Variable for "Media created"? (Powershell)

What is the variable for "Media created", using Powershell?

I'm trying to change many .mov files at one time, in a folder, from "IMG-3523" to their respective creation dates.

I was using the following code to do so, using LastWriteTime:

Get-ChildItem | Rename-Item -NewName {$_.LastWriteTime.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd hh.mm.ss ddd") + ($_.Extension)}

However for some reason there are many duplicate entries for that variable, and I run into an error stating so.

Is there any way I can edit this code to use the "Media created" variable? It's the only date without duplicates.

(I've tried editing the code to include microseconds and $_.CreationTime, however there are many duplicates with that variable too (actually all have the same CreationTime - the timestamp of when I copied the files over from an external disk).

For all files within a directory:

$fldPath = "D:\FolderName";
$flExt = ".mov";
$attrName = "media created"

(Get-ChildItem -Path "$fldPath\*" -Include "*$flExt").FullName | % { 
    $path = $_
    $shell = New-Object -COMObject Shell.Application;
    $folder = Split-Path $path;
    $file = Split-Path $path -Leaf;
    $shellfolder = $shell.Namespace($folder);
    $shellfile = $shellfolder.ParseName($file);

    $a = 0..500 | % { Process { $x = '{0} = {1}' -f $_, $shellfolder.GetDetailsOf($null, $_); If ( $x.split("=")[1].Trim() ) { $x } } };
    [int]$num = $a | % { Process { If ($_ -like "*$attrName*") { $_.Split("=")[0].trim() } } };
    $mCreated = $shellfolder.GetDetailsOf($shellfile, $num);
    $mCreated;
};

For one specific File, you can use:

$flPath = "D:\FolderName\FileName.mov";
$attrName = "media created"

$path = $flPath;
$shell = New-Object -COMObject Shell.Application;
$folder = Split-Path $path;
$file = Split-Path $path -Leaf;
$shellfolder = $shell.Namespace($folder);
$shellfile = $shellfolder.ParseName($file);

$a = 0..500 | % { Process { $x = '{0} = {1}' -f $_, $shellfolder.GetDetailsOf($null, $_); If ( $x.split("=")[1].Trim() ) { $x } } };
[int]$num = $a | % { Process { If ($_ -like "*$attrName*") { $_.Split("=")[0].trim() } } };
$mCreated = $shellfolder.GetDetailsOf($shellfile, $num);
$mCreated;

This was answered in SuperUser by vomit-it-chunky-mess-style on Getting a Media Created via PS

As "Media created" property of a .mov file might also be multiple, or undefined in many cases, use it may cause also file name duplication, even error.
I'd propose another approach, we first check existence of both "Media created" and "Date taken", if nonexistent, we keep using $_.LastWriteTime as basic file name, adding a number to each file name if duplicated, like this:

<pre><code>

fnc001: get file media created, date taken or LastWriteTime:

function entGetMediaCreatedOrLastWriteTime($objFile) {
$idxMediaCreated = 208

$objShell = New-Object -COMObject Shell.Application
$objShellFolder = $objShell.NameSpace($objFile.DirectoryName)

$iState = [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($objShell)

$objShellFile = $objShellFolder.ParseName($objFile.Name)
$mediaCreated = $objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf($objShellFile, $idxMediaCreated)

if media created is empty, we check if we have Date taken:

if($mediaCreated -eq "") {
#
# canon cameras set Date taken for photos:
#
$idxDateTaken = 12
$dateTaken = $objShellFolder.GetDetailsOf($objShellFile, $idxDateTaken)

#
# return LastWriteTime if neither media created, nor Date taken:
#
if($dateTaken -eq "") {
return $objFile.LastWriteTime
}
#
# otherwise return Date taken, removing non-ascii before:
#
else
{  	
return [DateTime]($dateTaken -replace '\P{IsBasicLatin}')
}

}

otherwise return valid media created, removing non-ascii before:

else {
return [DateTime]($mediaCreated -replace '\P{IsBasicLatin}')
}
}

fnc001: increment filename if it already exists:

function entIncrementIfExistent($filename) {
$fnew = $filename
$ext = Split-Path $filename -Extension

define prefix before file number:

$prefix = "-"
$i = 0

save file base length:

$lngbase = $fnew.length - $ext.length

here $filename is like

2023-02-05 08.33.00 Sun.mov,

if it exists, we try to use first available of:

2023-02-05 08.33.00 Sun-1.mov

2023-02-05 08.33.00 Sun-2.mov

...

