AVI date attribute as in Windows 7

Nad Adam · 2009-11-23 17:52

I'm trying to rename some files to the value of the 'Date'-attribute in W7. I'm not sure what it is supposed to represent since it is not the same as file created, modified or even when looking at jpgs, date taken.

Is there a way to access this value in renamer?

(as you might understand from the filenames I'm trying to salvage files from a crashed hd)

Last edited by Nad Adam (2009-11-23 17:55)

den4b · 2009-11-24 11:09

I'm not sure as well, what actually that date represents. I gave it a quick search on the net but without any results. I can't help you here, unless you could figure out where this date gets extracted from.

Anybody knows anything about this date column?

Nad Adam · 2009-11-24 15:11

Hmm, not sure if this helps but when I am looking at the "media created" for my avi-files I get the same date.

Nad Adam · 2009-11-24 15:14

And also in "Date accessed" and "date aquired".

rusty · 2009-11-30 16:31

Wouldn't 'Media created' be based on RIFF info tag: DTIM (DateTimeOriginal) ?

(fyi, I'm trying to use ReNamer to move all the Videos and Pictures in my 'My Pictures' directory to My Pictures\<Year>_<Month>_<Day>, but it seemed that ReNamer didn't have any options that would recognize the Date Created field for Avi files (EXIF_Date works fine for jpegs though).

-Rusty

den4b · 2009-12-04 15:56

Good job, rusty! It might in fact be the place from where Win 7 takes the value for "Date" column (for AVI files). Although, I'm still to come across such AVI files which actually contain LIST:INFO:DTIM chunk. Can someone provide a sample file?

Nad Adam, can you share a sample video for me to test it?

Nad Adam · 2009-12-09 15:54

Did you get the file?

If I need to send it again, please pm me your e-mail so I can attach it there instead.

den4b · 2009-12-09 20:54

I got your file, but didn't have time to check it.

I will get back to you soon...

den4b · 2009-12-11 19:11

It required much more effort than what I have expected. By the end of this "exercise" I wrote a complete RIFF parser unit and RIFF viewer application. At this point, I am starting to regret digging into this topic...

I have discovered several distinct places in AVI file format where date/time could be stored. These places are denoted by the following paths within RIFF structure:

1) \RIFF:AVI\LIST:hdrl\IDIT (HDRL.DateTimeOriginal)
2) \RIFF:AVI\LIST:INFO\DTIM (INFO.DateTimeOriginal)
3) \RIFF:AVI\LIST:INFO\ICRD (INFO.DateCreated)
4) \RIFF:AVI\LIST:EXIF\etim (EXIF.DateCreated)

The idea is to prioritize them (in the order shown above) and extract them one-by-one until first found value. There is only 1 big problem: The date format is different for every field and is not defined anywhere. And then, I still need "dummy" files which would contain all these fields in correct format so I could test this thing properly.

I have found a couple of interesting tools: ExifTool by Phil Harvey - platform-independent Perl library plus a command-line application for reading, writing and editing meta information in image, audio and video files; Stamp by Tempest Solutions - utility that renames digital camera photos and videos so they sort in chronological order. The most interesting discovery was in the documentation of both of these tools, where I found some useful information regarding date fields.

Here are some references:
* http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exi … /RIFF.html (ExifTool RIFF tags)
* http://kobesearch.cpan.org/htdocs/Image … FF.pm.html (CPAN Image::ExifTool::RIFF documentation)
* http://www.klingebiel.com/tempest/hd/St … oc89912696 (Stamp User Guide)

Extract from "Stamp User Guide" regarding different RIFF dates:

RIFF dates
This setting controls how RIFF metadata dates are used to determine when audio/video files were originally recorded. There are 5 choices:
* Use ICRD/etim only: Stamp uses only EXIF standard LIST/INFO ICRD dates and LIST/exif etim times. EXIF defines ICRD as “the date the Exif audio file was created”, and etim as “the time the recording of audio data was started”. Files that have ICRD but lack etim are stamped with dates only. Other RIFF metadata dates are ignored.
* Use IDIT only: Stamp uses only Microsoft standard LIST/hdrl IDIT dates. The Microsoft AVI specification defines IDIT as “the date and time digitizing commenced”. Although not part of the EXIF standard, some cameras such as the Canon PowerShot S40 use this attribute to specify when AVI video files were recorded. Other RIFF metadata dates are ignored.
* Use strd only: Stamp uses only Microsoft standard LIST/strl strd dates. The Microsoft AVI specification defines strd as a “stream data chunk” intended for “additional header data”. Although not part of the EXIF standard, and not really intended for this purpose, some cameras such as the Fuji FinePix A101 use this attribute to specify when AVI video files were recorded. Other RIFF metadata dates are ignored.
* Use cmnt only: Stamp uses only proprietary LIST/Cdat cmnt dates. Although not part of the EXIF or Microsoft AVI standards, some applications such as ScenalyzerLive (copyright © Andreas Winter at www.scenalyzer.com) use this attribute to specify date and time of original recording when converting DV camcorder videos to AVI video files. Other RIFF metadata dates are ignored.
* Use best available: (Default) Stamp first tries to use a combination of ICRD + etim, then tries IDIT, then strd, then cmnt, then finally tries to use ICRD alone.

Nad Adam · 2009-12-11 22:12

Wow, it seems like there is way too much home-brewed solutions among the software/hardware/editing/encoding people. Strange there is no standardized method by now. Wish I could give you some input/help but my programming skills are rudimentary at best.

den4b Forum

#1 2009-11-23 17:52

AVI date attribute as in Windows 7

#2 2009-11-24 11:09

Re: AVI date attribute as in Windows 7

#3 2009-11-24 15:11

Re: AVI date attribute as in Windows 7

#4 2009-11-24 15:14

Re: AVI date attribute as in Windows 7

#5 2009-11-30 16:31

Re: AVI date attribute as in Windows 7

#6 2009-12-04 15:56

Re: AVI date attribute as in Windows 7

#7 2009-12-09 15:54

Re: AVI date attribute as in Windows 7

#8 2009-12-09 20:54

Re: AVI date attribute as in Windows 7

#9 2009-12-11 19:11

Re: AVI date attribute as in Windows 7

#10 2009-12-11 22:12

Re: AVI date attribute as in Windows 7

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