My Films 5.1 released (19.09.2011) - V5.1.0.1468 (MP 1.2.0) (1 Viewer)

[doveman]

Re: AW: Re: AW: Re: My Films 5.1 released (19.09.2011) - V5.1.0.1468 (MP 1.2.0)

I had a look in the rest of the setup - and it is always named "DB item" - so I renamed it to that now for consistency. If we change ti to field (ok for me too), we'd have to change it everywhere else too. ALso checked tooltip and it makes purpose imho understandable But I can always add/change that, if there is better suggestions of course.

I think DB item is fine and should be much clearer to users, and yes the tooltip is very clear

Done - wiki now recommends "Source" field.

Great.

Yes, it's hard to keep track with all the different uses cases different users do use - and even harder to make that understandable and put it into a nice setup with an interface that is not too much confusing ;-)

I can imagine! I expect certain parts are more obvious to certain users, depending on where they're coming from and it's obviously not possible to make a interface that's ideal for every user.

Fixed typo and added note to tooltip that the parameter is optional and only required, if no full pathes are available in source info.

Already tried to make that obvious by not giving that field the yellow color for mandatory fields ;-) - however, for a user, that would not use the source field at all, this fields again would be mandatory to be set.

That should certainly help. I can see it's not easy to not highlight a non-mandatory field...that sometimes is mandatory. Maybe a third colour (joking!).

Whilst the tooltip should help, it might be even more clear if you renamed "Movie Path Configuration" to something like "Movie Search Config (only used if file can't be found using DB Item)" as that would make it clear that the whole section is redundant if the DB item data is correct, as at the moment you see "Movie Path Configuration" and "Path for Movies File Search" and think this must be where you tell MyFilms where you keep your files. I realise now this is actually done on the Internet Grabbing tab under Movie Scan Path(s) but that's not obvious when you first start using MyFilms (it probably doesn't help having this on the Internet Grabbing tab, as the AMCupdater settings are not needed just for Internet Grabbing, but also for adding new files to the database) . Perhaps swapping over the "Search by Movie's Name" and "Path for Movies File Search" lines would help as well, as then the former (along with it's informative tooltip) would be at the top of the section.

To be honest, I totally overlooked the little box that says "Yellow fields are mandatory for the plugin to work" Although now I've seen it, I'm wondering if there's a better way to word it, as to me (and it may just be me) that suggests that "the plugin will work with only the yellow fields completed, but the other fields may still need to be completed for certain functions to work" so it doesn't really tell me I can ignore the white fields. It only seems to apply to the General tab anyway, as all the fields are white on the other tabs, but clearly Trailers won't work if it's set incorrectly (or to none) and the same goes for Internet grabbing, Artwork, etc, although in many cases the defaults will be correct and thus no changes will be needed. Hmm, maybe a third colour's not such a bad idea, Yellow for Vital, something else for important and white for optional/not important. However, I think your idea of hiding away some of the less important options is better and will probably negate the need to consider extra colouring

You're right, the tooltip was confusing - updated.
Item renamed to "Offline Media Identification Item" - as it's mostly not files (it can though), but media like DVDs BRs, etc. I think "offline" is the keywork, that makes it much clearer...

Sounds great I agree that offline is the important part and most users understand (or can soon learn to understand) what that means.

I have no personal preference for that - so please more feedback from users, if it should default to "none".

It may be that the vast majority of users don't use the Borrower field in AMC so obviously it's more convenient to have Trailer default to use it for them. I just think it's important to avoid the risk of ruining the databases of those users who do use Borrower for it's original purpose, particularly as this setting is not on the main tab or prominent so could be overlooked. There's clearly no room to move it to the main tab and put a warning there about it though, so it seems like the safest option is to default it to none. I'm interested to see what other users think though.

It might take some more time - if you feel you want to play with a developer version (and verify the changes done to your suggestions ;-)) - drop me a PM and I send you a link to current developer version.

