SD/HD iTunes - Multiple files - Sync to correct device...

mucky.fingers said:

Is this "do able" or is an advantage of buying from iTunes?

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Not only is it doable, if you look at MacJedi's automation sticky it will do it automatically.

A google/search on here for "CNID" should help. Basically you need to set the CNID for a film and if you have an SD and HD version with the same CNID they will show as one item.

mucky.fingers said:

From my understanding when you purchase a HD film/tv show from iTunes, it will download both a HD and SD copy, and depending on the device used it will play the correct version.

Is it possible to use similiar "options" for ripped video. i.e I have a tv show which I have both HD & SD (for syncing to iPhone) but at present they are shown twice in iTunes.

Is this "do able" or is an advantage of buying from iTunes?

Cheers

Click to expand...

As I just started ripping my blu-rays I was interested in doing the same thing. The easiest option I found was to use Subler. Just open your media file in subler, click on the metadata tab, use + to add cnID field and then double click the field to add whatever number you'd like to use--I'd suggest starting with whatever number and then increase by one for every different film/show--only want to use the same cnID value for one specific movie/tv show. Save the file, send it to iTunes and you're all set.

MetaX for Windows allows you to do the same. You set the CNID tag to both movies to be the same, then for the HD film, you mark the HD box as "Yes". When you import to iTunes, there should be on HD-SD entry and each will sync to their respective devices (i.e. SD version to iPods/iPhones and HD to Apple TV).

tbayrgs said:

As I just started ripping my blu-rays I was interested in doing the same thing. The easiest option I found was to use Subler. Just open your media file in subler, click on the metadata tab, use + to add cnID field and then double click the field to add whatever number you'd like to use--I'd suggest starting with whatever number and then increase by one for every different film/show--only want to use the same cnID value for one specific movie/tv show. Save the file, send it to iTunes and you're all set.

Click to expand...

for cnid, i recommend this: use year, month, date, then number so you never ever will repeat yourself accidentally (plus you never have to keep track aside from how many you did that day), ie... 2010030601

Also, make sure you click the "HD Video" option under "other settings" for the HD video.

I use Terminal commands usually, but for Movies that you want HD/SD tagged, I believe you have to have the category as "Short Film" rather than "Movie" for iTunes to recognize it correctly. Maybe Subler does this, I have not tried the program yet. Going to though, very excited.

zedsdead said:

for cnid, i recommend this: use year, month, date, then number so you never ever will repeat yourself accidentally (plus you never have to keep track aside from how many you did that day), ie... 2010030601

Also, make sure you click the "HD Video" option under "other settings" for the HD video.

I use Terminal commands usually, but for Movies that you want HD/SD tagged, I believe you have to have the category as "Short Film" rather than "Movie" for iTunes to recognize it correctly. Maybe Subler does this, I have not tried the program yet. Going to though, very excited.

Click to expand...

Good idea regarding the cnID sequencing--think I'll use that as well. Also, good point about the HD video box--I do it but forgot that item in my first post. Won't work w/o it.

You don't have to have the category as "Short Film". I set both HD and SD versions to "movie" and it worked perfectly--one listing in iTunes w/ HD-SD tag.

HD-SD File Naming Rules

My Question is similar, but more cosmetic.
I have HD-SD Files I've created using Handbrake & Tagged in MetaX.
I imported them into iTunes & the first 2 episodes are named [1-01 It_s A Fae, Fae, Fae, Fae World 1.m4v/1-01 It_s A Fae, Fae, Fae, Fae World.m4v] the rest are named [1-05 Dead Lucky (HD).m4v/1-05 Dead Lucky.m4v]
I've tried a dozen things but I can't force the first 2 to use the (HD) naming scheme.
I have no idea what the problem is, I've checked the tags, there's nothing different between those as opposed to the others. I tried adding one, then the other, removing, renaming, & then re-adding, but nothing works.
Does anyone know the rules that I'm missing?

zedsdead said:

I use Terminal commands usually, but for Movies that you want HD/SD tagged, I believe you have to have the category as "Short Film" rather than "Movie" for iTunes to recognize it correctly. Maybe Subler does this, I have not tried the program yet. Going to though, very excited.

Click to expand...

Actually, iFlicks has an easy drop down selector for the sd/HD setting, and even has customizable rules that you can setup to trigger one or the other. I have the HD happen when ever a movie is 1280 or more wide, and ignore the height of the movie, as this seems to vary a lot. Anything from 644 and up, but the 1280 was the one constant I found.

Also, these are movie files in category, not short films. I use the short film only for my home movies as I rarely stood around with the camera in hand for more then a few minutes, and even once edited together, we don't like watching movie length shows of each other

Omne666 said:

Also, these are movie files in category, not short films. I use the short film only for my home movies as I rarely stood around with the camera in hand for more then a few minutes, and even once edited together, we don't like watching movie length shows of each other

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What he was referring to was this:
iTunes 8-9 would not allow a dual (HD-SD) file if it was tagged as 'Movie'.
But since the 'Short Film' tag sorted with the movies, many people would use that tag to make HD-SD Movie files.
iTunes stopped being stupid sometime in iTunes 9 after they started selling HD movies (Yes I said after) in the iTunes Store. So if you have iTunes 10 it won't be a problem.
Also, something I've noticed, at least in iTunes 10 64bit on Windows 7, is that if you add an HD file when you already have the SD in your library it will update it to a HD-SD.
Before you had to add them together or they'd be separate entries.
Anyone want to try this on a Mac 64, Mac 32, & a 32bit Windows system we can verify this. I'll test it on my 32bit in a couple days if nobody else does first.

I figured out the (HD) thing. It was pretty obvious actually.
The file names were longer than the others.
When I shortened the title, it did the ' (HD)' file names, & when I put them back it did the ' 1' again.

This is really annoying because any files with long file names (I think 30 characters is the max) will have the one added second labeled with a '1' at the end with no way to differentiate between the two unless you can see the size or resolution. Why not just cut off more of the end of the title, or just allow longer file names? It's only 3 characters difference since it adds the ' 1' anyways.

The HD-SD file add works in 32bit Windows Vista as well. At least in my two tests.

Update:
The "if you add an HD file when you already have the SD in your library it will update it to a HD-SD" I say before, seems to work sometimes & not others, I haven't figured out the pattern yet, but I will let you know if I do.

FWIW, you can get a movie's actual cnID from the iTunes Store. Go to the store and search for your movie; right/ctrl click the icon and copy the link address. Held within the link address is the cnID - it's towards the end and is the (all numeric) block between the "=" and the "&". Just extract the relevant digits, erase the rest, and tag your files (I just paste the whole link into the cnID box, delete all the stuff you don't want - remembering to copy the ID for tagging the other version).

The advantages of this are that: (1) you never have to worry about repeating a "made up" cnID on another movie; and (2) the ID will be recognised by iTunes' Genius function.

We've been over that with cnIDs already.
For TV Shows it's after the i=#########
There's also an id=######### but that's the same for each episode.

For Movies it's after the id=#########

They're always followed by a "&" so it's the 7-9 digit number between the '=' and the '&'

In iTunes Store you can click on the little down arrow next to the [Buy] button & choose 'Copy Link'. That works for TV Show Episodes too.

If you're adding a foreign Show/Movie you can switch stores by clicking on the flag circle at the very bottom right of the Store Home Page, you just can't buy stuff from the foreign store.