It'll be interesting to see where this goes.
The response doesn't seem promising. Using them as a data provider (as he suggests, as described in the wiki:
Using My Movies Data) seems rather restrictive.
While full integration with
My Movies or something like it would be nice, that's not going to satisfy everyone. I use video database software that is far more appropriate to my needs. As discussed
here, it's easy to export/import the information via XML. It's interesting to note this seems to be the only practical means of integrating
My Movies as well—as the other options are too restrictive.
The first thing JRiver needs to do is enhance Theater View so there is a configurable means of displaying meta data—particularly for video media. I think most would agree, we want to be able to see things like lists (e.g., actors) and memo fields (e.g., movie synopsis), as well as easier-to-handle string fields. It seems this is what they are working on now. Once that's done, there will be a lot more interest in how to populate those fields.
Regardless of what specific solutions might materialize (e.g., a direct connection to a video database back end), XML export/import will probably remain the most viable solution for the most users. This technique allows users to select the back end for gathering information that best suits their needs. All that is required is that it be able to export XML. A "built-in" web service would be the most convenient solution for most users, but that's probably only feasible as a paid subscription service. In any case, some of us would not want to use such a service, or allow it to interfere with information from our preferred source.
Author
Topic: Movie database - alternative way forward? (Read 2157 times)