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Old July 10th 18, 10:50 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion,uk.tech.broadcast
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_2_]
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Posts: 54
Default Does .mp4 - or any other video format - have a text field (comment, not subtitle)? If so, what can edit it?

In message , Mayayana
writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| I'd like to have a similar facility for videos (I have mostly .mp4
| format, but am interested for any format): _is_ there something
| intrinsic to the format?

I don't know anything about MP4 metadata, but I
just tried opening a video in VLC. It let me change
the "Genre" but didn't save the copyright data. My
first attempt added "Who knows". Then I tried "2013".
Maybe it's locked? Maybe it has to be a date data type?
I don't know. It saved a comment but didn't show the
save button until I also changed other data.


I hadn't noticed that Comment box until Frank Slootweg pointed it out to
me!

I've just tried, with several .mp4 files. Two or three _did_ save the
comment - and without stopping the file from playing, despite what I
found earlier; two or three _didn't_. Unfortunately, there was no
difference I could see in how the process proceeded: the only way I
could find out was to close VLC then reopen it (by opening the file -
VLC is my default for all video formats it can play). I guess, as Frank
said, there's little or no correlation between file extension and what
it contains.

When I looked at the file in HxD I could see the text
stored in a way that looks similar to JPG EXIF data.

Long story short, you can apparently read and change
properties with VLC. And that includes comments. But
then there's the question of how to make that useful.


Oh, that's useful enough for me!

Options:

* Find software that reads the metadata and shows it in
some useful way.


Opening in VLC will suit me! Same as I use IrfanView to see the comments
I saved in .jpg files with IrfanView.

* Set up Windows Explorer to show the metadata in Details
view. (Note that the details available vary by Windows version.)


Too much like hard work, even if the Comments field is available: I'd
have to turn it on for every folder I have video files in. Besides, I
might want to store more text than would be visible in a column width.

* You can also access the metadata programmatically
through the Shell or Shell.Application object, which


_You_ can - that's way beyond my abilities these days!
[]
Even better would be to write something that parses
the MP4 directly, first finding the metadata marker, then
finding the comment marker from there. It seems to be a
typical storage system. A cursory look shows that comment


VLC will do me fine.
[]
For what it's worth.... Shell object details by OS:


Thanks! Stored for future reference, though if I'm honest I doubt I'll
ever use it.
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

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