Hand Brake, iTunes, video tags, cover..

[matrix07]

Hi,

I'm just experimenting on ripping my DVD with Hand Brake (I use Windows machine to do this). My goal is to access all of my collection through iTunes home sharing on both Mac, PC and iDevices. I have a few questions.
1. I forgot to tag the first couple videos (oops). How do I add tag to them?
2. How do I show DVD cover on iTunes (both Windows and OSX) instead of video thumb.
3. How do you normally organize your DVD on iTunes? I guess my backup could span to 2-3 HDDs.

Any tips for me will be very much appreciated.

 

[-lefty]

1) On a Mac you can tag using iFlicks, which I havent used however this is a paid application, another is MetaX which I believe is free. For Windows you can use Ember Manager or Media Companion.

2) I cant quite remeber, and i dont have iTunes on this PC but i think its to do with the view settings in the top right hand corner.

3) By backup do you mean an actual backup or do you mean how to store the DVDs on iTunes? If your talking about storeing them on iTunes as long as you have a big enough Hard drive then you store all of it on one drive and have iTunes point ot that for your movies

 

[ayzee]

Hi,

I'm just experimenting on ripping my DVD with Hand Brake (I use Windows machine to do this). My goal is to access all of my collection through iTunes home sharing on both Mac, PC and iDevices. I have a few questions.
1. I forgot to tag the first couple videos (oops). How do I add tag to them?
2. How do I show DVD cover on iTunes (both Windows and OSX) instead of video thumb.
3. How do you normally organize your DVD backup on iTunes? I guess my backup could span to 2-3 HDDs.

Any tips for me will be very much appreciated.

1 & 2- buy identify from the mac app store. This will tag your movies with Information and let you choose a DVD cover. Even though the movie is in your iTunes library, the actual file is still being stored somewhere. Right click on the movie in iTunes and select - show original file (or something to that effect) it will then show you where the original file is stored. Open this file with identify, add the tag data, save and it will automatically update the file in iTunes

3-If you talking about backing up your collection, I'm sure you could find a big enough External hard drive for this. If your iTunes library is getting too big for your PC/macs HDD, then you can also move the library to an external drive instead. There are guides available that show how this is done if you needed it.

 

[matrix07]

1) On a Mac you can tag using iFlicks, which I havent used however this is a paid application, another is MetaX which I believe is free. For Windows you can use Ember Manager or Media Companion.

2) I cant quite remeber, and i dont have iTunes on this PC but i think its to do with the view settings in the top right hand corner.

Will try this.

3) By backup do you mean an actual backup or do you mean how to store the DVDs on iTunes? If your talking about storeing them on iTunes as long as you have a big enough Hard drive then you store all of it on one drive and have iTunes point ot that for your movies

actual backup. I don't want to store files on iTunes, just link to it.

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1 & 2- buy identify from the mac app store. This will tag your movies with Information and let you choose a DVD cover. Even though the movie is in your iTunes library, the actual file is still being stored somewhere. Right click on the movie in iTunes and select - show original file (or something to that effect) it will then show you where the original file is stored. Open this file with identify, add the tag data, save and it will automatically update the file in iTunes

$9.99. Not cheap, but also not expensive. Too bad the files are on my Windows. They appear on Shared on Finder but not sure the app can tag them.

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3-If you talking about backing up your collection, I'm sure you could find a big enough External hard drive for this. If your iTunes library is getting too big for your PC/macs HDD, then you can also move the library to an external drive instead. There are guides available that show how this is done if you needed it.

I'll leave everything on another HDDs for now. Don't want to copy the files to iTunes at all.

 

[MonkeySee....]

+1 for iDentify. What a great app.

Drag the file into the iDentify window and it will tag the film and also get the artwork. Not only that I have it set to chuck into iTunes one I click save/done.

Bloody excellent.

 

[matrix07]

+1 for iDentify. What a great app.

Drag the file into the iDentify window and it will tag the film and also get the artwork. Not only that I have it set to chuck into iTunes one I click save/done.

Bloody excellent.

I wonder do I have to copy the file to my MBA (yuck!) or it can handle the file on shared Windows PC, but the app sure sounds great.

 

[MonkeySee....]

I wonder do I have to copy the file to my MBA (yuck!) or it can handle the file on shared Windows PC, but the app sure sounds great.

All my videos are stored on an external hard drive. Just make sure iTunes is pointing to where your "iTunes library" is held.

May need advice from someone if its on a different Machine/OS

 

[-lefty]

---

If you want a backup of any kind you should think about a NAS. This would give you backup and you would be able to access your files from any computer.

I still not sure by what you mean by an "iTunes backup", you say want to link to iTunes, is this to use homeshareing?

 

[matrix07]

If you want a backup of any kind you should think about a NAS. This would give you backup and you would be able to access your files from any computer.

I still not sure by what you mean by an "iTunes backup", you say want to link to iTunes, is this to use homeshareing?

Look like I just had a lapse. I didn't mean to have backup at all (I edited it out). I only wonder what is the best way to organize many DVD rips that will spread across a few HDDs. NAS is one way but does it has added benefit than HDDs stocked in the tower or external case?
I just tried Media Companion but deleted it right away. The interface is so byzantine I just couldn't use it. I will see if there's a trial version of Identify.

