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  1. The tool I currently use for renaming files I transfer from my camera to the PC is ReNamer, which has a sleek UI and is nifty for adding detailed timestamps of shots to the filenames of photographs. However, the best it can do for video files is add the modification date which is the moment of conclusion of a recording, whereas I would like it to use the time at its beginning (in local time - not UTC).
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  2. Member Budman1's Avatar
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    Looks like a custom program is needed using a program like exiftool

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    Last edited by Budman1; 26th Aug 2015 at 16:47.
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  3. If you can be more specific, am I looking at creating a command line for exiftool that will do the task? Furthermore, can it be made to handle batches of files?
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  4. Advanced Renamer with ExifTool can batch rename files based on Exif data, including date.
    They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety.
    --Benjamin Franklin
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  5. Member Budman1's Avatar
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    Thank you for that information drjtech. Indeed you can use the date/time method to rename. http://www.advancedrenamer.com/user_guide/method_timestamp.

    Looks like exiftool is included with the Advanced Renamer files so you can use this and not have to create a new program and it has a batch function also..
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  6. No, I have already tried that tool, it doesn't read what I want which is the "encoded date" data.
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  7. Member Budman1's Avatar
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    What type of rename are you looking for? Original with date/time added? Just date/time? I wrote a program a while back that transfers the Encoded/tagged dates to the created/modified dates but without renaming. It would be possible to use something like this to obtain what you need for Advanced Renamer.

    Is there a big need for this or just a one time usage?

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  8. Tags need to remain unaltered, I only need the encoded date to be added as a prefix to the filenames assigned by the camera. Advanced Renamer's interface is cumbersome and wouldn''t serve my purposes well (I always rename files transfered from the camera and have created presets in ReNamer to simplify the workflow), however if your program can change the created date to the encoded date in a batch then it will be a workaround.
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  9. Member Budman1's Avatar
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    O0O0 , That is exactly what it does. As you can see in my example above, 'clipcanvas_14348_offline.mp4' initial creation date on the left side was 5/6/2013 15:53:00 but was copied (with NEW added to name) and then changed so creation date is UTC 02/19/2009 18:49:05, shown on the right side. If UTC -> Local had been checked it would have changed it to 02/19/2009 12:49:05 because I reside -6 hours from UTC in the central time zone of USA.

    I assume you are wanting the files renamed such as '02_19_2009 18.49.05 clipcanvas_14348_offline.mp4' since slashes and colons are not Windows allowable. Or did you have some other format in mind? The program could probably be changed to allow renaming and/or created date change also.

    budman1
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  10. The required format is "yyyy-mm-dd hh-mm-ss_filename".
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  11. Member Budman1's Avatar
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    Okay, posting this here in case anyone else has a similar need... Not fully debugged but seems to work okay.


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    The program creates a copy of the videos and renames them leaving the originals intact but USE COPIES OF YOUR FILES to test just to be safe.
    Last edited by Budman1; 4th Sep 2015 at 22:46.
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  12. Doesn't seem to work right for me. Issues I run into while testing:
    - no unicode support (major rearrangements in my archival structure are required to even get it to run and parse mp4 tags)
    - UTC to local time translation non functional (always renames to UTC)

    Thanks for the effort though. Should you ever look to improve upon this program I suggest you create a drag&drop function for adding individual files irrespective of folder location, as well as an option to simply rename without copying.
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    Okay the UTC time was fairly easy to fix but I do not understand the 'No Unicode Support'... None of my video files are in unicode format and neither are my filenames or meta data? Where do you need unicode support for this renaming function? The examples above uses mp4 and it works fine extracting 'Encoded' with Mediainfo.

    Drag and drop is easy to implement but I 'Assumed' since you said you do all your videos that when you download from camera they would all be in one folder.

    The copy instead of just renaming is easy also but since I am not a programmer by nature, it is to protect a users originals because even though I mentioned several times to test with copies, someone is going to use their original wedding pictures and sue me if me program messes them up.
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  14. Originally Posted by Budman1 View Post
    I do not understand the 'No Unicode Support'...
    That's the idea behind the ASCII apartheid, to create all sorts of stupid little problems for those who live on the "wrong" side of computing. It isn't just filenames, but also folder path names that unicode-blind code will blunder with.


    Drag and drop is easy to implement but I 'Assumed' since you said you do all your videos that when you download from camera they would all be in one folder.
    Transfer parameters can accomodate multiple folder structures with extra analysis files which complicate things, plus there are many instances where editing or sorting out videos creates the need for a folder-independent mode of operation.

