View Full Version : Music Trivia / Facts on the Visualization screen
I have an idea for a project, it is possible to stream certain info mostly text from internet maybe an xml page, when playing a file and display it on the Music NowPlaying screen.
I will make a mockup later to see if anyone is interested in help.
This is a crude mockup of the idea.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l66/reavenm/test.jpg
althekiller
2009-06-07, 00:42
Whatever the idea, it will have nothing to do with the skin. Moving to feature requests...
Whatever the idea, it will have nothing to do with the skin. Moving to feature requests...
I didnt know where to post since is not a request is something I want to do and I want to know if is possible to do it that way.
althekiller
2009-06-07, 00:49
Well this is a lot closer than the aeon forum ;)
Well this is a lot closer than the aeon forum
you maybe right, Thanks !!:nod:
ok maybe nobody understand, what I want its make some kind of xml page where i and anyone can post funfacts, trivia, info about music artists/bands so it can be pull to the music visualization screen.
I dont know if is possible or you need to make an scrapper or a plugin, you will be only pulling text data.
you'd at the very least need a .py to do the hard work.
you mean like for getting the xml from the net and store it locally and maye make it check if you the current xml and if not download the new one.
not exactly. even if you download the xml, a skin cannot parse it.... you need to make the info available to the skin somehow, easiest is probably setting some window properties from the script.
mhhh... So you mean an script because I would need to start it automatically every time a song is play, then match the artist and display the associate info.
-too bad i dont know phyton, I have to start reading.
so I need to setup a website, that can accept users entries and save it to xml. but what would be the best method in terms of organizing the structure of the website and i mean something very simple, like find the artist/band enter fact/trivia and add or request artist/band.
that would be up to you to figure out, whatever your script likes. the info available to search with is pretty much what is available as info labels, i.e. artist album songname etc
that would be up to you to figure out
yeah, I know I'm just making a brainstorming and looking for suggestions and ideas.
because sometimes I dont like staring an screen with just the album cover on it and this would be a fun twist, until the facts/trivia start to repeat :grin:
well, you know you can scan for album and artist info in xbmc, rite?
well, you know you can scan for album and artist info in xbmc, rite?
you mean scrape ? like from allmusic ?
yeah I know, but that provide me with additional info beside the album info and cover art ?
uhm, discography for artists, summaries for artist and albums, release year, genres, styles, moods, instruments, +++ doesn't qualify? not that i care, but your statement is surely not true
not that i care, but your statement is surely not true
sorry for my spelling but the above was a question not an statement.
joebrady
2009-09-29, 17:46
Reaven: Had any other ideas on this topic? I was wondering on how to accomplish generally the same thing. Would a RSS feed work?
joebrady
2009-10-05, 17:38
Not sure about this, but just an idea that I haven't got to try out yet, maybe someone knows if it will work for a local RSS feed that would change it's content based on what music Artist was playing at the moment?
<feed updateinterval="30">J:\Music\$INFO[MusicPlayer.Artist]\facts.xml</feed>
Of course if it did work that way, you'd have to have and 'facts.xml' in each Artist folder.
???
I really like this concept, but with a slightly different spin.
How about as a replacement/alternative for the visualizations that can show up now in todays XBMC. It would try to find something to display in the following manner with a 100% preference to the current artist/album/song but can fall back to the last 5 songs played (if available) or fall forward to the next 5 songs in the queue.
1 - A trivia question / factoid about the song*
2 - A trivia question / factoid about the album*
3 - A trivia question / factoid about the artist*
4 - A trivia question / factoid about the year (the playing song was released)*
If no questions are available it would use the same criteria using the last and/or next 5 songs / artists in the queue to find a question factoid to present.
* In all cases it wouldn't select any item that was shown in the past two hours (3?)
Compiling the data would be something of a group effort and we could automate some of the questions by data mining our own music collections.
Do open databases for detailed music information exist that would be open to being scraped for more complex data and what are the legal issues if any?
Billboard Charts I'm guessing is not a wise place to think about scraping... but how about music awards is that data 'public' or is it more like ...
"Any Rebroadcast, Retransmission, or Account of this Game and/or Music Award Show, Billboard Top Chart, etc, without the Express Written Consent of Major League Baseball, is Prohibited"
This is the problem... data capturing is a funny business and you gotta be careful or pay the price.
However I really like the concept.. and how about this:
The cleararts for paused TV is great.... but how about something different for movies that get paused for a prolonged period of time..
For a normal pause would display whatever it normally displays (the movie synopsis) and on screen controls but after 'time interval to be chosen' it starts a trivia and factoid slide show just like in the movies (that show before the movie begins). It could take the movie and or the top 5 actors and generate a number of trivia / factoid slides and rotate thru them until activity is detected (the remote is used) and then the view goes back to the paused movie.
You could really have some fun with this and design slides that feature your favorite movie time candy or beverages... Something like.. while we are waiting for the film to resume it would be a great time to help yourself to a delicious __________ from the snack bar. Really personalize it..
Too much work?