Topic: Movie Trailer Support (Read 11650 times)

nikto34 · « **on:** March 23, 2012, 12:40:16 am »

I have been looking through the support forum here and on Google but have not been able to find an answer.

Does anyone know if MC 17 will play movie trailers before playing a movie on your HTPC. Coming from Mediabrowser, I had a plugin that would stream current movie trailers direct to Media Browser. It also supported a background downloader that would cache the trailers to your local disc so you didn't have to stream them. You could then use another plugin for intros that would allow you to specify items to play before your feature movie. Setup was very flexible allowing you to point to a folder of intros or trailers or any other video items (playable by MediaCenter) and specify how and under what conditions they should be played. You could have different types of items (like intros or trailers or trivia reels) play in sequence and have each of them only play under certain conditions (like when the main feature is a BluRay or DVD).

It would be great if MC 17 supported a similar option either natively or through plugins. Maybe it does and I am just missing something. However, if not, the developers should really consider this option as it is pretty awesome for anyone that has a home theater setup. You basically can make your theater just like going to the movies.

I really like the Zones capability of MC 17 but may have to decide what to do if I have to give up my versatile movie options.

Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

preproman · « **Reply #1 on:** March 23, 2012, 06:10:05 am »

Quote from: nikto34 on March 23, 2012, 12:40:16 am

I have been looking through the support forum here and on Google but have not been able to find an answer.

Does anyone know if MC 17 will play movie trailers before playing a movie on your HTPC. Coming from Mediabrowser, I had a plugin that would stream current movie trailers direct to Media Browser. It also supported a background downloader that would cache the trailers to your local disc so you didn't have to stream them. You could then use another plugin for intros that would allow you to specify items to play before your feature movie. Setup was very flexible allowing you to point to a folder of intros or trailers or any other video items (playable by MediaCenter) and specify how and under what conditions they should be played. You could have different types of items (like intros or trailers or trivia reels) play in sequence and have each of them only play under certain conditions (like when the main feature is a BluRay or DVD).

It would be great if MC 17 supported a similar option either natively or through plugins. Maybe it does and I am just missing something. However, if not, the developers should really consider this option as it is pretty awesome for anyone that has a home theater setup. You basically can make your theater just like going to the movies.

I really like the Zones capability of MC 17 but may have to decide what to do if I have to give up my versatile movie options.

Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

+1, I agree 100% with nikto34

Movie Trailers and to have the ability to automagicly play them at the start of each movie would really give us that "at the movies" experience.

MrHaugen · « **Reply #2 on:** March 23, 2012, 06:57:31 am »

Trailers would be nice. Forcing trailers before movies as standard would be a no no. And adding trailers for other movies is something people do not appreciate very much. But as an option, sure. I think that what you asking however, is a bit over the top for a first suggestion. I do not disagree that it would be nice, but so many features and options would never be implemented in one go anyway. I think the right approach is to ask for one easy to implement feature first. Then build on this.

We're getting data from tmdb today. This includes a URL to trailers, for most movies. Adding this URL in the online scraper, and then adding a button for "Watch trailer" in Theater View (and right click command in std view?) would be an easy thing to fix probably. And I think it would cover most peoples needs.

Please add your opinions of missing scraping tags/data in this thread.
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=70652.0

Sandy B Ridge · « **Reply #3 on:** March 23, 2012, 07:12:20 am »

-1 from me.

If I queue up a movie in MC I wouldn't want to wait through trailers before the movie starts. Same with bluray, I don't really want to be forced to sit through all the pfaff. A common complaint for bluray users and part of the reason why Slysoft have introduced the smartmenu system to enable you to select just the main feature.

I can see why you'd want to though, so each to his own I guess. If you have a program that downloads trailers automatically then it shouldn't be too difficult to set up manually. A way to do it might be as follows:
1. Get your external program to download trailers into a 'Trailers' folder on your HD. You could even have Windows Scheduler do this automatically once a week if you want.
2. Set up MC to Auto-import these and tag them as Media Subtype = Trailer
3. Set up a smartlist for Media Subtype=Trailer and put limits on the number of trailers you want to watch before your feature.
4. When your popcorn is ready. Add the smartlist and then the feature to playing now playlist. Hit play and sit back.

