Filters No Poster Bug

[pencilhead]

Hi,
I am a new user to PVD and coming to terms with it.
There seems to be a bug with the "No Posters" filter.
I am filtering my list with "No posters" set.
It is filtering out single movies that have a poster ok but not series. ie. those that have a + next to them.
If I click on top level entry of series, the poster is displayed.

Also - Not sure if this is a bug or a wish list, but....
I have imported a large No of movies from excel ok.
I am now going through importing posters (this process could use some automation by the way),
When the popup with choice of posters appears, the main PVD window is not selectable.

I would like to be able to find and select the movie in main screen so I can then choose the most appropriate poster to download.

Still comming to terms with this program, but so far seems very nice.

Cheers
PH

[nostra]

I am a new user to PVD and coming to terms with it.
There seems to be a bug with the "No Posters" filter.
I am filtering my list with "No posters" set.
It is filtering out single movies that have a poster ok but not series. ie. those that have a + next to them.
If I click on top level entry of series, the poster is displayed.

Maybe you have no posters for episodes in a series, so teh series itself must be shown, so you can access the episodes without poster.

Also - Not sure if this is a bug or a wish list, but....
I have imported a large No of movies from excel ok.
I am now going through importing posters (this process could use some automation by the way),
When the popup with choice of posters appears, the main PVD window is not selectable.

I would like to be able to find and select the movie in main screen so I can then choose the most appropriate poster to download.

It is meant to be like this. You have Title, Original Title and Year of the movie on the top of the dialog. What information do you need to select a proper poster???

[pencilhead]

Maybe you have no posters for episodes in a series, so teh series itself must be shown, so you can access the episodes without poster.

If I select a series in the left hand pane, a poster picture appears in the right hand pane.
This is with "No Poster" filter selected. Is this not a poster?
NB: There are no posters for individual seasons/episodes beneath the main series name.
Do people want posters for every single season/ episode of just top level one. (I'm not that fussy, I just want the top level and to be able to filter on it )

I have imported a large No of movies from excel ok.
I am now going through importing posters (this process could use some automation by the way),
When the popup with choice of posters appears, the main PVD window is not selectable.

I would like to be able to find and select the movie in main screen so I can then choose the most appropriate poster to download.

It is meant to be like this. You have Title, Original Title and Year of the movie on the top of the dialog. What information do you need to select a proper poster???

I have a list of say 50 movies in left hand pane, which has information from IMDB but no posters.
I have selected all of these movies and I am importing posters for them.
Each time it gets results a popup with thumbnail choices appears. ( I do not have that particular movie selected in left hand pane - so I don't have details about it ).
The problem is that if I am unsure what the movie is, I can't find and select it in left hand pane while the popup with thumbnails is visible. I could use actors or plot details etc to match the poster.


Cheers
PH

[rick.ca]

If I select a series in the left hand pane, a poster picture appears in the right hand pane.
This is with "No Poster" filter selected. Is this not a poster?

The series itself must be shown, so you can access the episodes without a poster.

Do people want posters for every single season/ episode of just top level one.

Yes, some of us are that fussy. It's obviously more important the filter works the way it does than to apply only to the series records. Do you have so many series you need a filter to find those without a poster?

The problem is that if I am unsure what the movie is, I can't find and select it in left hand pane while the popup with thumbnails is visible. I could use actors or plot details etc to match the poster.

It depends on the poster source and the movie, but the popup normally includes 2 - 3 different posters for the movie in question, often followed by several more somehow caught in the search, but for different movies. It's usually safe to assume the first few posters are for the correct movie. Investigating whether or not this is true is pointless—you may not be able to tell from the thumbnail anyway. It's more efficient to make the choice as quickly as possible (maybe selecting more than one), and then review the results when the whole batch is finished. You're not happy with the result for a particular movie, you can then decide whether to try the same source again, use an alternate plugin, or do a manual search.

[pencilhead]

Yes, some of us are that fussy. It's obviously more important the filter works the way it does than to apply only to the series records. Do you have so many series you need a filter to find those without a poster?

LOL - It is a minor annoyance while I am importing all my stuff from another Database.
I can get around it by filtering on only movies only as well as no posters. No bigie...

It depends on the poster source and the movie, but the popup normally includes 2 - 3 different posters for the movie in question, often followed by several more somehow caught in the search, but for different movies. It's usually safe to assume the first few posters are for the correct movie. Investigating whether or not this is true is pointless—you may not be able to tell from the thumbnail anyway. It's more efficient to make the choice as quickly as possible (maybe selecting more than one), and then review the results when the whole batch is finished. You're not happy with the result for a particular movie, you can then decide whether to try the same source again, use an alternate plugin, or do a manual search.

This one is quite important and has happened quite a few times while I have been importing movies. (enough to make me want to let you know about it  ) I disagree that it is pointless. You can usually (9times out of 10) tell if the poster is the right one by comparing poster to actors or by comparing poster against description. Going back to fix it is quite time consuming. It would be much more efficient to have the main program not locked out while thumbnail popup is showing. If you are unsure if poster is correct one you can then select the movie so you can read information about it. This would allow a more informed choice of poster at the time. Having to remember which movies to review at the end of a batch is again difficult.

