MKV Tagging/Video Manager...GUI

[jfcarbel]

2017-10-25
Mp3tag v2.85 — This version adds support for Matroska (MKA/MKV) and improves handling of multi-track files.

Also looks like MKV Buddy is turning into Media-Buddy by developer and will support much more.

Also noticed that ffmpeg includes a tool called ffprobe which can dump all the metadata.

I am going to look at these 2 again and compare to MetaX. Comments welcome. I will also update the list in my original post above.

[hubblec4]

Hi jfcarbel

My chapterEditor has a Matroska Tags editor with full Matroska specs support on board.

[Wakaku]

Hello. For my many, many Matroska videos (MKV), I use the following below. Though Matroska I believe has two unique metadata: the quite limited HEADER tags and the apparently unlimited embeddable XML tags.

1. JMkvpropedit (uses MKVToolNix's mkvpropedit.exe CLI, and latest v1.4.3 requires JRE up to v10.0.1)

To BATCH add/edit Matroska HEADER tags (not embedded XML tags). Can also embed attachments. Very handy, time saver. Note though, JMkvpropedit is more useful to "add" Header tags. To delete existing Header tags, it's more useful to use MKVToolNix GUI's Header Editor (see below).

2. Mp3tag

To BATCH add/edit/delete Matroska embedded XML tags (not HEADER tags). Conveniently, it would also include XML tags connected to the Chapters if the video has such. Thus no need to create an external XML file from scratch anymore. So far Mp3tag can not yet embed or remove existing Matroska covers, but it can display them. Very handy, time saver.

3. chapterEditor

To further add/edit/delete and make corrections to those embedded XML tags (not Header tags). Can also handle Chapters. Best tool to connect or correct the UID's of the XML tags and the Chapters. Just very, very powerful.

4. MKVToolNix GUI's Header Editor

To individually add/edit/delete/embed or make corrections to covers, attachments, and Header tags (not XML tags). Can also handle Chapters. Best tool to connect the UID's of the XML tags (which were added/edited by Mp3tag/chapterEditor earlier) to the multiple embedded covers for example. Very powerful.

I also recommend to re-mux the Matroska (MKV) files using MKVToolNix after editing their tags/covers/attachments (especially Header tags) with JMkvpropedit (since it relies on MKVToolNix's mkvpropedit.exe) and especially MKVToolNix GUI's Header Editor.

For example, the embedded XML tags and covers would not be shown by MediaInfo anymore, and sometimes Avidemux would have difficulty seeking with such edited MKV files. But after re-muxing with MKVToolNix, such issues are gone.

[jfcarbel]

Thanks all for keeping me updated on developments in this area and new options.

Wakaku, great detailed post. What is Matroska HEADER vs XML tags as not sure I follow and Matroska spec is kind of confusing to try and understand fully.

Also discovered MKV & MP4 Video Manager (MP4, MKV) - Not free, 25 EURO. I will need to start giving this one some tests and also looking at chapterEditor.
For those using chapterEditor does it cover most of the features of MetaX from perspective of MKV? I am pretty much using MKV primarily now.

Updated my original post in the begin of thread. Happy 2019!

[jfcarbel]

Originally Posted by hubblec4

Hi jfcarbel

My chapterEditor has a Matroska Tags editor with full Matroska specs support on board.

I will definitely start giving this a look. When was this introduced? I guess I missed it as tagging option due to nature of the name.

Any big plans for 2019 for the tool you are planning in terms of tagging?

[hubblec4]

Full Matroska Tags editor is implemented since rev1.xx. In the old cE(0.51) has also a Matroska Tags editor but not with full Matroska support.
chapterEditor is more than a chapter editor and "MatroskaWorkbench" could now be a better name.

Yes, more tagging features are planed.


Edit:
Matroska HEADER
I guess Wakaku means the Matroska SegmentInfo section which have some elements to use for tagging.
This elements can be inserted/changed by mkvpropedit (or any other software which uses mkvpropedit).

Mosu provided 3 sections of Matroska as external xml files. SegmentInfo, Chapters and Tags.
With editing SegmentInfo you can change certain elements like the Title of an mkv.
On my TODO list is also a SegmentInfo editor like Tags/Chapters editors but with a very low priority, because I don't need it for tagging. For me is the SegmentInfo interesting because of processing for Matroska menu.

[Wakaku]

Long post!

Originally Posted by jfcarbel

I am pretty much using MKV primarily now.

IMHO Matroska (especially MKV) is the best container we have today. You'll eventually discover yourself just how flexible and powerful it is as you use it more and more, just like me. For example by just a mere tag/metadata (though unofficial) you could losslessly auto-rotate your video during playback just like MP4, though only via media players which recognize it, so far namely: MPC-HC (the very first one, the originator), MPC-BE (second), and PotPlayer (third).

In my experience it is also the most... most durable? For example after quite the few times I lost my hard disks due to hardware failure, the corrupted AVI's and WMV's I recovered were unplayable by my favorite players, but the MKV counterparts were still. Even if those MKV's got cut short, beginning part, midway, or ending part, mostly are still playable.

Originally Posted by jfcarbel

What is Matroska HEADER vs XML tags as not sure I follow and Matroska spec is kind of confusing to try and understand fully.

