HD/SD Movie Files

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Level 2

410 points

HD/SD Movie Files

Hi All,

This is a repeat of a topic I placed in the iTunes forum... As some folks there might not know the need for this, but since alot of you deal with the movies off of iTunes, I'm hoping you can advise more!!

----- *Beginning of topic repost for questioning* ------

I downloaded a bunch of different HD Movies and TV Series from iTunes...

I wanted the HD for my Apple TV, and really won't be syncing the SD's to devices like my iPods' but since they came with it I'm now battling the fun scenario of making some room (11 GB extra in some cases).

While I don't mind leaving them on for right now, my main concern is that over time I'm going to possibly run out of space or further more need to move my library elsewhere if I keep them this way.

However, If I can move some of the SD films off and just store them on a External HDD which I use for backup purposes only I can be in a "safer" zone than I am today.

With that said, does anyone know:

How to easily disassociate a SD film from a iTunes download that came in both HD and SD formatting?

Furthermore, it would seem as though the films/TV shows are labeled with the HD tag. So if I add the movie file back into the iTunes folder and then drag the movie film over iTunes will it then reassoicate the HD and SD versions like it did after downloading? (Because when you download them you see the HD and SD versions seperately like the files on the HDD. But after downloading they get a blend and then you can right click and choose which formatting.

If anyone knows this I would be AWESOME to say the least...

What I was thinking about if not is to remove the files from my library, and then move them out of the library and just reload the HD file... (recovering from the Trash can incase my iTunes wanted to try and throw it away).

As I know that just deleting a file from the backend usually makes iTunes have a temper tantrum fit later on!

Please post what you can advise!

Thanks and Happy Holidays!!!!

Message was edited by: iNexxFear

MacBook Pro 15" Unibody (Mid-2009), 2.8GHz w/500GB HDD, Mac OS X (10.6.1), Syncronized with: (2) Classics 160GB (2009), (1) Nano 5G, (1) Touch 64GB

Posted on Dec 2, 2009 7:17 PM

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Answer 1

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Dec 3, 2009 6:36 AM in response to iNexxFear

iNexxFear wrote:
How to easily disassociate a SD film from a iTunes download that came in both HD and SD formatting?

it's fairly easy really.
both HD and SD files have the same "cnID" tag, which itunes reads and joins them together.

all you need to do is change the cnID tag in one of the files to something else (making sure you don't change it to something already used in another file).

if you are a mac user, you can use a program called "subler" to do this.
if you're a PC user, then i don't know which program to use.

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Answer 2

iNexxFear Author

Level 2

410 points

Dec 3, 2009 9:52 AM in response to Chenks

Hello,

I guess I hadn't made myself clear enough, but thanks for the reply.

I want to keep it so that later on if I need to I can have both the SD and HD versions of some of my albumns. However they are consuming a bit of HDD space and trying to figure out if I want to relocate my entire iTunes library elsewhere or get a Server/NAS type appliance and move my "larger files there".

However in the meantime, I'd just like to keep the HD version on my MAC's HDD and remove the SD version without conflicting with iTunes normal operation.

So my question is two parts:

A - How to I make it so that I can remove the SD version off of my MAC's HDD and just put them out onto a External HDD for storage.

B - If I later want to move my files to a NAS/Server and have iTunes link the files in from there as a primary source, can I just click and drag the files in together? At which point iTunes will reassoicate the HD and SD versions based on the cnID's that you mention?

Does that help clarify my question for you?

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Answer 3

Dec 3, 2009 10:14 AM in response to iNexxFear

Back up (copy and store) both versions. Delete both versions in itunes (select the HD-SD listing and delete/remove ....).
Add back just the HD version (from back up). You can add back the SD version back (from back up) at any time in the future.

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Answer 4

iNexxFear Author

Level 2

410 points

Dec 3, 2009 11:04 AM in response to Winston Churchill

Thanks Winston!

Just what I thought... In my many years of using iTunes that's just what I would have done... However after paying a bit for a item with a few different items that do cost some money I wanted to make sure I didn't wreck anything!

Additionally and as always I would have ensured that I would save my iTunes Library to an external HDD before performing any of these operations...

However, A community like this helps out so much more and quicker than experimenting and wrecking things on my own!

Finally and in closure, from a Forum-to-Forum Member I wanted to Say "Thank You" to both of you for each of the responses included in this thread! You've been MORE than helpful today!

Best Regards and Happy Holidays!

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