What features are important, or "make" a Movie Library?

[Brent]

Originally Posted by superporky

Say what you will about BTV but BeyondMedia's (community created/supported) DVD Library is hard to beat.
-Automatically pulls DVD cover art and info from IMBD
-Plays all formats, including the ability to automatically mount and play ISO's
-Searchable 20 ways from Sunday.

I have no idea if I'm allowed to do this but screen shots are here-

http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/showthread.php?t=22124

I also come from using Beyond Media's DVD Library program and agree it is excellent. This week I'll do a youtube video on how it works and what's nice about it for those of you who haven't used it before.

Here are a few things I'd like to see:

• Sort by Date Added
• Sort by DVD (or Movie) release date
• Sort by watched or not watched (with the ability to change the watched flag when desired)
• Sortable and searchable by various metadata fields
• Ability to manually enter AVI's, mpeg's etc.
• Option of using DVD Profiler OR a DVD Search to IMDB or some similar site - where you can have it scan automatically each day or you can set it to manually search for new movies and then update covers & metadata
• Play a specified # of Movie Previews that you have saved on your hard drive or located online. This would play before your movie if you set it up to do so.
• Play a "intro" such as the dolby one you see at the beginning of movies in theaters and on DVD's. These are ones you would have saved on your hard drive (I have a bunch saved that I used with Beyond Media)

Those are the things I could think of off hand. The first one I listed is the one our household misses the most. Reason being, I have a very large movie library on the hard drive/s so it's nice for the family to see what's just been added instead of trying to remember movies that just came out or ones we just purchased in the past few months.

I must say the SageMC interface has grown on me and the movie library functionality makes it work for our family. Kudo's to all involved in making it what it is today and to those that continue to work on it.

[pat_smith1969]

So St(r)anger
Any chance of some version of all this conversation making it to code? Even if you do some type of scaled down version and implement only the easy things to implement would be a good start. Perhaps start with some manual IMDB lookup and sorting abilities (box sets, dates, actors, ect) using the SageMC interface (so you don't have to code a whole interface). Then moving on to some type of auto lookup later.

[stanger89]

There's a chance, but I was looking at it and meshing anything into the current library (which would be ideal in many ways) would be a significant "challenge" and making those changes an import would be, well, not trivial.

Other option is making a whole new menu from scratch, I'm kind of hoping to steal some of the updates from SageMC and make them importable into the stock STV.

[popechild]

Just seeing this conversation. Two questions:

1) Are the people who really, really find DVD management in Sage terrible (vulture...) using SageMC, or the stock STV? I've got about 500 dvds loaded using SageMC, and while I'm sure there could be more ways to search than just title/genre, I keep seeing people list things they miss from MM that I've been using in SageMC for a year and a half. I'm assuming most of this is because this stuff just isn't available in the stock STV and people don't want to use SageMC for other reasons?

2) Stanger: here's a suggestion based on what's not currently working well from a UI standpoint in Sage that people have already mentioned a few times, and that might be more along the lines of the kind of project you're trying to do - collections/box sets. My (limited) impression is that this would be purely a UI/useability thing, without needing any backend changes, and would be a significant improvement in the navigation/useability of movie collections in Sage. Perhaps some way that the UI just consolidates multidisk movies or collections, or TV series, based on some standard folder naming convention? Seems like this could be helpful, realistic, and still manageable...

[Brent]

Originally Posted by popechild

Just seeing this conversation. Two questions:

1) Are the people who really, really find DVD management in Sage terrible (vulture...) using SageMC, or the stock STV?

I use SageMC. I for one do not find DVD management in Sage terrible. It's quite close to what I want, but just missing a few things as posted above.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by popechild

Just seeing this conversation. Two questions:

1) Are the people who really, really find DVD management in Sage terrible (vulture...) using SageMC, or the stock STV? I've got about 500 dvds loaded using SageMC, and while I'm sure there could be more ways to search than just title/genre, I keep seeing people list things they miss from MM that I've been using in SageMC for a year and a half. I'm assuming most of this is because this stuff just isn't available in the stock STV and people don't want to use SageMC for other reasons?

Same thing goes for the stock STV to a degree, the Stock STV includes the ability to search imported videos by Title, "people", description, or all fields at once.

Also displays cover art (folder.jpg)


...and overview, year rating.

2) Stanger: here's a suggestion based on what's not currently working well from a UI standpoint in Sage that people have already mentioned a few times, and that might be more along the lines of the kind of project you're trying to do - collections/box sets. My (limited) impression is that this would be purely a UI/useability thing, without needing any backend changes,

That is, paradoxically, rather easy to do, and rather hard. The data required is already imported as such by both my import and SageMC. All that's needed is to run a Group operation on the mediafiles and "presto", grouped by box set (per DVD Profiler's box set parent tag).