SBR

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #4 on:** March 23, 2012, 10:15:26 am »

We use the trailers in XBMC but mainly when instead of watching something else we will browse/watch trailers for a half hour on what new movies are out there so thats where I see (and enjoy) the trailer functionality. Never watched a trailer to a movie we already have and one on the main reasons I started ripping my DVDs (back in the day) was so that I can eliminate the forced trailers.

nikto34 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 23, 2012, 10:37:32 am »

Thanks for the input. It is interesting to see that there is so much resistance to adding this type of feature. Not sure why this is considered an over-the-top suggestion. A couple other front-ends out there offer this option so why not MC. I am not new to the HTPC world just JRiver so I guess I just think out of the box when it comes to ideas on moving a product forward. Being able to watch current trailers for movies coming out (not like the trailers for movies on DVD or BluRay that are usually old by the time you buy the disc) in addition to custom movie intros (THX sequence, old school refreshments jingles, etc) really adds to the home movie experience.

Anyway thanks for the suggestions with the smartlist option and external player, will give it a try but it does not sound like it will provide seamless functionality within the theater view.

I agree that making this a forced standard option would not be ideal but at least having the capability either through built-in functionality (ideal) or through the addition of add-ons (like in mediabrowser) would be great. Many would like the ability to create a true movie experience at home. This is a great functionality and makes your HTPC so much more than just a PC or box of hard drives, it makes it enjoyable. Sure you can just play the movie like any other media player out there with some added "bells and whistles" but to bring the movie experience home is another level that can make the product stand alone.

MrHaugen · « **Reply #6 on:** March 23, 2012, 11:07:53 am »

I support WinoOutWest here. I'd much rather have a Theater View interface with new trailers to watch, instead of an elaborate system that adds trailers before movie playback, either locally or streamed. It would be both simpler and I think more people would use this.

I for one, hate the trailers before movies. Even at cinemas. It's part of the reason why I go there 1 time a year max. When I have decided to watch something I want to watch it right away. But if you're not sure what to watch on the other hand... Then it would be nice to have a trailer easily available.

Sandy B Ridge · « **Reply #7 on:** March 23, 2012, 11:29:19 am »

Quote from: MrHaugen on March 23, 2012, 11:07:53 am

I support WinoOutWest here. I'd much rather have a Theater View interface with new trailers to watch, instead of an elaborate system that adds trailers before movie playback, either locally or streamed. It would be both simpler and I think more people would use this.

I for one, hate the trailers before movies. Even at cinemas. It's part of the reason why I go there 1 time a year max. When I have decided to watch something I want to watch it right away. But if you're not sure what to watch on the other hand... Then it would be nice to have a trailer easily available.

now, this idea I like. On the Mac there used to be a TheaterView type mode (I can't remember offhand what it was called) with a link to the latest trailers. I found I delved into it occasionally.

SBR

rick.ca · « **Reply #8 on:** March 23, 2012, 03:34:01 pm »

Quote from: nikto34 on March 23, 2012, 10:37:32 am

Many would like the ability to create a true movie experience at home.

This thread suggests this premise must be false. Even if there were agreement on what constituted a "true movie experience," it's doubtful many would want just the inflexible option of recreating that at home. Many of us appreciate MC to the extent it allows us to manage our media in any manner we see fit. I suspect I'm in a minority, but I'm also annoyed when this sort of "feature" is added at the expense of the flexibility needed to do things my way.

I think MrHaugen's suggestion of adding the ability to 'play' links to online media is useful—and could be used for many other things. I'm sure the TMDb API does include their trailer URL, but that's a separate matter. We should be able to record whatever URL's we want, and have the ability to display and 'play' those links in Theatre View. It would also be useful to have the same Links functionality we have in Standard View to search any website with any string we can create with an expression.

I prefer not to stream trailers, but download the best ones I can find. If I wanted to, I could construct a movie view that would facilitate playing the trailer then the movie. Like others, however, I don't see much point in doing that. So I have a separate view for selecting and viewing available trailers. I like the smartlist idea too. It would be cool to automatically play a few random trailers for movies available but not yet viewed, and for which the trailers have not been viewed recently. That would provide something much better than a "true movie experience" that would force me to watch trailers for movies I already know I don't want to see.

