Displaying data in details view for more types of files?

[bizzybody]

Is there a fix to make Explorer in XP display tag data, resolution etc for file types such as MP4, MKV and others? In Details view it shows the information for AVI, MP3 and a few other types, but not for many newer formats of audio and video that came along after the release of Windows XP.

It *should* be able to show such information for any media file for which codecs are installed, but it doesn't.

[allen2]

To my knowledge, there isn't any XP extension that would do the same for mkv/mp4 (because for avi/mp3 it is handled by the MS shmedia.dll). But you could try mediainfo that can be integrated to explorer (adding a context menu).

[tomasz86]

Couldn't you just add new registry entries for those extensions?

This is what shmedia.dll adds:

[version]
signature="$CHICAGO$"

[RegDll]
AddReg=Registry

[UnregDll]
DelReg=Registry

[Registry]
HKCR,"SystemFileAssociations\.wma\shellex\PropertyHandler",,,%CLSID_AudioMediaProperties%
HKCR,"SystemFileAssociations\.mp3\shellex\PropertyHandler",,,%CLSID_AudioMediaProperties%
HKCR,"SystemFileAssociations\.wmv\shellex\PropertyHandler",,,%CLSID_VideoMediaProperties%
HKCR,"SystemFileAssociations\.asf\shellex\PropertyHandler",,,%CLSID_VideoMediaProperties%
HKCR,"SystemFileAssociations\.wav\shellex\PropertyHandler",,,%CLSID_AVWavProperties%
HKCR,"SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler",,,%CLSID_AVAviProperties%
HKCR,"SystemFileAssociations\.dvr-ms\shellex\PropertyHandler",,,%CLSID_VideoMediaProperties%

HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_AudioMediaProperties%",,,"Audio Media Properties Handler"
HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_AudioMediaProperties%\InProcServer32",,%REGEXSZ%,"%_SYS_MOD_PATH%"
HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_AudioMediaProperties%\InProcServer32","ThreadingModel",,"Both"
HKLM,"%SMWCVSEA%","%CLSID_AudioMediaProperties%",,"Audio Media Properties Handler"

HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_VideoMediaProperties%",,,"Video Media Properties Handler"
HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_VideoMediaProperties%\InProcServer32",,%REGEXSZ%,"%_SYS_MOD_PATH%"
HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_VideoMediaProperties%\InProcServer32","ThreadingModel",,"Both"
HKLM,"%SMWCVSEA%","%CLSID_VideoMediaProperties%",,"Video Media Properties Handler"

HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_AVWavProperties%",,,"Wav Properties Handler"
HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_AVWavProperties%\InProcServer32",,%REGEXSZ%,"%_SYS_MOD_PATH%"
HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_AVWavProperties%\InProcServer32","ThreadingModel",,"Both"
HKLM,"%SMWCVSEA%","%CLSID_AVWavProperties%",,"Wav Properties Handler"

HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_AVAviProperties%",,,"Avi Properties Handler"
HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_AVAviProperties%\InProcServer32",,%REGEXSZ%,"%_SYS_MOD_PATH%"
HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_AVAviProperties%\InProcServer32","ThreadingModel",,"Both"
HKLM,"%SMWCVSEA%","%CLSID_AVAviProperties%",,"Avi Properties Handler"

HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_AVMidiProperties%",,,"Midi Properties Handler"
HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_AVMidiProperties%\InProcServer32",,%REGEXSZ%,"%_SYS_MOD_PATH%"
HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_AVMidiProperties%\InProcServer32","ThreadingModel",,"Both"
HKLM,"%SMWCVSEA%","%CLSID_AVMidiProperties%",,"Midi Properties Handler"

; CLSID_VideoThumbnail
HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_VideoThumbnail%",,,"Video Thumbnail Extractor"
HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_VideoThumbnail%\InProcServer32",,%REGEXSZ%,"%_SYS_MOD_PATH%"
HKCR,"CLSID\%CLSID_VideoThumbnail%\InProcServer32","ThreadingModel",,"Apartment"
HKLM,"%SMWCVSEA%","%CLSID_VideoThumbnail%",,"Video Thumbnail Extractor"

HKCR,".mpeg\ShellEx\%IID_IExtractImage%",,,%CLSID_VideoThumbnail%
HKCR,".mpe\ShellEx\%IID_IExtractImage%",,,%CLSID_VideoThumbnail%
HKCR,".mpg\ShellEx\%IID_IExtractImage%",,,%CLSID_VideoThumbnail%
HKCR,".asf\ShellEx\%IID_IExtractImage%",,,%CLSID_VideoThumbnail%
HKCR,".asx\ShellEx\%IID_IExtractImage%",,,%CLSID_VideoThumbnail%
HKCR,".avi\ShellEx\%IID_IExtractImage%",,,%CLSID_VideoThumbnail%
HKCR,".wmv\ShellEx\%IID_IExtractImage%",,,%CLSID_VideoThumbnail%

[Strings]
REGEXSZ = 0x00020000
SMWCVSEA = "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Approved"
IID_IExtractImage       = "{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}"

CLSID_AudioMediaProperties = "{875CB1A1-0F29-45de-A1AE-CFB4950D0B78}"
CLSID_VideoMediaProperties = "{40C3D757-D6E4-4b49-BB41-0E5BBEA28817}"
CLSID_AVWavProperties   = "{E4B29F9D-D390-480b-92FD-7DDB47101D71}"
CLSID_AVAviProperties   = "{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}"
CLSID_AVMidiProperties  = "{A6FD9E45-6E44-43f9-8644-08598F5A74D9}"
CLSID_VideoThumbnail    = "{c5a40261-cd64-4ccf-84cb-c394da41d590}"

[allen2]

I'm pretty sure shmedia.dll wouldn't be natively able to handle mkv and mp4 perhaps haali matroska splitter can help.

Edited November 22, 2012 by allen2

[bizzybody]

Here's a shell extension that adds details view data for M4A files. http://whitebear.ch/music.htm

That's one, how many other formats that XP doesn't have the built in capability to do that for? Looks like a project...

"Further Development: Perhaps I will extend the library to handle other music file types; possible candidates are .mp4, .m4b and .m4v; please inform me if you have a concrete interest in these or other (MPEG-4) file types."

Perhaps the author might release the source code so others can extend it to cover many other media types, and make a 64 bit version. Ehhhh, probably not. Wants a donation of 3 Euro.

Or could the function be back ported from 32 bit Vista to XP? If so, that still would only cover the additional types Vista recognizes.

Edited November 23, 2012 by bizzybody

[Sp0iLedBrAt]

The K-Lite Codec Pack offers thumbnail integration for MKV and other video file types.