FPV XMP files not read by PSE 8

[glee]

I love FPV 64 bit and have rated many photos taken by a Canon G12 producing raw and jpg files of each shot. PSE 8 doesn't adopt the rating in the xmp file. Is the xmp file "linked" to the raw (cr2) file or the jpg? If it is linked to the cr2 file, then perhaps the fact that PSE 8 won't read the cr2 files might explain it. TIA

[Axel]

Not sure about PSE8, does it read XMP files at all? If yes, the XMP sidecar files produced by FPV are completely XMP-compliant and all XMP-aware applications should be able to read them (Lightroom, Photoshop, Bridge, PhotoMechanic, IMatch and IDImager certainly do). FastPictureViewer is also able to update any well-formed XMP file to change or add XMP metadata elements so inter-operability should not be a concern, save for the usual glitches like the XMP Label names used, which should be matched across applications.

Does your version of PSE read your particular type of CR2 files? The XMP behavior is entirely defined by the applications: it is possible that PSE only read XMP with reading raw files that it actually support, and only looks for rating within JPEGs when handling those files regardless of the presence of a sidecar? There may be preference options to alter the default behavior.

You can configure FPV to write a sidecar and/or write inside JPEG/TIFF/HDPhoto, which should cover all common use cases i.e. JPEG with embedded XMP, JPEG + Sidecar, RAW + Sidecar, JPEG + RAW + Sidecar, JPEG with embedded XMP + Sidecar and JPEG with embedded XMP + RAW + Sidecar, depending on the program settings and the type(s) of files created by the camera. The only cases that FPV does not handle by choice (at the time of this writing) are those involving the embedding of XMP data within RAW files, which is a risky business.

You can use for example ExifTool to migrate your XMP sidecars to within your JPEG files if desired, or create file management rules with FPV's File Utilities plug-in (Ctrl+F), like "Where the file type is "JPEG" and the image has an XMP Rating equal to 5 and the image has an XMP sidecar then set its XMP Rating to 5 stars.", which does not seem to do much, but will actually write your the rating inside the JPEG files, if the appropriate option is checked in FPV's preferences.

[glee]

Thanks very much for the great answer Axel.
I have since looked at the files with Adobe Bridge and sure enough the FPV xmp ratings were faithfully reflected in relation to the cr2 files but not the "linked" jpgs. Thats fair enough since the cr2 files are more important. Unfortunately Adobe only allows its latest version of PSE (PSE9)to see the latest cameras' cr2 (eg G12) files. So since Adobe will only let me see the jpgs I won't see the xmp details unless I upgrade to PSE9. I think I'll stick with FPV instead!
Thanks again. I'll use one of your ideas below.

[dennishill854]

I have a Canon Powershot G12 too but I haven't use the FPV. What I know is that FPV can read/write Adobe XMP rating metadata in external sidecar files (*.xmp) or embed it within JPEG (JFIF), HD Photo and TIFF containers. But about the PSE 8 in my own opinion maybe it doesn't support the XMP, I guess you just have to convert your images to files that the PSE 8 supports.