That would be great. I'm not going to have a lot of time to play with it before Christmas, as I'm busy putting together a MP HTPC for my brother so I can give him a little hands-on tutorial when he comes down, but it will still help to have the latest version when I do have the odd bit of time to play.

You can also launch an import from inside MyFilms GUI via global updates - this will perform an AMCupdater import run in the background.

Ah, thanks for the tip. Does this then observe the "don't use default script" setting though, as I think that would be a bit annoying if I've added more than 1-2 films to my HD? If so, perhaps it's possible to make this setting only apply when updating individual films, and not when doing an import, which would be the best of both worlds.

All that is of course a question of personal taste and many ppl have different approaches.
When using AMCupdater, it imho depends, if you're importing lots of movies or only a few.
For only a few, interactive mode is just fine, as you can nicely verify and be sure, the correct one is selected.
For importing lots of movies, I would recommend once running a noninteractive import, but let AMCupdater not ask for unsure matches, but also NOT import those movies. After this you can just do another import, that will only have movies that couldn't be matched before, in interactive mode (ask, if no match) - and do selection as you like.
In latest AMCupdater version I added cover thumbs to the result list and AKA titles in the title field flyover.

Thanks, sounds like a good approach and I'm sure you've saved me a lot of experimenting by explaining it

 

[Guzzi]

AW: Re: AW: Re: AW: Re: My Films 5.1 released (19.09.2011) - V5.1.0.1468 (MP 1.2.0)

[...]
That should certainly help. I can see it's not easy to not highlight a non-mandatory field...that sometimes is mandatory. Maybe a third colour (joking!).

Whilst the tooltip should help, it might be even more clear if you renamed "Movie Path Configuration" to something like "Movie Search Config (only used if file can't be found using DB Item)" as that would make it clear that the whole section is redundant if the DB item data is correct, as at the moment you see "Movie Path Configuration" and "Path for Movies File Search" and think this must be where you tell MyFilms where you keep your files. I realise now this is actually done on the Internet Grabbing tab under Movie Scan Path(s) but that's not obvious when you first start using MyFilms (it probably doesn't help having this on the Internet Grabbing tab, as the AMCupdater settings are not needed just for Internet Grabbing, but also for adding new files to the database).

Actually, the search path on main tab is the path myfilms can use for searching media files, if it can't find them in DB Item for movie source - while the Movie scan path(es) on internet tab are the pathes that will be scanned/searched for imports.
For basic setups, those pathes will be both the same - that's why the setup wizard will put the pathes the user defines in both sections.

Perhaps swapping over the "Search by Movie's Name" and "Path for Movies File Search" lines would help as well, as then the former (along with it's informative tooltip) would be at the top of the section.

I instead added more info to the path.... tooltip and explain usage and use cases a bit more ;-)

To be honest, I totally overlooked the little box that says "Yellow fields are mandatory for the plugin to work" Although now I've seen it, I'm wondering if there's a better way to word it, as to me (and it may just be me) that suggests that "the plugin will work with only the yellow fields completed, but the other fields may still need to be completed for certain functions to work" so it doesn't really tell me I can ignore the white fields. It only seems to apply to the General tab anyway, as all the fields are white on the other tabs, but clearly Trailers won't work if it's set incorrectly (or to none) and the same goes for Internet grabbing, Artwork, etc, although in many cases the defaults will be correct and thus no changes will be needed.

