Personal Video Database
English => Feature Suggestions => Topic started by: nostra on July 03, 2008, 12:22:29 pm
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Here are some major features planned for 0.9.9. Please select 4 most import features for you, so I can set higher priority for most wanted of them.
You are welcome to suggest more features.
I can not guarantee that all listed features will be implemented, but I'll try to.
P.S. Votes can be changed
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Some form of tag export/import function to ensure if PVD needs to scans the folder again it will be able to import imdb and graphics data without human intervention. Aimed to provide similar functionality as currently available for music files via ID3 tags when scanning files from a different user / computer or moving some files to a different system.
For more detailed discussion see http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=870.20
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I would also be great with a optional external database like mysql, so when you already have a sql database, you can just use that.
That would also make it useable from multiple computers on a network.
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Grid view is not quite as important to me as it was, but I think it deserves to be at the top of your list.
My remaining votes went to the following three items, and I would like to express more directly what I'm hoping for. Now that I've created a database I'm very pleased with, my interest is shifting to making the best possible use of the information. For me, the ability to use the program in a home theatre environment (i.e., viewing at 3 metres, using a remote control) would offer the greatest improvement to it's utility. The addition of a typical Media Centre-like "theatre view" is far too much to ask, and is probably not exactly what I'm looking for anyway. I'm hoping the interface customization features will be implemented in a way that will allow me to create my own PVD "theatre view" that includes as much information as possible—enlarged to readable size. The result would not only allow me to select a movie for viewing (as media centre software would—based on attributes, covers, etc.), I would be able to see most of the movie information, read a review, etc.
I'm sure I'm overlooking some complications, but this capability doesn't seem to involve much more than the ability to increase the font size and maybe rearrange some of the fields to better accommodate the larger font. It would require the ability to save customized views and switch between them easily (e.g., a shortcut that toggles normal/"theatre" views). Most of the navigation issues can be dealt with in programming the remote. In other words, I can imagine a "customizable views" feature that would satisfy my specific need, as well as the more general desire to tailor the interface to one's own preferences.
More features:
A fundamental feature that sets PVD apart from others is the handling of people in a proper relational database. I think it would be wise to highlight this by offering a third panel or pop-up that shows the (complete people view) information for any person selected in movie view. This would make the people information much more "accessible" than it is now. The time lag in switching views is a significant deterrent to viewing people records on a slower machine. I suspect it's at least an annoyance at times on a fast machine—having to switch views just to see some information about a person in a movie. I suppose the same should be considered for movies in people view, but this would not interest me nearly as much.
Well, okay, it's not a new feature, but... On behalf on new users, I would like to vote for any improvements that will make import/export routines easier to use. The obvious thing that comes to mind is the ability to read headers of input files and present a field mapping dialog populated with the fields found. Many potential new users are going to have existing data they are very attached to. Even though the existing routines are effective, some are not going to even try PVD unless they see a clear and easy path for converting/importing their existing data.
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I would also be great with a optional external database like mysql, so when you already have a sql database, you can just use that.
That would also make it useable from multiple computers on a network.
Client-Server functionality is already on the list. You can also install Firebird on a Linux web server easily and access the database from a php script. (one Russian user has already done this :) I am also sure that there are tools available to convert firebird databases to mysql.
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My remaining votes went to the following three items, and I would like to express more directly what I'm hoping for. Now that I've created a database I'm very pleased with, my interest is shifting to making the best possible use of the information. For me, the ability to use the program in a home theatre environment (i.e., viewing at 3 metres, using a remote control) would offer the greatest improvement to it's utility. The addition of a typical Media Centre-like "theatre view" is far too much to ask, and is probably not exactly what I'm looking for anyway. I'm hoping the interface customization features will be implemented in a way that will allow me to create my own PVD "theatre view" that includes as much information as possible—enlarged to readable size. The result would not only allow me to select a movie for viewing (as media centre software would—based on attributes, covers, etc.), I would be able to see most of the movie information, read a review, etc.
I plan to enable such functionality with customizable views as I need it myself ;) I think I'll make some kind of skins engine working with xml files where you can define positions, sizes, colors etc. for different UI controls.
A fundamental feature that sets PVD apart from others is the handling of people in a proper relational database. I think it would be wise to highlight this by offering a third panel or pop-up that shows the (complete people view) information for any person selected in movie view.
A small piece of information is already displayed when you hover over a person with a mouse. I could add some additional fields in these hints, but displaying all the persons information along with movie would be pretty difficult as there is not enough space in the window for this. An extra popup window could be a solution thou, I'll play with this idea a bit...
Well, okay, it's not a new feature, but... On behalf on new users, I would like to vote for any improvements that will make import/export routines easier to use. The obvious thing that comes to mind is the ability to read headers of input files and present a field mapping dialog populated with the fields found. Many potential new users are going to have existing data they are very attached to. Even though the existing routines are effective, some are not going to even try PVD unless they see a clear and easy path for converting/importing their existing data.
A good point. I'll certainly try to make import easier to use in 0.9.9.
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Greetings,
I requested to have the grid view, I have become very accustom to using this feature, its quick and easy to view the poster and info of multiple movies at a glance in either alpha or numerical order.
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I plan to enable such functionality with customizable views as I need it myself Wink I think I'll make some kind of skins engine working with xml files where you can define positions, sizes, colors etc. for different UI controls.
Customizable views would be very useful, for exampe I would like to have a feature to define the ciriteria movies of an actor are sorted in the people view. At the moment they are sorted by year, but how about sorting by Rating or by Alphabet?
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Customizable views would be very useful, for exampe I would like to have a feature to define the ciriteria movies of an actor are sorted in the people view. At the moment they are sorted by year, but how about sorting by Rating or by Alphabet?
See the Sort by and Group by items on the View menu and the list pane context (right-click) menu.
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I think I'll make some kind of skins engine working with xml files where you can define positions, sizes, colors etc. for different UI controls.
Is this going to be user-friendly enough for those of us who go brain-dead in face of anything vaguely resembling code? I suppose I'm thinking of my experience with other "skinnable" software. It rarely makes any difference to me because I don't believe I have the ability or patience to create my own skin. Note I'm speaking from complete ignorance. Perhaps a skin specified as an xml file is the sort of thing I can figure out by following an example or template.
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I think I'll make some kind of skins engine working with xml files where you can define positions, sizes, colors etc. for different UI controls.
Is this going to be user-friendly enough for those of us who go brain-dead in face of anything vaguely resembling code? I suppose I'm thinking of my experience with other "skinnable" software. It rarely makes any difference to me because I don't believe I have the ability or patience to create my own skin. Note I'm speaking from complete ignorance. Perhaps a skin specified as an xml file is the sort of thing I can figure out by following an example or template.
Most probably it will be similar to HTML templates, so if you can create/edit templates you will be able to create/edit skins.
Theoretically, I could create a separate "Skin Constructor" application to make it easier, but it is much work, so I'll add the skins engine to PVD first and maybe some time later there will be some kind of constructor application as well.
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The "scan folders for new movies/changed paths" allows you to add files in a directory as new movies. It would be neat if on the "scan results" page that shows up if you had say a drop down list of all items, so you could add the files as episodes to an item. Next to each file you could also have the option to specify episode number, and season number. Perhaps also some way to change the season number for all files on that page to the same value; so if all files were episodes of season 3, rather than tagging each as season 3 individually, there would be a "set all epsidoes to season: ?" option. The episode numbers for each file would be filled out autmatically according to their alpabetical position (i.e. aaa.avi would have episode number 1, and zzz.avi would have the higest number).
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The "scan folders for new movies/changed paths" allows you to add files in a directory as new movies. It would be neat if on the "scan results" page that shows up if you had say a drop down list of all items, so you could add the files as episodes to an item. Next to each file you could also have the option to specify episode number, and season number. Perhaps also some way to change the season number for all files on that page to the same value; so if all files were episodes of season 3, rather than tagging each as season 3 individually, there would be a "set all epsidoes to season: ?" option. The episode numbers for each file would be filled out autmatically according to their alpabetical position (i.e. aaa.avi would have episode number 1, and zzz.avi would have the higest number).
Actually, episodes support and many more additional settings for "scan folders for new movies/changed paths" is what I meant with "Customizable file scanner".
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I would also be great with a optional external database like mysql, so when you already have a sql database, you can just use that.
That would also make it useable from multiple computers on a network.
Client-Server functionality is already on the list. You can also install Firebird on a Linux web server easily and access the database from a php script. (one Russian user has already done this :) I am also sure that there are tools available to convert firebird databases to mysql.
I'd like to do something similar, could you please point me in the right direction to the Firebird database and access to it? Is there a plan to be able to share a database between 2 applications? i.e. My housemate and i share a movie collection and would like to maintain it without having to keep exporting and importing to each other's installations of PVD. Possibility of unbundling the database from the viewer application (ala Model-View-Controller idea)?
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My housemate and i share a movie collection and would like to maintain it without having to keep exporting and importing to each other's installations of PVD.
That is what ID3 tagging (& scanning shared file servers) or client server version of PVD is aimed at addressing
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I'd like to do something similar, could you please point me in the right direction to the Firebird database and access to it?
Official Firebird web-site: http://www.firebirdsql.org
For other stuff - just google.
Is there a plan to be able to share a database between 2 applications?
An Append function is planed and a possibility to copy and paste records between database files.
Possibility of unbundling the database from the viewer application (ala Model-View-Controller idea)?
The database is not "bundled" to PVD and can be viewed and edited in any Database Management Application that supports Firebird.
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Еag export/import (like ID3 for mp3)
Never heard of this... What does EAG stand for? Any useful links for explaining what this is?
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Printing - 2 (3.2%)
I'm feeling a little sad for this feature. What, exactly, did you have in mind, considering you've already provided for the export of HTML reports (which can then be printed)?
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Never heard of this... What does EAG stand for? Any useful links for explaining what this is?
I assumed it was a typo for Tag ie http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=870.20
I do agree that references to where the idea has been discussed in the forum would be useful as I had to guess what a few of them refer to. It is being clarified as this thread goes on though.
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I assumed it was a typo for Tag
Oh. I thought he had discovered a new standard for video tags. ::)
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The feature I would most like to see right now is the ability to update people info as well as movie info from the the new movie master. When you add a new movie it would download movie info, poster,and update all the people associated with that movie all at once. It would greatly simplify updating all those actors. If PVD can do that now, please let me know how, as I cannot find it. I tried writing a new batch file, but it doesn't seem to work when mixing plugin types. :-[
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...I cannot find it.
Have you checked Preferences - People - Show people added from movie credits? If not, and your database includes many people who have not been updated, just select them all and update.
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I have that option on, but how can you tell which people are new and need to be imported and which are old in the people list? It just adds the names, not the info. I have over 21000 people in the list, just updating them all is NOT an option. :) I had to do that when I realized that they had to be imported seperately from the movies. It took DAYS! :o It would be much easier if it could be done in one step, like movie info, posters, and cd covers are now. Just have a check box in the new movie master dialog to download people info for all people associated with that movie. I also agree with the idea of another window with the actor info in it, it's kinda a pain to switch back and forth between views. Also have an option NOT to add a movie to the movie list when you click on a movie in the people view. I use PVD to have a list of the movies I have and that produces movie listings for movies I don't have. Don't get me wrong, I love the program and prefer it to all the others I've tried, just a few tweaks would make it perfect, for me at least. :)
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It just adds the names, not the info.
You're absolutely right—I'd forgotten this is what it does. Not only is my memory bad, but these additions—as you point out—get lost in a sea of people with no means of identifying them. I've dealt with this in the pass by doing a "mass update." Yes, it takes a long time—it needs to be run overnight, perhaps several nights. There must be a better way...
The issue is somewhat broader than new people not being updated. Even if they were, the information would eventually get "stale." I think what we actually need is a date stamp for the date of last update, and the means to update all records previously updated before a specified date. An update interval (n days) could be specified in Preferences, and an "Update records older than n days" added to the Tools-Import menu.
It seems logical that the same functionality be provided for movies as well, but movie information doesn't become "stale" in the same way. The amount and quality of information at a source will likely increase for a time after a movie's release, then remain static. Filters and Advanced Search provide the tools we need to periodically select movies to include in a "mass update" (e.g., 2008 releases added more than one month ago).
Having no means to identify people records that have not been updated reminds me of another missing feature—Advanced Search for people.
Also have an option NOT to add a movie to the movie list when you click on a movie in the people view.
What's happening here is the movie record is being made "visible" so you can view it—so it also appears in the list (which is set to display "visible" items). I've gotten used to deleting after viewing (which just makes it "invisible" again). But I agree, there has to be a better way. I suppose it requires an intermediate third state where the record is made temporarily visible because it's link has been selected. It would then need the option (perhaps a check box at the top of the pane) to "make this movie visible," in case the intention is to add the movie, rather than just view it.
I have over 21000 people in the list, just updating them all is NOT an option.
