Layout Editor (Trying to Display HEVC on Thumbnails)

[kiwilink]

I use IMATCH to manage all of my JPEGS and another IMATCH Database to manage my video files.  I would like to display on my thumbnails which videos are HEVC vice AVC. If you look at my first attachment you can see that HEVC shows up under "Compressor Name" when I run the EXIFTool Command Processor on the Video.  I have used the Layout Editor to try and choose the tag so I can display it but I have not been able to display anything related to HEVC (see attachment 2).  I went to Preferences/Metadata2/Tag Manager and I see that under Tag Groups (QuickTime HEVCConfig

• is selected as well as all of the tags associated with it on the right side under "Tags".
  
  Is it possible that there is a different tag I need to select so I can display "HEVC" on my thumbnails?
  
  Thanks!
  
  Kiwilink

[Jingo]

Just curious if you tried using the "Custom Template" setting on this instead of Metadata to see if that changes anything?  I'm not near IM at the moment so I can't test it out for you...

[Mario]

For header 2: Switch to custom template (not Metadata Tag) when you are using a custom template (variable).

[sinus]

For header 2: Switch to custom template (not Metadata Tag) when you are using a custom template (variable).

Very good spotted! 

[kiwilink]

Dear Jingo, Mario, and Sinus:

Yes, I had already tried both custom template and Metadata tag and it returned nothing. When I run EXIFtool it always finds a Compressor name (AVC, HEVC, etc) but I can't seem to find which tag I need to display.  I went to  https://sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/TagNames/QuickTime.html to look at all of the tags but had no luck. 

Any other suggestions?  Thanks for helping!

Kiwilink

[jch2103]

You may have to configure the Tag Manager in Preferences/Metadata 2 to extract the tag you need. It sounds like it may be hidden (not imported into IMatch) by default.

[kiwilink]

jch2103

Thanks for the reply!  As I mentioned in my original thread, I thought the same thing so I went thru all of the Quicktime tags.  I did not see Compressor name even though that is what EXIFtool calls it.  It is under "Track 1" but I did not see that listed anywhere.  Thanks for the help!

Kiwilink

[sinus]

Kiwilink
I have almost no knowledge about video-stuff.
Hence my sentences may helps nothing.

But I tried something and had at least some success, maybe the wrong one.
I have done, wht jch2103 wrote.

I enabled the tags in the TagManager, see attachement 1.

Before I did this, the values in the VarToy looked like attachement 2.
After enabled the 2 tags (maybe the wrongs), and after a force update, it changed to one new value, see attachement 3

If it helps a bit, fine, if not, sorry.

btw: I have tried this with a mov from a Nikon.

[Mario]

jch2103

Thanks for the reply!  As I mentioned in my original thread, I thought the same thing so I went thru all of the Quicktime tags.  I did not see Compressor name even though that is what EXIFtool calls it.  It is under "Track 1" but I did not see that listed anywhere.  Thanks for the help!

Kiwilink

Switch the tag manager to display tag keys instead of the names ExifTool uses. The tag key matches what you see when you use the exiftool.exe command line application.
As with many QuickTime tags: They exist in different versions under different names. Apple never made that a standard and vendors do as they please.

[kiwilink]

Sinus!!!!  and Mario!!!

Thank you sooo much.  After I tried Sinus' suggestion it popped right up with the partial name.  Then I tried the tag selector Mario suggested and now it is perfect (look at the attachment).  Just exactly what I was trying to do.

Thank you sooo much Sinus for the effort to help me.  I know that took some time and I really appreciate it.

And Mario, that was exactly what I needed to do (use the tag key) and it matched perfectly with the EXIFTool.

You guys are great!!!!!

Kiwilink   ( I love this forum!!)

[sinus]

Sinus!!!!  and Mario!!!

Thank you sooo much.  After I tried Sinus' suggestion it popped right up with the partial name.  Then I tried the tag selector Mario suggested and now it is perfect (look at the attachment).  Just exactly what I was trying to do.

Thank you sooo much Sinus for the effort to help me.  I know that took some time and I really appreciate it.

