Better Metadata in WMC

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Kusaywa

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Better Metadata in WMC

#1

Post by Kusaywa » Fri Mar 31, 2017 11:27 am

Awhile back I asked, How do I get Cast & Crew, Similar Movies, Review to appear in WMC?
No one really had an answer...
Well, I've come across Media Center Movie Info
http://vistamcmovieinfo.oabsoftware.nl/
It's not new, and the only draw back is that the Cover Art sometimes isn't all that great, but...
It does allow your native WMC movie details to give you this (see screenshot below)!
When you go to Similar Movies, it brings up (naturally) Similar Movies with cover art of those movies.
When clicking on a Cast Member, it brings up movies they appear in along with cover art.
Another draw back is sometimes you have to refresh the screen, close it out and then go back in for it to appear.
But it's a nice addition to WMC!
For what ever reason, Media Center Master doesn't produce this??? Odd!
I wonder what is in the data file of Media Center Movie Info that allows this but Media Center Master doesn't?
Image

dkrom

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#2

Post by dkrom » Fri Mar 31, 2017 12:36 pm

I never saw your followup post asking if this worked for movies if you intall epg123 - the answer is YES - all data is populated for movies and TV. My posted picture was from my movies tab http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 26#p115326

It's worth the $25 for the year.

Kusaywa

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#3

Post by Kusaywa » Fri Mar 31, 2017 12:50 pm

But does it work in Movies (Movie library), not just in TV? I don't use WMC for TV.

dkrom

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#4

Post by dkrom » Fri Mar 31, 2017 8:25 pm

Yes it does show all my movies and info for all my recorded content.

stuartm

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#5

Post by stuartm » Fri Mar 31, 2017 10:20 pm

I don't believe EPG123 will have any effect on Movies that were not recorded via selection from the Guide. (e.g. DVD rips or downloads off the net)

dkrom

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#6

Post by dkrom » Fri Mar 31, 2017 10:28 pm

More than likely not for content not recorded by WMC. For that you'd probably want to install plex. But, if all he wants to do is browse movie content then epg123 should provide that data. For every request that he has above - movie data, actors, click to bring up other movies, and all of the cover art. So yes, epg123 will populate all the data he is requesting, but probably not if he's asking about movie files that aren't native to WMC.

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DavidinCT

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#7

Post by DavidinCT » Sat Apr 01, 2017 3:29 pm

dkrom wrote:Yes it does show all my movies and info for all my recorded content.
I think what he is getting at, and personally me too. IS the Movie Library. I have all my Blu-ray rips to MKV format (NOT RECORDED STUFF), somewhere around 400-425 or so. I've been using YAMMM for years, it gives art and meta data but, does not give advanced stuff, cast, other movies, etc (that would be fully indexable).

YAMMM is a plug and play thing, drop a movie in a folder in the right format, and BING !, it has art and meta data(almost instant). The dev never got the next step done.

IS there an fairly easy option, using the built in Movie Library in Windows 7 to give full meta data with cast and other details just like a recorded movie ?
-Dave
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Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

Space

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#8

Post by Space » Sat Apr 01, 2017 5:36 pm

As is often the case, I am posting this with little knowledge on the subject, but hopefully it is helpful.

I don't really use WMC to view ripped stuff or converted video (MKV, AVI, etc) But I have done a little bit of it. I have also ripped DVDs (I assume BluRay would be similar) in to a folder and WMC plays it just fine like a real DVD.

The key to having metdata for the ripped DVD is to include a file that is in XML format and includes the DVD ID of that DVD, for instance if you have a movie in a folder, then in that folder you would have a file called dvdid.xml (along with the VIDEO_TS folder). Many DVD rippers can create this file for you, but you can also download them from the Internet.

WMC will see this file, get the DVDID from it (which is a unique identifier for that DVD) and then look up the metadata in an external database.

Now, if you convert the DVD (or BluRay) to another format, rather than just leaving it in it's native DVD format, I am unsure if there is a way to associate that AVI, MKV, etc. file with the DVDID of the original DVD/BluRay.

I THINK you can create the file in the same folder as the MKV and make the extension "dvdid.xml". So if you have a movie "Big.mkv", download the dvdid.xml file for the movie "Big" from the Internet and put it in the same folder, name it "Big.dvdid.xml".

I have no idea if this works, as I have never tried it, but I do see (a few) references on the internet of people doing this.

