DVDpedia seems to have problems fetching the correct theatrical dates from IMDB. When adding movies the theatrical release date is reported correctly in brackets next to the title in the search result lost. But when adding the movie to DVDpedia, the theatrical release year is often wrong, or at least not matching the expected date.
E.g. I added the movie “All the King’s Men” from 1949, but when added to DVDpedia, the theatrical release date reads July 14, 1950. I suspected that DVDpedia reads (or IMDB reports) a localized release date (I’m in Denmark), but that date only matches the Australian release date.
Another example, the movie “The Bloodstained Butterfly” from 1971 reports the theatrical release date as August 31, 1972, matching only the release in West Germany.
I have just noticed this now, and I don’t know if this has always been so or if it’s a new “feature”. But as the theatrical release date (or at least the correct year) is essential in identifying movies, this is a quite annoying behaviour. Is there any way to make DVDpedia always register the first (earliest) theatrical release date?
I’m using the latest beta.
Theatrical date problem in DVDpedia
Re: Theatrical date problem in DVDpedia
Thank you for the exact details. It let me find and track down the issue quickly. IMDb has a JSON feed, that list the movie details based on a standard from http://schema.org, I had assumed the date there would always be the original release.
The original plugin already checks that the years match before updating to the local date for when the info does not come from the JSON. I do think that IMDb is trying to provide the local date even in the feed, but obviously having issues with those movies. As I get the same West Germany date for he Bloodstained Butterfly.
I have updated DVDpedia beta 116. If there is a year miss match it will drop the local date into release date and not affect the theatrical date. In fact if you want to always drop the local date into the release date, even if the years match. You can paste and run the following in Terminal:
The issue only affects the beta, as this JSON feed is only used in the beta version so far.
The original plugin already checks that the years match before updating to the local date for when the info does not come from the JSON. I do think that IMDb is trying to provide the local date even in the feed, but obviously having issues with those movies. As I get the same West Germany date for he Bloodstained Butterfly.
I have updated DVDpedia beta 116. If there is a year miss match it will drop the local date into release date and not affect the theatrical date. In fact if you want to always drop the local date into the release date, even if the years match. You can paste and run the following in Terminal:
Code: Select all
defaults write com.bruji.dvdpedia "Disable IMDB Country Release" -bool YESRe: Theatrical date problem in DVDpedia
Wow! That has got to be the fastest software fix ever! It looks like it's working. Thanks, Conor!
Re: Theatrical date problem in DVDpedia
Conor could that terminal command become a switch in the Option Help hidden menu ?
Re: Theatrical date problem in DVDpedia
Happy to be of quick help. 
@FineWine Placed it directly into the IMDb menu under the "Movie" menu. It's so deep, should not be a UI overload problem, but might change my mind. Beta 117.
@FineWine Placed it directly into the IMDb menu under the "Movie" menu. It's so deep, should not be a UI overload problem, but might change my mind. Beta 117.