Improved Media Lookup?

[thegizzard]

I've ripped my DVD collection to .avi, .iso, and .mkv and would like to toss all of the original DVDs and cases. I currently use Popcorn Hour with C4 via the PCH interface and IR control. Because the control is 1-way, it works, but its not perfect.

I have the NEOTV 550 about to be delivered today so I just started trying to manage media via Composer Media Edition. The results were disapointing, so I hope I can do something to improve the number of files that ME tagged properly.

I currently use a skinning program for PCH called YAMJ which does a terrific job at finding Artwork, Descriptions, Cast etc. It does an IMDB search and uses other online utilities to properly ID 98% of my movies and recorded TV shows. All I have to do is name the file the name of the movie and the year it came out and YAMJ does the rest. So for Example: The.Incredible.Hulk.2008.avi

ME cannot ID this file, or any of the others like it. Is there a naming convention I should use to improve the efficacy of ME?

If ME can't do a better job, I will have an unopened NEOTV 550 for sale.

Thanks in advance.

[pharmdsmith]

You will have to go to edit after you select one of your media files. Then change the title to "the incredible hulk". Then hit the search button. This should pull up your cover art and movie info.

[thegizzard]

You will have to go to edit after you select one of your media files. Then change the title to "the incredible hulk". Then hit the search button. This should pull up your cover art and movie info.

Nice. That worked perfectly.

Now my issue is I will need to edit quite a few of these. Is there any way I can import these detailed into C4? Because I have all of these details already looked up via YAMJ, is there an import format I can use for ME?

[ILoveC4]

There's an import feature, I don't know how well out works though...

[qVAMPIREp]

You will have to edit them one at a time which is as stupid as it gets. This entire process needs to get reworked by Control4. It's a weak point in the entire package. There are so many better tagging and cover art programs out there nowadays there is no reason we are tied to Gracenote which appears to be stuck somewhere in 2005.... We need the ability to use other programs and formats as well as a better GUI for the cover art browsing of movies.

[therodog]

I'm starting to do this now within Control4 and I'm going to chime it that it completely sucks. My Movies ... awesome.

[ms2bmw]

Add me to the list of dissatisfied users. Add to that I bought the C4 media player. Double whammy...

There is also a bug in the media scan where it finds movie titles that have special characters every time you run a scan even though you added it previously. To my knowledge, this has not been fixed (not on my system anyway) nor is there a way for an enduser to report this to C4 directly. Emailed it to my dealer months ago but never heard back. Enjoy

[thegizzard]

The good news is the NEOTV 550 is pretty slick. Appears to be better than the Popcorn Hour it replaced.

The bad news is.. the Control4 cover art interface is prehistoric.

Someone tell me its 1000 times better in 2.0. Please.

[ILoveC4]

@ms2bmw, that bug has been present since the 1.2 days...it drive me crazy until I just removed the special characters.

@thegizzard, watch my video comparing navigators at C4DIY. I'm pretty sure I show the cover art selection.

[digitaltrader]

The coverart onscreen GUI is severely outdated. Im not sure why they dont allow the covers to go edge to edge like windows media center or kalaidescape.

[thegizzard]

@thegizzard, watch my video comparing navigators at C4DIY. I'm pretty sure I show the cover art selection.

Linky? I can't find it.

[thecodeman]

The basic concept of the coverart interface in 2.0 is not improved over any previous version.

[ms2bmw]

ILoveC4, I remember you pointing that out to me a couple of months ago I did the same thing to work around the problem but you would think this would have been addressed by now through an update of sort. Oh well....

[thegizzard]

The basic concept of the coverart interface in 2.0 is not improved over any previous version.

The deal breaker for me is searching and tv shows. Is there a way for me to use cover art and go directly to movies that start with the letter B?

Btw: B is for Baby Einsteins. Just to let you know who this is for.

How are Tv episodes and series handled?

I think the verdict is in, but I am grasping for a reason to keep the new media player I got and have an integrated c4 experience. The problem is, if you've used any of the modern skinning interfaces, the c4 media experience is terrible by comparison. I've been using the PCH for a couple of years now an I've taken for granted the power and flexibility of programs like YAMJ and skins the user/development community has created on top of it.

It doesn't seem like IP control is worth the trade off.

[ILoveC4]

If you wanted to go to shows that start with B, you just push the 2 button twice. Once for A, twice for B.

We've got Baby Einsteins too =)

[akezber]

For series, i use the genre. for ex: Drama, Comedy, Bewitched ...Its the only way that it somewhat works.

The way that C4 shows cover art is really disappointing. I was hoping that we could modify the skin to display the cover-art without all the lost space and the titles. Really too bad. Its difficult to make out whats on the cover, almost no point in having it.

[strange_brew]

Have to chime in here and agree with previous posts - media management in c4 is utterly appalling. I can't believe they've let such a core piece of functionality languish for so long. Very, very frustrating. I'm also a c4 media player owner and I'm deeply disappointed with that device and it STILL missing the most basic of functions (soon to be replaced by a Dune).. I'm not sure what the product managers are doing over there, but they have to address some of these very basic shortcomings if they want to continue growing their user base. Anyone who has used any other modern media interfaces (which would be a very high percentage of their target market) will be totally unimpressed with c4's media interface and management.

[digitaltrader]

Have to chime in here and agree with previous posts - media management in c4 is utterly appalling. I can't believe they've let such a core piece of functionality languish for so long. Very, very frustrating. I'm also a c4 media player owner and I'm deeply disappointed with that device and it STILL missing the most basic of functions (soon to be replaced by a Dune).. I'm not sure what the product managers are doing over there, but they have to address some of these very basic shortcomings if they want to continue growing their user base. Anyone who has used any other modern media interfaces (which would be a very high percentage of their target market) will be totally unimpressed with c4's media interface and management.

Only problem I think holding back the cover-art is the severely underpowered controllers. It already takes like 30 seconds for the cover-art to load on my navigators currently. Imagine how much longer that would take if they used higher resolution (ie larger) pictures. C4 really needs to correct this deficiency fast as there are several competing products that will sway potential users away with their eye candy.

[strange_brew]

Only problem I think holding back the cover-art is the severely underpowered controllers. It already takes like 30 seconds for the cover-art to load on my navigators currently. Imagine how much longer that would take if they used higher resolution (ie larger) pictures. C4 really needs to correct this deficiency fast as there are several competing products that will sway potential users away with their eye candy.

For me it's more about basic functionality. TV seasons for example. Or just being able to create my own folders for "home videos", "movies", "tv seasons". Being able to import my itunes playlists, and the list goes on. I could forgive the eye candy part if they had the basics covered, but they fall far short on both...