How do I set the metadata associated with video files streamed by Windows Media Player 11

Question

I stream my video files from my Windows Home Server to the rest of my network via Windows Media Player 11. Viewing the properties of the video file within WMP only gives read-only access to this metadata. How can I set the metadata fields of the files like Actors or Genre for my videos? Is there an automated way to set this information? I'm willing to set it manually if I have to, but I'd prefer not to.

It's rather cumbersome to navigate to the videos, particularly on a ps3. It's something like 3 selections just to get to the video file structure from the ps3 itself, then you have to find the video in the folder hierarchy. It would greatly improve my WAF if I could get to the videos using the metadata instead of a deep folder hierarchy that I'm currently using.

Most of my video files are AVI containers with xvid video and mp3 or AC3 audio. I'm not sure if the metadata is stored in the container itself or by WMP. Unless there is a very compelling reason to use another container or codec, then I'd like to not get into the argument about containers or codecs because I don't want to encode my library again.

Answer 1

I will ask another question, because I am open to changing my video streaming solution if it supports tagging metadata.

I tagged a couple test files using the suggested abcAVI Tag Editor, and the new tags did show up when I viewed the properties of the AVI movies within WMP. However, these tags were not shown when accessing the files from a remote client like my PS3. I happened to download a few videos that used the WMV video container that were properly tagged, and these tags did show up when I filtered by tags on the client. I've come to believe that WMP will not show tags in video files that are not WMV.

If a solution comes to light that addresses this problem, then I will mark it as the answer. From my experience with WMP12 on Win7 RC, it shows great promise but it is not available as a standalone download yet.

Answer 2

It's old (~4 years), but the abcAVI Tag Editor might do the trick for manual tagging.

Answer 3

For AVI Files abcAVI Tag Editor is the way to go. It allows you to import from IMDB, which means you won't have to enter in all your metadata by hand.

If you willing to switch to using MP4 files I would recommend using MetaX for Windows to tag your movies. MetaX is very full featured and allows you to easily download metadata and album art.