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| Invelos Forums->Posts by movie_madness |
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Quoting scotthm:
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Quoting movie_madness:
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The ongoing and recurring cost is the key here. A USB drive has almost zero cost in that regard, while maintaining a PC running Plex can become a second job.
I've been running Plex Server since 2016 and other than adding media it takes very little maintenance. You do know that it will run on a variety of NAS devices don't you?
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Managing an NAS is just like managing a PC, with software & hardware maintenance, security, backup, etc. I would only use an NAS if I ran a business. That's what NAS was originally for. It was never meant for home use -- unless you want to run your business at home. And movie-watching shouldn't feel like a "business." It needs to be as simple as possible, for yourself and your family. That's why Windows Media Center is gone. That's why the entire industry of PC movie-watching (PowerDVD, WinDVD, SageTV, PC tuner card, etc.) is basically gone. Sooner or later Plex will be gone too. | Posted: Topic Replies: 9, Topic Views: 409 |  | Quoting scotthm:
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Quoting movie_madness:
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Plex servers and the likes were fine 10+ years ago. Nowadays, instead of having another PC run Plex (and incurring additional cost like power consumption, maintenance, etc.), it is cheaper and more convenient to just plug your portable USB hard drive or thumb drive into your smart TV or streaming device
If all we're talking about is cost and convenience then there would be no USB hard drive, or thumb drive, or TV, or movies.
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The ongoing and recurring cost is the key here. A USB drive has almost zero cost in that regard, while maintaining a PC running Plex can become a second job. | Posted: Topic Replies: 9, Topic Views: 409 | | I once entertained the thought of doing that, but ended up never doing it. How would you rip 4K Blu-rays and retain the HDR colors? That would be difficult, if not impossible. Would you be willing to rip all the special features too? If you have thousands of discs, there must be many that have special features, and some may have a lot. That would add to the sheer volume of what would need to be ripped, making the job even more daunting. So I ended up just settling on two things:
(1) Back up discs that are valuable and OOP into ISO files. These serve as backups only, and are rarely used for playback. ISO files contain the exact copies with menus, special features, and everything.
(2) Acquire digital copies via legal means: (a) buy discs that come with digital codes, (b) buy digital movies, and (c) use Fandango's disc-to-digital service to acquire digital copies. Some of these digital titles even come with the same special features you get on disc.
Plex servers and the likes were fine 10+ years ago. Nowadays, instead of having another PC run Plex (and incurring additional cost like power consumption, maintenance, etc.), it is cheaper and more convenient to just plug your portable USB hard drive or thumb drive into your smart TV or streaming device, which can then play the video files, music, photos, etc., directly from your drive. | Posted: Topic Replies: 9, Topic Views: 409 | | Microsoft Access is getting more and more outdated, unfortunately, both as a database back end and front end. As back end, I use Microsoft SQL Server, which is more robust, supports local and online usages, and is free -- unlike Access, which costs over $100 and is good mostly for local network or single-PC use. To make front ends, Microsoft Visual Studio is also free, has more features, and supports more platforms (web, desktop, mobile) than Access, which can only run on desktop Windows PCs. Visual Studio can also create stand-alone executable files (.exe) of your apps, which Access can't do. Currently I'm trying to re-create my app with Visual Studio because I won't use Access forever for all the reasons above.
I've used Access since the 90s in my old job, when Internet was slow and not yet widespread, so everything was run on LAN or single PCs, which was what Access was built for. But nowadays that is an outdated way of doing things in both personal and business applications. Use Access only if you have a lot of legacy, 90s/2000s apps you need to take care of (which I do). Otherwise, if you have long-term goals and want something more modern, use something else. | Posted: Topic Replies: 99, Topic Views: 38202 | | Quoting TheMadMartian:
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Quoting movie_madness:
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Quoting DarklyNoon:
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This looks amazing, do you make this available for others too?
If I shared my work with others, I would violate IMDb's terms the same way DVD Profiler would, I believe, because my tool imports heavily from IMDb.
I'm a little late to this but I don't think he meant sharing your database data, just your database design. I use Microsoft Office but don't have the programming skills to create something this nice so would definitely be interested in the design.
Sharing my design would mean sharing how I obtain data from IMDb, which I'm also reluctant to do because the legality of doing so is also not so clear cut, due to IMDB's usage terms.
My app requires Microsoft SQL Server when it runs, so unless you have that set up at your end, you can't even open my app. In short, my app is not easily distributable due to various reasons. It is not designed to be distributed anyway.
To understand my design, you would need to be proficient in relational database first (which is a college sophomore-level subject). My app and DVD Profiler are basically "database applications" that rely much on the fundamental principles of relational database, which include topics like indices, data types, data structures, referential integrity, relationship, etc.
I can give you a glimpse of what my app does by way of a video or two (here is a brief video of how my tool retrieves IMDb cast and crew). But this is no way to show you truly what my design entails. | Posted: Topic Replies: 99, Topic Views: 38202 | | Quoting Marcccc:
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Certainly there must be someone out there who wishes to keep this software going? I don’t understand the plan here.
Anyone who is capable of doing this as a business (such as CLZ) would likely start their own business with their own tools and their way of doing things instead of inheriting an old system and adhering to the old way of doing things.
