| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| nehickel |
Posted - 30 Jan 2013 : 23:50:40
DVD's and Blu-ray disc typically contain additional content beyond just the Movie and Trailer. In the current XMM only Trailer content is supported and that is mainly a manual effort.
I would like to request that additional content also be supported using the functionality that alrready exists for Trailer files.
Specifically that users can add this additional content into XMM using the ADD/EDIT Files area for Trailers or automatically with XMM if the content is local and its name can be edited to reflect the content type. The new content would have the same name as the movie but would contain keywords with the file name that would reflect the accepted content types such as "Movie Name -Trailer01" or "Movie Name -Commentary01".
These additional content types would all be added to the current Trailer area, which should be renamed to "Addtitional Content". The HTML Cards would need to be enhanced so that the links in the Additional Content area are listed and playable.
Here is a list of some of the Additional Contenet types that I am aware of needing:
-Trailer
-Feature
-Commentary
-Audio
-BehindScenes
These content types could be treated as a List such as Catagory or Status is.
Since there can be more than one of each of these that can exist for a Movie, I believe a numeric incremental counter should be appended to the content type such as -Trailer01 and -Trailer02 and so on. Much of the labeling or identifying of the Content types must be done by the user in order to be managed by XMM.
Thanks,
Norm
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| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| nehickel |
Posted - 04 Feb 2013 : 22:46:03
I agree that there are a great many things that need to be looked at in XMM 8. However let me give you an example to illustrate that there is a problem now that needs to be addressed and the way it gets addressed will have an impact on the options available for future enhancements.
XMM can download from the Internet multiple Trailer files but there is no way to know this without going into the Add/Edit Movie window. There is also no field in the Column Chooser for showing Trailer files 2 and beyond so you can't see or know about these files from the grid. There is also no where in any the Movie Cards where files 2 and beyond are shown let alone are playable. Adding additional local files and/or links is meaningless since you their only accessible if you know about them (I have over 400 Movies so remembering what each one has is impossible) and you go into the Add/Edit window to find & play them.
The nice thing about XMM is that its flexible enough to allow users to solve there problems on their own. Eventually though, those niche solutions either die or go main stream. In the case of people wanting to incorporate their additional digital assets into XMM, that's becoming more important, more talked about in the various sections of this forum and provided more & more by Movie Studio's on their discs. For me, it started out just needing a way to link in my locally stored Trailer files because I was offline more than connected. However as Blu-ray disc's began including more meaningful 'added' content on to their disc's, I wanted to be able to get and share it with my family.
As for the solution, using the existing abilities for the management of Trailer files to manage all 'additional' local content is a good win-win for everyone. As for the 'visibility' and 'playability' aspects, it too is pretty easy. I've already written the code and mailed it to Ali for review and determination on its future. Basically it adds another menu box to the Movie Cards menu boxes. When clicked it lists out those files/links stored in XMM's Trailer records. These links/files can then be clicked to have them played.
At any rate, I'll leave it up to Ali to decide if now is the time and if the code I've provided is right for bring additional content into XMM 8...
Thanks, for everyone's input. (This is the process that make XMM better than the usual Movie Catalogs)
Norm |
| yan00s |
Posted - 04 Feb 2013 : 14:10:48
First and foremost: it seems to me that it's too early to discuss enhancements like this. There're still quite a few things left for Ale to convince the 7ers to switch over to XMM 8. And some bugs and usability issues should be straightened out too. On the other hand side this gives us time to discuss the options here. 
If you ask me Mawu's hint using the file table points in the right direction. But - and this is where I've to agree with Norm that XMMs growing capabilities are what it makes stand out from alternatives (if you want it plain and simple Ant MC is still the way to go on Windows) - at the moment it lacks some functions which would be needed. Also, the overall usage scenario should get a broader focus. Additional disc content might be too narrow:
- I remember there was a discussion once on how to organize different versions of a movie (may it be different recordings or variants like "theatrical version", "extended director's cut" etc.). It's something which should be considered as well when enhancing XMM’s file handling.
- To make it even more complex (it's a difficult world anyway) we also could be wishing for further file types associated to movie titles like PDFs for press material.
With a structured approach this would be good for a 8.1.x.y (or later) release. Being forced to use workarounds in the meantime isn't as cool as getting a feature out fast. But in the long run it's better and there's just one Alessio out there to suit us all. 
My suggestion - and this depends on what Ale thinks about the whole matter too - is to collect the (possible) requirements and usage scenarios and suggestions where one may need enhancements before rushing into (yet another) fast feature which will be hard to come by when new requirements turn up.
BTW: until XMM 8 treats movie and episode files consistently there shouldn't happen another change in that area. |
| nehickel |
Posted - 04 Feb 2013 : 04:45:25
Mawu, thanks for your reply.
However, I believe that additional meaningful content will become increasingly more available and desirable by those who use XMM to managing their digital assets. It is the complexity of that management effort which has been moving XMM from v4 through v8.
The real issue is having the content I've described being known to XMM in a manner that it can be accessible, visible, reportable & used from the Grid, Movie Cards and other aspects of XMM in a transparent manner simple manner.
As I mentioned before, I've already been tagging my additional content by appending a tag to the movies content file name and then loading it into XMM's Trailer area. I've also modified one of the HTML Movie Cards by adding a 'Additional Content' box to the Plot, Crew, Synopsis, etc... menu. When clicked it displays the first 4 items within the Trailers area. The code is 10 lines long. So the effort is really not that complex but the benefits are well worth the effort.
I'll be passing the code and other information to Ali along with some of the other stuff he's asked for. Hopefully he can find away to tweak the code a bit and get it into XMM.
Thanks,
Norm |
| Mawu |
Posted - 03 Feb 2013 : 19:23:03
@nehickel
I think there is really no need to add additional content types. It will make a complex program like xMM unnecessarily even more komplex.
And it's quite simple:
You can add any file to xMM and "label" it with a description, which is shown in the file table. Additionally you can "tag" the movie using the items in the dvd features field.
Done and dusted. |
| nehickel |
Posted - 03 Feb 2013 : 02:14:46
Apparently there is no appetite towards addressing this issue at the moment based on the lack of responses. That's OK for now, I've already started to follow this approach. That is, storing additional movie content in the Trailer area under the Files TAB of the Add/Edit Movie window.
I found that there was one descriptor that I had failed to account for and thats a tag of "-DeletedScene".
The one thing I would like to see in the future though is having the entries in the Trailer area displayed in the HTML Cards so that the user can
1) know that additional content exists and by descriptor in the file name know what that content is.
2) be able to play that content from a HTML Card and not have to go into the Add/Edit Window to play it.
Thanks,
Norm |
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