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Topics - AimHere

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21
Support / File scanner regular expressions
« on: July 31, 2011, 05:41:14 pm »
Hi,

I need some help with the configuration for the File Scanner, specifically, regular expressions.

I like how, when importing video files, PVD strips things like "CD1", "CD2", and so on from the filenames when generating a movie title. So, for example, "This Movie CD1 (2011, SomeStudio)" becomes "This Movie" in the title field.

Thing is, I have more and more movies that came from multiple DVD sets, where each DVD is broken into CD-sized files as well. They have filenames like "That Movie D1CD1", "That Movie D1CD2", "That Movie D2CD1", etc. ... OR, "Another Movie D1A", "Another Movie D1B", "Another Movie D2A", etc.

When I point PVD's file scanner to movies like these, I wind up with titles like "That Movie D1CD" or "Another Movie D" in the Scan Results window. Note how it retains part of the disc/CD identification tag. I have to edit the title and strip them out by hand.

Also, with the "DxCDy" naming convention, PVD doesn't group all the parts together under the same title, instead I get a separate item for each DVD ("That Movie D1CD" AND "That Movie D2CD"). So, I have to select both items and right-click to choose "Same Movie".

Now, I don't really know much about regular expressions, so I'm not sure how to go about fixing this in the preferences for the File Scanner. I'd like to retain the "D1CD1" or "D1A" tagging for the filenames, but keep it from carrying over to the titles in the File Scanner.

Any ideas?

Aimhere

22
Feature Suggestions / Selecting actors from a movie
« on: January 08, 2011, 09:51:39 pm »
Hi,

I thought of a feature that I would find useful. When looking at a movie record in Movie View, I'd like the ability to switch to People View with the list on the left filtered to only show the actors in that movie. (Then I can work with just those people when doing updates from plugins, reviewing their details, etc.)

I can pretty much get the same thing by selecting and copying the movie title, switching to People View manually, pasting into the search box, and choosing "Filmography" as the field to search. But it would be nice to be able to do it all in a single step, without having to copy-and-paste anything.

The reverse would also be useful: when viewing a person's record, switching to Movie View filtered to show only that person's titles.

This could be implemented as an item on the context menu you see when right-clicking the "Title" field on a movie record, or the "Name" field on a Person record.

Comments?

Aimhere

23
Support / Dealing with movie duplicates
« on: December 28, 2010, 07:29:26 pm »
Hi,

I'm having a minor issue with duplication of movies in my database. Here's what's happening:

I like to maintain a [reasonably] complete filmography for each of the actors in my database. So, for each actor, I use the IMDB People plugin to import the filmography from IMDB. The plugin is set to overwrite filmographies, and "Merge filmography" selected in Preferences.

This works well enough most of the time. But occasionally, for certain movies, IMDB lists a different release year than the one I already have in my database record for that movie. This causes the actor's filmography to have TWO entries with that movie title, one for the complete movie record I already had, and another linking to an "invisible" movie record with the release year from IMDB.

Now, I can usually get rid of the duplicate entry by editing my "complete" movie record to match the release year from IMDB (this has the effect of merging the two records, as long as the titles match exactly). Occasionally, though, I also have to take the additional step of clicking on the imported IMDB title in the actor's filmography to make the movie record visible in Movies View, then holding down the CTRL key while deleting it.

What I'd like to know is, is there a simple way to scan through all of my actor filmographies to find these duplicates? Right now, I'm dealing with them as I notice them, but I suspect there are a ton more I haven't found yet. I don't know if the "Delete movie duplicates" in "Tools/Optimoze Database" will do what I want, and I'd rather not risk having it delete any "complete" movie records.

Aimhere

24
Support / Batch removal of images
« on: December 26, 2010, 06:39:56 pm »
Hi,

I was wondering, is there any [semi-]automatic or programmatic way to remove embedded images from a group of records?

