My Movies Add-In for WHS

[kevine]

Anyone using this My Movies add-in for WHS? It rips DVDs, music and even downloads metadata for Sage to use in it's latest build. I just installed it and plan to give it a spin.

If you are using it, please let us know what you think.

[PAF]

I personally love it. It is a no hastle dvd/bd rip where I can place a disc into the drive and it will text message or email me when its done. It will also download much of the metadata, cover art and fan art. It will also do the metadata stuff for folders you simply name in its directories. Granted you can do this with scripts and stuff like that but this just makes it sooo much easier.

The downside is that at that point it isnt really free... its more like $50 because you have to reach a certain donation point to use the rip feature. The folder identification will still work but it will not download fan art... Honestly though, 50 for a really nice plugin is not that bad especially since development is still ongoing for it.

[kevine]

How do you send text message? I don't see that in the settings.

I just wanted to make sure you saw that it supports SageTV metadata. There is a checkbox in the settings now.

[PAF]

I just upgraded to the latest version and I see the option. I told the plugin to re-create the metadata and it created all the .properties files for all the movies in the directory. The plugin can also create background.jpg and folder.jpg if using the legacy fan art, couple that with the auto metadata scrubber pointed to my movies, it is a powerful tool.

To send a text message, you need the notification add-in. It is another add-in that alerts you of WHS notifications and my movies creates those notifications. You have to know your provider for the cell phone and usually there is an email address that includes your phone number @ the carrier domain. Pointing the notifications add-in to that email will send WHS notifications as text messages, which includes the My Movies plugin.

[DMT]

I would be interested in hearing from others.

For example, is there any advantage to using My Movies for WHS with the stock SageTV UI?

I have installed on my WHS a couple of times but always removed it.

Pros:
* Could be a one button rip solution.
* Updates AnyDVD automatically.

Cons:
* Very scant Wiki documentation.
* It worries me that the developer has a 'SaveTV' rather that 'SageTV' option to check for saving meta data in Properties file format. Is this just a spelling mistake or is it supposed to work with SageTV?
Can't find many (WHS / SageTV / My Movies) user experiences in forums.
* You have to pay $50 to try/use the rip feature.
* It hung my WHS Console when I was playing with one of the SQL database functions, albeit I was doing so from a remote location.

I never could figure out how My Movies was supposed to collect data for existing DVD's and BD's. I guess the correct folders have to be monitored. This part did not seem very intuitive / work for me and I ran out of patience

I would give it another go if I see there is any advantage to using My Movies with SageTV.

Thanks.

Dave

[othy]

Originally Posted by DMT

I would be interested in hearing from others.

For example, is there any advantage to using My Movies for WHS with the stock SageTV UI?

I have installed on my WHS a couple of times but always removed it.

Pros:
* Could be a one button rip solution.
* Updates AnyDVD automatically.

Cons:
* Very scant Wiki documentation.
* It worries me that the developer has a 'SaveTV' rather that 'SageTV' option to check for saving meta data in Properties file format. Is this just a spelling mistake or is it supposed to work with SageTV?
Can't find many (WHS / SageTV / My Movies) user experiences in forums.
* You have to pay $50 to try/use the rip feature.
* It hung my WHS Console when I was playing with one of the SQL database functions, albeit I was doing so from a remote location.

I never could figure out how My Movies was supposed to collect data for existing DVD's and BD's. I guess the correct folders have to be monitored. This part did not seem very intuitive / work for me and I ran out of patience

I would give it another go if I see there is any advantage to using My Movies with SageTV.

Thanks.

Dave

I agree with all of what you said. I, too, would like to see more reports from SageTV users.

Interestingly, after I installed it (along with all the old .NET framework stuff, which irritated me!) I had general "funnyness" with my server: lockups I'd never had before, and a nightly loss of network connectivity that required a reboot every morning. I don't know that the issues were related to My Movies, but it struck me as maybe more than coincidental.

Oh, by the way you can get a trial key (21-days, I think) to check out the one-click ripping, though I haven't tried it yet. There's information on the MyMovies web site.

Tim

[lpitman]

I tried an install last night, and after several re-boots because of console lockups. I removed it from my WHS box and now things are back to normal. It's a shame I was looking forward to getting the meta-data.

[othy]

I just wanted to clarify that I identified my network issue and it is not related to My Movies.

However, I still can't nail down the random lockups I had after installing My Movies; again, I'm not 100% sure it's related. I don't have My Movies installed now, but maybe I'll give it another shot next week.

Tim

[DMT]

My WHS has a Blu-ray drive and AnyDVD installed. DVD/BDs are stored in folders by title with folder.jpg cover art.
\\Server\DVD
\\Server\Blu-ray

Once I got My Movies installed and working it started downloading cover art etc.
-Took 10 minutes or so to download 55 titles
-View progress in WHS Console > My Movies Monitor

On my HD200 under Videos by DVD/BDs
-Select a title > View Video Detail for Description, Genre, Year, Rated etc.
-SageTV is using the properties files created by My Movies
-Not all of my DVDs show data
-None of my BDs show data (have to look into this)

GETTING IT WORKING

Got a free ‘Web Service Account’ from www.mymovies.dk

Download the My Movies for Windows Home Server Add-in.

