Episode Thumbs Won't Scrape in 2.292

I understand support for TV shows in the next generation of Media Companion is coming soon, and I am very much looking forward to it, but until then I've been using version 2.292 to handle my episodes. In the past couple weeks I've noticed that it no longer scrapes episode thumbs despite the fact they exist on thetvdb.com.

A question for everybody: Is anybody else experiencing this or am I the only lucky one?

A question for the man himself: If this is a global problem ( most likely due to thetvdb changing something on their end ) is there any chance we could get a quick fix until the latest versions support TV shows?

Thanks!

I tried this tonight but can only get some thumbs.

Defying Gravity S01E01 for example had a different thumbnail from the one I already had, I was able to get the new one & save it.
Defying Gravity S01E02, I was able to downlaod the new thumb, it was the same as I already had....
Defying Gravity S01E06, Although TVDB has a thumb, I was not able to download it.

Cheers

I am well on the way to completing support for tv shows in gen2, this is the main reason for the lack of updates.

The shows are now can be listed and browsed via a treeview. It's just a matter of adding the scraper functions, to complete basic functionality. At the moment, the whole treeview is re-done when a new episode or show is added. so I need to figure out how to add individual items (New episodes, or shows) to the treeview. It seems straight forward, but keeping track of all the nodes is starting to hurt my brain

I think a cache will also be a priority, loading several thousand tv episodes from a NAS can slow down startup considerably. On the plus side, once the program has loaded, browsing the shows and episodes is almost instantaneous.

Either way, it shouldnt be long now until it is ready for testing. If I get time I will upload some screenshots in the announcements forum later today.

Sounds good! I was hoping for a quick fix, but I think I'll survive until it's supported in gen2. Thanks for the update and all the hard work!

Also, In case you're curious, I think I figured out what the problem is regarding episode thumbs. Media Companion 2.292 is looking for episode thumbs at "http://images.thetvdb.com/banners/episodes/*", but they seem to have a new home at "http://www.thetvdb.com/banners/episodes/*".

billyad2000 wrote:

The shows are now can be listed and browsed via a treeview. It's just a matter of adding the scraper functions, to complete basic functionality.

Just in case its the same mechanism as for movies, I'm finding that MC frequently forgets all movies (Movie count 0 of 0) and making it do so can be as simple as typing a character into the bottom search entry field. I generally close MC and then restart and "fix movies".

dbareis wrote:

Just in case its the same mechanism as for movies, I'm finding that MC frequently forgets all movies (Movie count 0 of 0) and making it do so can be as simple as typing a character into the bottom search entry field. I generally close MC and then restart and "fix movies".

Can you duplicate this, the only way that would happen is if the main movielist was erased, and this only happens during a rebuild (This occurs when the program starts-up, or when the option to Rebuild Movies is used), other than that the main list is not touched unless a new movie is added to it. Surely a bug that wiped this list by entering a character in the content search could be duplicated. All the filters work by copying relevent movies from this list to a filterlist, if an error was occurring with the filter then the reset filters button should repopulate the list from the main movielist.

Either way, this would not be linked to the moviecache since this is only used when the program is started, and it populates the list of movie objects. If there was an issue with movie cache then the movies would not be added at start-up.

I assume that the moviecache.xml which is populated from the main movie list when the program is exited is also empty since the main movielist has been wiped for some reason.
You can back this up and when the error occurs just replace the file.

The cache is stored as "moviecache.xml", located in the settings folder.
It contains all the data used by MC for listing and browsing movies as follows.

Code:

<movie_cache>
  <movie>
    <filedate>20090829121456</filedate>
    <filename>4 Rise of the Silver Surfer.nfo</filename>
    <foldername>#</foldername>
    <fullpathandfilename>Z:\Movies\#\4 Rise of the Silver Surfer.nfo</fullpathandfilename>
    <genre>Action / Adventure / Fantasy / Sci-Fi</genre>
    <id>tt0486576</id>
    <playcount>0</playcount>
    <rating>5.8</rating>
    <title>4: Rise of the Silver Surfer</title>
    <titleandyear>4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)</titleandyear>
    <top250>0</top250>
    <year>2007</year>
  </movie>
  <movie>
    <filedate>20090829121542</filedate>
    <filename>4 Weddings &amp; A Funeral.nfo</filename>
    <foldername>#</foldername>
    <fullpathandfilename>Z:\Movies\#\4 Weddings &amp; A Funeral.nfo</fullpathandfilename>
    <genre>Comedy / Romance / Drama</genre>
    <id>tt0109831</id>
    <playcount>0</playcount>
    <rating>7.1</rating>
    <title>Four Weddings and a Funeral</title>
    <titleandyear>Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)</titleandyear>
    <top250>0</top250>
    <year>1994</year>
  </movie>
</movie_cache>

As long as this file is created, and usable, then even if there was an issue, it should be gone when MC is restarted. I will look into it, but this error is not within the logic of the program since as I said, the main list is not touched unless rebuild is used, and without any common factors that can cause this, it will be looking for a needle in a haystack.

billyad2000 wrote:

Can you duplicate this

Not reliably, it may be that MC already has some sort of memory corruption at the time I will try harder to reproduce.
The reason I exit MC (and supporting the corruption theory) is that if I rebuild without exiting it can be reproduced easily.

billyad2000 wrote:

if an error was occurring with the filter then the reset filters button should repopulate the list from the main movielist.

