How to view file(video) detailed properties through file folder or properties

[Solo88]

Hello everyone! So I'm slowly immersing myself in Mint and so far it's been working great. The alternatives to Windows have been just great.

The question I had was: Like Windows, how can I view the properties of a video file in the file folder it's in? I would like to know the framerate of a file, size (already showing in Mint), the resolution, and the bitrate. With Windows I would just single click the file to highlight it and at the bottom panel of the folder it was in all the info showed up and that was great. If the file was on the desktop I would have to right-click/properties and would see the same info as well. With Mint it's seemingly impossible to view any kind of file info other than the size and possibly when it was modified/opened. No important data is shown and after tinkering for a while there is no possible way I have been able to find to see this info. I know the files have the information but I would like to set it up so that Mint can offer the data as well. Thank you!

[smurphos]

Which Desktop Environment/File manager?

[Solo88]

I'm using Mint 19 I installed the latest version of it not sure of the file manager version. Thank you

[smurphos]

There are three different possible Desktop environments. Cinnamon (uses Nemo as File Manager), Mate (uses Caja as File Manager) and XFCE (uses Thunar as File Manager).

If you are unsure which you have the command inxi -S run in the terminal will tell you.

For Nemo or Caja you can install a mediainfo properties plugin via this ppa - https://launchpad.net/~caldas-lopes/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

e.g. in a terminal

Code: Select all

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:caldas-lopes/ppa
sudo apt-get update

and then

sudo apt-get install nemo-mediainfo-tab or sudo apt-get install caja-mediainfo-tab depending on your File Manager.

If using nemo you will need to enable to plug in - open Nemo (Files in the menu) navigate to Edit > Plugins and make sure nemo-media-tab is enabled.

I'm not sure at time of writing what if anything you need to do in caja to enable the caja version.

Both will add an extra tab to the right click > properties GUI with full media info for images, sounds and video files.

Alternatively for all three desktop environments you can install the standalone GUI app - mediainfo-gui

sudo apt-get mediainfo-gui

[Solo88]

Yes it was Cinnamon thank you very much I will try this!

[phd21]

Hi Solo88

I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.

By installing the "mediainfo" and "mediainfo-gui" packages from the Software Manager or Synaptic Package Manager (SPM) you can always right-click a multimedia file (video, music, etc..) using any file manager and select open with mediainfo.

Good information from "smurphos" for a more integrated option.

My Linux Mint KDE systems use the Dolphin file manager which has always had the ability to preview multimedia information.

[Solo88]

Phd21,

As I'm learning about Linux more I never knew there were other "programs" to view files with. Just as Windows always used the basic windows and folders it seems that Linux has many other ways to operate within the OS itself. Very customizable is my first impression.

[phd21]

Hi Solo88,

Welcome to the wonderful world of Linux Mint and its excellent forum!

Yes, Linux is very customizable.

[Solo88]

There are three different possible Desktop environments. Cinnamon (uses Nemo as File Manager), Mate (uses Caja as File Manager) and XFCE (uses Thunar as File Manager).

If you are unsure which you have the command inxi -S run in the terminal will tell you.

For Nemo or Caja you can install a mediainfo properties plugin via this ppa - https://launchpad.net/~caldas-lopes/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

e.g. in a terminal

Code: Select all

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:caldas-lopes/ppa
sudo apt-get update

and then

sudo apt-get install nemo-mediainfo-tab or sudo apt-get install caja-mediainfo-tab depending on your File Manager.

If using nemo you will need to enable to plug in - open Nemo (Files in the menu) navigate to Edit > Plugins and make sure nemo-media-tab is enabled.

I'm not sure at time of writing what if anything you need to do in caja to enable the caja version.

Both will add an extra tab to the right click > properties GUI with full media info for images, sounds and video files.

Alternatively for all three desktop environments you can install the standalone GUI app - mediainfo-gui

sudo apt-get mediainfo-gui

Smurphos,

When I visited the site in your reply I was looking at the code but then read this:

"You can update your system with unsupported packages from this untrusted PPA by adding ppa:caldas-lopes/ppa to your system's Software Sources."

Why does it say it is untrusted? Can it be dangerous to apply this file manager to my computer? That's a bewildering thing to read.

[smurphos]

When I visited the site in your reply I was looking at the code but then read this:

"You can update your system with unsupported packages from this untrusted PPA by adding ppa:caldas-lopes/ppa to your system's Software Sources."

