[rernst]

It's fixed. I tried to squeeze a drop out before leaving and left a bad piece of code in. I am back and have a week off and am working on the code. I have fixed what you describe (go with the previous version for the time being). In addition to this I have already added stacking support, an integrated player (based on a jni stub to libavcodec), some support for Aeon and image caching. Give me a few days to add some more features folks have asked for such as resizing thumbnails. If someone can explain the intricacies of directory-based movies for Aeon to me, I will do this, too. (i.e. relocating movie files) Somehow only half my moves show up in Aeon and I am sure I could scour the forums and figure it out.

There will be studio tag support.

If you don't mind use the MR forum at 24hourloop.com so I can track this stuff better.

And again, sorry for the bug. Never do something under pressure ...

[FishOil]

How about some examples as to how the filename convention should look for TV shows instead of the cryptic looking stuff you have in the profiles.

This is how I name my TV shows.

Star Trek Enterprise.S04E11-Observer Effect.avi
Rescue Me.S03E02-Discovery.avi
Eureka.S02E03-Unpredictable.avi


Maybe you could have a list of real world name examples and then have the program fill in the cryptic code for you when you click the format you want. You really cant expect people to try and guess at how the filenames should be.

[rernst]

Well, it really works just like XBMC, you essentially use a regular expression to describe what you want. Regular expressions are really the only way to do this sort of thing but they are extremely off-putting for people that are not familiar with them - and they indeed take a while getting used to. But again, it works like XBMC when it comes down to it.

Not sure whether you checked the forum over there but I answered some questions in regards to what to use already.

Your naming convention is just fine. Bear in mind that the code will rename according to its scheme (outlined in the readmes).

I can't really delve into what exactly a particular regular expression means but for your example you could specify

Season / episode: .*?[-\.]\s*[SX](\d{1,4})E(\d{1,4}).*
Series: (.*?)\s*[-\.]\s*[SX]\d{1,4}E\d{1,4}.*

This will work with your current naming as well as what it will rename it to. Note that the code will look up the correct spelling of the show and make it 'filename safe' and also look up the correct name of the episode. But in the end it will look pretty much like what you have now.

I will copy the post to the prog forum. Beware that 0.45 has a bug and you should wait until 0.46 by the end of the week or use 0.44.

[bidossessi]

watch this thread for hd flagging capabilities in SVN.

[rernst]

Media Reader 0.46 is released and ready for download. Note that this is a major upgrade and a lot of work went into this.

On a personal note: I see many thousands downloads but little feedback. Please provide some input where yu would like to see this piece of software go next. I have generally integrated suggestions I have received. For more infor and a few screenshots see here.

Here are the highlights for this release:

0.46

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> After installing, update your profile and point it to the mediainfo executable. Ensure all

other profile options are set properly. You can always reset your profile by scratching 'profile.xml' in

Media Reader's work directory (location depends on your operating system). Unless you do so, Media Reader

may not work properly. (I will add some code in the next version to prompt you through such upgrades)

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Removed label beta / alpha. You judge

- Fixed error casting pattern to string using profile.

- Created upgrade code which will now transparently upgrades profile and database from version to version.

No need to scratch and start over on upgrades.

- Extended various field lengths.

- *** Multipart movie support. ***

- *** Subtitle support. ***

- *** In a major upgrade MR now reads files and formats. The analyzed information is both stored and can be made available to the Aeon XBMC skin. (Enable in profile) ***

- As for Aeon studio tag support: Note that when you edit the movie you will still see the standard info (the studio). The proper tag is only written to the nfo file. To verify that the info is correct you can use the raw nfo edit function. Not sure whether I got the tag setup absolutely correct as I worked from some posts in threads that changed over time. Let me know if something needs adjusting.

> Yes, I know there is native flagging support apparently now (it's not in the existing release, is it) but it appears to have some problems. You might want to give this a shot instead if it works better for you<


- MR now has a splash screen. Seems minor but it's often now quite clear whether it has been kicked off or not and the wait for it to start is annoying.

- *** Raw editing of nfo files with *syntax coloring support*. *** Use it to check whether nfo files are generated properly if you wonder and to make changes if needed. No need to hunt down the file name.

- *** Rewriting of nfo and fanart for either selected TV episodes and movies or all. This should make the introduction of the Aeon studio tags very simple if you already have a scanned library and do not want to start over. No rescanning necessary***

- Default actions for all dialogs, i.e. hit Enter accepts inputs, etc.

- Advancedsettings editor preview(!). I haven't managed to finish this up but wanted to release the rest as it already offers many useful features.

Please read the readme. You will need mediainfo support. The code comes with a windows exectuable but dues to the large variety of Linux distros I could not provide a statically linked version (much less of the Mac version). There is a link in the readme on how to install the Linux version with a couple of clicks.

I really need some definite feedback on Mac functionality.

Enjoy and get it here.

[rernst]

watch this thread for hd flagging capabilities in SVN.

Thanks. Will get a copy.

