Personal Video Database
English => Feature Suggestions => Topic started by: korbenPL on June 29, 2009, 04:56:16 pm
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Some of these would make my life easier and some would be a nice addition to my beloved application ;)
1] Price field [the default one cause I've added my own field but this cannot work with statistics and I'd love to see the stats for all the movies I bought, divided by no of movies, and also divided by the no of discs to see how much I had paid on the average]
2] Menu-> filter -> Owned and where is the function that we can tick off meaning we own the title?
3] BoxOffice data - worldwide gross d/led from boxofficemojo perhaps...?
4]
more to come in this thread...
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I've added my own field but this cannot work with statistics and I'd love to see the stats
I doubt we're going to see further development of the Statistics feature. It makes more sense to add summary statistics to Advanced Search (and perhaps filters) so we can generate whatever information we want. This, along with the ability to save Advanced Search queries, would effectively replace the functionality of Statistics with something completely flexible and configurable.
Menu-> filter -> Owned and where is the function that we can tick off meaning we own the title?
It's already there: Tick-off "Wish" to indicate the title is not owned. The difference between "wished for" and "not owned" is too subtle to warrant an additional filter. (Note the captions when Movies - Wish is selected.) If there is to be an additional filter, it should be for custom use. I don't know if it's feasible, but it would be nice if it could be configured to work with any standard or custom field.
BoxOffice data - worldwide gross d/led from boxofficemojo perhaps...?
+1.
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2] Menu-> filter -> Owned
still not in accordance with my way of logic
I use PVD to keep track of the flicks I've seen AND [then] bought. And its usually in this order. So adding a title doesnt mean I own it and that's the reason I'm asking for a check box entitled IN COLLECTION that would work with stats.
Yes I still am somewhat influenced by the way movie collector worked for me but I think it's mostly positive ;)
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Use the "Movies on hard drives/removable drives" filter. Contrary to what the caption implies, this filter is simply triggered by something being in the file path field. So if you rip DVD's, those will automatically be "owned." If you don't, just enter whatever you like in the path field—so it will be recognized as owned. Using a custom language file, you can change these captions to "in collection" and "not in collection," and the Wish list captions (default "owned" and "not owned") to "not wished" and "wished."
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2] Menu-> filter -> Owned
still not in accordance with my way of logic
I use PVD to keep track of the flicks I've seen AND [then] bought. And its usually in this order. So adding a title doesnt mean I own it and that's the reason I'm asking for a check box entitled IN COLLECTION that would work with stats.
Yes I still am somewhat influenced by the way movie collector worked for me but I think it's mostly positive ;)
So what's the problem? When adding a movie you check the "Seen" checkbox and "Wish" checkbox. When you buy the movie, you uncheck the "Wish" checkbox.
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So what's the problem? When adding a movie you check the "Seen" checkbox and "Wish" checkbox. When you buy the movie, you uncheck the "Wish" checkbox.
It depends on what meaning you want the Wish filter to have. Yes, "wish" could mean simply "not owned," but one might want it to mean "consider purchasing this." In other words, some will want to use it to maintain a short list of movies they would like to own, and use it to decide which ones they can afford to buy at any particular time. So "wish" would be a subset of "not owned."
To emphasize the more general point, there is flexibility in how the filters are used. One should decide what that is when setting up their database and workflow, and then stick to it.
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sweet :) but....
dont you gentlemen think it would be easier and more convenient to consider implementing other check boxes like OWNED instead of debating about possible Workaround(s)?
cause i do
so plz make it happen before xmas 2009 and I will be on cloud no 9 hopefully with many other users who think alike ;)
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dont you gentlemen think it would be easier and more convenient to consider implementing other check boxes like OWNED instead of debating about possible Workaround(s)?
Obviously not, or we would have said so. ;)
What I suggested was not a "workaround"—it was an explanation of the proper use of the program. I did mention if anything were added it should be an additional filter for custom use. I suppose you could use that for your "owned" filter, but then your media filter would go unused and you would have no additional filter available if any real need were to arise.
If you prefer a Xmas gift of substance, wish for the ability to save advanced searches to a search menu. You would then have full-blown, fully customizable "filtering" at your fingertips, instead of just one more wimpy girly filter. 8)
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lol
fine
seems we find LOGIC to be different at times
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I will not add a new checkbox field (unless there is smth very important to solve with it). You use custom fields to add any number of checkboxes and achieve functionality you need. Advanced search can be used to filter by those fields.
