Actual IMDB Import, or just a LOOKUP on the fly?

[can3gxw]

I am a current Beyond Media / BTV user... happy so far with that, but with the integration of TV and Media in Sage, I am looking to convert... LOL

I have one problem so far that is preventing me from making the jump. That is the IMDB detail import plug-in. Everywhere here that I read, I see that it is able to download and store the metadata/covers/info. This would blow the pants off the DVD Library Plugin for Beyond (as great as that is...).

BUT (BIG but....) I have over 200 movies that I have ripped to my HTPC, and they are all showing in SageMC as "blabla.avi" with a video clip instead of the TITLE and COVER ART.

Please don't tell me to read this post, and read that post, because I have gone through MANY MANY posts that give directions, but none of them appear to be relevant to my situation. Here's the "why":

When I select one of my VIDEOS, for example, I see

"Bourne Ultimation.avi"

I click on it, and get the IMDB SEARCH option... then, I get "search IMDB for show title or episode name". I click the title, then get what IMDB finds for hits. I choose the one that I want, say hit # 1, and it gets the data from IMDB. Nice.

BUT - all that gives me is the basic IMDB information, but does NOT add any of this information to my videos list/video title information. There is no "add this information to this title" or "download and attach to this title" anywhere.

Am I missing something here? I also read through the thread about the BATCH IMPORTER that someone was working on (may look at that if THIS will work), as well as conversations about using DVD Profiler (tried that - it doesn't allow me to search my hard drives and use the title for my searches).

I have all my movies ripped to DIVX AVI files, in a specific folder, with the title as the filename. Beyond Media's DVD LIBRARY PLUGIN searches through the media folders and will automatically download the movie details (not as comprehensively as the IMDB plugin, but that's just gravy at this point) without asking me to type all my filenames at once.

Sorry for the long post, but this is actually the third time that I've taken a look at Sage for my HTPC (I ultimately chose Beyond two years ago because of this "shortfall").

If anyone can help me figure this out and what should be working, it would be appreciated. I haven't laid out any $$$$ yet, but if I can make this work as well or better than Beyond, I may make the leap.

[matt91]

I think that you should try out the batch importer. It sounds like it does what you want.

Matt

[can3gxw]

I am more than willing to experiment with it, but what about in the future when I add one or two movies? IMO, the IMDB Plugin appears to have been created to IMPORT/DOWNLOAD/ATTACH the movie/show data to the file in my movies list/folder.

Or am I WAAAY off base on what the main purpose of that plugin is?

[Brent]

Are you using the default STV or the add-on "SageMC 16x9" STV?

Regardless, you should be able to use the batch IMDB updater to get the bulk of your movies that are on the drive right now and then going forward, lookup via IMDB, select the proper movie and save that data one-by-one so that the metadata and cover saves to SageTV.

[can3gxw]

I am using the default "everything" at this point, with the only exception being the IMDB plugin.

And, again it is mentioned "use the batch updater" then save them one at a time moving forward. WHY can I not save ANY information from this point forward? If I select a CURRENT movie file on my HTPC and click on it, I get a dialog box "what do I want to do"... play, deleted, IMDB lookup?

When I select IMDB, it finds the movie online, asks me "which movie is correct", then gives me the information. From here, I can look at the actors, synopsis, trivia, quotes, etc. Here, I have no choice but to go BACK. When I do this, nothing is saved, nothing is updated, and if I want to look at this movie's data again, I have to choose "which movie"?

Is there something somewhere that I'm missing? I'm getting a little frustrated as this seems to be a LOT more convoluted than Beyond. I haven't given up... YET... just looking for answers to something that apparently is not what it seems....

Thanks!!

ps. Thanks, Brent...

[Brent]

I'm using the SageMC 16x9 STV which might be a little different. Just to be sure I don't lead you down the wrong path, let me check later this afternoon when I'm at my computer and I'll post back. If my memory serves me right (sometimes it fails me) I think you should have a "SAVE" option in there somewhere - if not, somethings not quite right.

Hopefully someone will beat me to the punch here and answer your question better, but if not I'll post back later this afternoon.


By the way, SageTV is a lot tougher to get your head around and requires a learning experience for setup. I think that stems from the multitude of options and add-ons available though which in the end is a good thing for you because you can typically make it do what you want how you want. Once set up, the user experience is very good in my opinion. I'm one of many former BTV users here and am very happy with SageTV. Hang in there and we'll get you where you need to be.

[Brent]

I did a little more searching on the IMDB Search plugin I think you are using (is it this one?) If so, this plugin only searches and displays that information.

I think to do what you want to do you will have to use the batch IMDB upload tool as there isn't a true plugin to do what you want to in the default STV.

I would recommend you try SageMC which definitely do what you are wanting to do and much more. If you're curious about it, check out this post for more info. SageMC has IMDB Search and SAVE built in which does allow you to save that metadata and covers.

Hope that helps - if not let me know.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by can3gxw

I am using the default "everything" at this point, with the only exception being the IMDB plugin.

