Batch rename video files

How do I batch rename video files taken from different sources (video camera, Digital camera, phone camera) ?

they are also in different formats avi, mpg, 3GP, mov etc...

I need to rename by the date the videos were taken.

appreciate any help.

regards,

lanjapfag

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Reply to #1:
The date the video was taken can be located in two places, either metadata in the filename (normally most precise) or the date the file was created (less precise, can get changed on file copy). Many video files doesn't contain the first one and you are then stuck with the last one which might not do what you want. Advanced Renamer does not have native support for extracting date taken from video files, but can be used through the tool ExifTool which is bundled with Advanced Renamer. I don't have any video files with this meta data value, so I cannot help much. But you can try to add the files, select one and click the ExifTool button on the buttom of the screen. Find the value you need, select it and click Copy next to the tag in the bottom of the window. Now insert the value into a New Name method and all the files get renamed according to this metadata value. If the extracted value contain invalid characters like colon, you will need to also add the replace method and replace the colon with something else, like -.

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Reply to #2:
I thank you for that direction you gave me.

I will try it out and let you know what outcome i got.

again thanks.

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Reply to #2:

Hi, I jump into this thread to give you my feedbacks using the method described in #2:

1) .MOV created by my iphone: it works well. The file contains exif data with the 'date taken' stored in <ExifTool:CreateDate>

2) .MOV created by my Olympus TG2 digital camera: OK, same as iphone

3) .mpg file created by my Sony camcoder: it contains exif data but unfortunately NOT the 'date taken' value. Fortunately, when using the Sony utility to import the videos from my camcoder to my PC, this utility renames the video files using the 'date taken'.

Conclusion: for me it works well. With AdvancedRenamer, I can now retrieve a RELIABLE 'date taken' information from the videos recorded with all my devices ... and then apply a consistent renaming for sorting videos and photos.

Note: in case the 'date taken' can not be retrieved from metadata contained inside the file, the post #2 suggests to use: the date the file was CREATED (less precise, can get changed on file copy)
I'd like to add that the date the file was MODIFIED may also be used. Like the creation date, it's less precise than the metadata contained inside the field. But normally, the 'modified date' is only changed when the content of the file is changed (i.e. if you edit your video to remove some parts).

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