Xlobby movie database and DVDProfiler

[byellin]

I am new to HTPC's and Xlobby. What I've seen and used so far is extremely impressive. Can anyone tell me how to keep and import of DVDProfiler information from overlaying the filenames for the online movies I've cataloged in the Xlobby movie database ???
I can't seem to figure it out. I just want to export and import the new movies I am adding and not disturb the data in the existing ones.

[minhi]

I am new to HTPC's and Xlobby. What I've seen and used so far is extremely impressive. Can anyone tell me how to keep and import of DVDProfiler information from overlaying the filenames for the online movies I've cataloged in the Xlobby movie database ???
I can't seem to figure it out. I just want to export and import the new movies I am adding and not disturb the data in the existing ones.

are you making changes to the titles directly in xlobby? I can't answer the incremental changes question. I do know that everytime you 'refresh' the database from the DVDProfiler info, the information in DVDProfiler over-rides what's already in xlobby. Instead of making changes directly in xlobby, why don't you make changes in the DVDProfiler? THat's what I do, I remove all punctuation from the titles of my movies (because the filenames don't work in windows xp correctly). I maintain all this in DVDProfiler so I don't have to worry about my changes being over-written.

[byellin]

Ah! That seems straightforward enough. Just the thing. I didn't know you could enter file names for ripped movies in DVDProfiler. I can't seem to find a way to do that. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. How is it done?

[jmv]

Just enter your own DVD in DVD profiler with the information you want (you need to go to the "add by title" and deselect the "download information"). This is how I enter separate DVD profiler information for episodes where the DVD has 5 episodes, but I rip as independent files).

[minhi]

Ah! That seems straightforward enough. Just the thing. I didn't know you could enter file names for ripped movies in DVDProfiler. I can't seem to find a way to do that. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. How is it done?

you can enter in manually like said above, or if you entered it in automatically, just right click on the title and edit. changing the title here will change it in the xml file that you export.

[byellin]

OK. I think I need to explain what I am trying to do a little better. Remember I am new to all this stuff. When I rip a DVD, like "The Abyss" for example, it goes into E:/The Abyss/VIDEO_TS.IFO as the file to pass to Theatertek. I do not enter this file name into DVDProfiler as there is no place to put it that I can find. So I have two separate things, the actual movie name and the file name for TT to start. I export the DVD's with all the goodies from DVDProfiler into XLOBBY. Then I go into XLOBBY Database editor and enter the fully qualified file name as above in the Parameter field and uncheck the Offline item box. Then when I click on the movie (cover art) on the category page, XLobby passes a switch of /PATH "E:/The Abyss" as was assigned to Theatek under the FILES tab. Now Theatertek knows to find that file to start.

Heres the problem. I have to enter the fully qualified name in the Parameter field of the XLobby movie database, as above, for each DVD I rip. Now that's fine until I have to add more DVD's in with cover art and goodies from DVDProfiler. When I do that all the names I entered in the Parameter field get changed back to "video_ts.ifo" and TT has no way to find the movie file to start. So here's the real question. How does one set up XLobby so that Theatek can get passed the right path in the switches without having to re-enter the file names after DVDProfiler info is imported? I think I am missing something very simple in the information you guys are giving me, or I got my brain locked in on the wrong way to do this easily. There's got to be a better way to do this.

[minhi]

instead of passing the fully qualified name for each movie, you need to pass something like this

E:/%Movie Title%/VIDEO_TS.IFO (I don't know the exact parameter off hand, hopefully someone else can fix this for me)

Since you're ripping everything and storing it under E:\<MOVIE NAME>\ you make it generic. When you browse each Movie in Xlobby, XL keeps track of what movie you currently have selected--which is how you pass TT the Movie Title.

The only thing you have to do in DVDProfiler is make sure the 'official title' (the one displayed in xlobby) doesn't have any punctuation. You can't have punctuation in Windows filenames (If someone knows a way around this i'd like to hear it).


Well this is how I'm playing movie trailers (I rip each trailer to a directory with the movie title as the key), so I'm not sure if it's exactly the same for you, but this should get you started.

[minhi]

giving this some thought, i finally figured out what you're doing (well i think).

If you're changing the default value from VIDEO_TS.IFO to <MOVIE-NAME>\VIDEO_TS.IFO manually of course it will change back when you import.

Instead of doing that, open up the Event Manager, go to Skins->Movies->play (or playdvd?) and change the parameter to play. I'm guessing you have something like this

C:\Program Files\Theater Tek\Theatertek.exe /SOME PARAMETERS

Well for the some parameters it should be E:\%MOVETITLE%\VIDEO_TS.IFO as the path to play. (check that % substitution)

I wouldn't even touch the parameter inside the movie database.

The whole idea is that all your data is structured into this format
E:\<MOVIE-NAME>\VIDEO_TS.IFO

so all you have to do is figure out what <MOVIE-NAME> is when you hit play in Xlobby, well Xlobby keeps track of that for you, so just edit the event that the 'play' button executes

[byellin]

minhi,

Thanks for taking this one on. Much appreciated.

I think I got what your saying. I've tried variations of the substituion technique you are referring to (btw, %title% is the variable I need here) by using an OS execute file event with the appropriate switch (PATH E:/%title%/VIDEO_TS). I think, however, that I have another problem. I just don't understand the workings of XLobby well enough to figure it out yet. It doesn't work when I assign it to play movie.

