How do I permanently change a file name?

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How do I permanently change a file name?

I have been ripping my DVD collection and importing the files into iTunes so they are available to watch using my AppleTV. For a movie I really don't care what the file name is as long as it is recognizable, but for a TV series I like to have files for the individual episodes and be able to recognize which is which. To give you an example, I have been ripping the DVD for the TV series Parks and Recreation. Once a file for each episode is created the file names I see in Finder follow the pattern PARKS_S2_D1_T# (where # is the track number for each episode), but when I import them into iTunes every episode file is named PARKS_AND_RECREATION. Because of this I have to import them one at a time into iTunes, right-click on the file, choose Get Info and rename the file so that I can tell which episode it represents. It is not the end of the world, but what should take me a couple of seconds now takes a couple of minutes. What is worse, if I delete them from iTunes and add the files back, they revert to the original name (PARKS_AND_RECREATION). I have also tried to change the name in Finder first, but that does not do anything either.

Evidently there is a name/file attribute/something that follows a file around that cannot be changed using Finder or iTunes. I love my iMac, but these are the types of things that annoy me because I cannot see everything that is going on. Any help would be much appreciated.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Mar 29, 2014 8:28 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 29, 2014 9:33 AM in response to VTiMacUser

When you rip the files use the naming format of "Series Name S01E01" where S is the season and E is the episode number. Then apps such as iDentify may be able to auto tag the files for you. Other video tagging and conversion apps also use this file naming format to identify the episodes.

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Answer 2

VTiMacUser Author

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Mar 30, 2014 4:38 AM in response to Stephen Spark

Stephen...thank you for your reply and I will use this naming convention in the future, but this doesn't get to the heart of the question which is how do I change the name that iTunes sees and uses when you import a movie file into iTunes. There must be a way to see all information about a file and change it (or is this one of the things we cannot ever see or change due to the wool that is pulled over our heads by Mac OS?).

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Answer 3

Mar 30, 2014 9:21 AM in response to VTiMacUser

Not sure what is happening for you. It sounds like you are doing it right. Editing the info in the Get Info boxes in iTunes should save a tag directly to the video file, at least it does for me. Make sure you are saving your videos as .mp4 or .m4v, .m4v used to be recommended as it worked better with iTunes in the early days although both work fine for me. I'm not certain but files such as .mov may not fully support video tags. In the Get Info window in iTunes you should have the episode name entered under the Name field in the Info tab. The Video tab is were the Show name, Season and Episode number are entered, all other fields are optional. In the Options tab you should also have Media Kind as TV Show. Clicking OK should write all this entered data directly to a tag embedded in the video file. I have some older files that iTunes adds as home video, but all other tag info is still there. If I re-add these to iTunes they apear as Home Videos in the Movies section.

IDentify is a video tagging app that has the ability automatically fetch data from the net if it can recognize the file by it's name. It will write this and the data you enter to the tag on the video file much the same way iTunes should. If iTunes is not writing the tags to the video files give iDentify a try.

Another app you should have is Video Monkey which is great for fast video conversions but I also use it for tagging videos. This app also uses the naming convention to find the info on the shows on the net. Files tagged with both these apps go directly into the proper place in iTunes unlike some of my older tv shows going into Home Videos. Using these apps will ensure the metadata is written directly to the video files as iTunes should be doing as well.

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