Several suggestions for "batch" addition of movies

[dma]

Hello,

First, congratulations in this piece of software, i like how "database oriented" is the interface (well, i'm a developer myself ).
I got several suggestions which would save me some time (and certainly others as well) considering how i use the program.

So here i how i proceed when i add movies.

1) I import the new movies title and DVD location info from a .csv file.

2) I launch IMDB plugin to get all informations on the imported movies (expecting poster and title, as i want to keep the title as i imported it, also important for the next step).
>>> Here, it would be great if "silent mode" for plugin query could have additional configuration option to automatically select first entry when several titles are found, instead of skipping the movie. The thing being that, most of the time, the first movie in the list is the correct one.
As for now, i got an AutoHotKey (AHK) script to do this, but then i have to let the program run on front for AHK to interact with it... And then i can't use the computer during that time...

3) I then browse all these movies entries to check if imported informations are correct. If it isn't, i reset the entry and re-query IMDB (without the AHK script running) to manually select the entry. If
>>> Here, having a "reset entry" button/shortcut, along with configuration settings to select which fields should be kept on this action, would be excellent.
I also use an AHK script to do it by now.

4) Then when i'm sure all entries are correct, i query "TheMovieDB" to import only posters for those new movies entries (excellent source for posters imo).
>>> Here, i would also make of the "select first silent mode" that i described earlier.

5) I browse all the new entries to check if it got proper posters then :
- If it's not the good movie posters : I use the "remove all posters" option.
- If it is the good posters : I browse the posters found.
>>> When a poster image is open in the window to view it fullscreen, it would be great if pressing escape key would close that window, instead of having to close the window using mouse.

6) If several posters have been added for the movie, i only want to keep one.
>>> Here, i would really love an option to "remove all posters except this one" on poster thumbnail.
For now i got to move the mouse on each poster i don't want to keep, wait for the contextual button bar to show itself, then clicking the remove button. Painful process that i couldn't even automate using AHK...

OK so these were my suggestions, not complex things to implement i think, but these would really save me huge amount of time.

[rick.ca]

Welcome.

it would be great if "silent mode" for plugin query could have additional configuration option to automatically select first entry when several titles are found, instead of skipping the movie.

Whether this (and your update process) is better depends on the failure of the search to find a unique movie and, if not, the likelihood the first one in the list is the correct movie. If the [Title] is reasonably accurate and the [Year] is also provided, the former rate will be low (maybe 10%) and the latter not as high as you might expect. The reason that is so may be entirely because the year will resolve most  ambiguities.

That being the case, it's then more efficient to run the plugin unattended in silent mode. When done, all the skipped movies require your attention. Furthermore, those are easy to identify and you can be almost certain the others have been updated correctly. So select the skipped movies and run the plugin again—not in silent mode. It will keep you busy as it asks you to pick the correct movie for every one. While its downloading, you can check the data for the previous one to ensure you picked the correct movie.

I understand some may still have a personal preference for such things. But batch importing on a scale that matters is generally a one-time task done when a database for an existing collection is first built. Adding options in support of a variety of different approaches would likely create more confusion than the benefits are worth. As it is, the simple approach I recommend doesn't occur to many first-time users, even though it's very effective in most cases.

i query "TheMovieDB" to import only posters for those new movies entries (excellent source for posters imo).

Agreed, although I don't think the silent mode behaviour is the issue. Some of us would very much prefer that it would simply retrieve the default poster (the one TMDb displays). To choose a different poster, it's more effective to use the URL to visit the site and pick a different one. It's difficult to imagine anyone wants to download all the posters—as the plugin currently does.

When a poster image is open in the window to view it fullscreen, it would be great if pressing escape key would close that window

In the beta version, it does.

Here, i would really love an option to "remove all posters except this one" on poster thumbnail.

Also in the beta version: All images can be paste from the clipboard. This makes it easy to do things like copy one, remove all, then paste. Or visit a website, copy an image and paste it to the applicable container.

Nevertheless, 'remove all but one' would be useful. Maybe a clever way to implement that would be to have Remove All remove all but the selected image—unless the selected image is the only one. To remove all including the selected image, it would simply be executed twice.

[dma]

Eheh, so it seems i should add my new movies more regularly for it not to be such a long one time task.
Also true that specifying the year in my excel list would help for more accurate querying infos on the imported movies.

I also got to try using the new version, but at first launch, the interface looked quite too MS-Office-ribbon-ish to me.

[rick.ca]

I also got to try using the new version, but at first launch, the interface looked quite too MS-Office-ribbon-ish to me.

Thinking it's something it's not is an unfortunate basis for judging the software. The interface is intended to make it easy to quickly assemble the tools necessary for any task or routine. It could yet use a little polish, but it achieves that main goal quite nicely.

[dma]

I also got to try using the new version, but at first launch, the interface looked quite too MS-Office-ribbon-ish to me.

Thinking it's something it's not is an unfortunate basis for judging the software. The interface is intended to make it easy to quickly assemble the tools necessary for any task or routine. It could yet use a little polish, but it achieves that main goal quite nicely.

Sure thing.
And so after proper try of the new version - actually using it to do some addition/searching/filtering/browsing - it's indeed not the ribbon type, but rather a "show/hide functions ready to use with settings" toolbar, which is an interesting GUI orientation and works quite fine.

[dma]

Some of us would very much prefer that it would simply retrieve the default poster (the one TMDb displays). To choose a different poster, it's more effective to use the URL to visit the site and pick a different one. It's difficult to imagine anyone wants to download all the posters—as the plugin currently does.

So how do you proceed (as you also seems to use TheMovieDB as good poster source, according to your comment)?
Do you visit the website, copy the default poster TheMovieDB got for the movie, and then paste it in PVD?
Because, as you said, with the plugin for this website, it's either all posters ("download images" plugin option) or nothing.

Could someone clone and turn this plugin into a posters plugin? Along with "download default poster / download all posters" switch parameter?
I would try to modify it myself if this was script based, but it's actually a compiled .dll.

[rick.ca]

Do you visit the website, copy the default poster TheMovieDB got for the movie, and then paste it in PVD?

Yes, sort of. To copy a full-size poster, you have to 'View All' and click on a thumbnail to display it. So I pick one, but it's usually the default.

Could someone clone and turn this plugin into a posters plugin?

nostra would have to do it.