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[pwantzel]

14.0.17 (06/22/2009)
7. NEW: Theater View Info Panel shows full page information about movies, television programs, etc.

I asked this question in another thread, but it kind of got lost when the thread went in a different direction.  So I'm repeating it separately.

How do you configure this?  All I see is "duration".  There must be a screen someplace to specify what's shown??

[rick.ca]

It's not yet configurable. If all you're seeing is "duration," I suspect that's because it's the only field populated of those pre-configured for the media type. So, for example, if you are looking at the panel for a movie, but have no movie metadata (description, actors, etc) in your database, "duration" might be all there is to display.

[pwantzel]

So does anyone know just what the pre-configured fields are for movies?  For audio files, I see quite a lot of information, (most of which) seems appropriate to display.  But for movies, even where I've manually added some extra information to the database, all I see is "duration".

If nobody can answer this, I'll try a test case, I guess, where I put something in every field and see what shows up.

[Daydream]

Description, Actors, Director, Genre, Duration, MPAA Rating.

[pwantzel]

OK. I tried these fields and they worked (displayed in theatre view).  However....

I imported database information using PvdImport.  It found all these fields and displayed values for them on its screen.  However, Genre did not import into the database. The other fields did.

I manually entered Genre information into the library.  Then I did "Set tags from Library" to write a sidecar file, to transfer the settings to another PC.  The MPAA rating did not write to the sidecar file.  The other fields did.

MC 14.0.19, PvdImport 1.1.3, PVD 0.9.9.11.

[rick.ca]

I imported database information using PvdImport.  It found all these fields and displayed values for them on its screen.  However, Genre did not import into the database. The other fields did.

In PVD, Genre is a list field; in MC, it's a string. So the default PvdImport configuration has it going to a custom field (which you have to create MC). You won't be able to display it  in Theater View (or a significant number of other fields) until the Info Panel is customizable.

[raldo]

In PVD, Genre is a list field; in MC, it's a string. So the default PvdImport configuration has it going to a custom field (which you have to create MC). You won't be able to display it  in Theater View (or a significant number of other fields) until the Info Panel is customizable.

True.

But you can use view schemes in theater view and filter for your new custom genre (which by default is named .Genre, if I'm not wrong).

That's what I've done and it works quite well.

[gappie]

it would be nice if it would get configurable. but till then i do miss Year, which seems an interesting tag for the info, and also the play stats like they are in images and audio

 
gab

[MrHaugen]

A well placed Eye indicator would be sweet. Open eye = watched, closed eye = not watched, or something similar. What I'm saying is only that symbols can be much prettier than numbers some times.

[pwantzel]

Then I did "Set tags from Library" to write a sidecar file  .....  The MPAA rating did not write to the sidecar file.

My first anomaly got explained, but not this one.  Why did MPAA rating not get saved?  There doesn't appear to be a field in the sidecar file for it.

[raym]

A well placed Eye indicator would be sweet. Open eye = watched, closed eye = not watched, or something similar. What I'm saying is only that symbols can be much prettier than numbers some times.

Now that's a nice idea! I'd love to be shown for all video formats.

[rick.ca]

Why did MPAA rating not get saved?

Note the sidecar files include this set of fields:

<ParentalRating Adult="False">
<Value/>
<Description/>
</ParentalRating>

I don't know whether this all pertains to MPAA, or if MC is trying to make one set of fields do double duty. In any case, <Description> is for MPAA Rating Description. I'm not sure what <Value> is for—but MPAA Rating is not stored there. If Adult="True", MPAA Rating is overwritten with "Adult." I'm unaware of any way to set such a flag in MC currently. Maybe this is part of a parental control feature yet to come.

So it would seem if you want the MPAA rating saved to the sidecar, you have to use MPAA Rating Description instead of MPAA Rating. However, the Info Panel currently displays MPAA Rating. So maybe the answer is to import the data to both these fields. Unless, of course, this is a bug or oversight that needs to be fixed.