Those colors should help the user to get a quick setup - and the yellow boyes indeed are the only ones that are absolutely mandatory for the plugin to run - and yes, this is assuming, that users store source info in DB - as this is probably the most common use case.
Of course other options might require tweaking and could be changed - but it's not essential to get it up and running.
THe goal of the wizard and those colors is to get a working setup with just 4 clicks. Initially it was meant for new users to make the start easier, as otherwise there is MANY stuff to be configured until you get a good working config - you can try it by just selecting "new" - and configure everything manually. But finally, Even I mayself regulary use the wizard for new configs, as it's 4 clicks to get a working config and using that to only change what you want to have different, than the wizard does.
Imho, if that should be improved, we would have to offer a selection in the wizard to setup different use cases - but I think that is not necessary, as the current version is a good starting point for new users - and IF the user is interested, he usually wants to tweak it the way he prefers it anyway. And yes, doing that requires a bit of time to get familiar with it - MyFilms is for sure not a plugin that will be understood within a few minutes.

Hmm, maybe a third colour's not such a bad idea, Yellow for Vital, something else for important and white for optional/not important. However, I think your idea of hiding away some of the less important options is better and will probably negate the need to consider extra colouring

Hiding setupGUI elements is imho the way to go, to make it look less complex. I had quite some discussions about that with Dadeo too, the only problem is a bit the motivation to spend so much effort, as setup usually only is done once ;-)
But I promise that as soon as I finished the in progress features and start to get bored, I will rework the setup GUI ;-)

It may be that the vast majority of users don't use the Borrower field in AMC so obviously it's more convenient to have Trailer default to use it for them. I just think it's important to avoid the risk of ruining the databases of those users who do use Borrower for it's original purpose, particularly as this setting is not on the main tab or prominent so could be overlooked. There's clearly no room to move it to the main tab and put a warning there about it though, so it seems like the safest option is to default it to none. I'm interested to see what other users think though.

Makes sense - so I am awaiting input if or if not ;-)

You can also launch an import from inside MyFilms GUI via global updates - this will perform an AMCupdater import run in the background.

Ah, thanks for the tip. Does this then observe the "don't use default script" setting though, as I think that would be a bit annoying if I've added more than 1-2 films to my HD? If so, perhaps it's possible to make this setting only apply when updating individual films, and not when doing an import, which would be the best of both worlds.

Of course it will NOT ask for the script, if you run batch imports in the backgrounds - this setting is only affecting interactive modes - i.e. if you update a single movie in MyFilms GUI, it will (or will not) offer you to choose the grabber script you want to use. You can save one button click, if you always use the same script, but recommend to let MyFilms ask you, so you can choose different script if you want (default script is always on first position, so skipping is just one enter/button click).

All that is of course a question of personal taste and many ppl have different approaches.
When using AMCupdater, it imho depends, if you're importing lots of movies or only a few.
For only a few, interactive mode is just fine, as you can nicely verify and be sure, the correct one is selected.
For importing lots of movies, I would recommend once running a noninteractive import, but let AMCupdater not ask for unsure matches, but also NOT import those movies. After this you can just do another import, that will only have movies that couldn't be matched before, in interactive mode (ask, if no match) - and do selection as you like.
In latest AMCupdater version I added cover thumbs to the result list and AKA titles in the title field flyover.

Thanks, sounds like a good approach and I'm sure you've saved me a lot of experimenting by explaining it

We tried to explain the possible "modes" in wiki - but again, there is many different use cases. Currently, you have to "setup" the use cases, by selection of the respective options - I was thinking about putting those options together into a single "use case selector". Advatage: Easier to use. Disadvatage: Less flexible, as it would use some sort of "predefined" settings.
Future also depends on what soulsnake will implement for new AMC4 - he posted there is importing planned too...

 

[doveman]

Re: AW: Re: AW: Re: AW: Re: My Films 5.1 released (19.09.2011) - V5.1.0.1468 (MP 1.2.

Actually, the search path on main tab is the path myfilms can use for searching media files, if it can't find them in DB Item for movie source - while the Movie scan path(es) on internet tab are the pathes that will be scanned/searched for imports.
For basic setups, those pathes will be both the same - that's why the setup wizard will put the pathes the user defines in both sections.

