My Movies for SageTV Coming soon discussions

[Brent94Z]

Hey Guys, need some advice please

A while back I bought DVDProfiler and have around 2000 DVDs loaded into it. I have yet to do anything to integrate this into Sage with any of the other plugins.

I'd like to get my online and offline (I think that's the wording used to describe DVDs ripped to my PC vs DVDs I have only sitting on the shelf) collection in order so I can be ready for this great plugin. All this meta data stuff and BMT and Collection Manager, etc. is still new to me and I don't have a full grasp on it just yet so need to do some more reading. If there is a good post out there which describes exactly where to start *from scratch* assuming one knows nothing, that link would be appreciated but I'll keep reading and learning in the meantime

My basic question is that since my goal is to eventually use this plugin to "see" my entire collection, should I scrap DVDProfiler all together? Meaning, is it recommended that I get Collection Manager, import my DVDProfiler collection, then from there on out update Collection Manager and just stop using DVDProfiler? I haven't yet downloaded Collection Manager but they look to be very similar?

Thanks and sorry for such basic questions. I don't have a ton of free time so want to make sure I do all this right the first time

[GaryWW]

Originally Posted by Brent94Z

...is it recommended that I get Collection Manager, import my DVDProfiler collection, then from there on out update Collection Manager...?

If you will be using SMM, you need to use CM.

I would not suggest importing your DVD Profiler collection into CM. I recently did the import and CM basically thought that every title I had was new and unknown to it (i.e. not in the WebService). And most of the titles did not have all of the information CM requires. I decided the best thing to do was start from scratch and manually add my entire collection. Most of my collection was already in the WebService so I didn't have to do much more than enter the barcodes. Rather than typing the barcodes, copy them (one at a time) from DVD Profiler and paste them into the CM Add Titles screen.

[wrems]

I was wondering the same thing as Brent. I too have DVDProfiler setup. Does anyone care to comment on the MM CM vs DVD Profiler? Are there any significant differences/features/benefits one way or the other...

[Brent94Z]

Originally Posted by GaryWW

I would not suggest importing your DVD Profiler collection into CM. I recently did the import and CM basically thought that every title I had was new and unknown to it (i.e. not in the WebService). And most of the titles did not have all of the information CM requires. I decided the best thing to do was start from scratch and manually add my entire collection. Most of my collection was already in the WebService so I didn't have to do much more than enter the barcodes. Rather than typing the barcodes, copy them (one at a time) from DVD Profiler and paste them into the CM Add Titles screen.

Yikes... that is not what I wanted to hear. Redoing 2000 DVDs is not something I'm going to look forward to. Hopefully you tried this a while ago and they have fixed this import bug??? (fingers crossed!)

I thought the import thing was going to be seamless and that was the least of what I was wondering about. Now it sounds like it'll be high on the list of "worrying" in order to get my data into Collection Manager. Ugh again. LOL

[PLUCKYHD]

Actually Stranger tried this during the private sagetv beta. See this post on mymovies forums
http://www.mymovies.dk/forum.aspx?g=posts&t=15879
http://www.mymovies.dk/forum.aspx?g=posts&t=11023

I dont use dvd profiler but my understanding from Stranger was that it is offline collections and you don't really point it to a folder. So the main issue you will have is that if you import all the titles will be in the collection manager but they will be seen as offline titles. If most of the collection is offline won't be a huge deal to add the title locations to the ones that aren't. I was going to work on a scraper to do this automatically but just haven't found the time yet (sorry stranger I haven't forgotten about you)

If most of your collection is online I would try a folder scan first with my movies and see how well it does at matching your titles up. (set the restrictions to strict to ignore any way off matches). How well that works will be based on how well you folders are named.

Also if you have the original boxes you can scan the barcodes into mymovies as well.

I hope that info helps like I said not using dvd profiler I don't have much to go off but what I have heard and read.

cheers

[PLUCKYHD]

Hey I just noticed I am a sagetvaholic...Why does that not suprise me I wonder if that runs in the family to...

[Brent94Z]

Thanks, Plucky! It may not be tooooo bad then as all the DVDs that I have in DVDProfiler are offline. I have only ripped my recent stuff to the PC which I have not yet had the time to add to DVDProfiler yet. So, looks like I'll just have to sit down and play around with it a bit. I did use a bar code scanner to input each of the 2000 DVDs and it sounds like the Collection Manager *may* be able to pick up the bar code number and use that to pick up the data off the web service... hopefully I'll play with it hopefully this coming up week and reply with the results.

Thanks for the head start!

[Fuzzy]

A little off topic, but as I'm going to sit down with MM in a few days, and don't have a barcode scanner... has anyone used the MyMovies app for Android yet? It says it supports barcodes, so I'm thinking that may be the easiest way for me to input my collection. Any thoughts?

[HelenWeathers]

MM supports scanning via webcam if you have one. Not sure about using Android.

