[In v2.2] Progress Update Request

[pks]

Hi Paul,

I'm writing to see if you could give us a progress update report. What you've been working on, current challenges, when you think your next version will be released and what it may contain. Also a count of your current user base -if known.
I feel I've become a very loyal fan, use CMC every day and do not understand why anyone would still be using WMC. If you are ever in need of another beta tester, I would be pleased to help.

Pete

[Pauven]

Hey Pete,

I've been making some very exciting progress!

One of the most common issues I've been seeing mostly centers around exporting meta-data from My Movies. I finally realized that I am spending more time supporting users struggling to export meta-data from My Movies than any other issue.

So I decided to start working with the My Movies API. Now, don't get too excited, as I have probably gone in a direction you didn't expect...

I have written a metadata exporter program. Instead of managing your meta-data exports via My Movies Collection Management, you would use my new tool instead.

You're probably thinking "why not just directly access the My Movies API from CMC", and I want to say I seriously considered that approach, but after extensive testing with the API I was very disappointed with the speed. While it returned images super fast, quite often queries for movie or TV series data took several long seconds to return (Jamie has a James Bond box set with over 50 discs, and the response time on this one title was over 30 seconds, possibly closer to 2 minutes). I realized that using the API directly would make CMC significantly slower.

There are also other benefits to creating a meta-data exporter:

• Exporting meta-data provides a data backup of sorts
• Meta-data files allows CMC to remain portable/standalone
• CMC's local in-RAM database keeps response super fast
• The tool can export ALL meta-data, beyond what MMCM normally exports
• The tool writes meta-data to the correct locations, and with unique names so no overwriting issues
• The tool can forcibly update all meta-data, without having to pre-Clean/delete the current meta-data files
• This approach maintains current CMC functionality for users who don't have API access (Binnerup charges $100/2500 points)

I've already got an early Alpha version of the CMC Metadata Exporter running, and I'm super excited with how well it is working. The biggest improvement is that I'm able to export all TV Series data (Series, Seasons, and Episodes) and artwork (posters, banners, backdrops, episode images). I've also eliminated the need to assign those e##.txt files to trick MMCM into exporting the episode details. You still have to map your episodes to each disc, but that's something you have to do in MMCM no matter what in order to have direct episode access.

The best thing about the CMC Metadata Exporter is that it "just works". Unlike MMCM, where you end up playing guessing games trying to figure out if data got exported, and trying to force it to happen, my tool is very nearly one-click simple. The only requirement is that you will have to have 2500 contribution points ($100) in My Movies to have API access. I've noticed that most of my users seem to already have access.

I'm also working on updating CMC to work with all the new meta-data. For example, the new Series page (ignore the ugly bright blue, I'm still tweaking):

image.png (1.05 MiB) Viewed 5223 times

And the new Season page showing all the Episodes:

image.png (1.45 MiB) Viewed 5223 times

Ignore the pixelated jaggedness in these pics, I quickly resized them using Microsoft Paint, and it did a poor job of shrinking them... The real thing looks great.


These are obviously some really big developments, and it's taking a while to program all the new features and functionality. I'm hesitant to set a timeline at this point. I think I've easily got another 4 weeks of work ahead of me, plus testing. There's also quite a few user requests I'm hoping to address in this next version, so May might be the earliest I can hope for to have CMC v2.2 ready, and June's quite possible.

I'll keep you in mind for the Beta if you are still interested.

Paul

[pks]

Thanks Paul.
That was a good report. Although I'm not exactly sure what procedural changes would be required for me, an end user. Would I be continuing to add new movies to my MyMovies database and then doing a full sync in CMC as I do today?
Also, any work being done on the music library side as we've talked about before?
Pete

[Pauven]

Procedurally it would be very similar to today. You would continue to maintain your collection in My Movies, and you would continue to do a sync in CMC.

I hope to have the new CMC Metadata Exporter running as a task, constantly looking for changes, and keeping your meta-data files up to date. You would be able to turn off any extra meta-data export options in MMCM, as the new export will automatically export everything that is needed.

I haven't had a chance yet to do anything with the music library. Still on my radar.

Paul

[Pauven]

Hi Pete,

CMC v2.2 Release Candidate 14 is now available, and should be released publicly very soon. It includes a lot of enhancements to the Music Library. Hopefully you will be happy.

Paul