[Tariella]

I can't download any of your MediaReader's versions. The download aborts before it reaches 20MB (without giving an error, it just stops). Am I doing something wrong?
Obviously it works for everybody else.

[garyi]

Because it does not use a proper OSX open dialogue window there is no way for me to select my drobo where my files reside, you can only pick the main harddrive.

So game over at the first hurdle.

[bidossessi]

@ garyl
buy the man a Mac, and you'll get all the mac compatibility you want.

@ rernst
Seriously you should stop opening a new thread for every release you make of your app. it will bring you arched brows from the mods.

now, on a more joyous note [features to consider]:
- file level / folder level support (folder level IS the recommended hierarchy in XBMC after all; see wiki)
- a way to quickly isolate problematic movies and see what is missing (a la EMM)
- a sharper studio name retrieval ( noticed your screenshots didn't have that one)
- automatic extrathumbs generation
- automatic srt retrieval (is that what you call subtitle support?)
- locale support (or a way to tell your scraper that i'm french/indian/japanese...
- trailer downloading/trailer url support
- native media flagging (it WILL go mainstream, and rather sooner than later)
- a github/svn link (some other people might be able to help swat'em buggies.

ps: i haven't tried your app yet, but it just might be the solution i need. the screens look nice and uncluttered. cross-platform is the way to go; don't let nobody bog you down! but do look at what others are doing so as not to reinvent the wheel if you can avoid it.

To sum it all up: I'm gonna use yours, mate!

[garyi]

Bidossisi, he asked for mac feedback.

I want nothing more than a media manager for mac. And I am not alone.

However this one cannot do the very first part of whats needed, picking the source. So its game over, he asked for feedback.

[rernst]

Because it does not use a proper OSX open dialogue window there is no way for me to select my drobo where my files reside, you can only pick the main harddrive.

So game over at the first hurdle.

Well, I'd love to help but Java does the file selection dialog. I just instantiate a class. I have chatted with Sun about some issues with the file dialogs in general and there is a ticket open for a Windows issue. I'll scour Ebay for something that can run OSX. Not even the VMWare images work right ...

[rernst]

@ garyl
buy the man a Mac, and you'll get all the mac compatibility you want.

@ rernst
Seriously you should stop opening a new thread for every release you make of your app. it will bring you arched brows from the mods.

now, on a more joyous note [features to consider]:
- file level / folder level support (folder level IS the recommended hierarchy in XBMC after all; see wiki)
- a way to quickly isolate problematic movies and see what is missing (a la EMM)
- a sharper studio name retrieval ( noticed your screenshots didn't have that one)
- automatic extrathumbs generation
- automatic srt retrieval (is that what you call subtitle support?)
- locale support (or a way to tell your scraper that i'm french/indian/japanese...
- trailer downloading/trailer url support
- native media flagging (it WILL go mainstream, and rather sooner than later)
- a github/svn link (some other people might be able to help swat'em buggies.

ps: i haven't tried your app yet, but it just might be the solution i need. the screens look nice and uncluttered. cross-platform is the way to go; don't let nobody bog you down! but do look at what others are doing so as not to reinvent the wheel if you can avoid it.

To sum it all up: I'm gonna use yours, mate!

Thanks for the input. For some reason I am not getting email notifications from this thread (I am subscribed and they do not seem to wind up in my spam, so I'll have to keep checking unless you post on the app's forum).

A heads up - somebody asked for nfo import and that is already working now. I sent someone else today a copy of it via yousendit. If you have trouble getting it, let me know via pm and I'll get you one.

>>> - file level / folder level support (folder level IS the recommended hierarchy in XBMC after all; see wiki)

Hmm, it does support this but you are clearly talking about something else than I think. This all has to do with deriving the movie's contents by glancing at the folder it resides in? (This is not how I use XBMC except for TV series but it seems others do). Can you be specific? The next drop was going to create a structure such as:

- Movie title
|
+ - %TITLE%xxx%RESOLUTION% etc. etc.

i.e., I'd give you twenty or so tags that you could build the movie name from. Is this what you are asking for?

>>> - a way to quickly isolate problematic movies and see what is missing (a la EMM)
Not sure what that means. Movies that I could not find artwork for? Btw, I seem to be finding more artwork than other code I used to use and more than XBMC for some reason, think it's because I pull it from IMPA.

>>> - a sharper studio name retrieval ( noticed your screenshots didn't have that one)

When I took the screen shots I noticed it, too. SO I double-checked with IMDB and it did not have studios listed for the movies in question. But there are some other ways I could get the info; I will look into that.

>>> - automatic extrathumbs generation
Yeah, I have tons of artwork but no place to go. Where do I stick these files? I'd love to do it but is this Aeon-specific because I have no idea where I would see them with my current skin ...

>>> - locale support (or a way to tell your scraper that i'm french/indian/japanese...
Think this is really a big deal? You are only the second person to mention it and I don't know how much work it is (for example, how much do I have to adapt the screen scraping?)

>>> - trailer downloading/trailer url support
It retrieves one trailer URL and could do more but the nfo only accepts one. What do you envision where should the trailer be downloaded to? To watch it inside MR itself?

