Time-Based Video Metadata allows you to interact with your video content more deeply than ever before. Instead of scrubbing through hours of footage to find a specific moment, you can now view, search, and navigate your videos using metadata tagged to specific timecodes.
Whether it’s finding where a specific person appears, jumping to a keyword in a transcript, or marking a custom event, this feature turns your video library into a searchable, precise archive.
Key Benefits
- Precision Navigation: Jump instantly to specific moments based on tags or transcript text.
- AI & Manual Tagging: Leverage automated People ID tags or add your own custom tags to mark key events.
- Integrated Transcripts: Read along with video playback and click any line of text to jump to that frame.
- Faster Clipping: Use metadata events to quickly set in/out points for creating new video clips.
Article Contents:
How to Use Time-Based Metadata
1. Viewing the Timeline
When you open a video in the single-file view, you will see a Timeline View option. This displays all metadata associated with specific timecodes along the video's duration.
- Events: View markers for manual tags and AI-detected entities (like People).
- Navigation: Click on any tag or event marker to instantly move the playhead to that specific moment.
2. Adding Manual Tags
You can bookmark specific moments in a video by adding your own tags.
- Navigate to the specific frame you want to tag.
- Click Add Metadata
- Select a keyword from your bank or type a new one.
- Set Duration: By default, a tag marks a .5 second long event at minimum, but you can adjust the "In" and "Out" points to define a duration (e.g., a 5-second highlight).
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Save to add the event to the timeline.
3. Using AI People Tags
If your organization uses People ID, recognized individuals will automatically appear on the timeline.
- Filter by Person: Select a specific person from the side panel to see only the moments they appear in the video.
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Jump to Appearance: Click a timestamp next to their name to skip directly to that scene.
4. Transcripts & Captions
If your video has an associated transcript file (SRT or VTT):
- Timeline Read-Along: View the full transcript text synced with the video.
- Search the Script: Use the search bar within the timeline view to find specific spoken words.
- Click-to-Seek: Click on any line of text in the transcript to jump the video player to exactly when those words are spoken.
- Automated captions will be in the same menu.
- Video Captions/Transcripts are searchable in the Library:
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Clips can be created from these events in the timeline by clicking the ✂️ icon. The ⠇icon can be selected for each event in the timeline as well, to create additions, or to copy a shareable link to that specific event in your video:
5. Creating Clips
Time-based metadata makes creating derivative clips faster.
- Locate a specific event or tag on the timeline.
- Click the Trim icon associated with that event.
- The system will automatically use the event’s "In" and "Out" points to set up your clip, allowing you to export or download just that segment immediately.
Search Capabilities
You don't need to open a video to know what's inside.
- Library Search: When you search for terms in the main Library, results will include videos where those terms appear as time-based tags.
- Transcript Search: You can search for dialogue or text contained within transcript files to find relevant videos.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I edit AI-generated tags?
Currently, automated tags (like People ID) are read-only on the timeline to ensure consistency. However, you can add your own manual tags to the same timecodes if needed.
How precise are the tags?
Tags are accurate to the millisecond, ensuring that when you click a tag, you land exactly on the relevant frame.
Does this work with my existing keywords?
Yes. Your video’s existing IPTC keywords can be used as a "keyword bank" to help you quickly apply manual tags to specific times without re-typing them.