Feature Request: Write Metadata back to MP4 files

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helmuthh
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Joined: 16 Feb 2022, 15:06

Feature Request: Write Metadata back to MP4 files

Post by helmuthh »

Filebot saves a lot of time in renaming files to a correct pattern and avoids errors in naming.
Unfortunately after that it is still required to put the metadata manually inside the files when you use Plex.
NFO and xattr are not supported and plugins do not work in current versions of Plex.
On top of that the new TV series agent pulls most of the data from MovieDB and for many TV shows it ignores any setting for TVDB. So the only way to preserve correct metadata from TVDB is to store it inside the MP4 files.
As Filebot already has pulled the data from TVDB for renaming and is already able to create NFO files with episode descriptions, it should be a reasonable amount of work to put the data back in the MP4 files.
For me that feature would double the saved time when I use Filebot.
Of course this should be optional, as not everyone wants his original files tampered with.

Thanks for your great work and best regards,
Helmut
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rednoah
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Re: Feature Request: Write Metadata back to MP4 files

Post by rednoah »

Plex does not require or expect embedded MP4 metadata, and if you have trouble with Plex displaying embedded titles, then you can just change that in the Plex preferences:
viewtopic.php?t=11344


:arrow: Writing MP4 metadata is generally not necessary for Plex, and modifying files might even create new issues entirely. However, if you really want to just write MP4 tags for some other reason, then there is a script for that:
viewtopic.php?p=44992#p44992


:!: The tags script requires the AtomicParsley command-line tools for writing MP4 tags
:idea: Please read the FAQ and How to Request Help.
helmuthh
Posts: 2
Joined: 16 Feb 2022, 15:06

Re: Feature Request: Write Metadata back to MP4 files

Post by helmuthh »

@rednoah
I'm sorry but most of this information regarding Plex is outdated. I deal with these problems for some weeks now.
The first link goes to a page where settings for the Plex legacy agents are explained. The current generation of agents ignore these settings completely. It is however possible to put a setting for "prefer local metadata" at the library level. In these cases the MP4 tags overwrite the false episode data from TMDB which is generally a bad source for TV shows.
But sometimes even the title of the TV show is wrong in the response from TMDB and Plex uses the TMDB over the foldername. If that happens, the only way is to put the whole TV show in a different library without any agent and use only local data.
There are some options to choose TVDB on the series level, but this doesn't work either for some shows.
For these cases it is very convenient to find a way to easily put the metadata inside the MP4 file. To do it during the rename process would be a very simple way because all metadata is already present.
I will check this scripting solution from the second link, but of course doing it in the UI would be much easier.
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rednoah
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Re: Feature Request: Write Metadata back to MP4 files

Post by rednoah »

Yes, the screenshot might be outdated, but the concept still applies. That said, I've never used MP4 tagged files with Plex, so I also don't know if if it generally makes things work better or worse.


:arrow: I'd start a thread in the Plex forums regarding best practices and MP4 tagging. We will probably want to hear from uses who have walked this path and hear of what they have found in the end:
https://forums.plex.tv/


:idea: The typical problem is that Plex displays the MKV title property from the file instead of the movie name / episode title. That's pretty annoying. But it's purely visual and not related to matching. I'm pretty sure Plex won't be getting any information from the MP4 tags that it can't already get from the file name, so I'm doubtful that MP4 tags are the solution you. That said, please try and report back with your findings.
:idea: Please read the FAQ and How to Request Help.
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