Why does it say it is untrusted? Can it be dangerous to apply this file manager to my computer? That's a bewildering thing to read.

That's a good question and kudos for you for taking notice of the warnings and messages you get when running terminal commands.

The commands given are to add a PPA (Personal Package Archive) to your machines list of Sources to find software from. PPAs are mini software repositories, but are unofficial and therefore flagged as untrusted. They are a useful tool though if used judiciously and with a critical eye. They can be a way of getting more up to date versions of software when the official repository version isn't being updated as-well as a way of obtaining software that isn't in the official repository at all.

PPA's may be provided by the author(s) of a particular piece of software of by another third party entirely. Personally I avoid using the latter unless the author of the software recommends it as an install method. I also avoid PPA's that appear to have been abandoned, or ones hosting newer versions of system libraries than are on the official repos. Some PPA's are used by developers to distribute beta software for testing and should be used with care.

In this case the packages in this PPA are under regular development - https://launchpad.net/~caldas-lopes/+archive/ubuntu/ppa - says they last built and updated 10 days ago, and the source code for the applications is available to view here - https://github.com/linux-man/nemo-mediainfo-tab and doesn't look concerning to my laypersons eye. The PPA is run by the author of the software.

I've use nemo-mediainfo-tab for about 6 months or so with no apparent ill-effects so I'm happy to recommend it. You can be sure if a member was advicing to use a known dangerous PPA another member or the mods would spot it and highlight it.

[smurphos]

For completeness here are a another couple of solutions to the question.

There is an official nemo plugin called nemo-media-columns which adds optional metadata columns to the list view - it's not as comprehensive as the info obtained from nemo-mediainfo-tab.

You can install it from Software Manager or by sudo apt-get nemo-media-columns.

If you install the standalone app mediainfo-gui you can use a custom Nemo action to add a right click media properties option to video files. This saves you a click or two from using the open with MediaInfo option..

To add this action you need to create a file ~/.local/share/nemo/actions/media_properties.nemo_action with the contents below. You can add extra file extensions to the extension list

Code: Select all

[Nemo Action]
Name=Media properties
Comment=Media properties
Exec=mediainfo-gui "%F"
Icon-Name=mediainfo
Selection=S
Extensions=mp4;mkv;avi;flv;

[Solo88]

Thank you very much for your response and detailed answer. From what I understand the file manager is unable to show the file data at the bottom of the folder you are currently in as Windows does? You would need to right-click and view "media properties"? I unstalled the media gui and I do have to right-click a file then open with media gui and the window pops up. Saving that click would help tremendously over time.
So currently therr is no way to simply click or choose a video file and automatically have all the data of the file show up in the bottom or side pane of the folder the file is currently in?
I will install the mediainfo tab today! Thank you very much! The learning process is steady but sure.

[phd21]

Hi Solo88,

Because Linux is so customizable, there may be a few ways to have the multimedia information displayed in the information panel of various file managers and or when "mousing over" a multimedia file (add a programming routine to run "mediainfo" and display its results). I have not seen what the suggestions from smurphos look like or how they work but it looks interesting and may be what you want.

As I stated before the Dolphin file manager has always been able to do this, but it is a KDE application. I know this can be installed in Linux Mint 18.x all editions, but I have not tried to install it into Linux Mint 19.x Cinnamon, Mate or Xfce editions (yet). FYI: Some information displayed depends upon whether that information is available (embedded) for the multimedia file (audio and video codecs and other related packages are installed) and that the file(s) are not corrupted.

Previous post - Can't get an image preview at file manager - Page 2 - Linux Mint Forums
viewtopic.php?f=208&t=268018&hilit=inst ... n&start=20

And, how many clicks are going to save a lot of time is a very personal thing. How many multimedia files would you need to do get information on for this and why so frequently?


Hope this helps ...
.

Dolphin_FileManager_multimedia_information_videos1.jpg

.

Dolphin_FileManager_multimedia_information_images1.jpg

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Dolphin_FileManager_multimedia_information_music1.jpg

[Solo88]

Hi Solo88,

Because Linux is so customizable, there may be a few ways to have the multimedia information displayed in the information panel of various file managers and or when "mousing over" a multimedia file (add a programming routine to run "mediainfo" and display its results). I have not seen what the suggestions from smurphos look like or how they work but it looks interesting and may be what you want.

