2013-06-12, 23:35
New Betas Available
I've got two betas available now.
1.5.1.010
There really aren't any changes to this, but I'm going to start numbering the betas so we can easy see if what version of the beta you are using. The current 1.5.1 beta is 1.5.1.010 and is available at https://github.com/pkscout/script.artist...master.zip This version will ship soon as 1.5.2.
1.5.3.001
This is the next iteration of Artist Slideshow that will include the ability to read the MusicBrainz ID from the XBMC database (when there are versions of the scrappers that import that data). If XBMC doesn't return one, it will try and get one from the MusicBrainz web site. With that added support, AS will be able to support fanart.tv, theaudiodb.com, and any other site that requires the MusicBrainz ID for lookup.
As of today, I have experimental MusicBrainz and fanart.tv support enabled in 1.5.3.001. To use fanart.tv you have to go to the settings and enable it.
MusicBrainz support has been harder than expected, and I wanted to share what I'm doing so that the beta testers understand the limitations and see if anyone has any better ideas. To make best effort to get the right artist, I ask MusicBrainz for a list of recordings back based on the artist name and album name. The list I get back has a set of recordings along with any artist credited on the recording. If I find an artist name, I check it against the one I have. If that's a match, I use that MusicBrainz ID.
Why am I doing it this way?[/b] Well, if I asked for a list of IDs based just on artist name, I got back a list that very often didn't have the artist I wanted at the top (i.e. Adele the rock group instead of Adele the UK pop artist). And that particular list doesn't include any information I can cross check against. And even when asking for recordings, I *still* have to check against the artist (i.e. Duran Duran Rio gave me back in the mix some artist named Duran). Basically the MusicBrainz ID search is optimized to give you lots of results even if they aren't good matches when I want the one that is a perfect match. So during testing don't be surprised if you end up with some strange results, and if you do, get me a debug log so I can see what I can do to better narrow the search. Also, there are a number of (in my opinion) pretty mainstream artists that aren't in MusicBrainz. If you have an artist that isn't returning any art, please check MusicBrainz and fanart.tv to see if they are actually listed. I'm planning to go in myself to add ones from my collection, and I'd ask that you do the same.
If anyone is a MusicBrainz guru, I'd love to pick your brain to see how to get the most accurate possible results.
Anyway, the 1.5.3.001 beta is available at https://github.com/pkscout/script.artist...brainz.zip
I've got two betas available now.
1.5.1.010
There really aren't any changes to this, but I'm going to start numbering the betas so we can easy see if what version of the beta you are using. The current 1.5.1 beta is 1.5.1.010 and is available at https://github.com/pkscout/script.artist...master.zip This version will ship soon as 1.5.2.
1.5.3.001
This is the next iteration of Artist Slideshow that will include the ability to read the MusicBrainz ID from the XBMC database (when there are versions of the scrappers that import that data). If XBMC doesn't return one, it will try and get one from the MusicBrainz web site. With that added support, AS will be able to support fanart.tv, theaudiodb.com, and any other site that requires the MusicBrainz ID for lookup.
As of today, I have experimental MusicBrainz and fanart.tv support enabled in 1.5.3.001. To use fanart.tv you have to go to the settings and enable it.
MusicBrainz support has been harder than expected, and I wanted to share what I'm doing so that the beta testers understand the limitations and see if anyone has any better ideas. To make best effort to get the right artist, I ask MusicBrainz for a list of recordings back based on the artist name and album name. The list I get back has a set of recordings along with any artist credited on the recording. If I find an artist name, I check it against the one I have. If that's a match, I use that MusicBrainz ID.
Why am I doing it this way?[/b] Well, if I asked for a list of IDs based just on artist name, I got back a list that very often didn't have the artist I wanted at the top (i.e. Adele the rock group instead of Adele the UK pop artist). And that particular list doesn't include any information I can cross check against. And even when asking for recordings, I *still* have to check against the artist (i.e. Duran Duran Rio gave me back in the mix some artist named Duran). Basically the MusicBrainz ID search is optimized to give you lots of results even if they aren't good matches when I want the one that is a perfect match. So during testing don't be surprised if you end up with some strange results, and if you do, get me a debug log so I can see what I can do to better narrow the search. Also, there are a number of (in my opinion) pretty mainstream artists that aren't in MusicBrainz. If you have an artist that isn't returning any art, please check MusicBrainz and fanart.tv to see if they are actually listed. I'm planning to go in myself to add ones from my collection, and I'd ask that you do the same.
If anyone is a MusicBrainz guru, I'd love to pick your brain to see how to get the most accurate possible results.
Anyway, the 1.5.3.001 beta is available at https://github.com/pkscout/script.artist...brainz.zip