A possible interim solution... Search genre for "IS NULL." That will isolate the records that need updating, although it will include records which have been updated but have no genre. That won't matter, as long as the number of records is reduced to a manageable level. For example, I'm doing my own update now on 650 out of 11,000 records.
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"Date added" field is already planned for people. It seems that I'll have to add Advanced search as well ;) so you will be able to do the same thing as with movies.
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It seems that I'll have to add Advanced search as well...
Of course. We want all the features, especially the advanced ones! ;)
Please don't forget Darkethorne's point—that people should be updated (perhaps optionally) at the same time the movie is added. That, along with the ability to identify people needing updating, should make everyone happy.
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Thanks for the quick replies, even just being able to search by date added would be a great help. I like rick's idea of an auto update based on age too! I know, I know, ask for a couple of things then think of ten more in solving those! ;D
I'll try the search for genre idea, that should be a good stop-gap solution for now.
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Auto-update could be a bit problematic to implement and the problem I see is that all persons will be updated for each movie information download and it will make filling movie information very time consuming process.
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By "auto-update" you seem to mean the updating of people as new movies are being added. I don't think that would be missed if the date updated were recorded and Advanced Search available to filter based on that and other fields. BTW, it's important the date be the date updated, rather than the date added. It's main purpose would be to determine when the record needs to be updated again. It should be null when the record is created, so records never updated (i.e., new people from movies most recently added) can be identified easily.
That being said, the necessity of selecting people for updating is inconsistent with the automated nature of the rest of the program. I think it's important to include some sort of one-click solution in the tools menu—as I suggested before, and what I believe Darkethorne was referring to as "auto update based on age." Its existence will remind users people information needs to be updated periodically, and will give them an easy (although potentially lengthy) means of doing so. Without it, I fear new users will eventually notice people are not being updated, will not recognize the solution, and blame the design of the program.
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OK, I'll think about it, but I can't promise that this feature will be included in 0.9.9
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Hello,
I was just wondering if there might be a guesstimate as to when the new 0.9.9 version might be released.
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It is very difficult to say, but I think the first beta will be release in approximately 2 weeks.
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Hi all,
here is my wishlist :) Sorry about my bad english :(
- For each movie in edit-mode a filepath to a movie-trailer and a play-button for the trailer on the movie page.
- One picture for each actor cast (screenshot). actors name, actors castname and actors movie screenshot on the movie page. Maybe only for leading actors that should be defined with a field. Leading actors name in bold letter.
- The alphabetical movie list without sorting small and capital letter. Now Small letter are sorted behind capital letter.
- The movie screenshots should be directly below the movie part, videofile informations should be below the screenshots.
- Less line space for videofile informations. (1 free row now?)
- One person-link each actor cast for his/her synchronisation voice
- An update-button for all actors eg imdb at one time for one movie. Now i have to click each actor to update the data.
- A bigger controll-move-button in the screenshot maker
Here a screenshot that will explain
(http://img154.imagevenue.com/loc718/th_46403_proposal__122_718lo.JPG) (http://img154.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=46403_proposal__122_718lo.JPG)
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- For each movie in edit-mode a filepath to a movie-trailer and a play-button for the trailer on the movie page.
I can add trailers to description or in comments field like this:
<link url="C:\traler.avi">Trailer 1</link>
- One picture for each actor cast (screenshot). actors name, actors castname and actors movie screenshot on the movie page. Maybe only for leading actors that should be defined with a field. Leading actors name in bold letter.
- Less line space for videofile informations. (1 free row now?)
Information cards will be customizable in 0.9.9, so you will be able to change them as you wish
- An update-button for all actors eg imdb at one time for one movie. Now i have to click each actor to update the data.
I already have this in my TODO list, so I'll implement this feature some time...
- The alphabetical movie list without sorting small and capital letter. Now Small letter are sorted behind capital letter.
I do not have influence on sorting as it is done by the database engine - Firebird.
- One person-link each actor cast for his/her synchronisation voice
- A bigger controll-move-button in the screenshot maker
I do not really understand these 2 suggestions
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- One person-link each actor cast for his/her synchronisation voice
I assume this refers to dubbed movies. It's been a long time since I seen one of those. Isn't subtitling the more common method of translating films? In any case, I suspect this would involve too big a change in the structure of the database to be worthwhile. Is there a source from which such information can be downloaded? If not, you may as well just add it manually. Change your preferences to show actors and roles, then add the information to the role, something like: Jason Statham ... Farmer ([voice]), Leelee Sobieski ... Muriella ([voice]), etc.
- A bigger controll-move-button in the screenshot maker
I think I understand... Making screenshots requires good timing and reflexes. It would help if the play/pause button stayed beside the capture button (now it's "attached" to the right side of the window, while capture stays on the left, when the window is enlarged). It might help if all the buttons were larger, too.
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- A bigger controll-move-button in the screenshot maker
again an expample screenshot
(http://img173.imagevenue.com/loc1138/th_57151_smaker_122_1138lo.JPG) (http://img173.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=57151_smaker_122_1138lo.JPG)
- One person-link each actor cast for his/her synchronisation voice
All german movies are translated by german actors. There are websites like http://www.stimmgerecht.de/schau/bekannte_synchronstimmen.php (http://www.stimmgerecht.de/schau/bekannte_synchronstimmen.php) that lists those actors.
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again an example screenshot
Now I understand. Yes, good idea.
...There are websites like ... that lists those actors.
So it would be possible to write a script to gather that information and add them as actors (your script might add them as "[name] ... voice of [role]"). But that's a lot of work. Have you considered setting up Web searches for such sites (e.g., http://www.stimmgerecht.de/cgi-bin/sitesearch.php.cgi?query=%s%u)? That's not as good as having the information in the database, but it makes it reasonably available for reference purposes.
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- The alphabetical movie list without sorting small and capital letter. Now Small letter are sorted behind capital letter.
I do not have influence on sorting as it is done by the database engine - Firebird.
What about the option to standardise the capitalisation? eg MediaMonkey "Case checker ..." script
Alternatively sorting based on a hidden lower cased field maybe an option.
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Quote
- A bigger controll-move-button in the screenshot maker
again an expample screenshot
OK, why not
What about the option to standardise the capitalisation? eg MediaMonkey "Case checker ..." script
Alternatively sorting based on a hidden lower cased field maybe an option.
Currently you can set up PVD to make all words in titles to start with a capital letter in Tools -> Preferences -> Movies -> Title formatting
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How about an Eject after read finished with DVD option?
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How about an Eject after read finished with DVD option?
OK, I'll this Option to my TODO list
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Could you add support for TheTVDB.com?
API is here:
http://thetvdb.com/wiki/index.php/Programmers_API
I think it is the best place for info for TV Series on the internet.
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Could you add support for TheTVDB.com?
It would be nice to have something better than IMDb for TV series. Especially after we're burnt-out from beta testing 0.9.9, and the fall season is upon us. ;D
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Looks promising. I'll play with this API a bit when I have time for it.
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If you could possible use their banners, that would really be awesome.
Thanks again. :P
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I second rick.ca, this is simply the best video database software I have found. I've just started using it and love it.
I have two suggestions for the next version (where i'm really looking forward to the server-client functionality);
1. User management and access rights. Here I think it would be good to have the possability to control what individual users can do in regards to editing data but more importantly I think it would be very usefull to control what a user can see (and watch by pressing play). By this parents could for example exclude rated movies or certain categories from their kids.
2. When viewing people and downloading it's data from for example imdb I think it should be optional whether a movie is added to your database if it is clicked. I found out that if I do so the movie is outomatically added to the database as it was a movie in my collection. I feel it would be better that if a I click a movie from some actor's page that it would divert me to the imdb browser in stead of creating the movie in my database (except of course if it is already in there).
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Welcome to the forum, ice. I'm a stand-alone-single-guy, so I'll move directly to your second suggestion. I like it. I've found it annoying that clicking on a link apparently adds the item to my database, but I hadn't thought of the useful alternative of going to the website. Just so you understand the program a little better... It's not actually "adding" the item. The item is already there—which is why the link appears. Selecting it is just changes it's visibility status. If you're curious about what's actually in your database, select Filters-Advanced-All. The numbers can be surprising. My 650-movie database has 85,000 movie records! I'm really impressed with your insight, however. One of the few bits of information stored in those records is the IMDb URL. ;)
P.S. If the behaviour is changed, we would need another way to make the record visible—perhaps a link context menu item.
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Tip: If a movie in filmography or a person in credits has an URL (it is always downloaded from IMDB, so probably it has) you can open the associated page in browser with CTRL+Click on a link ;)
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Cool! So all you have to do is reverse the behaviour—Click for link to visible record (or IMDb for invisible record), CTRL+Click to make invisible record visible. Yes, that would eliminate the possibility of using a link to go directly to IMDb for items in (i.e., visible) in the database, but why would someone want to do that? Especially if (in 0.9.9) both the movie and people panes are going to be available at the same time—a direct link to IMDb will be visible in the other pane. I suppose some would not like clicks to activate external links, so perhaps a preference setting would be needed for this.
I should have mentioned before... Internal links are a different color than external—so one should not be surprised by what happens when a link is clicked. If a record is "accidentally" made visible, "deleting" it will make it invisible again.
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Tip: If a movie in filmography or a person in credits has an URL (it is always downloaded from IMDB, so probably it has) you can open the associated page in browser with CTRL+Click on a link ;)
Would you be willing to add a third parameter to the "Seen" and "Wish" in the top right corner and call it "Owned" and have the default setting contollable just like with the "Seen" parameter. This would solve the issue for me and I could stop being annoyed by movies being automatically added to my database. I would still be able to keep track of the ones I own.
Regards, Ice
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Sorry for the 1st suggestion. I didn't notice it is there.
But I remeber it wasn't. When was it added?
Sorry, I'm not following you. Did you notice the posts here on August 8 about adding records? Perhaps that's what you're referring to, because there's no "add" function on the context menus. ???
02. Almost every time I want to click on "people", I click on "loan".
Me too. Thanks—I was too ashamed to mention it. :D
03. I can't find a way to import another poster...
Select alternate poster plugin you want to use from the Tools-Import menu. If you wish to add, rather than replace an existing poster, first click on the poster so an icon appears. Once there is more than one poster, use left/right clicks to select posters (or the icons which will appear below the posters), and the paper clip icon to set which one to display.
04. How about opening the poster using the Windows default viewer by double clicking it?
I don't see any advantages to this that would be worth the extra time it takes to load another viewer application. I'm assuming the "default viewer" would be whatever is associated with JPG images. I think a more useful feature would be the ability to open a poster (or any other image) in a specified editor, and for the edited version to be re-saved in the database. I have no idea if this is feasible, however.
05. Not very important but for the beauty...
It's already the best—it may as well be the prettiest as well. ;) Even if the stars are bigger, however, I think it would be difficult to select to 0.1 accuracy with a mouse. You can still (in edit mode) enter whatever you want in the rating field. I assign ratings to the tenth of a point (rather than a half), but often laugh at myself as I do so. Like it really has to be a 7.7, not a 7.5 or 8.0. ::) I remind myself the mouse selection is offering a 20-point rating scale, whereas professional reviewers stick to a 8 or 10-point scale.
Also how about a "New person Master?
What specific functionality are you looking for that is not available by just adding (and updating) a person? You may find you can add it by using a batch file to run several people information plugins or scripts a once. As a true relational database, the program is as capable of being a database of people with their related movies as it is a database of movies with their related people. But I've yet to hear of anyone using in this way, so there doesn't seem to be much demand to add "built-in" features that cater to that use.
Can you add the IMDb Top 250 and to be updated weekly or so?
I like this idea. I've use the ID field (because it's sortable and, for me, otherwise unused) to record the IMDb 250 rank. The ranking is dynamic, however, so it would be nice if I had a way to update this information. I think this would be handled best by a separate script that would download the entire list and update a user-specified field for any of the 250 that exist in the database. Hmmm. Maybe it's about time we started a script wish list (and begged louder for volunteers who are good at writing scripts!).
BTW, what I have done a few times is use Excel to parse the list into Title, Year and Rank fields, and import that into PVD to update the rankings. It works, but a script would be much less tedious.
When you delete a person from people...
Ctrl-Deleting a movie deletes it from the database, rather than just making it invisible. It may do the same with people, but I'm not sure if there's any practical difference between a Delete and a Ctrl-delete for people. Either way, the person deleted will no longer appear in movie records. When the movie records are updated, the deleted person will reappear—as long as they still meet the criteria in the plugin settings. I think the only practical way to deal with a concern about the amount people information in the database is to restrict what is downloaded using the plugin configuration. Once that is done, you pretty much have to let the program download the information it needs to maintain the movie/people relationships correctly. Over time, as you add and delete records, your database will get "cluttered" with (mainly invisible) orphaned and duplicate records. These can be removed by running Optimize Database.
May I continue with ideas or it is a bother?