And, again it is mentioned "use the batch updater" then save them one at a time moving forward. WHY can I not save ANY information from this point forward? If I select a CURRENT movie file on my HTPC and click on it, I get a dialog box "what do I want to do"... play, deleted, IMDB lookup?

When I select IMDB, it finds the movie online, asks me "which movie is correct", then gives me the information. From here, I can look at the actors, synopsis, trivia, quotes, etc. Here, I have no choice but to go BACK. When I do this, nothing is saved, nothing is updated, and if I want to look at this movie's data again, I have to choose "which movie"?

Is there something somewhere that I'm missing? I'm getting a little frustrated as this seems to be a LOT more convoluted than Beyond. I haven't given up... YET... just looking for answers to something that apparently is not what it seems....

Thanks!!

ps. Thanks, Brent...

It stores the info (AFAIK) but the stock STV only displays a (relatively limited) subset of information. I don't think the IMDB importer significantly changes that (but I've never used it).

After you import from IMDB you should see the Description/Overview, Genre, Year, and Rating I believe when you browse to the detailed info.

[stuckless]

Unfortunately, this comment isn't going to help your situation, but maybe someone at Sage is listening....

It would be ideal if SageTV provided a Plugin interface for searching and retrieving movie metadata. Initially it could come with a "Null" plugin that doesn't do anything, but at least they would integrate metadata lookups into the UI in a seamless manner. Today, nothing, short of rewriting much of the Media library is going to give you a seemless IMDB / DVD Profiler integration.

I understand that Sage cannot provide an imdb import, that many other "open" media centers have. But, if they did provide the "Plugin" api for searching and fetching metadata, then I would have no issues, writing a Plugin implementation that fit their interfaces. Essentially, i'd just modify the batch metadata libraray to use Sage's API.

So here's the challenge to Sage.... You write the screens, and the plugin interface.... and I'll volunteer to write the implementation... (btw, if you are looking at providing an interface abstration, then feel free to use the interfaces defined in the IVideoMetaDataProvider class... It'll save me some work, if you used those )

[Brent]

Just so the message doesn't get lost here, you CAN do what you're wanting to do with SageMC (Import metadata and covers from IMDB, import metadata and covers from DVD Profiler etc)

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Unfortunately, this comment isn't going to help your situation, but maybe someone at Sage is listening....

It would be ideal if SageTV provided a Plugin interface for searching and retrieving movie metadata. Initially it could come with a "Null" plugin that doesn't do anything, but at least they would integrate metadata lookups into the UI in a seamless manner. Today, nothing, short of rewriting much of the Media library is going to give you a seemless IMDB / DVD Profiler integration.

Actually they do, but I think Greg is the only one who's tackled it so far (MediaFileMetadataImporter)....

ala:

http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=17620

[can3gxw]

OK Brent... thanks for the info, and I've read (briefly) thru your blog about supercharging SageMC.

How does SageMC differ from SageTV? I downloaded what I thought was the whole shot from Sage... http://www.sagetv.com/sagetv.html

"SageTV MediaCenter 6"... just downloaded it yesterday... is this not the right file? Is there a "new" or updated community version called SageMC?

If this is the same app, then that's what I'm using... thanks to everyone for their insight... not giving up just yet...

[can3gxw]

ROFLMAO... sorry guys, guess I didn't read ENOUGH of Brent's blog... I found his link to the SageMC plugin...

Gonna download and install... will post my results later tonight...

Thanks again!

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by can3gxw

I am using the default "everything" at this point, with the only exception being the IMDB plugin
.......
Is there something somewhere that I'm missing? I'm getting a little frustrated as this seems to be a LOT more convoluted than Beyond. I haven't given up... YET... just looking for answers to something that apparently is not what it seems....

You just need this plugin installed after the IMDB plugin is installed to get a Save button (as well as other stuff of course ).

John

[stuckless]

Actually they do, but I think Greg is the only one who's tackled it so far (MediaFileMetadataImporter)....

I don't think you quite understand what I was requesting.... MediaFileMetadataImporter is a means to import metadata for media types that sage doesn't support. What I was referring to was an API that given a media title, it could return a list of metadata results for that title. Doing this would enable a UI (that SageTV would build) to query a list of metadata providers and display results and could then be selected. Also by extending the list of metadata fields, they could build a richer media details screen.

A part of the query api would be to return a weight on the result, so that choices could be made automatically. In this manner, when a video is added to the media library, the process could invoke the metadata provider plugins to find suitable metadata for the movie, and selet it automatically if the choice was relevant enough. This is what the batch metadata tool does, but it could be built into Sage without the depenendencies on IMDB or DVD Profiler.

I think the part that Sage is missing is the support for pluggable metadata providers, that allow searching. They do allow you import metadata, but they don't faciliate a means to do it automatically, or to provide a choice to the user on demand. I personally think that finding and importing metadata should be a standard feature in a media center.