IMDB search not effective for me

supagold · 2007-07-11, 16:23

If I'm missing something here, please let me know.

It seems like a large proportion (at least half) of the movies I try to search through IMDB don't return accurate results. It appears that MediaPortal is trying to go for the "Titles (Exact Match)" result on the search page. However, this doesn't appear to be a good algorithm.

Take Ghostbusters, for instance. If you do a search for that string on IMDB, you see the desired result Ghost Busters [1984] under "Popular Movies". However, the only thing that shows up in MediaPortal are the two hits under "Titles (Exact Match)". In addition, doing a search for "Ghost Busters", still returns the desired result under "Popular Movies", and appears to filter it out of "Titles (Exact Match)". I'm new to MediaPortal, but short of adding it to the database manually it appears that it's not possible to get the correct movie into the database...

It seems like the simplest fix would be to show all the results from search page, and allow the user to choose. As a side note, it would be great if the interface for manually adding information to the database had a field that would allow us to enter the IMDB movie code for a movie (like "tt0087332" for Ghostbusters), then automatically pull the info from that page.

I'm using the SVN from July 1, 2007.

chenks · 2007-07-11, 18:43

i didn't have a problem adding ghostbusters from the IMDB search via MP.

supagold · 2007-07-11, 18:56

Hmm. I tried it several times last night, including manually entering both "ghostbusters" and "ghost busters", and got the results I described above. What version of MP are you using?

piranha · 2007-07-11, 23:16

there were updates to IMDB in SVN past July 1st.
you may want to check it now.

supagold · 2007-07-12, 18:00

So I installed the newest SVN last night, and "Ghostbusters" still didn't return the correct hit. Neither did "Ghost Busters". However, I tried "ghost busters 1984" and I was able to get the expected result...

Can anyone else try this on their machine?

mzemina · 2007-07-12, 18:09

Maybe IMDB is country dependent?

supagold · 2007-07-12, 20:06

Interesting thought. I'm located in the US, so I'd expect it to work fine for me by default, unless there are some country specific setting in MediaPortal I should change?

By the way, thanks to everyone for the help so far...

madmikeee · 2007-07-18, 21:36

I noticed that the sizes of some the movie covers seem to be a bit on the small side and tend to get distorted, is there another way we can search or are we stuck with IMDB for that info? Maybe Amazon?

mzemina · 2007-07-18, 22:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by madmikeee

I noticed that the sizes of some the movie covers seem to be a bit on the small side and tend to get distorted, is there another way we can search or are we stuck with IMDB for that info? Maybe Amazon?

Amazon does have some very nice hgh-res pictures of most DVDs. I have noticed that most always you may need to crop it down due to white space they include.

madmikeee · 2007-07-19, 04:01

Another question then if I might.

Is there a way to have the entire directory scanned for finding coverart / movie covers instead of doing one at a time?

I have well over 100 gigs of music and I don't want to go through every song and have to right click, find cover art (FOr some reason this isn't working either which has me confused)

2007-07-11, 16:23	#1 (permalink)
supagold Portal User Join Date: Jul 2007 Age: 58 Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	IMDB search not effective for me If I'm missing something here, please let me know. It seems like a large proportion (at least half) of the movies I try to search through IMDB don't return accurate results. It appears that MediaPortal is trying to go for the "Titles (Exact Match)" result on the search page. However, this doesn't appear to be a good algorithm. Take Ghostbusters, for instance. If you do a search for that string on IMDB, you see the desired result Ghost Busters [1984] under "Popular Movies". However, the only thing that shows up in MediaPortal are the two hits under "Titles (Exact Match)". In addition, doing a search for "Ghost Busters", still returns the desired result under "Popular Movies", and appears to filter it out of "Titles (Exact Match)". I'm new to MediaPortal, but short of adding it to the database manually it appears that it's not possible to get the correct movie into the database... It seems like the simplest fix would be to show all the results from search page, and allow the user to choose. As a side note, it would be great if the interface for manually adding information to the database had a field that would allow us to enter the IMDB movie code for a movie (like "tt0087332" for Ghostbusters), then automatically pull the info from that page. I'm using the SVN from July 1, 2007.

2007-07-11, 23:16	#4 (permalink)
piranha MP Donator Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 303 Thanks: 15 Thanked 8 Times in 8 Posts My System	there were updates to IMDB in SVN past July 1st. you may want to check it now. __________________ After all, computers crash, people die, relationships fall apart. The best we can do is breath and reboot.

2007-07-12, 18:09	#6 (permalink)
mzemina Retired Team Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ft Smith, AR Posts: 2,029 Thanks: 33 Thanked 12 Times in 12 Posts Country:	Maybe IMDB is country dependent? __________________

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2007-07-11, 18:43	#2 (permalink)
chenks Portal Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Scotland Age: 32 Posts: 726 Thanks: 1 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Country: My System	i didn't have a problem adding ghostbusters from the IMDB search via MP.

2007-07-11, 18:56	#3 (permalink)
supagold Portal User Join Date: Jul 2007 Age: 58 Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Hmm. I tried it several times last night, including manually entering both "ghostbusters" and "ghost busters", and got the results I described above. What version of MP are you using?

2007-07-12, 18:00	#5 (permalink)
supagold Portal User Join Date: Jul 2007 Age: 58 Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	So I installed the newest SVN last night, and "Ghostbusters" still didn't return the correct hit. Neither did "Ghost Busters". However, I tried "ghost busters 1984" and I was able to get the expected result... Can anyone else try this on their machine?

2007-07-12, 20:06	#7 (permalink)
supagold Portal User Join Date: Jul 2007 Age: 58 Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Interesting thought. I'm located in the US, so I'd expect it to work fine for me by default, unless there are some country specific setting in MediaPortal I should change? By the way, thanks to everyone for the help so far...

2007-07-18, 21:36	#8 (permalink)
madmikeee Portal Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Age: 36 Posts: 5 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I noticed that the sizes of some the movie covers seem to be a bit on the small side and tend to get distorted, is there another way we can search or are we stuck with IMDB for that info? Maybe Amazon?

2007-07-19, 04:01	#10 (permalink)
madmikeee Portal Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Age: 36 Posts: 5 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Another question then if I might. Is there a way to have the entire directory scanned for finding coverart / movie covers instead of doing one at a time? I have well over 100 gigs of music and I don't want to go through every song and have to right click, find cover art (FOr some reason this isn't working either which has me confused)