Followed the video ‘Installing and Configuring My Movies for Windows Home Server (6 minutes and 12 seconds)’ on the My Movies site under ‘Video Documentation and Tutorials’.

On the WHS Console > Settings > My Movies Meta Data – check the box ‘Store meta-data for SaveTV (properfiles file)’. Note Sa(v)eTV and other spelling mistakes.

ERROR: How I got My Movies to work

I kept getting an error that SQL Server had not installed properly. Found the fix in the My Movies forums. Had to do this at least twice:
QUOTE
1. Uninstall My Movies from WHS console. Use the registry fix if needed.
2. Using Remote Desktop, uninstall SQL Server from Control Panel.
3. Delete "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server", make sure other programs is not using it.
4. Reinstall My Movies.
UNQUOTE

Note: got a few WHS console hangs.

THOUGHTS
-Going to evaluate further (stability).
-Can’t see data for BDs. (.properties file is there but SageTV is not picking up?).
-Might spring for the $50 to test the Disc Copier function (one-button auto rip and data collection).

Regards,

Dave

[othy]

For the benfit of those wanting to try the features that require points, here's the link for requesting a 21-day trial:

http://www.mymovies.dk/request-trial.aspx

It's buried in one of the pages and not easy to see, so I thought it might be good to post it. That way you can try features (primarily disc ripping) before you shell out the donation.

Tim

[lpitman]

Keep us informed as to your testing and any successful setups...I would really like this functionality, but don't want the frustration of console lockups or unreliablity.

[DMT]

Originally Posted by lpitman

Keep us informed as to your testing and any successful setups...I would really like this functionality, but don't want the frustration of console lockups or unreliablity.

My Movies for WHS works with the default SageTV STV. DVD/BD metadata such as Description, Genre, Year, Rated, etc. shows up just like it does for SageTV recordings. SageTV reads the PROPERTIES files and JPEG images created by My Movies. You can get Fanart too but I don’t think default SageTV can do anything with that.

My Movies along with a DVD/BD drive and AnyDVDHD installed on WHS provides automatic ripping and identification (metadata). Just insert the disc in the drive. My Movies and AnyDVDHD does the rest. Configuration and monitoring is done through the My Movies settings and tabs on WHS Console. The program takes control of AnyDVDHD.

My Movies Client Edition installed on another computer IS required to add/edit metadata. My stumbling block; it wasn’t really clear if My Movies Client Edition was actually needed and could it be used WITHOUT Windows Media Centre. I installed it successfully on my home office desktop running just Visa Basic.

My Movies users get ‘points’ for contributing data to the web service (server) – this is done thorough the My Movies Client Edition. WHS rip functionality requires 1,250 points or $50 so the overall value proposition for me is:

- Complete DVD/BD library management (My Movies Client Edition)
- Automated rip (WHS)
- Metadata collection
- SageTV properties files

Thanks to othy for the link to the 21-day free trial I am using.

It was frustrating, trying to understand how all the components worked together and, if it would work for my intended purpose. As usual there were plenty of quirks. The My Movies monitor can/will overwite your 'folder' JPEGs depending on locating in your folder structure so beware.

The My Movies video tutorials were very helpful.

I had to install, uninstall, and reinstall components (My Movies for WHS Add-in, AnyDVDHD, and My Movies Client Edition). I gave up 3 times. Some of it was my inexperience/impatience. I had to reboot my WHS many times but now everything is installed, working and stable. Now the real test begins.

If pluckyhd’s upcoming SageMovieWall for default STV works with this I might be satisfied for a while!

[lpitman]

Got mine working similar to DMT's...after uninstalling the WHS version of MyMovies, I noticed that the SQL server was still on the WHS box in the background. I installed the client version on my workstation PC (The PC that does all the RIP's using either DVD Shrink or AnyDVD) and I noticed that the MyMovies Client attached to the server (WHS SQL Server) and was using it as it's database. As I Ripped Movies, the database was updating with the metadata correctly. When I copied the Ripped movies to the WHS share, MyMovies automatically created the folder.jpg and .properties files for all movies copied to the share, but only while the MyMovies Client was open.

This is perfect for me, as I like to rip the movies on my powerful workstaion machine and copy them to the WHS share folder. The SQL server (database) is then sinked and files created automatically on the share folder without the overhead of the WHS version of MyMovies.

The other nice thing is that the MyMovies Client is more configurable than the WHS version...after I get the metadata the way I want it (sometimes the automatic selection of cover art is incorrect), I can lock the record so that it is not overwritten by web content, I can still manually edit record though.

There is an MyMovies API that would be nice if someone would integrate with SageTV or SageMC.

[DMT]

Originally Posted by lpitman

Got mine working similar to DMT's...after uninstalling the WHS version of MyMovies, I noticed that the SQL server was still on the WHS box in the background. I installed the client version on my workstation PC (The PC that does all the RIP's using either DVD Shrink or AnyDVD) and I noticed that the MyMovies Client attached to the server (WHS SQL Server) and was using it as it's database. As I Ripped Movies, the database was updating with the metadata correctly. When I copied the Ripped movies to the WHS share, MyMovies automatically created the folder.jpg and .properties files for all movies copied to the share, but only while the MyMovies Client was open.