Sorry if my post wasn't clear but I get (at least I think!) what the search path on the main tab and what the scan path on the internet tab are for. My point was really that the scan path is more important (as MyFilms will only really work properly if it has a folder to watch) and I'm coming from MP's Videos section, MovingPictures, etc all of which require the scan path to be set, but not a separate search path. So when I first saw MyFilms setup, I naturally assumed that the most important fields were on the first tab and that the "Movie Path Configuration" section was just a different way of saying "Movie scan path".

So whilst you're right that the wizard puts the same path in both sections, the confusion arose when I saw the Movie Path Config section and thought "well surely I want to scan subfolders, so I should tick that" and I think I thought the dropdown next to Search by Movie's name was to select which field was used to store the Title after it had been found by scanning the files and grabbing the correct title from the Internet. Of course, much of my confusion could have been avoided by reading the tooltips properly, but it still might help avoid confusion if, when you get round to re-doing the Setup GUI, the more important Scan path was shown on the General tab and (if necessary due to lack of space) the Movie Path config section was moved to another tab or hidden.

I instead added more info to the path.... tooltip and explain usage and use cases a bit more ;-)

Maybe that's enough, although perhaps renaming Movie Path Configuration to Secondary Search settings would help to avoid users mistaking it for the Scan path settings. I thought of Backup Search settings, but that could be misunderstood as searching for backups

But finally, Even I mayself regulary use the wizard for new configs, as it's 4 clicks to get a working config and using that to only change what you want to have different, than the wizard does.

Imho, if that should be improved, we would have to offer a selection in the wizard to setup different use cases - but I think that is not necessary, as the current version is a good starting point for new users - and IF the user is interested, he usually wants to tweak it the way he prefers it anyway. And yes, doing that requires a bit of time to get familiar with it - MyFilms is for sure not a plugin that will be understood within a few minutes.

That's for sure I agree that, for myself at least, there doesn't appear to be a need for a selection for different use cases in the Wizard and it does a pretty good job of setting things up.

Hiding setupGUI elements is imho the way to go, to make it look less complex. I had quite some discussions about that with Dadeo too, the only problem is a bit the motivation to spend so much effort, as setup usually only is done once ;-)
But I promise that as soon as I finished the in progress features and start to get bored, I will rework the setup GUI ;-)

Cool. I'll try and refrain from any further observations about important/unimportant sections and wait to see how the new GUI turns out

Of course it will NOT ask for the script, if you run batch imports in the backgrounds - this setting is only affecting interactive modes - i.e. if you update a single movie in MyFilms GUI, it will (or will not) offer you to choose the grabber script you want to use. You can save one button click, if you always use the same script, but recommend to let MyFilms ask you, so you can choose different script if you want (default script is always on first position, so skipping is just one enter/button click).

Thanks for clarifying. I thought that was probably the case but decided it was best to ask to be sure

We tried to explain the possible "modes" in wiki - but again, there is many different use cases. Currently, you have to "setup" the use cases, by selection of the respective options - I was thinking about putting those options together into a single "use case selector". Advatage: Easier to use. Disadvatage: Less flexible, as it would use some sort of "predefined" settings.
Future also depends on what soulsnake will implement for new AMC4 - he posted there is importing planned too...

Yes, perhaps predefined profiles might be useful and I guess there's no reason why the tickboxes can't be left in place for the less common situations, so that only the most common are covered by profiles and the rest can be managed by the user adjusting the setttings manually.

 

[Dadeo]

hey doveman - your point about the confusion between Movie Search path vs Movie Scan path is a good one.

However, remember only AMC users need to enter a Movie Scan path. Other catalogs scan/import in the catalog. The only reason AMCUpdater (and those settings) exist is because Ant Movie Catalog never really had that feature. That is why the Movie Scan path displays on the Internet Grabbing tab, all of which only applies to AMC users. I am not sure it is logical to add a setting to the General tab that only applies to specific catalogs even if it is the most common one

Of course, the concept of a Movie Search path is new for many users. I think My Films is the only plugin where you don't have to link to a source file if you don't want to, or if you move the file, it will find it for you if you search the path it has moved to. So perhaps we should highlight that a bit more in the Wiki to avoid the confusion you point out.

