STV Import: Read & Write Metadata files for Default STV 5/6 (v2.2.9 18/Feb./2010)

[roxy99]

JREkiwi

Having read about the problem with IMDB changing its website and breaking the functionality of the IMDB search for some users, I decided to pass on the IMDB plugin and jump right to your my plugin.

First of all I love the way I can now have EPG data for all videos including compressed AVI. I imaging that's one of the reasons this plugin is conceived.

So now I have it configured to create an my file for current and past airings according to data in the EPG.

If later I want to add the IMDB plugin, must I start over and load the default STV UI, then IMDB STVi plugin then .my STVi plugins in that order?


Here is an idea was proposed by DVD maniac in another thread, (I like to steal ideas too

Can you make a master my file at the folder level? IE: I have a lot of CSI in avi on an import folder. There is a folder call CSI Season 1. I'd like that when I simply click on that folder without actually going into it I get a preview popup of all the show tiltes and eposode synopsis contained within that folder. Also, can I play a file with 1 click instead of navigating inside the folder then selecting it then click watch now? There is alot of clicking in Sage that can be streamlined.

[dvd_maniac]

Can you make a master my file at the folder level? IE: I have a lot of CSI in avi on an import folder. There is a folder call CSI Season 1. I'd like that when I simply click on that folder without actually going into it I get a preview popup of all the show tiltes and eposode synopsis contained within that folder.

I think that even if somebody can create this that the detailed file would have to be manually created.
Also, I made another suggestion for trading .my files but nobody seemed interested.
I have eveery episode of all the CSI's and about 1/2 of them have proper .my files.

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by roxy99

Having read about the problem with IMDB changing its website and breaking the functionality of the IMDB search for some users, I decided to pass on the IMDB plugin and jump right to your my plugin.
...........
If later I want to add the IMDB plugin, must I start over and load the default STV UI, then IMDB STVi plugin then .my STVi plugins in that order?


Here is an idea was proposed by DVD maniac in another thread, (I like to steal ideas too

Can you make a master my file at the folder level? IE: I have a lot of CSI in avi on an import folder. There is a folder call CSI Season 1. I'd like that when I simply click on that folder without actually going into it I get a preview popup of all the show tiltes and eposode synopsis contained within that folder. Also, can I play a file with 1 click instead of navigating inside the folder then selecting it then click watch now? There is alot of clicking in Sage that can be streamlined.

roxy99, the problems with the IMDB search didn't really affect this import and nielm has fixed them now. For most of the problems like the website changes, nielm 'only' needs to do an update to the JAR file, (which he has done for the latest website changes) so you don't need to do another import to apply the fix.

If you are wanting to add IMDB later, you need to import the IMDB STVi before this STVi. (Rather than trying to maintain a copy of the IMDB code, it has some hooks into the existing IMDB import). I prefer to start my imports from the default STV, it just saves one step in any problem determination process. (You may have noticed that for almost any problem the first step is, does it still fail on a clean import)

I don't know how a master file could work, but I think the function you are wanting could be done with a new Imported Videos view, similar to one of the Recording Schedule views. Not promising anything, but I've have a look.

Do, you know that if you use the right arrow button rather than select, you can navigate around the Sage menus with less steps.

John

[roxy99]

Ok IMDB installed.

Funny thing is, I set my interface to the original default SageTV3.STV file and then it would'nt let me import any STVi ! I had to first rename the SageTV3.stv file to SageTV3old.stv, then I chose SageTV3.xml. From there I imported the IMDB and .my STVi's in that order without a hitch.

FWIW, I just find navigation between videos can be more intuitive. But that's just Sage's interface. I love this .my and IMDB plugin, really slick! Great job.

[JREkiwi]

Thanks roxy99.

Originally Posted by roxy99

Funny thing is, I set my interface to the original default SageTV3.STV file and then it would'nt let me import any STVi !

The STV thing is a bit of a trap. Using inherited terminology, the default STV is still called an STV, but it is an XML file . I just delete the SageTV3.STV (it's not used) so I don't select it in error.

John

[roxy99]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

Thanks roxy99. The STV thing is a bit of a trap. Using inherited terminology, the default STV is still called an STV, but it is an XML file . I just delete the SageTV3.STV (it's not used) so I don't select it in error.

John

Now you tell me LOL

Once you accidently select SageTV3.STV you're locked into it as it would seem and you CANNOT import anything nor select SageTV3.XML. Sage tells you you cannot modify the default STV but must instead 'make a copy of SageTV3.stv and then load the copy instead. But it doesn't let you select anythng else. You must delete SageTV3.stv or rename it so that it doesn't load. From that point you can select the initial SageTV3.XML and import STVi(s).