I have screen shots (thumbnails, really) for most of my movies, as well as multiple photos for many actors and actresses, but my database is really swelling in size. I'm considering the removal of most or all of the screen shots, as well as the extra person photos (all but the first photo for any given person). But not if I have to go through all the records one-by-one and remove the photos manually!

I realize there's no real upper limit on the size of a PVD database, but I just fear that it'll eventually become unmanageable and start to slow everything down. Already, if I'm in People View and choose "View/Group by/Career", it takes a few seconds to process the over 4000 performers in my database.

So, it would be nice if there was a menu item or script for removing certain types of images, but since there doesn't appear to be, is there any alternative?

Aimhere

25
Feature Suggestions / Media Count and Type fields
« on: December 11, 2010, 05:02:46 pm »
Hi guys,

I have a massive number of movies and TV shows, mostly in Xvid (AVI) format, stored on recordable DVDs. When scanning them into PVD (either with the automatic disc-insertion detection, or with Tools/Scan Folders), PVD always considers the physical medium when setting the Media Count and Media Type fields. That is, Media Count is always set to "1" and Type is set to "DVD5".

I would much prefer it if PVD could be set to consider the files instead of the physical media. Suppose the DVD-R in question has a movie split into two 700MB AVI files (as is common on the 'Net). When that movie is imported, I'd like to see Media Count set to "2" and Media Type set to "AVI file".

I really don't care to track what kind of physical medium the files are stored on, because I know it's on DVD-R (it is my collection, after all!). But I do like to keep track of the number of files associated with a given movie, and the fact that it's an AVI (as opposed to an MPEG, M4V, a Video DVD, etc.).

As it stands now, I always have to change the Media Count and Type fields by hand after scanning the files, which really gets to be a chore. Anything you could do to automate the process would be much appreciated.  :)

Aimhere

26
Support / File type associations
« on: December 08, 2010, 06:02:34 pm »
I realize the following may be outside the scope of PVD, but thought I'd ask anyway.

I'm having a problem with my file type associations and PVD. Specifically, AVI files are associated in Windows with Media Player Classic HomeCinema, yet when I click the "Play movie" button in PVD, it runs Winamp instead.

What's more, Winamp doesn't even start playing the movie. Instead, it displays an "Open" dialog, with the folder path set to "C:\Users\Public\Music\Sample Music" (no file selected).

I'm sure I must have had Windows set to run Winamp for AVI files at some point, then changed it to MPC-HC. But if MPC-HC is honored everywhere else in Windows as my player of choice for AVIs (e.g. double-clicking in Explorer), why isn't PVD recognizing the fact?

I've tried changing the association for AVI to other media players (Windows Media Player, VLC Player, J. River Media Center), but each time I test in PVD, all I get is Winamp!

Any ideas why PVD isn't launching the right app?

Running PVD 0.9.9.21 on Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Aimhere

27
Support / IMDB plugin broken for biographies?
« on: December 07, 2010, 10:05:25 pm »
Hi,

I think an IMDB update may have broken the functionality of the IMDB people plugin (0.3.0.5) with regard to importing Biography information.

I don't normally use IMDB biographies for actors in my database, preferring to get that information from another source. And I usually get that information before running the IMDB plugin (which is set to not overwrite the Biography field if it's already occupied). But today, I forgot to do that, and ran IMDB anyway. Suddenly, my Biography field was filled with a huge, multi-page block of raw IMDB webpage text, with bits and pieces of Javascript thrown in!

I'd post a sample, but I'm afraid it would be too long to post here in its entirety.

Furthermore, I then tried to erase the garbage text and replace it with some normal bio info. But when I saved the changes, the correction wouldn't "take" (that is, the garbage remained). I eventually managed to get rid of it by clicking on another actor, then going back to the first one and deleting the garbage before saving it again, this time it worked. (Apparently PVD has difficulty handling blocks of imported text with so many lines? The imported garbage had to be at least 15 screen pages long, and I've never had trouble getting edits in text fields to "stick" until now.)