Cheers
PH

[rick.ca]

You can usually (9 times out of 10) tell if the poster is the right one by comparing poster to actors or by comparing poster against description.

But 9 times out of 10 it's not necessary to do anything to establish the poster is the right one—at least for the first few. There are also several different ways to run the plugins. You might prefer not to use batch mode. If you care so much about making a careful selection for each movie, you're probably better off running it separately for each one. Batch mode is for those of us who want speed and efficiency. The plugins can also be run in Silent Mode with (optionally) all posters downloaded. Using that, you can review all available posters at full size right in the movie card—allowing you to make a perfectly informed choice.

I think an even more practical view is the behaviour of the poster selection dialog just doesn't matter that much. Some users are going to be happy with any poster of reasonable quality. They can get that for 90% of their movies automatically—without making any choices. Users who care about choice and quality are not going to find it by making one choice from one source. They will find it necessary to check the quality of what was downloaded, and will often need to replace it with something from a different source.

[pencilhead]

But 9 times out of 10 it's not necessary to do anything to establish the poster is the right one—at least for the first few. There are also several different ways to run the plugins. You might prefer not to use batch mode. If you care so much about making a careful selection for each movie, you're probably better off running it separately for each one. Batch mode is for those of us who want speed and efficiency. The plugins can also be run in Silent Mode with (optionally) all posters downloaded. Using that, you can review all available posters at full size right in the movie card—allowing you to make a perfectly informed choice.

Why would you not use batch mode? It is made to automate the process.
When you are doing a lot of movies then that 10% can be a considerable No.

Batch mode is for those of us who want speed and efficiency.

Exactly! and for those times when you are unsure of which poster to pick it is far more efficient to simply select the movie from main panel while the poster selection is visible rather than wait until the end of the batch run and then have to go back and change posters.
Far better to do it at the time.

I think an even more practical view is the behaviour of the poster selection dialog just doesn't matter that much. Some users are going to be happy with any poster of reasonable quality. They can get that for 90% of their movies automatically—without making any choices. Users who care about choice and quality are not going to find it by making one choice from one source. They will find it necessary to check the quality of what was downloaded, and will often need to replace it with something from a different source.

I'm not sure you understand what my issue is.
I'll try to be clearer...

I have imported 700 odd movies from another database using csv.
I have then run a batch job and imported info for movies from IMDB. (in silent mode)
this process didn't import any posters.
I then selected all the movies and have run import posters from amazon.
I tried this in silent mode and it didn't automatically find any posters, so I am left with having to manually select each one.
ie. Import posters batch run is still working but pops up thumbnail dialogue box for each movie.

The problem is that if I don't know which movie to choose. (there may be 5 different movies to choose from) I can't select the movie from the list to make an informed decision. I have to pick one that may be wrong.
The batch job then moves onto the next movie.

I would like to be able to select from the list the movie while the batch job is running so I can make an informed decision at the time. Rather than having to go back and check later.

An alternative would be for the main display as  batch job does each search. That way the movie will always be displayed.

Cheers
PH

[rick.ca]

Unfortunately, it seems you're not yet experiencing the normal operation of the program and it's plugins. The IMDb and Amazon plugins are currently not retrieving posters—probably due to changes in those websites (those changes will have to be determined and the plugins updated). If those were working properly, you'd be getting a reasonable poster for most movies automatically by running those plugins in Silent Mode.

Why would you not use batch mode? It is made to automate the process.
When you are doing a lot of movies then that 10% can be a considerable No.

I do use batch mode. You're the bent on using it in a way it was not designed for. As I've already said three times, the first several posters in the list are usually for the correct movie—stopping the batch routine to examine the movie information would be a waste of time. And yes, a large batch with an "error" rate in the order of 10% is the worst possible circumstance. The batch runs largely unattended, but requires regular user interaction at random intervals. It's bad enough you have to sit around and wait to provide the necessary input. The best way to deal with this is to do so as quickly as possible so the batch run completes as soon as possible. Once it's done, you're left with movies that all require intervention. Then what you're concerned about makes no difference. There's no more random waits. You might even save a lot of time and frustration by selecting all the movies that didn't get an acceptable poster (you can do the selecting by bookmarking them) and then running an alternate plugin—in Silent Mode. Or, if you insist on believing it's a matter of making an "informed choice," you can do so by not using batch mode.

If you're serious about making a feature suggestion, perhaps you should make your case in Feature: Split information gathering and user interaction. If you and raldo can find any common ground, maybe nostra will be compelled to listen. Good luck.

[patch]

It would be much more efficient to have the main program not locked out while thumbnail popup is showing. If you are unsure if poster is correct one you can then select the movie so you can read information about it. This would allow a more informed choice of poster at the time.

Agree this feature would be nice to have.
When choosing some posters I can display the Amazon web page but would then like to check other fields in my database (actors, year, studio, imdb link) to make sure I have the correct poster.

Not sure what complexity this implies for nostra. So would support it only if it was not difficult from his end.