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seems we find LOGIC to be different at times
It's not my fault Aristotle is rolling in his grave. ;)
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I will not add a new checkbox field (unless there is smth very important to solve with it).
true and reasonable
at first, i had wished for several more fields myself, but always having a hundred different checkboxes and other fields which somebody would like to have, would be really bad for all other people who only get a screen full of unused fields.
You use custom fields to add any number of checkboxes and achieve functionality you need. Advanced search can be used to filter by those fields.
yes, that is exactly what i do now, but the more custom fields and corresponding different advanced searches i use, the more important it will be in the future to store and recall (or whatever other method you might have for such a functionality) those searches for quick access and filtering.
I use PVD to keep track of the flicks I've seen AND [then] bought.
So what's the problem? When adding a movie you check the "Seen" checkbox and "Wish" checkbox. When you buy the movie, you uncheck the "Wish" checkbox.
this ignores cases where i have seen a movie, don't own the DVD, but also don't want to buy it.
Since there are lots of other ideas about what "wish" means, I use a custom multiselect list to store info like "wish to buy collector's edition immediately", "wish to buy original DVD immediately", "wish to buy original DVD only at discount", "wish to record from TV", etc, and maybe even "wish to see in cinema" :-)
Some time ago, i read a suggestion/question whether "computed fields" would be nice. Maybe this would be another use for a computed field, if i could automatically set the standard "wish" field to true if the multiselect was not empty (but modifying standard fields probably would be too difficult and cause too many problems).
Another better use of computed fields might be to combine several other fields into one new field and then be able to sort on that field. This would solve many problems which currently exist when someone wants to sort a list eg according to year and title, or eg rating and seendate.
If you prefer a Xmas gift of substance, wish for the ability to save advanced searches to a search menu. You would then have full-blown, fully customizable "filtering" at your fingertips, instead of just one more wimpy girly filter. 8)
sounds nice, maybe even having all the userdefined searches (which really are filters, aren't they?) as an additional item in the filters menu, with two buttons on the "advanced search" dialog to "store this search as new filter" and to "overwrite an existing filter with this search" (for editing a search)
Use the "Movies on hard drives/removable drives" filter. Contrary to what the caption implies, this filter is simply triggered by something being in the file path field.
It must be a bit more complicated since there are two different options for harddrives and removable drives. Or does PVD assume all movies to be on any drive, and thus all movies which are not on a harddrive are automatically on a removable drive ?
All other filters have options to filter for "on" and "off", and for "all" which is effectively a "either on or off" ("don't care"). Since "on" and "off" are exclusive, those three options take care of every meaningful combination. But one filter is different: how can i look for movies on "harddrives OR removable media", and how can i look for "movies on NO drives"? To me it looks as if those two additional options should be easy to add to the drives-filter menu ...
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this ignores cases where i have seen a movie, don't own the DVD, but also don't want to buy it.
No, it doesn't. Those are "seen" and "not on HDD." It seems your misunderstanding is connected with...
Or does PVD assume all movies to be on any drive, and thus all movies which are not on a harddrive are automatically on a removable drive ?
As you quoted me...
Contrary to what the caption implies, this filter is simply triggered by something being in the file path field.
All of the filters are of the form true/false/ignore one particular attribute. In this case, the attribute is the existence of a file path, not specifically a HDD or removable media path.
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No, it doesn't. Those are "seen" and "not on HDD."
you deleted the quote from nostra which i was referring to (where he only spoke of the "seen" and "wish" fields and not a "not on HDD" field). since nostra named the checkbox "wish" and named the corresponding filters "owned", i think he intended to use only that field and not also look at other fields like file path, and thus my original comment still stands.
your suggestion for a workaround (see below why i don't call it a solution) to use the file path and corresponding filters is very enlightening and shows another method to use because of exactly that problem that the "wish=notowned" field is not good enough for that pupose. it even caused to show up and clarify several of the misunderstandings related to these fields. thanks!
btw: when searching, I found a few partial lists from old versions in connection with plugins and referring to fields as numbers etc. is there some current list of all standard fieldnames and their types? (maybe even with a short info about restrictions like size of short text and long text, etc. or does PVD only use some default field types which i should look up at the firebird site)
It seems your misunderstanding is connected with...
Or does PVD assume all movies to be on any drive, and thus all movies which are not on a harddrive are automatically on a removable drive ?
