Meta X and tagging

[snowmaan]

I searched everywhere and couldn't find the answer on the forum

As I understand it, you use mactheripper or similar to rip your DVD's, then handbrake to encode to mp4 (or even handbrake to do both of course)

Then you use Meta X to tag the poster to the movie file - is that correct?
So when you pull up yor movies on Apple TV, it shows the movie poster

Do I do the tagging after I have done the above?

Also, before I bought the mac I have been a PC person, and did the same by converting my DVD's to avi, as my son always destroys the discs!

I am now using Videora on the PC to convert these to mp4 - and am just concerned once they are MP4, I can still tag the posters using Meta X

Does this make sense??

 

[jchildress]

I use MetaX to add the movie poster and all of the tagging (title, actors, date, description, etc.) info to my movie file. It's great in that regard.

My process is rip my DVD from the disc in HandBrake to an .m4v file. Then open that file in MetaX which it will then automatically search for appropriate results and give you a list of options. The great thing about the program is you can lock-in an option to prevent it from changing when you choose a different result from the search window. For example, if I like the movie description from one search result, I can lock that in with the check box and then choose another search result that has a better or higher res movie poster. Assuming you get good search results, I can add all of the tagging information I want, including movie poster, and write it out to the file in a matter of 5 mins or less. I'm using a lower bitrate then most people suggest, so my file sizes are going to be smaller, therefore faster to write out.

All in all, I think the HandBrake\MetaX combination is great.

 

[cazlar]

The easiest way is to turn on the preference in Handbrake to "send to metax". This will then launch it once HB finishes the encode. Just set your tags (is probably a little un-intuitive the first time you do it, but not that hard to learn) and set it going. Then, assuming you have the "send to itunes" pref set in MetaX, it will be put automatically in your itunes library (and thus AppleTV, etc). So fairly automatic except for selecting the tags.

AFAIK, metaX can handle all mp4/m4v files (mov too maybe?), wherever they have come from, so your PC encodes should work fine.

 

[snowmaan]

Ok thanks guys
I will have to check when I get home if it has that option in the HB PC version

How about converting avi's. Anyone do that now? Does it sound ok what I am doing? Once they convert to mp4 I can watch them fine in Itunes and Quicktime, so I guess that is a safe assumption that it will work on the mac, and in particular Apple TV

When you guys run HB, how long does it take to rip, then encode?

It is taking me about 12 hours or so on my PC which seems a bit much
I am thinking maybe its best for me to just wait till I get my iMac as my PC only has an onboard video card, which may be why it is so slow

Sorry for the silly questions here

 

[d21mike]

MetaX is MAC only.

I know this has been asked many times before but I am fairly new and have not found any comparable program to MetaX for Windows. Has anybody found anything new lately?

 

[spice weasel]

How about converting avi's. Anyone do that now?

There are several tools you can use to convert files in an .avi container to an iTunes-compatible .mp4. Generally, QT Pro will do it, as will MPEG Streamclip and ffmpegx. The last two are free.

When you guys run HB, how long does it take to rip, then encode?

It is taking me about 12 hours or so on my PC which seems a bit much
I am thinking maybe its best for me to just wait till I get my iMac as my PC only has an onboard video card, which may be why it is so slow.

Twelve hours is a long time, but it really depends on the processor. On my old G5 iMac, it typically takes around 9-10 hours using the AppleTV preset. On my new MacBook Pro, I get about 35 fps, so it's faster than realtime.

 

[cazlar]

How about converting avi's. Anyone do that now?

If you get the latest build of Handbrake (not the latest released one, the snapshot version http://handbrake.fr/?article=snapshot), this can convert avi and other formats in addition to DVDs. I assume the PC version does this too.

The other option you have is to hack your AppleTV via a patchstick. This will allow you to play the avi files directly without converting any of them.

 

[snowmaan]

Thanks for that
Patchstick sounds good, I am a bit annoyed I have to convert everything I own I must say

Just found out, my iMac 24" arrives tmrw!!! Woo hoo.
Oh, sleepless night ahead...