[rick.ca]

When choosing some posters I can display the Amazon web page but would then like to check other fields in my database (actors, year, studio, imdb link) to make sure I have the correct poster.

How often do you have to make such a determination? How do you justify interrupting a batch routine to fuss over a selection where it might be impossible to tell from a thumbnail anyway? Wouldn't it be faster just to download the poster (or all possible candidates) and check the full-size poster when it's right beside the information?

If Amazon poster searches are so inaccurate, maybe we should be asking if there's any way that can be improved. Poster plugin searches should be happening after the movie information download has been completed—so there should be enough "good" information with which to do a search that gives accurate results. So maybe the plugin should use Amazon's advanced search page, using Title and Director to ensure it gets only correct posters. Amazon, being what it is, will also throw in crap like packaged sets, but those appear at the end of the list and are easy to spot.

Not sure what complexity this implies for nostra. So would support it only if it was not difficult from his end.

Just in case my position isn't clear... I'm not opposed to this idea because it might be difficult to implement. It may very well be trivial to implement, and not have any adverse performance consequences. I'm opposed because I believe it's a bad idea to be facilitating a workaround before even considering fixing the source of the problem.

[patch]

How do you justify interrupting a batch routine to fuss over a selection where it might be impossible to tell from a thumbnail anyway? Wouldn't it be faster just to download the poster (or all possible candidates) and check the full-size poster when it's right beside the information?

The amazon link is available while downloading, it is lost after downloading. So I can not readily compare the Amazon page with other fields after download.

Similarly, during download, when the dialogue box is put up the database is locked so I can not compare it then either. The advantage of changing it here for me is that it is also locked during imdb lookup at which time I sometimes like to access the other fields also. For example "Open containing folder" so I can see if there is a .nfo file with imdb link & thus remove the ambiguity. More rarely I look a a poster stored with the movie or the opening movie credits.

Another example is when PVD suggest I "change file path" and I interpret that as probably having a duplicate copy of the movie on that occasion. I then need to either delete the other poor copy (find then "open containing folder") or keep both eg to add a HD copy (find other record, duplicate it, change title to reflect difference eg append "(HD)", change file path).

My work flow would be more efficient in both occasions if the main db was not locked when a dialogue is put up. However getting multitasking software running reliably is more problematic than single tasking software, hence my concern for nostra complexity.

[rick.ca]

The amazon link is available while downloading, it is lost after downloading. So I can not readily compare the Amazon page with other fields after download.

Lost? Start the plugin again and it will be back in a few seconds.

Are you unable to explain why it would not be easier and more efficient to check posters after they've been downloaded? Are you not in favour of having the accuracy of the plugin improved so no checking is necessary?

[pencilhead]

Hi all,

There seems to be some confusion around what is happening and what I would like to happen.
Technically this is a feature request, so I shall take it over there.

I have imported many movies and downloaded info from IMDB.
For whatever reason no posters where downloaded when I did this.
I selected my movie list and downloaded posters (using Amazon plugin)
In silent mode I did not get many results returned ( for whatever reason )
I turned off silent mode and ran plugin again.
This time I got a small poup with a thumbnail choice of several movies widescreen version, bluray version etc.
The movie title in question is displayed in the status bar at the bottom of PVD display so I usually know which one to select.

The problem is if the movie name is common. ie there have been many different movies made with that name, I can't activate the main PVD screen, select the movie from the left hand side  so that the details appear in the right hand side. If this happened, I could then check that I was downloading the correct poster.

I am not stopping the batch job. I have to select a movie anyway or skip, I would like the option to select the correct movie that matches the poster without stopping the batch job or having to manually go back at a later stage to check those particular movies I am unsure about.

I don't understand why you would force a particular way of doing something. Surly it would be better to have a program that is more versatile and allow people to do things differently if that is the way that they want to do it.

I hope I have explained myself more clearly

Regards
PH

[doust]

I get the same thing, when entering a film it loads all the data from IMDB and then a dialogue box appears with "No Data Found "

I have not given an option for a picture of the cover of the film I am entering, I am currently using my scanner to enter them manually.

I have all the plug-ins in place, and I have un installed and re installed PVD trying to overcome this problem, I do hope you can help

I am currently using 0.9.9.11 version, on a vista laptop.

Cheers

[rick.ca]

I hope I have explained myself more clearly.

There's no need to beat this to death. I've understood you perfectly from the beginning. I disagree with you. There's no reason to be concerned about that. This is nostra's project, not mine. As a moderator, however, I feel I have an obligation to ensure posts are not misleading. You started this thread with the report of a bug that was not a bug, and a suggestion which implied a fundamental problem but which turns out to be of questionable merit. In responding to your idea, I explained how the program can be used in ways that would alleviate the perceived problem. It's now clear you have no interest in such feedback. I'm unmoved. This is a support forum, and there are others reading this who may find those suggestions helpful.

Technically this is a feature request, so I shall take it over there.

I considered moving it there, but couldn't be bothered trying to split the topic. So please don't bother—I'm sure nostra has heard your request.

[rick.ca]

I get the same thing...

We know.

The message linked is about IMDb. Subsequent messages the Amazon plugin not working, if that is part of your problem.