Why not use dvd xml (dvdxml.com) like Niveus that way there is no database to maintain you just put the xml file in the folder with the movie and you never have to worry about losing or corrupting your database

or maybe it could be a hybrid program where it uses whatever you want like dvd xml , or dvd profiler, or movie collector ect...

I think an automatic integration of Sal's movie organizer could work.

I just want to see whatever is used integrated.

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My VMC setup:
(2) Xbox360s
System 1 -
Dell XPS410 (2.6Ghz C2D, 2GB Ram,Nvidia 8600GT, Blu-ray internal, HD-DVD external (X360 drive), (2) Vboxx DTA150s (OTA HD), Adaptec Dual Tuner (fed a steady diet of DirecTV... sadly NOT in HD)

Hey guys,

Just stumbled upon this thread from Chris Lanier's blog. I think it's a great idea to finally create an open source media library instead of having many individual ones.

I would also like to help out. I could work on importing media data from various formats that's currently being used (dvd profiler, MyMovies, collectorz, etc.) to the format this project will be using. I am also capable of working with MCML.

I will keep an eye on this.

Ben

I can help with the data scraping from various sources including IMDB, and whatever else you want. If this project could join forces with Video Browser we would be in business

Ok, so there are now 3 of us working on the project.  You are all free to monitor the svn tree from the google-code page.  We'll try to collect as much info as possible for basic requests.

Trying to answer some questions:

What format will we be holding the data in?
It is currently directly being loaded from the Movie Collectorz xml file.  This will change.  I'm currently looking at a db file solution but the "team" has not yet had a chance to discuss it.  I can say that it will not stay as is and that import (multi-import) will happen fairly soon and we'll try to support as many of the popular options as we can.

Will feature X be developed?
Well its really quite early for this type of discussion.  I am currently working on beefing up the error checking and adding in unit testing so that we can feel comfortable with what we are working on.  Naturally we will develop those features that we personally plan to use such as Transcode360 support, video_ts/.iso/avi/mkv/.h264 support.  I did see someone comment about tv shows, frankly I don't think that was part of the vision as laid out by dbldown768.  Also I personally use myTV every single day and feel that it is a great app, if you haven't tried it I suggest you do.

Can I join the project?
That would be up to dbldown768.  This is his creation and he is the project lead.  We currently have 2 programmers and a project manager/coord. If your good with mcml or just want to cut some code then I'm sure we could use the help.


I can't really say when the first public (or private) release will be available.  It is open source so your all welcome to download the source, compile it and install but I can't make any promises about features/quality until me make a release available.

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OpenMediaLibrary - Senior Programmer

Why Change from Movie Collectorz to DVD Profiler both programs are not free

Just another feature suggestion...

Until MS decides to support streaming DVDs to extenders, I love that My Movies knows whether I am watching from an extender or the main media center and seamlessly lauches either the DVR-MS or the DVD VIDEO_TS respectively, depending on the playback location.  I see that you are planning on adding Transcode 360 support, but I prefer to keep a redundant DVR-MS version of my DVDs along with the ripped DVD.  The user experience is much, much better for streaming.  Thanks.

-Dan

No change, simply allowing for the import of data from these 2 (and others) options.  We currently use the collectorz xml file as our data source, this will stop being the case, but we will still be able to import from a collectorz xml file, a dvd profiler file, and others.

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OpenMediaLibrary - Senior Programmer

I would also like to help out too.

One thing regarding the "database", I found this on VC++ Team blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/vcblog/default.aspx. Having some kind of database would allow for a lot of flexibility:

SQL Server Compact is an in-process version of SQL that uses a single file for the storage.  It was originally developed for Windows CE and is very small and efficient, while retaining the flexibility of SQL.

