questions/suggestions

[GMX]

first, thanks for the great application. it's probably the only app in this class, which supports unicode

but, i have a couple of questions/suggestions...

here's my scheme how i keep my movies (i'm shure, i'm not the only to keep them that way):

[en] Some Movie Title (2003).avi
[en] Some Movie Title (2003).jpg

[ru-en] Other Movie With Dual Audio Streams (2005).avi
[ru-en] Other Movie With Dual Audio Streams (2005).jpg

[ru] Original Movie Title in French _as listed in IMDB_ aka Translated Movie Title (1998).avi
[ru] Original Movie Title in French _as listed in IMDB_ aka Translated Movie Title (1998).jpg

AVI file here stands for the movie itself, and JPG is a dvd front cover or poster.
i'll keep them in a root of DVD media or HDD folder.

now the questions:

1) is it possible to pick the jpg _automatically_ (it's always the same as movie title, apart of ending in jpg, of course), when doing folder scan instead of downloading it from the net?

2) is it possible to parse the language tag in brackets [] to get them listed in database as language reference?

3) what about dual audio streams? how to list them? mediainfo.dll supports them, even pvd shows them after scanning file, but drops it imediately after saving the file and keep info only for the first stream.

4) is it possible to parse only original title (everything until word 'aka') and drop the translated title? because now it picks everything and of course fails to load info from net.

maybe some questions are already answered somewhere in a forum, but i couldn't locate the answers.

[rick.ca]

Welcome to the forum.

I expect the Scan folder routine's ability to parse titles from filenames will be improved in the version 0.9.9, but it's not likely going to do the additional things you are looking for. You could use Excel to parse a directory listing of the movies into language, original title, (translated) title and year. Then import those into the appropriate fields.

No, the scan will not pick up the image file automatically, but I think this is a great idea. I save poster images exactly the same way you do.

As for audio streams...

I am right now implementing a better audio stream support. Every audio stream will be saved like this:
stream1:codec, bitrate, channels, sampling rate, language, translation
stream2...
streamN.

[GMX]

good to hear, that work is going on a multiple audio streams support. this is what most apps of this kind are missing - even the 'monster' extreme movie manager (at least when i tested it).

concerning the automatic image picking - that's what really important to me (and, probably, for others as well).

titles parsing is the least important feature, but it's really welcome. especially language tag, which (i think) shoudn't be a problem to implement, because PVD already checks for it (but removes it, instead of taking care of language field in database). concerning the original/translated title, it may be harder to do, but i'm not a coder so i don't know for shure

[nostra]

A script can be written to load images automatically. You will need to modify the "import from text file" script for this.
If many users save images like this I can create the script myself, but only after 0.9.9 is released.

[rick.ca]

I think a script—rather than building it into the scanner—is probably the better solution. Once the image files are created, the function is no longer needed, as PVD becomes the source of the images (i.e., they are downloaded using PVD, then saved as filename.jpg from PVD). Given this workflow, a more useful feature would be the ability to export posters as filename.jpg rather than the current title.jpg. That would allow those of us who use this file scheme to keep it up-to-date.

BTW, the Import from text file script "imports information from a text file that is located near video files with the same name and a .txt extension." Is it really applicable to this situation, or are you just saying it could be a starting point for creating a script that is?

[GMX]

I think a script—rather than building it into the scanner—is probably the better solution. Once the image files are created, the function is no longer needed, as PVD becomes the source of the images (i.e., they are downloaded using PVD, then saved as filename.jpg from PVD). Given this workflow, a more useful feature would be the ability to export posters as filename.jpg rather than the current title.jpg. That would allow those of us who use this file scheme to keep it up-to-date.

partially agree. but in my case, i can't always pick the cover with PVD. just because many of my movies are rare and don't have posters or covers listed on famous sites. i have to hunt for covers in google images or even make the custom ones (especially for documentary tv rips). so, my workflow starts with image hunting anyway.

BTW, the Import from text file script "imports information from a text file that is located near video files with the same name and a .txt extension." Is it really applicable to this situation, or are you just saying it could be a starting point for creating a script that is?

i wanted to ask the same question btw, there's the script file itself? am i missing something? edit: oops, i was blind found it

[rick.ca]

...many of my movies are rare and don't have posters or covers listed on famous sites.

So you need PVD to make you a custom poster if it can't find one to download.

While nostra works on that, have you noticed you can customize Web search to include whatever sites you find useful for "image hunting"?

[GMX]

While nostra works on that, have you noticed you can customize Web search to include whatever sites you find useful for "image hunting"?

err, not yet just because i haven't started to put my movies into any database yet. i'm just testing it before i start to do real thing. my movie list is about 7000 titles long (burned on 1400 DVDrs), so i want to avoid jumping from one app to the other. so far, PVD is really good to me in many aspects, with few exeptions, which stops me (at least for now). those are auto image picking and multiple audio streams handling. of course, i could start scanning my collection right now, but if those features will be added later, i'll have to rescan all dvds again - so that's not an option 

[nostra]

BTW, the Import from text file script "imports information from a text file that is located near video files with the same name and a .txt extension." Is it really applicable to this situation, or are you just saying it could be a starting point for creating a script that is?

It just has to be extended for getting images, so it is a good starting point.

[rick.ca]

my movie list is about 7000 titles long...

With a collection that large, you obviously need to be using the best software.

I hope you'll stick around and help us beta test 0.9.9. It seems the multiple audio streams feature will be in the first beta release, and you'll probably find the beta version stable enough to use fairly soon. The auto image picking could wait—as this would most likely be done in "batch mode" by a script anyway.

[GMX]

With a collection that large, you obviously need to be using the best software.

you're right 

I hope you'll stick around and help us beta test 0.9.9. It seems the multiple audio streams feature will be in the first beta release, and you'll probably find the beta version stable enough to use fairly soon. The auto image picking could wait—as this would most likely be done in "batch mode" by a script anyway.

i'll definitely "stick around" here, because i feel a potential in this app and i like many aspects of it. probably, it will be my last resort, once the needed features is added.

[GMX]

A script can be written to load images automatically. You will need to modify the "import from text file" script for this.
If many users save images like this I can create the script myself, but only after 0.9.9 is released.

any news on this particular feature?

[GMX]

OK, seems i'm the only one missing such a feature, so i'll try to do my best with modifying that "import from text file" script.
i'm not a coder, so any starting guidance is welcome. are there any "pvd scripting for dummies" tutorial available?
i have a basic autoit/autohotkey, vbs and javascript knowledge, will i be able to do it?