Search engine: 2 sources 4 different fields?

[thowi]

Hi together,

I just bought DVDpedia and I really love it!
Now I've got a little problem:

As I am German, I usually like the DVD titles in German here, but I also love to have the imdb rankings in my list.
Is it possible to retrieve the movie data via amazon.de (this works really well) BUT to get the ranking of movies from imdb instead of the amazon ranking? The amazon ranking is not really significant.

Actually I added my movies via imdb source and added another field with the German title... but I have to add it by hand... this is not really nice

Thanks for your help!
thowi

[kbarnes70]

Hi together,

I just bought DVDpedia and I really love it!
Now I've got a little problem:

As I am German, I usually like the DVD titles in German here, but I also love to have the imdb rankings in my list.
Is it possible to retrieve the movie data via amazon.de (this works really well) BUT to get the ranking of movies from imdb instead of the amazon ranking? The amazon ranking is not really significant.

Actually I added my movies via imdb source and added another field with the German title... but I have to add it by hand... this is not really nice

Thanks for your help!
thowi

I'd love to be able to ignore the Amazon rankings too. Every time I add a movie, using Amazon UK, I then have to delete the Amazon ranking so that DVDpedia can insert the IMDb ranking when I add the rest of the info from the IMDb. It's no big deal but it would be nice. Incidentally, Thowi, you don't need to add the IMDb ranking by hand - just add the information from Amazon.de as you normally do, then delete the ranking info (and anything else you would prefer to get from IMDb) and then use 'Get Advanced Information' and select IMDb. You can delete the ranking for your entire database by selecting ALL and then ticking the box for the ranking and leaving the field empty. Then use 'Get Advanced Information' to update the entire database in one pass. I do this from time to time because the IMDb rankings change over time. Regards from England, Keith

[thowi]

Sounds great, thanks Keith! Of course it would be nice to change the source for every box... would be very helpful, if some of the software developers are listening here

[kbarnes70]

Sounds great, thanks Keith! Of course it would be nice to change the source for every box... would be very helpful, if some of the software developers are listening here

If there is one place on earth where software developers listen, it is here! And they don't just listen - they *respond* too!

Kind regards, Keith

[Conor]

We are listening, Keith beat us to the reply on how to set the ranking from other sources. To see users helping each other gives us that warm feeling and also more time for coding. Thank you for the suggestions and we will keep them in mind, but we have to weigh them against a clean user interface. Imagine the preference and complexity for defining search source on a field by field basis, not to mention the troubleshooting. We do have some great ideas for the future, such as highlighting fields that differ and can be updated (such as the rating field) instead of requiring users to blank it out first. However since the current version has the advantage of working well in three steps and being clear (rules for what gets updated, empty fields only) we are approach changes cautiously.

[kbarnes70]

We do have some great ideas for the future, such as highlighting fields that differ and can be updated (such as the rating field) instead of requiring users to blank it out first.

That would be awesome, Conor. It's no hardship every once in a while to Cmd-A and delete the old rankings and then update the entire database in one pass - but how cool would it be for them to be updated automagically when they change!

DVDpedia just gets better and better. Not only has it catalogued my several hundred DVDs perfectly, but it's changed the way I watch DVDs too. For example, I can select a sub-100 minute movie from my "Shorter Movies" smart collection if it's late and I want to watch a movie before going to bed. Or I often will select my next movie on the basis of the director, or cinematographer or composer or actor in the last movie I watched, by doing a search for other movies in my collection that feature the same talent - and this helps me gain a greater insight into their work. Or I sometimes set up a quick, expendable smart collection to find, for example, Sci-fi or Action Movies between 120 minutes and 130 minutes long, featuring Bruce Willis and photographed by Roger Pratt, with an Oscar nomination and an IMDb ranking of 8+ and a review by Roger Ebert. You get the idea A movie addict like me just can't be without DVDpedia.

