| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| shaurya |
Posted - 08 Oct 2007 : 17:00:14
Hello,
Bought the Pro version and enjoying it so far...Few questions/concerns-
1. When I add a new movie cover, It resizes the size of the image. For example, If I point to a 800Kb image, the new image it shows is on worth 200kb or something.!!! IS XMM downgrading the quality of image...I would like to keep the image size to the original size of the image. How do I do it. Please help.
2. How do I change the name of the cover image. XMM names for example "Face-Off1.jpg" (front dvd cover) "Face-Off2.jpg" (back dvd cover). I would like to have "Face Off Front" and "Face Off Back". (The front and Back Covers of the DVD).
3. I also like storing Spines( The edge b/w front & back of dvd cover). When I add a spine image, XMM distrost the image (makes it short and wide)...Again the naming issue remains.
4. Most of my Actors image (downloaded with the IMDB script) are named '20071001.jpg' etc...I would like to rename all with more descriptive name as "Tom Hanks.jpg" etc... How do I do that...
All in all awesome product.
Regards, Shaurya |
| 11 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| thedjchad |
Posted - 12 Nov 2007 : 00:51:04
quote:
Originally posted by shaurya
Thello Thedjchad, Thank for your detailed response.
For the 2nd question, your argument makes some sense based on my limited DB knowledge. Moreover I was not aware about the 3 different options for naming scheme. Thanks for highlighting this.I will check it out. But the point is if I am using a thrid party software say an importer like XXM importer for Meedio or anything, I would not have any way of identifying which one is Fornt, Back, Spine, DVD circular or Full. This is the only reason. One crude way would be to always store Front as 1st, Spine 2nd, Back 3rd, Full 4th & DVD-Cirular 5th to acheive it but not user would be a geek/tinker... Moreover, If I write my own sql/xml extract, I would have no way of knowing which image I am getting.
For the 3rd question, the Front & back comes out nicely in the cover manager. If I however store a spine or the DVD (Circular image), XMM for some reason is distroting it...I mean Increasing the width for the spine and decreasing the height.
For the 4th question, I agree as far as DB performance issue is concerned but could there be a way to handle this better. My other half (wife) is not very computer savvy and 2007023943 for 'Tom Hanks' and 2748491030 for 'Helen Hunt' is not very intutive. I BELIEVE OUR AUDIANCE COMPRISE EVERY...PEOPLE LIKE MY OTHER HALF (WIFE) AND DUMB PEOPLE LIKE ME. JUST WANT TO SEE SUCH A GREAT PRODUCT BECOME MORE USER FRIENDLY.
Thanks, I was glad that you didn’t start yelling at me for the added database knowledge… I learned something from your post as well, I just noticed a plug-in for Meedio and was wondering what it was and I do agree that there should be a better way of differentiating between the types of covers being downloaded but since I usually use the built-in MagicScript for my photos which also doesn’t give any indication of what part of the DVD cover they belong to, I really haven’t thought about it, although I do pay more attention to the quality of the picture and whether it is actually the right picture all together.
Regarding the 4th question, do you and your wife use the actor cards or the movie cards to view the actors tied to the movies? If you don’t or you just view the movie using the Quick Edit View, yes you will see the actor with their database id tied to them however, if you change to either the Movie Card View or the Active Card view, the actor along with at least one of the Covers is shown as is the actor’s name on the cards not the filename that is tied to actor.
What is great about XMM and I think that you said it best by saying that you want it to be more user friendly is that Alessio is always putting up new versions trying to improve on what is already in place. Fortunately it is always improving never going backwards in functionality… I think over time you and your wife will come to love and depend on it as I have…(I wasn’t paid to say this) 
thedjchad |
| shaurya |
Posted - 11 Nov 2007 : 21:47:03
quote:
Originally posted by thedjchad
First off Alessio, I think that you have done a fantastic job over the years, I have been using XMM for at least 5 years and really like the way it works, looks and feels. So with that in mind, I wanted to give a bit of technical logic about databases.
The 2nd question is in regards to changing the name of the cover image, which the program has allowed for 3 different naming schemes within the options page. However it is good to remember that this is a database and is bound by some rules to prevent it from either crashing or running really slow. One of those rules is regarding uniqueness, which is best done by using a number system that will uniquely identify something that is stored on another table. If you ever opened the database, using access, for example, you will see that there are approximately 41 tables that all need to work together, quickly to get the data that is requested. So naming a cover "167-Beauty-and-the-Beast.jpg" instead of
"Beauty and the Beast_Front.jpg" and subsequent covers listed as "168-...", "169-.." and so on would make the retrieval of the database go much faster since the database is looking for the numbers first, and retrieving that and moving to the next number versus having to find "Beauty and the Beast_" before you reaching a unique identifier. Also, databases are not all that keen on spaces with file names and depending on the database that is being used, it will not accept the name and the database will crash. This is also the same reason for your question in number 4 about the actor’s name. It uses their Actor Id, which XMM gives them, to uniquely identify them from everyone else, plus the date their picture was imported into the database.
As for the 3rd question, what is stopping you from adding "the Spine, Back, Full Scan and the DVD scan (the circular DVD scan)". You can do so by manually adding them into via the cover manager. And you can organize them in any order that you want.
Hopefully this helps and maybe Alessio can do something to help you get the files you are looking for, but don’t be discouraged if you don’t, he has created a great program that does more than one would have ever expected. This again Alessio.
thedjchad
Thello Thedjchad, Thank for your detailed response.