Nostra, please take a look at the IMDB "people" plugin. In the meantime, I'll have to be careful not to import IMDB biographies. Thanks!

Aimhere

28
Support / [SOLVED] Last Modified field for actors
« on: November 09, 2010, 06:06:41 pm »
Hi,

I've noticed that when I use an import plugin (e.g. IMDB) to update a record for an actor, the "Last modified" field isn't being updated.

More specifically, I have the IMDB plugin set up to overwrite the filmography (in Preferences, "Filmography" is checked, all other fields are "boxed" so as to only overwrite empty fields), and "merge filmographies" is also checked. When I run the import, if the only change that happens is new movies being added to the actor's filmography, the "Last modified" field remains unchanged.

If the IMDB plugin is set to overwrite other fields (e.g. alternative names, birthday, etc.), and that information is available on IMDB, then "Last modified" gets a new timestamp as expected when the other field(s) are changed. But when the filmography is the only field being updated, "Last Modified" never changes.

Please look into this. Thanks.

Aimhere

29
Feature Suggestions / Lookup by barcode
« on: October 04, 2010, 06:25:19 pm »
Hi,

A review of PVD I found on another site pointed out a missing feature, which would be a handy thing to have in PVD.

Namely, the ability to look up movies by their package barcode (e.g. UPC) instead of by title, when adding a new movie with "New Movie Master". If done this way, the movie's record could then include only the features specific to that particular release package, e.g. bonus content, extra discs, extended versions, etc.

Any chance of adding this kind of functionality? I imagine a script or plugin could be written to import the info from the Web, if the movie's barcode field is already filled in, but I can see the advantages of importing it right from the get-go in "New Movie Master".

Aimhere

30
Talk / PVD reviews on the Web
« on: October 04, 2010, 06:15:44 pm »
Hi,

Thought I'd start a new thread with links to reviews of PVD.

Here's a review of DVD cataloging software on Gizmo's Freeware:

 http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-dvd-collection-software.htm

The author of the review rated PVD three (out of five), comparing it to the likes of DVD Profiler, Griffith, Eric's Movie Database, and Movie Collector. He liked its extensive list of features, but gave it dings for a "rudimentary GUI", lack of certain fields in the default configuration, and no UPC-based identification (apparently some of the others let you look up movies by UPC barcode instead of title when adding a new movie).

I registered for the site's forums, and posted a couple of comments on PVD.

If anyone else has seen PVD reviewed somewhere, please feel free to add to this thread!  :)

Aimhere

31
Support / [SOLVED] Small issue with plugin installation/updates
« on: September 24, 2010, 02:51:52 pm »
Hi,

When presented with the dialog for choosing which plugins to install or to update, a couple are listed as being for English ("EN") under the Language column, but the associated websites are NOT in English. In particular, "Beyazperde.com" and "Mymovies.it".

Nostra, could you please twiddle the code to correct this? Thanks.

Aimhere

32
Feature Suggestions / Keyboard shortcut for Bookmark feature
« on: July 24, 2010, 09:36:14 pm »
Okay, this is driving me nuts...

When I'm editing a movie or person's information and typing in a text field, I frequently find myself bumping the "Insert" key when I'm reaching for "Delete". This bumps me OUT of edit mode and moves down to the next record. Fortunately, PVD saves whatever changed I made when it switches out of edit mode, but the fact that it happens is annoying as hell! I have to go back to the record I was working on and UN-bookmark it, then edit it and finish my typing.

Is there any chance of getting the "Bookmark" keyboard shortcut changed to something NOT on the editing key cluster, or of adding a configuration oprion to disable the shortcut? Barring that, how about making it so the "Insert" key HAS NO EFFECT IN EDIT MODE>:( >:( >:(

Aimhere

33
Support / Problem quitting program
« on: May 20, 2010, 10:13:18 pm »
Hi,

Sometimes, I find that when I close PVD, it doesn't really quit. The window and tray icon both disappear, but the process is still in memory (as shown in Windows' Task Manager). And the process has the database file open/locked, so that the next time I launch PVD, it throws up errors about not being able to open the database.