Kind regards, Keith

[thowi]

It's no hardship every once in a while to Cmd-A and delete the old rankings and then update the entire database in one pass

Well that's true. Actually I tried out your tip and freshed up my entire database. The problem here is: I added my dvds from amazon.de with all german information, cleared out the rankings and added the imdb rankings later. This doesn't work well everytime.
The problem is, I got some movies I found in amazon and imdb can't find them... and the same way round. I added them in imdb, changed the title and after that imdb wasn't able to update the rankings.... I think imdb doesn't "know" the movie further more.
Thought this movie is handled by its imdb id? Seems to be not that way.
I have to rename the movie to its original title, refresh data and rename back. Not that great... But most of the time this trick works, so lets see what the next version(s) are about... sounds really great what you are planning Conor!

greets
thowi

[sjk]

And they don't just listen - they *respond* too!

Indeed they do and no one can underestimate how much I appreciate that.

Btw, this thread is helping me understand how to add/merge info from IMDb (e.g. ratings) to whatever's originally added from Amazon.com -- thanks. Still not sure what all's possible, especially automatically. So far I'm quite satisfied with DVDpedia's capabilities and flexibility; looks like I can finally keep track of all my DVD-related activity in a single app.

[kbarnes70]

And they don't just listen - they *respond* too!

Indeed they do and no one can underestimate how much I appreciate that.

Btw, this thread is helping me understand how to add/merge info from IMDb (e.g. ratings) to whatever's originally added from Amazon.com -- thanks. Still not sure what all's possible, especially automatically. So far I'm quite satisfied with DVDpedia's capabilities and flexibility; looks like I can finally keep track of all my DVD-related activity in a single app.

The basic rule is that DVDpedia doesn't change a field that is already filled in. It *adds* new information to empty fields each time you update from a different source. So to change data from Amazon (eg their useless rankings) to IMDB rankings, you have to first delete the field contents. Then do the update using 'Get More Information". You can mass delete the rankings (or any other field contents) by selecting ALL and then ticking the box next to the field you want to update - in this example that would be 'rankings'. Then when you click OK, DVDpedia deletes that field's contents for the entire database. Then you select ALL and update the entire database in one pass, but this time from IMDb or wherever. Be careful when you have selected ALL that you *only* tick the box for fields whose contents you wish to delete - the first time I did it I managed to delete something important like the IMDb reference number and that is a real ******* if you do that!

Best wishes, Keith

[kbarnes70]

It's no hardship every once in a while to Cmd-A and delete the old rankings and then update the entire database in one pass

Well that's true. Actually I tried out your tip and freshed up my entire database. The problem here is: I added my dvds from amazon.de with all german information, cleared out the rankings and added the imdb rankings later. This doesn't work well everytime.
The problem is, I got some movies I found in amazon and imdb can't find them... and the same way round. I added them in imdb, changed the title and after that imdb wasn't able to update the rankings.... I think imdb doesn't "know" the movie further more.
Thought this movie is handled by its imdb id? Seems to be not that way.
I have to rename the movie to its original title, refresh data and rename back. Not that great... But most of the time this trick works, so lets see what the next version(s) are about... sounds really great what you are planning Conor!

greets
thowi

That's odd - I too thought that IMDb would always use the reference number to locate a movie, rather than the title. One thing I have noticed when updating several hundred DVDs using IMDb is that at the end of the pass, some titles are almost always left unchanged (that is, the fields is still empty). I select the field as the sort field in the main window so that all the blank fields are grouped together and then do a second update pass on those titles only. Usually they then get filled in properly - sometimes it takes a third pass to get the last few! I don't know why this is - I suspect that sometimes DVDpedia can't access the IMDb information, possibly because of high traffic on the IMDb site at the time.

Kind regards, Keith

[sjk]

The basic rule is that DVDpedia doesn't change a field that is already filled in. It *adds* new information to empty fields each time you update from a different source.

Thanks for the explanation, confirming how I'd guessed it worked.

Then do the update using 'Get More Information".

Can't find that. Do you mean Advanced > Get Advanced Info for Selection > IMDb (or other source from that submenu)?

Up until now I've been editing individual entries and selecting IMDb from the action (gear) menu, plus an additional selection of the correct item from the drawer if necessary. Just reached a point it would be too tedious doing one at a time for the batch of Delicious Library entries imported yesterday. Hadn't tried deleting any info first, being unsure how that would work and if it was undoable.

You can mass delete the rankings (or any other field contents) […] and update the entire database in one pass, but this time from IMDb or wherever.

Makes sense.

