display original recorded date in final cut pro x

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JeffBDVS Author

Level 1

26 points

display original recorded date in final cut pro x

Newbie question.

2019 16" MacBook Pro

Big Sur 11.2.3

FCPX 10.5.2

I'm capturing all my old DV tapes before the tape deteriorates completely. Clips captured in FCPX pick up the original date/time of recording and FCPX uses it as the clip name in the browser. This is good.

For clips captured in other programs before I switched to FCPX, I can't find a way to view the original date/time of recording inside of FCPX. And if it wasn't for the clip name in the browser, I don't know how to see the recorded date/time of the clips captured in Final Cut, either.

To make matters worse, for a lot of the clips captured pre-FCPX and then imported, a reveal in Finder command followed by a Get Info command shows only the file creation date. The clips captured in FCPX show the recorded date as the date created and the file creation date as the date modified.

All of these clips still have valid original date/time recorded info because I can view it in MediaInfo.

Is there a way to view the recorded date/time metadata in FCPX? I have several hundred pre-FCPX clips. As things are now, I have to reveal each clip in Finder, open it in MediaInfo and transcribe the recorded date/time to a custom metadata field in FCPX. I've done it for a whopping two clips and I'm already irritated with the process. 😀 I certainly don't want to have to do that hundreds of times.

(Actually, I *won't* do that. I'll just add a date range to the event name and wade through them when I start editing. But it sure would be nice to access that metadata in FCPX on import.)

Thanks!

MacBook Pro

Posted on Apr 1, 2021 10:02 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 1, 2021 12:04 PM in response to JeffBDVS

Are all .dv files with embedded date & time? What is the common correct date metadata? You could use exiftool to make a batch and read & write that date to a tag that FCP can read.

For example, I have some old archived iMovie v1-6 .dv files and FCP seems to read the original date & time from the 'DateTimeOriginal' tag (from the 1st clip of that .dv file) which in this sample clip is 2001:06:22 12:50:21:

exiftool -a -G1 -s -api QuickTimeUTC=1 -time:all -api RequestAll=2 movie.dv   
[System]        FileModifyDate                  : 2011:02:26 15:19:16+02:00
[MacOS]         FileCreateDate                  : 2004:02:22 23:42:39+02:00
[DV]            DateTimeOriginal                : 2001:06:22 12:50:21

The old QuickTime Player 7, MediaInfo and Invisor can also display that 'DateTimeOriginal' of the 1st clip of a file (a.k.a. 'Recorded Date'). My old D8 camcorder can display that recorded date & time when running a tape for all clips (I wish there was an app that could do the same when playing .dv).

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Answer 2

Apr 3, 2021 1:31 AM in response to JeffBDVS

> Sadly, the new switches didn't help

Bummer. I'll ask if exiftool could be updated to get more dates from .dv files. I did some tests:

I have exported and archived .dv files that contain multiple clips recorded at different times. I can view all clips’ dates & times in real time if I export the .dv file to D8 or miniDV camcorder's tape and view it there with that display feature enabled. But that is clumsy.

On the other hand, exiftool, MediaInfo (displayed as Recorded date), Invisor, iMovie v1-6, Final Cut Pro display only the DateTimeOriginal of the very first frame of the .dv file (if the very first frame happens to be a title added with iMovie then there is no DateTimeOriginal and FCP gets the date from MacOS:FileCreateDate which is wrong):

exiftool -a -G1 -s -ee3 -time:all -ext dv movie.dv
[System]        FileModifyDate                  : 2011:02:26 15:19:16+02:00
[System]        FileAccessDate                  : 2021:04:03 10:51:52+03:00
[System]        FileInodeChangeDate             : 2021:04:03 10:51:42+03:00
[DV]            DateTimeOriginal                : 2001:06:22 12:50:21

If I trim the .dv file with a tool like MPEG Streamclip or QuickTime Player 7 Pro, then the very first frame's date & time is displayed if it happens to contain DateTimeOriginal.

It would nice to be able to display the DateTimeOriginal of all clips, preferably each clip’s start but also the date & time at certain intervals. I am not aware of any app that can do this. This would greatly help putting old .dv files in chronological order.