In fairness to Guzzi, it is not only that he has not had time to rework the Setup GUI yet (or was not bored enough yet LOL). We have had many long discussions about it, and we both agreed we would like more feedback from users once My Films 5 has been in use for a while. So we decided to keep all options as discoverable as possible at first, and then see which ones were most confusing before we start deciding what should be 'hidden' as advanced settings. I think we are getting a clearer picture slowly, but feedback from more users, like that you have provided, would surely be helpful!

 

[Guzzi]

AW: Re: My Films 5.1 released (19.09.2011) - V5.1.0.1468 (MP 1.2.0)

hey doveman - your point about the confusion between Movie Search path vs Movie Scan path is a good one.

However, remember only AMC users need to enter a Movie Scan path. Other catalogs scan/import in the catalog. The only reason AMCUpdater (and those settings) exist is because Ant Movie Catalog never really had that feature. That is why the Movie Scan path displays on the Internet Grabbing tab, all of which only applies to AMC users. I am not sure it is logical to add a setting to the General tab that only applies to specific catalogs even if it is the most common one
[...]

Agreeing, that it is an important setting, we could move the scan path to first tab and make it visible only, when AMC is selected !?
Reason I did it not is, tht his setting is a setting for AMCupdater - the MyFilmsSetup just passes it through the it's settings.
One more question:
In the past, we discussed, if there is at all the need to make the differentiation between the search path and the movie path.
Yes, there are possible use cases, where users might want them to be different - but we also could "assume" they're always the same.
It would make the setup "less complex"?

 

[Guzzi]

AW: Re: AW: Re: AW: Re: AW: Re: My Films 5.1 released (19.09.2011) - V5.1.0.1468 (MP

I instead added more info to the path.... tooltip and explain usage and use cases a bit more ;-)

Maybe that's enough, although perhaps renaming Movie Path Configuration to Secondary Search settings would help to avoid users mistaking it for the Scan path settings. I thought of Backup Search settings, but that could be misunderstood as searching for backups

I named now whole section "Movie Playback Path Configuration" and the search stuff "Playback Search Configuration" to make it clear, it's not the SCAN pathes, but playback related ...

We tried to explain the possible "modes" in wiki - but again, there is many different use cases. Currently, you have to "setup" the use cases, by selection of the respective options - I was thinking about putting those options together into a single "use case selector". Advatage: Easier to use. Disadvatage: Less flexible, as it would use some sort of "predefined" settings.
Future also depends on what soulsnake will implement for new AMC4 - he posted there is importing planned too...

Yes, perhaps predefined profiles might be useful and I guess there's no reason why the tickboxes can't be left in place for the less common situations, so that only the most common are covered by profiles and the rest can be managed by the user adjusting the setttings manually.

That's probably the best way - so we're back to the question to describe the use cases and their presets.
Further I'd like to move the detailed settings away to make it look less complex ("hide it").

Did you check the use cases in the wiki page? Are they understandable?

Further question (for me) was always, if it is a good idea to share the DB field selections between impopt and update - as users often only update only some or single fields, while an import usually should cover many ar all fields!?

 

[doveman]

hey doveman - your point about the confusion between Movie Search path vs Movie Scan path is a good one.

Thanks.

However, remember only AMC users need to enter a Movie Scan path. Other catalogs scan/import in the catalog. The only reason AMCUpdater (and those settings) exist is because Ant Movie Catalog never really had that feature. That is why the Movie Scan path displays on the Internet Grabbing tab, all of which only applies to AMC users. I am not sure it is logical to add a setting to the General tab that only applies to specific catalogs even if it is the most common one

I see. Having only used AMC I hadn't considered how MyFilms works with other programs/catalogs. So can MyFilms only update/import new files when using an AMC database? If so, I would imagine this is the format that most users would want to use to get the most out of MyFilms, so perhaps the main features should be arranged to suit AMC users. If the Scan path settings were moved to the General tab, I would think a comment like "only required for AMC catalogs" would be clear enough for users of other catalogs.