As I stated before the Dolphin file manager has always been able to do this, but it is a KDE application. I know this can be installed in Linux Mint 18.x all editions, but I have not tried to install it into Linux Mint 19.x Cinnamon, Mate or Xfce editions (yet). FYI: Some information displayed depends upon whether that information is available (embedded) for the multimedia file (audio and video codecs and other related packages are installed) and that the file(s) are not corrupted.

Previous post - Can't get an image preview at file manager - Page 2 - Linux Mint Forums
viewtopic.php?f=208&t=268018&hilit=inst ... n&start=20

And, how many clicks are going to save a lot of time is a very personal thing. How many multimedia files would you need to do get information on for this and why so frequently?


Hope this helps ...
.
Dolphin_FileManager_multimedia_information_videos1.jpg
.
Dolphin_FileManager_multimedia_information_images1.jpg
.
Dolphin_FileManager_multimedia_information_music1.jpg

Thank you for your reply. I am in the process of compressing and converting several hundred different video files that are in an older format and taking up huge disk space. Converting to mp4 is the solution however I would like to view the current filetype's resolution and fps as well as bitrate to adjust the converter accordingly. Going back to several files and right clicking then choosing mediainfo feels like it may be a bit tedious in the long run. I will try Smurpho's suggestions they are quite helpful.

[phd21]

Hi Solo88,

You are welcome...

With your explanation, it now makes more sense why you want to view multimedia file information frequently during this task.

I would experiment with ".mp4" and ".mkv". I have found video files may be smaller using ".mkv" versus ".mp4".

What multimedia converters are you going to use? I recommend "WinFF", "FF Multi Converter", "Curlew", "avidemux"", "handbrake", etc... and installing "ffmpeg version 3+". Of course you can use video editors as well, but the multimedia converters can do one or many videos at a time.

If it is not too much trouble, I would like to see screenshots of "Smurphos" suggestions in your file manager when you get that set up.

[Solo88]

Hi Solo88,

You are welcome...

With your explanation, it now makes more sense why you want to view multimedia file information frequently during this task.

I would experiment with ".mp4" and ".mkv". I have found video files may be smaller using ".mkv" versus ".mp4".

What multimedia converters are you going to use? I recommend "WinFF", "FF Multi Converter", "Curlew", "avidemux"", "handbrake", etc... and installing "ffmpeg version 3+". Of course you can use video editors as well, but the multimedia converters can do one or many videos at a time.

If it is not too much trouble, I would like to see screenshots of "Smurphos" suggestions in your file manager when you get that set up.

I think his suggestion will actually be very efficient. Will do and thank you, too!

[Solo88]

Smurphos,

Thank you for your reply and help. I downloaded the media info tab plug-in and it works very comprehensively. It gives much more data than I needed but that never hurts and is never unwelcome. I also used the standalone mediainfo-gui app with the mediainfo right-click script. It works very well and it seems to be the shortest possible method for obtaining the metadata of a video file. I added my own extensions to it and it works like a charm.

I believe that the script is currently the fastest and most efficient way of getting the media info from a video file without resorting to phd's Dolphin app which at the time I do not know if it works for Linux mint 19 Cinnamon. Looking at Phd's screenshots with the "Information Panel" that is exactly what I was trying to accomplish--viewing a video file in icon view and seeing the mediainfo for the selected file in a left/right or bottom pane within the folder i.e. as Windows. In Phd's case Dolphin places the media info on the right and Windows at the bottom although the location is arbitrary to me and makes no difference.

If you happen to know of an app in the future that can modify the ability of nemo to add an extra pane with information of a highlight file (image/video/document) please advise. For now, I think I will use the mediainfo-gui method as it's simply a right-click and "media-properties". Thank you and Phd for your help I will keep an eye out for any updates to dolphin and if it can be used with Mint 19

[phd21]

HI Solo88,

You are welcome from all of us that replied...

I still would like to see a screenshot(s) of Smurphos' suggestion in your Nemo file manager please.

[Solo88]

HI Solo88,

You are welcome from all of us that replied...

I still would like to see a screenshot(s) of Smurphos' suggestion in your Nemo file manager please.

As you can see when the sample file is highlighted there is no data on the folder window panes. I would have to right-click then choose "media info" to see the box that is there.