And Mario, that was exactly what I needed to do (use the tag key) and it matched perfectly with the EXIFTool.

You guys are great!!!!!

Kiwilink   ( I love this forum!!)

Hi Kiwilink
Glad that it works now for you.
And thanks for your nice post, it is also helpful, to hear sometimes a compliment. 

You are right, such things takes some time, if I have it and if I can help or think, I can, then I do it. 

And yes, this forum is really nice with a lot of helpful people.

Looks cool, your layout.
Have fun!

[kiwilink]

I'm sorry to ask for more help on tags because I thought I had this all figured out.  I tried to use a Quicktime tag and display it on my thumbnail (so I could see if it was shot with an Iphone).  I found the tag displayed using EXIFtools (see attachment).  I made sure I was asking IMATCH to bring it in and then I edited my layout as I did with "Compressor" in my earlier issue that finally worked.  After I finished my layout I did a CNTRL SHFT F5 and did a reload of the metadata and also a force update but nothing appeared.  I also tried different header and footer positions.  I ran Database Diagnostics and I also looked into the log but found no clues there.

Since EXIFtools found "QuickTime::Keys\model\Model\0" and displayed it as an "Iphone"  I have determined that I am doing something wrong (I hope it is not something silly). 

My attachment shows everything I did.  The only other thing I though it could be was my Protection under Edit/Preferences but I chnaged it to no and then changed it back and it did not make any difference (see attach).

If you could be so kind as to take a look I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!

Kiwilink

[Mario]

Did you try your variable in the Var Toy App? What does it show?

[kiwilink]

Hi Mario:

I did not get anything back from VARTOY (See Attached).

Thanks!

Kiwilink

[jch2103]

I'm sorry to ask for more help on tags because I thought I had this all figured out.  I tried to use a Quicktime tag and display it on my thumbnail (so I could see if it was shot with an Iphone).  I found the tag displayed using EXIFtools (see attachment). 

It looks like Vartoy didn't display anything because those QuickTime tags don't contain any information for files in your database. Have you tried the standard EXIF Make and Model tags? At least for the iPhone images I have, {File.MD.Exif::Main\272\Model\0} seems to provide the phone information in my layout window (along with other cameras).

As previously noted, metadata is a mess, especially where QuickTime is concerned...

[kiwilink]

jch2103:

Thanks for the response.  I tried the standard EXIF Make and Model tags and nothing returned.  The part that confused me is why the EXIFtool returns the model.  I tried a lot of the model tags and I went to Edit/Preferences and clicked on several that said model.  I'm not sure if I need to run Database Diagnostics each time I go to Edit/Preferences and turn on a new tag or not.  Maybe there is something else I have to do that I'm missing.

Thanks!

Kiwilink

[David_H]

jch2103:

Thanks for the response.  I tried the standard EXIF Make and Model tags and nothing returned.  The part that confused me is why the EXIFtool returns the model.  I tried a lot of the model tags and I went to Edit/Preferences and clicked on several that said model.  I'm not sure if I need to run Database Diagnostics each time I go to Edit/Preferences and turn on a new tag or not.  Maybe there is something else I have to do that I'm missing.

If you add a tag in the tag manager, you'll need to reimport the metadata from your files so the tag data is actually imported into the database - otherwise it'll only bring things in for new files when they are imported.

[Mario]

If you add a tag in the tag manager, you'll need to reimport the metadata from your files so the tag data is actually imported into the database - otherwise it'll only bring things in for new files when they are imported.

Important point!
After changing the tag manager options, select your files and press Shift+Ctrl+F5 > Reload Metadata.

Also: Please upload a sample file somewhere and post a link or send a file to my support email address
If I can see the metadata in your files, I may be able to tell you more.

The default EXIF make and model is always imported by IMatch (and mapped to XMP). QuickTime is a very messy and moving target, it depends on the device and firmware which data you get in your files.
If you can see it in the ExifTool output, you can also see it in IMatch. If may be that you have to enable individual tags in the Tag Manager not normally imported by IMatch, though.

[kiwilink]

Mario:

Thanks for the reply.  I sent you an email with a link to a dropbox folder so you can copy one of the .Mov files I was referring to. 