In making my endless suggestions and questions, I've never seen the slightest hint that nostra is bothered. I'm sure he appreciates the input (as do other users, like me), and he seems pretty good at not being bothered when he had more important things to do. Right now, for example, I suspect he's busy putting the finishing touches on 0.9.9. So don't be disappointed if none of our recent suggestions are implemented. Once the beta is released, he's not going to add any major new features, but nosta listens to what beta testers have to say, and makes whatever improvements are practical and possible.
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02. Almost every time I want to click on "people", I click on "loan".
Me too. Thanks—I was too ashamed to mention it. Cheesy
It is planned to make the whole toolbar customizable in future.
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I don't see any advantages to this that would be worth the extra time it takes to load another viewer application. I'm assuming the "default viewer" would be whatever is associated with JPG images. I think a more useful feature would be the ability to open a poster (or any other image) in a specified editor, and for the edited version to be re-saved in the database. I have no idea if this is feasible, however.
I wanted to see the exact quality of the poster. The preview of the program doesn't allow zooming (or that's what I can see).
I'll add zomming to my TODO list with low priority.
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It's already the best—it may as well be the prettiest as well. Wink Even if the stars are bigger, however, I think it would be difficult to select to 0.1 accuracy with a mouse. You can still (in edit mode) enter whatever you want in the rating field. I assign ratings to the tenth of a point (rather than a half), but often laugh at myself as I do so. Like it really has to be a 7.7, not a 7.5 or 8.0. Roll Eyes I remind myself the mouse selection is offering a 20-point rating scale, whereas professional reviewers stick to a 8 or 10-point scale.
I was talking about the imported IMDb rating and they should be bigger to be able to see the 0.1 differences. No big deal. But the stars have got to be a bit more attractive. Don't want to mention the enemies Grin but, have you seen those of EMDB Cheesy
I do not think it is important enough to spent my time, but if you create those stars I could change stars or make them customizable with the new skins system planed for 0.9.9.
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What specific functionality are you looking for that is not available by just adding (and updating) a person? You may find you can add it by using a batch file to run several people information plugins or scripts a once. As a true relational database, the program is as capable of being a database of people with their related movies as it is a database of movies with their related people. But I've yet to hear of anyone using in this way, so there doesn't seem to be much demand to add "built-in" features that cater to that use.
I justed wanted to imported the data by writing part of the name like the movies. If that person is not in the database the you have to enter his full name precisely and save then import.
You do NOT need to enter a precise name.
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I like this idea. I've use the ID field (because it's sortable and, for me, otherwise unused) to record the IMDb 250 rank. The ranking is dynamic, however, so it would be nice if I had a way to update this information. I think this would be handled best by a separate script that would download the entire list and update a user-specified field for any of the 250 that exist in the database. Hmmm. Maybe it's about time we started a script wish list (and begged louder for volunteers who are good at writing scripts!).
BTW, what I have done a few times is use Excel to parse the list into Title, Year and Rank fields, and import that into PVD to update the rankings. It works, but a script would be much less tedious.
I meant in a separate list or a special button. I don't want my movie list get expanded by some 200 movies. Also it would be very good to add the rank beside the IMDb rating in the movie page if the movie is in the top 250.
Hmm, I'll add this additional field to my low priority TODO list as well.
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Ctrl-Deleting a movie deletes it from the database, rather than just making it invisible. It may do the same with people, but I'm not sure if there's any practical difference between a Delete and a Ctrl-delete for people. Either way, the person deleted will no longer appear in movie records. When the movie records are updated, the deleted person will reappear—as long as they still meet the criteria in the plugin settings. I think the only practical way to deal with a concern about the amount people information in the database is to restrict what is downloaded using the plugin configuration. Once that is done, you pretty much have to let the program download the information it needs to maintain the movie/people relationships correctly. Over time, as you add and delete records, your database will get "cluttered" with (mainly invisible) orphaned and duplicate records. These can be removed by running Optimize Database.
I don't think I made my self clear. Say for example that you have "The Godfather" and you thought that the director "Francis Ford Coppola" must have made another ten wonderful movies and you added him to people and updated him from IMDb but, unfortunately you didn't like his other movies and wanted to delete him from people. Now you have two options:
1. You make him invisible and then you have unused data that take space in the database.
2. You delete him from the records and when you view The Godfather, you find no director.
What I wanted to say is: there must be a way that brings things back before you update from IMDb and leave the records that were originally present in the database. As if I cancelled the update and ONLY the update.
By making a person invisible you do not loose much space on the hard drive. It is 1Kb maybe, but nothing to worry about.
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In making my endless suggestions and questions, I've never seen the slightest hint that nostra is bothered. I'm sure he appreciates the input (as do other users, like me), and he seems pretty good at not being bothered when he had more important things to do. Right now, for example, I suspect he's busy putting the finishing touches on 0.9.9. So don't be disappointed if none of our recent suggestions are implemented. Once the beta is released, he's not going to add any major new features, but nosta listens to what beta testers have to say, and makes whatever improvements are practical and possible.
OK, you brought it to yourself. Whether I send no more feedback or overwhelm the site you have to accept your destiny. Wink
You are welcome to suggest everything that comes to your mind (and has smth to do with PVD :)
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By making a person invisible you do not loose much space on the hard drive. It is 1Kb maybe, but nothing to worry about.
It's about keeping things tidy and clean. What is optimization for then? A few more orphan names wouldn't strangle the list but you delete them even though they won't take up much space to keep things as neat as possiple. An undo option will probably suffice, please. It's all up to you eventually. We are just suggesting.
An Undo function is a bit difficult to implement. The Clear function could be used to remove unneeded data from the record, but it would also remove filmography. Maybe I'll just make removing filmigraphy optional for the clear function...
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greetings!
2 options will make me happy
- Client-Server support
- Automatic screenshot making
screenshot making, for this option i just cant' wait :(
version 0.9.9, when will it be available for downlod, aprox...
thx for this great app, i use it just one day and i stopped to use extended movie manager & ant movie catalog ;D
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Maybe I'll just make removing filmography optional for the clear function...
I think such an option would just invite more confusion. Users need to appreciate there's never any advantage to messing with the integrity of the database by changing filmography information. As for clearing other information—what else is there? If I don't want a biography, I can turn on edit mode and delete it. The only purpose for the clear function that I can think of is for removing erroneous data so it can be updated correctly.
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Did you like the Icons? Wink
The icons are good, but pretty big and I am not sure they will suit everyone, so most probably I'll make them customizable.
2 options will make me happy
- Client-Server support
- Automatic screenshot making
Both are planned for 0.9.9.
It is very difficult to say when will 0.9.9 be ready, but I hope to release the first beta soon. Customizable information cards are not so easy to implement as I though and the Grid view will take some time, but I am working on it every day...
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Maybe I'll just make removing filmography optional for the clear function...
I think such an option would just invite more confusion. Users need to appreciate there's never any advantage to messing with the integrity of the database by changing filmography information. As for clearing other information—what else is there? If I don't want a biography, I can turn on edit mode and delete it. The only purpose for the clear function that I can think of is for removing erroneous data so it can be updated correctly.
Hmm, that's a good point as well. Ok, stuff like this comes at the end of the 0.9.9 programming, so I'll have some time to think about what is the best way for most users and hear some more opinions.
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First 1000x Thanks for this nice App :)
I would like to vote for all choices, if I could
but ...realy hard to decide...4 most important f.... are in my case..
Grid view, Customizable views, Client-Server support, Customizable file scanner
and
Read only version of PVD,..... if I could..
upps repeating my self ;D
what else I would like to be part of features is:
1. multible files for each movie-entrie, ( like *01.avi, *02.avi ).
( maybe this will be included in Customizable file scanner )
2. support for technical-team -> director of photography, camera, sound editor.... -> from IMDb
3. displaing of actor/actress <-> characters in movie-preview
( and memders of technical-team <-> profession )
( maybe it's possible in Customizable views )
4. filtering of movies by awards
5. the ability to add users for a Read only version of PVD to let them vote and comment movies
and displaing of users-votes & -comments
6. the ability to add diffrent kind of images to display them on diffrent positions in movie/person-preview
aka (cover, poster, screenshot, photo, ...)
7. for cosmeticaly purposes only
it would be nice to be able to access the movie-editor in (all)|(default)|(technical)|(image) -> menu-choices
this might give a better handling, maybe without too much scrolling
these are some of my ideas
cu meriator
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Welcome to the forum, and thanks for your comments. I don't know exactly what we'll see in 0.9.9, but I'm sure you'll be pleased.
1. This is one of the shortcomings of the current scanner. I'm sure we'll see improvements in the new version. In the meantime, you can still add multiple files manually by separating the full pathnames of each with a "|".
2. I think two factors are going to affect requests of this sort. First, Customizable views and more flexible custom fields will improve our ability to add whatever we want. Second, the Scripting feature gives us the means to get the data for whatever fields we have added. The catch, of course, is that we'll have to do it ourselves. :'(
3. What do you mean by "movie-preview"? The current Actors section shows actors and their roles if Preferences-Movies-Information card Show credits as...roles is set.
4. I was going to say you can Search or Advanced Search to filter, but they don't seem to work properly for awards. We should look at that during beta testing, and see if it can be fixed or improved.
5. Don't hold your breath. ;)
6. It will be interesting to see how Customizable views will be implemented in this regard.
7. Or perhaps Edit this field on a context menu—for quick changes to one or two fields.
these are some of my ideas
Keep 'em coming! ;)
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Thanks. I might have known a bright guy like nostra would find a way to make me pay for all my "suggestions." ;)
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- Automatic screenshot making
screenshot making, for this option i just cant' wait :(
i quote myself ;)
in Automatic screenshot making
it would be nice if u include 2 options (@ nostra)
enter a number of how many automatic screenshot will be made, 6 or 9 or 12...
and make screenshot every x minute...
u pipl are so great. i'll patiently wait for the 0.9.9. greetings
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@rick.ca
2. I think two factors are going to affect requests of this sort. First, Customizable views and more flexible custom fields will improve our ability to add whatever we want. Second, the Scripting feature gives us the means to get the data for whatever fields we have added. The catch, of course, is that we'll have to do it ourselves. :'(
3. What do you mean by "movie-preview"? The current Actors section shows actors and their roles if Preferences-Movies-Information card Show credits as...roles is set.
thanks for u comment
2. I wouldn't do it via custom fields
..so far i found out there's a table named career
which seems to store all the info's about
person->profession and person->role per movie->ID
this is the right place
..but there should be the possibility
to assign labels to the interger->field ctype
wich seems to carry the profession->information.
(...and great would be to do it via a translation-table
but the trans-Table i found in the DB
has not the valid fields to store translations in diffrent languages for the same "term of meaning")
3. (sorry) movie->dataview is meant ...thank you, this is it ;D....
now taking an other deep breath. ;)
I may study the DB-structure a little more, because I'm not used to Firebird->DBs
thx again
cu meriator
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- Automatic screenshot making
screenshot making, for this option i just cant' wait :(
i quote myself ;)
in Automatic screenshot making
it would be nice if u include 2 options (@ nostra)
enter a number of how many automatic screenshot will be made, 6 or 9 or 12...
and make screenshot every x minute...
u pipl are so great. i'll patiently wait for the 0.9.9. greetings
All this stuff is already on my TODO list ;)
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2. I wouldn't do it via custom fields
..so far i found out there's a table named career
which seems to store all the info's about
person->profession and person->role per movie->ID
this is the right place
..but there should be the possibility
to assign labels to the interger->field ctype
wich seems to carry the profession->information.
It seems that you have some knowledge of database structures as you are perfectly right. It is really the best way to add additonal professions and I already have some plans to add this feature in future. I am not sure if the feature will already be available in 0.9.9, but it certanly will be implemented some time.
(...and great would be to do it via a translation-table
but the trans-Table i found in the DB
has not the valid fields to store translations in diffrent languages for the same "term of meaning")
What do you mean with translation tables?
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forgot an other suggestion
the tag feature
as it is a very useful feature
it lacks on translation
it would be realy nice to a have these tags translated
in some other languages
there for I should be able to define some needed languages
and then, while importing the tag
each one should be saved
multible times accoriding to my needed languages
example
needed langs may be eng, ger, spa, fra
table fields
ID|lang|lang_value|default_value
1|eng||independent
2|ger||independent
3|spa||independent
4|fra||independent
if lang_value =empty default_value=taken instead
after translation the table may look like
ID|lang|lang_value|default_value
1|eng|independent|independent
2|ger|unabhängig|independent
3|spa|independiente|independent
4|fra|indépendant|independent
thx again
cu meriator
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@nostra
What do you mean with translation tables?
I think my last post will explain your question
but may there's also the need of an ident_key
to mark translation to purposes
translation-table
ID|lang|ident_key|lang_value|default_value
translation-typ-table
ident_key|meaning
1|professions
2|genre
3|tags
and so on
in a realy relational DB a better way would be
translation-table
ID|lang|ident_key|lang_value|term_ID
terms-table
term_ID|lang|term_value
so we get no double values in default_value aka term_ID
and we are able to pre-translate terms by procedur/function
if term_value matches any new incomming value
but the overhead is
the user has to match the languge of new incomming terms before
(specialy imported tags from IMDB are in diffrent languages as I noticed)
thx again
cu meriator
ps.writing to fast forces me making spelling mistakes
if you find one keep it ;D
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Could you add numbers while exporting according to poster number in movie preview?