Visual Studio 10, which is the next release after Visual Studio 2008, we are going to do a lot of things differently.  For one, the NCB file is being eliminated.  The NCB file was very similar to a BSC file and the IDE needed to load the entire thing into memory in order to use it.  It was very hard to add new features to it (i.e. template support was bolted on) and some lookups required walking through a lot of information.  Instead of this, we will be using SQL Server Compact for our data store.  We did a lot of prototyping to make sure that it was the right choice and it exceeded our expectations.  Using Compact will allow us to easily make changes to our schema, change indexes if needed, and avoid loading the entire thing into memory.  We currently have this implemented and we are seeing increased performance and lower memory usage.

taranu:

I would also like to help out too.

One thing regarding the "database", I found this on VC++ Team blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/vcblog/default.aspx. Having some kind of database would allow for a lot of flexibility:

SQL Server Compact is an in-process version of SQL that uses a single file for the storage.  It was originally developed for Windows CE and is very small and efficient, while retaining the flexibility of SQL.

Visual Studio 10, which is the next release after Visual Studio 2008, we are going to do a lot of things differently.  For one, the NCB file is being eliminated.  The NCB file was very similar to a BSC file and the IDE needed to load the entire thing into memory in order to use it.  It was very hard to add new features to it (i.e. template support was bolted on) and some lookups required walking through a lot of information.  Instead of this, we will be using SQL Server Compact for our data store.  We did a lot of prototyping to make sure that it was the right choice and it exceeded our expectations.  Using Compact will allow us to easily make changes to our schema, change indexes if needed, and avoid loading the entire thing into memory.  We currently have this implemented and we are seeing increased performance and lower memory usage.

Taranu,

I have complete faith in whatever you decide to use for the DVD Information/Imnporting.  After having used your DVD Library App since it's inception it has made my life so much easier.

-D

taranu,

   Is this sql server compact available now?  I'm not really looking to embed something directly inside the app itself but more likely move to a service based system so that data could be edited from an external source (web?) while the app is being used without performance issues and/or other problems.  Also, it would be nice to have data become available while the app is running.  Please pm dbldown768 if your up for joining, I'm all in for it but he controls the source access.

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OpenMediaLibrary - Senior Programmer

If it is open source for scraping, I read a good idea elsewhere where the xml scraper would be laid out with the files on the right, and the info on the left, and you drag the file onto the information, and the file would then be tagged.  Say for example, I have my movie files by name in a few folders, I tell the scraper where they are, then it puts them all together (visually).  On the left, I've told the program that the file names are the movie name (windows media player somewhat does this when naming a CD you rip, it has a selection for filename formatting - artist, track, title, et al).  I get a small thumbnail of the movie, the Title and year, and a brief synopsis.  Click the movie on the left, file on the right, and hit 'tag' and the files are tagged.  Or, possibly drag the file onto the description to tag it.  But the tags should reside in their own folder, so as not to clutter the movie folders themselves. 

That would be a rough idea for a data scraper/miner for the media library for movies.  For TV shows, it would be theoretically the same.  You'd tell it where your files are, and it attempts to match them to tv shows.  You can tag which episodes of which shows you have based on what the program finds, or manually search (with the options 'series,' 'season,' 'episode number,' and 'episode title'). 

What do you think?

James

I would recommend everyone who want to be a part of this project to sign up at www.ornskov.dk/forum.
Thanks

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OML - Open Media Library - Product Manager

Dwight2001:

Of all of the new Movie Plugins that are coming out the only one besides the native DVD Library that plays from a Firewire Changer is MyMovies or the Exclusive Niveus Movie Gallery.  That in my purely selfish opinion would be a great feature. 

Some of us have a mixture of ripped and changer dvd's would be nice to have access to all of your movies.

Dwight2001

Yes! The standard DVD Library is pretty good. But I have no way of adding a dvd ID XML file to the discs in my changer for Media Center to read. Actually, maybe this is a good place to ask. :) Is there any way of faking the DVD ID in the standard DVD Library for discs in a DVD changer? I have the Sony VGP-XL1B3.

I don't have a DVD changer, but media center should automatically download the meta-data for your discs in your changer, as long as your changer is supported.  That is what the DVD Library in VMC was originally designed for.  It can read the DVD id directly off the disc.