This is perfect for me, as I like to rip the movies on my powerful workstaion machine and copy them to the WHS share folder. The SQL server (database) is then sinked and files created automatically on the share folder without the overhead of the WHS version of MyMovies.

The other nice thing is that the MyMovies Client is more configurable than the WHS version...after I get the metadata the way I want it (sometimes the automatic selection of cover art is incorrect), I can lock the record so that it is not overwritten by web content, I can still manually edit record though.

There is an MyMovies API that would be nice if someone would integrate with SageTV or SageMC.

Yes, thanks, this is exactly what I ended up doing - uninstalling MyMovies on WHS, leaving the SQL server database behind and using MyMovies Client to access WHS. I didn't like that MyMovies WHS takes complete control of AnyDVD, preventing me from popping a DVD/BD in WHS and watching directly on an HD 200 extender without ripping. Sometimes I AnyDVD rip directly on WHS and use MyMovies Client elsewhere to monitor the folders and obtain metadata.

[Farm]

Can MyMovies be executed from another computer on the network? I have a WHS box that is tucked away in the basement and not hooked up to a monitor. My Blue-ray drive is on my main computer upstairs. Is it possible to pop a BR in the drive upstairs and access the MyMovies functionality through WHS console?

Thanks.

[chrisc983]

This is great. I installed it once and didn't a little configuration and had it up and running in no time. I havn't had much luck with the media scrapers but this is a lot easier to use. The only thing I'm not too sure how to get working is the fan art. I'm using SageMC. I tried looking on the MyMovies website but their wasn't much info on how to configure the fan art. I did the trial for 21 days and enabled downloading for 1080 backgrounds. It downloaded the fan art images and saved them as fanart.jpg inside of the dvd folders. Is their something in SageMC that I need to change to have it point to the fanart.jpg? I am currently having SageMC point to a folder that has all of the dvd movie fan art and I changed the following "phoenix/mediametadata/fanartSupportClass=sagex.phoenix.fanart.SageMCFanartSupport". What do I need to change? Thanks in advance.

[MikkelChristens]

Just a quick comment.

SaveTV has been corrected to SageTV in the latest build by the developer(he is not a sageuser). He should make the build available today.

there was an issue related to sage where mymovies was not able to generate metadata if you were having movies placed in e.g. d:\moviename\video_ts instead of placing movies deeper in path as d:\movies\moviename\video_ts
This has also been fixed in the build for today.

[Binnerup]

Hi SageTV users.

I can see from this thread that some of you have started evaluating or using the SageTV storage option in My Movies.

The functionality is created based on specifications from Jeff at SageTV - it is no secret that our main operating platform is Windows Media Center, however both the My Movies Collection Management program, as well as My Movies for WHS today store meta-data for a lot of other platforms, among it SageTV.

The meta-data storage is a way of backing the other projects without having to create our full movie add-on program for many different platforms, which is simply not do-able time-wise.

If there are ways we can improve the functionality for SageTV, I would be happy to hear about it.

I can see one user mentioning that he was unable to get data for Blu-ray's - I would like to hear some details about that.

This thread is labelled with My Movies for WHS, but the SageTV functionality is actually available both in the stand-alone software as well as in the WHS software.

Could it be an idea to get permission from SageTV to create a new thread with a guide on how this functionality works, and how to use it? Perhaps with an documentation video?

And, then just a small note - the "SaveTV" misspelling issue have been corrected in latest version and will affect the different pieces on next releases. It is an unfortunate error while creating the language files.

Regards,

Brian Binnerup
My Movies

[lpitman]

Brian,

One of my problems with myMovies, is that I can add a movie by inputting the UPC code or by importing from DVD Profiler, but myMovies will not respect the manual entry. Because in addition to the movie UPC I added manually, myMovies insists on creating additional movies in the database that have different UPC's but same name. I wish I could tell it not to perform the internet lookups and just use what I tell it to use. When I delete the duplicates, they just come right back...very frustrating.

Larry.

[Binnerup]

Originally Posted by lpitman

Brian,

One of my problems with myMovies, is that I can add a movie by inputting the UPC code or by importing from DVD Profiler, but myMovies will not respect the manual entry. Because in addition to the movie UPC I added manually, myMovies insists on creating additional movies in the database that have different UPC's but same name. I wish I could tell it not to perform the internet lookups and just use what I tell it to use. When I delete the duplicates, they just come right back...very frustrating.Larry.

This is because you have enabled folder monitoring, and the titles you have added manually is not added with an online location that mathces the monitored area.

Because you have enabled monitoring, monitoring will automatically add titles from the monitored areas, unless the online locations is already in the database.

You need to decide if you want to let monitoring add your titles for you, and then you can change the titles you would like to change, or if you want to handle your collection manually - if you choose to handle it manually, then disable monitoring again.

Regards,

Brian