Of course, the concept of a Movie Search path is new for many users. I think My Films is the only plugin where you don't have to link to a source file if you don't want to, or if you move the file, it will find it for you if you search the path it has moved to. So perhaps we should highlight that a bit more in the Wiki to avoid the confusion you point out.

Ah, I hadn't considered the benefits of being able to move files and have MyFilms still find them, which is cool as sometimes I like to move films into Genre folders. When MyFilms finds the moved file, does it update the Source to point to the new location, so that when I open the database in AMC it's correct?

In fairness to Guzzi, it is not only that he has not had time to rework the Setup GUI yet (or was not bored enough yet LOL). We have had many long discussions about it, and we both agreed we would like more feedback from users once My Films 5 has been in use for a while. So we decided to keep all options as discoverable as possible at first, and then see which ones were most confusing before we start deciding what should be 'hidden' as advanced settings. I think we are getting a clearer picture slowly, but feedback from more users, like that you have provided, would surely be helpful!

That sounds like a good plan

Agreeing, that it is an important setting, we could move the scan path to first tab and make it visible only, when AMC is selected !?
Reason I did it not is, tht his setting is a setting for AMCupdater - the MyFilmsSetup just passes it through the it's settings.
One more question:
In the past, we discussed, if there is at all the need to make the differentiation between the search path and the movie path.
Yes, there are possible use cases, where users might want them to be different - but we also could "assume" they're always the same.
It would make the setup "less complex"?

If they're only used when using an AMC catalog, if you could hide the scan path settings when using a different catalog I think that would be ideal.

Even if the user doesn't use AMCupdater but just uses the Update/Import functions from within MyFilms the scan path settings are required though aren't they, so I would say it's an important setting for MyFilms (when using an AMC catalog).

Personally I don''t have a need for separate search and scan paths, so I'd be quite happy if they were merged and it would indeed make setup less complex. Perhaps there could be a hidden option to set a separate search path if this is needed by some users?

I named now whole section "Movie Playback Path Configuration" and the search stuff "Playback Search Configuration" to make it clear, it's not the SCAN pathes, but playback related ...

That sounds excellent

Did you check the use cases in the wiki page? Are they understandable?

I've just had a look and to be honest it's all a bit confusing

Starting with the table, I would remove the two "Possible Values" lines. I think it's just confusing to try and describe the "Internet Lookup Behaviour" as true or false, so would just put the relevant text "try to find best match automatically" or "always offer choice of movie" in the box next to each case. I also find the options "Don't ask if no match" and "Don't import in interactive mode" rather confusing (if true it means "Yes, don't ask" or "yes, don't import" and if false it means "No, do ask" or "No, Do import") so I think it would be more logical/intuitive to reverse these to "Ask if no match" and "Import in interactive mode" (which would then translate to, if true "Yes, ask if no match" and "Yes, import in interactive mode" and if false "No, don't ask" and "No, don't import) so that true=yes/do and false=No/don't. I realise you'd have to change these in AMCupdater as well, but I think it would be worth the effort.

Also, it says background mode is not selectable but further down under "Silent Mode (import media if no match)" (I think this should be "Silent (import media only if no match)" to match the table) it says "This is much the same as Background mode when running GLobal Updates > Update DB in My Films" but the table shows the settings for Background mode and "Silent (import media only if no match)" to be the exact opposite of each other, so it's hard to see how they can be "much the same".

