New Version of MetaX Issues

[JonHimself]

So I'm having problems as well. TV show DVDs that I have ripped and then added tags in MetaX have no sound or video. I'm using an intel mbp with Leopard and the latest versions of metax and handbrake. I've tried playing them in Quicktime and iTunes.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

So I'm having problems as well. TV show DVDs that I have ripped and then added tags in MetaX have no sound or video. I'm using an intel mbp with Leopard and the latest versions of metax and handbrake. I've tried playing them in Quicktime and iTunes.

After tagging over 200 movies, I've learned a few things. One is that Handbrake in Leopard will USUALLY write the tag correctly the 1st time only. It will corrupt the files 100% of the time if you try to write to a file a 2nd time. It also fails on the first try about 8% of the time and corrupts the file so ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS have a backup of the file you're tagging before you attempt to tag it (or set MetaX to leave the original alone and create a 2nd file). If you screw up the tag, you're going to have to do it over again with the backup file because it CANNOT currently rewrite a file. Some kind of bug is causing 100% corruption here on a rewrite.

So I'm extra careful at verifying that the information I'm going to write is what I want and that there aren't things missing like the rating, etc. I usually look for a tag that has the correct track labeling first, lock that in with a click and then pick the description I like best or add my own and lock that in and then look for the best artwork (or add my own if they all suck) and make sure titling is consistent with multi-volume titles like Star Wars, etc.

The Windows version of MetaX is a little better, but seems to write much slower to the file (i.e. tag writing seems about 3x longer to me). On the other hand, I HAVE successfully rewritten tags with the Windows version. It'll also still sometimes corrupt both first writes and rewrites and is far from perfect, but if you bungle a tag and don't have a backup, you could at least make a backup of the bungled tag and ATTEMPT to rewrite it with the Windows version of MetaX. Don't even bother with the Leopard one, IMO (unless this problem is limited only to certain OS X setups or something, but my MBP is was pretty much stock at the time running the latest versions of Leopard, etc. I've since gone to 4GB of ram, though, not that it made any real difference).

 

[skidoomn]

Ok I have the following issue with MetaX. I just started using it this morning. I have tried to tag about 6 -M4v files made thru Handbrake.
I use the Apple universal setting, as I want to watch the file on Apple Tv.

For example: I tagged the movie "Any Given Sunday". I seemed to tag it correct. I have an alias in itunes movie file pointing to the external HD. When I watch it on the Macbook it is fine. But, If I try and watch it on Apple TV Front Row, I have audio and NO VIDEO.

Also, when trying to tag other M4v Handbrake files I get this MetaX error.
"MetaX could not find a suitable audio track to use as a chapter reference" it then stops tagging.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Ok I have the following issue with MetaX. I just started using it this morning. I have tried to tag about 6 -M4v files made thru Handbrake.
I use the Apple universal setting, as I want to watch the file on Apple Tv.

For example: I tagged the movie "Any Given Sunday". I seemed to tag it correct. I have an alias in itunes movie file pointing to the external HD. When I watch it on the Macbook it is fine. But, If I try and watch it on Apple TV Front Row, I have audio and NO VIDEO.

Also, when trying to tag other M4v Handbrake files I get this MetaX error.
"MetaX could not find a suitable audio track to use as a chapter reference" it then stops tagging.

Did you try the file BEFORE you tagged it? It sounds like there might be a problem with the file to begin with since I've never gotten an 'error report' from Handbrake when it screws something up. It always says completed without issue and then I find it's screwed up.

I'd recommend starting with the AppleTV setting in Handbrake (make sure your presets are updated) and then modify it for Detelecine and Decomb (no de-interlace) and then save this with a new name. This will consistently produce the best quality picture. There might be a DVD or two where Detelecine needs to be turned off (not sure why one I have fools it into using it when it shouldn't which screwed the video up), but otherwise, Decomb is VASTLY superior to de-interlace. The videos pretty much look as good or in some cases better than the DVD did on my progressive DVD player.

There's also an audio menu and you'll want to make sure you select the Dolby 5.1 with PASSTHROUGH *plus* a regular dolby surround/stereo AAC track (make one FROM the 5.1 track if needed as a 2nd audio track) if you want 5.1 sound. Without the extra AAC track, the Dolby Digital 5.1 track won't play on the latest (2.3) version of AppleTV software. If there's only a dolby surround track or you don't care about 5.1, you can just use one stereo/surround AAC track for audio.

If the movie has forced sub-titles (e.g. Star Wars movies), you'll want the subtitle menu under audio set to Auto/Forced only. This will normally add hard titles to such movies. Optional sub-title tracks are a lot more involved and require extra software (e.g. Muxo) to add it. The latest 2.3 ATV software can select optional sub-title tracks finally, though.

 

[Rich1963]

Funny this came up. I had a similar problem last night and have been able to duplicate it in the past. For instance, I handbraked a movie using AppleTV preset and took the resultant file and fed it through to MetaX. I tagged it and dropped it into iTunes. A few months later I noticed I had tagged it with the wrong genre.

So I right-clicked "Get Info", changed the genre, and clicked OK. iTunes says writing tag, and just sits there forever. I finally forced-quit iTunes, relaunched, but now the video, while still showing the proper size, bit-rate, and FPS in movie inspector, has no video or audio. It's annoying to say the least. Anyone have any ideas?

And I did try squeegify, but no luck. And this is on a mac.

 

[Cuthbert]

Funny this came up. I had a similar problem last night and have been able to duplicate it in the past. For instance, I handbraked a movie using AppleTV preset and took the resultant file and fed it through to MetaX. I tagged it and dropped it into iTunes. A few months later I noticed I had tagged it with the wrong genre.

So I right-clicked "Get Info", changed the genre, and clicked OK. iTunes says writing tag, and just sits there forever. I finally forced-quit iTunes, relaunched, but now the video, while still showing the proper size, bit-rate, and FPS in movie inspector, has no video or audio. It's annoying to say the least. Anyone have any ideas?

And I did try squeegify, but no luck. And this is on a mac.

For some reason, once you tag with MetaX and place that file into iTunes, it takes forever to make additional changes to the tags. I found this out when trying to change my artwork - changing took about 5 minutes per file. I had similar problems with changing any other tag (name, genre, etc.)

 

[Rich1963]

So you're saying if I had left it alone, it would have sorted itself out? It almost seemed like it was stuck, and my paranoia is that with such a large library, I get nervous iTunes might go wonky and corrupt everything. Not that I'm a newbie at this, but I do get concerned when iTunes does something differently.

It's interesting that some files get tagged instantly then and some take 5 minutes when you're changing one thing. I was always under the impression that iTunes didn't actually "tag" the file with metadata, but just stored it "alongside" the file.... Any thoughts? Always like to learn.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

So you're saying if I had left it alone, it would have sorted itself out? It almost seemed like it was stuck, and my paranoia is that with such a large library, I get nervous iTunes might go wonky and corrupt everything.

That is why you ALWAYS have a backup drive and back it all up.

 

[Rich1963]

Yeah, but I'm already at 3+ TB on a Drobo, so I'm currently looking at doing an off-site back-up system, like backblaze, or having a secondary Drobo at a different location using something like Crashplan. Anyways, thanks for the help all.