Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Any easy way to extract artwork from .mp4/.mov/.m4v files?

M

marklight

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 6, 2006
316
0
So I took a ton of time to permanently tag a lot of my ripped movies using metax. I added really nice custom artwork to each of them. looks great! Now however, I'm making the switch to Plex, and while I'll still continue to tag a lot of my ripped dvds using metax, I want to make my existing files compatible with Plex's system of displaying artwork.

unfortunately, at this time Plex does not read internal metadata, and the artwork that it scraps is subpar for my picky tastes, I'm wondering if there's a program that can quickly extract all the artwork in my tagged mp4/m4v files. Currently I'm doing the time consuming process of copying the artwork in iTunes, and then opening it up in Preview and saving it... but man does that take forever! Any suggestions?
 
marklight said:
So I took a ton of time to permanently tag a lot of my ripped movies using metax. I added really nice custom artwork to each of them. looks great! Now however, I'm making the switch to Plex, and while I'll still continue to tag a lot of my ripped dvds using metax, I want to make my existing files compatible with Plex's system of displaying artwork.

unfortunately, at this time Plex does not read internal metadata, and the artwork that it scraps is subpar for my picky tastes, I'm wondering if there's a program that can quickly extract all the artwork in my tagged mp4/m4v files. Currently I'm doing the time consuming process of copying the artwork in iTunes, and then opening it up in Preview and saving it... but man does that take forever! Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I'd really like to know how to do this aswell!

Thanks,

Ams.
 
marklight said:
So I took a ton of time to permanently tag a lot of my ripped movies using metax. I added really nice custom artwork to each of them. looks great! Now however, I'm making the switch to Plex, and while I'll still continue to tag a lot of my ripped dvds using metax, I want to make my existing files compatible with Plex's system of displaying artwork.

unfortunately, at this time Plex does not read internal metadata, and the artwork that it scraps is subpar for my picky tastes, I'm wondering if there's a program that can quickly extract all the artwork in my tagged mp4/m4v files. Currently I'm doing the time consuming process of copying the artwork in iTunes, and then opening it up in Preview and saving it... but man does that take forever! Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Easy....Let's see...I'm doing this from memory.

First from iTunes choose Get Info on the video you want artwork from. Click on the tab with the artwork. Click on the artwork so that there is a blue highlight around the art window. Press Command-C to copy artwork to the clip board.

Now open Preview application and click on New From Clipboard. Artwork should now be displayed with untitled name. Now you need to give it a name and save it.

Really...It's that easy.
 
bbyers70 said:
Easy....Let's see...I'm doing this from memory.

First from iTunes choose Get Info on the video you want artwork from. Click on the tab with the artwork. Click on the artwork so that there is a blue highlight around the art window. Press Command-C to copy artwork to the clip board.

Now open Preview application and click on New From Clipboard. Artwork should now be displayed with untitled name. Now you need to give it a name and save it.

Really...It's that easy.
Click to expand...

That ok if you've only got a few to do, it fast becomes a problem if you've got hundreds to do.
 
marklight said:
So I took a ton of time to permanently tag a lot of my ripped movies using metax. I added really nice custom artwork to each of them. looks great! Now however, I'm making the switch to Plex, and while I'll still continue to tag a lot of my ripped dvds using metax, I want to make my existing files compatible with Plex's system of displaying artwork.

unfortunately, at this time Plex does not read internal metadata, and the artwork that it scraps is subpar for my picky tastes, I'm wondering if there's a program that can quickly extract all the artwork in my tagged mp4/m4v files. Currently I'm doing the time consuming process of copying the artwork in iTunes, and then opening it up in Preview and saving it... but man does that take forever! Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I ran into the same problem whan I set up my XBMC PC. I ended up writing my own software to scan an entire directory and extract all the artwork. However it's a Windows program. If you have access to a Windows machine I'll give you the program.
 
movie cover art script

roidy said:
I ran into the same problem whan I set up my XBMC PC. I ended up writing my own software to scan an entire directory and extract all the artwork. However it's a Windows program. If you have access to a Windows machine I'll give you the program.
Click to expand...

I am in the same boat and desperate for a copy of your script. I've lost way too much sleep trolling the web for a solution.
Thank you in advance.
Thomas
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

Did you try using the "export ATVFiles XML" function in MetaX? I don't know if the resulting XML file works with Plex, but it may get you going in the right direction. Oh, and it extracts your artwork too. ;)

HTH
 
thomassilcox said:
I am in the same boat and desperate for a copy of your script. I've lost way too much sleep trolling the web for a solution.
Thank you in advance.
Thomas
Click to expand...

I assume your on a Windows machine as it's a Windows only program. I'm away from my main PC until Sunday, as soon as I get back I'll send you a copy.
 
I'd like to try out your art extraction program...

Hi Roidy,

I stumbled upon this post in a google search for something to extract the cover art from my m4v files - same situation as one of the prior replies - I have a significant number of tagged m4v files (MetaX) for my AppleTV but also want to access the video files on XBMC so would like to extract the cover art vs. doing it manually or tryin to locate the art I originally used.

I'm on Windows so would like to try out your program. I believe you can email me via the forums - I apparently can't email or PM since I'm new to the forums.

Thanks in advance
 
Hi Roidy,

I also stumbled across this using Google! I was actually considering writing something myself, but as you have already I figured I'd check if you could share it.

Thanks,

Shane
 
Sorry, I totally missed your first post, I don't visit these forums as much as I use to. I'm away from home until after the weekend, I'll send you a private message when I get back.
 
shanedownfall I can't send you a private message you need to have posted a minimum of 5 posts and have enabled PM's in your user profile.

Do you have an email address I can send the file to, if not rack up a few more posts on this forum and I'll PM you again:D
 
Only seeing this now several months later! This is my 5th post so I'll PM you an email to send all on to. Cheers dude.

Edit: I actually can't find the option to. Hopefully you can PM me :)

roidy said:
shanedownfall I can't send you a private message you need to have posted a minimum of 5 posts and have enabled PM's in your user profile.

Do you have an email address I can send the file to, if not rack up a few more posts on this forum and I'll PM you again:D
Click to expand...
 
Can you send me a link to the program to extract the cover art on a windows machine as well please?
 
Thanks! Works perfectly....saves alot of time instead of copy and pasting one at a time from iTunes. I'm using them for the movies hd app for my iPad, lost my whole database from it....over 1200 movies I have to do all over again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back