Author Topic: IMDb Top 250  (Read 10048 times)

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buah

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IMDb Top 250
« on: August 06, 2010, 04:39:17 pm »
Any idea how to dynamically track IMDb Top 250? Could it be done with the IMDb plugin improvement, to purge "IMDb Top 250" field for those movies that aren't anymore on the list?

If not, how any of you track changes?

Offline CAD

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Re: IMDb Top 250
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2010, 02:54:05 am »
Not exactly what you are after,
but have a look at http://next-flick.net/

I use this to track movies I am interested in. Also "whats hot" button to see what others are interested in.
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buah

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Re: IMDb Top 250
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2010, 12:31:16 pm »
Sorry CAD, now I see I wasn't clear.

For example, a few months ago "Rain Main" was #249 on a top 250 list, but it's not on the list any more. Other movies are still there, but not with the same ranking. There are also new movies on the list and also in PVD. Any idea how to track top 250 list changes in (with?) PVD, but not by manual comparing title by title?

Tnx for the link, CAD.

Offline CAD

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Re: IMDb Top 250
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2010, 12:47:12 am »
Hi buah.

I've never looked at top250 (until now).
looking at it a quick and nasty way would be to copy and paste list into excel or notepad++
and then do a diff compare. You could export your top 250 from pvd in csv and do a "differences compare"

maybe a feature request for nostra ;)
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Offline rick.ca

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Re: IMDb Top 250
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2010, 04:31:59 am »
IMDb rankings can be kept up-to-date by selecting all the movies with a rank, and updating them. Even if not done very often, there will only be a small number missing from the end of the sequence. If it matters, these can be identified and added (e.g., when I did this yesterday, I had to manually add numbers 203, 230, 236, 245 and 250).

If starting with a database with no IMDb rank recorded, this method obviously won't work. The list can be copied into Excel, parsed, and imported to PVD. Unfortunately, the import plugin will not match records using the URL (which can be extracted from the hyperlinks in the list), so it's necessary to make sure the titles in the import are exactly the same as those used in PVD. This is almost as tedious as entering all the ranks manually. So in this situation, I would suggest selecting all the movies with a Rating greater than 7.9 and updating them. That may be considerably more than 250 records, but it will get all the Top 250 (that are in the database).

To "dynamically track" the rankings, a separate plugin would be required (or maybe a script, but I don't know if a script is able to interact with the database in the manner required). This would get the list and update the database with the current rank and votes. It might also add any movies that appear on the list but are not in the database. This would be much faster than updating 250 records, and could be run daily or as required. Perhaps it would have an option to run the update every n days.

buah

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Re: IMDb Top 250
« Reply #5 on: August 08, 2010, 11:58:16 am »
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You could export your top 250 from pvd in csv and do a "differences compare"

Yeah, CAD, that was exactly the very first idea that occurred to me, also. But, if it doesn't take too much time, it definitely takes too much manual "labor". Thanks!

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I would suggest selecting all the movies with a Rating greater than 7.9 and updating them.
Yes, that's a good idea, and in circumstances the best one, I would say. Maybe it's even better to select records >=8.0, because I cannot recall of any title with the rating less than 8.0 that had been on the list? Thanks rick, anyway!

Quote
To "dynamically track" the rankings, a separate plugin would be required
Quote
maybe a feature request for nostra

So, is it worthy of suggestion? As for me, I think it is, and it would make PVD the first piece of software that has another great unique feature.

Quote
when I did this yesterday, I had to manually add numbers 203, 230, 236, 245 and 250

I didn't understand quite well, how did you identify that you had to add those titles? By copying the list into Excel, parsing it, and importing it?


P.S. Number 203 - G rrreat! Must-a-see!

Offline CAD

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Re: IMDb Top 250
« Reply #6 on: August 08, 2010, 12:53:04 pm »
Hi buah,

I'm not sure what feature set you want to get from top250 search and what for.

Do you want new editions to top 250 that aren't in your database (ie movies that you haven't seen so that you can go and see them)
or movies that are in PVD that have moved out of top250 so you can update PVD (I couldn't think of reason why you would care about movies moving out of top250 -sorry) :)
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buah

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Re: IMDb Top 250
« Reply #7 on: August 08, 2010, 01:56:18 pm »
Hi CAD,

Thanks for interesting in. Let's suppose I have all top 250 in my collection. Now, "Rain Man" is #249. Tomorrow, it isn't on the list any more, and I don't know that. Meanwhile, I got "Kick-Ass" movie and added entry to PVD for it. It is "newbie" on the top 250, #179.

Now, I apply advanced search so to PVD list IMDb's Top 250. What I get? 251 titles, right? Which one is sufficient?

So, what I meant is that I wanted to able to have accurate list of movies in my collection that are in the IMDb's top 250 list.

If it's possible to create such a plugin, that would be great. In that case I'd suggest an additional feature to it: once the movie got the IMDb's top 250, for plugin to be able to record it's highest ranking ever, in a different field, of course.

Cheers

Offline CAD

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Re: IMDb Top 250
« Reply #8 on: August 08, 2010, 02:18:17 pm »
cool - got it.

easiest way i can see would be to remove all top250 entries currently in pvd and then reapply from imdb download.
You don't get a diff, but it would be up to date
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buah

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Re: IMDb Top 250
« Reply #9 on: August 08, 2010, 02:34:48 pm »
Yes, it could be a way to do it. But it seems that rick's suggestion is more appropriate considering circumstances, as I said it earlier.

The potential plugin should be able to periodically and optionally (as rick contemplated) compare PVD's recorded ranking and votes with actual at the IMDb, and to overwrite 'em with accurate ones if they differs.

Thanks for the ideas.

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Re: IMDb Top 250
« Reply #10 on: August 08, 2010, 10:58:57 pm »
Quote
Yes, it could be a way to do it. But it seems that rick's suggestion is more appropriate considering circumstances, as I said it earlier.

Actually, I was just being brief in my description of the suggested function. It's important it remove any rankings that no longer appear on the list. The sensible way to do that is to remove all rankings, then add the current ones—according to the list. Votes are part of the list, so they may as well be updated at the same time.

As for maintaining any kind of history, I don't think we can compete with IMDb Top 250 History. It can be called using the Web search: ht tp://www.took.nl/250/titles/search/%s%u.

buah

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Re: IMDb Top 250
« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2010, 12:19:15 pm »
Wow, something definitely happened with the list. There are 15 titles on it with the rating 7.9, and in May '10 none with this rating? Bottom 11 titles had 8.0 rating.

And, for example, Memories of Murder was on the list, but not anymore and it has 8.1 and 11,129 votes?

Bayes must be rotating in his grave...

 

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