DVD Profiler support

[z.mash]

Now that the screen resolution enhancement is forthcoming, the next thing that would be great to see is some kind of support for DVD Profiler to create a DVD catalog.

DVD Profiler let's you enter the UPC code from a DVD, and it downloads cover art and all of the information about the DVD (e.g. aspect ratio, running time, synopsis, actors, etc.). I don't know how it stores the data, but it can be exported to an XML file, and the cover art is stored in a directory.

How can we use this? I have one idea, which I will outline in the next post.

-Zak

[z.mash]

Here's my idea (I have no clue if this is even possible).

Since we have the XML file with all of the data, and a directory of images (which are referenced by file name in the XML file), could we copy the file and the images directory to the NetRemote client and have a driver that will display the various elements?

For example, assume the driver number is -6. We would have a series of buttons in NetRemote, each with the RC5x code set to -6. The IR name of the buttons would interface with the driver and control what is displayed. IR name "Image" would display the image, "Title" would display the title, etc. There could also be some "action" IR names that would control navigation.

I have 150 DVDs in my copy of DVD Profiler, and it takes up 2.1MB (including front and back cover scans). I don't think storage on a PPC would be an issue. I do not know if parsing the XML file would take too long.

So, am I crazy? I have been snowbound for a couple of days, so I might have cabin fever...

-Zak

[Ben S]

I've thought about this a few times as well, Zak.

Assuming network speed isn't a problem, I'd prefer to have the xml file and images on the server, so that multiple clients could get the info.

I'm pretty sure this is something Gavin could roll into his "dvd jukebox" code he's doing with LUA in Girder.

What do you think?

[z.mash]

Yes, I definitely should have mentioned Gavin's work with LUA. I was hoping he would jump in this thread and talk any issues he has run into that could be ameliorated through customizations to NetRemote.

I was reading through your bug list and saw the intermittent issues with images through MJB. I thought maybe there were inherent issues with serving the images to the client. If not, then I agree that server-side would be better, in which case Gavin's scripts would take care of it.

One client-side change that might help is a comment field. This would be a left-justified, word-wrapped box that would allow, for example, DVD synoposes. I know you did something like this for MJB, but I haven't looked at it yet.

-Zak

[brockgr]

Zak, Ben,

DVD Profiler support is in the currently unreleased version of LUA DVD Jukebox. Once I 'borrowed' some XML parser code, it really was a no brainer. The XML out of DVD Profiler is very simple and well formed.

Currently I'm extracting Title, Genre, Notes (for DVD location information) and ID. The ID is used to point at the image files stored in an image directory (sadly the actual path is not in the XML). Other fields could easily be added.

What functionality of DVD Profiler is needed. The current version of LDJ is desinged to be a scrollable list of titles (+/- 3 titles), optionally filtered by genre(s) and the the cover art for the currently selected image. This is designed to be "re-skinnable", but the +/-3 is currently hard coded.

I imageine that people might want a page of covers (say 3 x 4 on a PPC), and just select the image of the DVD they want. This however would require multiple image feedback to work, and could get rather slow on modest hardware.

Another feature I would like would be to view the text descriptions of movies. However these are long, and there seems to be no "word-wrap" feature for buttons/frames in CCF.

Maybe some of this would be better implemented as HTML data in NR emebedded IE window?

Cheers, Gavin

[z.mash]

That sounds great, Gavin! Can I get a copy of LDJ with DVD Profiler support?

Once higher resolutions are available, the word-wrap support will be key for showing the descriptions. I don't thnik displaying one picture at a time will be a problem (at least for me).

Thanks,
Zak

[brockgr]

Zak

Ok - just got back from the pub. Let me sober up a bit, and then make image feedback an optional feature, and then I'll put together a release. Sometime tomorrow hopefully.

Hic "!!

Gavin

[brockgr]

Oh screw it - I'll regret this..

The current version is here!!!

Features:

* DVD profiler parsing
* Directory Scanning
* Optional Image feedback
* Latest feedback interface
* Genre support for DVD Profiler only

Edit the settings in the LUA DVD Jukebox "Initialise" script. Feedback most welcome.

Cheers,

Gavin

[z.mash]

That's what I like to hear! Damn the consequences!

Um...I got a Girder parse error after I loaded the CCF. I am only using the DVD Profiler feature, not the recurse feature. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
-Zak

[brockgr]

Zak,

Hmm - that was less than spectacular :?. The debug interface for LUA in girder is a pain.

Can you open up the "initialise" function, and leave it open. Then click on the red/blue icon at the top of the window, to reset the script engine. Then open the CCF in NR. Finally, watch the output in the bottom frame of the window. Any errors appear messages appear there.

Let me know what you get. It may be that your DVD profiler XML file is more complex than my test one.

Cheers

Gavin