View Full Version : IMDb.com license issues?
Team XBMC will contact IMDb directly and ask for their approval if they are willing to give it.
Did anyone ever get an answer back?
jmarshall
2009-02-08, 08:25
We did get an answer back, yes. We're currently assessing within the team as to what we should do about it.
We did get an answer back, yes. We're currently assessing within the team as to what we should do about it.
Is that 'yes' as in you got an answer back or 'yes' as in they said yes? ???
Jonathan
I'm assuming the answer wasn't exactly what we wanted to hear - otherwise there would be no reason for the team to be 'assessing what to do about it'.
Would it be possible for you to share their answer with us?
hikaricore
2009-02-08, 14:57
This is just my guess so don't take this as fact or anything like that...
IMDB probably said something to the effect of "We will only allow IMDBPro users to scrape our site"
meaning there would have to be some sort of authentication system added to the scraper.
I think what we, as a community of users, need to do is support themoviedb and enter in anything that is missing and update known information.
Even if each user only added 5 items, the data would be populated very rapidly.
The api and returned information from themoviedb is far better then anything imdb offers.
Have you entered your 5? -- I'll add that to my sig
I think what we, as a community of users, need to do is support themoviedb and enter in anything that is missing and update known information.
Even if each user only added 5 items, the data would be populated very rapidly.
The api and returned information from themoviedb is far better then anything imdb offers.
Have you entered your 5? -- I'll add that to my sig
Well, starting from having an actual API and not requiring a scraper that's an easy argument.
The problem, as with everything, is that the giant (IMDB) makes it useless for the newcomer (themoviedb.org) to be a viable option.
If I recall correctly thetvdb pulled quite a lot off tv.com. If that has been closed off IMDB then it'll be all that harder to use an alternate site.
Then again, if a 3rd party did a lot of scraping before IMDB decided to be a jerk about this that's probably covered (I would have to take a look at the license, but if it's a recent change it wouldn't be reatroactive, and places like opensubtitles and others have been actively scraping IMDB for some time now).
smcnally75
2009-02-08, 23:49
Just for the record...IMDB never started anything here. An xbmc user brought IMDBs "rules" to the attention of the devs and the devs decided to do the right thing and ask for permission.
Just for the record...IMDB never started anything here. An xbmc user brought IMDBs "rules" to the attention of the devs and the devs decided to do the right thing and ask for permission.
All I want to know is this:
When the devs did the right thing and asked IMDB for permission, what was IMDB's answer.
DarkHelmet
2009-02-09, 00:27
Frankly, a simple yes would surprise me.
Man you guys have 0 Patience.
We did get an answer back, yes. We're currently assessing within the team as to what we should do about it.
Can't you leave it alone for a few days since its out of "your" hands.
No offence everyone who hos replied on this thread - but you've kinda highjacked it.
All i wanted to know was what the response was from IMDB when Team XBMC asked for permission to scrape their site.
If anyone wants to discuss whether 'scraping' is captured by the definition 'stealing' , or the merits of TMDB vs IMDB could they please start their own thread.
hikaricore
2009-02-11, 03:03
Speaking on topic is not, nor will ever be considered hijacking.. at least not by any sane person on this planet.
Hijacking would be if I started asking questions about the migration pattern of the European swallow.
althekiller
2009-02-11, 03:19
Speaking on topic is not, nor will ever be considered hijacking.. at least not by any sane person on this planet.
Hijacking would be if I started asking questions about the migration pattern of the European swallow.
And this mindset is why basically every thread is of zero use in the future...
jmarshall
2009-02-11, 03:19
NOTE: A bunch of posts were moved out of this thread. This is what goake was referring to above.
I think they fly in large V formations during migration - or that may be the European swift.
Point taken. I retract my hijacking comment.
Just for the record...IMDB never started anything here. An xbmc user brought IMDBs "rules" to the attention of the devs and the devs decided to do the right thing and ask for permission.
Puhleez. The devs have always known what IMDB's rules were. They just chose to look the other way until recently. It's like saying the devs are surprised that people are using XBMC to watch stuff they illegally downloaded off the Internet.
themoviedb is not a long term solution and will ulitmately fail like freedb when the maintainer loses interest.
All i wanted to know was what the response was from IMDB when Team XBMC asked for permission to scrape their site.
The devs won't post the response publicly because it's obvious what the response was. No surprise there. Ask any commercial website how it feels about having it's content scraped and the response will be predictable.
smcnally75
2009-02-13, 15:31
Puhleez. The devs have always known what IMDB's rules were. They just chose to look the other way until recently. It's like saying the devs are surprised that people are using XBMC to watch stuff they illegally downloaded off the Internet.
themoviedb is not a long term solution and will ulitmately fail like freedb when the maintainer loses interest.