Took me a while to understand this. In other words, you would like Save image to file to save to the filename [Title] ([image number]).jpg rather than [Title].jpg—so multiple images can be saved without having to edit the filename. Yes, that would be handy.
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it would be really nice to a have these tags translated
I suppose it would, but where would the translations come from? There are currently 2200 items in my tag list. The ability to add translated values manually would not be practical for dealing with numbers like that. Do you have something automated in mind?
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Could you add numbers while exporting according to poster number in movie preview?
Took me a while to understand this. In other words, you would like Save image to file to save to the filename [Title] ([image number]).jpg rather than [Title].jpg—so multiple images can be saved without having to edit the filename. Yes, that would be handy.
If save picture dialog is meant than it is easy to implement, so I'll do this in 0.9.9
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in a realy relational DB a better way would be
translation-table
ID|lang|ident_key|lang_value|term_ID
terms-table
term_ID|lang|term_value
Yes, that's the way it should be done. Some other users wanted the same thing for genres and countries, so it seems like the feature is need, but rick is right it will be problematic to create those translation tables (especially for Tags as there are very many).
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Do you have something automated in mind?
;D not realy but
they can be pre-translated via google etc..
and then correctd by your self
then the table should have an other field
terms-table
term_ID|lang|term_value|final
which mark a term_value as ....finaly translated :)
.....and maybe PVD should colorize all untranslated terms....
it is also possible to implement the translation-table
this way as I have done in some Apps before
ID|ident_key|default_value|eng|ger|rus|fra|fin
adding a lang means then Alter "table" add fieldname varchar(....
where fieldname = the lang_identifier
deleting means ...drop fieldname...
but this way it is harder to mark single lang_terms as final or what ever
on the other hand it's possible to have diffrent meanings
via default_value and/or ident_key on the same term
because the default_value has no specific language
and the ident_key will match the use of the term
good translations are hard work any way
an other idea on translating the terms might be
let PVD-users work together
create an online-db for translated tags
where PVD can synchronize the tag-table
may be the requierd fields only
2200 terms in 10 or more languages are possible to do this way
by myself I could'nt do it
I do not trust google, or babelfish ..ect...that much ???
thx again
cu meriator
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...an other idea on translating the terms might be...
You seem to have some good ideas on how to implement this sort of thing. I know they must be good—I don't understand them. ;) That's not a criticism of your ideas—I just know very little about anything technical. I do wonder, however, if we don't need to be clearer about what the problem is before trying to specify the solution. It's not clear to me, for example, why a non-English user is trying to translate information from the IMDb. I suppose it's because the IMDb is more complete than any alternative available in their own language. But, even then, I don't understand why translating parts of it is going to be all that helpful when other parts are remain in English.
It would be very interesting to know how our Russian friends see this issue. Unfortunately, I don't understand what they're talking about over there. :( Now there's an interesting feature suggestion for this forum—some sort of translation service (user provided?) to "link" us to the Russian forum.
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It's not clear to me, for example, why a non-English user is trying to translate information from the IMDb
1.it is easier to understand
2. and I prefer my home-language
3.I'm sharing my DB with my people and not all of them understand/speak english
but some of my reallife friends are foreigners in my country (Germany)
and they do not speak german very well but english or italian or ...
so why not more then one language if it's possible to do
4. a lot of terms are coming up again and again
like genres, professions and, why not, tags too
once translated no more or less future trouble
5.I like to have my data in more then one language
and a lot of my DVD-movies are supporting my wishes ;D
sometimes I'm watching movies with friends in other languages then my own
and mostly a have seen the movie already in my language, this is funny
6. i like to work on DBs, and translations are a recuring challange
it's like surfing the Inet, relaying on only one language would be very boring
so I do not collect all needed/prefered infos from IMDB
but of course IMDB has a lot of them in 1 place
except older stuff
these are some Ideas why to do so
and maybe, Russia agree ;D
thx again
cu meriator
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Thanks. That helps me understand a little better. What you seem to be saying is some users have an interest in having information in various languages, for various reasons. I wonder if the best solution is not just to make the entire database multilingual. That is, there would be separate "version" or "tier" of each record—one for however many languages the user wants to use. It would then be up to the user to decide what information (i.e., source) to download to each language tier. This might involve a script getting information in one language, and then translating it and saving it to the tier of another language. Multiple scripts could be run in batch mode to populate multiple tiers all at once—as new movies are added.
What I'm imagining is something where you could use your database in German, but switch it to English for a particular movie when you know the IMDb information stored there is more complete. And switch it to Italian when your Italian friend is visiting and doesn't quite understand the information in German or English. Even if you didn't want to maintain Italian information for all your movies, you would still have the option of switching it to Italian and downloading from an Italian source on an as-needed basis.
This is great. I think we're well on our way to having version 2.0 all mapped out—before nostra can finish 0.9.9. ;D
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Another beauty issue:
Could you change the season icon? :P
Yes, if you give me one :)
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Yes, if you give me one.
Don't you think we should put it to a vote? ;)
Perhaps the first beta should have LOTS of bugs in it—to keep us off your back for little while. ;D
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Don't you think we should put it to a vote? Wink
I do not like existing icons as well...
Perhaps the first beta should have LOTS of bugs in it—to keep us off your back for little while. Grin
If the beta would have lots of bugs it would only transfer you from the back to my head :)
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So, I am going to be the icon guy here, eh?
Seems so ::)
OK, here are two icons (Open and Close). Also GPL from the net. Tell me what you think (and mention me in credits. Tongue)
Hmm, I think both icons are too similar to each other and the filmstrip is not sharp enough. Maybe you'll find some more and I'll try all of them in the App and will take the best looking ones.
I can add you to the credits, but only if you supply all the icons in UI. It would be great to have some icon packages to choose from (like skins).
Could you please update the version in splash screen and in About?
What's wrong with it?
Could you also make the programme portable by default?
I think I can add an option in installer.
By the way, could anyone tell me why this enormous number of software still store there .ini files in Application Data?
It is the default path for storing such data in Windows...
Could you (the 1000th could you) add the wins and nominations beside the award name. e.g. Academy Award (4 Wins, 5 Nominations):
I'll check if it will not look too overloaded.
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Try these for now.
It would be useful to have larger versions of the icons for use on the large screens used for htpc.
Pardon my ignorance, but where were you suggesting the close icon be used? The current exit function is a lot different to the open database function, so the icons should reflect this.
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here are two icons (Open and Close). Also GPL from the net. Tell me what you think.
Too small. Not as good as the current folder icons.
It would be useful to have larger versions of the icons for use on the large screens used for htpc.
Hopefully, the Customizable Views feature will allow us to create a view suitable for HTPC use. I think that's going to require a lot of discussion about how it's implemented and used. In other words, I think we need to wait to see what nostra has come up with before considering things like the best icons to use.
They still say: 0.9.8.20
That's what the file property of the executable says it is, so it's "correct" in that sense. I suspect a minor bug fix was made to 0.9.8.19, so the version was incremented, but the installer name, etc. were not updated. See this (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=947.0) message. I think it would be a good idea to update the download page and change log. Once the beta is released, users are going to be paying more attention to version numbers.
I install the apps I like on drive D: if they are portable so they could stay theoritically forever without worrying.
I don't know how, but there must be a way of changing the location of the Application Data directory in Windows. I prefer to leave it where it is, and include it in my daily backup routines. I've never reinstalled Windows, but I often recover from my own mistakes by restoring application data from backup. BTW, even if the system drive is not the best place to put it, a separate data directory is much preferable to saving data with the applications.
I'll check if it will not look too overloaded.
I think there's "overload" already—just because of the number of different awards tracked by IMDb. I think this would help, particularly when there are a large number of nominations and only a few wins. It also resolves the shock of seeing "6 wins and 5 nominations" for a move like Catwoman. (Four of the wins are Razzie "worsts;" the other two are for makeup. :D )
BTW, I've noticed many award entries are duplicated (a varying number of times). It looks like it's because it's a "team" award given to a number of individuals—but the plugin is not getting (or correctly saving) the peoples' names.
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Hopefully, the Customizable Views feature will allow us to create a view suitable for HTPC use. I think that's going to require a lot of discussion about how it's implemented and used. In other words, I think we need to wait to see what nostra has come up with before considering things like the best icons to use.
You will be able to reposition, resize and change color and font for everything in the information card. I'll add a possibility to change fonts for the movie/person list as well.
BTW, I've noticed many award entries are duplicated (a varying number of times). It looks like it's because it's a "team" award given to a number of individuals—but the plugin is not getting (or correctly saving) the peoples' names.
Normally it should create one entry per person merging those entries in normal mode and showing all of the them in edit mode.
Post a screenshot if it is not the case and tell me witch movie it is.
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Post a screenshot if it is not the case and tell me witch movie it is.
The attached screenshots illustrate only the duplicate entry situation I described...
Normally it should create one entry per person merging those entries in normal mode and showing all of the them in edit mode.
I've never paid much attention before, but now I see this is true—in some cases. I'm sure I've seen a few that list every individual in normal mode (i.e., they were not merged). These screenshot examples appear the same in edit mode—the individuals names are still missing. I don't see a pattern, but the behaviour is clearly inconsistent.
[attachment deleted by admin]
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Too small. Not as good as the current folder icons.
Why does everybody keep telling me that they are too small? nostra said that the 64x64 stars are too big so I uploaded 16x16; the same size of the programme icons.
Fine then. Here the 64x64 icons and I believe nostran can resize them.
Thx, as I said I can get a better view to choose best version when the icons are added to the application.
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Post a screenshot if it is not the case and tell me witch movie it is.
The attached screenshots illustrate only the duplicate entry situation I described...
Quote
Normally it should create one entry per person merging those entries in normal mode and showing all of the them in edit mode.
I've never paid much attention before, but now I see this is true—in some cases. I'm sure I've seen a few that list every individual in normal mode (i.e., they were not merged). These screenshot examples appear the same in edit mode—the individuals names are still missing. I don't see a pattern, but the behaviour is clearly inconsistent.
Do you have the option "Do not add people from awards if they are not listed in movie credits" on? If yes, it is the answer. I had to add some extra code to handle this situation, but it seems that I have forgotten to do this. The issue will be fixed in 0.9.9
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Do you have the option "Do not add people from awards if they are not listed in movie credits" on?
Yup. No room for hairstylists and the like in my database. ;)
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What is so problematic in starting PVD with portable.bat???
I do not really want to make PVD run in portable mode by default as it is not standart conform, unless most of the users want it to behave like this.
You can also modify path in the normal shortcut to videodb.exe -portable, if you do not like the .bat file...
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but I just felt sorry that all the tiny sophisticated changes of the settings went in vain.
Why don't you just move the configuration file? As I mentioned earlier, it's a good idea to keep a backup of the configuration. Especially the one with the sophisticated settings. ;)
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Can you possibly include a feature to export to XML? I have posted a message here:
http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/my-films-164/personal-video-database-support-43411/
About using PVD with MediaPortal.
Thanks!
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You can export to XML using XML Template with existing export plugin.
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About using PVD with MediaPortal...
darichman did this for Media Center, which also requires import files to be in XML format. See if this topic (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=939.0) helps.
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You can export to XML using XML Template with existing export plugin.
OK I got a hold of the author of the MyFilms plugin for MP - he just has a question about where the posters are stored - is there a way to export the posters along with the XML file?
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Yes, the plugin can export posters (any images actually) into a folder near xml file.
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Not sure if anyone has suggested it yet but i think an import function for British Film Institute Database would make your database the best ever! It contains most UK TV broadcasts ever screened......
Or better still, is there any way you could include a customizable import function so that users could fill in pre set fields with the variables needs to import from such online databases? This would be excellent!
Great work your doing....
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You can create your own scripts to import information from any resource. Here is expalined how to do this: http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=777.0
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Hi, first of all, I'd like to thank u for this software, it is very powerful. I am using it as well as EMM and can't decide which I prefer.
The fact that PVD can captures tags/keywords from imdb is fantastic. Also I like the hyperlinkings, this helps me a lot when searching interesting movies in my collection.
One feature I'd like to see is a cloud of tags, showing (in big letters) the ones that I have the most (recurring theme in my collection). I guess this will be in the stats tool. Of course we could have clouds of actors, directors, years, etc... It's just another way of displaying the results, rather than using columns or bars.
Thanks for listening!
D.
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I guess this will be in the stats tool.
I think you would want a tag cloud to be interactive (i.e., click the tag to display the movies with that tag), which rules out the stats tool. This would just be a visible enhancement to what can already be done with Tree View. If it were to be implemented, that's probably where it should go—as a third "Cloud View" for the list pane. Alternatively, it would be nice to be able to sort tree view in descending order of the number of movies in each node. While not as visual as a tag cloud, that would provide the same information while leaving the functionality of the tree.