I also find the references to "Interactive Mode" rather confusing, especially the references to the "Interactive tab in AMCU Settings" which I can't seem to find and I don't understand the use of the "Don't Import in Interactive mode" setting, as a) if I disable Import when in Interactive mode, what would AMCupdater be doing? and b) if I'm running in Silent mode (i.e. not Interactive mode), why should this setting be relevant?

If what the "Don't import in Interactive mode" setting does is switch whether the user is asked to confirm each film before importing it, perhaps it would be clearer if it was renamed to something like "Use Interactive mode" or "Confirm before Import", but I'm not really sure what it's for as that seems to be what the "Internet Lookup Behaviour" setting is for and the Wiki says, under "Interactive Mode - always ask", "To enable Interactive mode, Select 'always offer choice of move' on the Interactive tab in AMCU Settings."

Further question (for me) was always, if it is a good idea to share the DB field selections between impopt and update - as users often only update only some or single fields, while an import usually should cover many ar all fields!?

Very good question and I think it would be much better if update (whether from AMCupdater or MyFilms GUI) could be set to only update certain fields, such as ratings, etc. IMDB+ has a setting to do this, so perhaps you could look at that. It seems like there's plenty of free space on the right on the Import and Update tabs in AMCupdater to put the list of fields with tickboxes that apply to each of the tabs, and then these could be removed from the Database Fields tab (which could be renamed) and just the additional options on the right left there (which are probably not changed much, and which can apply to both imports and updates).

Also, I might be missing something but there doesn't appear to be any way at present to update a single film or selection of films from the View Movies tab, which I think would be very useful and is something that can be done with MovingPictures (on the Movie Manager tab).

 

[Jono25]

Hi, I have added new movies to my hard drive but running the Global Update-Update DB doesn't pick them up. I tried also using AMCUpdater but that has found no new additions either. Can't see what I'm doing wrong. I assume these should be being added to the database automatically?

 

[Guzzi]

AW: Re: My Films 5.1 released (19.09.2011) - V5.1.0.1468 (MP 1.2.0)

Hi, I have added new movies to my hard drive but running the Global Update-Update DB doesn't pick them up. I tried also using AMCUpdater but that has found no new additions either. Can't see what I'm doing wrong. I assume these should be being added to the database automatically?

Yes, it should add them when you select Update DB. So it must be something with your settings - please post logfiles and your config.

 

[Guzzi]

AW: Re: My Films 5.1 released (19.09.2011) - V5.1.0.1468 (MP 1.2.0)

[...] So can MyFilms only update/import new files when using an AMC database? If so, I would imagine this is the format that most users would want to use to get the most out of MyFilms, so perhaps the main features should be arranged to suit AMC users. If the Scan path settings were moved to the General tab, I would think a comment like "only required for AMC catalogs" would be clear enough for users of other catalogs.

Updates are only for AMC, yes - and yes, to get all features from MyFilms, you would use it with AMC, as long as other catalogs don't support native XML format. - But there is lot's of users out there using MyFilms with other catalogs and only maintaining it with the external catalog software.
If we move it to main tab, we could just hide it, if other than AMC is selected - but see my other comments about it too.

Ah, I hadn't considered the benefits of being able to move files and have MyFilms still find them, which is cool as sometimes I like to move films into Genre folders. When MyFilms finds the moved file, does it update the Source to point to the new location, so that when I open the database in AMC it's correct?

Yes, it you enabled the feature, it will search for the movie - if it can be found, the source will be updated with new information.
The same is supported by AMCupdater - moved files will be detected and you can choose if you want to only update source path info or rescan movie data.

If they're only used when using an AMC catalog, if you could hide the scan path settings when using a different catalog I think that would be ideal.

Even if the user doesn't use AMCupdater but just uses the Update/Import functions from within MyFilms the scan path settings are required though aren't they, so I would say it's an important setting for MyFilms (when using an AMC catalog).

k, will see, if that can be done.
(Will comment on AMCupdater stuff separately and maybe move to AMCupdater thread...)