MediaInfo(Lib) 0.7 - Reading information about media files

[vlada]

A little OT: I think that speeding up video for PAL is done on almost all PAL DVDs. And I think it is the correct solution. Playing the movie a little faster is better then duplicating a frame (which isn't fluent). Of course this is not a good solution for musical movies because of the audio speed-up.

[hvda]

(1) I used the GUI version of MediaInfo for about a year to catalogue my video collection, and I thought I understood the information I got. Example: I thought that "General" information (such as "Complete Name", "File size" "Overall bitrate") are attributes attributes at the top level, related to the container, and that by consequence their could not be multiple occurences of General attributes for one single container (as opposed to eg Audio or Menu attributes, which can have multiple occurences).
This seemed at that time to be confirmed by the layout of csv exports: the Heading line in the .csv file goes like this (simplified) : "General ... Video 0...Audio 0 ....Audio 1 ....Audio 3 ...." (ie : NO occurence number for General).

(2) Now I started exploring/testing the DLL version (0.7.7.4) of this wonderful tool with VBE 2005.

-> Here comes my problem : I found that for StreamKind 0 = "General" one of the "General" parameters is "GeneralCount" (comment: number of General Streams).
If my interpretation is correct, this would mean that their can be multiple "General" streams in a container ? And each General stream having its own occurence with different values for the General parameters ?

Could someone please explain this, because I really do not understand the concept of multiple General streams in a container: I tought (cfr para 1) there is only one.
(what is even more confusing : if I do MediaInfo_Get's with the parameter "GeneralCount", the result is always [empty] (ie 0); I expected at least the result to be 1).

Thanks for giving some explanations (and perhaps an example based on say a matroska container).

[Zenitram]

Originally Posted by hvda

Could someone please explain this, because I really do not understand the concept of multiple General streams in a container: I tought (cfr para 1) there is only one.

Currently, there is no files with more than one "General" stream.
But:
- The interface is for all kinds of streams, General and Video and Audio and so on. All of this streams ("General" included) are in an unique internal database, with a number for each stream of each kind of stream. This number is unuseful for the "General" stream, but it is easier to have only one programming interface for all streams, so the "General" stream need a number too. Removing this number for General stream would create a more complex interface for requesting info (even more in C than in C++, because I can overload methods in C!)
- Maybe later, I will add a support for more than one "General" stream, but I don't know currently what ;-)
- For Matroska with multiple videos in it, it would be maybe better to add a "menu" stream, as I do for MPEG-TS with multiple programs. But I don't like this possiblility in MKV, this is strange to have multiple independant and not in synchro videos in one file... So a copy of what I do in MPEG-Ts is maybe not a good solution. I am thinking about a way to implement this in MediaInfo, this and the problem of multiple .mp3 in a ZIP file too... If someone has an idea of how to show this kind of files, I am interested ;-)

Originally Posted by hvda

(what is even more confusing : if I do MediaInfo_Get's with the parameter "GeneralCount", the result is always [empty] (ie 0); I expected at least the result to be 1).

This is a bug, I don't currently fill this field.
I will try to think to add it.
A workaround is to use MediaInfo::Get(Stream_General, 0, "StreamCount")

[hvda]

Thank you so much for your immediate and extensive reply.

Originally Posted by Zenitram

Currently, there is no files with more than one "General" stream

I hope to live long enough to see one; I suppose that will also create the need for another/new streamkind, say "Root" or something like that...

Originally Posted by Zenitram

..., but it is easier to have only one programming interface for all streams, so the "General" stream need a number too.

That I can understand perfectly well.

Originally Posted by Zenitram

This is a bug....A workaround is to use MediaInfo::Get(Stream_General, 0, "StreamCount")

Thank you, this will put me on track again.

[STaRGaZeR]

Zenitram, I have a question, sorry if this has been answared before. Using Vista x64 and MediaInfo GUI for Win32. If the files are associated with WMP or BSplayer for example, MediaInfo is shown directly when you right-click the file. But if the files are associated with MPC-HC then it doesn't, you have to do 'Open with...' and then select MediaInfo. Is this a bug or something else?

Also, can we have a x64 GUI?