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It's got to be way too late to asking for new features for 0.9.9, but since I'm here anyway...
I find myself often wishing there were back and forward navigation buttons—like in a browser. I suppose that's because that's what I'm often doing with my database—browsing. It would be nice to be able to just click a button to go back to what I was previously looking at, instead of having to change views and/or find and select the item in the list.
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I find myself often wishing there were back and forward navigation buttons—like in a browser. I suppose that's because that's what I'm often doing with my database—browsing. It would be nice to be able to just click a button to go back to what I was previously looking at, instead of having to change views and/or find and select the item in the list.
I have this in my TODO already. Let's see when I can get to implement this feature.
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Well, this is probably too late for 0.9.9 and I'm sure if anybody else has mentioned these but:
1. Any chance of being able to write your own filters. Example - Filter out films viewed in 2007 that were released in 1960.
2. Change 'wish' category to 'owned' or 'not owned'. I like to keep a check on what films I've seen but I don't necessarily wish to own them after renting them.
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1. Use Advanced Search to do things like this.
2. Hmmm. I don't recall this being discussed before. Most of the movies in my collection are ones I've rented in the past. PVD detects those which are on my hard drive and distinguishes them with a filter. None of them are "owned" DVD's, so that's all I need. I'm sure other users record only DVD's they own, so all they need is the "wish" flag to distinguish those they do not yet own. But what about those who are doing both? Perhaps there should be a filter added for "owned DVD's." I'm not sure how that would work—it could be based on the barcode, or some other data recorded when a DVD is scanned. Then one would be able to filter movies on fixed drives vs. removable drives (e.g., DVD's) vs. rentals viewed in the past.
BTW, this illustrates another issue. Because PVD can handle different kinds of collections, the standard filters can be used in different ways. As a result, the default captions may not be appropriate. For example, I use the wish list feature, but this has no bearing on "ownership" in the context of my collection. I therefore use a custom language file to change that filter's captions from "owned" and "not owned" to "seen/available" and "wish list." There are other creative ways one might use existing features. The Loan Manager, for example, could be used to distinguish and manage owned DVD's. Just "loan" all your DVD's to yourself for 365 days—the loan filter would then show all your DVD's. The loan feature could still be used for it's intended purpose by "returning" and "reloaning" a movie. A simple search will isolate a loans to a specific borrower.
There. It seems I've found your features—and saved nostra from some unnecessary work. ;)
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I think that the one wish field is enough for the majority of users. If some will need a extra flag he can create a custom field.
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If some will need a extra flag he can create a custom field.
...but, of course, he'll need Sorting and grouping custom fields to make any use of it. ;)
BTW, is that feature going to include being able to use custom fields in Search and Advanced Search?
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You can't sort or group boolean fields (that can contain only 2 values - true or false). It just does not make much sense...
You will be able to sort short text custom fields or number fields, group short text fields and use Advanced search for all types of custom fields in the next version.
In fact, I have already implemented this functionality ;)
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It just does not make much sense...
Perhaps not—except that grouping provides the same functionality as filtering. Even better—it displays the true and false at the same time! What doesn't make sense to me is a boolean field that can only be displayed in an information card. But that won't be the case with Advance Search handling all types of custom fields.
In fact, I have already implemented this functionality.
Great news! Advanced Search is going to be so useful, I hope you've included the ability to save searches and map them into custom toolbar buttons. ;D
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:D Hi there- how about an auto save function like MS Word or auto back-up and tool bar icon for easy save as is - thanks for this software and this site - Paul
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I hope you've included the ability to save searches
I have not done this yet, but I will
how about an auto save function like MS Word or auto back-up and tool bar icon for easy save as is - thanks for this software and this site - Paul
Yes, it is planned for the next version
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how about an auto save function like MS Word or auto back-up and tool bar icon for easy save as is
"Auto-save" and "save as is" are not necessary. It's a database—all changes are recorded as they are made. I suppose what is going to be added is some kind of automated backup and/or backup reminder feature.
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I suppose what is going to be added is some kind of automated backup and/or backup reminder feature.
Yes
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...an other little wish
to have custom fields for persons
like they are existing for movies already
and
(this might be more difficulty)
an integreation of custom fields into advanced search
this would be great
thanks a lot anyway
cu meriator
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An other suggestion
I think that most users relay on IMDB for their movie-data,
especially on unknown/uncommon movies they do not own yet.
Unfortunately these data is mostly only in english available
and there are a lot of other good site in the web with
different languages from the users own.
to solve language related problems
in a proper way it might be usefull to have
a language specific replace-list
language specific means if I use the app with english translation
only phrase marked as translated into english will be used
and so on
for genres, countries(names), languages(names), categories, tags, mpaa-ratings, ....
and maybe for phrases used by the program it self (to customise the viewable output),
as i have seen in other apps aka "data crow" -> sourceforge.net
means
id;lang;fieldtype;phrase;replacement
so all incoming data will be setted up
language-specfic correctly to users-needs
at capture-time (db-data will be changed to his native language)
or
at view-time (db-data is keeped in orginaly language and will be only processed for viewing)
or
nothing (means like it is)
(this all should depend on the users-preferences
if he, the user needs this and if he takes the time to use it)
with out the need to know all these phrases at the development process
the replace-list could also contain a generaly list off
letters/phrases
which might be lead to output-errors or which simply unwanted
this list should be processed always on all incomming data
but these lists should be keept either in the specific movie-DB
or for all in an other settings-db or how ever a simple list
(again users-preferences)
(on export/import the user should asked for the language,
especially if he has choosed view-time-processing)
and so after a while(may be) language-specfic replace-lists
could be shared here in the forums or where ever
I know that native english-speakers dont think so much about these language-specfic things
but all others may do a little more
these is one of the most important features
Sadly to say, I miss in most apps
this are only a few ideas I'll had to handle this language-specfic things
without having so much development-work
on handling unknown phrases (which besides might be wrong)
@nostra special greetings and thanks
while I'm reading here, recognizing your allways friendly open ears to all questions
which is not allways usual
cu meriator
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to have custom fields for persons
like they are existing for movies already
and
This does not fit into 0.9.9 any more, but for 1.0 maybe...
(this might be more difficulty)
an integreation of custom fields into advanced search
100% will be available in 0.9.9
to solve language related problems
in a proper way it might be usefull to have
a language specific replace-list
I think we have discussed this topic already and I find the suggestion good, but there some problems with it:
1. Pretty much work for me
2. Too many values have to be translated in too many languages
3. Setting up these replacements will be time consuming
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I think we have discussed this topic already and I find the suggestion good, but there some problems with it:
1. Pretty much work for me
2. Too many values have to be translated in too many languages
3. Setting up these replacements will be time consuming
You have to translate not even a single word
May be the way I tried to explain my idea has been not clear enough?
lets take an example
1. way
at view-time (db-data is keeped in orginaly language and will be only processed for viewing)
When the program is going to display an genre-term
and the user-preferences is setup to use replacements
only the SQL-Statment has to be changed, joining the replacment-table, to lookup a replace-term
if there is found one the program will take this term otherwise it will take the original term
so there should be a function at the right place to do it
if user-preferences is set up not to do so, this part will be skiped at all
2. way
at capture-time (db-data will be changed to his native language)
When a genre-term should be imported/inserted
the program has just to checkout before insert/update
if there is a replace-term for this genre-term
if there is one found matching the currently used language and the genre-term
the genre-term will be replaced otherwise not
again depending on user-preferences this part will be skiped at all too
thats all
so i do it a 3.way afterwards
at the moment I do this replacment via SQL-Statments
means by example, I replace one genre-ID with an other one matching my needs
anyway, it was just an idea, which came up to my mind
Who this work might be done easy?
so I thought it might be not that much work
but I do not do the job
3. Setting up these replacements will be time consuming
this would be my job I asked for ;D
thx again for your response
cu meriator
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Maybe this would work okay for some languages, but not for English. The English language is so messed-up, translating by word replacement is a waste of time. There are too many situations where the correct translation depends on the context. Ambiguities could be dealt with for finite word sets like genres, but not for things like categories. It's not uncommon that a word in English will have a significantly broader or narrower meaning than it's most obvious translation in another language. As a result, a direct replacement translation will be correct most of the time, but sometimes incorrect or even misleading. If in a sentence, this still may be acceptable, because the reader can understand the correct meaning from the context of the sentence. But if it's just the word alone or in a short phrase, this is not possible.
I can't comment on the quality of non-English movie information sites, but surely there are some where the quality of the information is reasonably good. By that, I mean the information is properly expressed in the language of the site. It has been subject to some form of competent editing. That might even include doing proper translations where the source of the information is not in the native language. No matter what the language, the quality of the information is only going to be degraded by translating it. I think PVD should remain focused on providing the tools necessary to pull together information from a variety of different sources—while preserving the integrity of that information.
I think the next step, should the development time ever become available, would be to make the program multilingual, rather than attempt to "build-in" translation. Maybe I'm wrong, but I suspect a user who is fluent in English, German and Russian, for example, would be more interested in having their data those languages simultaneously, rather than translating different sources into one language.
I understand that even if one agrees with this point of view, translation of some information is still likely necessary or useful. I think this need would best be served by a translation tool/plugin that uses something like Google Translate, if that is possible. It could take the data from an existing field, translate it, and put the translation in a different field or overwrite the original—according to how it's configured. I don't imagine this would be a very efficient way to translate a large number of fields (e.g., the default set of data from IMDb), but it would be handy for grabbing bits of data only available from a foreign-language site.
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Oh sorry
my intention is not to translate whole sentences
like description, or taglines
this is sure not possible
I'm talking about single terms like genres, or countries
but also tags as they are simple expressions
one reason is
if I search for a comedy I will find
comedy but not Komödie (german) or comédie (french) or comedia (spanish)
but all mean the same thing
but if Komödie, comédie, comedia will point out to comedy
I will find everything I did searched for
cu meriator
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I get your point, meriator and, to be honest, I would need this feature as well, but I am not sure if I can put it to 0.9.9 as there are already too many items in my TODO list for this version.
I have this feature request on my list and will implement it as soon as possible.
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ok
this sounds great
take your time
I'll enjoy waiting for this future
thanks a lot
cu meriator
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The critical option for me is the cusomized file scanner. Until I have something that can parse file names correctly as title names I can't use PVD. I need something that can parse names from this format:
%TITLE%[.%year%][.%release type%].%source%.%format%[.%additional format%]-%release group%.%file format postfix%
spaces between words as do elements are seperated by dots.
[] is optional data.
field data is determained as follows:
release type - is a word from a set of words like LIMITED, FESTIVAL, UNRATED
source - is usually DVDrip
format - is a word from a set, usually xvid
additional format - a word from a set, like AC3
release group - one of many names like DIAMOND, AAF, DEVISE, FLAWL3SS, etc... setting it to be -* would work (anything after the - and before the .avi )
file format postfix - .avi .mkv .mp4 etc.
i'd like to keep those parsed data parts in their own fields if possible.
if this is too complex, just having a list of words to be discarded, plus a mask, would be good too (like a word list, plus anything after the - sign, or after the .dvdrip*) , but i'd so much prefer to save this data somewhere.
Thanks for this great program :)
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the program to me is pretty good as is but im sure whatever improvements are made will help but what it needs is a
PRINTING FEATURE.
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Printing - 2 (3.2%)
I'm feeling a little sad for this feature. What, exactly, did you (nostra) have in mind, considering you've already provided for the export of HTML reports (which can then be printed)?
There's more interest in this now, but I'm still not sure what users think they want when they ask for "printing." Print what? A screen shot? The movie list? The details of the selected movie? Or is a full-featured report generator expected?
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Hi all, I'm new here and new to Personal Video Database.
Firstly I'd like to say what an awesome app! Its just what I've been looking for and freeware too! nostra you rock dude! ;D
I've just voted but to be honest, without reading all 7 pages here I wasn't really clear exactly what was meant by the features that I had to choose from.
In the end I voted for these: (in no particular order)
Sorting and grouping custom fields
Client-Server support
Copy and Paste records from one DB to another To some degree this would be negated by above - for me at least. I have read some discussion of the database being able to be manipulated by other software (as it is a firebird db?). I'm assuming that this means the data could already be transferred to a new db?
Customizable file scanner
As I'm currently importing movies & data at the moment, a few things have occured to me (please excuse me if these have already been mentioned)
1. Unattended Import - I guess this would only really be useful for people such as myself who are new to this app and have quite a few movies to import. But it would be great if it could just scan a folder and automatically select the best match. Then I could go back through and double check at my convenience, rather than have to keep clicking ok all the time. For people who are importing a number of new movies to an existing database perhaps there could be a field to note that the data was unconfirmed.
2. More info in message windows when importing (or ability to see the main window) - as I write this I am importing movies (as I said above) and it is a bit of a pain that I can't see the file that the found info refers to. Some are quite obvious, but others - well who knows?? There seems to be no way of getting back to the main window while it is scanning folders/downloading data. This means that any I'm not sure about I need to skip and hopefully there is someway of downloading info for them individually (I'm assuming there is).
