Hi,
I am using Coollector and checking the network activity using Wireshark (formerly Ethereal). I successfully used your items_ archives to load the movie pic database. Besides the Items_ database of movie pics I believe the Persons_ pics database should be available also.

I like your program overall and another thing to consider would be to have an option when Ordered By dropdown is set to personal rating that the number of persons displayed for the movie can be limited. This would reduce the number of persons jpg files that need to loaded when the movie is selected.

Also consider adding a video playlist capability. One way with video files would be to copy the file to a queue based name like _00000.mp4, _00001.mp4., etc. On the DLNA player if the user starts at the _00000.mp4 file the device will go to the next one when the _00000 file is done. Same thing works when you use the > button to play on the pc using media player.

DLNA devices like TVs and Blue Ray players can select video files to play from a network DLNA server and your program offers outstanding capability for media server based systems where DLNA falls short Outstanding program concept!

Keep the gui graphical and simple and if the user wants deep down movie related info www.imdb.net provides even the trailer if desired.
Great job!

Here are some references to previous conversations on this forum:

- Archiving and uploading images zips currently takes up a lot of time that could be more efficiently used.

- Playlists are probably already on Hector's extremely long to do list.

Absolutely, and also the video covers. Like Kakashi said, I'm too busy with other features to do it right now, but it's definitively on my todo list.



If you want to limit the number of persons jpg files, you can adjust the grid to have big thumbs and few columns. Coollector can be run without internet connection, and no picture will be downloaded at all. But if I understand right, you're actually connected to the internet, but want to download as little as possible. Am I right ?



Several months ago, Kakashi has suggested a playlist feature, and it's still on my todo list. It was about launching an episode of a series. Coollector would launch a playlist with all the following episodes. Did you mean a playlist for series episodes, or did you mean several different movies?



I know next to nothing about DLNA players, because I don't have one. Feedback about your experience is very welcome.

I'm surprised because your solution seems to imply that we copy the movie files with a new name. And I suppose we'll have to delete those files afterwards. Isn't there a smarter way to communicate a playlist to a DLNA device? Like M3U files?



That's about all I know about DLNA devices...



I'm very surprised. I wasn't aware that Coollector was useful with a DLNA device. I don't even visualize what's happening. Could you please give me more details?



I plan to add a fullscreen view, similar to a media center view, that'll be even simpler. It'll be in addition to the current view.



You can also click the youtube icon.



Thank you very much

Thanks for status of things to do.
Simplest way to describe DLNA is on an intranet (internal network) you can have a server 'share' video, audio, and picture files which can be read directly by 'smart' tvs. I have an 8T media server where I share all my media collections on every tv and computer. In the case of video it plays .mpg, mp4, mkv, avi files.

I still don't understand what are the benefits of using Coollector. I don't see how it could interact with your DNLA device. I'd be great if there was a way to interact, but I can't figure out how.

I made a quick search on the internet, and it seems possible to create a playlist that the DNLA device can use. I'm curious to know if there are other things that can be done.

What media server do you use on your computer? Does it allow to send metadata and coverarts to your DNLA player?

My current understanding of the subject is that it would be great if Coollector could enhance your video files with metadata and coverarts in a format that your media server can handle (probably .nfo files). And your media server would then handle it to your DNLA player.

Am I correct?

Guess I have more info on DLNA devices than most. First I have found a work around to generate a playlist using the text file export based on the filter export.
Effectively what is going on when you exit Coollector you have a exported list file. Then I write an outside script or executable which does the work I want done external to Coollector.
The media server I am using is Javelin. Raid 5, with embedded webserver, mysql server, itunes and DLNA server for video, pictures, music, and data/backups.
I will look into the .nfo capability, but I suspect it would only work for audio playlists. Still worth investigation.
For handling a large number of videos available on the media server, Coollector gives me a way to pick movies to play on the DLNA device without scrolling all the filenames to play a movie.

Also, for the question on running on the internet and reducing the amount downloaded the answer is sorta yes.
The benefit is to be able to package up the picture update process which can be done when the computer is not busy. eg. weekly update process to ftp the compressed files locally and apply the changes automatically.
Also, with 'free' wifi the data download could be done at the wifi, not while you are running the Coollector application.
.
Get the idea? Save precious bandwidth.

Thank you very much for all these details. Visibly, it took you quite some work to take advantage of the exported list file. One of my plans for the future is to improve the export feature. If Coollector could do what your scripts are currently doing, many users could benefit from it. If you don't mind, I'll probably ask you some advice on the subject.

I talked about nfo files because I've heard that popular media servers like XBMC are using them to store the metadata.

Yes, I understand

Sorry I can't do it immediately.

Oh, for those who think they do not have a DLNA device the answer is you do if you own a windows pc. It is called windows media center and windows media player. Other DLNA compliant servers include Nero Media Home and others. Another common pc/linux media player is VLC media player. The PS3 is a DLNA device and I believe the XBOX360 is also. A lot of blue ray players and HDTV manufacturers support DLNA. DLNA certification involves being able to only communicate and play specific shared media files and codecs. No standard 'playlist' application exists because Google, Apple, and Microsoft like their own media player applications. Hardware devices typically support applications for online pay services like Netflix, but not applications they must pay for licensing from Google, Apple or Microsoft.

Also, there are some upcoming restrictions to protect media ownership and latest versions of windows media player checks ownership/play restrictions and media licensing. This will enforce usage rights for the media both hard storage like blue rays and online pay to play services. Usage rights enforcement will have a huge impact.

Of course (cool) Hector. I understand your time constraints. Would be happy to assist you where I can to answer your questions. BTW to use the movie name extract I had to capture the IMDB data into a mysql database. Similiarly to how you tie the movie name to the filename internally with the scan movie function I do the same using a mysql database. Would be nice if filenames were included and deliminated with a character not used in movie names on the export list. What I have now works fine for me.

If I have 2 PCs using the same wifi, do you think I can make some tests?



I'm a big fan of VLC

Thank you very much for this great suggestion!



It's not really time constraints (I work full time on Coollector). It's rather priority constraints. I implement in priority the features that will benefit to the biggest number of users