easy way to complex describe each video.

[Attachment 44329 - Click to enlarge]
But as I say No pain no ...
Other thing is program that is able to filter, sort it and so on.
I worked in library once we had a tags software, and it wasn't really simple and fast work.

[Cornucopia]

AbcAVI tag editor and tigotago and Kid3 can do some as well (though last 2 are more audio-centric). QT (7) Pro could do MOV & MP4. WMVtools had ASF/WMV/WMA rudimentary tag editor.

One could also use Windows (NTFS) Filesystem tags - there are a whole lot more available than the default.

Scott

[therock003]

I had success with the default windows tags with mp4 and wmv. But mkv resets tags. Tried various mkv files with windows and vlc. Metadata do not seem to hold. I also want to do flv and other more obscure formats as well

[Bernix]

Hi,
sorry to bother you again, don't know how far you want tag your videos, but if you do good directory structure, can't symbolic links be good for you?
Advantage All program should support it. Dont know how possible Kodi reads tags from video files.

Bernix

[therock003]

I like native tags, because at the very least you can set group by->tags and have windows display files in categories based their tag metadata. With a simple rename you dont accomplish much. Its pain but dont see much gain. I also dont see gain to windows metadata since most formats other than mp4 and wmv cannot contain native metadata. So it seems adobe lightroom or an external cataloging software should be my only option to see gain after much of the pain

BTW you dont bother me thanx for chiming in

[Bernix]

Sorry to ask again, what do you think about symbolic links mentioned earlier. You can have all videos where you have them already, just create folder tree and subfolders for example Genre - subfolders Action, - another subfolders Comedy, Thriler and what you want. Just instead of copy files to folders, you can create symbolic link there, so one movie can be in several folders without physical existence here. All windows based program will understand it.
Don't know how you will filter video tags in Kodi and compatibility also.
I wrote this because I dont get answer. Symbolic links has nothing to do with renaming.
Glad to not bother you,
see you
Bernix

[therock003]

Ok i have investigated this further, didnt really understand what symbolic links are. Arent they something like shortcuts? So whats the difference?

Also lets say right now i got a folder in D:/Clips where i have scattered hundreds of clips. One of them is an animal doing funny stuff. So i would lotherwise tag it with "animal" and "funny". How would i create a symbolic link so that this file existed in 2 virtual locations but as once instant, so i have symbolic links create an "animal" collection and a "funny" collection and this video appears on both

[Bernix]

Hi,
here is good explanation of difference of shortcuts and symbolic link.
https://superuser.com/questions/253935/what-is-the-difference-between-symbolic-link-and-shortcut
main difference is that symbolic link behaves as real file, so 100% sure it is supported by any application.
And yes your example is what i meant. Just better seems to me create folder in animal - funny and made just one symbolic link.
EDIT: But main advantage of symbolic link is when you need have to some important file on drive C:\ and you haven't enough space here, so get it to other drive and create symbolic link on drive C:\ where is it needed. And it solved situation. You can do anything with such link CD it and everything. With shortcuts you can't do such thinks.

Bernix

[Bernix]

Sorry for double post: Just want to say, smart subdirectory structure can helps a lot. So if you want play some video clip, you know you want some music you know you want concert or just video clip. You needn't keep it all in music folder. That's just my opinion. So Folder Music can have several subdirectories, and they can have another subdirectories. This way you will find your file easily when you know what are you looking for.
On examples with animals - funny and probably cats, dogs others. There is also possibly create folders by duration or favorite funny animal folder. It all depends how good you are able to design your directory structure.

Bernix

[therock003]

Bernix forgot to ask. Can you also symbolic link files, or is it just folders. If it does files, it is indeed what i am looking for

[Bernix]

Hi therock003,
it is for both. Directories and files https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link

Bernix

[therock003]

Ok and final question how do i distinguish between original file and symbolic link so i do not accidentally delete the file itself?
Also in case you delete the original file are all symlinks automatically deleted or you grt an error when trying to access them the same way you would when accesing a shortcut of a non existing file

And are symlinks univerala betweens OS. For example if i create a symlink on windows can i copy it on a samba share on a linux system abd maintain syslinks

[JVRaines]

Messing with the filesystem is an awful lot of work and not terribly portable. Why don't you try a library app like MediaMonkey? It handles video pretty well.

[Bernix]

Hi,
so probably best as JVRaines suggested, but not sure how to search file that you want in kodi (It will probably works well).
Ad to Symbolic link, when you delete source, link still exist. And it refer to not existing target (same as shortcuts). There are utilities for example this, which check all junctions, symbolic link and even shortcuts.
There is also easy way to create symbolic links and more things. It is extension to explorer and can be found here. But one think, what is your OS? On the page is it fully described how it works and how to create hard links, symbolic links, Junctions and so on.
I don't want to be source of your dissatisfaction so try JVRaines suggestion first, if possible. It supports DLNA and UPnP devices. On other hand it is not certified as DLNA (not sure how much is it problem).

Bernix

[alex3676]

https://www.den4b.com/products/renamer

[therock003]

Using library programs like mediamonkey (which i already use for music) and adobe lightroom was my original suggestion, but it is limited to having it run on every device you need to have access to. So for example if i want to access files from my mobile, or another system, ill need to have this there and it may not be possible or even useful this way.

Instead what i do is save files on a more centralised system an HP N40L acting as NAS with OMV (a FreeNAS derivative) and access them from there across all my devices. So i need to organise my content in a way that is organised on any system trying to access them. So for ive used tags for musi and pictures, but with video ive had problems. This symlinks are the closest thing to making some sense of video content.

The system i originally use for collection, organise and maintaince is my win 10 laptop, but once cataloged they end up on that linux nas machine ive mentioned previously. So i need these symlinks i create on windows to work with linux since this is where im going to be taking those files

[Bernix]

Hi,
that can be problem. Organize (create symlinks on windows then migrate to Linux) if I understand you correctly. Because it is interpreted by core of operation system. And it is quite different windows and unix based systems. So not sure how you mean it (once catalogized)
But I believe there is an answer on internet.

Bernix