    The copy instead of just renaming is easy also but since I am not a programmer by nature, it is to protect a users originals because even though I mentioned several times to test with copies, someone is going to use their original wedding pictures and sue me if me program messes them up.
    MAking it optional would be a good compromise in this case.
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    Well now I guess it is a 'no go' after I have implemented drag and drop by using fully qualified path names instead of just the filename but I still do not know of ASCII apartheid, wrong side of computing, Transfer parameters that accomodate multiple folder or no unicode support. I am using a Windows 7 NTFS file system which I am pretty sure uses the unicode filename convention and I have no problems as shown in the example below with a file that uses unicode characters in its name.

    Since I do not have any explanation of the unicode problem, sample failing filenames, etc. All it is supposed to do is use MediaInfo on the files and I've never seen reference to MediaInfo not parsing the required information. I'll withdraw the download since it works for me to keep the Created date the same as the Encoded date which sometimes get altered during download of the files from the camera, but it fails for you and I cannot correct it without additional information.

    Thanks for trying it out and thanks for the suggestion to add drag/drop to the input side. Sorry it did not work for you.

    Budman1

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  16. Member Budman1's Avatar
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    Well now I guess it is a 'no go' after I have implemented drag and drop by using fully qualified path names instead of just the filename but I still do not know of ASCII apartheid, wrong side of computing, Transfer parameters that accomodate multiple folder or no unicode support. I am using a Windows 7 NTFS file system which I am pretty sure uses the unicode filename convention and I have no problems as shown in the example below with a file that uses unicode characters in its name.

    Since I do not have any explanation of the unicode problem, sample failing filenames, etc. All it is supposed to do is use MediaInfo on the files and I've never seen reference to MediaInfo not parsing the required information. I'll withdraw the download since it works for me to keep the Created date the same as the Encoded date which sometimes get altered during download of the files from the camera, but it fails for you and I cannot correct it without additional information.

    Thanks for trying it out and thanks for the suggestion to add drag/drop to the input side. Sorry it did not work for you.

    Budman1

    UPDATE:
    Pleasec see https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/361679-Please-Help!-Date-and-Time-issues-mp4-Encoded-vs-Created
    for the latest version link that handles Encoded to Ccreated and Created to Encoded, It will also rename with dates if you wish

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    Last edited by Budman1; 28th Sep 2015 at 16:09.
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    Budman1, I really appreciate your work on this little program of yours. Was delighted to come across it as I'm experiencing a problem lots of others are experiencing when loading videos to Google Photos: At the moment they're not storing the videos by their "created" or "modified" dates, and seem to be using the encoded date. On my camera (and apparently many others) this is not correctly set. So I imagine your program will be quite useful, not just for me, but many Google Photos users.

    Anyway,I can't get your program to work on my MOV files, but get an error showing a time out for MediaInfo. Can you offer any suggestions for a fix?

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  18. Member Budman1's Avatar
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    ashghinn ... I can lengthen this timeout but its there in case someone does something like remove the file from the folder or the video is not actually in the folder and the program will look forever for the mediainfo it should have gotten.

    In this case however, it says Mediainfo.exe is not valid as if it does not exist in your downloads folder or it is zero length, etc. This should be the CLI mediainfo from my program and if it is not there or damaged or other error, it will not run as shown in the command line form results and hence there is no results for the GUI program to find and it times out after 5.0 + seconds.

    Make sure MediaInfo.exe exists in the folder my program is run from and your documents/downloads folder if that is different and make sure it is ok such as not having any length.

    Let me know if these are all correct and mediainfo.exe runs in a dos window by itself and I will try to help more.

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    Thanks for the tips Budman. Mediainfo.exe was in the same folder as your program (and had an appropriate file size)

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    but not in the video's folder, so I put a copy in there and tried again. The MediaInfo timeout disappeared, but the file dates remained unaltered and the program still seems to hang before completion.. The command window reads:

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    Maybe I'm not understanding the program properly, but if I'm being dumb I'd still appreciate your help! I'm wanting to edit the encoded date (currently 2004) to match the date modified, but not sure which boxes to check - or even if your program can do that. So while testing, I've simply given it a manual task, but nothing changes still.

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    Any ideas?

    Ash
    Last edited by ashghinn; 15th Oct 2016 at 19:23.
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  20. Member Budman1's Avatar
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    ashghinn... Wow, looks like you are running a different version of Windows than I am and I need to set autoscale and test.
    You again have the message that says FFMPEG did not run from "C:\program files\change video date" folder. I'm not sure why it did not run or why you had to put mediainfo.exe into the video folder. Normal path is the program path and then thru each %path% listing. Whatever path your computer is following is not finding it. What version of Windows are you running?