MrHaugen · « **Reply #9 on:** March 23, 2012, 04:07:22 pm »

Good points, Rick. A "playback field" that would interpret either local files or streaming URL's for playback would be great. That are lots of services that either gives URL's to streamed trailers, or apps that download trailers for your media. So, it would be good to take advantage of this.

Even though I hate most things Apple, I enjoy using their Trailer site, app or what ever they call it. It gives you a nice way of discovering what movies to get or watch.

Daydream · « **Reply #10 on:** March 23, 2012, 06:37:45 pm »

Quote from: rick.ca on March 23, 2012, 03:34:01 pm

That would provide something much better than a "true movie experience" that would force me to watch trailers for movies I already know I don't want to see.

Mmmmm... kind of goes along the assumption that everybody is the Lone Ghost-Hack Rider that owns the internet and rules supreme over the custom made layouts outlining all the movies Hollywood ever produced. There are a few slightly different realities where your wife and kids do not know what's the latest "in there" (that goodie box holding the magic of 40TB of stuff) and they will want to play the trailer of a movie before picking the movie.

There may also be the case when you yell that the "the movie is starting", but not everybody teleport themselves on the couch to sync up with the fact that when you yell "the movie is starting" you mean "I'll press a button and the darn thing will come through gigabit Ethernet on screen ***NOW***". So then the THX logo, 1-2 trailers might come in handy, especially if your brother John just went out <wherever the heck is stored> to bring another 2 cases of beer for all the possible guests and whatnot.

And it just keeps on going like that, on the edge of trying to marry this instant on, though-in-advance technology with the yestertimes where less technical folks still live and expects things to go a bit less fast and instant.

Just saying. I am of course the Lone Ghost-Hack Rider.

pcstockton · « **Reply #11 on:** March 23, 2012, 07:10:58 pm »

FULLY -1. Trailers really? Strange.

The one time a year I go to the a Hollywood movie, I definitely don't rush to the theater. They go on for about 20 minutes at least. Time for a smoke....

I like the hilarious argument for trailers support above in which it is needed for kids who dont listen to their parents.

-Patrick

imugli · « **Reply #12 on:** March 23, 2012, 08:01:13 pm »

I would like a field in the database that lets us input a URL for the trailer of each specific movie. That way, if I have friends over and they say "what is that one about" I can show them the trailer. 3 or 4 trailers at the beginning of a movie, like in the theatres? No thanks.

MrC · « **Reply #13 on:** March 23, 2012, 09:27:05 pm »

Quote from: imugli on March 23, 2012, 08:01:13 pm

I would like a field in the database that lets us input a URL for the trailer of each specific movie. That way, if I have friends over and they say "what is that one about" I can show them the trailer. 3 or 4 trailers at the beginning of a movie, like in the theatres? No thanks.

I do this for Music; you should be able to do likewise for your trailers. I created an [AllMusic URL] database field, and tag tracks with the appropriate URL. I also added a Link via Manage Links to lookup the URL. For example:

Base URL: http://www.allmusic.com
Search URL: [Allmusic URL] <-- my field
Action: Open in external browser

Selecting any track and clicking the link opens the correct page in AMG.

btw. This is very useful for classical music which is a real challenge to find in AllMusic Guide.

mvph1 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 24, 2012, 10:48:07 pm »

I actually wrote an interface plugin that plays random trailers before a movie. It would play a THX trailer, random DD or DTS trailer based on the encoded audio, and 3 trailers that were played less than n times. And it would only use trailers that matched the aspect ratio of the movie.

The way I designed it was to use a custom tag to identify the trailers as either THX, DD, DTS, or Trailer. To control the order of it the playlist, I prefixed THX with 1, DD with 2, etc.
I then created smartlists for DD 21x9 or DD 16x9 to pull random trailers that matched my criteria in the correct sequence.
The interface plugin would check the aspect ratio and audio of a movie on play, pull the videos based on the smartlist, and insert the movie at the end of the video playlist. The plugin had checks and would also allow you to resume videos without playing any trailers again.

