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| Invelos Forums->Posts by Lowpro |
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The pretzels people turn themselves into attempting to comply with some collective standard for what a given profile and data point should look like. Honestly, I'll never get it. For purposes of contribution to the online database, sure. In that context I'd agree. Quasi marketing blurbs (...not a tagline) should not be included within the "Overview".
That being said, by all means, do whatever the heck you want to do with your profile locally. There's absolutely no reason to submit to some collective set of rules. It's your collection. Contribute a given profile if you like following the current rules obtaining a consensus if need be, then lock your local profile down and do with it as you see fit. Short of contributing a given profile it doesn't matter what you do. You're not impacting anyone else's profiles in that case.
The "Overview" section for me personally is a substitute for physically reading the back portion of the given cover art. Anything is fair game. If I want to include a marketing blurb or tagline that's presented prior to the actual "synopsis" of a title I include it. If I don't, I don't. My "Overview" sections include the "Bonus Feature" details from the back portion of the given cover art as well, most of the time verbatim. Sometimes I'll include certain "Bonus Features" which are present on the discs, but not mentioned on the cover art.
My disc level profiles include only the "Bonus Feature" items included on the given disc, the verbiage from the Blu-ray menus used in most cases. For TV series content my "Overview" sections include the "Synopsis", "Bonus Features" and an "Episode List" and an "Episode Guide" which follows the episode breakdown per disc, everything divided by separators. It's all in one place, quick and easy to digest. | Posted: Topic Replies: 5, Topic Views: 1090 |  | Quoting dobrzpe:
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yea, but you are failing to realize: i bet people (MYSELF INCLUDED) would rather have info in the profile than NO INFO WHATSOEVER. i, too, have been using it since it was Invocative. i've submitted several profiles back in the day and they were rejected. so i said to myself, fine - i won't help out. now, for the last 18+ years, if it's not in the database, i have to go through the pain of putting in BASIC info and cover image myself. (no cast info, which REALLY sucks...)
i'd just be nice to have the info there, THEN if someone sees a mistake, and wants to fix it - GO FOR IT!
pulling from IMDB or even TMDB would be better than NOTHING.
CastCrewEdit2 is your friend. | Posted: Topic Replies: 25, Topic Views: 7717 | | | I'm perfectly capable of creating a profile from scratch if needed. I don't need anyone's contributions. I don't need or want the shared Invelos database to alter my local profiles. I don't need Invelos to do jack. To each his own naturally. | Posted: Topic Replies: 40, Topic Views: 19581 | | Quoting GSyren:
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Quoting nanoron:
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If you are worried about them going belly up, I believe you can export your My Movies database as XML or CSV, which should allow you to move to yet another app.
Can you export even if the site is down, though? You could make sure that you always have an up-to-date export, but few people are that anticipatory.
Yes, you can export to XML, irrespective of whether the My Movies online service is available or not. | Posted: Topic Replies: 92, Topic Views: 27058 | | Quoting nanoron:
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Lowpro: While I can understand your issues with My Movies' interface and functions, as you say each to his own, I think your aversion to online syncing is overblown unless their server has a history of frequent outages, as has Invelos.
If you are worried about them going belly up, I believe you can export your My Movies database as XML or CSV, which should allow you to move to yet another app. Let's all face it, while we all love DVD Profiler, we are living on borrowed time, especially us iOS users. As the Boy Scouts used to say, "Be Prepared". Fortunately, for iOS users, we have been granted a stay of execution with iOS 17.7 and 18. So now is a good time to plan for the future.
I'm not worried about My Movies or Invelos going belly up. I was just sharing the pros and cons with those who aren't familiar with the My Movies product. Whether one has an aversion to online syncing or not is beside the point. There are different degrees of that depending on the product and how it's implemented. Having a clear understanding of the My Movies mandatory sync model is probably a good idea before one goes and invests their "borrowed" time building a My Movies database. This was the primary motivation for my previous post.
And yes, Invelos has outages as well, but you can't equate the two. One product uses a mandatory sync model and the other doesn't. Full use of the application is retained if Invelos.com is down minus the ability to download shared profiles or sync shared profiles to the existing local profiles. If the MyMovies online service is down you won't be able to add new titles, delete existing titles, or edit existing titles to a significant degree. You also won't be able to install the application fresh if need be, then start using it as logging in to your My Movies account is first required.
Also, the fact that the My Movies online service is available doesn't guarantee the local application will sync successfully. Since the introduction of My Movies v5 to present I've seen numerous posts in the My Movies forums, users requesting support due to the application failing to sync successfully, cases where the online service was available at the time so as I said, to each his own. If one chooses to tie their local database at the hip to the My Movies online service that's fine by me. My local database on the other hand won't be asking permission from some online server before it can update itself locally, hence my continued use of My Movies v4.07 per browsing my collection at 150" diagonal in my home theater via My Movies for Windows Media Center. | Posted: Topic Replies: 92, Topic Views: 27058 | | Quoting GSyren:
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Quoting nanoron:
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Does Lowpro's comment "My Movies v5 and higher went to a mandatory sync model" mean they store your database online instead of locally? If so, what's wrong with that?
