Best Video format to convert to for meta data within the file

[chrisn]

I have been searching the forum to get ideas on this but most refer to older versions of exiftool so things may have changed.
The reason I am asking the question is that in a tidy up of my photos I have noticed that Lightroom does not seem to be detecting a capture date within the files so I have ended up with multiple copies of some videos against different dates.
My plan is to get them all converted to one common format that will allow some exif data to be stored in them (i just prefer that to sidecar files).
All comments suggestions welcome

[Phil Harvey]

I have been searching the forum to get ideas on this but most refer to older versions of exiftool so things may have changed.

Generally, all old ideas should still work, but there may be new capabilities that make things easier now.

The reason I am asking the question is that in a tidy up of my photos I have noticed that Lightroom does not seem to be detecting a capture date within the files

See this thread for details about the metadata that Lightroom uses.

- Phil

[StarGeek]

See this thread for details about the metadata that Lightroom uses.

To be fair, I didn't test videos in that thread and I only have the older 4.4 version of LR.

The reason I am asking the question is that in a tidy up of my photos I have noticed that Lightroom does not seem to be detecting a capture date within the files so I have ended up with multiple copies of some videos against different dates.

One problem with Adobe with regards to video files is that they don't correctly read the embedded time stamps.  The CreateDate and ModifyDate are supposed to be set to UTC, but Adobe reads them as is without adjusting them.

My plan is to get them all converted to one common format that will allow some exif data to be stored in them (i just prefer that to sidecar files).

As exiftool really only edits data in MP4/MOV videos, there isn't much to choose from with regards to exiftool.

Minor nitpick, EXIF data in videos is non-standard.  Most data in video files is QuickTime metadata.  All EXIF data is metadata but not all metadata is EXIF data.

[chrisn]

Thanks for the feedback, interestingly some of the worst duplication is MP4 files from a Sony phone.
Lightroom seems to be taking the date for filing the video from the file modified date from when it was downloaded rather than either of the create dates in the Quicktime Metadata. (see below)

What would be the command to copy the Quicktime create dates into these tags EXIF:DateTimeOriginal, IPTC:DateCreated, IPTC:TimeCreated, XMP:DateCreated to see if that cures the problem.


---- ExifTool ----
ExifTool Version Number         : 11.77
---- File ----
File Name                       : MOV_0097-2.mp4
Directory                       : /Users/*****/Data/All_Photos/****Xperia_SP_photos/2019/2019-01-07
File Size                       : 3.2 MB
File Modification Date/Time     : 2019:01:07 11:23:24+00:00
File Access Date/Time           : 2020:12:10 16:43:36+00:00
File Inode Change Date/Time     : 2020:12:01 20:24:29+00:00
File Permissions                : rwxr-----
File Type                       : MP4
File Type Extension             : mp4
MIME Type                       : video/mp4
---- QuickTime ----
Major Brand                     : MP4  Base Media v1 [IS0 14496-12:2003]
Minor Version                   : 0.0.0
Compatible Brands               : isom, 3gp4
Movie Header Version            : 0
Create Date                     : 2018:01:18 12:16:35
Modify Date                     : 2018:01:18 12:16:35
Time Scale                      : 1000
Duration                        : 1.20 s
Preferred Rate                  : 1
Preferred Volume                : 100.00%
Preview Time                    : 0 s
Preview Duration                : 0 s
Poster Time                     : 0 s
Selection Time                  : 0 s
Selection Duration              : 0 s
Current Time                    : 0 s
Next Track ID                   : 3
Track Header Version            : 0
Track Create Date               : 2018:01:18 12:16:35
Track Modify Date               : 2018:01:18 12:16:35

[StarGeek]

What would be the command to copy the Quicktime create dates into these tags EXIF:DateTimeOriginal, IPTC:DateCreated, IPTC:TimeCreated, XMP:DateCreated to see if that cures the problem.

As I said, EXIF is non-standard in video files.  Exiftool cannot edit these at this time, though I think Phil is working on editing, I don't know about creating.  IPTC Legacy doesn't exist in video files.

I don't have an up to date version of Lightroom, but I do have Bridge and I'd suspect that it would read the data in a similar way.

Adobe Bridge reads XMP:DateCreated and lists it as "Date Created" under IPTC Core.  It also lists under "Camera Data (Exif)" QuickTime:ModifyDate as "Date Time", Quicktime:CreateDate as "Date Time Digitized", and XMP:DateTimeOriginal as "Date Time Original".  It does not convert the two quicktime timestamps from UTC.  Under the GPS section, it lists XMP:GPSDateTime as "Time Stamp".  Under Audio it lists XMP-xmpDM:ReleaseDate as "Release Date".  Under Video it lists XMP-xmpDM:ShotDate as "Date Shot".  Under "File Properties", it lists FileModifyDate, the OS file timestamps, as "Date File Modified".  But "File Create Date" under that section is taken from the XMP:DateTimeOriginal rather than the FileCreateDate.

Bridge seemed to sort videos on the timestamp that was in the XMP:DateTimeOriginal, so that would be a good place to test and see if Lightroom does the same.