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Answer 3

JeffBDVS Author

Level 1

26 points

Apr 1, 2021 3:00 PM in response to JeffBDVS

So the short answer is: No.

Correct?

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Answer 4

JeffBDVS Author

Level 1

26 points

Apr 3, 2021 10:22 AM in response to Matti Haveri

>On the other hand, exiftool, MediaInfo (displayed as Recorded date),

Invisor, iMovie v1-6, Final Cut Pro display only the DateTimeOriginal of

the very first frame of the .dv file

That's really good info that I didn't know. See below.

>[DV]            DateTimeOriginal                : 2001:06:22 12:50:21

I never get this info from exiftool for DV wrapped in a .mov file. I get this:

The DV codec in a quicktime .mov file is obviously problematic, but is absolutely necessary for DV to be available to play back or edit in Big Sur.

>If I trim the .dv file with a tool like MPEG Streamclip or QuickTime

Player 7 Pro, then the very first frame's date & time is displayed

if it happens to contain DateTimeOriginal.

Quicktime 7 Pro and MPEG Streamclip are no longer available in Big Sur, nor were they in Catalina. Bummer. However, there is a nifty little tool called LosslessCut (donationware on the web site, $18.99US on the Mac App Store) that can losslessly trim a wide variety of video files. It's a GUI front end for ffmpeg and it works very well. But even when I trim a frame, many frames or the whole front half of a DV .mov clip with LosslessCut, the DateTimeOriginal field is never displayed by exiftool, and I must assume it remains untouched by the trim because MediaInfo still shows the proper recorded date even after the trim.

>It would nice to be able to display the DateTimeOriginal of all clips,

preferably each clip’s start but also the date & time at certain

intervals. I am not aware of any app that can do this. This would

greatly help putting old .dv files in chronological order.

+1

Thank you so much for your help so far. I learned a lot. You led me down a path where I think I discovered the bug in my other capture program that messed up the DateTimeOriginal data on so many of my files. I can't fix it, but at least I know it's there and what it's doing. 😀

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Answer 5

Apr 1, 2021 11:11 PM in response to JeffBDVS

With the -ee2 or -ee3 switch the latest exiftool might dig deeper to get the date MediaInfo sees:

https://exiftool.org/forum/index.php?topic=9304.msg65184#msg65184

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Answer 6

JeffBDVS Author

Level 1

26 points

Apr 1, 2021 3:02 PM in response to Matti Haveri

These are all .mov files captured either in Catalina or Big Sur.

exiftool can't read the original date/time. It shows the same info that Get Info does. MediaInfo, however, does read the recorded date/time. Weird.

Maybe the "other capture program" altered metadata in an unexpected way?

Thank you for the tip anyway.

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Answer 7

fox_m

Level 6

13,468 points

Apr 1, 2021 10:07 PM in response to JeffBDVS

I'm capturing all my old DV tapes before the tape deteriorates completely. Clips captured in FCPX pick up the original date/time of recording and FCPX uses it as the clip name in the browser. This is good.

Is this data something you want to be able to place in your video on each clip?

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Answer 8

JeffBDVS Author

Level 1

26 points

Apr 2, 2021 3:30 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Thanks, Matti. I'll give it a try.

As far as getting a tag that FCP can read, do you know if I create a custom tag in exiftool that FCP will be able to read it if I tell FCP in the Inspector, "hey, there's information in this custom tag"? I assume that's why FCP lets you define custom tags.

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Answer 9

Apr 1, 2021 10:19 AM in response to JeffBDVS

If one can find how this metadata is recorded in the file, it should be feasible to do a little script to extract it and then add it in a way that is easy to retrieve in FCP.

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Answer 10

JeffBDVS Author

Level 1

26 points

Apr 2, 2021 3:22 AM in response to fox_m

I don't want to burn that data into the video. All I want is to be able to search, group and sort clips in the Library based on that metadata.

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Answer 11

JeffBDVS Author

Level 1

26 points

Apr 2, 2021 6:53 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Hi Matti.

Sadly, the new switches didn't help. The link you provided indicated exiftool would try to read H.264 metadata with those switches, so I suspect DVCPro metadata is beyond their scope.

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display original recorded date in final cut pro x

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