However, shoehorning that into the stock STV, well, that's a lot harder than I had hoped it would be. Back on the plus side, if/when that gets done, it's pretty easy to add grouping by Genre, Year, basically any field in Sage's database, similar for sorting. But the problem figuring out how to wedge it into the stock STV, and moreso, how to import it.

...and would be a significant improvement in the navigation/useability of movie collections in Sage. Perhaps some way that the UI just consolidates multidisk movies or collections, or TV series, based on some standard folder naming convention? Seems like this could be helpful, realistic, and still manageable...

[pat_smith1969]

Originally Posted by popechild

Just seeing this conversation. Two questions:

1) Are the people who really, really find DVD management in Sage terrible (vulture...) using SageMC, or the stock STV? I've got about 500 dvds loaded using SageMC, and while I'm sure there could be more ways to search than just title/genre, I keep seeing people list things they miss from MM that I've been using in SageMC for a year and a half. I'm assuming most of this is because this stuff just isn't available in the stock STV and people don't want to use SageMC for other reasons?

Pope...
I for one use SageMC and find it better than the stock STV, but still find it seriously lacking compared to it's competition. It is the weakest part of an otherwise OUTSTANDING Sage Package. There are a lot of people using Meedio as a Sage front end just because of this situation.

St(r)anger...
How do you eat an eliphant? One bite at a time. It sounds like you could make some GUI changes (in SageMC) and make a lot of this happen with little problem. True it would leave out the stock STV people, and wouldn't be EXACTLY what everyone wants. But it is a relatively easy first step (from the sounds of it). Later you could go back and re-do stuff as you see fit and as time allows.

What would meet MOST people's desires (as I see it) and would be fairly easy.
1. Box sets/ Episode management
2. Sort by Date added
3. Sort by Movie Date
4. Sort by Genre and Title (already can do this)
5. Sort by actor names
6. Sort by File System (alredy can do this)


Get those six things (actually four as two are already in SageMC) and you will have gone a LONG way towards improving Sage as a whole. And you would make a lot of poeple happy in the process (you would be my personal hero).


As always, any work you decide to do on this is GREATLY apprieciated by all of us "non-doers". That just doesnt get said often enough. Thank You for even considering it.

[lcddream]

Originally Posted by vvulture

And in addition :
- The ability to ALSO include not only DVD's, but also manually enter AVI's, mpeg's etc... so that just about anything can be incuded in your collection.
- Ability to catalog Series / Box sets ( an absolute must ).
For example, i have many documentaries in avi format that would love to include in my collection. This would involve entering the info mannually rather than rely on a database which would most likely not have the info on many of my doco's.

+1

[VikingCrown]

Hey Stanger! I was just wondering if any progress had been made on this project, and if there was anything I could do to help. I don't know how to use studio, but I have a few layout Ideas I'd be happy to share with you if your interested.

[stanger89]

Not a lot, but maybe layout ideas would be inspiring (no promises).

[VikingCrown]

I'll mock up some of what I'm thinking and hope that it inspires you then!

[chiledog]

I don't know if it is to late to add something but I will anyway.

I transcoded all my dvds into xvid or H.264 and have them stored on my fileserver. I am very happy with this solution (the quality vs size). I would like to get the thumbnail and synopsis info for the everything in the library. SageMC gives me everything that I need, but it is very cumbersome. Each movie I import requires 10 or so clicks. I would like some tool or interface that can automatically go through all "unknown" dvd directories / avi files and do the IMDB search. Then ask me which result I want to save.

I understand this entire process can not be automatic. I understand I must match the movie/avi to the IMDB search result, but I would like all the other clicks to be automatic. (basically a scan for new content).

It would be nice if the file in question (full path) and IMDB result could be presented to me and I pick which one I want. Then the tool would go to the next file without IMDB info.

I tried using DVD Profiler, but it was just as cumbersome as SageMC at adding new avi / ripped DVDs.

(I don't want to put SageMC down. I love it. I just wish the importing of video libraries was better.)

[kasperke]

I really don't understand...i'm a novice user but i don't care about dvd's. for 3 months now i never write a dvd anymore...i have all on harddisks. When i buy one, i rip it to a folder like war or romance or cartoon etc..then when i go to that directory on sagetv..i just look it up on imdb with niels plugin.
There are only a few movies i want to see 2 or three times so why bottering storing all the extra info neatly on sagetv. With the imdb plugin, i have all i need. Every year i delete a few 100 movies and keep a few that are really classics.
In 5 years no one talkes about dvd's anymore, just plug in another harddisk of 1 or more terrabytes and you're done.

So many people want to collect so many things without a real purpose.

