HD tag in iTunes

[iJoel]

Setting the media type to to tv show or music video, setting an identical cnID on both and flagging one of them as HD. (all done with mp4v2)

Dang it, no movie combinations.
That's unfortunate.
Well, when/if, iTunes ever get's HD movies I guess it will work in the same way.
So, I guess I could use the same method on some of my HD movies and hope that
iTunes get's updated to feature the same behaviour as TVShows/Music Vids.

[nightstrm]

No, just change it to movie once you import it. That's what delayed us figuring it out.

[iJoel]

No, just change it to movie once you import it. That's what delayed us figuring it out.

Really?
Haha, thanks nightstrm. ^__^

Won't be hard to incorporate that into my script.
Perfect

[nightstrm]

No, just change it to movie once you import it. That's what delayed us figuring it out.

Really?
Haha, thanks nightstrm. ^__^

Won't be hard to incorporate that into my script.
Perfect

Yep, we kept testing and testing and it wouldn't work... then someone got the bright idea to try importing an encode with a stik value (i.e. video type) other than 0 (movie) and viola!

It's completely an iTunes "bug", which will probably be fixed whenever iTunes starts selling HD movies.

[iJoel]

Yep, we kept testing and testing and it wouldn't work... then someone got the bright idea to try importing an encode with a stik value (i.e. video type) other than 0 (movie) and viola!

It's completely an iTunes "bug", which will probably be fixed whenever iTunes starts selling HD movies.

Works perfectly ha.
But it makes sense.
Kind of a silly error on there part.
I wonder when Apple is gonna get around to HD Movies.
;P

[jkbuster]

Hi,

I'm trying to do this with my videos but I don't know what the cnID tag is and how to change it with mp4tags. Can you please share some wisdom.

THANKS
JKB

[realityking]

The cnID is the internal catalog ID of the iTunes Store. You can find the number in iTunes store links but I you can also just make numbers up. Syntax is the same as the the one to add the HD tag, just replace the H with an I and the 1 with your cnId so it looks like this:
./mp4tags -I <thecnID> <thefilename>

[nightstrm]

The cnID is the internal catalog ID of the iTunes Store. You can find the number in iTunes store links but I you can also just make numbers up. Syntax is the same as the the one to add the HD tag, just replace the H with an I and the 1 with your cnId so it looks like this:
./mp4tags -I <thecnID> <thefilename>

Of course, if you make one up... make sure to pick one that isn't already in use in your catalog. I'm not 100% sure what would happen if you duplicate a cnID, but I sure don't want to find out.

So (using same value for cnID)...
./mp4tags -i tvshow -I <cnID> -H 1 "/path/to/file (HD).m4v"
./mp4tags -i tvshow -I <cnID> "/path/to/file.m4v"

... will tag the files so they are combined when imported into iTunes. I'd recommend doing this before using another utility (like MetaX) to insert other tags (although mp4tags can also do a lot of these if you're feeling adventurous with the CLI).

[iJoel]

The cnID is the internal catalog ID of the iTunes Store. You can find the number in iTunes store links but I you can also just make numbers up. Syntax is the same as the the one to add the HD tag, just replace the H with an I and the 1 with your cnId so it looks like this:
./mp4tags -I <thecnID> <thefilename>

Of course, if you make one up... make sure to pick one that isn't already in use in your catalog. I'm not 100% sure what would happen if you duplicate a cnID, but I

IIRC, when I was trying out values, it just won't import the new MP4 you tell it to if it already has that cnID in the Library.
Unless, of course, the HD Tag is the opposite of the one in it's library. But if it already has both HD & SD versions of the same cnID,
it won't import at all.

It was a little while back, but that's what I remember it doing in my testing.

[jkbuster]

Thanks for the help. I got it to work.

JKB

[bdigitalic]

Everytime i try to set the -I command, it tells me "-I unrecognized option" am i doing something wrong? I also don't see -I as one of the options in terminal.
I'm using the mac build linked from this thread.

Thanks

[realityking]

The build linked here doesn't support the cnID (-I), you need to build the current dev version yourself.