If this works, it is possible that it only works with file types that WMC supports natively (like AVI). MKV is not a natively supported type.

You can get dvdid.xml files for various movies/DVDs from www.dvdxml.com and other places on the Internet. I also think tools like YAMMM automatically download the file for you (not sure how it works, never used it).

Kusaywa

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#9

Post by Kusaywa » Mon Apr 03, 2017 2:08 am

Media Center Movie Info does this for all file types. I also previously seen where Media Center Master produces this but only for MP4's. I also have a few VOB's I will have to check and let you know my results. I'm wondering what the difference is between YAMMM, MCM and MCI in the dvdid files they produce that shows this?

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DavidinCT

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#10

Post by DavidinCT » Tue Apr 04, 2017 12:32 am

Kusaywa wrote:Media Center Movie Info does this for all file types. I also previously seen where Media Center Master produces this but only for MP4's. I also have a few VOB's I will have to check and let you know my results. I'm wondering what the difference is between YAMMM, MCM and MCI in the dvdid files they produce that shows this?
I guess it all depends on what you want....If you don't care about "cast and more movies" type data, YAMMM works great, drop a movie in a folder and it finds it, then sets up meta data. If it does not find your movie, there are some quick ways to rename the folder to a different format and BING ! Movie info and art is added. 90% of the time, drop a folder in with a movie in it and it's done. Pretty much a plug and play thing, as long as you know the format.

Last time I tried Media Center master, it took time for each movie but, don't remember if I got cast and more movies thing in the built in Movie Library (that is NOT recorded TV).

I want something that gives me data like "Media Center Movie Info" but, the simple way with YAMMM.... is there such a program ?
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

Kusaywa

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#11

Post by Kusaywa » Tue Apr 04, 2017 10:46 am

What I did notice is that all 3 give you Synopsis (Actions don't seem to have much to do with metadata). But the Cast & Crew, Similar Movies and Review are downloaded from AMD (Allmovies.com). That's why sometimes they don't appear immediately and you have to go out of the movie details and go back in to see them. It also seems WMC doesn't save this info. Probably downloaded to a temp folder somewhere. And the cover art that appears for Similar movies and when you click on a cast member, is terrible. It's too bad Microsoft wouldn't allow WMC to pull more from the metadata file. Just the Cover Art (which you don't need a metadata file for anyway) and Synopsis.

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T Rush

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#12

Post by T Rush » Tue Aug 01, 2017 2:16 pm

hmmm, I'm wondering if i installed this years ago or something..and just forgot?

as I have the synopsis, cast + crew, similar movies, review...including star ratings and release year; that some people say they dont have in WMC
...but it might just be a difference in that "similar movies and review" dont show up with recorded TV movies(as they will have a page for "other showings" instead) and that might cause some confusion when comparing to Movie Library files(DVD rips, MP4, MKV, AVI file manually added to WMC)

let me add alittle info about a few things asked about in this thread:

yes, you can use dvdid.xml files with other movie formats besides VIDEO_TS .VOB files(DVD rips)...just place them in the same folder with your MP4, MKV, AVI file(every different movie will need to be in its own folder)...you can download them here http://www.dvdxml.com/search.php

Windows Media Center reads the DVD identifier number in the dvdid.xml and downloads metadata to
C:/Users/<name>/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/eHome
DvdCoverCache
DvdInfoCache
....some times you might want to navigate to those cache folders and clear them out(delete all the cover art and info files) and WMC will re-download metadata to refresh your library

YAMMM and other 3rd party metadata apps make fake dvdid.xml files, so they are not 'portable' and will not work if you move files to another computer...so if you use one of those apps, backup the real dvdid.xml files

AMG/Microsoft/Rovi are not providing metadata for new movies made in 2017....I still get all the info/covers for any 2016 and older DVD backups, MP4, MKV, AVI with dvdid.xml files I add to my Movie Library...but nothing for any 2017 movies !?!?

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#13

Post by TKDAggie » Fri Apr 10, 2020 7:11 pm

I know I'm a bit late on the scene, but I was curious if you could provide an xml that contains the synopsis, cast & crew, similar movies, and review data? I've used YAMMM and MCM with no luck. They seem to create a file with the information, but for whatever reason, WMC doesn't read/display it for the movie. I'm curious what the metadata tags are to make them visible in WMC.

Thank you.

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