 

[-lefty]

Look like I just had a lapse. I didn't mean to have backup at all (I edited it out). I only wonder what is the best way to organize many DVD rips that will spread across a few HDDs. NAS is one way but does it has added benefit than HDDs stocked in the tower or external case?
I just tried Media Companion but deleted it right away. The interface is so byzantine I just couldn't use it. I will see if there's a trial version of Identify.

Ok, i havent tried Media Companion yet but i dont think its to everybodys taste, i downloaded it the other day. If your films are spred across diffrent hard drives iTunes may have a hard time recognising them. Are you talking about external hard drives? if so are they mains powered or USB powered. Benifits of a NAS is that your can set permissoins up for who accesses what and you can use it for automated backups and other storage.

 

[matrix07]

Benifits of a NAS is that your can set permissoins up for who accesses what and you can use it for automated backups and other storage.

Thank you.
My PC is a big tower. It can house 6 HDDs at least. I guess I have no problem stock HDDs there but I'm thinking I might buy Mac mini to be my next HTPC later this year (I will use mostly Windows on Bootcamp) so I think maybe an external box is the way to go. The disadvantage is of course you have to leave your computer and iTunes on which I think is a bit of a waste.
There're only my wife and I so I think the ability to set permission is unnecessary. Looks like I can save a bit to go external box route.

I tested home sharing for a few days and it's great. It's very easy. It's so great and amazing I wonder why Apple didn't built an iTunes box on something like Time Capsule (not include it but use the same case). I'll buy one for sure.

 

[matrix07]

+1 for iDentify. What a great app.

I download free version of Identify 2 to test. One problem so far. It will always process your file. I don't want it to mess with my rip but the option to turn it off is greyed off. Is the paid version like this?

 

[MonkeySee....]

I download free version of Identify 2 to test. One problem so far. It will always process your file. I don't want it to mess with my rip but the option to turn it off is greyed off. Is the paid version like this?

Image

Oh no, its not like that at all. It takes about 2 seconds for it to tag a file so it definitely doesn't rewrite the file.

 

[matrix07]

Oh no, its not like that at all. It takes about 2 seconds for it to tag a file so it definitely doesn't rewrite the file.

Thank you. That's a big relief.

 

[-lefty]

Thank you.
The disadvantage is of course you have to leave your computer and iTunes on which I think is a bit of a waste.

No Problem, this is the good this about a NAS you can leave it on and let it do backups, store files and what ever else you want. Some have the ability to be used as iTunes music servers.

 

[mpossjr]

MetaX

1) On a Mac you can tag using iFlicks, which I havent used however this is a paid application, another is MetaX which I believe is free. For Windows you can use Ember Manager or Media Companion.

I just started using MetaX for Windows. It was free at one point but now it is $10. Well worth the $10. I actually use the same user name and password on both of my computers. (not a per computer license)
It pulls info from multiple sources and you can pick and choose the info you want to tag. You can test the software for free. Check out the tutorial videos on how it works. Saves tags in less than a second. Easy to use and makes my movies and TV shows look great on Apple TV 3!

 

[matrix07]

I just started using MetaX for Windows. It was free at one point but now it is $10. Well worth the $10. I actually use the same user name and password on both of my computers. (not a per computer license)
It pulls info from multiple sources and you can pick and choose the info you want to tag. You can test the software for free. Check out the tutorial videos on how it works. Saves tags in less than a second. Easy to use and makes my movies and TV shows look great on Apple TV 3!

Hi,

I tried this but MetaX will only keep cover in low res format. It looks awful in iPad. Does Identify use full resolution cover?

 

[ayzee]

Identify uses the moviedb , which has very high quality cover art, some even higher resolution than iTunes own coverart

 

[matrix07]

Identify uses the moviedb , which has very high quality cover art, some even higher resolution than iTunes own coverart

Oh, thanks. :thumbs up:

BTW mpossjr, MetaX for OSX is free. Unbelievable isn't it?

 

[Alameda]

Hi,

I tried this but MetaX will only keep cover in low res format. It looks awful in iPad. Does Identify use full resolution cover?

I don't have this problem with MetaX. It looks great on iPad; all the fields appear. Maybe you just didn't put in good art? You can usually find good cover art on Amazon.

 

[heisenberg123]

another vote for identify,

 

[mpossjr]

Pick and choose

Hi,

I tried this but MetaX will only keep cover in low res format. It looks awful in iPad. Does Identify use full resolution cover?

You can pick the cover art that you want. Look for the hi res ones. If there are none, you can download one either through the program or on your own and upload it.

 

[satcomer]

What use on my Mac are the web sites bookmarks are (for TV series) TheTVDB.com & themoviedb.org to get metadata for Plex (don't worry Plex has a Windows version) on a Mac Mini in my living room entertainment stack.

 

[matrix07]

I don't have this problem with MetaX. It looks great on iPad; all the fields appear. Maybe you just didn't put in good art? You can usually find good cover art on Amazon.

You can pick the cover art that you want. Look for the hi res ones. If there are none, you can download one either through the program or on your own and upload it.

I find out that MetaX trail version on Windows actually downsized the cover but MetaX for Mac, which is free - God bless, don't do that.