There were a few annoying quirks-the main one being the Loading... status along with the MC logo and that nasty ink blot would appear between videos. MC17 improved this where it doesn't show the loading animation but it still isn't something that you can disable altogether. You occasionally see it and it pulls you out of the movie theater experience. I also haven't played around with it in a while because of instability playing videos in MC17 with my heavy duty filter chain of madvr, lav, ffdshow, avisynth, and reclock. If anyone's interested in it I could post the plugin with some instructions on how to use it.

fitbrit · « **Reply #15 on:** March 25, 2012, 01:09:58 am »

I'd be interested in checking it out for some movie nights.

xplain · « **Reply #16 on:** April 02, 2012, 01:19:06 pm »

Quote

1. Get your external program to download trailers into a 'Trailers' folder on your HD. You could even have Windows Scheduler do this automatically once a week if you want.
2. Set up MC to Auto-import these and tag them as Media Subtype = Trailer

Thank You Sandy B. Ridge

You gave me a fantastic idea.

I downloaded a program http://hdtrailersdler.codeplex.com/
This program handles download of movietrailers, and automatic delete them again after 30 days (30 days can be set to other limits if you want)

*********WARNING*****************************************
READ THIS CAREFULLY, AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS
DON'T RUN THE PROGRAM BEFORE YOU HAVE DONE THIS
Pasted from site:

Quote

The app uses .NET 4 (c#) and is quite simple to setup & use. The latest version is a ClickOnce application. The configuration file is located in User\'username'\AppData\Local\HD-Trailers.NET Downloader

Make a new folder in windows, call it ex. Movie Trailers.

Open the config file, located in User\'username'\AppData\Local\HD-Trailers.NET Downloader
and edit where it says:
<add key="TrailerDownloadFolder" value="" />

Make it point to the folder you just created. Ex.(value="C:\Movie Trailers"

************************************************************************

The folder it downloads to is set to auto-import in MC and automaticly set media subtype to Movie and genre to Movie trailer.

I then created a library view that only shows genre: Movie Trailer
I created a background for the Blue Puzzle skin

In windows scheduler, I made it start the program at a given time.

And woops, thats it, new trailers to watch and the old ones is getting deleted without me doing anything.

If you need help with setting this up, just say the word I'm there.

Thomas

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #17 on:** April 02, 2012, 01:38:24 pm »

Very Sweet Thomas. Exactly what I'd want. I am going to do the same. Thanks for the post!

MrHaugen · « **Reply #18 on:** April 02, 2012, 03:31:00 pm »

Darn. Another Media Sub Type missing. I do not like to include things like this under Movies

Doing the setup as you suggested Thomas. Looking forward to testing it out.

Matt · « **Reply #19 on:** April 02, 2012, 03:34:05 pm »

Quote from: MrHaugen on April 02, 2012, 03:31:00 pm

Darn. Another Media Sub Type missing.

Agreed.

Next build:
Changed: Added the Media Sub Type 'Trailer' for movie trailers.

MrHaugen · « **Reply #20 on:** April 02, 2012, 03:45:50 pm »

That has to be one of the fastest suggestion, approval and implementation ever!
Thanks

Bricktop · « **Reply #21 on:** April 02, 2012, 03:53:23 pm »

You can count me in for somebody who would love an option like this. Not everything about going to a movie theater is as bad as people make it out to be. Trailers are an important way to find out about new movies. I get excited to see new trailers, and what better time to watch a few than right before a movie in your own theater. When I have a group over to watch a movie, I like to have movie music playing and trivia slide show, then trailers. Then a custom intro for my theater. That is why it is my Home Theater. If anybody is familiar with XBMC movie experience, it is a good example to model by. Big thumbs up from me.

Bricktop

xplain · « **Reply #22 on:** April 02, 2012, 04:14:34 pm »

Quote

Next build:
Changed: Added the Media Sub Type 'Trailer' for movie trailers.

Amazing, very cool

I will include this backdrop in the extended theme for the Blue Puzzle skin that is coming out within a week or two.

If you cant wait for this backdrop, just say the word........

