Multi-disk Changer

[thematrixz]

The Sony changer (200 discs with PC interface is now $200 at Amazon.com and $166 (with free US shipping) at Buy.com

Sony VAIO VGP-XL1B3


What would it take to have MP interfaces with it?

[CiXel]

Would it be possible to Use Girder here, or have MP launch a .bat file either with a Movie # variable for or each movie (ie 137.bat) It could be linked with the DVD# or Collection Number parameter imported from ANT.

I achieve this with XLobby presently and a USBUirt to control my Pioneer F727's via IR. XLobby however also allows you to learn user defined commands and then send a sequence of IR events in a particular order which is then linked to a single event. This makes it easy to use various players like the Sony or the Pioneer where you just change the order of the commands.

On my Pioneers for instance, I use a <STOP>,<STOP>,<STOP> to get it to a neutral state and then <DISC#> followed by <DVD Number Variable> which shoots the current disc number (ie 137) and then <PLAY> to get the show on the road.

We currently can shoot a Channel change message via the USBUirt setup. It would seem that a similar thing could be accomplished here assuming there was some way to set up a series of keystrokes that could be played back to accompany that "channel change" message via IR. There are only 2 brands of Mega Changers, Pioneer and Sony. Each of the two has a particular sequence to launch a movie. We wouldn't even have to ge into RS-232 as in my experience the IR has been incredibly reliable.

[thematrixz]

I think using remote and batch command would work, but I was thinking with a better integration, MP could display disc information and pull down IMDB info also.

[CiXel]

Originally Posted by thematrixz

I think using remote and batch command would work, but I was thinking with a better integration, MP could display disc information and pull down IMDB info also.

Well, this is precisely what I'm referring to. The key to pulling down the IMDB information is to first have the movie information input into some form of database. This could be done using ANT, Manually, or perhaps using an export from DVD Profiler. The easiest way to do this would probably be using something akin to the MyFilms plugin which would offer you the opportunity to define a move as "online" or "offline" and perform a function related to the movie's status when launched. In the MP DB presently, you can define a "filename", it probably wouldn't be difficult to define a file that could be triggered. But I haven't fully investigated it yet utilizing MP.

[bigdude]

I know this thread has not been very active lately, but I wondered if anything has been done in this area. I also wanted to let you know about something I am currently working on relating to changers. (it is a personal hack and may never become a part of myFilms, but let me know if you are interested in looking at it)

Look at: http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/ch...ns-t29425.html

Basically this is not the tight integration you were thinking about, but rather a four piece stack to support changers. The first piece is myFilms which takes care of providing a database for offline media and the end user interface. The next piece down the line is ANT which does the metadata lookup and massages it into a format accepted by myFilms. The third piece is a changer program I wrote in Delphi called FreeChange. The fourth element is simply having a connected changer and setting up a sharename for the drive in it.

It is admittedly a bit ornate, but it is a start... In the distant future better integration may be possible, but since I am new to MediaPortal I did not want to take on a big project like trying to recreate myFilms and ANT Movie Catalog both of which are already very solid.

Currently the process to set up a library with my hack looks like this:
1.) obtain Freechange and my hacked version of the myFilms DLL.
2.) Install MyFilms into MP system and install Freechange on changer host system (can be different systems).
1.) Set up the changer and create a public sharename for its drive.
2.) Load the media into the changer (slow process).
3.) Run FreeChange on the changer host and select the correct changer and drive devices.
4.) Use the Scan media function to identify the media (slow process).
5.) Since automated media ID is imperfect, edit the results as needed ensuring the title is as accurate as possible.
6.) Export the resulting data as a CSV file and leave FreeChange running.
7.) Install and set up ANT Movie Catalog.
8.) Import the CSV file into a movie catalog. The CSV file has no headers, but the main things to import are the number, the title, and the column before last which should be placed in MediaLabel.
9.) Do metadata lookup in ANT (slow process).
10.) Save the AMT catalog as an XML format file (to a network shared location if you want remote access).
11.) Close MediaPortal...
12.) Replace mesFilms.dll in the Plugins\Windows folder with the hacked copy.
13.) Configure myFilms to use the medialabel as the storage path and to use the ANT catalog saved in step 9
14.) Restart MediaPortal...

It is a bunch of steps and takes a serious chunk of time to do, but when everything is done you will have a My Films setup in MediaPortal that can automatically load and play the media you select from the changer host system and from a remote MP box as well. This does not use streaming or anything fancy, but rather hits the DVD files through a network share. As a result it can only handle unencrypted media on the remotes (although something like AnyDVD on the changer host would probably take care of that limitation).

Other key limitations are:
-- Only one station can play a DVD from each changer at a time (the software can support multiple changers but is not tested for that yet)
-- since the DVD files are read through the network, the bandwidth of the network and the speed and activity level on the host machine will ultimately set the top end limit on this hack (meaning wireless is pretty much impossible).

