Adding "Tags" to Your Videos to Help with Searches

[jugulear]

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There are times I've wished for ways to add "tags" to one's videos for easier searching. For example, let's say you're into "bukake," and you would like to see other examples of "bukake" videos in your collection.

I don't know of a way to do this. This is why I try to load as much information into the video title as possible, as that's the only way I know of to get the attributes of a video to show up in a search.

Totally by accident, while searching for a specific JAV, I goofed by not putting the DVD code into the search box of my Windows directory containing the videos; instead, I had a date in the form of XX/XX/XX (so for 2015-08-13, that would have been 08/13/15 or 13/08/15), and that's what I pasted in.

Well, was I surprised when the video I was looking for popped up, along with an unrelated video. (Results were erratic when I experimented more with different dates.)

This told me some invisible data was embedded into the video, a concept I was vaguely familiar with. So when I started poking around, I concluded this is what's known as "metadata." (When I ran a search for that term in Discussion to see what Akiba-Online had to say about it, I mostly got hits for Codegeek's JAV Database thread.)

This page served as a springboard on how to edit video metadata, although it pinpointed a media player I don't use (and was for a different operating system than mine). This page touted a tiny little program named "File Property Edit," although I didn't feel like testing it. Several pages hailed MetaX as wonderful (although it is not a free program), one example being this page, which also contained tips for Apple and Linux. For the latter, the recommendation was VLC, which made me think, I have VLC, and why shouldn't it work for Windows?

Sure enough, the versatile VLC added the editing-of-metadata among its bag of tricks. You need to go into Tools > Media Information while the video is playing. (This page also elaborated on VLC.)

As an experiment, I edited in a distinctive word within one of the categories ("Comments"), but when I closed up the dialogue box and searched for the video with that word, the video did not come up.

Is there a way that you know of to Add "Tags" to Your Videos to Help with Searches?

It's possible such information is somehow included in a way other than metadata; for example, when I checked the Media Information of a video that appeared through the accidental search-by-date, the XX/XX/XX date was nowhere in sight.


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[jugulear]

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I found the answer (or at least one answer), and it was by accident. I'm amazed at how simple the solution was, and how much of an idiot I feel like now; I'm also surprised no one has answered this question, because of how technically savvy many of our members are, compared to idiots like me.

The following is good for Windows users, probably Windows 7 and up. If you are an Apple or Linux user, I would not be surprised if they offered a comparable solution (especially graphics-centric Apple).

So you go to the directory where your video file is located, and on the video file:

1) Right-click menu, choose "Properties."

2) Go to the "Details" tab.

3) When you click on a category ("Tags," in the illustration), a box will open for you to put in your words. Click "OK," and that's it.



Isn't this wonderful? Let's say you have amassed a lot of JAV and, naturally, there will be junk in there that you may never watch again. Then there is the type that falls into the category of "Which Movie You Watch Again and Again." You can add a very distinctive word to the "Tag" field (like "Fapola"), and when you are in a hurry to get your business done, you can just run a search for that word, and — bingo! All of the "effective" JAVs will come up in that folder.

I'm recently getting into works by JAV directors. See, there is a slot for that category as well (EDIT: Simply scroll down to access this part):




There is also "Genre," right above "Directors," as you can see. (Keeping in mind my "bukake" example, from the beginning post.) Yes, imagine the possibilities.

I haven't really scrutinized my new discovery, but the downside is not all files accommodate such tagging. For example, .FLV files, that low man on the movie format totem pole... fuggedabout'em. I see that even more respectable movie formats, such as .AVI, do not allow for tagging either.

You can also use this trick for other types of files, such as graphics files. If you would like to learn more, a helpful page.
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