[pwantzel]

About the MPAA rating, remember that even when the database contains MPAA Rating filled in, MC doesn't (seem to) write this information to the sidecar file, here or anyplace else.  I did try filling in MPAA Rating Information, and this data did indeed appear in the "Description" field mentioned above.

[raldo]

About the MPAA rating, remember that even when the database contains MPAA Rating filled in, MC doesn't (seem to) write this information to the sidecar file, here or anyplace else. 

But why do you care about the content of the sidecar files?

From the posts above I understand that you pull your data from Personal Video Database using PvdImport?

[pwantzel]

Apart from the general issue that sidecar files allow external saving of tag data, for future use elsewhere, I am trying to tag on one computer, then save the tags and import them to another database on a different computer.

Plus, not everything is available on PVD.  So some data has to be manually entered.

[raldo]

I am trying to tag on one computer, then save the tags and import them to another database on a different computer.

Plus, not everything is available on PVD.  So some data has to be manually entered.

Ok, I understand..

[rick.ca]

About the MPAA rating, remember that even when the database contains MPAA Rating filled in, MC doesn't (seem to) write this information to the sidecar file, here or anyplace else.

It's confusing, and I don't know why it works the way it does, but I think my original message explains what's happening.

Plus, not everything is available on PVD.  So some data has to be manually entered.

Personal information, of course, has to be manually entered. Otherwise, I might have suggestions on how to get information into PVD.

[raldo]

The new changes (14.0.25 ) in the infopanel brings up a new issue in the info panel configuration discussion.

How does one properly limit the information  shown on the right side when movies are being browsed.

The 14.0.25 change where there is only one line per field obviously defies the whole purpose of displaying this info.

Maybe a configurable max number of lines per field could solve this? Then one would at least see, say, the first five actors listed...

[rick.ca]

Maybe a configurable max number of lines per field could solve this?

I think that's probably the only solution. I view the purpose of this area as means of showing some relevant summary information while browsing multiple movies—to obviate the need to invoke the full Info Panel. What's relevant is clearly a matter of personal preference. My descriptions, for example, are so long there's no point displaying more than one line here (there's actually no point displaying just one line either, but that's another configuration issue). I might want to show 2 or 3 actors, but not 5—there's other more important information I'd like to squeeze in there.

I like the way the fields automatically expand/collapse in the Info Panel, but I have a suggestion: Rather than expanding to six lines, it might be better to expand to the maximum possible while still showing two lines for the field(s) above and below (which would be about 15 lines at the resolution I'm using). This would maximize the likelihood of the entire field being displayed without another two key presses to expand/collapse, while still preserving a sense of place within the list of fields.

And another little thing... The long fields sometimes seem to be in a "scroll mode" even if their entire contents are displayed in the expanded state. I suppose it's just in situations where the contents "just fit" with only one or two lines to spare. Also, in cases where the entire contents are displayed, I wonder if it would be better if pressing down/up would go to the next/previous fields—since they're not required for scrolling.

[Daydream]

I got 2 lines while browsing, while in "full mode" it's 3 lines before the user takes any action. Bottom line I like it. Cool feature!

I like the way the fields automatically expand/collapse in the Info Panel, but I have a suggestion: Rather than expanding to six line [...]

Mmm, I think the idea to make the number of lines a custom choice we'll cover everything. For me it expands to 7 lines on 1920x1200, it might be just me, I might've change something in the skin. Or the no. of lines might be calculated internally depending on the resolution (wouldn't we like to know?).

[darichman]

The number of lines shown is calculated as a % of the vertical resolution at the moment. There was some discussion of this and it may change - I get:

two lines in the thumbnail info panel
four lines in the unexpanded file info
eight lines in the expanded (hovered over with cursor/mouse) file info
and all lines when you click on the field

We're going to need to tune the sizing in the info panel.

Currently it's capping at some vertical percentage of the height.  Say 10% when not selected, 20% when selected, and 80% when expanded.

I think it should probably cap at some number of lines instead.