2023-02-05 08.33.00 Sun-9.mov

...

2023-02-05 08.33.00 Sun-10.mov

2023-02-05 08.33.00 Sun-11.mov

...

while (Test-Path $fnew)
{
$i++
$fnew = $fnew.Substring(0, $lngbase) + $prefix + $i + $ext
}

return $fnew
}

Get-ChildItem *.mov | Rename-Item -NewName {
$xDateTime = entGetMediaCreatedOrLastWriteTime $_
$fnew = $xDateTime.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd hh.mm.ss ddd") + $_.Extension
entIncrementIfExistent $fnew
}
</code></pre>

I've tried this code, it gets something like this:

Using the Shell.Application object you can get this value from the file, but unfortunately, the property names are all Localized, so if you are looking for a property named Media created on a non-english machine, you will not find it..

For .MOV files, the index of this property in numbered 4.
You can use below function to get that value for all the files in the path and then use that to rename them:

function Get-MetaData {
[CmdletBinding()]
[OutputType([Psobject[]])]
Param (
# Path can be the path to a folder or the full path and filename of a single file
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true, Position = 0)]
[string]$Path,
# Filter is unused if Path is pointing to a single file
[Alias('Pattern')]
[string]$Filter = '*.*',
[Alias('Indices')]
[int[]]$Properties = 1..500,
# Recurse is unused if Path is pointing to a single file
[switch]$Recurse,
[switch]$IncludeEmptyProperties
)
$item = Get-Item -Path $Path -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if (!$item) { Write-Error "$Path could not be found."; return }
if (!$item.PSIsContainer) {
# it's a file
$files = @($item)
$Path  = $item.DirectoryName
}
else {
# it's a folder
$files = Get-ChildItem -Path $Path -Filter $Filter -File -Recurse:$Recurse
}
$shell  = New-Object -ComObject "Shell.Application"
$objDir = $shell.NameSpace($Path)
foreach($file in $files) {
$objFile    = $objDir.ParseName($file.Name)
$mediaFile  = $objDir.Items()
foreach($index in $Properties) {
$name  = $objDir.GetDetailsOf($mediaFile, $index)
if (![string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($name)) { 
# to be on the safe side, remove any control character (ASCII < 32) that may be in there
$value = $objDir.GetDetailsOf($objFile, $index) -replace '[\x00-\x1F]+'
if (![string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($value) -or $IncludeEmptyProperties) {
[PsCustomObject]@{
Path     = $file.FullName
Index    = $index
Property = $name
Value    = $value
}
}
}
}
}
# clean-up Com objects
$null = [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($objFile)
$null = [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($objDir)
$null = [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($shell)
[System.GC]::Collect()
[System.GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
}
# property index 3 --> Last Modified
# property index 4 --> Date Created   # we'll use this one
# property index 5 --> Last Accessed
$SourceFolder = 'X:\Somewhere'
Get-MetaData -Path $SourceFolder -Filter '*.mov' -Properties 4 |
ForEach-Object {
# HH for 24-hour clock; hh for 12-hour clock
$dateCreated = '{0:yyyy-MM-dd HH.mm.ss ddd}' -f ([datetime]$_.Value)
$directory   = [System.IO.Path]::GetDirectoryName($_.Path)
$extension   = [System.IO.Path]::GetExtension($_.Path)
# test if the suggested new name is already in use, append a sequence 
# number to the basename until we have a unique name
$newName = '{0}{1}' -f $dateCreated, $extension
$index   = 1
while (Test-Path -Path (Join-Path -Path $directory -ChildPath $newName) -PathType Leaf) {
$newName = '{0}({1}){2}' -f $dateCreated, $index++, $extension
}
Rename-Item -Path $_.Path -NewName $newName -WhatIf
}

The -WhatIf is a safety measure. It will make the code only show in the console what would happen. No file is actually renamed.
If you are convinced that output is correct, then remove the -WhatIf switch and run the code again