As you quoted me...
Contrary to what the caption implies, this filter is simply triggered by something being in the file path field.
All of the filters are of the form true/false/ignore one particular attribute. In this case, the attribute is the existence of a file path, not specifically a HDD or removable media path.
too bad that the menu options don't use the proper words to describe what is filtered and we needed your explanation what really would be meant.
When i get to reading DVD and file info for my collection, i would have to filter "files on harddisk" to find scanned files on my removable USB drives or DVDR, and filter "files on removable media" to find which files from my harddisk i didn't scan yet and/or which movies i don't own ? ... what a confusion :-(
is this translation of the filters correct now ?
- not owned = wished
- owned = not wished (including movies i hate and never will own)
- files on harddisk = files exist and have been scanned
- files on removable media = movie not owned or not scanned yet
As the wording currently is, i had thought it to be some help for playing movies: movies on harddisk are always available, while you need to get and insert/mount removable media first to watch movies on them, but i assumed for both types that they already had been scanned. A functionality like this would be a real nice feature suggestion for future versions.
since you (almost? only?) have movies on harddisk and probably even with proper original titles, it is easy for you to scan them, but when i am forced to scan all DVDs i buy or have bought it costs a lot of time and has very "mixed" results since PVD is no DVD management software but only movie management software which doesn't handle the original DVD's filenames too well when i shall associate them with specific movies, especially when having a multi-disc set with several DVD for a single movie and/or having additional movies on the same DVD (eg makingof, documentaries, additional short films, etc which even have entries in the IMDB, or trailers etc which have no such entries). Also scanning files will not be easy for me since i mostly have used the titles as they appeared on TV, thus being localized (in the best case maybe AKA titles) instead of original titles, and always are missing the year.
feature suggestion (many other people already suggested this too): the ability of PVD to rename files according to some pattern from the database, eg "otitle (year) [title]" so that i can better scan the files if i move them etc.
I now would be able to write any dummy text (like "DVD" or "DVDR") in that filepath field to use the filter without scanning the media, but instead rather will use my own custom fields for remembering what parts i still have to see and what kind of wishes i have. it is the same amount of work to edit each record, gives me more info, and also will save me from future problems when standard fields like the filepath might be overwritten with new info.
ps: while searching for something and not finding it, i found some other random info.
since the other post is old, i am saying my thanks for that hint here :-)
URL's can point anywhere, including your hard drive. The program allows you to put URL in the description and comment fields by right-clicking and choosing Create Hyperlink (and link type = URL). All that does is enter <link url="[value]">[text]</link>. If you enter [value] = file:\\\c:\path to trailers\title trailer.avi and [text] = Trailer, you'll have a link that will play the trailer in your associated media player.
the idea of rightclicking fields didn't occur to me before, but now i will be able to do lots of useful, stupid and crazy things with those links which can not only be used in comments and description, but also in the tagline and most of all generally can be generated in any memo fields, including custom fields !
- linking to other websites which specialize in (localized) TV series info
- linking to my own txt files where i stored additional info on series
- links inside the database, eg when one movie is released on a disk together with another
- much much more
and while i started rightclicking fields, i discovered that there is LOTS more to discover in PVD, eg the ability to modify movie connections, and while doing so, the "add new movie" ("select a movie") dialog starts to make much more sense :-)
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This has nothing to do with my "suggestion for a workaround" (I made no such suggestion), or even nostra's intent in providing the filters. They are what they are—simple, consistent, mathematical realities. Their menu captions have absolutely no influence over what the program does. If you don't like a default caption, change it. Since you're obsessed with the need for precision, I suggest something like:
[Attribute] Ignored
[Attribute] False
[Attribute] True
where [Attribute] is, for example (to use the one you insist on being confused about), Pathname IS EMPTY.
[Rant on] With them named this way, maybe you can then focus on adapting them to their best purpose according to your personal circumstances and preferences. And before you suggest there is a deficiency in the program design, or that that you need an additional feature, I would hope you would fully explore the possibilities for adapting your circumstances or preferences to the program. To be honest, I'm getting rather pissed with the attitude (not just your's) reflected by, "I want to do it my way. Please change the program." I'm sorry—I just don't get it. Nostra seems like a sane fellow. Why would he invest more time in some aspect of the program to appease users who don't even respect the work he's already done? And on a more personal note, why should I bother helping someone adapt to the program when they dismiss anything I suggest as a mere "workaround" in defence of a flawed program?[/rant off]
You can argue there should be more or different attributes supported. But we've had that discussion before, and I believe the conclusion was there is no compelling need. If you have some difficulty applying or adapting the program's design to your particular circumstances, it doesn't necessarily mean there's any deficiency in the program design. The deficiency can just as easily be said to be in your personal database management/workflow design.
