Personal Video Database

the only way PvdImport currenly communicates with PVD.

Let me clarify something here: PvdImport only uses the Pvd database to retrieve information. This also true for cover art retrieval.

This means that there is an SQL statement in PvdImport which the user cannot see. It basically retrieves the first image blob from the DB and saves it where the user has indicated in the PvdImport configuration.

I basically need some way of determining the index into the image table to where the desired image is stored. Does this info exist somewhere?

I've been experimenting a bit with importing the PVD Title field to the Name field in JRiver Mediacenter using PvdImport.

If I could get this to work, PVD would then act as a filename parser for MC which would be really great.

However, there is a snag here: When a movie consists of several files; cd1, cd2, etc, I'm having some problems determine which Title (PVD) I should assign to which Name (MC).

Currenly the PVD filename field is just a list of all the files that comprise a movie. Thus I'm looking for a good way of determining and assigning the MC Name field with additional CDx information. Any ideas?

Quote from: raldo on September 13, 2009, 11:44:57 pm

In JRiver Mediacenter, movies metadata now populates automatically when I import new movies in MC.

Not for me! I assume you mean in an as yet unreleased version of PvdImport?

That is correct I'll release something later on this evening for you to test. Keep your eyes open

I've used thetvdb.com to download descriptions for TV series episodes. It works quite well togetcher with JRMC and PvdImport.

What about cover art for series, season and episodes? I see no separate entry in the .pvd database file for such info...

You can write a general purpose plugin (like twitter plugin) for this task.

Getting things up and running is already quite complex (3 applications need to be installed including an sql server).

I'd like to see an option for automatic folder monitoring in PVD, perhaps combined with Silent Mode.

What do you mean with "does not register"?

Well, a .ifo file located under [moviename]\VIDEO_TS\ is not picked up by PVD, it's ignored.

I don't really know, because I haven't seen errors like these...

What about some kind of error log?
Edit:
Errors resulting from http problems (server glitches, file no longer exists, record no longer exists) -> error log?
Option to bookmark unresolved items vs. disambiguation dialogs -> seems like a good idea.

If this were simply a matter of deferring necessary user interaction to the end of the batch, with no deferral of the download once an ambiguity is resolved by the user, I wouldn't be too concerned about such things. But I still have questions. How would the program handle error conditions?
[...]
I really don't think this would be appropriate for large batches. I doesn't make sense to run an overnight update of 500 with the idea the user will be willing and able to resolve an interminable number of ambiguities in the morning.

Yeah, well, I'm sure there are some issues that I haven't thought of but I, and I am sure many others, would very much want such functionality.

I'm sorry, I just don't buy this as a valid problem definition. If 80% of items are updated in Silent Mode, then your concern only applies to situations where hundreds of items are being updated at a time.

I'd say the definition of the problem is valid because it holds as long as more than one file needs to be disambiguated, no matter how many files there are altogether.

For most users, this is only encountered when initially building a database. It's not worth the development effort to add a feature that's merely a one-time convenience for most users. Especially if would be at odds with the normal, everyday use of the program. 

It's not at odds with any use of the program.

If the problem originates in the fact nowhere near 80% of items are being updated in Silent Mode, then there must be something else wrong. Maybe the file scanner is not configured properly, or further refinements to that function are required. Maybe there should be a option to download the top x posters so you don't have to choose (instead, you could view the actual posters, select the one to display, and/or delete the ones you don't want). And then there's the situation I mentioned before—where the user can't resolve the ambiguity either. Deferring the action risks obscuring the issue from the user. For example, it there's no poster, there's no poster. I would rather know this immediately, so I have the option of finding one by other means while the update continues to run, or bookmark it for doing so later. These are things I may not be able to do while running a routine such as you describe. And even if I could, that would just make the whole process more problematic and confusing.

I'm not suggesting auto selection of posters or whatnot.

Can you elaborate on the conditions that result in you having an intolerable number of items requiring user interaction?

I described this in the first post.

If I am a new user and select all my 500 movies for update, I'd rather do the selections with as little as possible timegap inbetween each movie.

If I am an experienced user and I add, say, 10 movies, I'd prefer not to wait between, say, 2 disambiguations.