Changing "Shot on" date/time in MOV files

[pacman]

I have several .MOV files which are edited videos, so this unfortunately means that their "shot on" dates are wrong (they show when the video was edited, not when it was shot). I'd like to change this back to when it was shot (time and date).

I've tried to do that with numerous tools, but so far I've only been able to change the creation and modification dates. I haven't been able to figure it out myself from the manual and FAQ, but if EXIFtool can do the above, what do I enter in the command line?
Thanks 

[Phil Harvey]

See the QuickTime tags documentation for a complete list of tags recognized by ExifTool in MOV videos.  Writing is currently supported only for XMP tags and the tags listed as Writable in these tables.

- Phil

[pacman]

So in other words; there's no way for me to change the "shot on" date?
Is this a restriction in the MOV files themselves? I ask because I've tried countless tools which won't do it either.

Adobe Bridge (which I have to organize my photos/videos by date) and probably Adobe Lightroom as well will organize those videos incorrectly, but the strange thing is that in Bridge the tags that are wrong are named "Date created" ("Date file created" and "Date file modified" in Bridge on the other hand are the same as Mac OSX's "Created" and "Modified" dates and I've been able to change them without problems using a variety of tools (I haven't really understood EXIFtool yet but am working on it). I suppose "Date created" is what I've called the "Shot on" date?

What is an XMP tag? Does it mean that the XMP sidecar file in Adobe Bridge etc. can be edited with EXIFtool to update the "shot on" date and will override the MOV file's own date (as long as the image viewing software reads the XMP file)? How do I do this in EXIFtool, or is it something which is to be done in a proprietory manner in the image viewing software?

[Phil Harvey]

I don't know what tag "shot on" corresponds to.  It is likely that this is one of the date/time tags that Exiftool can change.  See FAQ 2 for help in determining the name of the tag.

When I mentioned XMP, I was talking about XMP embedded in the MOV file.  I can't help with what other software may be able to read this.  You should also read FAQ 3 to determine what tag you should be writing.

Let me know if you still can't figure it out after reading these FAQ's.

- Phil

[pacman]

Thanks for the FAQ pointers.
The term "shot on" is something I called it because I suspect Adobe have their own naming conventions.

I haven't yet understood the basics of EXIFtool, but once I get there I'll see what it reports about my MOV files, compare the dates and see what it calls the tag Adobe calls "Date created". I know some software names a tag "EXIF timestamp" which might be it, but I'm really just guessing. 

[pacman]

Using exiftool -s filename.mov I've been able to analyze the .MOV files and located the tag as "shotDate".
My understanding from what I've read and what you've told me is that this information can't be edited in the files themselves but in XMP sidecar files.
If this is correct, how do I use EXIFtool to change that date/time in the accompanying XMP file?

Will a future version possibly be able to change this tag in the MOV file itself, or is this a limitation to the file format, not EXIFtool?
Finally, will there be a graphic user interface available (I'm on the Mac OSX platform) which can do everything you can on the command line? I've tried PyEXIFtoolGUI, but it wouldn't even open my MOV files, so perhaps an official GUI might work better.

[Phil Harvey]

My understanding from what I've read and what you've told me is that this information can't be edited in the files themselves but in XMP sidecar files.

No.  ExifTool is able to embed XMP in MOV/MP4 videos.

- Phil

Edit: Added quote to clarify my response.

[pacman]

OK.
Thanks for helping look into this.