In case you should think otherwise, I'm not joking or being dismissive about your confusion over the filter menu names. There's no requirement the fields those attributes are based on be used for exactly the same purpose the default menu captions and field names suggest. "Wish" is just a flag—it can be used for whatever you like. "Loaned" has a specific loan/return functionality associated with it, but it doesn't have to be used for that purpose. I use it to apply a sort of categorized flag (where "borrower" is the category). So the default captions are not necessarily meaningful, and judging the program behaviour based on them is pointless.
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To be honest, I'm getting rather pissed with the attitude (not just your's) reflected by, "I want to do it my way. Please change the program." I'm sorry—I just don't get it. Nostra seems like a sane fellow. Why would he invest more time in some aspect of the program to appease users who don't even respect the work he's already done?
i dont see these (and other suggestions) this way. nostra has super kindly made his program available for us free of charge, but it is the users suggestions helps to make this program great. (btw - nostra seem more than capable to say yes or no to requests.)
these guys are making suggestions, the initial suggestion may not ideal, but it may trigger an idea in someone else to do it another/ better way. it may trigger something in nostra to implement something he hasn't thought of, or even just be something really popular, that others havent thought of. stomping on peoples ideas (whether good or bad) stifles debate and leads to people not participating.
at the end of the day, if nostra wants to implement an idea, he will, otherwise he wont. buts asking for a feature does not hurt anyone and in fact enhances the program as it encourages participation. if it can be implemented without affecting anything else - why not? That will only make the program better and suitable to a wider audience.
like mum says. if you cant say anything nice - dont say anything at all ;D
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like mum says. if you cant say anything nice - dont say anything at all ;D
I agree most discussions are best advanced by positive suggestions rather than criticism of others' ideas.
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stomping on peoples ideas (whether good or bad) stifles debate and leads to people not participating
Thanks, CAD. I do appreciate you comments. I did indicate I was ranting, but I assume you felt there is good reason to say this even if I wasn't. Diplomacy is not one of my strengths. While I always try, it doesn't hurt to be reminded I need to try harder. But since the things that drive me to "stomp" aren't gong to change, I'll attempt to elaborate on them...
I enjoy problem solving and finding creative ways to make processes work better. I choose to see this forum as a community where people with a particular interest in collecting and managing video information can engage that interest collaboratively. In that context, software development is just one aspect of what goes on here. Equally valid and important are users exchanging ideas and assisting one another on how to use the program to manage their video collection—without necessarily a view to making any improvements to the software. Another is users developing methods to facilitate interaction with other software. Your participation in efforts to do so for XBMC is a good example. People work together to solve a problem. Out of that come some good ideas for improvements to the program. Notice how that engaged nostra's interest, and he did what he could to help.
Given the nature of my interest, I tend to see little difference between, or reason to favour, solutions involving program changes over those involving user adaptation to the program. I may even get some perverse satisfaction from devising a workaround to what might be considered an obvious program bug or design flaw. So if someone identifies a problem and seeks a program change as a solution, I'm likely to suggest an "adaptation" if I see one. Obviously, some see this as being stomped on. This is unfortunate, but I'm not moved to curtail my own contribution because of this sort of sensitivity. I normally present my ideas with the genuine hope they may be of assistance to the poster. Even if their suggestion is a good one, it may be some time before it can be implemented. More importantly (and I think this is lost on some), there are other users reading the exchange—maybe out of specific interest in the issue at hand, maybe out of general interest about how the program works and how they might best use it. With that in mind, I usually like to put an issue in context by explaining how the program can still be used effectively despite the issue. Without this, some posts are potentially misleading (i.e., readers who don't know what I know may think the program is broken and unusable—at least in some aspect), while others create the general impression the program is buggy.