Is this in the FAQ section somewhere? If not, it should be.

Anyway, its all good now and I'm loving your plugin. Now I have to get to work on compressing my mpeg collection to avi's. Thank you so much, and thank you Neilm for the IMDB plugin which is fanastic for movie lookups.

[JREkiwi]

New updated version

(1.5.2)
- Added IMDB Trivia and Quotes to IMDB .my file creation (Using tags TVTrivia and TVQuotes) and support for reading those tags.
- Added ability for multi-paragraph Overview (still needs to be on 1 line but ### in .my file will display as a newline)
- Added changes from SageMC for Global looped fork termination
- Changed property name for not creating automatic .my files for imported videos to the same as SageMC for ease of switching STVs.

John

[JREkiwi]

New updated version

(1.5.3)
- Fix for not working on clients. (Only real clients, not MVP's) Only change from 1.5.2

John

[pdavis]

Originally Posted by Necro

Does anyone know of any apps that will automagically generate .my files for this use outside of Sage? Specifically for TV Episode data...since doing those searches via IMDB is tedious at best and the information is many times lacking.

I've wrote a small C# application for Windows that will parse the source file from tv.com and generate a .my file that you can then save. Feedback is welcome, though I must admit that I haven't got this plugin working yet , and if I can't get it working I won't continue working on the code, but the source is available for others to modify.

Just copy and paste the URL that you want parsed from tv.com (example: http://www.tv.com/battlestar-galacti...2/summary.html)

• My Scraper Executable
• My Scraper C# .Net Source Code

I have the new SVT files installed under Sage 6, I can see the "Make .my File" but nothing seems to happen when I click it. My setup is a Sage 6 client connected to a Sage 6 Server. I haven't installed any other modifications yet as I just recently upgraded from Sage 5.

[pdavis]

Originally Posted by pdavis

I've wrote a small C# application for Windows that will parse the source file from tv.com and generate a .my file that you can then save. Feedback is welcome, though I must admit that I haven't got this plugin working yet , and if I can't get it working I won't continue working on the code, but the source is available for others to modify.

Well, just for a little practice I converted the application to a web app...

http://pdavis.somee.com/

It does the same thing as the Windows application. I still don't have the .my files working on my system though

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by pdavis

I still don't have the .my files working on my system though

I'm just to figure out what you're asking here. Are you saying you can't get any .my files to work, or that the .my files you create with your app don't work?

Using your example for your app, most of the tags are invalid. A .my file that looks like this works.

title=Battlestar Galactica (2003)
TVEpisode=The Passage
TVYear=Friday December 8, 2006
TVOverview=The Colonial fleet faces starvation when the food-processing machines are contaminated. Kat plays a vital role in the success or failure of the "Passage" through space. 
TVWriter=Jane Espenson 
TVDirector=Michael Nankin 
TVActors=Edward James Olmos (William Adama), Mary McDonnell (Laura Roslin), Katee Sackhoff (Kara "Starbuck" Thrace), Jamie Bamber (Lee "Apollo" Adama), James Callis (Gaius Baltar), Tricia Helfer (Number Six/Caprica Six), Grace Park (Sharon Valerii/Sharon "Athena" Agathon) Tahmoh Penikett (Karl "Helo" Agathon), Luciana Carro (Louanne "Kat" Katraine), Leah Cairns (Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson), Brad Dryborough (Hoshi), Tiffany Lyndall-Knight (The Hybrid) 
TVGuestStar=Donnelly Rhodes (Doc Cottle), Kandyse McClure (Anastasia "Dee" Dualla), Alessandro Juliani (Felix Gaeta), Ian Rozylo (Convulsing pilot), G. Patrick Currie (Enzo), Sebastian Spence (Noel "Narcho" Allison), Aaron Douglas (Galen Tyrol), Michael Hogan (Saul Tigh), Lucy Lawless (D'Anna Biers/Number Three), Bodie Olmos (Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza)

John

[kricker]

-pdavis
Your web app lists the "Recurring Role=..." twice.

[pdavis]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

I'm just to figure out what you're asking here. Are you saying you can't get any .my files to work, or that the .my files you create with your app don't work?

The system will not generate the .my files on its own. When I view the details of a program in Sage and click on the "Make .my File" nothing happens. The simple three line .my files that I have generated by hand in Notepad and placed in the directories with the video files do not show up in the program information either.

I will fix the problems mentioned and upload a new version by this weekend.

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by pdavis

The system will not generate the .my files on its own. When I view the details of a program in Sage and click on the "Make .my File" nothing happens. The simple three line .my files that I have generated by hand in Notepad and placed in the directories with the video files do not show up in the program information either.