Thanks for this great tool, a must have

[Zenitram]

Originally Posted by STaRGaZeR

Zenitram, Ihave a question, sorry if this has been answared before. Using Vista x64 and MediaInfo GUI for Win32. If the files are associated with WMP or BSplayer for example, MediaInfo is show directly when you right-click the file. But if the files are associated with MPC-HC then it doesn't, you have to do 'Open with...' and then select MediaInfo. Is this a bug or something else?

Extension association on Windows is quite difficult to manage
I didn't understand well yet all the "functionnalities" of the registry for this.
I will install mpc-hc to see what it erase about what I did in the registry.

[STaRGaZeR]

Originally Posted by Zenitram

Extension association on Windows is quite difficult to manage
I didn't understand well yet all the "functionnalities" of the registry for this.
I will install mpc-hc to see what it erase about what I did in the registry.

Thanks, installed and standalone versions are the same for me.

[vlada]

Hi Zenitram,
I have a (hopefully) small feature request. I'm now using MediaInfo library to read tags from audio files. It works perfectly for me, except one thing - I can't get some tag fields. It is ReplayGain. I think it is because foobar2000 (and other players probably too) store 2 values - track gain and album gain. The other information I can't read is playback statistics, foobar2000 uses these fields: %first_played%, %last_played%, %played_per_day%, %play_count%, %added%. The last information I'm missing is rating.

Could you please implement reading of these tag values at least for MP3 and Ogg Vorbis? Thank you very much.

[Zenitram]

Originally Posted by vlada

I can't get some tag fields.

Please provide me examples files with theses tags (at least one of each format), and I will integrate this quickly.
I can provide a FTP access for uploading if requested.

[clsid]

Found a typo: "warpoints" should be "warppoints"

[Zenitram]

Originally Posted by clsid

Found a typo: "warpoints" should be "warppoints"

Should be already corrected in official version 0.7.7.4 (at least).
If not, warn me.

[vlada]

Originally Posted by Zenitram

Please provide me examples files with theses tags (at least one of each format), and I will integrate this quickly.

Here are the samples: http://www.sendspace.com/file/1ow76f (only 120 kB). There are 3 files - MP3, Ogg Vorbis and flac.

I'm not sure if there is a standard on how to tag Matroska files. There should be apparently one album gain tag for the whole file, but one track gain for every chapter (track). Also the play counter should be independent for every track. I will probably discuss this with Matroska developers later.

[Zenitram]

Originally Posted by vlada

The other information I can't read is playback statistics, foobar2000 uses these fields: %first_played%, %last_played%, %played_per_day%, %play_count%, %added%. The last information I'm missing is rating.

This info was already available in MediaInfo ;-)
See with the GUI, example for the .mp3:

(...)
last_played_timestamp            : 128634480972656250
play_count                       : 3
first_played_timestamp           : 128634480552187500
added_timestamp                  : 128634479293750000
replaygain_album_gain            : -1.79 dB
replaygain_album_peak            : 0.953469
replaygain_track_gain            : -1.79 dB
replaygain_track_peak            : 0.953469
(...)

You just have to use theses "words" to retrieve info (they are the raw names from the custom Id3v2 tags) when MediaInfo soes not support specific tags.

Anyway, I added support for theses items in the last development snapshot, at least version 20080817:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/med...utInstaller.7z

Example for the .mp3:
General

Complete name                    : F:\Programmation\MediaInfoLib_CrashTest\Nominal\Tags\Id3v2\ReplayGain\sample.mp3
Format                           : MPEG Audio
File size                        : 49.9 KiB
Duration                         : 3s 49ms
Overall bit rate                 : 128 Kbps
Album replay gain                : -1.79 dB
Album replay gain peak           : 0.953469
Album                            : Samples
Track name                       : mp3
Performer                        : Me
Writing library                  : LAME3.94 (alpha)
Added date                       : UTC 2002-07-05 17:05:01.750
First playing                    : UTC 2002-07-05 17:26:00.187
Last playing                     : UTC 2002-07-05 17:33:00.656
Count of playings                : 3