Yes, the tone of my post was harsh, and I'm sorry for that. But the subject matter is a good illustration of what I'm talking about. There's nothing wrong with the program's filter feature. There's lots of room for adaptation—a good thing, considering all the different kinds of user-specific situations they might need to handle. There may be room for improvement, but anything that breaks this already desirable design aspect is not helpful. And, believe it or not, I felt I was being forced into debate at the expense of sharing a number of positive ideas around the subject... First, simply a correct explanation of how filters work and how to use them. Then: creative adaptation of existing filters to different situations, the ability to customize menu captions, integration of the filtering concept with Advance Search and saved searches for an infinitely customizable "filtering" mechanism.
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I did indicate I was ranting, but I assume you felt there is good reason to say this even if I wasn't
noted - it is just something i have noticed while reading various posts. you are the moderator and seen as an expert, but it seems to me that the way you respond (tone experise etc) stops discussion rather than encourages. also it seems that you sometimes "stomp" on ideas that you disagree with because it is not teh way you do it.
it is ok to disagree with ideas, but given your standing in forum it seems to stop participation rather than encourage. you dont have to respond to every post ;)
however people word requests, they are just requests. it is good to point out different ways of doing something as users may not know all the features etc but requests should be allowed to stand on their merit good or bad. perhaps people will be more encourged to comment if the "expert" hasnt already done it.
giving work arounds /showing how to use program is great - it teaches users the features they may not know about and gets their brains working in different ways to approach solving their particular problem. but equally true is just because the program has a feature that will do a function does not mean it is the best way doing it. allowing open discussion can only make the program better.
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it is ok to disagree with ideas, but given your standing in forum it seems to stop participation rather than encourage. you dont have to respond to every post
Point well taken. I often consider encouraging discussion by keeping my mouth shut, but it seems I can seldom quite bring myself to do it. Or the deafening silence that results overwhelms me. ;)
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IMO not commenting on threads I can see no merit in is a sound approach.
That way the thread dies if it truly has no merit.
On the other hand the thread may blossom if it has merit to others I was not aware of.
Listing my way of addressing a problem with in the current software constraints may help others in the immediate future but is clearly only one of many solutions.
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... filters ... They are what they are—simple, consistent, mathematical realities. Their menu captions have absolutely no influence over what the program does. If you don't like a default caption, change it.
((ranting or not, decide yourself))
Shouldn't labels (including the names of menu option) be an indication of what they are used for? Of course, *you* are a long time user of PVD and have much more detailed knowledge about some of its workings, and thus *you* know what a filter does/checks, and thus *you* can easily change defaults by editing some translation.
But do you expect every user of PVD to try and test what a menu option does, explore how to do such translations, and then rename that option to something which indicates what it really does instead of what it is labeled on installing the program with the default settings? Then why doesn't nostra simply name all filters A, B, C, since you can change it anyway to suit your needs?
This time, i didn't start the thread, it was not a bug report, no request for immediate action, and this is the forum for feature suggestions. Thus i find it the perfect place to suggest that some misleading standard label is changed. simply changing a label is only a matter of changing a string and not even a real change in the program. of course, it is one small additional point in some todo list, but if something like the inconsistent labels wish/owned already caused several posts, would it be so bad to avoid confusion by making it consistent all over the program, so that everybody (and most of all relatively new users) would know what is meant, being able to use it more easily? so why are you arguing so strongly?
it is good if you can change everything, but IMHO it is bad when every user has to rename something (either as some translation, or at least in his mind remembering the different meaning of some labels)
from some other posts, we can see that you had problems with those names yourself, and that you find some labels poorly chosen. here are some references for this:
PVD has a filter dedicated to "ownership," but off-hand, I don't recall how it works.
Thanks for backing me up when I lose my mind. I had disabled my custom language file in which I've named the filter "Seen/available ~ Wish list," and then forgot what "Owned ~ Not owned" meant. :-[
hehe, that is the situation for most users who don't have customized language files.
Contrary to what the caption implies, this filter is simply triggered by ....
do you really want to explain that to every new user, or would it be better to change the caption so that the implications are easy/correct ?
You can argue there should be more or different attributes supported. But we've had that discussion before, and I believe the conclusion was there is no compelling need.
Please read what i had written in my post, and you see that i agree.
my only wishes about filters were that they are named according to what they do and that (as others also have suggested, including you) advanced searches could be stored, edited and recalled in some future version and in some way or another:
I will not add a new checkbox field (unless there is smth very important to solve with it).
true and reasonable
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You use custom fields to add any number of checkboxes and achieve functionality you need. Advanced search can be used to filter by those fields.
yes, that is exactly what i do now, but the more custom fields and corresponding different advanced searches i use, the more important it will be in the future to store and recall (or whatever other method you might have for such a functionality) those searches for quick access and filtering.
