Is it only the integration with online sources that makes videodb so good ?
I didn't mean to imply PVD is perfect in this regard, or this is all it's good at. Many here ask, "Can't MC just pull the video information from IMDb?" I'm not a programmer, but it's obviously easy to do. My experience with PVD, however, suggests the issue is much broader than that. There are many different variations in the content a user may want. IMDb does not seem to be the first choice for European, Russian and Asian users. Even I, a unilingual Anglo, want my information from two different sources. My point is, doing this
well is beyond the scope of what MC intends to be.
or is it also functionality too ?
Yes, very much so. It has the powerful database features you'd expect from a relational database application—filtering, searching, handling relations like a complete filmography for each person in the database. It handles multiple posters, covers and screenshots. It includes a fully-configurable web search function to facilitate searching for information beyond that it automatically downloads. And there's much more, but...
I'm not trying to say PVD is doing anything MC
should be doing better than MC. If you consider why I maintain a video database, it may help you understand my point-of-view: Unlike many MC users, I have little interest cataloging video media. I'm primarily interested in maintaining a database of movies I've seen, and may want to see. While downloading is overtaking DVD rentals as my media source, I delete most downloaded media after viewing. I may be wrong, but it seems MC wasn't designed to catalog media that doesn't exist. At the same time, I would very much like MC to be able to use the information I have in PVD about the media I have on hand at any point in time.
It would be interesting to hear where you think MC could improve.
I wish I could express that in term of concrete feature proposals, but I'm still to new to MC to do that. My hope is those with more experience might understand my point-of-view, and offer solutions for my particular needs, as well as possible paths for MC development in this area. My gut tells me the answer is in somehow better facilitating the exchange of media meta information, but I'm not sure how that might be done. Since my last post, I looked at the possibility of importing data from PVD via XML. That might work if MC offered some kind of mapping utility. Without that, however, doing so on my own seems out of the question. Even if it would work, it wouldn't be a very practical solution for keeping the information up-to-date on a daily basis.
Others have requested (for some time now) improvements to Theatre View for displaying video information. Some have gone as far as recommending the information source issue (e.g., downloading from IMDb) be set aside until this is done. I whole-heartedly agree. There's little point in getting information into MC unless there is a way to use it. I realize this is a selfish view—I already have and use the information with PVD. All I'm looking for is the ability to use it in a 10-foot display.
...a delicate balancing act which to date has been maintained IMO.
I understand and appreciate the design premise of MC, so I agree with you completely. Although it often makes my brain hurt, the power and flexibility of its common media management architecture is very impressive and attractive. However, that just make me want to use it more. Clearly, I'm not alone in that sense. Maybe this is an indication of where MC is in it's development. The guts of it are complete and stable, and users are very impressed and happy with it. As well, the developers have been disciplined enough to not try to make it do everything—to keep it "well-rounded." So MC really can be used to manage
all media, and can be configured and used in ways to satisfy just about any need. It follows the development focus should be to improve and add tools that help users adapt MC to their own particular needs. This would include generalized import routines to facilitate getting whatever information a user wants into the database. On the "other end," it would include making Theatre View more configurable so that information can be used.
In conclusion, MC does not intend to be a "movie database manager." I believe it's (potential) strength lies in it's ability to be an excellent media manager that can used by most for all of their movie information needs. At the same time, I think it can be made to also accommodate those who are compelled to use more specialized software to maintain their movie database. There may even be a common solution for both "regular" and "advanced" users: Provide a utility function for importing a file in a specified, easy-to-use format (e.g., CSV). Also provide, or encourage user development of a plugin that will download information from IMDb and create such a file. Alternatively, an advanced user would be able to export information from their specialized software in the specified format. The same general facility could be implemented for all media types—and so be in keeping with MC's purpose and architecture.
Author
Topic: Movie Database Development (Read 16008 times)