And that includes me. I built my own catalog tool. And it never crossed my mind to buy Mr. Cole's business, since I have no intention of running a business. Anyone who wants a long-term catalog tool and has the skills to make one would likely do what I did (or what CLZ did) instead of buying Invelos.
Even if a capable person or company wanted to buy Invelos, Ken Cole might not want to sell it because there would be no guarantee the new owner would do the job well. What if the new owner ran the business to the ground in a month and all the users ended up losing the application? This business is Mr. Cole's "baby," and we have no idea how hard it is to run this business. So he likely wouldn't sell the business unless and until he must.
Running a business, managing money and resources, etc., are hard to do. All the failed Kickstarter campaigns we've heard about should make that apparent. What if someone offered to buy Invelos and they turned out to be some fly-by-night upstarts like those failed Kickstarter campaigners?
Or maybe Mr. Cole wasn't happy with the offer, if indeed someone wanted to buy. Or maybe he just wouldn't sell, ever, for whatever reasons. | Posted: Topic Replies: 4, Topic Views: 1543 | | Addressing the OP's other points:
I agree that new releases are often missing and don't become available until weeks or months later, or longer. In that case, I have to create a profile myself. This doesn't happen often enough to annoy me. In the past year, I had to create 20 custom profiles for the missing discs, but those were out of hundreds of discs I bought. In other words, I found a vast majority of discs that already had existing profiles. A bigger problem for me is missing back covers. Last year, I had to scan the back covers of about 40 discs myself because their submitted profiles didn't have the back covers.
Regarding not having enough time to create custom profiles, you just have to make time. This is a hobby, which is supposed to suck up time. Collecting movies, reading or watching reviews, looking for deals, buying shelves, organizing your shelves, etc., all suck up time. That's what a hobby does. I agree that manually entering cast and crew is tedious. But to look for better solutions, you have to spend time and effort too. | Posted: Topic Replies: 25, Topic Views: 6106 | | A big reason why I created my own catalog tool (as I mentioned here) was to have more control over importing IMDb cast and crew. Even though there are commercials tools that can import them, they may not do it well. Some can only import a partial list of credits or a set number of credits, and some don't allow the user to edit the credits after importing. A movie may have thousands of IMDb credit entries, and I want to be able to import them all. Sometimes, an important filmmaker may play a minor role in a movie, and their credit may be far down the list. Importing all credits ensures I don't miss anything. But as far as I know, no tool can import it all, and in a manner I need.
I know DVD Profiler has a "Cast/Crew Edit 2" plugin that can automate importing of IMDb credits (for private use, per Invelo's requirement), but it's not automatic enough -- it still requires several mouse-clicks and copying and pasting. In the catalog tool I made, I only need to click one button to import all the credits (video demo). | Posted: Topic Replies: 25, Topic Views: 6106 | | Quoting Danae Cassandra:
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Quoting movie_madness:
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When you buy digital titles, they DON'T get dropped. They will remain in your "library" even if they are pulled from the store. You would lose your titles only if the store went out of business.
Or they get bought by/merged with another company who decides not to support that. Looking at the Cruchyroll-Funimation debacle here.
Those Funimation digital copies came from Funimation physical discs, so it was a less egregious thing to lose the digital copies, because the original owners would still have the discs (unless they sold them).
Nowadays, tons of online items are digital-only, from games, to movies, to books, to mobile apps. Buying those would always be a risk because if they were gone, they would really be gone. | Posted: Topic Replies: 92, Topic Views: 24400 | | | But in order for an alternative to be had, somebody has to code it in order to create that alternative. And that somebody could be one of you. Computers and programming are taught in primary schools. Surely there is someone among you with the skill set. I'm one, for one. Sooner or later you guys need to start taking matters into your hands like I did, one way or another. There is nothing to "figure out" if you are just here wishing a magical app would fall from the sky. | Posted: Topic Replies: 92, Topic Views: 24400 | | My app can import cast & crew automatically with just one button press. In DVD Profiler, even with the plugin, you have to do some manual copying and pasting.
This isn't really about doing it better than DVD Profiler, but about finding a replacement once DVD Profiler is gone. Ten years ago I already knew this day would come. You need to quit on a product at the right time rather than waiting for it to quit on you at the most inopportune time.
When you buy digital titles, they DON'T get dropped. They will remain in your "library" even if they are pulled from the store. You would lose your titles only if the store went out of business. At this stage, Invelos is (way) more likely to go out of business than online digital stores like Vudu, Google Play, Prime, etc., are. | Posted: Topic Replies: 92, Topic Views: 24400 | | | I took matters into my own hands about 10 years ago and created my own movie catalog tool. I wrote about it a few years ago here with some screenshots of what I did. In 2014 I already saw the handwriting on the wall: physical disc market declining, disc collecting more niche, catalog tools getting rare, etc. I have thousands of discs, and I didn't want to trust third-parties with the job. So I used my programming skills to create my own solutions. Programming is hard, but nothing is impossible. I still use DVD Profiler, but mostly for getting disc covers and disc specs. | Posted: Topic Replies: 92, Topic Views: 24400 | | Also, the first word after a colon or dash must be capitalized even if it is otherwise in lower case. E.g.:
Correct: Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home
Incorrect: Star Trek 4: the Voyage Home. | Posted: Topic Replies: 23, Topic Views: 11331 | |
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| Invelos Forums->Posts by movie_madness |
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