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If you prefer a Xmas gift of substance, wish for the ability to save advanced searches to a search menu. You would then have full-blown, fully customizable "filtering" at your fingertips, instead of just one more wimpy girly filter. 8)
sounds nice, maybe even having all the userdefined searches (which really are filters, aren't they?) as an additional item in the filters menu, with two buttons on the "advanced search" dialog to "store this search as new filter" and to "overwrite an existing filter with this search" (for editing a search)
next point ...
If you have some difficulty applying or adapting the program's design to your particular circumstances, it doesn't necessarily mean there's any deficiency in the program design. The deficiency can just as easily be said to be in your personal database management/workflow design.
If you have no difficulty applying or adapting the program's design to your particular circumstances, it doesn't necessarily mean there's no deficiency in the program design. Quite often, the fact itself that there are many people who first have to adapt the program to something or ask about details of its workings instead of being able to immediately use it "as is" is a deficiency. if many people have the same problem, it might be caused by something in the program which possibly could be improved. at least not every problem automatically should be called a deficiency in the user's personal database management/workflow design.
In case you should think otherwise, I'm not joking or being dismissive about your confusion over the filter menu names. There's no requirement the fields those attributes are based on be used for exactly the same purpose the default menu captions and field names suggest.
... doesn't have to be used for that purpose. I use it to ...
So the default captions are not necessarily meaningful, and judging the program behaviour based on them is pointless.
you are mixing up something:
true, there is no requirement to use fields as the default labels suggest, but why do we have default labels at all? default labels should never indicate something misleading, but what the default action (eg "test filepath for NULL") or the default purpose is (eg "file exists"), so that every user easily can use it, and IF you use them differently, it is your responsibilty to care for the difference between name and function (by renaming, remembering, whatever).
It is also important that probably most users are no computer specialists, database managers, etc, and they should be given every opportunity to easily use the program in a way that seems to be obvious, eg suggested by some descriptions or labels, and without the need to adapt the program to something different first or having to learn about internal workings by reading in forums for hours. This is even more true when there is no manual which explains something so that you simply can say "RTFM" :-)
i am not suggesting that a manual is missing for PVD since (after some basic info) most functions are relatively obvious, but i would find it nice if also less obvious things would be changed to make them more obvious, especially if this requires no program change but only some different words on a label.
stomping on peoples ideas (whether good or bad) stifles debate and leads to people not participating
or to reply, trying to lift them up again so that they are not forgotten in some stomped hole.
oh well, and while stomping and lifting them up, so much noise is produced that it might cause the same negative effects ...
I enjoy problem solving and finding creative ways to make processes work better.
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Given the nature of my interest, I tend to see little difference between, or reason to favour, solutions involving program changes over those involving user adaptation to the program. I may even get some perverse satisfaction from devising a workaround to what might be considered an obvious program bug or design flaw. So if someone identifies a problem and seeks a program change as a solution, I'm likely to suggest an "adaptation" if I see one.
All this is fine with me, and i agree to the fullest ... IF you don't consider your "adaption" to be the final solution to everything including real bugs. else it would be really "perverse" :-)
I think that on problem reports, it is first priority to find what exactly the problem is, and whether it is only "not knowing how to do something" (a typical "help" case), or "not being able to do something" because of a missing feature (a typical feature suggestion; btw: on a free software like PVD, there can't be feature requests :-) or whether it is a real (big or small) bug which should be fixed sometime sooner or later.
If this is determined, we all are very grateful for any hints or solutions which tell us how something can be achieved while the feature is not (yet) implemented, or what can be done as temporary fix or workaround while a bug is not yet fixed. I often find those hints very enlightening on some program details and on how other things can be achieved, and i will never oppose a suggestion for workarounds, as long as those workarounds are not said to be the solution to a real bug and that the bug need not to be fixed since there would be a workaround.