Be careful when you have selected ALL that you *only* tick the box for fields whose contents you wish to delete - the first time I did it I managed to delete something important like the IMDb reference number and that is a real ******* if you do that!

So presumable that's not undoable?

Since the subtopic came up here… this is an informal feature request to append the action to Undo/Redo menu commands, like "Undo <action>", so it's clear(er) what's going to occur. Several Apple apps do that; Safari for sure (I just checked ) and the iWork apps (IIRC).

Thanks again for the help, Keith.

[kbarnes70]

The basic rule is that DVDpedia doesn't change a field that is already filled in. It *adds* new information to empty fields each time you update from a different source.

Thanks for the explanation, confirming how I'd guessed it worked.

Then do the update using 'Get More Information".

Can't find that. Do you mean Advanced > Get Advanced Info for Selection > IMDb (or other source from that submenu)?

Up until now I've been editing individual entries and selecting IMDb from the action (gear) menu, plus an additional selection of the correct item from the drawer if necessary. Just reached a point it would be too tedious doing one at a time for the batch of Delicious Library entries imported yesterday. Hadn't tried deleting any info first, being unsure how that would work and if it was undoable.

You can mass delete the rankings (or any other field contents) […] and update the entire database in one pass, but this time from IMDb or wherever.

Makes sense.

Be careful when you have selected ALL that you *only* tick the box for fields whose contents you wish to delete - the first time I did it I managed to delete something important like the IMDb reference number and that is a real ******* if you do that!

So presumable that's not undoable?

Since the subtopic came up here… this is an informal feature request to append the action to Undo/Redo menu commands, like "Undo <action>", so it's clear(er) what's going to occur. Several Apple apps do that; Safari for sure (I just checked ) and the iWork apps (IIRC).

Thanks again for the help, Keith.

You're welcome. I did mean to say "Get Advanced Info" not Get More Information - sorry about that. AFAIK the operation is not undoable when you do a bulk edit. Yes, you're right - it would be good to be able to undo a bulk operation like that.

Best wishes, Keith

[Conor]

Be careful when you have selected ALL that you *only* tick the box for fields whose contents you wish to delete - the first time I did it I managed to delete something important like the IMDb reference number and that is a real ******* if you do that!

Operations can be undone using the undo command under the edit menu. Keith is right in that a batch "get advance info" needs to be undone one at a time. Even though 50 movies might be done in a batch, due to the time it takes to download the information each edit is a distinct operation. (They might also group in batches if DVDpedia is not the active application.)

this is an informal feature request to append the action to Undo/Redo menu commands, like "Undo <action>", so it's clear(er) what's going to occur.

Some actions (delete) are labeled but would it could be improved if a few more where labeled. The beta now includes: add, edit, multiple edit and drag undo actions labeled.

I too thought that IMDb would always use the reference number to locate a movie, rather than the title.

This is correct. This is why the first time it does help to use the gear button to be able to verify that the correct IMDb number gets associated with a movie. Otherwise DVDpedia uses the title and release year to make the best guess. Once you have an IMDb number then it will always retrieve that movie information, perfect for refreshing the ratings.

I have to rename the movie to its original title, refresh data and rename back.

The plug-in tries to use the AKA search to match titles that are not in the original language. However, the plug-in also looks at the original title field. So if you download information from Amazon.de and can't find any results with the gear button on IMDb due to the German title, don't rename the title but set the original title field.

some titles are almost always left unchanged

This sounds exactly like what you describe a network issue or response timeout. But I will poke around and see if it can be improved on our end.

[kbarnes70]

Some actions (delete) are labeled but would it could be improved if a few more where labeled. The beta now includes: add, edit, multiple edit and drag undo actions labeled.

Thanks for the beta, Conor. That's a useful improvement.

Kind regards,

Keith

[thowi]

This is correct. This is why the first time it does help to use the gear button to be able to verify that the correct IMDb number gets associated with a movie. Otherwise DVDpedia uses the title and release year to make the best guess. Once you have an IMDb number then it will always retrieve that movie information, perfect for refreshing the ratings.

Great to know! So I just got confused because I had the same problem that fields were not updated in a batch process.
So now I just add the imdb number where it's missing and all further updates are no problem.

Thanks for the beta link!