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Daily Mac App: MetaX
While getting ready for my husband's move to the US from the UK, we've both been digitizing our DVD collections so it's less for him to haul, and I gain extra room for what he does bring. What I'm using to tag the files for easy browsing in iTunes and on the Apple TV is MetaX. We wrote a tutorial on using the meta-tagging program in 2009, and it pretty much holds true still in Lion. Drag a video file into the program and you can search for associated tags through tagChimp and Amazon, or write your own. If the file isn't in iTunes, it'll copy or add it to your library based on your settings. To edit an existing file in iTunes, right-click the file, select "Reveal in Finder," and drag the file to MetaX. It'll replace the one in iTunes. If you're using Handbrake, you can set the preferences in Handbrake to send a file straight to MetaX once it's done ripping or converting it. There's a robust feature set in MetaX, including various browsers to aid your search for tags and cover art, a frame grabber if you'd rather use a still from your video file and a barcode scanner for using the DVD packaging to search for tags. There are a few glitches. Sometimes, the file will have two entries in the iTunes library. Delete the duplicate entry, but do not delete the file. I learned this one the hard way when I accidentally deleted the iTunes copy and had to rerip part of a DVD. The tag search also tends to stop after a period of time, but relaunching MetaX will take care of that. MetaX is a free download, and it's worth checking out if you're considering digitizing the DVDs you already own.
Batch tagging your iTunes videos the easy way
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - William Shakespeare, Romeo and JulietIf we applied Shakespeare's logic to today's digital age, then it would also mean that watching mis-tagged or untagged videos on your Apple device (be it a Mac, iPhone, iPod or Apple TV) would be just as enjoyable. Okay, you got me, they'd probably be just as good. But this doesn't mean you're excused from tagging your videos appropriately.First, a bit of background. The vast majority of videos purchased from the iTunes store, as well as "digital copy" (iPod/iPhone pre-formatted videos that are sometimes included on DVDs and Blu-Ray discs), will come pre-tagged. So, the situation for those in this camp (myself included) is peachy, especially when using an Apple TV. Your videos show up on the screen screen with proper titles, season and episode numbers, actors, and descriptions. Just the way Steve likes 'em.But what if you already own the DVD and want a version for your iTunes library? For those of you with the time and patience to rip an MPEG-4 version (and believe me, this takes some patience, especially if you use H.264 encoding) of your favorite videos, a HandBrake-MetaX martini make tagging your videos a bit more of a pleasurable experience - as if it wasn't fun enough already.