Thomas

rick.ca · « **Reply #23 on:** April 02, 2012, 07:08:36 pm »

Quote from: xplain on April 02, 2012, 01:19:06 pm

I downloaded a program http://hdtrailersdler.codeplex.com/
This program handles download of movietrailers, and automatic delete them again after 30 days (30 days can be set to other limits if you want)

So did I—a huge mistake. I let it run after setup—assuming there would be some sort of setup involved—and it launched a script that proceeded to delete everything in the My Videos folder. There was no configuration file in the installation folder, so I would have run it even if I had checked there first. My backup system is now getting it's first major test ever—restoring 276 Gb of videos. As nice as it sounds, I don't think I'll be giving the moron who wrote this a second chance.

fitbrit · « **Reply #24 on:** April 02, 2012, 09:52:29 pm »

Quote from: rick.ca on April 02, 2012, 07:08:36 pm

So did I—a huge mistake. I let it run after setup—assuming there would be some sort of setup involved—and it launched a script that proceeded to delete everything in the My Videos folder. There was no configuration file in the installation folder, so I would have run it even if I had checked there first. My backup system is now getting it's first major test ever—restoring 276 Gb of videos. As nice as it sounds, I don't think I'll be giving the moron who wrote this a second chance.

My condolences. As someone who recently lost a lot of data, even restorable data, I know this is no fun. I hope they were HD movies you lost, meaning fewer files to replace to make up the 276 GB

xplain · « **Reply #25 on:** April 03, 2012, 12:38:56 am »

Quote

So did I—a huge mistake. I let it run after setup—assuming there would be some sort of setup involved—and it launched a script that proceeded to delete everything in the My Videos folder. There was no configuration file in the installation folder, so I would have run it even if I had checked there first. My backup system is now getting it's first major test ever—restoring 276 Gb of videos. As nice as it sounds, I don't think I'll be giving the moron who wrote this a second chance.

So sorry, I didn't realise this.

Hope all your videofiles will be restored.

Thomas

rick.ca · « **Reply #26 on:** April 03, 2012, 12:49:46 am »

Quote from: fitbrit on April 02, 2012, 09:52:29 pm

I hope they were HD movies you lost, meaning fewer files to replace to make up the 276 GB

Of course not! But it's all back now, except for one downloaded episode that was still in my 'Incoming' folder. Funny, I've never been happy about Windows insistence in designating my media folders as "My [media type]"—for this very reason. It let's crappy software (or a virus like this thing) find them and mess them up. Oh, well. Now I've got a good backup war story.

Quote from: xplain on April 03, 2012, 12:38:56 am

So sorry, I didn't realise this.

Not your fault. I would have done the same if I had found it myself. It might be a good idea to remove the link or add a warning to your post above—for those so excited to give it a try they don't read this far.

MrHaugen · « **Reply #27 on:** April 03, 2012, 02:34:51 am »

Perhaps you should write it as a huge WARNING in your instructions Thomas.
The configuration file is located under Users\Appdata\Local\HD-tracks.something\hd-tracks.config
It's a text file that you have to read through and set the directory and true and false flags in to behave like you want it to. It works very well actually, after the setup.
Really scary that the app just started to do it's thing though. Luckily I never use the standard Windows media stuff.

Only problem I have now, is that the program are creating the file name with (trailer) text in them. So the online scraper in MC often don't find data for it. It's kind of cool when you get ratings, genre and descriptions for the trailers, so you can decide whether to purchase, watch or download it.

xplain · « **Reply #28 on:** April 03, 2012, 03:23:41 am »

Quote

Perhaps you should write it as a huge WARNING in your instructions Thomas.

I will do this later today, I'm at work right now.

I deleted the link, so that no one else will be in this situation,
Need to get home so I can make a description, and a warning
before I post the link again.

rick.ca · « **Reply #29 on:** April 03, 2012, 06:02:35 am »

I should have thought of this in the first place...Just use MC's Podcast feature to subscribe to the HD-Trailer RSS feed and auto-import the download folder. The descriptions are adequate, and it seems pointless to be tagging something that's temporary anyway. If a trailer makes me interested in the movie, I'll move it to my permanent trailer folder. There, it will get tagged according to my usual routine and, while there is no matching movie, will be on my movie wish list.

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Author Topic: Movie Trailer Support (Read 11650 times)