View DV file date/time utility

[Christopher Lefchik]

Does anyone know of a freeware utility for Windows to view the date/time of DV avi files? I found one for Mac OS X (DVFileDateCM), but I'm running Windows XP, so it doesn't help me.

[Rob Lohman]

No I don't, but I do know the NLE Vegas shows it. So if you have
that it is easy to see, see the following thread for more info:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=20830
(near the end)

[Christopher Lefchik]

Rob,

Thanks for the response. I'm running Premiere Pro, so it looks like I'm out of luck. I find it hard to believe that all the serious editing applications didn't have this simple but highly useful feature long ago.

[Christopher Lefchik]

Just updating this thread in case it will be of help to any one else. I'm happy to report that I have finally discovered a free utility to view the date/time of a DV file. It's called "Play DV" and can be obtained from http://video2dv.com/index.php?lang=en&page=playdv, along with some other free video utilities.

Other programs for dealing with timestamp/datestamp info are listed at http://www.skydiver.de/stef/datecode_en.htm.

[Rob Lohman]

Thanks very much for that Christopher!

[Christopher Lefchik]

You're welcome!

[Giroud Francois]

http://paul.glagla.free.fr/dvdate_en.htm

or

http://www.skydiver.de/stef/datecode_en.htm

[Christopher Lefchik]

Giroud,

I did run across the first program you link to. One should be aware that the program's author states that "DVdate is freeware by Paul Glagla only for personal use. You may use it freely in a non-professional environment and distribute it freely on a non-commercial basis. Any use by a company, an administration or during any professional activities is unlawful. If you need to use DVdate in such environment, please ask me for a license."

That's fine if you're doing home videos, but for anything more, well, I didn't want to be shackled in that way. Of course if one needs any of the extra features included in the program, then paying for a license may be worth it. My need was simple: Date and time information. For that Play DV fit the need, and it's completely free.

[John Miller]

Originally Posted by Christopher Lefchik

Does anyone know of a freeware utility for Windows to view the date/time of DV avi files? I found one for Mac OS X (DVFileDateCM), but I'm running Windows XP, so it doesn't help me.

A free version of a new DV decoder is available for download from http://www.enosoft.net/decoderpreview.html.

It displays timecode, record date, record time, audio format, video system and aspect ratio. You can use it with something as humble as Windows Media Player.

John.

http://www.enosoft.net/DVDecSnapShot.jpg

[Robert M Wright]

There is a freeware DV capture utility, called WinDV, that can write the capture files with names that include the time/date information from the first frame in the clip(s). It can also split the files out using the time/date information in the video stream to detect scene change, so you can get splits only where you paused in shooting if you want (rather than fancier scene change detection, based on analyzing the images in the frames, which can result in undesired file splits). It also buffers input, which can cut down on dropped frames (lots of payware doesn't).

You can get it here: windv.mourek.cz

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Originally Posted by Robert M Wright

There is a freeware DV capture utility, called WinDV, that can write the capture files with names that include the time/date information from the first frame in the clip(s). It can also split the files out using the time/date information in the video stream to detect scene change, so you can get splits only where you paused in shooting if you want (rather than fancier scene change detection, based on analyzing the images in the frames, which can result in undesired file splits). It also buffers input, which can cut down on dropped frames (lots of payware doesn't).

You can get it here: windv.mourek.cz

If you try the Win DV utility, it would help if you'd read this instruction page that was written by "Papa John". It goes into detail about the things that aren't described in the publisher's own instructions. It may take awhile to learn how to properly insert the file addresses for sources and destinations.

After I practiced for several hours, I could make it do more and do it much easier than I could with many full-blown video editing programs. For straight capturing and export duties, it's very handy. The price is certainly just right on this one. I hope there aren't any surprises in store for its users, but I have a feeling that it's a straightforward project. It's less than 100kb in size and it loads in less than a second. One thing you need to know, is to set the time in seconds to 0 in the configuration box for segment breaks, if you don't want it storing a separate file in your video folder for each scene. If it's set to O, it will capture in one continuous file. I had to delete 40 separate files for 4 minutes of video, before I learned this.

http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/Pa.../61/WinDV.aspx

[Mark Morreau]

There is also this DV Media Player which comes in 2 versions basic and pro

http://www.dvmp.co.uk/dv-media-player.htm

The Basic shows all the metadata and is free for personal use.

The Pro has various additional features, the most valuable of which for me is the abilty to burn some or all of the metadata into each frame of video, most useful for client rushes, etc.

And pretty cheap at 10 of our great British pounds. That''s about $ 456.73 at current exchange rate. No, that's a joke. It's just shy of $ 20.

[James Harring]

Not sure if this is what you are looking for... it it is time or duration of video file you are seeking... anyway...

Here's one that I use a lot for JPG's and should work really well for AVI's etc, since once you install it you right click on the file in windows explorer... it allows you to CHANGE attributes, like the record date/time.
Very handy if the clock in the camera was set to the wrong time zone.

http://webplaza.pt.lu/~rpetges/

Another handy utility is "renamer" allows you to quickly rename a bunch of files. allows for rules to create sequential file names.
http://www.den4b.com/projects.php

[John Miller]

FYI, our Enosoft DV Processor software displays all the DV metadata (either on the video or in a separate window) and you can change it. You can view live DV feeds (via FireWire) or existing DV AVIs. You can also permanently burn the data (e.g., timecode) into the DV AVI on the fly (either during capture, from one file to another, or when sending DV back to a device.

The metadata editing functions are shown in the attached snapshot.

For personal use, the software is free.

For non-personal use, a cheaper alternative is our Enhanced DV Decoder. It integrates seamlessly with the OS and so you can use Windows Media Player and many other programs with it to display the metadata. e.g., the capture window of Premiere Pro.

A local TV station has recently installed it on all of their news bureau's Windows 2000 PCs.

[David Garvin]

I know this is the PC forum, but does anybody know of a program that shows DV metadata (not just date and time, but shutter speed, fstop etc) for the Mac? Or a program that will run on Windows but read FCP, .mov or QT files?

Thanks