Well I must first admit that I am just a Matroska User as well, so I might be inaccurate. I can't remember if I was the one who called them Header tags, maybe I got it from someone else or from other sites, but I do call them Header tags myself especially because in the MKVToolNix package, such tags can be edited by MKVToolNix GUI's Header Editor (the Header editor tab).

I assume the metadata that you could put and edit in the Header Editor are the Header tags. For example: Title, Date, Name, Language, cover.jpg, attachments, etc. Also doable via the inluded CLI's. JMkvpropedit (batch capability) primarily can add or replace exisiting Header tags, but can't display them in its own GUI. MKVToolNix can display any existing ones and edit too, but no batch handling.

The XML tags are actual XML text files which could be embedded into an MKV (or MKA). If I understood Mr. Hubblec4 correctly, are converted when embedded. Quite far back, I used to create XML files from scratch using a text editor then embed them into my MKV's using MKVToolNix (GUI or the CLI). So far MKVToolNix itself cannot view or edit them like an editor, it can only embed the XML files. So best to do so graphically via Mp3tag (batch capability, even recursive) and chapterEditor (powerful, especially for advanced needs).

In the Matroska website, there are many suggested XML tags to use (as Standard tags), but you can also use your own as many as they could be unlike the Header tags above earlier. For example I use LOCATION to put the venue/location of the event. Of course most importantly, ROTATE, which could be used on the video track to losslessly auto-rotate it during playback (eg. 90, 180, 270 degrees). If the time comes that you would want this simple rotation tag, I'll post it, though I think I already posted it in chapterEditor's Doom9 thread. And so IMO, the XML tags are virtually limitless.

I think just this Dec. 2018, Mr. Hubblec4 suggested to the Matroska people about formal Matroska rotation, thus approriate Header equivalents are/were considered.

Originally Posted by jfcarbel

For those using chapterEditor does it cover most of the features of MetaX from perspective of MKV?

Sadly, I don't use MetaX. Via Google Search, it was one the few taggers suggested a few years ago when Mp3tag had no support for Matroska yet, and I can't remember if chapterEditor already existed back as well. Thus back then I use MKVToolNix to embed my external XML files created form text editors. IIRC, I downloaded MetaX to try it back then but it was crippleware?

Squeezing my memory, I think Mp3tag is the closest to MetaX. But only if MetaX handles XML tags just like Mp3tag. Don't know if MetaX has batch capability though. But when it comes to advanced XML tag editing and more, then chapterEditor is the one. Sooner or later you'll want more, and chapterEditor is the best candidate.

That's why when it comes to XML tags, I first use Mp3tag to batch tag my numerous MKV's, then use chapterEditor for further editing not possible from other XML taggers.

SO I RECOMMEND, that you copy an MKV file as test/dummy file, then tag it with Mp3tag. Mp3tag is so far the safest of all the Matroska XML taggers I used, as so far I never encountered any Matroska tag corruption or actual MKV video file corruption, and it has undo capability as well. If you haven't used this editor before, then just tag the MKV with the default offerings of Mp3tag. After you got accustomed to Mp3tag, you could customize the app for more potential tagging not initialy offered out of the box.

After you are done with Mp3tag, open that same MKV into chapterEditor's Matroska Tools (Matroska Tags), and you'll see the difference of their capabilities. They're both very powerful in their own right.

NOW for the Header tags, try first with MKVToolNix GUI's very own Header Editor. Then sooner you'll want batch capability, and JMkvpropedit is the one.

Originally Posted by jfcarbel

Happy 2019!

Happy New Year to you too my friend (and to everyone as well).

[Wakaku]

Also in my experience, so far Mp3tag is one of only two taggers that can put Emojis as metadata. For XML tags, Mp3tag can read any existing and write new emojis. Mp3tag cannot display it though. It displays it as empty boxes, though I think choosing a different Windows font is a workaround.

For the Header tag counterpart, MKVToolNix's Header Editor can put Emojis too, but I can't remember if it can read existing ones. After saving, the emoji display is changed to black diamond with a white questionmark in the center though. Mojibake? But if you remux that same MKV using MKVToolNix, the emojis are lost.

To verify that the emojis are really saved in the MKV, use MediaInfo via its HTML View. Other views would not be able to display the emojis.

[hubblec4]

Originally Posted by Wakaku

...
The XML tags are actual XML text files which could be embedded into an MKV (or MKA). If I understood Mr. Hubblec4 correctly, are converted when embedded.
...

The xml file itself is not embedded to an mkv. Mkvmerge reads the xml file an set all elements and values directly into an mkv.

For example: all times in an xml file are expressed with HH:MM:SS.ns but this time-string can't be used in an mkv.

[Wakaku]

Originally Posted by hubblec4

The xml file itself is not embedded to an mkv. Mkvmerge reads the xml file an set all elements and values directly into an mkv.

For example: all times in an xml file are expressed with HH:MM:SS.ns but this time-string can't be used in an mkv.

Well, it was the easiest to explain from a User like me to someone quite new to Matroska user-tagging like him. You most probably still understood me no matter how inaccurate the terms I used, and I hope he understood me as well. I wouldn't be able to understand nor explain it myself if I instead researched scientifically as possible, so I relied on my own plain User experience.

[hubblec4]

@ Wakaku

It seams that ExoPlayer has implemented native rotation support for mkv files with the ProjectionPoseRoll element.