[Fuzzy]

Yeah, i don't even have a webcam.. hehe.. honestly, after seeing my avatar, would YOU want me to have a webcam? It'd be dangerous...

[PLUCKYHD]

Fuzzy I would try a folder scan firstly unless your are keeping them all offline.

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

Fuzzy I would try a folder scan firstly unless your are keeping them all offline.

Plucky's right. I did the folder scan first and that only left me with about 10% to deal with by hand. If your movies are in folders and the movie name is the folder name you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Fuzzy]

Doesn't matter anyways, just checked it out, and the barcode function in the MyMovies android app is that it allows you to type in the barcode number... definitely not preferred...

[seaverd]

For that final 10% is there a way to change the folder name and rescan? If I rescan the root folder will it cause a problem i.e duplicates?

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by seaverd

For that final 10% is there a way to change the folder name and rescan? If I rescan the root folder will it cause a problem i.e duplicates?

No need it will show all your folders and the ones that didn't match you can search for the correct title and modify right in the interface. After that a xml is written to the folder so if you every dump and start from scratch it will have that to match up against next time.

After initial setup you can turn folder monitoring on and it will add new movies as they are added automatically or let my movies burn them and it will recognize of the disc id which is usually always there and 100% correct. Keep in mind mymovies recognizes version or collections as well

If you have the points and use whs you can use my favorite feature which is the auto rip. You just put the disc in your whs machine and mymovies rips it pulls the metadata from the disc id and puts in a folder automatically no intervention required on my part. It then ejects the disc when it is done. Of course anydvd must be running on the whs as well but it also auto updates that for you completely no user interaction required to add new movies which the wife loves and it works for dvds and blu rays

[GaryWW]

Originally Posted by Brent94Z

Hopefully you tried this a while ago and they have fixed this import bug??? (fingers crossed!)

I thought the import thing was going to be seamless and that was the least of what I was wondering about.

A while ago? Within the last month.

The method that PLUCKHD referenced (http://www.mymovies.dk/forum.aspx?g=posts&t=15879) makes the process a lot easier by removing the need to input the barcodes (manually, copy/paste, barcode reader). Be aware that just because that process finds your movie on the MM WebServices does not mean it is the same release/edition/version you have. You must double check the barcodes.

BTW, the issue has nothing to do with offline/on-line Titles. It has to with whether you want to be able to view/update your collection via the Internet (WebService) or any of the mobile apps (iPhone, Android, etc.). If you don't, your profiles can contain anything you want. If you do, you must sync your collection to the MM WebService. And to do that, the information in each of your movie profiles (aka. Titles) must be complete and accurate. Or MM must be able to match your Title to one already on the WebService so that you can copy it to your computer to complete your Title. And the problem is that, at least for me, MM did not recognize any of the movies imported from the DVD Profiler export. So every Title was imported similar to the one in the screen capture (attached); not 100% Complete and the Country was not known. I didn't know about the process so I manually entered my collection.

[Brent94Z]

Thanks much, Gary for the additional info. Looks like I'm just going to have to give her a shot and see what happens... hope for the best but prepare for the worst. LOL

[GaryWW]

Originally Posted by Brent94Z

Thanks much, Gary for the additional info. Looks like I'm just going to have to give her a shot and see what happens... hope for the best but prepare for the worst. LOL

I just used the "change title source and data" process on a couple of Titles to sync up with the WebService. It worked good. I am revising my recommendation; go ahead an import from DVD Profiler. Just be aware that you will have to "change title source and data" for every Title you imported.

If you have a barcode reader, and the back covers, it might be just as fast and easy to add the Titles from scratch.

[Brent94Z]

Originally Posted by GaryWW

I just used the "change title source and data" process on a couple of Titles to sync up with the WebService. It worked good. I am revising my recommendation; go ahead an import from DVD Profiler. Just be aware that you will have to "change title source and data" for every Title you imported.

If you have a barcode reader, and the back covers, it might be just as fast and easy to add the Titles from scratch.

Thanks for that bit of info! I do have a barcode reader and I think it probably would be easier if I only had a handful or a hundred or so but I've got a large collection (2000) and even though I was using an actual barcode scanner (web cam thing is a joke) it still took a good amount of time. Would probably prefer to sit at the computer with a beer and mouse doing this than carrying all those DVDs back and forth and messing with the scanner and everything else

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by Brent94Z

Thanks for that bit of info! I do have a barcode reader and I think it probably would be easier if I only had a handful or a hundred or so but I've got a large collection (2000) and even though I was using an actual barcode scanner (web cam thing is a joke) it still took a good amount of time. Would probably prefer to sit at the computer with a beer and mouse doing this than carrying all those DVDs back and forth and messing with the scanner and everything else

That's why i was hoping it would work with the android app... would be nice to be able to just take my phone to the media rack, and start working row by row...