Anyone interested in playing with this should send me a private message... The software is changing daily so I don't have it out there anywhere yet.

[thematrixz]

New lower price $100 for the Sony 200 discs DVD changer, shipping free in the USA.

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...6&SID=FW5uuzft

I'm so tempted. Still waiting for a real solution to hook this baby up to Media Portal.

[bigdude]

I finally have everything I mentioned earlier in a working state. It is far from perfect and has some bugs I have not resolved yet, but generally it works. I am now releasing it here so you can look at it if you are interested. You will need to follow the steps outlined in my earlier post to make this work, but if you follow them properly MediaPortal will be able to load and play DVDs in the changer based on data in the AMC database.

Since getting a whole library working takes a serious investment of time I strongly suggest you try a handful of DVDs first to make sure it works on your system before you 'go to town' with it...



PS: Since my last post I bought several new changers and spent some time rewriting the control program to work properly with multiple changers by fixing a lot of bugs I was unaware of when I made my original post. Hopefully this setup proves to be a real hookup between MediaPortal and the Sony changers. the hacked My Films DLL came from SVN so you will need to install the latest version of MyFilms to use it (I have not tested it with any older versions). I suggest you back up MesFilms.dll as well as your AMC database before you try this out... a few moments now could really save your butt later.

[Edit: Fixed a number of bugs including several that crashed with exceptions or failed to switch changers. Changes were made to BOTH components, don't forget to update both of them.]

[thematrixz]

That's it, you pushed me over the fence, I'm ordering one today, hope someone still has it in stock.

[bigdude]

I made a few more alterations to My Films to address some issues I bumped into, so the updated version is attached to this post.

Most of this is bugfixing parts of the changer interface, but I also changed the following other things:
1.) fixed an issue with the configuration password encryption code.
2.) changed the code so the last movie played would NOT be displayed after exit from My Films and re-entry.
3.) hid duplicate image control in template (BlueTwo).
4.) translated some error messages to English from French.

The purpose of these other changes was interface cleanup, and allowing the multiple configuration capability to be used for parental control. Isolating violent or adult material into a catalog with a password keeps the kiddies out, hiding the display of the last movie after exiting My Films to the home menu masks the presence of the material so they won't be aware of it. The only information visible about its presence is the configuration listing itself and the catalog and cover files stored for them.

A few people asked how this all works... Under the covers it is really pretty simple, the Ant database ends up having a special path put into it and the My Films DLL parses it out and issues telnet commands based on it to actually load the media. Once the media is loaded the network based path is used for the player. The paths are created by FreeChange in it's metadata export, but they can be created manually as well. They look like this (excerpt from Ant XML file):

MediaLabel="\\192.168.2.236\MCE_DVD1\VIDEO_TS\VIDE O_TS.IFO[C?192.168.2.236:4212?TN_FC?CHANGER0?F?003060A10000 6990?63]"

The first part before the opening bracket is the network path to the DVD share. Within the brackets are a Question mark delimited set of parameters that tell the modified code in My Films everything it needs to load the media.
C = changer command (I was also working on a general scripting capability, but it is not usable)
192.168.2.236:4212 = IP adress and port used to Control changer via Telnet
TN_FC = command method (Telnet_FreeChange) [ I also tried PsTools and MediaaChanger.exe]
CHANGER0 = device name of changer
F = Drive mapped to changer
003060A100006990 = Serial number of changer/drive
63 = slot number for this media item

The code uses the serial number to control everything if it is present, the Drive and Changer device are used as a fallback if no serial number is provided. If you are doing this on a single machine and you prefer a drive path all you need to do is 'not' create a share, if that is done the path outside the brackets will be drive letter based. (there is a help command in the telnet interface for the curious and the port and password can be changed on the configuration screen- note: currently the MyFilms DLL is hardcoded with the password)

[EDIT added V3 with improved changer reservation code for shared use and many bug fixes to telnet code.]

[zebons]

Originally Posted by CiXel

Well, this is precisely what I'm referring to. The key to pulling down the IMDB information is to first have the movie information input into some form of database. This could be done using ANT, Manually, or perhaps using an export from DVD Profiler. The easiest way to do this would probably be using something akin to the MyFilms plugin which would offer you the opportunity to define a move as "online" or "offline" and perform a function related to the movie's status when launched. In the MP DB presently, you can define a "filename", it probably wouldn't be difficult to define a file that could be triggered. But I haven't fully investigated it yet utilizing MP.

With the next version (coming soon) of MyFilms v4.3.2; it'll be possible to launch a bat file before playing a movie with the contain of a specific field of your ANT DB as parameter (defined in setup). I hope this'll help you....