DVD xLobby database

[techspaces]

Would anybody be interested in having a database available of DVD titles with info and cover art that would eliminate needing to use spiders or DVD Profiler? I know companies like Kalidescape and Escient have their own databases so their products can pull info from them. Of course, DVD Profiler can do this already, but I've got a lot of people in my house, other family, and friends that don't really have the ability or the interest to open a seperate application and then import data. They don't even like to use the spiders as it is a little time consuming, and they can be picky about titles sometimes. (I'm not knocking the spiders, it's just that they rely on website that are obviously changing all the time.) I'd like to see xLobby able to recognize a DVD when it's inserted, rip an ISO image (or the format of your choice), and download the cover art and all info automatically. Am I wrong in thinking this can't be done using DVD Profiler?

I don't know exactly how big the database would have to be, but doing a little math it doesn't look like it would take too much storage, definitely less than 200GB. It should be a plugin and not part of xLobby (don't want to bring any heat down on Steven). I would be interested in hosting a database like this specifically for xLobby users if others would help with coding. I have the hardware and bandwidth. Anybody interested?

[Colby]

What we need then is a module. Where we can take our caliborative movies and make a database of them. Then we can share. Oh wait thats what dvd profiler does.
Ok we need a module, kinda like a webform that takes the info extracted from dvd profiler, (Im certainly not willing to type it in by hand) and uploads it to your database. In the format you desire.
Then we need a plugin that reads from the new movie database. Honestly, I dont think you are going to be able to have a better product than dvd profiler, without a HUGE amount of work. I would suggest buying a service that indexes your movies live, and create a plugin for it.

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

Whats up with supressing... i totally agree with OP. We need better solution, well atleast I do. Will i wanna code it with OP? prolly no, cause i always wanna do things my way, so i better walk my own path. But it might take a long before i can find time to do this...

so ill just give some pointers to original poster, since i started to ponder this same problem quite a while ago. First of all get a book "DVD demystified" (well unless u have access to real DVD specs ofcourse) its a great one and will make u totally understand the disc. Then download and go trough "shrink to five" sources. Those two actions together should get u quite far about doing the disc metadata reader, which i think your idea is...

[techspaces]

I totally agree that dvd profiler is a great product. But it's not integrated into xL. So, when my wife tries to load a DVD on the server (which is in the living room and doesn't have a keyboard or mouse attached, just a remote with arrow keys) and the spider doesn't find a good cover pic or save the info my "electronics abilities" are called into question. Even worse is having to go to my in-laws house to cleanup their coverart and info.

Do you think other xL users would go for having their info uploaded? Assuming they installed the module of course. That would be a quick way of building the number of titles.

Obviously the identification process is going to be the hardest part. Is there a relatively easy way to control dvd profiler in the background like winamp or dvd decrypter? Does it have command line capabilities? I'm definitely going to get a solution figured out one way or another. I guess I'll get started on the book PB has suggested. If any body else has suggestions, please let me know.

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

I totally agree that dvd profiler is a great product.

I have to disagree with u there. IMO it has good idea, and great community but planning has totally sucked, and theres noway to repair things which have been f*cked up in initial design.

[dalanik]

So just use AMC (Ant) ...

[techspaces]

Well P3rv, I haven't used dvd profiler extensively. From what experience I do have, it seems to do a decent job of recognizing the DVD from unique data on the disc, which for my purposes is extremely important. That is the feature my comment was really directed toward. Other features and such I really can't comment on.

dalanik, I haven't downloaded AMC yet, but from the website it does not look like it will identify a DVD by unique info on the disc. Did I miss something, is AMC capable of this? As I said above, the identification of the DVD is the critical process. Getting info from an online database is relatively simple in comparison.

I have no idea how dvd profiler does it, but from what I understand about others such as Escient and Kalidescape, the identification is approximately as follows:

1. When a DVD is inserted an application reads through the data on the disc (such as disc_name, # of tracks, length of tracks, # of titles, etc.)
2. Some kind of algorithm uses this info to create an id number. (I think this is somewhat like the way XP uses system hardware info to build a machine id#)
3. The id number is compared with an online database. If a match is found the info is downloaded and, after getting confirmation from the user that it is correct, it is then saved to the local database.
4. If more than one possible match is found, the list of possibles is presented for the user to choose from.
5. If no possibles are found, the user is allowed to browse the database by title to find a match. If the user chooses a match the new ID number is attached to the title in the online database.
6. If no suitable entry was found the user is given the option of manually entering the info, which is then uploaded to the online database and flagged for review by an admin.
7. If no info is entered by the user an email is sent to the database admin with the disc info and hopefully a title included by the user. Presumably the admin can find the info and add it to the database.

Does this sound right? It's obviously simplified. Am I missing anything huge?

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

Yes u r correct... DVD profiler doesnt identify based on disc... it does it based on UPC, which i consider is brilliant though. It seems very much that we r after same thing, but for different reasons...

Ive been also reading specs of Sonys 777 changer rs-232 interface, cause happen to own that beast... and im pretty sure i know how eccient does its "magic" and after i finish couple coding projects im engaged now... i will look into coding for a plugin for ES-777. I think database could use that same ID as key, which i can count from 777 data, to identify discs, that would be great boon for changer owners...

[briands]

Yes u r correct... DVD profiler doesnt identify based on disc... it does it based on UPC, which i consider is brilliant though. It seems very much that we r after same thing, but for different reasons...

snip

DVD profiler does have an option to identify by reading the disc. I usually don't use it because it takes longer than keying the UPC. You can also use a barcode scanner.

[P3rv3rt B3ar]

Yes u r correct... DVD profiler doesnt identify based on disc... it does it based on UPC, which i consider is brilliant though. It seems very much that we r after same thing, but for different reasons...

snip

DVD profiler does have an option to identify by reading the disc. I usually don't use it because it takes longer than keying the UPC. You can also use a barcode scanner.

Yeah. but my problem with it is that it doesnt treat sales package and disc as different entities... on different tables on relational database... and im not just talking about identifying disc... but fetching all metadata which is possible to fetch from disc, so in case disc in question is not based, it can reduce amount of info user have to type.