It means that one would be totally at the mercy of MyMovies online database being available. There would be no way to use the program at all if it went offline.
Well, you could still view your local database within the Collection Management application. That hardly qualifies as using the program though, right. And to preface my earlier comment, you can make certain edits to a given profile while offline (or when the online service is offline). I expand on this and other things in more detail below for those curious.
First some backstory. In my case I use My Movies v4.07 as it was the last version offered prior to them moving to the mandatory sync model. I do so strictly for the ability to browse my disc based collection from My Movies for Windows Media Center which runs on my HTPC 24/7, the GUI calling out the disc locations for a given title. (See my Blu-ray.com forum post here for more details on how I've integrated My Movies with my current home theater setup.) My Movies v4.07 is still available to download, but requires a manual step be taken relating to SQL in order to get the application to install successfully. (See Steps 5-9 from my My Movies forum post, here.)
My Movies v4.07 is fully functionality when used offline minus features which require the application connect to the online service. All local title data and related personal data can be edited and saved successfully. New titles can be added using the "Add Offline" option. You're prompted to enter a UPC/EAN Barcode (which is optional) and a title name. The title is quickly added after which you manually enter all the title data, personal data, and cover art. (I copy and paste the profile data and cover art over from DVD Profiler.) The "Add Online" option with My Movies 4.07 no longer works as support for My Movies v4 has been deprecated. The "Add Online" option is used to download shared profiles from the online service rather than creating them from scratch.
The "Actors" and "Crew" data can be added manually. You can also pull that data down from IMDB instead if you want. The current IMDB search option when accessed automatically attempts to perform a IMDB search by title name. This currently fails as their DLL needs to be updated due to changes made to IMDB's website. (This is also the case for My Movies v5.41 as I carry over the latest DLL for use with My Movies v4.07.) The IMDB "search by title" has been broke for a few years now. That being said, once the "search by title" fails you can then perform your own search by IMDB ID instead. Search by IMDB ID continues to work without issue.
Now I'll shift gears to My Movies v5.41 (Pre Release 5). Well, before I do there is one major caveat I should mention. When launching the application (..all versions of My Movies) after a fresh install you're required to log in to your My Movies account. If the My Movies website is offline you won't be able to log in obviously. Additionally, the application creates the initial local database (which contains no titles) when you log in for the first time. The local database can't be created manually. Well it can be, but the Collection Management application won't recognize it. It needs to create the database after which you can then restore your database if you had backed it up previously.
Now you won't have to log in to your account after logging in the initial time. Subsequent launches of the application won't require you log in and don't check to see if the account you logged in to previously is valid. So that's a saving grace, but what if My Movies closes its doors. The day that happens I'll continue to be able to use My Movies v4.07 without issue so long as I don't need to log in to my account again, i.e. when installing the application fresh. My Movies v5 users on the other hand will be dead in the water due to the mandatory sync model. I cover My Movies v5 in more detail below, several examples provided of what it's like to work with "Disc Titles" while offline. And keep in mind, there is a local database. It just doesn't belong to you evidently. Well, short of it being tied at the hip to the online service.
So I'm running My Movies v5, the online service being offline at the moment let's say. When attempting to add a title what happens? Sadly nothing happens due to the mandatory sync model. If the application can't sync successfully the "Add Titles" window won't be displayed. How about deleting a title? No, no, no. When attempting to delete a title the message, "Error Deleting Title (The title could not be deleted. There as a problem deleting the title in the online service.)" is displayed. Okay, so for now perhaps I'll just work on some existing titles editing the personal data for a few of them, then locking the title data and cover art down. No can do, the mandatory sync model once again raises its ugly head. When attempting to save your changes the message, "Store Problem (There was a problem storing changes to the personal data for this title)" is displayed. On a brighter note, editing title data and cover art, then saving your changes is possible while offline but again, while offline you're limited to working with existing titles.
And one final note regarding the mandatory sync model, just because the online service is available doesn't mean you may not still have problems with the application syncing. Since the introduction of My Movies 5 to present I've seen numerous posts in the My Movies forums, users requesting support due to the application failing to sync successfully, cases where the online service was available at the time. In several cases My Movies support would correct something on their end specific to the user's account and online data resolving the issue. In other cases they'd explain that the online service was having issues. The issue could also be local the user. Now that's my idea of fun! To each his own naturally. | Posted: Topic Replies: 92, Topic Views: 27058 | | | My Movies v5 and higher went to a mandatory sync model. To each his own, but I have zero interest in being permanently attached to the My Movies online server while working with my local database much less being required in large part to conform to that database. | Posted: Topic Replies: 92, Topic Views: 27058 | |
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| Invelos Forums->Posts by Lowpro |
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