[bdigitalic]

Thanks, i thought i must have been something like that. I have xcode and downloaded the updated dev version. I'm a little clueless on how to build it, I've read the readme file and such, but is there a simple way to explain how to do it. When i type make install into terminal it gives me an error and says "permission denied"

Thanks

[realityking]

Navigate to the folder, type:
autoreconf -fiv && ./configure && make

Then you're set.

[bdigitalic]

Awesome, works great.

Thanks for your help

[LostOnTheLine]

I know this post is old, but since I spent a lot of time looking for this information, I'll put it here for anyone searching for it in the future.

• To build MP4v2 on a Mac, follow this tutorial http://www.thecheapgeek.org/creating-du ... s-in-itune
• On Windows it's a bit more complicated, but here's the basics: Decompress the archive (I use 7-Zip which is free) you may need to do it twice, once for the .bz2 & once for the .tar. In the folder will be a folder labeled 'vstudio9.0', goto that folder. Open the 'MP4v2.sln' solution file in Visual C++ 2008 or 2010 (The free "Express" edition is available @ http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/. 2010 will require a conversion wizard but it doesn't require you to do anything except click [Finish]. Goto [Build Solution] in either the [Debug] Menu or the [Build] menu depending on the version you're using & in the 'vstudio9.0' folder will be a folder labeled 'Debug' or 'Debug Static' which will contain your command line executables, along with some object files, debug files, & a DLL. Either run the command line from that folder or rename & move it to system folder so you can run it from any directory. it's not the cleanest way, but it works. (If you need to see the details goto http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums ... babdccde2e)
• MetaX now has the ability to write both the 'HD' tag & the 'cnID' atom. The later I only found out after writing it successfully with MP4v2 & going to check to make sure the rest of the metadata was still there. It's on the [Advanced] tab under [Catalog ID]. I also haven't had any trouble with loosing metadata after writing it in MP4v2 even though some have ridiculously long lyrics, long description & cast info.
• To import a SD-HD, single entry, item, you need to drag both files to iTunes together, one must have the HD tag, the other not, & they must have identical cnID #s.
• As for just making up a cnID, if it's something avaliable on iTunes it's simple to find: find it in the store, Right-click or apple-click on the icon & select 'Copy Link' paste it anywhere, & the 9 digit number after "id" at the end of the URL is the cnID {e.g. http://itunes.apple.com/us/video/do-you-wanna-date-my-avatar/id326378551}.
• If you are making you're own, to prevent it from conflicting with a future iTunes purchase, make it less than 7 characters (you can use "2") or, to prevent yourself from repeating & prevent conflicts with iTunes purchases, use the Date/time {e.g. right now it's 8/27/2010 @ 11:12pm so I'd use 201008272312 (Year2010-Month08-Day27-Hour(out of 24)23-minute12) which can also help you keep track if you for some reason need to know when you added a file or what order you added them or whatnot.
• If you have a show with an 'SD-HD' icon & you want to delete one, but not both of them, for now the best I got for you is to:
  • 1. Delete the file of the one you don't want {e.g (Do You Wanna Date My) Avatar [feat. (HD).m4v}
    2. Set the 'version' to the one you deleted (HD in the exampe) & itunes shows an ! next to it.
    3. Delete the entry, it shouldn't try to delete the file, but if it does choose 'Keep File'.
    4. Now drag the entry back in.

[*]You may want to note your rating first as Rating, Play Count & Watched/Unwatched info will be reset.
[*]I would suggest Removing it from iTunes, Editing in MetaX, & re-adding, in that order but I don't have a problem when I edit while it's still in the iTunes library, then delete & re-add.[/list]

[icfantv]

After a couple hours of searching across a bunch of different sites, adding the HD tag is incredibly easy, safe*, fast, and free.

For those of you on a Mac, you can add the tag via Subler (http://code.google.com/p/subler):

Open the file in Subler, click the "Other Settings" tab, click the checkbox next to HD Video, hit ⌘, S to save and seconds later, bam! You're done. iTunes will even automagically update the movie (I had to play it first, but when I closed out of the playback screen, the HD logo was there).

* - YMMV, I take no responsibility for roached movie files, back it up first just to be safe.