(note: I usually put my PC into hibernate when I'm not using it, so it never shuts down, and the leftover process remains in memory. No doubt an actual full shutdown would clear the condition.)

If I use Task Manager to end the PVD process, then re-launch it, I'm able to open the file successfully. But I'm always worried it might get corrupted one of these days. (I do make backups of my 500+MB database fairly often, but I'd hate to lose my work since the last backup.)

This failure to quit happens maybe one out of ten uses of the program, give or take. I'm running 0.9.9.21 on a fully-patched Windows XP SP3 system, Athlon XP processor, 2GB RAM.

Could nostra look into this, please? I'll try to remember to run PVD in -debug mode for awhile, and see if I log any error messages that might point to a cause.

Thanks,
Aimhere

34
Support / "New Feaures" link on site
« on: April 25, 2010, 07:33:34 pm »
Hi,

The "New Features" link in the banner at the top of the Forums (as well as the "News" section on the homepage) links to a post from February 2009, describing version 0.9.9.16. Could this be updated to be current?

Aimhere

35
Support / "A similar title was found" dialog
« on: March 02, 2010, 05:14:11 pm »
Hi,

Since upgrading to 0.9.9.18, when I add new movies (either by "new movie master" or by scanning files on disc), the dialog that comes up telling me "A similar title was found in the database" hasn't quite been working right.

I've got it set up so that all the people in my database have complete filmographies (courtesy of IMDB), including titles I don't possess. So naturally, when I add new movies, many will match what's in the existing filmographies, and the above dialog appears. But with the newer version of PVD, more often than not, the main list area in the middle that's supposed to show which matching titles are in the database, doesn't actually list ANY movies. All I see in that area is "Add New", which isn't what I want (I actually do want to overwrite the existing movie record).

I've found that if I just click "Okay" without selecting anything in the (blank) list, PVD updates the record for the title in question as if it actually did appear in the list and was clicked on. So I seem to get the results I wanted in the first place; it's just that the dialog isn't always actually showing the matching record(s).  Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.  :P

It didn't used to act this way... with the older version of PVD, there was always at least one matching title displayed. Please investigate.

Aimhere

36
Feature Suggestions / Suggestion for IMDB People plugin
« on: February 28, 2010, 09:12:09 pm »
Hi,

I have a suggestion for the IMDB People plugin.

In my database, there are many actors and actresses who appear on IMDB multiple times, either because of AKAs that were given separate entries in IMDB's records, or because someone thought the movies made by a given person were made by two or more different people with the same name (but they actually are the same person). So, for these people, my URL field contains two or more IMDB URLs, separated by spaces or newlines.

Trouble is, when I run the IMDB People plugin to import the data, IMDB only recognizes (and imports from) the first IMDB URL it finds in the URL field. All others are ignored. So if I want to refresh the data from ALL the URLs, I have to laboriously cut-and-paste to move each one to first in the URL list, run the plugin, cut-and-paste the next one, etc. This gets to be a major pain for people who are always coming out with new movies!

Could the IMDB plugin be modified to look for, and import from, ALL IMDB URLs that may be present in the URL field? To avoid confusion, I think it should be set up to import only the filmographies (and possibly awards) from multiple IMDB URLs; all other fields ought to be taken from the first URL listed (which would normally be the "primary" record for that person). [Optionally, it could import the other fields from subsequent URLs if and only if the first URL has no data for that field.]

Thanks,
Aimhere

37
Scripts and Templates / AdultDVDEmpire script for 0.9.9.16+
« on: February 20, 2010, 10:22:48 pm »
Edit: This version of the AdultDVDEmpire movie information script no longer works, due to changes in ADE's website layout. I don't have the time to modify and maintain it anymore, but another user named Joc has picked it up. See this thread for his new version. -- Aimhere

Hi,

Revised AdultDVDEmpire.com script, version 0.1.0.8.

Imports movie information (including box artwork).