For the 2nd question, your argument makes some sense based on my limited DB knowledge. Moreover I was not aware about the 3 different options for naming scheme. Thanks for highlighting this.I will check it out. But the point is if I am using a thrid party software say an importer like XXM importer for Meedio or anything, I would not have any way of identifying which one is Fornt, Back, Spine, DVD circular or Full. This is the only reason. One crude way would be to always store Front as 1st, Spine 2nd, Back 3rd, Full 4th & DVD-Cirular 5th to acheive it but not user would be a geek/tinker... Moreover, If I write my own sql/xml extract, I would have no way of knowing which image I am getting.
For the 3rd question, the Front & back comes out nicely in the cover manager. If I however store a spine or the DVD (Circular image), XMM for some reason is distroting it...I mean Increasing the width for the spine and decreasing the height.
For the 4th question, I agree as far as DB performance issue is concerned but could there be a way to handle this better. My other half (wife) is not very computer savvy and 2007023943 for 'Tom Hanks' and 2748491030 for 'Helen Hunt' is not very intutive. I BELIEVE OUR AUDIANCE COMPRISE EVERY...PEOPLE LIKE MY OTHER HALF (WIFE) AND DUMB PEOPLE LIKE ME. JUST WANT TO SEE SUCH A GREAT PRODUCT BECOME MORE USER FRIENDLY. |
| thedjchad |
Posted - 11 Nov 2007 : 20:55:45
First off Alessio, I think that you have done a fantastic job over the years, I have been using XMM for at least 5 years and really like the way it works, looks and feels. So with that in mind, I wanted to give a bit of technical logic about databases.
The 2nd question is in regards to changing the name of the cover image, which the program has allowed for 3 different naming schemes within the options page. However it is good to remember that this is a database and is bound by some rules to prevent it from either crashing or running really slow. One of those rules is regarding uniqueness, which is best done by using a number system that will uniquely identify something that is stored on another table. If you ever opened the database, using access, for example, you will see that there are approximately 41 tables that all need to work together, quickly to get the data that is requested. So naming a cover "167-Beauty-and-the-Beast.jpg" instead of
"Beauty and the Beast_Front.jpg" and subsequent covers listed as "168-...", "169-.." and so on would make the retrieval of the database go much faster since the database is looking for the numbers first, and retrieving that and moving to the next number versus having to find "Beauty and the Beast_" before you reaching a unique identifier. Also, databases are not all that keen on spaces with file names and depending on the database that is being used, it will not accept the name and the database will crash. This is also the same reason for your question in number 4 about the actor’s name. It uses their Actor Id, which XMM gives them, to uniquely identify them from everyone else, plus the date their picture was imported into the database.
As for the 3rd question, what is stopping you from adding "the Spine, Back, Full Scan and the DVD scan (the circular DVD scan)". You can do so by manually adding them into via the cover manager. And you can organize them in any order that you want.
Hopefully this helps and maybe Alessio can do something to help you get the files you are looking for, but don’t be discouraged if you don’t, he has created a great program that does more than one would have ever expected. This again Alessio.
thedjchad |
| shaurya |
Posted - 11 Nov 2007 : 00:51:22
Hello Alessio,
Thanks for your response.
1. Would appreciate your confirmation on the first topic regarind the image quality...I am waiting on your response before firing up XMM in my production HTPC.
2. How about you you allow some rule for the naming. Ex-
Image are stored by their Name_x (x represents represents either Front, Back, Full (for full scan), Spine, DVD (Scan of Circular DVD). Thereafter start the sequence 1, 2, eg Face Off_1, Face Off_2. Why would you need a copy fn to store in seperate dir? Would prefer SPACE rather than - as seperator b/w the words. Face Off_Front looks better than Face-Off-1. Unless this is a requriement for future upgradability to mysql etc...
3. Would like to save not only the front, but also Spine, Back, Full Scan and the DVD scan (the circular DVD scan).
4. Why not store the actor's image based on its name. Tom Hanks_1, Tom Hanks_2 rather than some random number 2007445849 etc. OR may be build a function that user can run that would change the actors's image name based on its name. |
| Alessio Viti |
Posted - 04 Nov 2007 : 10:56:12
Hi shaurya and sorry for my delay!
1. Yes, every image is converted to a jpg format, also the jpg image are "reprocessed". I will take a look to not lose quality
2.You cannot do this at this time, this because XMM can manager "infinite" covers by adding sequential numbers. I can try to make a function to copy maybe the first 2 cover in another folder and change their filename
3.OK
4. Same thing, I can try to make a function also for this.
Thank you!
Alessio |
| shaurya |
Posted - 01 Nov 2007 : 21:58:14
Hello Alessio,
Can you please answer some of my questions above...Would you consider enhancing these/fixing these.
Regards, Shaurya |
| a7medo778 |
Posted - 26 Oct 2007 : 18:17:37
thank you very much alessio for responding
and keep up the great job |
| Alessio Viti |
Posted - 26 Oct 2007 : 10:12:47
Hi Guys,
I will do this function to export series too, but I need some time to complete it, I cannot write any date now.
Thank you,
Alessio |
| a7medo778 |
Posted - 26 Oct 2007 : 02:24:31
hello
can i ask a quistion
will there be any time soon a way to export the series list to the web ?
thnx for the superb program again |
| Mawu |
Posted - 18 Oct 2007 : 15:15:20
@shaura
There is no help because there are no satisfying answers.
1. I can confirm the observation of the reduced file size after import. But the size of the covers remain the same.
2. That's not possible, the naming scheme is fix.
3. I can't confirm this.
4. It seems that this is not possible automatically.
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| shaurya |
Posted - 18 Oct 2007 : 00:58:45
23 views and no help. Can someone be kind enough to help me out. |
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