2010-09-24, 04:34
Hope nobody minds me resurrecting this thread from a few months back. I'm actually thinking of implementing this feature in XBMC.
First I thought of something that would link entries in XBMC to individual DVDs, etc. But I'm not sure if we would have to go as far as associating entries in the XBMC library to individual DVDs since the only benefit I can think that that would give us is the ability to tell the user they inserted the wrong disc ... I'm hoping the user can figure that part out on their own.
I've read a few comments about people wanting XBMC to be able to add a DVD to the library if they insert it into the computer, but personally I think this would get very tedious if you're trying to catalog a few hundred DVDs, plus I'm not aware of any reliable way to tell the title of the movie from the DVD content especially once you start dealing with "custom" DVDs of commercial movies. Plus if you ever lost your XBMC library (upgrading XBMC, etc.) it would prove a lot of work to readd all the movies this way to the library.
That leaves the option of using some sort of file to represent a DVD and dealing with it very similarly to the way we deal with other files. XBMC would just know that when it scans this special file type it flags the entry as being on a DVD (for the purpose of displaying the codec type in the skin) and asks you to insert the DVD (probably present a prompt to insert and a button to play or cancel).
I've been thinking maybe some sort of dummy file with a special extension like .dvd for DVDs and .brd for BluRay Discs. The file would have to be empty (ie: zero bytes) and all the normal rules would apply to it as any other file we scan, so a user could create .nfo files to describe this entry if they wish, provide custom thumbnails, covers, etc.
What do you guys think of this idea? Feel free to provide any feedback, etc. I haven't had a chance to read this whole thread so if you wanna bring something to my attention, please post a comment again. I'll probably start coding this in the next few weeks.
Thanks,
Harry
P.S. I've also started this thread over in the Feature Suggestion section before I realized this one already exists: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=81780
First I thought of something that would link entries in XBMC to individual DVDs, etc. But I'm not sure if we would have to go as far as associating entries in the XBMC library to individual DVDs since the only benefit I can think that that would give us is the ability to tell the user they inserted the wrong disc ... I'm hoping the user can figure that part out on their own.
I've read a few comments about people wanting XBMC to be able to add a DVD to the library if they insert it into the computer, but personally I think this would get very tedious if you're trying to catalog a few hundred DVDs, plus I'm not aware of any reliable way to tell the title of the movie from the DVD content especially once you start dealing with "custom" DVDs of commercial movies. Plus if you ever lost your XBMC library (upgrading XBMC, etc.) it would prove a lot of work to readd all the movies this way to the library.
That leaves the option of using some sort of file to represent a DVD and dealing with it very similarly to the way we deal with other files. XBMC would just know that when it scans this special file type it flags the entry as being on a DVD (for the purpose of displaying the codec type in the skin) and asks you to insert the DVD (probably present a prompt to insert and a button to play or cancel).
I've been thinking maybe some sort of dummy file with a special extension like .dvd for DVDs and .brd for BluRay Discs. The file would have to be empty (ie: zero bytes) and all the normal rules would apply to it as any other file we scan, so a user could create .nfo files to describe this entry if they wish, provide custom thumbnails, covers, etc.
What do you guys think of this idea? Feel free to provide any feedback, etc. I haven't had a chance to read this whole thread so if you wanna bring something to my attention, please post a comment again. I'll probably start coding this in the next few weeks.
Thanks,
Harry
P.S. I've also started this thread over in the Feature Suggestion section before I realized this one already exists: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=81780