Hope that doesn't sound whingey! Thanks again for all the hard work you've obviously put into this!
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1. Unattended Import - I guess this would only really be useful for people such as myself who are new to this app and have quite a few movies to import. But it would be great if it could just scan a folder and automatically select the best match. Then I could go back through and double check at my convenience, rather than have to keep clicking ok all the time. For people who are importing a number of new movies to an existing database perhaps there could be a field to note that the data was unconfirmed.
Go to Tools-> Preferences-> Plugins
Select "Silent mode for all plugins"
Run your batch import
Then uncheck the above option brior to editing the problem entries
2. More info in message windows when importing (or ability to see the main window) - as I write this I am importing movies (as I said above) and it is a bit of a pain that I can't see the file that the found info refers to. Some are quite obvious, but others - well who knows?? There seems to be no way of getting back to the main window while it is scanning folders/downloading data. This means that any I'm not sure about I need to skip and hopefully there is someway of downloading info for them individually (I'm assuming there is).
After choosing "Scan folders for new movies / changed file paths"
Edit the "Title" and or "Original title" so a IMDB lookup has a reasonable chance of success
If you are not in silent mode you can then view the web page PVD suggests linking too & see its full file path
Not sure if this is how you are currently using PVD, but it works OK for me
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Hey patch thanks heaps for your fast response. I just came back here because I'd discovered the silent option and was going to edit my post! Too slow!
Thanks again and thanks for the answer to my other query!
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Any news on the server-client version?
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This is THE BEST Personal Video Database around! The only suggestion I have is to allow for full display of comments as a settings option (the "+") is hard to find.... :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
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Welcome to the forum, Jan_Mel.
The "+" is particularly hard to find using a remote control. I've suggested a command be added to expand/collapse all collapsible fields at once—because I think that's the best way to deal with them using a remote. If such a command were available (in 0.9.9, it would be a menu item you could assign a keyboard shortcut and/or toolbar icon to), would you still want such an option?
In 0.9.9, the visual aspects of the information panels are controlled by skins. So, if possible, this option would best be handled by a skin parameter for the initial state of a collapsible field. Then it could be used to expand any collapsible field.
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Fantastic program ;D I have tested over a dozen movie catalogs in the last week and this one is clearly the best. It already has all the features I was looking for and more.
The one feature I would like to see implemented is a subtitle retriever which would detect the number of divx files and rename the subtitle files to match the movie files so that my player (VLC) would detect and use them automatically.
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Do you want PVD to search and download subtitles for you or just find existing ones on HDD and rename?
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Hy!
Only 1 things missing for me in this nice app. Imdb vote number.
Is it possible that it will be including into PVD?
thx
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I have votes in my todo list, so it will be possible some time.
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Since you're working on your list... I'll vote for this, and while you're at it, please add the Top 250 rank (that appears right after the vote count). And since both these change over time, this would be another good reason to make available the date the movie was last updated by a download.
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please add the Top 250 rank (that appears right after the vote count)
OK, good idea
And since both these change over time, this would be another good reason to make available the date the movie was last updated by a download.
I can't guarantee this for 0.9.9, but I will try to add the last updated field as soon as possible.
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I will try to add the last updated field
Just so I can be satisfied I understand myself... :-\ I was assuming this would be a an "internal" database date that you would make available for display, but I suppose it could be a field like any other that is updated when a plugin is run. Now I'm wondering whether or not it should be editable.
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I was assuming this would be a an "internal" database date that you would make available for display, but I suppose it could be a field like any other that is updated when a plugin is run.
there is no such internal database field. I have to add a normal field and decide if I make it visible/editable/etc.
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I have to add a normal field and decide if I make it visible/editable/etc.
I suppose if you don't foresee it being relied upon by some other feature (e.g., a script that needs to know the "correct" date/time last updated) it should be a normal editable field. Then users might change it to suit their own circumstances (e.g., changing a date to the future, so the movie is not selected for updating next time).
As I've mentioned before, I'm more looking forward to having such a field for people—so there is a way of selecting those likely in need of updating.
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New feature for you:
I would like to search within the search results as well.
Or alternatively, allow an expanded search by Tag, Category and/or Genre. This would greatly narrow down the results.
:D
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forget I said anything. Justfound adanced search... :-[
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How about Feature Search? ;D
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Going along with the idea of an "append database" function as shown in the poll, I would like the ability to SPLIT a database, or more to the point, the ability to select a number of records (via clicking, search, or whatever) and save them directly to a new database. I understand that I could export to a CSV file, start a new database, then import from the CSV, but this approach involves extra steps and might not properly transfer all the database info if the export template isn't set up just right.
From the user's perspective, it would be easier to have a built-in feature that just saves all selected records as a new database, automatically including all fields (including custom ones). Right now, the only real way to achieve the same functionality is to "save as" to a new file, then select and delete all the records I don't want.
AimHere
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Going along with the idea of an "append database" function as shown in the poll, I would like the ability to SPLIT a database, or more to the point, the ability to select a number of records (via clicking, search, or whatever) and save them directly to a new database. I understand that I could export to a CSV file, start a new database, then import from the CSV, but this approach involves extra steps and might not properly transfer all the database info if the export template isn't set up just right.
From the user's perspective, it would be easier to have a built-in feature that just saves all selected records as a new database, automatically including all fields (including custom ones). Right now, the only real way to achieve the same functionality is to "save as" to a new file, then select and delete all the records I don't want.
AimHere
Agree, added to my TODO list
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Right now, the only real way to achieve the same functionality is to "save as" to a new file, then select and delete all the records I don't want.
I presume the "new feature" would make a copy of the file, permanently delete the unwanted records and resulting orphans, and compress the result. But this can already be done easily and with complete control over the process. So there's no need to wait for this feature to split a database. I agree this is a logical companion to the append function, but the ability to append is all we really need.
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Going along with the idea of an "append database" function as shown in the poll, I would like the ability to SPLIT a database, or more to the point, the ability to select a number of records (via clicking, search, or whatever) and save them directly to a new database. I understand that I could export to a CSV file, start a new database, then import from the CSV, but this approach involves extra steps and might not properly transfer all the database info if the export template isn't set up just right.
From the user's perspective, it would be easier to have a built-in feature that just saves all selected records as a new database, automatically including all fields (including custom ones). Right now, the only real way to achieve the same functionality is to "save as" to a new file, then select and delete all the records I don't want.
AimHere
This sounds like it could be used to "patch a hole" if there isn't another way. Say if you
get a glitch and the ID sequence goes off by 1 from some point on. In any case my biggest feature request that's not in the list would be any kind of Help even if only a Readme.txt with the most important info. The program is easy to use. It's just when you are trying to recover from an error or glitch or manual mistake, then it would be nice to have some guidance from a local file. Doesn't have to be .chm. I can search a .txt with my text editor. Just so the info is someplace local.
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This sounds like it could be used to "patch a hole" if there isn't another way.
Rebuilding a database, by whatever means, will have no impact on the ID sequence.
my biggest feature request that's not in the list would be any kind of Help
We could hold a vote on "Should the developer spend less time developing and more time writing help documentation?" but we all know what the result would be. ;)
Besides, what's wrong with the Support forum?! :'(
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This sounds like it could be used to "patch a hole" if there isn't another way.
Rebuilding a database, by whatever means, will have no impact on the ID sequence.
That seems to be where the glitch is likely to happen so that's my concern. Reediting by hand is a real drag. For basic Title <=> number location any word processor with auto line numbering will do that much. Seems like the basic function being bullet proof would be the priority.. but I guess I'm old school. :)
We could hold a vote on "Should the developer spend less time developing and more time writing help documentation?" but we all know what the result would be. ;)
Besides, what's wrong with the Support forum?! :'(
It's a disturbing trend I see in lots of software lately. The developer does just about zero documentation then you wait for the Number 1 User to write a guide. I develop software myself and it seems like a basic readme takes like 10 minutes. I don't understand the total neglect of documentation. Like I said, plain text is fine. Just some basic info would seem logical.
What's wrong with a forum is when my electric goes down with a hurricane, it comes back in a day or 2. The Cable/internet sometimes stays down for 10 days. All the more frustrating if there's no local help file. Likewise I'm not too thrilled with software that stops working because you can't connect to the licensing database online when the ISP is down etc..
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That seems to be where the glitch is likely to happen so that's my concern.
Maybe I'm missing something here. What exactly is this glitch you're anticipating? Has it happened? Can you reproduce it? If there's a bug somewhere, we should be tracking it down and getting it fixed, not looking for ways to repair the damage it does.
The Cable/internet sometimes stays down for 10 days.
OMG! I'd be calling the suicide prevention line, not looking for a help file to read. ;)
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OMG! I'd be calling the suicide prevention line, not looking for a help file to read. ;)
Only if you still had phone service!! heh heh
Nah I think what happened was an anomaly. If I get anything weird that I think can be fixed I'll be glad to provide details. afa the other stuff goes, esp. if the programmer is writing the software for personal use, as I do with my utilities, then stuff is going to go where the author wants etc.. It's one of those things where if somebody was there in person to show you how to do something once then everything makes sense. I guess I just hate asking stupid questions like "what does the Go Button do?" because I think somebody will answer "er, it GOES!!, duh!" or something. Doctors make the worst patients they say. :)
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the programmer is writing the software for personal use
True, but he always does his best to accommodate users' wishes. I think he does a better job at that than many commercial developers, who often come to believe there is some better way to make money than to listen to your customers.
"what does the Go Button do?"
But answering those questions helps develop my communication skills. And I need more practise in being sensitive and understanding. Sometimes, the only right answer is, "What would you like the Go Button to do?" ;D
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Ok. I am very new to this program having just downloaded and installed it about 30 minutes ago after reading through quite a few posts in the forums. (I always like to read up on something before I just dive in willy nilly) ;)
After playing around for a very short while, it seems like this program could be very useful.
For what it is worth, I would like to submit a few comment/suggestions that I cam to my mind.
- Portability. I know that this was brought up previously and you can run it portably, but it seems like a untouted feature that I think could possibly be greatly appreciated by many users. (I personally am trying to make all of my apps portable so that I can use them on any of the 7-10 machines that I use on a regular basis and not have to maintain seperate installs for each)
- I like the whole Client/Server option, I think that this is a good goal and do not remember what version it was supposed to be in, but look forward to it. Can you tell any more about it? Is there going to be any security, what kind of optimization could be used, how can it be set up in this way, etc.? Also, would there be a way to convert the databse over to use SQL instead of Firebird? (I only ask because I am more familiar with that and have not found a free plug in that allows me to access a Firebird database from SQL yet, but haven't looked in quite a while either). Also, if this were client/server based would there be a field to distinguish which user made what change? For example, if my wife went in and marked a movie as a wish list, would it just be on a wish list specifically for her, or would there be one big wish list that served all people? If it is all one big one, then will I know who marked it as a wish?
- I would like to know if there is any way to use this software for other things besides movies. Things such as Books/Games/Software (Wii, xBox360, PS2, Music,PC etc...) If this software could do that as well, then it would be invaluable to me. I have a huge collection of movies (imho around 400-600, at least too many to enter by hand) and roughly 50 Gb of music that I would like to track. I currently have a portable version of iTunes that I use to synch with 4 different iPods for my family. It would be nice to be able to use something like this to keep track of things like that as well (music). This can be a nightmare at times ???, so this would be my highest priority request.
- Probably my second highest priority request would be to make a Windows Mobile version of this application. I would like to be able to add this to my Windows Mobile device and be able to take my library with me in the fact that I can pull up my wish list and see what I have marked (I always forget by the time I get to the store, sometimes I even forget what I already have and don't have). This would also help with Christmas and Birthday shopping for my family :) since we all have very different tastes in just about everything.
I am a very technical person (although not as much of an eagle eye as rick.ca seems to be :o Wow is all I can say!) and would be more than happy and willing to help test these features out.
I work with programmers and developers all the time and Nostra seems to be one of the most open, humble, willing to listen, and polite out of all of them.
Keep up the great work, this seems to be something to really be proud of. I apologize if any of this information was covered elsewhere in the forums that I have not gotten to yet, I was just really excited about this software and wanted to throw my thoughts out there while they were fresh in my mind.
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Portability. I know that this was brought up previously and you can run it portably, but it seems like a untouted feature that I think could possibly be greatly appreciated by many users. (I personally am trying to make all of my apps portable so that I can use them on any of the 7-10 machines that I use on a regular basis and not have to maintain seperate installs for each)
Sorry, but I do not understand what is your suggestion here? Do you want the portable mode to be default?