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    You are correct, if you wish to change the encoded date to the modified date then you should use Manual and make sure "Created to Encoded" is checked. This was created for people who also do not wish to have the encode/tagged date different but correct due to them always being noted in UTC time.

    The 'Created to Encoded" and the "Encoded to Created check boxes are to show which function you are meaning to use. If you use "Created to Encoded" the program will take the created and change the encoded and tagged dates to match.

    If you select "Encoded to created" then this is the function you will get. The include Encoded, include Tagged and include Recorded check boxes are because sometimes the files do not contain some or others. The program will take the first one it finds in Encoded, Tagged, Recorded order and change created or whatever you have checked on the left side.

    Below are my results from using HD Stock Footage... file and renaming and not. Seems I have a bug in mine during renaming since names cannot contain ":" so I changed it to use "-" instead. I will post the new version link here after it is uploaded.

    New link https://files.secureserver.net/0s3r5s1hqR5eRT
    10-20-2016 23:23

    BTW... if anyone has suggestions for better layout or better functionality, please let me know. My aesthetics are not the best as pertains to layouts.

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    Last edited by Budman1; 21st Oct 2016 at 00:33. Reason: added media info and ffmpeg to zip link
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  21. Member Budman1's Avatar
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    My apologies for the earlier link as it was just the EXE file and did not contain the ffmpeg or mediaInfo files needed for those who do not have them installed. The latest link above should have the latest "Media Utiliy New form2.exe" and ffmpeg and mediainfo contained in a zip file. Unzip all to a folder and run from there.
    Thanks
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    Thanks Budman, good work!
    I used your new set of files, and the interface now scales correctly... Brilliant! Also, it now processes the file! Woop woop! Now iI have it functioning, I can see that it's actually able to do more than I thought it could, and almost exactly what I want it to... namely, to batch change the "date encoded" to match the "date modified". A specific need I know, but the only place I can find the date the footage was originally recorded in all my videos using this camera is in the "date modified" entry. Might it be possible to do what I want to do? I still don't quite understand the parameters in your interface, so this might be my only problem!

    I was giving up hope, so thanks for rekindling it! I was thinking that (even if I can get it working) I'd still have to go through my >400 videos one at a time using your "manual" function. But now it's functioning, I can see that it definitely can automatically change the "encoded" value (as I wanted, but didn't know it could) - albeit only from the "created" date (which is also incorrect on all my files). Might there still possibly be a way for me to put your program to work automatically changing all my vids so that the "encoded date" matches the "date modified"?

    A screengrab showing your program changing the "encoded" date to match the "created":

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  23. Member Budman1's Avatar
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    @ashghinn... Yes I can make a version where it is possible to use Date Modified to alter Date encoded. I did not think this would be necessary but if you need it ... it is. I will post a new link once I have added this, tested it and uploaded it to my site.
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    Budman that would be above and beyond the call of duty, common sense or reason, but I won't stand in your way! To be rational, such an option is hardly likely to benefit many others, so is probably not the best use of your energy! There will certainly be people out there with this type of camera (SJ4000-type "poor man's GoPro") and who will have the same date record problem, but not sure it'll be many. One user will be eternally grateful though
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    ashghinn... I am uploading a version now that will take modified if it it checked, even if both created and modified are checked. If you want to use created , make sure modifed is unchecked.

    I understand how created can get corrupted because when you move a file from camera and it shows up on your PC, Windows often assumes that since it just showed up, it must have just been created, EVEN WHEN COPIED. LOL

    Anyway the feature is there if anyone needs. Use copies of course since I just gave it a quick check on 4 files and they seem to work okay. Also be aware Encoded is always listed as UTC time so if that is not acceptable check UTC -> Local checkbox.

    Updated link is shown above.
    Last edited by Budman1; 21st Oct 2016 at 03:03.
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    Budman1 has made my day!
    It's not every day that you have a specific problem that requires a tool that doesn't exist, and some stranger from the goodness of their heart creates that tool for you. Props to the man! Just successfully converted a large batch of files to show the correct "encoded date" so my troubles are over.