>>> - native media flagging (it WILL go mainstream, and rather sooner than later)
It does the studio tags and retrieves media info. (0.46). In addition to the filename tagging above, should it do more?

>>> - automatic srt retrieval (is that what you call subtitle support?)
No, for now it simply keeps the subtitles in sync with the main title so you don't lose the relationship when renaming. But this is a great idea, hadn't thought of it. I will look into it.

>>> - a github/svn link (some other people might be able to help swat'em buggies.
I actually have it hosted svn in a LAN here but have no idea how to get it hosted someplace else. Bottom line, I don't know how you get this stuff put up somewhere. It's written using Netbeans (I work in both Netbeans and Eclipse but prefer Netbeans), so that would be a dependency for anyone working on it. I don't think that is esoteric, is it?

Thanks for the input and I'll keep checking the thread (I get emails from other threads, it's crazy). PM me if you or someone really wants to do some work on it.

[garyi]

Rernst, it occured to me to put an alias of my nas drive in the home folder and sure enough it shows up. However you programme doe nto appear to work with network volumes or at least not with mine.

My films folder has a folder for each film. In each folder is a single vob file of the film and NFO file and picture file. You programme got confused and could not find a single film, although it did scan the folder.

[bidossessi]

Disclaimer: please keep in mind that all these are request for MY PERSONAL convenience. thay may not work for other; in which case i leave up to them to make counter-requests.

here is MY folder structure. it may be aeon-specific, but i don't think it's a bad way of storing things, and other folder names could always come up:

movies/moviename/
movies/moviename/moviename.avi
movies/moviename/moviename.nfo
#or some variation
movies/moviename/moviename_part1.avi
movies/moviename/moviename_part2.avi
movies/moviename/moviename_part1.nfo
# then comes the extra stuff
movies/moviename/moviename.tbn
movies/moviename/moviename-fanart.jpg
movies/moviename/moviename.srt
movies/moviename/moviename-trailer.mov
# just in case other skins work differently
movies/moviename/movie.nfo
movies/moviename/movie.tbn
movies/moviename/poster.tbn
movies/moviename/folder.jpg
movies/moviename/fanart.jpg
# extra fanart
movies/moviename/extra/
movies/moviename/extra/fanart1.jpg
movies/moviename/extra/fanart2.jpg
movies/moviename/extra/fanart3.jpg
# thumbnails (screenshots)
movies/moviename/extrathumbs/
movies/moviename/extrathumbs/thumb1.jpg
movies/moviename/extrathumbs/thumb2.jpg
movies/moviename/extrathumbs/thumb3.jpg

this is considered a folder-level storage scheme as opposed to:
movies/movie1name.avi
movies/movie1name.nfo
movies/movie2name.avi
movies/movie2name.nfo

>>> - a way to quickly isolate problematic movies and see what is missing (a la EMM)
Not sure what that means. Movies that I could not find artwork for? Btw, I seem to be finding more artwork than other code I used to use and more than XBMC for some reason, think it's because I pull it from IMPA.

No piece of software is perfect, and i can guarantee you won't find ALL artworks on the first round (not for the movies i've got). plus, EMM gives the user checkboxes for extra stuff it found (poster, fanart, nfo, trailer, extrathumbs, srt). it's a nice visual cue for how complete my metadata is. I can then go in and act where needed for extra finetuning. Smart filters could also work (less real-estate).

"extrathumbs" is an aeon-specific thing right now; but i think it will go mainstream. in any case I've got a shell script for that. But this feature could be useful for other linux Aeon users. There's a discussion taking place right now about naming conventions that XBMC could implement/enforce. I try to keep my media XBMC-free as much as possible, but XBMC is still my preffered HTPC app.

locale-awareness: every software that deals with information retrieval should be locale-aware imo. it's plain common sense. do you have any idea how many of us XBMC users are not english-speaking?and what's the point of all this metadata -gathering if not wowing the wife and the in-laws?
automatic srt retrieval could also benefit from locale-awareness by knowing which language is desired.

XBMC has a link on the info dialog for movies that can be used to watch a trailer. it's location is dictated by the trailer tag in the xml, so it can be local or remote. i believe the convention for local trailers is appending '-trailer' or .trailer' to the movie name. and there's a script in xbmc that can pull trailers to the local hdd. The movie folder seems like the ideal spot, and it works fine over there.

There's a Unified media manager project being discussed somewhere on this forum. i believe your work is the next best thing.

[rernst]

Rernst, it occured to me to put an alias of my nas drive in the home folder and sure enough it shows up. However you programme doe nto appear to work with network volumes or at least not with mine.

My films folder has a folder for each film. In each folder is a single vob file of the film and NFO file and picture file. You programme got confused and could not find a single film, although it did scan the folder.

Two things: I did not test using VOBs so I am not sure it reads the media information correctly (although my bet would be it does). However: You need to add 'vob' to the list of valid extensions in the profile (by default it is not). Then it will see it.

Feedback is appreciated.