Media / Codec information shell extension

[ltwally]

The Windows 7 Explorer is pretty poor at digging out the details of multimedia files (avi, mpg, mp4, etc etc.). At best with most of these, Explorer can give you bitrate. And that's pretty much it.

I'd like Explorer to be able to tell me more. Things such as:
detailed codec information (including which profile, codec version, encoder, etc)
video resolution, aspect ratio, frame-rate and bit-rate
# of audio channels, ABR/CBR/VBR, presence of Dolby, bit-rate


Ideally this information should be made available in Windows Explorer as a Properties page, as columns in the Detailed View, and also to the Properties Footer when a compatible file is selected.

Now, that's my wish list. But I'll take what I can get... and right now I'm not finding a shell extension that gives me any of the above, except for the Matroska extension which only supports MKV files.


Anyone out there with suggestions?

[manolito]

You really never heard of MediaInfo?


Cheers
manolito

[ltwally]

You really never heard of MediaInfo?


Cheers
manolito

Nope. And it didn't fit the bill...

... but MediaTab mostly did. It'd be nice if it integrated more into Explorer (Detailed columns, footer properties), but the information it adds to the Properties page is quite good.

Thanks

[Atak_Snajpera]

you can also try my mediainfo gui. available in ripbot264 package in tools/mediainfo folder

[ltwally]

you can also try my mediainfo gui. available in ripbot264 package in tools/mediainfo folder

Just so we're clear -- this software is a shell extension, correct? I am absolutely not interested in a separate application. I am solely interested in extending the Windows Explorer functionality.

Thanks

[DarrellS]

Everyone seems to miss the "as Columns or in the Detailed View" part. I can get most of them in Windows Explorer but I cannot get anything for mp4. I use Icaros for Details and Media Preview for Thumbnails that Icaros doesn't show but Icaros (and every other properties handler, codec pack or registry hack I've found) does not support Details for mp4.

If Mediainfo would produce it's own columns and details handlers instead of just the right click shell menu, we'd be in business since most programs get the info that they show from mediainfo. Or, if Icaros supported mp4 properties.

Out of curiosity I put a v at the end of .mp4 (.mp4v) and it showed width and height but nothing for .mp4.

[DarrellS]

I guess I should've looked at the date before I replied. Oh well, it still pertains to Windows 7 after all these years.

[ltwally]

Everyone seems to miss the "as Columns or in the Detailed View" part. I can get most of them in Windows Explorer but I cannot get anything for mp4. I use Icaros for Details and Media Preview for Thumbnails that Icaros doesn't show but Icaros (and every other properties handler, codec pack or registry hack I've found) does not support Details for mp4.

If Mediainfo would produce it's own columns and details handlers instead of just the right click shell menu, we'd be in business since most programs get the info that they show from mediainfo. Or, if Icaros supported mp4 properties.

Out of curiosity I put a v at the end of .mp4 (.mp4v) and it showed width and height but nothing for .mp4.


DarrellS,

I never did find a satisfactory answer to this.

However, what I did discover was the following registry location(s):
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\%filetypehere%
(eg. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.mp4 )

Inside that location should be a string named "PreviewDetails". If it does not exist, create it.

That string contains various properties that can be used to control what you see in the Details Pane. No, it's not the Columns that we both want... but at least now you can customize the Details Pane.

This string is why the Details for your AVI might have different information than the details for your MP4, etc etc.

I'll have to see if I can dig out the possible values and post a link to them later... but you can get a pretty good idea of what you can do by examining what is already there and hitting Google.

[macgyverx]

DarrellS,

I never did find a satisfactory answer to this.

However, what I did discover was the following registry location(s):
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\%filetypehere%
(eg. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.mp4 )

Inside that location should be a string named "PreviewDetails". If it does not exist, create it.

That string contains various properties that can be used to control what you see in the Details Pane. No, it's not the Columns that we both want... but at least now you can customize the Details Pane.

This string is why the Details for your AVI might have different information than the details for your MP4, etc etc.

I'll have to see if I can dig out the possible values and post a link to them later... but you can get a pretty good idea of what you can do by examining what is already there and hitting Google.


I know this thread is now 10 months old, but did you ever find a way to register and alternate handler (like the the mediainfo.dll) as a new Windows Property sheet handler? I've also been looking for a way to get more detailed (Mediainfo) type fields to show up on a typical Windows details pane in Explorer. I've tried most of the default System properties I could find but none are as detailed as Mediainfo. The Infotip option is OK, but being able to add entries into the "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\SystemFileAssociations\.* PreviewDetails" for various media file types and have that show up on the details pane would be nice.

[wiak]

icaros has options for media info now
http://www.videohelp.com/software/Icaros
but i still prefer mediainfo
http://www.platzeck.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/mediainfo-ts-mpg2.png

[StainlessS]

Dont know what is wrong on VideoHelp linked page (Icaros) but both recent downloads are only 113KB (says should be about 6MB),
executing them seems to do little.
Click the developer site instead which will link to MagorGeeks download site which works OK.

EDIT: Links on VideoHelp (which look like links to exe file) are in fact html pages, so dont try to
use downloader to download, let it go through to browser download and will work ok.