Sorting media files

steve-quinney wrote on 12/30/2020, 10:52 AM

This isn't a problem as such, but most of my projects involve adding media (videos or photos) from different sources eg. camcorder/phone/still camera etc. and I then need to sort the media into date order for my project so that for example any photos and videos taken on the same day are together on the timeline. Is there a way to do this (perhaps in the media bin) to save me having to check the date of each event so I can add it to the timeline in the correct place?

Forgot to mention I'm using Platinum v.16

Thanks for any advice.

Comments

Jack S wrote on 12/30/2020, 11:15 AM

@steve-quinney If your media has timestamps, see if they show in the 'Date/Time Stamp' column of the Project Media window. You should then be able to go to the relevant 'Media By Type' bin and they should be in date order. If they're not, click the top of the column to rearrange the order.

I can't check that this works because none of my media has date stamps.

steve-quinney wrote on 12/30/2020, 12:01 PM

Thanks for your quick reply Jack. Just checked and my media does not seem to have Date/Time Stamps. Obviously, the media is dated and timed as shown in explorer, but the Date/Stamp column of media bin is blank.

To be able to sort chronologically before adding to the timeline would save me so much time (+ stopping swmbo from say "that should be before we did xxxx" after it's been finished and rendered!

3POINT wrote on 12/30/2020, 1:12 PM

There are tools which can rename your recordings according the date and time they were taken. As an example 2020-12-30 12-13-14.mp4. Those renamed recordings are than easily imported in chronological order into VMS and sorted in bins when necessary. Important when importing from several devices/cameras, that clocks in those devices are set equal.

steve-quinney wrote on 12/30/2020, 1:18 PM

Thanks 3POINT, that's very interesting and looks like it would do the job. Can you tell me which tools they are and how to get them?

Thanks for your help.

3POINT wrote on 12/30/2020, 2:01 PM

I'm always using this (german) Tool for batch renaming: http://toolsandmore.de/Central/Produkte/Software/Datei-Tools/Joe/ I don't know if there's an English version, but probably there also English tools on the www. Look for Renamer.

For renaming I use a Date und number mask. This is how it looks after importing a renamed series of clips into VMS:

set wrote on 12/30/2020, 2:54 PM

I use this tool for file renaming and did the task very well:

https://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/

steve-quinney wrote on 12/31/2020, 5:00 AM

Thanks 3POINT and set for your suggestions. I won't be able to check them out for a few days as I've got a number of jobs to do over the weekend, but I'll let you know how they work out when I've got back to my project.

Thanks again to both of you, it's really appreciated.

Thanks also to Jack for his initial comments.

TonyL wrote on 12/31/2020, 7:05 AM

Can also recommend Bulk Rename Utility. Very comprehensive and free.

steve-quinney wrote on 1/2/2021, 7:19 AM

I’ve been using Movie Studio since version 12 and I’m still finding things it can do which I wasn’t aware of! My latest discovery is that media added to media bin can be easily sorted within media bin. All you do is add the media as usual, then click the “view” tab above the bin (next to the magnifying glass) and select “details”. Then right click within the media bin and select “view”. This gives a list of all the headings available to be displayed in the media bin. Tick the ones you want displayed.

For my particular problem (ie. media sorted on date modified), you hover the mouse on the “modified” heading in media bin and there is an arrow head barely visible (on my display at least) which lets you sort the media either ascending or descending – and voila, my media is in the order I want, albeit in the illogical American date format. Move the media to the timeline and it stays in the order in media bin.

If at a later date you add more media to media bin, simply re-sort as above, and the added media will show as 0 used, so it is then quite simple to identify the added media and slot it in the timeline at the appropriate place.

I’ve not yet had chance to try the suggestions from 3POINT, Set and Tony (for which I am very grateful), but having discovered the above it has taken the urgency away.

Hope the info above helps anyone else with the same problem as me.