To be honest, I don't think there is anything unlawful about them having the scraper in XBMC. I may be wrong, but I think it would only be unlawful if it was being used for a commercial program or for another website. As for you illegal downloads comment... The debs can't control how people use XBMC. XBMC doesn't download these movies nor does it aid anyone in getting them. I personally have a collection of 375 movies and have the physical disc for every one of them put away in a closet. That comment is akin to saying that Ford sells Mustangs fully aware that people will use them to rob banks.
Well the newest SVN had a update 4 hours ago, and IMDB and Amazon are back.
No reason as why?
Good News either way finally
It is no longer the default.. But we leave it to the user to make the decision as to whether they want to risk anything.
. ignore, probably cache related browser problems. Sorry.
hikaricore
2009-02-14, 12:19
It is no longer the default.. But we leave it to the user to make the decision as to whether they want to risk anything.
We appreciate the change.
Even after editing the files manually before half the time xbmc ignored the imdb scraper and my results were crap. >.<
ultrabrutal
2009-02-14, 13:34
To be honest, I don't think there is anything unlawful about them having the scraper in XBMC. I may be wrong, but I think it would only be unlawful if it was being used for a commercial program or for another website. As for you illegal downloads comment... The debs can't control how people use XBMC. XBMC doesn't download these movies nor does it aid anyone in getting them. I personally have a collection of 375 movies and have the physical disc for every one of them put away in a closet. That comment is akin to saying that Ford sells Mustangs fully aware that people will use them to rob banks.
I don't think IMDB cares about you copying movies - it's not their business - they care about their site and their database and have clearly stated that they don't want robots and scrapers. So don't see your comparison as fit in any way
themoviedb is not a long term solution and will ulitmately fail like freedb when the maintainer loses interest.
I surely hope not, but I get what you mean. I hope it will become a long term community driven project though. I have decided to keep it as my default as I feel it often offers better results in terms of scraping (less mislabeled movies) and for instance plot info which is more to the point as opposed to the essays on iMDB. I just want a quick description of the plot but iMDB plots are often way too elaborate.
smcnally75
2009-02-14, 15:15
I don't think IMDB cares about you copying movies - it's not their business - they care about their site and their database and have clearly stated that they don't want robots and scrapers. So don't see your comparison as fit in any way
I never said that IMDB cared about copying movies. I was answering two separate comments that the person I quoted made. My comment about IMDB was that what XBMC uses it for technically does not break any of their "rules". If you read their "terms" page, you'll see a bunch of weird terms that really make no sense anyway and would never stand up in court.
Licensing IMDb Content; Consent to Use Robots and Crawlers: If you are interested in receiving our express written permission to use IMDb content for your non-personal (including commercial) use, please visit our Content Licensing section or contact our Licensing Department.
Our use is personal and not commercial since XBMC is a free product and nobody makes a profit off of it. You only need to request permission for non-personal and commercial use.
If you visit IMDb.com, you accept these conditions.
This is one of my favorites! This is like having a note taped to your toilet that says "By entering this bathroom you have agreed to pay the owner of this bathroom $1000". They can't hold you accountable for ANY agreements without having you physically accept an agreement by signing up for an account or by not allowing you to even access the site without acknowledging the agreement.
I hade problems with scraping last week.
I now understand that IMDB are bitching about using there database?
I now run version 17700? of XBMC, and I changed my settings för TMDB in "set content" for my Movies.
Do I have to change something else?
I removed my "Elite Squad" that was missing a thumb, cause IMDB dont have any, and thought I would get the one from TMDB now, but I didnt.
Do I have do something else?
In what order do XBMC use .nfo's and .nfo's with xml? I still have a "scene .nfo" with an URL to IMDB for the movie "Elite Squad". Will XBMC always use that info before TMDB then?
And another question, If I create an .nfo with xml-info, and rename the "scene .nfo" to .info, will I then get the info from the .nfo and get the rest about the movie from TMDB or the url to IMDB from the .info?
Thanks
/Söder
ultrabrutal
2009-02-14, 19:09
Yes XBMC reads the NFO. Don't think it looks for .INFO files
Yes XBMC reads the NFO. Don't think it looks for .INFO files
So If I want my xbmc to get info from TMDB instead of IMDB, I have to remove my scene .nfo with the IMDB url, or rename it to .info ?
/Söder
The issue is more then likely about bandwidth leeched by XBMC users paid for by IMDB.
So If I want my xbmc to get info from TMDB instead of IMDB, I have to remove my scene .nfo with the IMDB url, or rename it to .info ?
/Söder
No, not according to this (in recent builds).
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=44694
For 8.10, yes
Tomorrow, who knows?