For use with PVD 0.9.9.16 and above only.

Aimhere

(P.S. - I didn't write the original script, just maintaining it for now due to occasional changes at ADE. Your mileage may vary!)

-- Modified again 8/6/2011 to deal with a change in ADE HTML for title formatting.

38
Support / Minor toolbar bugs
« on: February 18, 2010, 06:48:02 pm »
Hi,

Just noticed this: When in People View, the area between the main search box and the "Web search" box, where the button for choosing the fields to search lies, isn't wide enough for the longest of the button's labels. "Name + Translated name + Alternative name" becomes truncated to "e + Translated name + Alternative na".

Also noticing some wonkiness with the main toolbar. If I go into Preferences and add additional buttons beyond the default set, sometimes they show up and sometimes they don't. And I don't mean that they appear "ghosted out" (like they would if they didn't apply to the current operating mode/view), I mean that they don't appear at all. For example, if I add the button "Automatically create screenshots", it's nowhere to be found, no matter where I put it in the toolbar. The toolbar just gets a little bit wider, as if a bit more space was inserted... but no new button. But other buttons (e.g. "Add video files") can be added and work as expected.

Also, if the main toolbar and search toolbar are on the same line (as is default), and extra buttons are added to the main toolbar, the search toolbar's position upon launching the program sometimes partially obscures the main toolbar, and I have to move the search toolbar to expose the rest of the main toolbar buttons. It would be nice if we could "lock" the toolbars in position, as in other apps that have movable toolbars.

It'd also be nice to be able to resize the text boxes for the Search and Web Search. (IMO, both search boxes are a bit wider than they really need to be.)

Finally: Why is the main search box a different height than the Web Search one? That is, the main Search box has a bit more whitespace above and below where the typed text appears. And, the Web search box has a visible border, while the main Search box has none. Is this just a peculiarity of whatever tools were used to build PVD? (Yeah, it's a minor quibble, I just think it's visually inconsistent.)

Aimhere

39
Support / Question re: database and image files
« on: February 03, 2010, 09:41:13 pm »
Hi,

Since I started using PVD, I've always enabled the "Store images in database file" option in Preferences, so that the various images (posters, screenshots, actors, etc.) are embedded in the database, rather than stored separately on disk.

Because of this, my database is becoming pretty huge (around 500 megabytes at last count). I'd consider unchecking the above option and using the default method, but I'm concerned about how PVD references images that are stored separately.

My main question is, are image files referred to internally with absolute pathnames (e.g. something like "C:\PVD Files\Images\Movies\Star Wars.jpg") or relative ones (assuming the database is in "C:\PVD Files" then the image path becomes "Images\Movies\Star Wars.jpg")? It makes a difference if the database file itself is ever moved (say, from the C: drive to the F: drive); this would break any relative pathnames.

I'm assuming the app does use absolute pathnames, just want to verify.

As long as I'm at it: would there be any programmatic way to change embedded images to separate files for a given database? Preferably something that would extract the images to separate folders depending on their purpose (e.g. "Posters", "Screenshots", "Actors", etc.)?

Aimhere

40
Support / Multiple Movies Editor behavior
« on: January 28, 2010, 09:27:35 pm »
Hi,

There's a small issue with the Multiple Movies Editor, regarding the checkboxes next to the various fields.

When you click in one of the plain-text fields (like "Director") and type something, the checkbox next to that field is automatically selected/ticked, so that the value is applied to the selected movies when you click "OK". But this doesn't happen with the drop-down listbox fields, like "Category" or "Media Type". If you select an item from a listbox, the checkbox remains UNselected, and if you don't remember to tick it, the change won't be applied when "OK" is clicked. Likewise, you can click in a listbox field and enter a new value, but again, it won't be applied unless you manually tick the checkbox.

Using 0.9.9.14 here. I seem to recall that older versions didn't act this way, but my memory may be wrong. In any case, the inconsistency is kind of annoying. Can this be fixed, please?

Aimhere

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