Which it doesn't.

billyad2000 wrote:

I assume that the moviecache.xml which is populated from the main movie list when the program is exited is also empty

I will check next time.

Thanks,
Dennis

If it is memory corruption then I am not sure what I can do about it, all memory management is controlled by .net and this being the case is beyond my control.

Is there a possibility that your installation of .net is corrupt?

The only glitch I can find is if I try changing any of the filters faster than MC can keep up with them, sometimes the wrong or no search results will be returned, but the reset filters has always worked without an issue, I need to find a way to stop any filter search has been completed before the next one starts.

Hi,

I managed to get it to occur today, all I did was tick the "Sci-Fi" Genre. The "moviecache.xml" was OK, I exited MC and restarted and it appears Ok without rebuild movies. Is it possible that moving movies around causes this problem (at one stage a couple of movies were not where MC expected them, then I rebuilt, then this issue)?

I've got a picture, just to prove it :-)



I resized MC to get a smaller picture..

Hope that helps,
Dennis

Hi ya,

I can now reproduce it:

(1) Rename folder containing a movie (don't think it matters if you then try to select it)
(2) Select Rebuild Movies
(3) Click on any Genre filter checkbox (this results in "0 of 0")

Bye,
Dennis

dbareis wrote:

Hi ya,

I can now reproduce it:

(1) Rename folder containing a movie (don't think it matters if you then try to select it)
(2) Select Rebuild Movies
(3) Click on any Genre filter checkbox (this results in "0 of 0")

Bye,
Dennis

Any chance you could send me a copy of your config file, as I still cant reproduce it, the piece of code that deals with this is very straight forward and small, and I cant see for the life of me what could be causing it.

In addition to the config, is the error related to the how your movies are listed(Title, filename, or foldername) or sorted(a-z, date added, year, or rating)

billyad2000 wrote:

dbareis wrote:

Hi ya,

I can now reproduce it:

(1) Rename folder containing a movie (don't think it matters if you then try to select it)
(2) Select Rebuild Movies
(3) Click on any Genre filter checkbox (this results in "0 of 0")

Bye,
Dennis

Any chance you could send me a copy of your config file, as I still cant reproduce it, the piece of code that deals with this is very straight forward and small, and I cant see for the life of me what could be causing it.

In addition to the config, is the error related to the how your movies are listed(Title, filename, or foldername) or sorted(a-z, date added, year, or rating)

Movies listed Title & Year / Date Added, I have tried it a few more times and added these extra:

. (0.1) : Click Date Added (as its not sticky)
. (0.2) : Click 1st movie to highlight
. (0.3) Use the first movies folder as that which you'll later rename
(1) Rename folder containing a movie (don't think it matters if you then try to select it)
. (1.1) Click on 2nd and first movies (not sure if required)
(2) Select Rebuild Movies
(3) Click on any Genre filter checkbox (this results in "0 of 0")

If that still doesn't work, I'll send the config also.

To hopefully start clean between failed attempts I do 2 x "Rebuild movies and stop/restart MC".

Bye,
Dennis

dbareis wrote:

billyad2000 wrote:

dbareis wrote:

Hi ya,

I can now reproduce it:

(1) Rename folder containing a movie (don't think it matters if you then try to select it)
(2) Select Rebuild Movies
(3) Click on any Genre filter checkbox (this results in "0 of 0")

Bye,
Dennis

Any chance you could send me a copy of your config file, as I still cant reproduce it, the piece of code that deals with this is very straight forward and small, and I cant see for the life of me what could be causing it.

In addition to the config, is the error related to the how your movies are listed(Title, filename, or foldername) or sorted(a-z, date added, year, or rating)

Movies listed Title & Year / Date Added, I have tried it a few more times and added these extra:

. (0.1) : Click Date Added (as its not sticky)
. (0.2) : Click 1st movie to highlight
. (0.3) Use the first movies folder as that which you'll later rename
(1) Rename folder containing a movie (don't think it matters if you then try to select it)
. (1.1) Click on 2nd and first movies (not sure if required)
(2) Select Rebuild Movies
(3) Click on any Genre filter checkbox (this results in "0 of 0")

If that still doesn't work, I'll send the config also.

To hopefully start clean between failed attempts I do 2 x "Rebuild movies and stop/restart MC".

Bye,
Dennis

Sorry, still can't duplicate this. Is there any possibility that you could send a copy of your config, just so I can exactly match your settings.

If there is anybody else encountering this then please let me know.

billyad2000 wrote:

dbareis wrote:

. (0.1) : Click Date Added (as its not sticky)
. (0.2) : Click 1st movie to highlight
. (0.3) Use the first movies folder as that which you'll later rename
(1) Rename folder containing a movie (don't think it matters if you then try to select it)
. (1.1) Click on 2nd and first movies (not sure if required)
(2) Select Rebuild Movies
(3) Click on any Genre filter checkbox (this results in "0 of 0")

If that still doesn't work, I'll send the config also.

To hopefully start clean between failed attempts I do 2 x "Rebuild movies and stop/restart MC".

Sorry, still can't duplicate this. Is there any possibility that you could send a copy of your config, just so I can exactly match your settings.

I've just emailed you the config file.

Thanks,
Dennis