about ANT (1 Viewer)

[perry59]

I never even heard of the ANT movie database until I started playing with MediaPortal and looked at the MyFilms plugin which seemed interesting.
Excuse my ignorance, but whats the point? If you have dvd's ripped to your hard drive MP will already download plenty of information on them, why maintain a seperate database?
I downloaded ANT to check it out, and it seemed a LOT more trouble than its worth. I pointed it to a movie on my drive (Animal house), and it did not fill in ANY info. So I'm supposed to enter all this by hand? Again, whats the point. I then told it to look at the IMDB for info and it said there was none. Hard to believe a "cult classic" would not be in the database.
The help file for ANT also seemed totally useless, and I could not find a tutorial for it anywhere.
Needless to say, I quickly trashed ANT as a waste of time. Am I missing something here?
Again, why go to all that trouble to maintain a seperate database when MP or MCE will easily get this info for you and maintain its own database?
Thanks for any illumination on this matter
Perry

 

[bobbyd87]

IMDB recently changed their page around and ANT has a new updated script you have to download
http://www.antp.be/temp/scripts/IMDB.ifs (right click and SAVE AS)
download that into your ant movie scripts folder and overwrite the previous one and you should be all set

 

[thematrixz]

I haven't incorporated Ant into MP, but I've been using this program for at least 3 years now.

If you have a large amount for DVD's then it definitely worth the setup/update time. I have more than 500 dvd's, so it helps me keeping track of what I have and what I loan to people (not to mention, I have bought duplicates since I forgot what I've already had)

I ripped some but not all DVD's to hard disk, mostly kids movies so they don't get damage, and the kids watch them over and over again.

 

[whatisk]

There is even a script you can run that will list which other scripts are more up to date on the ANT server than on your PC.

 

[yatesd]

whatisk, do you know the name of the script that checks for outdated ones as that sounds useful and I didn't know it existed? The area of scripts is not one that I have learnt so well.

I use ANT for everything and agree with the above that it provides so much more information and flexability with the tracking and maintenance of your collection.

Okay, I assume that the script you mentioned was UPDATE_SCRIPTS.ifs which I just found on the scripts page on ANT - thanks for bringing it to my attention though.

 

[odin318]

I wish HappyTalk's AUtoIMDB script would work again - that one is nice. For now it is broken.

 

[whatisk]

@whatisk, do you know the name of the script that checks for outdated ones as that sounds useful and I didn't know it existed? The area of scripts is not one that I have learnt so well.

....

Okay, I assume that the script you mentioned was UPDATE_SCRIPTS.ifs which I just found on the scripts page on ANT - thanks for bringing it to my attention though.

Yep, that's the one.
You just select a movie and run it like any other (don't worry, it doesn't alter any of the movie info). You can only update one script at a time with it, but it gives you a list of changed scripts, so you only need to update the ones you actually use.

 

[perry59]

Well, thanks for the comments guys. Still dont see much use for this thing unless you're trying to start your own movie rental house.
Allthough I'm sure its not terribly diffiult to figure out if you spend some time with it, a quick tutorial would be nice. There is none, and its help file is not much help.
I'll just stick with what MP has.

 

[ringsting]

I agree perry, I just downloaded the ANT Catalog yesterday, but I just can't see the point if your collection is completely on your HD. I didn't even get round to using the myFilms plugin as the ANT program doesn't seem suited to a ripped collection at all. It is a shame that there isn't something more like the excellent myTVseries plugin for films. I wish I could program, maybe I should learn.

 

[illStyle]

but I just can't see the point if your collection is completely on your HD. I didn't even get round to using the myFilms plugin as the ANT program doesn't seem suited to a ripped collection at all.

If you have ripped your movies to a hard drive just stick with what MP has. If your movies are on DVDs ANT + MyFilms might be the right thing for you.



Regards,
Simon