Movie database "fill from file"

marcelgl · 2008-04-20, 09:48

What I like in mediaportal is the simplicity to fill the music database: Just a folder.jpg file and some correct data in the tags and it is always correct e.g. the datasource for the database is in the folders itself.
Evan after changing folders and files to a new location, just do a rescan and it is as it was before.

I miss something like this for the movie database ( maybe it exists, but then I don`t know ) . Many movies from me it doenst` find in the IMDB, which means I have to edit by hand. In the editor there are absolute paths which is difficult when moving files.

So how about the following idea: When movies are stored in folders and the folder contains a folder.jpg this one is used as artwork. Furthermore if the folder contains a small file ( e.g. a simple delimited text file ) with movie title and genre this is used to fill the database. Additionally of course remaining data can be looked up vis IMDB.

If there are any other ideas / ways to accomplish something like this I`m interested.

Thanks,

Marcel

SMa · 2008-06-07, 11:37

I agree, their should be a better way to recognize movies.

A possible solution is adding a (hidden) file containing data like the name of the movie, the year, and the director. I excpect these 3 properties will always be unique. (I wouldn't use an ID because this could get mixed up with other movies when migrating a folder from one pc to another)
When MyVideos detects "new" movies, combined with such a file it should check the database for existing entries and link the new movie to the correct entry.
Their are 2 ways to do this:
- Oblige the user to give each movie its own folder and let MP add a "movie.dat"-file.
=> Some users will have to reorganize their collection...
- Link the name of the extra file to the name of the movie-file.
=> What if one of the files is renamed?

A second solution is writing and reading the tags of the movie-files. But as far as I know this is only supported by the mkv-container. So this wouldn't be solution for avi, mpeg, wmv, ...

2008-04-20, 09:48	#1 (permalink)
marcelgl Portal Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 17 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Movie database "fill from file" What I like in mediaportal is the simplicity to fill the music database: Just a folder.jpg file and some correct data in the tags and it is always correct e.g. the datasource for the database is in the folders itself. Evan after changing folders and files to a new location, just do a rescan and it is as it was before. I miss something like this for the movie database ( maybe it exists, but then I don`t know ) . Many movies from me it doenst` find in the IMDB, which means I have to edit by hand. In the editor there are absolute paths which is difficult when moving files. So how about the following idea: When movies are stored in folders and the folder contains a folder.jpg this one is used as artwork. Furthermore if the folder contains a small file ( e.g. a simple delimited text file ) with movie title and genre this is used to fill the database. Additionally of course remaining data can be looked up vis IMDB. If there are any other ideas / ways to accomplish something like this I`m interested. Thanks, Marcel Last edited by marcelgl; 2008-04-20 at 14:32.

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2008-06-07, 11:37	#2 (permalink)
SMa Portal Developer Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Ghent Age: 20 Posts: 149 Thanks: 4 Thanked 7 Times in 2 Posts Country: My System	I agree, their should be a better way to recognize movies. A possible solution is adding a (hidden) file containing data like the name of the movie, the year, and the director. I excpect these 3 properties will always be unique. (I wouldn't use an ID because this could get mixed up with other movies when migrating a folder from one pc to another) When MyVideos detects "new" movies, combined with such a file it should check the database for existing entries and link the new movie to the correct entry. Their are 2 ways to do this: - Oblige the user to give each movie its own folder and let MP add a "movie.dat"-file. => Some users will have to reorganize their collection... - Link the name of the extra file to the name of the movie-file. => What if one of the files is renamed? A second solution is writing and reading the tags of the movie-files. But as far as I know this is only supported by the mkv-container. So this wouldn't be solution for avi, mpeg, wmv, ...