Renaming Video Files?

Hi I was wondering if it was possible to rename m2ts video files? It does not work using the same method I use for renaming images, I guess I would have to replace the IMG part of the method with another file type but I have no idea what. I seem to be able to rename my video files to the date they were downloaded but obviously I want to rename them to the date they were taken. Thanks :)

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Reply to #1:
Hi

The IMG tags can only be used on image files. There is no similar tags for the video files at this moment. I am not even sure if digital video cameras save this kind of information the files in a standardized way. What is the source of the video files, do they come from a personal camera or are they downloaded from the Internet?

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Reply to #2:
Hi Kim and thanks for your reply. The files come from my Sony Handycam and they do carry the date taken info - the default file name when I download the videos from the camera would be, for example, 20110426065310.m2ts which is the year, month, day, hour, minute, second, so all that info is there I just want to format it like I do my still photos, ie 2011.04.26 06.53.10 as it is easier to read in this format. I can change the format using the <Year>, <month>, etc format but that changes it to the date the file was downloaded not the date it was shot. So I thought if there was something equivalent to the IMG command that you insert before the year etc that would work? It would be nice to have all my photos and videos named using the same format.

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Reply to #3:
Your need for the feature you request seems very valid. I have written it down and will see what I can come up with when I develop the next version.

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Reply to #4:
Hi Kim
I was wondering if the new version can now do what I previously enquired about? I have downloaded it but still can't find out if it is able to rename video and if so what "name" I should put in front of year, month etc, eg when renaming pictures I would put <IMG year> etc.
Thanks

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Reply to #5:
I actually looked at your request in my todo list a couple of days ago. Almost a year has gone since you asked for this feature. The video support has been enhanced greatly since so I might be able to implement this feature soon. A release fixing some problems with GPS location data will be released with a couple of days. Maybe I can get this done too, but no promises.

Until then I might have another solution for you. If the files have the names you describe when you unload them from the camera you can try the following:

Add the Replace Method
Text to be replaced: (\d{4})(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d{2})
Replace with: \1.\2.\3 \4.\5.\6
Case sensitive: No
Use regular expressions: Yes
Apply to: Name

This will split up the name in 6 parts and add the dots and periods in between. Note: Small variations in the filename will make this pattern useless.

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Reply to #5:
I have been working a bit with extracting date and times from video files but have not had any luck coming up with a good solution. There are just too many video formats and too many ways of storing this information. Because I have not been able to produce consistent results I have decided not to implement any date time functionality in relation to video files.

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