[Shredder_guitar]

I use tiny media manager for scraping data for TV shows and as of a week or so ago I noticed that they were only being renamed. When i looked further I noticed that the API I use for tvdb.com was depreciated and individuals are no longer allowed to use API calls and it's for a per project basis....is this true? Am I misunderstanding something? I mean...wtf? charging for an API call? 

[burcs]

I may be reading this wrong, but it seems like they're charging tmm to use the api, and they're passing the cost on to you.

[ohhwee]

tvdb can die in a ball of fire

[Sidewinder_2011]

tvdb can die in a ball of fire

Why ?

[Shredder_guitar]

I may be reading this wrong, but it seems like they're charging tmm to use the api, and they're passing the cost on to you.

TMM is now Charging a yearly fee also...smh ...I decided to pay for TMM because it's been an invaluable tool for automating my movies and tvshows and keeping them organized. Not sure how i feel still about an API call being a paid for service.....especially when data is managed publicly.

[ohhwee]

Not sure how i feel still about an API call being a paid for service.....especially when data is managed publicly.

[rschiks]

Not sure how i feel still about an API call being a paid for service.....especially when data is managed publicly.

 Think people are forgetting hosting is also costing money. I hope this works out for them. I really do.

[Shredder_guitar]

It starts from the top, down, doesn't it? I think as costs increase, so will my expectation of what the product delivers and i would encourage anyone else dumb enough to pay for an api call to expect the same. I haven't paid for it yet...still weighing out the pros and cons. But I'm sure there are other methods of generating a cash flow than to pass cost directly on to users. Sell crap on Amazon.com....start an eCommerce section, hell anything would have been better than passing costs on to users when it's users that are building the database themselves. To me, it's like if i cook my own hamburger and then sell it to myself to eat it afterwards even after having already paid for the ingredients to make the hamburger in the first place. i dunno....just seems like a shitty deal for end users to me....because the next step is for the major players that use the api call is to charge for offsetting THEIR costs. yeah....it's only $12 bucks....but in 5 years it'll probably be $15...in 10 years it'll probably $30 per month...etc

[great_vc]

for my piece of mind and calm, if Kodi tv scraping and i cannot get proper episode names and shows identification i will be gladly pay 10 € per year if needed. i assume most of the add-ons will need to be updated or everything will die in a ball of fire and people will open 10 threads per second saying "cannot get episode title" etc. 
it is per year ! it is practically nothing.

i have paid for winrar key back in the days for f shake.

[ohhwee]

for my piece of mind and calm, if Kodi tv scraping and i cannot get proper episode names and shows identification i will be gladly pay 10 € per year if needed. i assume most of the add-ons will need to be updated or everything will die in a ball of fire and people will open 10 threads per second saying "cannot get episode title" etc. 
it is per year ! it is practically nothing.

i have paid for winrar key back in the days for f shake.

You dug up an month old thread to rally cry how great tvdb is, do you work for them? Its a database of info they didn't put together, the public did. If it was their own db they were wanting to charge access for fine, thats cool. Other words its shady business practices and I refuse to support shady assholes.

[great_vc]

for my piece of mind and calm, if Kodi tv scraping and i cannot get proper episode names and shows identification i will be gladly pay 10 € per year if needed. i assume most of the add-ons will need to be updated or everything will die in a ball of fire and people will open 10 threads per second saying "cannot get episode title" etc. 
it is per year ! it is practically nothing.

i have paid for winrar key back in the days for f shake.

You dug up an month old thread to rally cry how great tvdb is, do you work for them? Its a database of info they didn't put together, the public did. If it was their own db they were wanting to charge access for fine, thats cool. Other words its shady business practices and I refuse to support shady assholes.

i just saw on another site about the subscription , so i just found out. I did a search on KODI forum to see how this affects the services and found ONLY this thread. so i reply
The rest about cry and work for them is pure bs

go back and hide and don't wear a mask in public

[Karellen]

Let's not get worked up about it.

It is fair to say that some people won't mind paying while others will have problems paying for what was a free service.

But there is a solution for both.

• If you don't mind paying, then you can still continue to use TVDB (assuming a scraper is available)
  
• If you don't want to pay, then switch over to TheMovieDB or TVMaze.
  

But let's not tear each other to shreds over it.

Also, another thread here... https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=345138

[Shredder_guitar]

yeah, I didn't start this thread to get each other all pissy about it against each other. But i think it is something that does need to be addressed by this community considering most users kodi will rely on tvdb api's to work properly. 
My first concern is the fact that there is now a charge at all. 
My second concern is that there is a charge for this that the public has built and is being capitalized on privately...to me...this is like building a statue then charging people to look at it. 
My biggest concern is that the price will only grow as technology advances....yes, the argument proposed is to "maintain service"....but lets be real here....it's not just to "Maintain service" it's to buy more advanced technologies, pay salaries, pay for day care, pay for office space....pay for this, pay for that. 

I want to point out also that this is not just $10 a year to an individual user...that's the little picture....the big picture is that I currently pay a total of $2,651 a year to make this all work (internet, api calls, and other costs associated with building and maintaining my own movie db) so yeah, it's totally not JUST $10 a year....that's the part that is infuriating to me as an end user.
Also, this is a bandwagon that other providers will soon follow. For example, I just recently received a notice that trakt.tv is limiting API calls to 2000 per hour....undoubtedly a matter of time until they begin to charge a fee for api calls as well.

[WhatZit]

My second concern is that there is a charge for this that the public has built and is being capitalized on privately...to me...this is like building a statue then charging people to look at it. 

Now that I think about it, it's obvious that TVDB charging for the same thing that was built for free was always going to happen.

You see, the TVDB admin have always taken free community data and kept it for themselves, often ignoring the same community's protests over the manner in which they took it and the way that they've kept it.

Here's how it's worked since... forever:

1} The community spends massive amounts of time to create massive amounts of tvshow data for free
2} The TVDB admin immediately rearrange and/or modify that data to suit THEMSELVES, justifying it under an arbitrary set of rules that they themselves don't even follow most of the time
3} The community attempts to correct any wrong, contradictory, or just plain stupid, data rearrangement perpetrated by TVDB
4} The TVDB admin lock the data so only they can "fix" it, requiring the community to (fruitlessly) beg the TVDB to see reason, upon which the TVDB typically calls the community a bunch of ignorant idiots who don't comprehend the majesty of the "TVDB Bible"
5} The TVDB then leaves that locked data to rot, often for YEARS, without any updates or corrections, infuriating everyone in the community who knows better, which is EVERYONE compared to the TVDB admin
6} Rinse/Repeat steps 1-5 1000's of times

So, the TVDB has always stolen data entered for free from the community, and then treated it as their own, irrespective of logic or morality.  Charging for it is simply another rung in their evolutionary ladder of undeserved, self-deluded entitlement.

[Klojum]

So, the TVDB has always stolen data entered for free from the community, and then treated it as their own, irrespective of logic or morality.  Charging for it is simply another rung in their evolutionary ladder of undeserved, self-deluded entitlement.

It is a community effort. If you don't want to contribute to TVDB content, and only benefit from it, then stop boo-boo-ing. You can't have everything in life for free.
If TVDB wants to go commercial, that's their choice. Some of their tactics may be questionable, but if you want it done better, you'll have to come up with a better alternative yourself.