Just my 2 cents

[Brent]

Originally Posted by kasperke

I really don't understand...i'm a novice user but i don't care about dvd's. ......
So many people want to collect so many things without a real purpose.
Just my 2 cents

Here's why I take the time to rip my movies to my server:

• Ease of use and convenience for other users in the house (keep in mind this is for non-computer people in my house as well as myself). WAF matters here and it makes a difference.
• There are many movies I buy but don't have time to watch right now so this puts them on the server ready to be viewed whenever desired.
• There are some movies that will be watched more than once or twice - in my house at least
• I have three people in my house (not including dog) and we don't always watch the movies at the same time.
• It's a crowd pleaser - yeah it takes some time, but it's cool and guest that come to my house LOVE it.
• You never have to answer that "where's that DVD" question.
• No more scratched DVD's

I know it isn't for everyone, but it is an integral part of my HTPC.

[stanger89]

Why do people buy Shelby Cobra GT500KRs when a Focus would get you to where you want to go.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Why do people buy Shelby Cobra GT500KRs when a Focus would get you to where you want to go.

You just answered in one sentence what it took me ten lines to say

[Brent]

Stanger89,
I'm thinking you're plugin is the one that was incorporated into SageMC that gives us the DVD Library-type support - is that correct? If so, thank you!!! And do you use SageMC or the default STV?

Anyway, I was wondering if you're still considering working more on this? If so, I think the way BeyondMedia's DVD Library works to add movies makes an excellent alternative to DVDProfiler. It does a search through the movie directories for a matching name (you have to have the folder or movie name something that would match) and searches several locations for a match on that movie name. It then gives lets you save that movie description, genre and cover into the database. I could go into it more if interested at all - I'm just hoping for additional DVD Library features within SageTV eventually

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Brent

Stanger89,
I'm thinking you're plugin is the one that was incorporated into SageMC that gives us the DVD Library-type support - is that correct?

mlbdude originally, and now flachbar use my java library to import metadata from DVD Profiler, yes.

If so, thank you!!!

You're welcome.

And do you use SageMC or the default STV?

I use the default STV (I should try SageMC again though).

Anyway, I was wondering if you're still considering working more on this? If so, I think the way BeyondMedia's DVD Library works to add movies makes an excellent alternative to DVDProfiler. It does a search through the movie directories for a matching name (you have to have the folder or movie name something that would match) and searches several locations for a match on that movie name. It then gives lets you save that movie description, genre and cover into the database. I could go into it more if interested at all - I'm just hoping for additional DVD Library features within SageTV eventually

Well I would like to enhance things, but frankly I got frustrated trying to integrate it with the stock STV, it works well, but man is it a nightmare

Anyway, what you describe is basically how the current DVD Profiler import works. It "searches" the imports and looks for matching titles in the DVD Profiler database, if it finds a match, it saves the DVD Profiler data to the SageTV database.

Now you say "searches several locations", I assume you mean it scrapes a few websites. I've always disliked programs that work like that, the quality of the data is far to hit-or-miss with those. Ideally I'd like to search and retrieve data from AMG or Gracenote, but they don't offer a free/open way to do that, and barring those, DVD Profiler has the best database I've found, though it's usability is complicated by needing to use the DVD Profiler app and export the data.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Anyway, what you describe is basically how the current DVD Profiler import works. It "searches" the imports and looks for matching titles in the DVD Profiler database, if it finds a match, it saves the DVD Profiler data to the SageTV database.

Now you say "searches several locations", I assume you mean it scrapes a few websites. I've always disliked programs that work like that, the quality of the data is far to hit-or-miss with those. Ideally I'd like to search and retrieve data from AMG or Gracenote, but they don't offer a free/open way to do that, and barring those, DVD Profiler has the best database I've found, though it's usability is complicated by needing to use the DVD Profiler app and export the data.

Just checked and the Beyond Media app does a search on IMDB (not others as I had said). I know XBMC (and now MediaPortal) does this with a scraper like the one on this page
DVD Library for BeyondMedia wasn't perfect, but it really was pretty close. I don't think it would take too much to get the SageMC DVD/Movie Database to work as well. If only I was beyond java 101 (or worse). I have lots of ideas, just not the know-how to make them into a program...

And I think you would like SageMC - it's come a long ways especially recently.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Brent

Just checked and the Beyond Media app does a search on IMDB (not others as I had said). I know XBMC (and now MediaPortal) does this with a scraper like the one on this page

SageMC will already search IMDB using nielm's library (might not automatically search the whole imported library though).

DVD Library for BeyondMedia wasn't perfect, but it really was pretty close. I don't think it would take too much to get the SageMC DVD/Movie Database to work as well. If only I was beyond java 101 (or worse). I have lots of ideas, just not the know-how to make them into a program...

And I think you would like SageMC - it's come a long ways especially recently.

I used to use it, back when I worked with mlbdude to get the initial import working, but since then I've got back to the stock STV. I may need to play with it, the last time I tried it, I like the stock STV's handling of recordings better.