David_H:  Thanks for the reply.  After I went to Edit/Preferences and checked the tag I did then go to the .Mov file and I pressed Shift+Ctrl+F5 to reload the Metadata but it still did not appear.  I also did a force update.  I get a message from IMATCH that says "You have configured options to protect unwritten metadata and/or rating and label under Edit>Preferences>Metadata2.  These options are also effective for this metadata import."

Thanks for the response!

Kiwilink

[Mario]

Enable QuickTime::Item List in the Tag Manager.
Then you can access the tags make and model in IMatch.

Apple does a real lousy job with metadata (and not only there). Thankfully ExifTool digs this data out and make it accessible.

See: https://sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/TagNames/QuickTime.html

[kiwilink]

Mario:

Thank you so much for the answer.  After I enabled it I used VarToy and started out trying all of the ItemList variables that had Model in it until I finally found it (it was {File.MD.QuickTime::ItemList\1.3\Model\0}).

I tried all of these and none of them were it.
{File.MD.QuickTime::ItemList\1.2\Make\0}{File.MD.QuickTime::ItemList\2.3\Model\0}{File.MD.QuickTime::ItemList\1.2\Model\0}{File.MD.QuickTime::ItemList\2.4\Model\0}{File.MD.QuickTime::ItemList\2.3\Model\0}{File.MD.QuickTime::ItemList\2.2\Model\0}{File.MD.QuickTime::ItemList\2.1\Model\0}{File.MD.QuickTime::ItemList\1.5\Model\0}{File.MD.QuickTime::ItemList\2.5\Model\0}{File.MD.QuickTime::ItemList\1.1\CaptureMode\0}

I'm not sure how you found out that the Camera Model was buried in the QuickTime::Item List.  I had previously went to the page you referred me to and I began looking for the tag "model" and found it in about 30 different places. 

Without your help I probably would have never found it so thank you very much.  I have attached a jpg of what my thumbnail looks like now with the model displayed in case someone else is interested in it. 


Thanks Again Mario

Kiwilink

[Mario]

I'm not sure how you found out that the Camera Model was buried in the QuickTime::Item List.

I googled for ExifTool QuickTime and this leads to the page I have linked to in my reply. Searching for make on that page gives you the ItemList group and the tags it contains.

Note: Keep in mind that these are proprietary Apple tags. The one you use even contains a version number so it is very likely that different videos may use different tags to store the same info. It depends on the device, firmware and maybe the software you have used to process your files. Apple is not very forthcoming with all that and not even their own applications support all formats variants Apple produced over time. Not even starting with metadata...

XMP, as the de-factor standard, has extensive support for all kinds of metadata related to video. Why Apple does not embed a clean XMP record in video files and still insists on the crappy and 20 year old QuickTime metadata is beyond me. This only creates problems. But Apple users usually don't know or care about such things. As long as it works inside the Apple world, all is well...

[Jingo]

But Apple users usually don't know or care about such things. As long as it works inside the Apple world, all is well...

Think you nailed it right there... why change something when 0.01% of the user base cares?  Most never even look at their photos outside of social media posts let along know about XMP or metadata.

[Mario]

(...) Most never even look at their photos outside of social media posts let along know about XMP or metadata.

Right. And all is well until you need/want/have to work with your files with a non-Apple app. And then learn some things the hard way.
This is not an Apple-only problem, though. But its just that everything is extra special in the Apple world - from proprietary patent-infested file formats to crappy metadata to 'no more headphone jacks' on iPhones...and their "If we don't have/support it, you don't need it" attitude.

My real problem with all that proprietary, partially or even implemented only 30% of the standard approaches is that, in the end, the sh*t hits the fan in IMatch.
And users for the first time see the sad shape their files/metadata is in.

And then expect from IMatch/me to somehow fix it, guide them, explain it to them etc. And I have literally wasted years of my life with this already. And we all would be lost without the work Phil Harvey does on Exiftool. THANKS, PHIL.

[jch2103]

And we all would be lost without the work Phil Harvey does on Exiftool. THANKS, PHIL.

Indeed!