quad 2.8, Mac OS X (10.6.1)
Turning off Genius doesn't work all the time.
There are still other causes of the slowdown to be found.
I spent time with apple and resetting permissions resolved the problem. Now when I change any metadata for my video files, it changes quickly. ( it still takes some time for whole movies, but it eventually will work. Just walk away and come back in a few minutes and they will be changed. )
The problem for iTunes is in creating and adding the meta-data track into a video file. Apparently iTunes has to scan the file first for whatever reason - such as validating the file format - since MP4s can have different tyhpes of tracks. Thus, the larger the video file, the longer this process takes. For a 1.5 GB video file, this may take iTunes several minutes to add the meta-data track.
Once the meta-data track is installed, the iTunes has a much faster time going about updating it.
My new solution is to not use iTunes at all for changing meta-data in video files since the process is slow and you are limited to doing one file at a time.
I found that Graffiti - with a free upgrade to Graffiti Pro - available at the Mac App store - does a much much nicer and quicker job of adding the missing meta-data track. It is almost instantaneous. It doesn't have to scan the entire file first. If you have a movie file, it will also automatically look up the metadata from online resources such as IMDB.com including the artwork. It does a very very nice job. Then after processing the file through Graffiti, I can add it to iTunes without the headaches.
Bliss.
After experiencing this probelm for forever and a day with countless minutes of time wasted, I HAVE A SOLUTION! Albeit one I stumbled on by accident.
Before you rename a file, double click the movie to start playing it, then "X" (close) out of the window playing to stop it playing. Then rename the file and it will work instantly.
Don't ask me why this works, it just does....!
You sir are a genius!
Works like a charm. Thanks
Ok, so how do i get back the video file that itunes corrupted?
<Edited By Host>
Yeah same problem. Luckily I had my backup...
I tried everything posted here. I also tried using MetaX to completely clear and re-make all the meta data. Still same problem - itunes hangs whenever you "get info-> and change anything".
So the only thing I found that worked is to re-encode the video using handbrake and import the new file into itunes. There has to be something about the particular video file itunes didn't like. Strange. 😟
That worked for me.
A possible solution might be the external HDD itself, not iTunes. When I used MetaX to add metadata, I still had some files that were corrupt after adding to iTunes. The copying to the HDD that iTunes did seemed to be the problem. The file got corrupted through copying to the external HDD.
I now copy the files manually. Whenever the process of copying seemes to freeze for a second the file is corrupt afterwards. Very annoying, but this way I avoid corrupted files.
BTW fixing/repairing the HDD through the system tools didnt solve the problem for me.
With both PC and mac the answer for me is to just simply wait... It will come unfrozen given plenty of time.
I've recently purchased a new mac mini. I noticed that with only certain video files the mac mini itunes also freezes for a few minutes, whereas on the pc the itunes freezes for 30+ minutes with the same files. On other video files both the mac and pc complete a rename or metadata change in the blink of an eye.
On the PC it took a record 30 minutes just to rename a particular video file. Yes 30 minutes! I went off, came back half an hour later and it was still frozen, but a few seconds later it sorted itself out. Whereas for testing, the mac sorted the same file out in a couple of minutes even though my mac has a fraction of the hardware power of my pc.
Because it's only certain files, I think there must be some file checking or integrity validation that gets done every time you rename or change meta data on a file. Perhaps the PC just takes longer as afterall iTunes is probably written with an apple bias. I don't think it's hardware processing power causing the delay difference between platforms, as my PC is an Intel i7 with 8gb ram, 128gb solid state drive- with a fresh install of windows 7 64bit, whereas my mac mini is only a little Intel i5 with 4gb ram and an old 5400rpm spinner hdd and Mountain Lion (latest).
For me it doesn't seem to make a difference if the itunes library is on USB drive or the internal drives.
Hey, everyone. I'm not sure if this was mentioned here, but I stumbled upon a post somewhere about repairing permissions to fix this problem. I have both Mac and PC's at home, but for the purpose of this discussion I was having this problem on a Windows 7 PC with beefy processors and 8GB or RAM. The PC is used for little else, other than activing as a media source for my Apple TV's, so the issue, for me, wasn't the PC's ability.
Also, I'm using iTunes 10.7.0.21 since I hate iTunes 11.
Anyhow, I repaired the permissions using the guide here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1277
Once I "repaired permissions" my ability to quickly change metatag info through iTunes was restored - so far I haven't had any more problems, but only time will tell. Perhaps I'll have to do it again in the future.
Just in case the KB article ever gets deleted, here's a copy/paste of the instructions:
I have this issue, first fix was to play couple of seconds of added file before changing info, that worked till last couple of itunes updates, now I just change info, itunes freezes.
I just let it be. And in a minute or so it seems to work its self out
As of 17th Jan. 2015 this bug is alive and well. For those of you still experiencing this recompress (not reencode) your movies in QuickTime X and iTunes will handle the new files just fine, no delay in changing tags.
So someone exposed a fix, then after 3-4 updates the bug came back....
It seems that iTunes doesn't like anything but H.264 profiled files. Although x264 encoding libraries are more or less the same thing, you need to batch remux your files to a container that is more iTunes friendly. Load them up in Subler for instance and batch remux them to m4v. Place these files in iTunes and you won't have issues again
itunes freezes when renaming movies
