Movies path missing after importing

[carlt7]

I am using last free version of XL (2/28/07 exe.) I use Cinematic Collection Viewer to convert DVD Profiler 3.5 and have followed directions for importing the converted info: I get the coverart and plot for all movies; however, I am not able to play my “Online” movies from the external HD. I cannot get the correct path for playing the movies. When looking at the movies database: all movies are checked “offline Item” and the parameter is video_ts (no path to the hard drive/movies.) If you import from the “Media Paths” under Basic you will get the correct movie path and offline will be unchecked, movies will play, but no coverart or plots. QUESTION: How do you get coverart, plots, and the correct path to play the movies? I have tried everything possible from reading posts and have printed a ream of answers. I hate to give up and use VMCE with My Movies unless I can solve this problem. My son has the full blown XL system and it is awesome but I can’t justify opening that much money to play movies. Any help or suggestion will be appreciated. Thanks

[Marbles_00]

I'm not even going to pretend to be an expert on this as I don't use DVD Profiler...I use Ant with the XAnt plugin. But have you looked at these threads (especially the last few pages as its dealing with the later versions of Profiler):
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3766
not entirely sure it will help in your issue, though, but maybe your not setting something right in Profiler?

On a side note, if you want to change from DVD Profiler to ANT without redoing your whole entire library, view this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5733

I can't really give you an apples to apples comparison as to why you should drop Profiler and use Ant, as I've only used Ant from the start and have never had any issues...other than my own learning curve, with that program/plugin combination.

Oh, and just a helpful hint for next time:
You put your questions under Tips and Tricks...which is usually for information and tips on making things better, more effecient, or for small helpful apps, or fonts. If you want greater exposure, you should post under the general "Support" thread. Not to say that someone won't chime in here and help you out...but you'd most likely get the support more quickly if posted in the "Support" thread.

Wish I could have been more helpful.

[sharp_1]

I've dealt with this one before. When I changed from my Sony DVD Megachanger I had to make sure that somehow I had DVDpro pointing to my online title. What I did at the time was create the files path in the notes section in DVDpro that use that as my parameter for xL to play from. It worked!!

[carlt7]

Sharp and Marbles - Thanks for your reply. The Profiler setting won't apply because (I was not clear) there are 200 movies on a 1TB hard drive that need a correct movie path in XL (after importing CC Viewer database.) The path found when editing the database shows "video_ts" and not, ie, M:\shooter\video_ts\video_ts.ifo. I tried Ant (with no success) but the instructions I found in the forum were a little lacking. I wish the post/instructions in French with visuals would have been translated into English. I will go back and try Ant again. I assume it will work in 2009 with XL Free, right? Thanks again for your help.

[Marbles_00]

The English version of the XAnt instructions are here:
http://xlobbystuff.googlepages.com/XantGuide.doc

Not sure if those are the instruction you looked at or not. My movies are split between adult (RMovies) and Children, so I have created two databases. My XAnt.ini file for movies looks like this:

Code: Select all

[RMovies]
input=\\Tower\disk1\Ant Movie Catalog\Catalogs\rratedmovies.amc
output=c:\Program Files\Xlobby\databases\rratedmovies.xml
images=\\Tower\disk1\Ant Movie Catalog\Pochettes movies\
sort=$$ITEM_ORIGINALTITLE
template=c:\Program Files\Xlobby\plugins\moviestemplate.xml
filters=

[ChildrenMovies]
input=\\Tower\disk1\Ant Movie Catalog\Catalogs\childrenmovies.amc
output=c:\Program Files\Xlobby\databases\childrenmovies.xml
images=\\Tower\disk1\Ant Movie Catalog\Pochettes movies\
sort=$$ITEM_ORIGINALTITLE
template=c:\Program Files\Xlobby\plugins\moviestemplate.xml
filters=

My moviestemplate file basically looks like this:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<database>
   <sortorder>sorttitle</sortorder>
   <sortable>
      <sort>actors</sort>
      <sort>title</sort>
      <sort>sorttitle</sort>
      <sort>genre</sort>
      <sort>director</sort>
      <sort>year</sort>
      <sort>starimage</sort>
      <sort>rating</sort>
      <sort>name</sort>
   </sortable>
   <template/>
   <paths>
      <path/>
   </paths>
   <item>
      <parameter>$$ITEM_URL</parameter>
      <coverart>$$ITEM_PICTUREFILENAME</coverart>
      <display>$$ITEM_TRANSLATEDTITLE</display>
      <offline>$$ITEM_BORROWER</offline>
      <information>
         <name>$$ITEM_ORIGINALTITLE</name>
         <title>$$ITEM_ORIGINALTITLE</title>
         <sorttitle>$$ITEM_TRANSLATEDTITLE</sorttitle>
         <director>$$ITEM_DIRECTOR</director>
         <runtime>$$ITEM_LENGTH</runtime>
         <plot>$$ITEM_DESCRIPTION</plot>
         <actors>$$ITEM_ACTORS</actors>
    <starimage>skin://buttons/stars/star$$ITEM_RATING.png</starimage>
         <year>$$ITEM_YEAR</year>
         <genre>$$ITEM_CATEGORY</genre>
         <rating>$$ITEM_RATING/100</rating>
      </information>
   </item>
</database>

Though my one machine I have it displaying star ratings instead of numbers. The only other thing is to make sure you use the more recent XANT plugin. The more recent one allows for rebuilding the database without exiting xlobby, so in Xlobby's Event screen for plugins, under XAnt, there will be a rebuild command (or something along those lines).

If you do indeed try out Ant/XAnt again, and get stuck, don't hesitate to ask for help, there's enough of us that use it here with great success. Currently my Ant catalog sits on my server with all my movies. I update the file, and easily rebuild my movies database across multiple systems. If you want a quick example, try out my recent released AppleTV modified skin. If using the skin without modifying, then you will require two sections named the same (RMovies and ChildrenMovies) as the rebuild commands base themselves on the ini file entries.

[carlt7]

All movies are on external 1TB hard drive (M:) ie, M:\movie title\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO. I noted from reading Ant guides that you have to manually enter the path of the movie in the URL for each and every one. Is there a way to point to the path for all of the movies globally in the Ant ini file (or Xlobby) to avoid entering manually. Thanks

[lpg]

I had this working in the past with dvd profiler 2 and 3 with iso files. My dir struct was x\movies\movie name\video ts\moviename.iso I never had to store the directory anywhere. I also just used the default metamasks until recently. Can you send a screenshot of your movie import screen?

[lpg]

This is the Baddabing guide I used when I first set up xlobby many years ago. It has a section on directory structure, dvd profiler, and importing the movies. Here is a link to the document:
http://lpgiese.googlepages.com/xlobbyskins

[Marbles_00]

Is there a way to point to the path for all of the movies globally in the Ant ini file (or Xlobby) to avoid entering manually

Well, there will always be some manual manipulation as each movie title will have to be entered, but if you goto Ant, click on Tools, then Preferences. Down the left side of the Preference window, select Movie information. Then click on "Edit default movie values". The next window that opens you can type in the general location of all your movies. Click on OK, then when that screen closes, click on "Save" in the Preferences window.

There after any entry you make, will have the general directory where your movies are located. From there you have to enter the rest of the location of each individual movie.