Save - Read Movie & Music info from file

[moullas]

Hi there...
I was wondering if it would be possible to implement a system for saving let's say the Movie info to a file instead of the database.
So let's say afterwards you want to burn the movie and read it on another computer the information are all there, without needing to query again the IMDB server

A .xml file could be used, and same some standard info for movies.
If that file had the same file name as the movie
(i.e. if the movie is "Moviename.avi" then have moviename.xml) then MP will load the info automatically

This could also be implemented for Music i guess.
I think it will save some database accesses, and enable people that do not have a fast inet access where their htpc is to have the extra info at hand

Well, that's my .02c for this..
Hope i could help with this... but i'm just a lowly MP Fanatic!
Keep up the good work!!!

[mbuzina]

Originally Posted by moullas

This could also be implemented for Music i guess.

Usually music (in mp3 and other formats) already contain a lot of the info that MP "copies" to the database in their ID3 tags.

MP does not update that, since the info grabbed from the web is seperate. But, an extractor of the the database info into XML files should be no big deal. Another thing would be to read these file into the DB again, you might run into "update" issues (who is more recent?) if both are available.

[chefkoch]

i also have the same idea since a few weeks

i think this is a good way to save the movie data without loosing if mp search again in the imdb, but during movie-database-scan mp should only import the data from the file to the db. so if this file exists there is no need to scan in the imdb.

i hope this would be implemented so i have to edit the data only once again and then it exist in the db.

if more users want this plese post here so that the developer see this is useful and wanted

greets
chefkoch

[orencha]

I think reading metadata from a separate file (filename.xml for example) is a good idea, and very necessary, also for music files. 8)

Some formats (*.AVI *.WAV) have poor/limited metadata support, and some other formats (*.AC3 *.DTS) have no metadata at all!!!

I have several folders with DTS and AC3 multi-channel music files (complete albums), they're all displayed as "unknown" in MediaPortal, and there's nothing I can do about it! :x
I think XML files can do the job well. :wink:

The algorithm should be like this:
1. Is there a [filename.xml]? if so, use metadata from it (*) and stop.
2. Is there an ID3? if so, use metadata from it (**) and stop.
3. Use the filename as metadata ("title")
4. Use the database etries.

(*) - Config option "Read metadata from XML file, if exists" (should be added)
(**) - Config option "Load ID3 tags from file if it's not in music database" (already existing)

The XML file is first in the list for a reason: it is very easy to get rid of. If someone does not like the current metadata for a specific file, he can always get rid of it (delete it). Very nice and simple...

You should also consider, as an addition or alternative, to read metadata from a FOLDER.XML file, containing metadata for many files in the same folder.