When you click "Make .my File" does it change to "Delete .my File"?
Are the shows you are trying to create files for, SageTV Recordings or, past or future airings?
Are the shows you've tried a simple .my file on SageTV Recordings (already with program information) or Imported Videos?
Did it work before you upgraded?

John

[pdavis]

>When you click "Make .my File" does it change to "Delete .my File"?

No, nothing changes.

>Are the shows you are trying to create files for, SageTV Recordings or, past or future airings?

I tried it on a couple of recordings that had been recorded by SageTV within the last few days.

>Are the shows you've tried a simple .my file on SageTV Recordings (already with program information) or Imported Videos?

I only tried it on SageTV Recordings that already had program information. I will try it with some imported videos tonight.

>Did it work before you upgraded?

I hadn't installed the extension before the upgrade. The thing that prompted me to install it was because before I upgraded I lost all of my past programming information (system problems). On my server, I fully uninstalled SageTV 5 and then installed SageTV 6. On my client, I simply installed SageTV 6 without uninstalling SageTV 5. I installed the extension on both the client and the server and tried specifying the .my path as both a full drive path (i.e. C:\Data\SageTVRecordings) and a UNC path (i.e. \\SageServer\SageTVRecordings).

[JREkiwi]

pdavis, I've attached a version 6 STV with just this import added, if you'd like to try it. Just in case there's something weird going on with your system. Wouldn't explain why it doesn't work on both your server and client though.

Originally Posted by pdavis

I installed the extension on both the client and the server and tried specifying the .my path as both a full drive path (i.e. C:\Data\SageTVRecordings) and a UNC path (i.e. \\SageServer\SageTVRecordings).

The path is only used when creating files for past or future airings. If you're making a file for a SageTV Recording it should be making it in the same directory as the media file.

Originally Posted by pdavis

I only tried it on SageTV Recordings that already had program information. I will try it with some imported videos tonight.

The display part of the import doesn't display anything if there is already data in the Sage database for the file ie: a SageTV Recording. Does that need changing?

John

[pdavis]

John,

Thanks for your help. I have made some progress. After working with it further it seems that it is working to some degree. The confusion may have stemed from the "Make .my File" not changing in the SageTV Recordings section. When I go to a future recording and click "Make .my File" it generates the .my file and changes to "Delete .my File". I have also confirmed that it is working for imported media. Everything appears to be working on the server though as it should (the server does see the .my files in teh SageTV Recordings section). I even tried changing to UNC paths in the Sage.Properties file, this seemed to have no effect.

>The display part of the import doesn't display anything if there is already data in the Sage database for the file ie: a SageTV Recording. Does that need changing?

I don't think it needs to be changed, just wasn't sure if the .my file overrode the Sage information.

I have made several modifications to the MyScraper application. It now trys to guess the proper filename and trys to find the SageID and append to it if available. It will also launch and bind to IE so there is no need to copy and paste URLs. I also added an auto save feature and a brief help file.

* My Scraper Executable
* My Scraper C# .Net Source Code

Cheers,

Phil.

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by pdavis

The confusion may have stemed from the "Make .my File" not changing in the SageTV Recordings section.
....
I even tried changing to UNC paths in the Sage.Properties file, this seemed to have no effect.

Phil, even though it doesn't read the my files for SageTV Recordings, you still should be able to create/delete one.

What paths are you changing?

One additional piece of information. The server and the client do need to be accessing the files using the same path ie: both using UNC or both using the same drive letters.

John

[pdavis]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

What paths are you changing?

One additional piece of information. The server and the client do need to be accessing the files using the same path ie: both using UNC or both using the same drive letters.

I started to include that information in my previous post but didn't want to make it too long and confusing (as it probably was anyway). I changed the Archive and Storage properties to UNC paths on the server. I had to do this anyway so that my Sage client can launch VNC with files in the media library. It would appear that permissions might be playing a part in the problem, but I think the Sage client has write permissions to the shared server directory.

A couple of quick questions, is there a way to import the .my information into Sage's existing database? (wiz.bin I believe?). Also, what happens to unsupported tags in the .my file? Is there a way to have it display unknown tags in a generic way? Perhaps having it ignore some tags with a specific format would be good too. I'd hate to just throw away potentially useful information (TV.com's series and episode IDs for example), but I can see how it might not be useful information to display to the user.

Phil.

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by pdavis

A couple of quick questions, is there a way to import the .my information into Sage's existing database? (wiz.bin I believe?). Also, what happens to unsupported tags in the .my file? Is there a way to have it display unknown tags in a generic way?

I've been meaning to look into importing data into the wiz.bin, but haven't as yet.

Unsupported tags are ignored.

Don't quite know how you could display unknown tags without opening a big can of worms.

John