I think I know why

Here goes: I want to be able to play a movie by clicking on the cover art in the category window for movies on the MOVIES screen. If I click on one of the cover art icons in the thumbnails display Xlobby appears to be hardwired to go to some routine that checks if it is online or not in the database, and then launches Theatertek according to the switch settings under the File Types tab if the movie is online. I can't for the life of me find between the thumbnail press and what it executes. The thumbnail appears to be going to the category:execute event. Anyway, if it is offline, I get a screen to prompt the user to put a DVD in the drawer. I like this feature. So - to summarize - pressing thumbnail for the movie is somehow goes to the category:execute event which makes the online/offline decision and is hard wired to use the settings under File Types.

The only setting that will work under the File Types setting for Theatertek is /PATH %playlist% -aaargh! If I try to use any other variable like %file% or %title% etc- it does not substitue anything. Maybe those variables are just not set in alpha release. Whatever routine that is invoked in category:execute conveniently writes the switches it is passing to a file called commandline.txt. I look in there after experimenting with new variables. With anything other than %playlist% - nothing is substitued - I just see everything I put in the File tabs switch settings in all caps - like PATH E:\%TITLE%\VIDEO_TS.IFO. So, something is looking at it and changing it.

I know I can use your technique if I want to start all movies from the "Play" button by simply assigning it to an OS execute file event with the right variables substituted in the switches settings. If I do this - I lose that offline prompt screen. Oh well.

Any ideas? Do you know how a thumbnail press gets assigned?

[Colby]

Are your files, VIDEO_TS.IFO, associated with TheaterTek? If so why doesnt a category execute work?

[byellin]

The files types .ifo are associated with TT under the file types tab and all other programs are disabled. When the category execute operates, it will not substitute anything for %title% in the switch line I give it under file types. If I specify, for example, /PATH %playlist% and the Parameter field of the movies database is set to E:/xxxxxx/video_ts.ifo, where xxxxx is explicity filled in with the instance name, the category execute comand generates the following swith PATH "E:/xxxxx" If I try to substitue %title% either in the Parameter fieldof the movie db, OR in the switch field under file types the swith will come out literally /PATH "E/%TITLE%/VIDEO_TS.IFO with no substitution and the lower case %title% transformed into upper case. Wierd.

I am going nuts here. I don't know why the execute category only substitutes with %playlist% and not others. I don't know why the execute category command strips off the VIDEO_TS.IFO from the parameter name. Do you know where these commands are documented?

[byellin]

OK. I'm slogging my way through this. Looks like a lot of things happen when a movie is played. When the "Play" button is pressed a lot of stuff comes into the picture: The MOVIES:PLAY MOVIE event assigned to the button is tied to a category EXECUTE command (whatever that does). Then since the filetype is IFO, the enabled Theatertek line on the file types window show a start event of "load tt playlist" (whatever that does) if the movie is online - if offline it does a GOTO the offline movies screen. Can anyone explain the control flow when a movie is played from the movieviewer screen in the default configuration and how the switches get processed. What does each fundtion do? When? Why am I having so much trouble getting Xlobby to simple insert the %title% variable into a file name. I've looked for documentation and can't find any at all on this stuff. I am stumped. If I try to bypass the whole shebang by simply settting up an event tied to OS execute file with %title% in the arguments for TT, no substitution takes place or maybe it does but is overriden by the startevent routine assigned to the filetype. It's a mystery. As a complete newbie to Xlobby, I am getting discouraged. I don't want to switch camps. You folks seem to have your act together and I don't want to pay for something that used to be free (on principle). Where can I look for help on this? Until then, I am going to try removing the start and end events from the filetypes window, and assign the Play button to my own event that starts TT with the arguments. Is it possilbe that the alpha release just doesn't put anything in the %title% variable. I can't get it to display.

[Colby]

Byellin,
Dont get discouraged. Someone will help. I dont use theater tek so I dont know much about it. I use zoomplayer for my movies. I am willing to help but I cant recreate the scenerio so its hard to.

EXECUTE command (whatever that does)

execute command means that whatever the file extension of the a category item will get loaded in its associted program. ie. If I have a db of whatever.AVIs. and I click it. It will open the AVI with the associated windows program. (zoomplayer in my case). essentially the same as double clicking a file in windows explorer.

I dont know why youre having so much trouble with this either. Im sure its frustrating. Somebody please help him.

[minhi]

just to make sure, is TT starting up when you hit play?
I use zoomplayer, but i'm sure the workflow is the same. I'll test this over the weekend and get back to you. You're logic is basically right, i think you have a typo, which is what makes this so frustrating, take a break and I'll get back to you ASAP.

BTW, i'm basically doing the same thing you are with play move button, except i'm doing it with play trailers button, so i'm positive this should work!

[byellin]

Colby,

Thanks. You brought me back into the tent. I feel better now. Whew!

So thats how it all relates. Play button is hit, play movie event kicks off the category:execute, which looks up the right program for the file type, and then does the online/offline bit, decides to launch the player (TT in this case), then runs the Start Event (load tt playlist) associated with it, then executes the file associated with it passing the switches as appropriate. Then runs the End Event which take us back to the screen. This is now is beginning to make some sense. (the thigh bone's connected to the........) You know the drill.

But my problem still comes back to answering the simple (maybe not so simple) question of why the %title% variable is never loaded or substituted in the switch expression ( "E:\%title%\video_ts.ifo" ) as it is entered in the file types table before TT kicks off. Is it a (duh!) syntax problem? Shouldn't this work? The only think I can think of is the load tt playlist is responsible for loading the movie %<variable>%s and somehow they are not getting populated. So, I tried E:\category>movie>title\video_ts -(what the h--l? nothing else worked). No cigar.

BTW, does the <category>:execute routine write out the commandline.txt file that I found? Anyone?

Someone out there with TT has got to have gotten this to work. Help.