MetaX vs iTunes

[bomadian]

I am doing cover art and information for my itunes collection to be viewed on Apple TV and wondered why I would choose MetaX over itunes. Doesn't itunes do all that stuff?

Also, why does MetaX take so long to write the tags? Two minutes seems a long time for what it is doing.

Quick question, does anyone know why MetaX demands that there is three times the file size of the file it's writing on my HD?

and finally....can someone explain why or how MetaX reduced the size of an MP4 video file by 30MB after it had finished tagging it?!!

Thanks.

 

[cazlar]

It takes so long, as it writes the entire file out again, and as movies etc are generally on the range of 500-1500MB, this takes a while even though it is mostly a straight copy, with only the tags differing. I believe this is because you can't just append the tags, but they need to be in the start of the file?

I'm not sure of why it needs 3x and not 2x though. Note that if you have the "save old version in trash", or whatever it is called, selected, it actually copies the file to the trash folder, then starts writing out the tags in the new file, then deletes the original file. In that case it uses 3x the size (although you had 1x there at the start) and twice the time. Why it doesn't just write out the new file, then MOVE the original over to the trash, I don't know? That would make more sense to me, but maybe there's a reason.

The real reason I use metaX is being able to look up all the cover art and metadata in one go without needing to scour the web, then select the tags you want and hit go. Once it is done, all the info is there in the file in iTunes for you.

 

[Galley]

MetaX can automatically download chapter names and cast and crew info; iTunes cannot.

 

[bomadian]

ok, thanks to you both for the explanations. I will use MetaX.

What happens if you write a video file in MetaX and then inside iTunes you make adjustments to it, like change the cover art. Does iTunes rewrite the tags the way MetaX does or will those changes only show up in iTunes?

I am also having trouble with cover art images for DVDs that show the DVD box/case at an angle, instead of flat like itunes purchased movies and shows (the reflection doesn't work because there is a black border) I know, anal, but I was wondering if transparent images were supported, like in PS you can have images that make the background invisable. Just a thought.

 

[Galley]

MetaX also downloads movie posters.

 

[DarkHeraldMage]

MetaX can automatically download chapter names and cast and crew info; iTunes cannot.

It does??? How can I do this? I've just finished using MetaX to tag every piece of information for almost 300 movies and a large number of TV shows, but I didn't take the time to do chapter titles. I just figured I'd get back to it someday, but would LOVE it to do it for me. How can I do this and ensure that it pulls only the chapter titles and not any other fields that I've already populated?

 

[61132]

Type in a search query on the left hand side, usually the "tagchimp" ones will include the chapter information.

If you want to include some data from one search result, and other information from another search result (lets say actor information from amazon, and chapter info from tagchimp), you can just check the information you want to KEEP, and the unchecked information will be changed as you click on the different search results.

BTW, I usually get my chapter information from www.movieweb.com.

Wouldn't it be cool if metax could interface with getvideoartwork.com, and download the highest quality art automatically, or manually as an option (there are lots of different versions for the same movie that you could manually select.)