I like the whole Client/Server option, I think that this is a good goal and do not remember what version it was supposed to be in, but look forward to it. Can you tell any more about it? Is there going to be any security, what kind of optimization could be used, how can it be set up in this way, etc.? Also, would there be a way to convert the databse over to use SQL instead of Firebird? (I only ask because I am more familiar with that and have not found a free plug in that allows me to access a Firebird database from SQL yet, but haven't looked in quite a while either). Also, if this were client/server based would there be a field to distinguish which user made what change? For example, if my wife went in and marked a movie as a wish list, would it just be on a wish list specifically for her, or would there be one big wish list that served all people? If it is all one big one, then will I know who marked it as a wish?
You will need to install a server application on the computer where the database file is located. All client instances in the network will access this server to view/edit data. I plan to have this feature implemented in the final 0.9.9 release. Storing data pro user is not planned yet, so if someone mark a movie as wished you will just see it's wished, nothing more.
Firebird is a relational database that uses SQL, so if you know SQL you can connect to it using software that support Firebird (Firebird Maestro, EMS SQL Manager, and others) and manage data using SQL - no problem.
I would like to know if there is any way to use this software for other things besides movies. Things such as Books/Games/Software (Wii, xBox360, PS2, Music,PC etc...) If this software could do that as well, then it would be invaluable to me. I have a huge collection of movies (imho around 400-600, at least too many to enter by hand) and roughly 50 Gb of music that I would like to track. I currently have a portable version of iTunes that I use to synch with 4 different iPods for my family. It would be nice to be able to use something like this to keep track of things like that as well (music). This can be a nightmare at times Huh, so this would be my highest priority request.
Theoretically, if you rename the fields using custom translation and write some scripts for other data types you can store pretty everything in the database. I am not planning to make changes for other data types myself.
Probably my second highest priority request would be to make a Windows Mobile version of this application. I would like to be able to add this to my Windows Mobile device and be able to take my library with me in the fact that I can pull up my wish list and see what I have marked (I always forget by the time I get to the store, sometimes I even forget what I already have and don't have). This would also help with Christmas and Birthday shopping for my family Smiley since we all have very different tastes in just about everything.
I would love to implement all features and software of the world, but unfortunately ;) my time is not infinite, so it is not possible. There are 2 possibilities for me to write a Windows Mobile version of PVD:
1. PC Version is full featured and I have nothing to do
2. Someone pays me for the work
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Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, js. Yes, you will find these things are discussed elsewhere in the forum, but they're not always easy to find.
it seems like a untouted feature
Yes, it runs nicely from a memory stick. Just one of so many wonderful features that they all seem untouted. ;D
Storing data per user is not planned yet
The ability to handle multiple users in one database seems like a good idea, but I wonder how practical it really is. In most situations, the multiple users are not going to be "equal partners" in sharing a database. There is going to be a primary user (one who created the database and is ultimately responsible for maintaining it) and secondary users. The secondary user want access to the primary user's database, in part, because they would rather not go to the trouble of maintaining their own. As such, their interest in recording personal information (i.e., wish list, seen date, comments, etc) is somewhat less. If this were not true—and the secondary user might also find they are interested in different movies, different information sources, different program configurations—then it becomes clear that user is much better off maintaining their own database. If the multiple user database approach works, except for personal fields being shared (e.g., Seen date), this can be dealt with by using adding custom fields (e.g., Seen by). The result might even be preferred in a family situation. Seen means somebody has seen it, Seen date is the date it was first seen, and those viewing it at a later date would just add their names to Seen by.
I would like to know if there is any way to use this software for other things besides movies.
If you look at the software as a front end to a relational database relating people to their creations, with the ability to download and populate the database with information from websites, then it can be used for anything that fits that model. It would require a lot of work, however, to rename captions, add custom fields, design skins, and—most of all—write download scripts. While the core functions are the same, you would find requirements vary considerably according to the subject matter. The idea of making it do everything is clearly impractical. If one has a keen interest in one particular thing (e.g., video games) not already better served by other software (e.g., music), they may find adapting PVD to this purpose a fulfilling hobby.
Probably my second highest priority request would be to make a Windows Mobile version of this application.
Unless you can afford to put nostra on your payroll, it seems you're not going to see this any time soon. ;) But don't despair—you should be able to export to HTML in some fashion that you'll find practical for mobile use. That could include most of the information for the entire database, as well as special purpose things like wish lists for use in the video store.
I am a very technical person (although not as much of an eagle eye as rick.ca seems to be. Wow is all I can say!)
And here I was trying so hard to be humble. :-[ Oh, well. That, and seeing the future, is nostra's job. ;)
PVD is not for everyone, but as a technical person, you'll appreciate it's power and flexibility.
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- I like the whole Client/Server option, I think that this is a good goal and do not remember what version it was supposed to be in, but look forward to it. Can you tell any more about it? Is there going to be any security, what kind of optimization could be used, how can it be set up in this way, etc.? Also, would there be a way to convert the databse over to use SQL instead of Firebird? (I only ask because I am more familiar with that and have not found a free plug in that allows me to access a Firebird database from SQL yet, but haven't looked in quite a while either). Also, if this were client/server based would there be a field to distinguish which user made what change? For example, if my wife went in and marked a movie as a wish list, would it just be on a wish list specifically for her, or would there be one big wish list that served all people? If it is all one big one, then will I know who marked it as a wish?
This functionality would be achievable by tagging movies, if you store them on a network drive. Then accessing the network drive from multiple accounts or users or portable installs.
If your collection is mainly stored on removable media then multi user preferences within a client server model is probably the only way to go but I suspect it would require a major program modification (all user state variables would need another dimension dependant current logged in user).
- I would like to know if there is any way to use this software for other things besides movies. Things such as Books/Games/Software (Wii, xBox360, PS2, Music,PC etc...) If this software could do that as well, then it would be invaluable to me. I have a huge collection of movies (imho around 400-600, at least too many to enter by hand) and roughly 50 Gb of music that I would like to track. I currently have a portable version of iTunes that I use to synch with 4 different iPods for my family. It would be nice to be able to use something like this to keep track of things like that as well (music). This can be a nightmare at times ???, so this would be my highest priority request.
There are many specialised music library management programs. I would not use iTunes as it does a poor job of separating library management and user management functions.
I would suggest you try Media monkey http://www.mediamonkey.com/ (http://www.mediamonkey.com/) or similar program. This software can scan multiple directories at startup, importing changes as required. If you store your music in a network drive then each user can run a different instance of media monkey enabling them to have their own rating, play lists, play history, but still play any music from the file server. Alternatively you could use the client server functionality offered by such programs.
BTW
I suspect other software offers the same functionality, I have given media monkey as an example instead of iTunes only because I have used those two programs.
- Probably my second highest priority request would be to make a Windows Mobile version of this application. I would like to be able to add this to my Windows Mobile device and be able to take my library with me in the fact that I can pull up my wish list and see what I have marked (I always forget by the time I get to the store, sometimes I even forget what I already have and don't have). This would also help with Christmas and Birthday shopping for my family :) since we all have very different tastes in just about everything.
mmm
How were you hoping this would fit in with the client server? I suppose you would like a client accessing the server over an internet connection. Sound as if it would take significant programmer and user time to achieve, limiting the potential return to nostra.
Alternatively
What about using VPN to access a computer running PVD on your home network from a portable device. Existing tools can then be used to enable remote desktop control, functionally achieving PVD remote access.
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Do you want PVD to search and download subtitles for you or just find existing ones on HDD and rename?
I would like PVD to find and download subtitles (srt) based on the existing movie files, similar to the way it gathers info from IMDB and Amazon.
Sorry about the delay (been busy).
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I would like PVD to find and download subtitles (srt) based on the existing movie files...
The problem with this is the subtitle file has to be a correct match to the particular file you have, or it won't be synchronized. There can be hundreds of subtitle files for one movie. Picking the right one might be possible (e.g., using opensubtitles.org (http://www.opensubtitles.org)) if both you and the subtitle file uploader use the same file reference (e.g., a torrent name). Otherwise, it's difficult to see how an automated match could be made. I think the best you can do is to add Web searches that will manual searches a little more convenient.
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The problem with this is the subtitle file has to be a correct match to the particular file you have, or it won't be synchronized.
Yeah, that's pretty annoying. When I have out of synch subs I use Subtitle Workshop to adjust timings. Given a start and end point of dialog it can shift/compress/expand to match.
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I use Subtitle Workshop to adjust timings...
I've tried that a few times, without much luck—probably because there were more things "wrong" with the subtitles than just timing. It is, of course, much easier just to download something that works. It's too bad there wasn't a more effective way to find a match.
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It's too bad there wasn't a more effective way to find a match.
I'm slowly learning that whenever I have a thought like this, the answer is, "There is a better way." ::)
Try OSCAR (http://forum.opensubtitles.org/viewtopic.php?p=2105). It finds subtitle matches based on the hash code of your movie file. I just tried it on a whole folder of movies, and it found subtitles for everything in seconds. I haven't actually tried any of them yet, but given the way it's making the matches, I don't see how it could go wrong. If it doesn't find an exact match, then there probably isn't one (on OpenSubtitles.org), and you would have to look for a close match manually—and should probably expect to have to use something like Subtitle Workshop to modify it.
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First I want to thank the developer/s and contributors for their effort and this nice program.
I would like to add some requests that I did not find listed.
The first one is the possibility to have additional ratings, both personal and from the web (using the plug-ins). So far I have dealt with this lack by using custom fields, but it is clearly a bad way. I understand that now we can filter by custom fields in the beta version (sadly I couldn't get to load my database so I couldn't check out what else one can do with custom fields.I would like to know whether you can sort by custom fields, or maybe now you can match the formatting of other regular fields as ratings so you can make new nice looking personal ratings).
A second request is to ease the edition of the records. The way I think it could be improved is, first, by allowing fast edition of some fields by default without entering in edition mode as now happens with the ratings (I would like to input the whole number in the ratings, by the way, and not just to enter the stars). Secondly, it would be nice to have the possibility to setup shortcut keys to edit specific items of one record in the database. Again, this feature may already be implemented in the new beta ???
Anyway, whether I am late for requests or not, thank you for all this. I strongly believe that these kind of behavior makes a better world... and in this one a better organized one, which is not little. :)
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Welcome to the forum.
The first one is the possibility to have additional ratings...
Just to clarify...the ratings fields that are provided are imdbrating, orating and rating. Orating ("other" or "additional rating") can be used for any any rating source, and a caption for that source saved in oratingname (not by the user, but by a plugin or script). Rating is meant for user ratings, but could be used for anything else. In 0.9.9, you can sort, group and advance search using these fields. I think this is a sensible design for standard ratings.
To handle more ratings, custom fields would have to be added. Depending on the type of field used, it can be grouped and/or sorted. As far as I can tell, stars are not a "type" available to custom fields, nor is it a "format" that can be applied in a skin. Maybe this could change. As things are in 0.9.9, an additional rating field would best be handled as a select list, as this type can be sorted and grouped.
allowing fast edition of some fields by default
I agree, but for which fields would be "safe" to do so? For custom fields, this would have to be configurable.
setup shortcut keys to edit specific items of one record in the database
If I understand correctly, the shortcut would put just the selected (as indicated by cursor position) field into edit mode. I think this is a better solution than arbitrarily making some fields editable. I imagine this could be applied universally, and added to the context menu. In other words, you would be able to select anything, right-click and select "edit." One the other hand, for multi-item fields, the context menu currently applies to the specific item chosen rather than the entire field, so this might be difficult to implement. I hope nostra will consider it however—it would be a very nice feature to have.
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As far as I can tell, stars are not a "type" available to custom fields, nor is it a "format" that can be applied in a skin.
There is a Rating type for custom fields in 0.9.9 actually....
If I understand correctly, the shortcut would put just the selected (as indicated by cursor position) field into edit mode. I think this is a better solution than arbitrarily making some fields editable. I imagine this could be applied universally, and added to the context menu. In other words, you would be able to select anything, right-click and select "edit." One the other hand, for multi-item fields, the context menu currently applies to the specific item chosen rather than the entire field, so this might be difficult to implement. I hope nostra will consider it however—it would be a very nice feature to have.
Hmm, what is a practical usage of this functionality? Is it really so inconvenient to switch in edit mode?
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There is a Rating type for custom fields in 0.9.9 actually...
Oops. Didn't notice that. That'll go nicely with my Review (memo) field.
Is it really so inconvenient to switch in edit mode?
Editing "in-place" is always much more convenient for changing just one field. Particularly so when edit mode expands all collapsible fields—requiring scrolling/searching to find the subject field. Furthermore, after a record is initially created, this one-field-at-a-time editing is much more common than situations where several/many fields are edited at the same time.
Here's an additional thought: If such a feature put the field in edit mode and selected all the contents, it would make it very easy to replace the contents of any field with the contents of the clipboard.
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Editing "in-place" is always much more convenient for changing just one field. Particularly so when edit mode expands all collapsible fields—requiring scrolling/searching to find the subject field. Furthermore, after a record is initially created, this one-field-at-a-time editing is much more common than situations where several/many fields are edited at the same time.
Here's an additional thought: If such a feature put the field in edit mode and selected all the contents, it would make it very easy to replace the contents of any field with the contents of the clipboard.
