This is a follow up post to my Part 2 in the XBMC Frodo / Aeon MQ4 Skin series.
As I stated in part 2 I am currently using My Movies.dk metadata for movies for use with XBMC. There is an option in either the Collection Management program or in the settings in the WHS version of My Movies to enable metadata file creation for XBMC, if enabled My Movies will then create a .nfo and .tbn files in each movies folder. XBMC can read these files and import the metadata provided by My Movies. I’ve been using this feature in conjunction with the My Movies scraper add-on for XBMC.
Now I always knew this day would come when I would have to make a decision if to keep My Movies database on the back-end server or if to ditch it. Today is that day I feel!
With the help of my new friend Samu-rai on the XBMC forums I have compared the data displayed for movies by My Movies metadata and the XBMC scraper called “Universal Movie Scraper” and the results are clear as to who the winner is and its not My Movies.
I’ve been a long time user and supporter of the My Movies.dk system and the team there. I don’t think I could have used Windows Media Center to the extent I did if it were not for My Movies.
Some reasons why I still like My Movies:
The My Movies system works well for disc titles, i.e. movies that have been released already on DVD or Blu-ray disc, its not so good for metadata for films that are still in the cinema e.g. pirate movies but that’s a good thing right.
The TV Series support for DVD disc rips is excellent and MCE can directly play episodes, XBMC cannot do this yet! I wrote a whole thing about the limitations of TV Series on DVD rips in XBMC here
My Movies does other good things like the personal Online Collection website and the iOS / Android app. They are planning on updating the remote control on the mobile apps to be able to control XBMC as well as MCE.
I still like using the Collection Management software for managing my titles but if I move to a XBMC scraper that kinda becomes somewhat redundant.
My Movies is also IMHO still the best automatic disc ripping / downloader of metadata, you need AnyDVD HD in the back ground and My Movies ripper does the rest. I haven't seen any solutions for a fully automated disc ripping service in XBMC.
The My Movies development team I believe do have plans to revamp their entire XBMC integration but this is not the highest priority for them which we understand as they don’t make money on XBMC client users so much if any.
They are already working on updating the XBMC metadata integration that is including in the MAC OSX version of Collection Management so that is a good thing, it just needs updating for WHS and Windows Server but I am not sure I can wait.
My Movies metadata for Bolt![[Image: Bolt.png?psid=1]](https://qvtiua.dm1.livefilestore.com/y1pLCK2LDQYyKHOHh7V6m43OS712LGgOQCu40kP6U_EUgyUZtzJxqJP3yTglngbpXKGszllvEl-e7o/Bolt.png?psid=1)
Universal Movie Scraper for Bolt![[Image: Uni-Bolt.png?psid=1]](https://qvtiua.dm1.livefilestore.com/y1pojP3ABNVKSo_Sgauv7Wa8feQlu9d3_3-jl29k1nbEm1BZ9qs55aMYQ-UqRLlTsoL_UQUL0-hKyM/Uni-Bolt.png?psid=1)
My Movies metadata for Madagascar 2![[Image: Madagascar2.png?psid=1]](https://qvtiua.dm1.livefilestore.com/y1poJH5oEn57kyX32yrOnQfEYANGK5cep1oQk4F85Lv2Aqi2Ke1alMIxRAcuLrkg_40ZB46gVcZgIE/Madagascar2.png?psid=1)
Universal Movie Scraper for Madagascar 2![[Image: Uni-Madagascar2.png?psid=1]](https://qvtiua.dm1.livefilestore.com/y1pWWAJLIMTTavCEQ2SuwOSjla7b8-ec0mRy1efha_g1LJNtC2kyy-BEQvKT39hxzUCDivT3qEicpA/Uni-Madagascar2.png?psid=1)
My Movies metadata for Nemo![[Image: Nemo.png?psid=1]](https://qvtiua.dm1.livefilestore.com/y1pXhWXI4rMmpfjONp7zFXd3SFjMhTPzpAKr5kul2d4-RAxihKnOI3ekHyhbOAxbsz_zZzWPSzVL_0/Nemo.png?psid=1)
Universal Movie Scraper for Nemo![[Image: Uni2-Nemo.png?psid=1]](https://qvtiua.dm1.livefilestore.com/y1pefEacmtSygjVWiKfWAjx-agKrG0dl2ILQlpSixfGIPK9ZE_MRANd7xJIf-V9vZw_AbReJbIiFMY/Uni2-Nemo.png?psid=1)
I am going to have to sleep on this one, but I am thinking I will delete all the My Movies .nfo and .tbn files and rebuild my XBMC Movie Library using the XBMC Universal Movie Scraper instead.
Which unfortunately makes the My Movies.dk system for me pretty much not required any more as I have no MCE HTPCs now in the house! I may keep it on the server for Disc ripping though.
I'd say keep it on the server... use it for the disk ripping functions... and initial metadata creation. Nothing stopping you from updating via XBMC scrapers later if things are missing.
ReplyDeleteIf MyMovies add better support for XBMC later then you can swap back.
With MCE 'apparently' becoming low/zero priority for MS, MyMovies are going to have to find another major platform to work with. While it's not XBMC (yet) it could be a viable client as there isn't really any other equivalent.
I believe My Movies do have plans to update their metadata for XBMC Frodo, not only that but plans to change how they do these updates to make them quicker and easier for future releases of XBMC. Just have to wait I think.
ReplyDelete