More importantly (and I think this is lost on some), there are other users reading the exchange—maybe out of specific interest in the issue at hand, maybe out of general interest about how the program works and how they might best use it. With that in mind, I usually like to put an issue in context by explaining how the program can still be used effectively despite the issue.
more support on that from me. I am eager to read such hints ...
as long as it's not labeled "since there is a workaround, there is no issue"
Without this, some posts are potentially misleading (i.e., readers who don't know what I know may think the program is broken and unusable—at least in some aspect), while others create the general impression the program is buggy.
every larger software is partially buggy or has shortcomings which could/should be improved. the difference is that some big companies fix bugs after years only (i still find some really bad "features" and "shortcomings" in Vista which i already had found in Win95/98), while nostra usually fixes important bugs in hours, other bugs also in time, and does feature improvements and new versions frequently. thanks!
even if some feature (like autocompletion :-) temporarily can't be fully used, the working "core" of PVD still is the best available. it would only be fatal if such a feature would be declared "fine as is", creating the impression that nobody cares for solutions.
But the subject matter is a good illustration of what I'm talking about. There's nothing wrong with the program's filter feature. .....
ok, let's illustrate :-)
after you explained it (!), there really is nothing wrong with the filter feature (its implementation), and neither with the rest of the above quote which i shortened ("....") and which gave some insights. The only part which was wrong was the impression which several users got from the labels of some filters (files etc), and that even more users didn't see the proper connections for other filters (wish/owned). therefore, in my opinion, we should not stop after knowing a (for many people complicated) workaround but discuss how this aspect could be improved, and since you seemed to agree on the reason ("Contrary to what the caption implies", "forgot what Owned meant when personal language file was disabled") i would hope for a simple feature suggestion (with your support) to simply rename some filter labels and settle the problem permanently for standard default installations, also for future new users.
it is ok to disagree with ideas, but given your standing in forum it seems to stop participation rather than encourage. you dont have to respond to every post
Point well taken. I often consider encouraging discussion by keeping my mouth shut, but it seems I can seldom quite bring myself to do it. Or the deafening silence that results overwhelms me. ;)
no, please do not keep your mouth shut. I am not at all against you making suggestions how to solve something, giving hints, how to work around something etc. With the insight you give in such hints, a discussion often can be better because people get more ideas or have a better understanding of what the program does or why.
It is only a matter how you present such an advice: whether you describe your info as a hint how something can be done differently or how your info can be used as a workaround or that something might not have high priority, or whether you cancel a discussion by saying (what i called "authoritative answer", or CAD calls "with your standing in forum"; several people already have mistaken you as one of the developers) that something is no bug or that a suggestion would be pointless since no improvement would be needed when doing it like you suggest.
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my only wishes about filters were that they are named according to what they do and that (as others also have suggested, including you)
....
It is also important that probably most users are no computer specialists, database managers, etc, and they should be given every opportunity to easily use the program in a way that seems to be obvious, eg suggested by some descriptions or labels, and without the need to adapt the program to something different first or having to learn about internal workings by reading in forums for hours. This is even more true when there is no manual which explains something so that you simply can say "RTFM" :-)
i am not suggesting that a manual is missing for PVD since (after some basic info) most functions are relatively obvious, but i would find it nice if also less obvious things would be changed to make them more obvious, especially if this requires no program change but only some different words on a label.
Actually there is a manual http://www.nimidia.com/pvd_wiki/tiki-index.php?page=PVD-Manual&structure=PVD-Manual
It is maintained by all PVD users.
Perhaps updating the filter descriptions sections would make it clearer.
If the labels are not intuitive what should they be?
(btw I don't use that part of the program so would prefer not to update that part of the manual)
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win 7 x64
working fine? anyone with substantial experience?
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win 7 x64
working fine? anyone with substantial experience?
Same here, no problems except the play button does not work as describe in another thread.
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I'm using Windows 7 now, and Play works fine. ???
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It's only with playlists, so there must be > 2 files
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It works with playlists as well.
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rick
I believe it occurs when you use a windows 7 machine running pvd client (connected to server) to access a multi-part movie on the server.
See http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1586.0 for full description & interim solution
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That thread is the source of my confusion...
I tried setting up PVD 0.9.9.14 on a single, stand-alone PC using Windows 7 with the database on the local C: drive and the video files stored on the local D: drive and found that the playlist files produced exactly the same error (see attachment) ie. this error is not related to firebird or the networking but would appear to be a fundamental issue with Windows 7 compatibility.
This is exactly my situation, and I have no problems with Play—with or without playlists.
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I am curious to know if Nostra received my error log email regarding Playlists in Windows 7 (quoted above) but if neither Nostra nor Rick.ca could reproduce the error then is there anything in the error log to suggest that it has something to do with my hardware.