OK, I'll consider adding an "edit in place" function in future.
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I was wondering if there are some kind of plans to make movie importation more automatical ??
I mean if I have some kind of rip from a know ripper... Let's say Axxo. Then the name becomes [name] "axxo". Isn't there a way to remove "axxo" automatically ? Another usefull thing could be a readout from the .nfo files. There's allways a link to the imdb page of the movie.
What else: read the folder name. I think there are many people who name the folders as they should, but leave the file as it was.
Next to that a server-client version would be great... but I see that you won't be using any existing hosting based databases ?
An example: use Mysql to store all the data. This would be a great feature, since I have a NAS with integrated webserver...
Is it possible to add subtitle support ? Something like the checkbox for the 'watched' status. And this for multiple languages.
And the last thing that comes in mind: a possibiliy to make PVD data-files per movie. Wich contains one or more links and the name (and maybe some other data) for 1 movie. When you double click on it, it PVD opens, and asks if you want to add the file to your database.
This is something that would make partial transfers between databases really easy!
I must say that this is software with great potential. And now already a great set of features!
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I mean if I have some kind of rip from a know ripper... Let's say Axxo. Then the name becomes [name] "axxo". Isn't there a way to remove "axxo" automatically ?
No problem with RegExp in 0.9.9.4 beta
Another useful thing could be a readout from the .nfo files. There's allways a link to the imdb page of the movie.
What else: read the folder name. I think there are many people who name the folders as they should, but leave the file as it was.
You can change the Textfile (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=904.0) script to read any kind of text files. See Creating own scripts (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=777.0).
Next to that a server-client version would be great... but I see that you won't be using any existing hosting based databases ?
An example: use Mysql to store all the data. This would be a great feature, since I have a NAS with integrated webserver...
Supporting different kinds of DB eingines would make the program too complicated for me to program and for users to use. If you need such functionality take a look at Kroozbox - PVD to media theatre solution (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1031.0) and PK's MovieDB dynamic website template (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1029.0)
Is it possible to add subtitle support ? Something like the checkbox for the 'watched' status. And this for multiple languages.
There is already support for subtitles, multiple languages, wish and many more things ;) Just play with the program a little bit more.
And the last thing that comes in mind: a possibiliy to make PVD data-files per movie. Wich contains one or more links and the name (and maybe some other data) for 1 movie. When you double click on it, it PVD opens, and asks if you want to add the file to your database.
This is something that would make partial transfers between databases really easy!
It seems like this is the same as "Tag export/import (like ID3 for mp3)" requested by patch.
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It seems like this is the same as "Tag export/import (like ID3 for mp3)" requested by patch.
The desired functionality might also be provided by the split and append/join features we've discussed before. If it's about sharing movie entries between databases (especially those of different users), this method is particularly appropriate. The tag import/export idea is about getting the movie reference right. The other user/database can then download whatever information they want. That doesn't help much if the point is to share the information that has been collected. The easiest and most effective way to do this would be to split (save in a new database) selected movies, and then be able to append this new database to another.
Nostra, you've indicated this is on your TODO list, but is it going to make it into 0.9.9? It seems my database has become too unwieldy for my tired old computer, but I don't even want to think about splitting it until I have the means to exchange records between databases. I'm thinking I could split my "Wish list" movies (about half) to a separate database, then move them into my main database as I acquire or plan to acquire them.
BTW, it occurs to me one of the complications you have to consider is the handling of custom fields. If a custom field does not exist in the target, would it be added, or would the data be omitted? I suppose another option would be to dump data from unmatched custom fields into the comments field.
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The tag import/export idea is about getting the movie reference right. The other user/database can then download whatever information they want. That doesn't help much if the point is to share the information that has been collected.
Depends what is in the exported tag and how the functionality is implemented.
If it was user editable custom fields could in theory be added.
The easiest and most effective way to do this would be to split (save in a new database) selected movies, and then be able to append this new database to another.
I agree if the task is for a one off transfer of data, especially if the movie files are not being also shared.
If the data transfer occurs many times (with small incremental changes as additional movie files are shared over a network or remote site), then tagging the movie files would probably be easier for the user.
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Depends what is in the exported tag and how the functionality is implemented.
The functionality I'm referring to is the sharing of all the information for a movie, exactly as it appears in the source data base, and quite intentionally not depending on anything else. The simplest case—copying entire records from one database to another—I would expect to be a straightforward Firebird utility function. But that's a technical matter beyond my understanding. If it had to be done as an export/import tag information operation, I'd be surprised, but I wouldn't care—I'm only interested in the end result.
The tag import/export idea is about getting the movie reference right...
...so once download sources for information and images have been determined, other databases sharing the same media files don't have to search for and determine this information again.
These are different features for different purposes. I suppose we could conjure up situations where they overlap, but I don't see any benefit in doing so. I think both would be useful.
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Hello,
I was just wondering if you were still going to have the grid view again? I see it came in 2nd place in the voting area.
Thankz
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Hello,
I was just wondering if you were still going to have the grid view again? I see it came in 2nd place in the voting area.
Thankz
It is planned to get Grid view back, but the feature does not seem to fit in my TODO for the current version. I'll do my best to implement Grid view in 1.0
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Thank you for your reply,
BTW, this is a great program! thank you for all of your hardwork.
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Drag 'N' Drop from Hard Drive to Data Base
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Drag 'N' Drop from Hard Drive to Data Base
Is already on my TODO list.
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Two suggestions:
1. An option to display Japanese, Chinese, and Korean names LAST NAME FIRST (as it should be). Nobody calls Wong Kar Wai "Kar Wai Wong". This is one of the things that really annoys me about imdb, and all my databases are in this order.
2. When importing from Excel, allow multiple fields that combine multiple columns into that one field. For example, some Excel sheets might separate "genre" or "description" into multiple fields. Right now it's impossible to import this correctly. In my case, I rate each film's Plot, Cast, Cinematography, Music, and Entertainment value. Right now there's no way for me to import these ratings correctly, I think.
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Welcome to the forum, abowloffire.
1. I don't see any way to do this automatically, so I suppose what's needed is something like a checkbox field in the people record for reversing the order. Is that the sort of thing you have in mind?
2. If you want multiple columns in Excel to go into one field, just concatenate them and import the result. You can create as many custom rating fields as you like. I believe the rating field type is a ten-star field like the standard rating fields, so you may need to convert your ratings to a 10-point scale.
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1. An option to display Japanese, Chinese, and Korean names LAST NAME FIRST (as it should be). Nobody calls Wong Kar Wai "Kar Wai Wong". This is one of the things that really annoys me about imdb, and all my databases are in this order.
There are no last or first names for an application. This is your interpretation of characters in a certain order. There is no possibility to distinguish these programmatically without building some kind of dictionary. It is unlikely for such feature to be implemented in near future, sorry.
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Yeah, I guess I'll just have to get used to it. :P
The only way I can imagine this to work, is if the People section can also include a "Nationality", which can allow you to reverse the order of the names with Japanese, Chinese, and Korean nationalities. Just an idea though.
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There is no possibility to distinguish these programmatically without building some kind of dictionary.
This is why I thought a simple "switch" that would cause the first word of the name (as stored) to be moved to the end (for displaying) would probably be the best solution. Once we have a generalized multiple record edit function (and perhaps Advanced Search for people), most of these people could be selected by Birthplace and other criteria, and the switch set. Then those who have westernized their name (John Woo) or are just better known "backwards" (Akira Kurosawa) can be unset.
Something to consider for the "Develop Asian markets" TODO list. ;)
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Late addition.
Inclusion of number of people rating is based on would be useful.
Sorting by this field would show main stream to niche movies.
Also provides some indication of reliability of the rating.
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Inclusion of number of people rating is based on would be useful.
+2 ;)
Thinking of IMDB Rank: is it not better to download count of votes in an extra field and then use this information with rating
for a "personal IMDB rank" using filters?
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Inclusion of number of people rating is based on would be useful.
+3
Maybe in general the option to choose what part of the rating information to download. [number of votes, median vote, etc.]
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Hi,
I like your Personal Video Database a lot and all the new features your putting. I just have one request on the Appearance Tab. On the old 9.7 you can change the background information, on the new 9.9 you can't change the color, it's light blue. What I'm trying to say I liked it when you can change the backgroung color. I HOPE you put all the background color features back. On the rest your doing a VERY GOOD JOB, I like the new features your putting in it and I can't wait to use it. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. :)
Thank You !
Pumpkinbear1
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Welcome to the forum, pb.
Skins are now fully customizable—including field placement, fonts and background colors. Not only that, but you can have a different background color for as many "sections" as you want—so it's not possible to have a preference setting to change "background color."
I'll post an explanation of how to change the background color to Theater View Skin (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=1307.0). There's an illustration there of what I'm referring to.
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In the old 9.7 you can change the background information, on the new 9.9 you can't change the color, it's light blue. What I'm trying to say I liked it when you can change the backgroung color.
Your skins are in \Personal Video Database\Skins\Movies. The default skin is pvd_classic_movie.xml. Make a copy of this for backup, and open the original in a text editor. The following is the first part of that skin.
<xml>
<pvd_skin_movie>
<skinname>PVD Classic</skinname>
<version>1.0.0.0</version>
<author>Nostradamus</author>
<description>Classic theme from 0.9.8.x</description>
<preview>skinimg_movie_classic.png</preview>
<labelfont><bold></bold></labelfont>
<fieldfont><size>10</size></fieldfont>
<section>
<color>$E0ECFE</color>
You will find a <color> statement at the beginning of each <section>. Replace the E0ECFE hex code (NB. after the "$") with whatever you want (from "000000" = black to "FFFFFF" = white). This, of course, is not a very user-friendly way to pick a color, but there are Color Pickers for that—like this one (http://www.colorpicker.com/) and this one (http://www.pagetutor.com/colorpicker/index.html).
If you would like to change the color of other sections, just search for "section" and make the same change there.
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Hello. New to the forum, It's nice to be able to download using IMDB and stuff. For tv series and episodes what about using "tv.com"? It has all the info you could possible need to fill in the spaces. I didn't see that anywhere here so I don't know if someone had asked about it.
r/
spartacus
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Welcome to the forum, spart.
There's lot's of information there, but I have some difficulty imagining how it might be accessed by a plugin or script. Is there some specific information there that interests you?
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There are very many good information sources, but unfortunately I do not have enough time to implement support for all of them.
I hope users with some scripting knowledge will help writing additional scripts.
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Now that 0.9.9.x is "released," I think it's time to lock this topic and remove the link from the news banner.
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Hmm, maybe. But we should create a new topic with feature suggestions for 1.0 then. What do you think?
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I think after 8 months work, you deserve a few weeks off. ::)
Maybe you should do that on July 3—the anniversary of Vote: Features for 0.9.9 (http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/index.php?topic=908.0). That will give me some time to think of some suitable ground rules. I've already got one—no suggestions without a valid, unique movie recommendation. I haven't quite decided if we should insist on some connection between the movie recommendation and the feature request. For example:
Casablanca (1942) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/): As soon as a movie ends, my wife starts talking. I need a Play it again, Sam option that will cause the movies to play again as soon as they end. My wife is not too bright, but it might be a good idea for the movie to restart before the ending credits, and skip the opening credits. ;D
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I do not think that I am physically able to fully stop working on the project for at least 24 hours, but I'll try :)
Maybe you should do that on July 3—the anniversary of Vote: Features for 0.9.9. That will give me some time to think of some suitable ground rules. I've already got one—no suggestions without a valid, unique movie recommendation. I haven't quite decided if we should insist on some connection between the movie recommendation and the feature request.
It's a nice idea. It could be a bit difficult to check each movie suggestion for uniqueness though.
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It could be a bit difficult to check each movie suggestion for uniqueness though.
Not if we're recording them in PVD! I don't know why we didn't think of this before... 8)
Set up a server edition of a database. Users log into it, add their movie recommendation, and then complete a custom My Feature Request field. Run Optimize database regularly to remove duplicates. Set up a twitter account to report the recommendations... and the requests!
When you're ready, you'll be able to do cool things, like releases based on movie genre...
1.0.0.1 The Comedy Release (it doesn't work)
1.0.0.2 The Horror Release (it eats your 1.0.0.1 database)
1.0.0.3 The Drama Release (now you're getting serious)
1.0.0.4 The Thriller Release (Gridview is back!)
1.0.0.5 The Romance Release (append database function)
...
So there's the connection I was looking for! The "mood" of the feature request must be suitable for the genre of the recommended movie.
And if you just don't want to implement a feature, instead of putting it on your Things to do when I have nothing better to do TODO list, you can just tell the suggester, "Sorry, your movie sucked." ;D
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Very nice, but unfortunately I do not a server (with static ip) to run such a database. I can't install firebird on this virtual server :(
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That's okay—you don't have time for such goofiness anyway. It requires a volunteer administrator. So now we need a goofy volunteer administrator with their own static IP. Sorry, I don't have a static IP. ;D
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I think there was one user with static IP on russian forum...