Automatic metadata extraction and improved search
Metadata extraction from videos and more…
I am very happy to be let you know that we have just released Fast video cataloger 6 with a massive number of changes and improvements. To make sure everyone gets a chance to test it out we have also reset all trial periods. Meaning even if you tried an earlier version, you can still give this one a test.
Video Metadata extraction
The biggest feature by far is that we have added the option to automatically extract metadata from video files. On the video index screen, you can now decide if you want to extract metadata from nfo files and/or from inside the videos. Extracted metadata will be stored as extended properties, and you view them in the video detail window. The new ctrl+I search function will match against extended properties as well allowing you to include codecs, video resolution and more in your searches.
Options to extract video metadata from video file
Viewing extracted video metadata in the general view
Video Search improvements
The search video functions have had a new interactive search field – search all. This search field allows you to quickly match a number of the different fields for your search terms. Each term is matched against name, path, description, keywords and custom video properties. If you enter more than one search term, each needs to to match the video but does not need to match the same property. This is an extremely powerful feature that will help you to quickly filter down to a few videos in large collections. For example, if you would search for “c:\ brother” the search would match all videos with the keyword “brother” with a path starting with “c:\”. But it would not match videos in other folders or videos in the c:\ folder that don’t have the “brother” keyword. I hope you see how this can be incredibly useful and powerful. We also added a special shortcut “Ctrl + i” that will toggle this search text field up in the top window bar regardless of what windows you have open.
User interface improvements
When you install the latest version, the first thing you will notice is that we have made a huge change to the user interface.! But don’t worry, you can still configure your user interface across one or more screens just as before. The changes are designed to make the program easier to understand for new users, and also more efficient for experts. The interface now works a bit more like the familiar Microsoft Office software.
There is a start page, “catalog”, where you do things like open catalogs, import/export catalogs, archive catalogs, repair, backup and protect catalogs and so on. These are all extremely powerful functions that are carried out on the complete catalog but rarely and this is where you switch between catalogs. By moving these functions to the catalog screen we get rid of quite a few items from the menus which makes them simpler. We also moved to task menus instead of drop-down menus. This allowed us to save some space and leave more area for the windows. It also lets you quickly toggle windows to configure your layouts and switch between them.
An improved user interface in fast video cataloger 6
Layout changes
We have changed how the default layouts work. The named layouts have now been setup so that their names make sense. i.e. the add videos layouts by default only have the windows you need to add videos. If you reset that layout, it will return to these windows. Before it returned to the standard layout. You can still change all of the layouts to your liking and quickly switch between them.
Other changes
We added the ability to change the default shortcuts in the program. You can access this window from the “Catalog” screen.
The scripting interface has been extended with functions to mask and unmask videos.
Special folders can be accessed from preferences and allow you to set labels to root paths that will be used in the catalog. If you then change the root of videos, say from one drive to another, you can simply just update the special folder label.
Licensing
The license system has been updated, so you will unfortunately need a new key for this version. If it is less than 2 years since you bought Fast video cataloger, you are entitled to a free upgrade. If you have already received a new key, please contact support and we will work that out for you.
We will eventually provide an affordable solution for customers who are running very old versions from more than 2 years back. Just contact us if you are in a hurry to get the latest version.
Give it a try
You can download the latest version of Fast video cataloger 6 from here. In this version, we also reset the trial license so even if you have tested the program before you get a new trial period, and we have extended the trial from 7 to 30 days.