PS: The error is reproducible with a standalone machine running PVD using a local C: drive based database.
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I did receive your log and I can reproduce the problem on my machine.
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What PVD is missing is...
an update? last one: September if I remember correctly. What's the status quo, dear programmer? smile
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The conclusion to this thread would seem to be nothing is missing. ;D
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gonna argue here :D
still would love to see boxoffice updated automatically... instead we need to clear old data manually and only then re-update it
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instead we need to clear old data manually and only then re-update it
Not if it's configured to overwrite.
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Scrutinizing the plugin settings but have gone blind today...
guide me please
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Look for this.
[attachment deleted by admin]
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I never saw it before - the overwrite part I mean
that's awesome!
so the last missing thingie would be...
drums!
cumulative BoxOffice
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Checkmark on a white background overwrites previous record, blank checkbox means "do not update" or "do not download" data"? Also, I never examined what checked in, but grayed option means - "merge" maybe?
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...but grayed option means - "merge" maybe?
In what context? In the overwrite field settings, you might call it that. It means new data will be added to the field only if it's currently empty.
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...but grayed option means - "merge" maybe?
In what context? In the overwrite field settings, you might call it that. It means new data will be added to the field only if it's currently empty.
Now I regret I didn't make a screenshot what happened a couple days ago. Somehow I got an entry titled: "Out of time: A New Beginning" for an entry that was supposed to be only "Out of Time", and which was "mutant" mix of two subsequent movies in my collection: "Dragonheart: A New Beginning" and "Out of Time". Mutant had both directors, both credits, etc but I FORGOT to check what was the URL. I guess I was too scared my database was corrupted, so I pasted proper URL and overwrote whole record.
For me, that moment was rather twilight second: "Twilight Zone" in a "Split Second" ;)
That's why I used the term :"merge"
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Sorry, the program is not supported in the Twilight Zone. ;)
I reported here (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1001.msg7730#msg7730) a case where an erroneous URL was added to a movie record. I have no idea how it got there. Once updated, the movie record became a "mutant." I didn't study it closely, but I have no reason to believe the data from the second URL was not added according to my overwrite rules. In other words, it was simply the result of downloading from two different sources. I don't overwrite my titles—your experience in that regard is very strange.
I can't think of anything I (or any user) might do to cause a second URL—from the same download source—to be added to an existing record. I wonder if it's something the program (perhaps the Optimize Database routine) is doing in an attempt to remove duplicates.
I don't really see how, but I wonder if the file scanner has anything to do with this. If that's how you originally added the second movie, you might try Ctrl-Deleting the record and running the scanner again. I can't suggest what to look for—just observe carefully what it does and consider how you might have responded the first time.
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Hey, thank you for your great effort to help me, but It wasn't my intention to bother you with what happened. I just wanted to mention the curious case of buah, that came out of time pretending to become a new beginning.
In general, decades of messing up with computers thought me never to ask (myself) why something has happened, but how to overcame the issue. "If you know why, you'll know how" mostly don't work there for me. :D
Not wanting you to think that I was impolite by ignoring your effort, I'll say that it happened during mass online download. What was for sure is that (argh, it's complicated to explain in a few words) Dragonheart was formatted by me like: Title - Dragoneheart, Original title - A New Beginning (don't ask me why, please :-\) and the subsequent "Out of Time" only by it's Title, with empty Original Title. After mass online download in silent mode, I checked entries that were skipped, found suspicious actors (no Denzel in credits) for Out of Time looking at the poster and NOT to a title, experimented then with overwrite plugin options and "Merge Filmography", and in such a way I got two credits lists, after which I raised my eyes to a Title level and the mutant revealed itself in full!
Yes, I know what'll you think. I confess it, all!
P.S. Maybe to spin-off a couple of last post to a twilight zones of Support forum, or even Bug Reports? If you ask me, I'd delete last 4 posts ;D
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A "Reports from the Twilight Zone" forum is an interesting idea. Do you think I could move messages there without implying the poster's bug is in their head? ;D
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No need to worry. The bug in the head is always on the move, too quick to follow. The only solution would be faster PVD! (that was an example how to make a spin off of a spin off in order to get back to the subject - What PVD is missing ;D) See?
Good night, need to sleep for couple of hours (ref. - The Machinist)
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I'm locking this now. Please use descriptive but concise subjects when starting new topics.