Audio
Format                           : MPEG Audio
Format version                   : Version 1
Format profile                   : Layer 3
Duration                         : 3s 49ms
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 1 channel
Sampling rate                    : 44.1 KHz
Resolution                       : 16 bits
Replay gain                      : -1.79 dB
Replay gain peak                 : 0.953469
Writing library                  : LAME3.94 (alpha)

Some notes:
- I am not sure of the "english words" to use, if you have a better proposition, don't hesitate.
- I didn't succeed to use Foobar2000+Playback Statistics for writting stats in a file, so I can't verify if the date is good, please confirm. I am not sure about the signification of the raw value for the date, I think this is the count of nanoseconds since 1st January, 1601 (this kind of value is already used elsewehre...), if not I need a better proposition.
- %played_per_day% is not in your files. (maybe it is the play_count/(last_played_timestamp-first_played_timestamp) )

[Schrade]

English suggestions:

First playing -> First played
Last playing -> Last played
Count of playings -> Times played

[vlada]

Thanks a lot for your incredibly fast reply and implementation.

1) My English is quite poor, so I can't help. :-(
2) The timestamp was a mystery to me. So I searched through the Internet and your information is correct except of the fact that those are 100 nanoseconds (divide by 10 000 000 to get seconds). The date 01/01/1601 is correct too, but your result is six years off. It should point to today around noon. I have no idea what could be the problem, I tried to calculate it myself and it came out correctly: 128634472997656250/(365.24*24*3600*10000000) = 407. 1601+407 = 2008.
3) Yes, I noticed that his tag is not in the files. It's listed at http://foobar2000.org/components/, maybe it's not implemented yet, I really don't know. Personally I have no use for this tag.

[pjo]

Hi! I am having a difficulty to read an .m2ts file. It has AAC5.1 audio.

In the dialogue to specify the file, .m2ts is not displayed.

Does MediaInfo support m2ts file ?

pjo

[Zenitram]

About ReplayGain:

Oh, yes, I forgot tha this is the count of 100-nanoseconds!
So, thanks to Schrade, the output in the next development snapshot will be:

General
Complete name                    : F:\Programmation\MediaInfoLib_CrashTest\Nominal\Tags\Id3v2\ReplayGain\sample.mp3
Format                           : MPEG Audio
File size                        : 49.9 KiB
Duration                         : 3s 49ms
Overall bit rate                 : 128 Kbps
Album replay gain                : -1.79 dB
Album replay gain peak           : 0.953469
Album                            : Samples
Track name                       : mp3
Performer                        : Me
Writing library                  : LAME3.94 (alpha)
Added date                       : UTC 2008-08-17 11:58:49.375
First played                     : UTC 2008-08-17 12:00:55.218
Last played                      : UTC 2008-08-17 12:01:37.265
Times played                     : 3

Audio
Format                           : MPEG Audio
Format version                   : Version 1
Format profile                   : Layer 3
Duration                         : 3s 49ms
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 1 channel
Sampling rate                    : 44.1 KHz
Resolution                       : 16 bits
Replay gain                      : -1.79 dB
Replay gain peak                 : 0.953469
Writing library                  : LAME3.94 (alpha)

[Zenitram]

Originally Posted by pjo

Does MediaInfo support m2ts file ?

BDAV (Blu-ray) or normal TS files are both supported.
If one stream is not detected, please provide an example (some megabytes).
I can provide a FTP access if requested.

[pjo]

Originally Posted by Zenitram

BDAV (Blu-ray) or normal TS files are both supported.
If one stream is not detected, please provide an example (some megabytes).
I can provide a FTP access if requested.

Merci, Please provide the ftp info.

With what tool shall I cut the first several megabytes ?

pjo

[pjo]

Originally Posted by Zenitram

BDAV (Blu-ray) or normal TS files are both supported.
If one stream is not detected, please provide an example (some megabytes).
I can provide a FTP access if requested.

Yes. Here is the link to the first 16877KB of the .m2ts.

http://rapidshare.de/files/40262409/...tted.m2ts.html

The first few seconds portion is an ending of a news show with mono AAC (probably), then the main show starts with AAC5.1.

After cutting the news portion with tsMuxeR, the main show is really AAC5.1 when played with MPC without using ffdshow.