themoviedb.org v3 API + old moving pictures version (1 Viewer)

[Rich2004]

I am running a very old version of Media Portal (1.1.3) and an equally old version of Moving Pictures (1.1.2).

I know I should have upgraded both a long time ago, but since these versions were still working and I didn't have much time available to upgrade, I didn't worry.

I noticed about a week ago that new movies would not be imported by the Moving Pictures TMDB scraper anymore. After some research I found out that TMDB switched to the v3 API, which I assume is the probable cause.

Is there any simple solution to make these old versions work with the new v3 API, like an updated XML scraper script? I cannot afford to spend time on a full Media Portal + Moving Pictures upgrade right now.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[RoChess]

Backup your existing Team MediaPortal folders for both Program and Data (if you tell me more specifics on your OS, then I can give you full paths).

Then just install the latest MovPic EXE installer and launch MovPic config to go over all the new options. And that is it, no update to MediaPortal is needed.

If things go wrong, delete the Team MediaPortal folders, rename the backup folders back and it is like nothing happened.

Try to ask Microsoft otherwise to make IE11 work for XP, at some points older versions are just no longer supported. In this case it is all open source, so you at least have the option to do it all yourself, but I doubt anybody else would be willing to undertake the task, considering it is all fixed in new version.

 

[unalterable]

RoChess,

I have an identical problem.

Thanks for your solution. But i don't entirely understand it.

Firstly, i can't use the latest MovPic EXE installer because it wont install over the top of my old MediaPortal.

Secondly, when you say "launch MovPic config to go over all the new options", do you mean all the new movies? As then i would have to do that for every new movie.

Is this a permanent solution? That involves altering the MovPic way of using the API?

thanks.

 

[RoChess]

No, when I say MovPic options, I mean for example adding the 'collections' dynamic category, verify that all the MovPic import settings are right. You have to understand that new versions don't just bring updates, but also new features. As for what impacts existing movies in your library, that is impacted when new features are added to each item, for example v1.5.2 of MovPic has support for collections, release_date and plot_keywords. You need to 'refresh' your movies as this info has to be re-obtained for your existing movies, unless you only want your new movies to enjou them.

For me that is always easy, because I use IMDb+, so I just do a mass-refresh on entire collection when I'm asleep after a few months. This also then updates ratings, certifications or adds any missing info. It takes like 6 hours to refresh my entire collection, but I'm sleeping then anyway so doesn't make a difference to me how long it takes.

Anyway, MovPic is a seperate plugin to MediaPortal. All in all you only need the DLL files and drop them in the correct plugins folder. The installer simply makes it easy, because it puts them in the right folder an also takes care of the skin files. But nothing prevents you from doing this manually. Now the other problem is that sometimes specific features of the MediaPortal API are used, that is when you run into the problem that you need to update MediaPortal in order to use latest Moving-Pictures. I currenctly still run MovPic v1.5.2.1528 (extremly current) on MediaPortal v1.2.1 (very old one) on my soon to be replaced HTPC in the livingroom, and it runs fine.

Now your worries are correct, I believe somewhere along the lines a new method was used by MediaPortal v1.2 and that is now being used by MovingPictures. Unfortunatly a fix to make importing work again will not be added to the older version of MovPic that still run on MediaPortal v1.1 or before. The new MovPic will still work on the older MePo version, just not 100%. The problem is that I dont know if the missing % is something critical that you need, or if it is something you can live without.

Backing up MediaPortal completly is extremly easy, simply go to the two MediaPortal folders inside Windows explorer and 'copy' them, so you get "C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal" and "C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal - Copy" (and do the same for the Program Files folder). Then you can literally mess it up totally and delete the "MediaPortal" folder and rename back the " - Copy" one and it is like nothing happened. This then allows you to just "try" if v1.5.2.1528 would work, or if your worries about a MediaPortal v1.2 upgrade were misplaced and everything works fine. You could even go straight for a v1.5 upgrade, afterall if it fails you just restore the backup back.

 

[unalterable]

Rochess,

i appreciate your long reply to my question. However, the intaller wont run over an old media portal and when i download the ZIP and install the DLLs they just break everything. I'm pretty sure i'm right when i say that new MovPic plugin versions won't run on an old version of MP which is what this thread is all about.

Are you sure you have tried this before? Because it's not nearly as simple as you suggest.

is there no way i can re-write the old MovPic plugin to work with the new moviedb API?

 

[RoChess]

is there no way i can re-write the old MovPic plugin to work with the new moviedb API?

I thought the breaking change was from 1.0 to 1.1, not from 1.1 to 1.2, but can not trust my memory anymore it seems.

And of course you can re-write the old plugin to work with the new API. The Google code project allows you to look at the 'diff' for each changeset, so you can distill the required changes. The only problem will be when the 'new' code makes use of the MediaPortal API that you will then not have access to, but that should be very low odds, since the old importer worked fine on older version.

Good luck with it.

 

[Edalex]

IN theory it's possible to make tmdb api in externall dll as plugin to movpics but it is not worth it

 

[RoChess]

@Edalex, yeah, it's like expecting Microsoft to release IE11 for XP, after a while the party is over.

@unalterable, keep in mind that its only MediaPortal that you might have upgrade troubles with. The most current version of MovPic will upgrade/convert your old MovPic database just fine. Maybe it is just time to bite the bullet, and you can safely back up all the stuff you got and just TRY IT, if it fails or still doesn't work after 15 minutes, then restore backup.

 

[Edalex]

@Edalex, yeah, it's like expecting Microsoft to release IE11 for XP, after a while the party is over.

Since I'm using mediaportal 1.3 and Xp this sutuation is fine for me generally

 

[ronysrei]

I have the same problem... Windows XP running MP 1.1.3,0 and Moving Pictures 1.1.2.1219. It's not possible to upgrade any of them.
Please please please someone give us a solution! Please!!!! Im not a programmer... could anybody make those changes on that moving pictures versions?