    Been trying to find an explanation for the various date codes on such files (particularly the Windows ones) but struggled to find anything authoritative. When I organise and rename videos on my Windows 7 pc, it seems to keep the "date modified" value and change the "date created" which isn't what you'd expect intuitively. Windows also appears to have quite a few other date options - not all of which are applicable to videos. The ones that apply to videos on my computer are "Date modified", "Date created", "Date accessed", "Date" and "Date last saved". I've tried to understand their various functions but they are definitely beyond me!
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  27. Member Budman1's Avatar
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    Thank you ashghinn for the kind words. I was a HARDWARE person for computers for 43 years but I love programming and making it work. LOL I am revising this program to add a feature that will allow just changing a manual date to either Meta data(encoded/tagged) or Windows (Created/Modified/accessed) dates.

    To maybe help others that have a question about these various dates. I took a video on my camera and viewed it once there. Upon COPYING it to my desktop the Created date became the time I actually copied because Windows thinks if it just shows up, it must be Just created. The modified date and time was from the encoded date and the access time was a little later because I actually used Mediinfo and properties to look at the times. So:

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    Encoded = Date and time in UTC that the camera finished writing the file to the camera.
    Tagged = Date amd time that the tags were finally written to the file (Usually the same as Encoded)

    Created Date = Windows date and time a file is created on a PC. Bear in mind if you copy this file back to your camera and then delete it on your PC and recopy back, the created and Modified seem to stay as they were originally. I BELIEVE this is due to there still being an icon image stored for that file name already on your PC.

    Modified date = Any time something is changed on the file on your PC INCLUDING the name. (New Icon created???)

    Access date = any time file is opened , played, viewed, etc. Very hard to check since you can change it bu many Windows version will give the time you actually open it to loo at it.

    BTW.. there s a great tool for checking and changing Windows time called SKTimeStamp.msi which adds a new tab to properties with time stamps and allows you to change those.

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    Anyway, Glad the program helps anyone who needs and watch for an update;

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  28. Thanks Budman1 for this tool.
    But how can I apply the changes of the created/modified/accessed dates directly to the original file.
    The "Alter Originals" option does nothing.
    I always end up with a copy of the original file with an "_" at the beginning of it's name no matter what i do. While the original stays untouched.
    I have hundreds of files to process but can't have duplicates all over.
    Can you help me?
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    @Nightshadow I will post a link for the updated one that :

    1. Allows modifying originals
    2. Allows using Modified date only to set encoded and tagged dates

    BE AWARE... IF YOU DO NOT MAKE COPIES OF YOUR ORIGINALS FOR SAFE KEEPING, BEWARE!!!

    I cannot safeguard all your files if you try to set metadata in a FLAC file or a Truncated file or a file with incorrect headers or any other abnormality. Anyone who has worked with ffmpeg and tried to edit files with harsh errors have ended up with a file with no thumbnail and a length of 0 for the edited version. If you do that to the originals, you get the same... no video any more.

    I have hundreds of files to process but can't have duplicates all over.
    You BETTER have duplicates because that is always a good idea, at least for a short time and everything is correct in your edits, date changes, etc.

    BTW if you allows the copies in a second folder and use 'Bulk Rename Utility' you can remove the underscore in about 2 minutes from hundreds of files and your original Wedding pictures are still safe, and nothing changes in the created or modified or encoded or tagged..

    Thanks
    Budman1
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  30. Originally Posted by Budman1 View Post
    @Nightshadow I will post a link for the updated one that :

    1. Allows modifying originals
    2. Allows using Modified date only to set encoded and tagged dates

    BE AWARE... IF YOU DO NOT MAKE COPIES OF YOUR ORIGINALS FOR SAFE KEEPING, BEWARE!!!

    I cannot safeguard all your files if you try to set metadata in a FLAC file or a Truncated file or a file with incorrect headers or any other abnormality. Anyone who has worked with ffmpeg and tried to edit files with harsh errors have ended up with a file with no thumbnail and a length of 0 for the edited version. If you do that to the originals, you get the same... no video any more.

    I have hundreds of files to process but can't have duplicates all over.
    You BETTER have duplicates because that is always a good idea, at least for a short time and everything is correct in your edits, date changes, etc.

    BTW if you allows the copies in a second folder and use 'Bulk Rename Utility' you can remove the underscore in about 2 minutes from hundreds of files and your original Wedding pictures are still safe, and nothing changes in the created or modified or encoded or tagged..

    Thanks
    Budman1
    Thanks for your concern.
    But from what i understand is that your program reads the metadata from the file using mediainfo then extacts the encode date and then it applies the extracted date to the file by changing it's attributes for created/modified/accessed dates.
    So there shouldn't be any real danger to the file itself.
    I also did a hash check from the original file against the one created by your program and they match which proves that there shouldn't be any danger.
    Please correct me if I am mistaken.
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