Migrating Xbox database

[Sutekh]

Hi guys,

I was wondering, is it possible to migrate my database from my Xbox to my Mac OSX install? I ask because I have many foreign language films, so about half my database was manually fixing up IMDB's mistakes. I would prefer not to do this again.

I did what I thought would be correct; I copied the Database folder from my Xbox install to the correct location in the OSX XBMC package but no go. Is this possible? If so, is there a way to batch change the path of the videos (as the location is no longer SMB, it is my local drive)

Thanks!
Simon

[spiff]

easiest way to fix it is export, search & replace in xml, import.

but you will still have issues with non-local thumbs since they are cached based on the path (which has changed - hence the cache names have changed).

[eduo]

Right. Thumbs are, IIRC, based on the hash of the full path so they won't work.

I have wondered in the past if the XBMC team has ever considered storing the metadata for a folder or for the files in the same directory they're located (in a similar way OSX currently does with .invisible folders). Otherwise moving or renaming breaks the thumbs and info but the data isn't deleted, slowly taking more and more time (I could be wrong but I don't think anything is deleted if unused over time).

[spiff]

nobody in their right mind shares their media library in rw mode. so no, that is not an option.
in any case it would destroy the entire point of having a cache

[eduo]

Yeah, well, I think that's too broad a statement. Almost everybody shares their media library in RW mode. What nobody in their right mind should do is sharing their media library publicly and without authentication in rw mode. I don't have my media library physically connected to my desktop machine so if it wasn't shared in authenticated RW mode in my desktop (permanently, I should add) it would be a nice but empty shared RO drive.

So, I was thinking on XBMC running under OSX (or Win, or Linux), where (at least now) volumes are mounted locally by the OS and "seen" by XBMC, whether they're local internal disks, external disks or network disks mounted with user privileges.

That is, I mount my network disks with write permissions, otherwise I wouldn't be able to write my files to them. What I DON'T do is share with RW permissions for unauthenticated users ("guest" accounts, "public" shares). I could be wrong but isn't this standard practice for shared disks?

One the other point: It wouldn't destroy the point of having a cache. In reality it would validate the point of having a cache. What we call a "cache" right now is, in reality, the only place where the metadata is stored (again, I could be mistaken). A "cache" to me has always been "a more easily accessibly copy of a slower or more convoluted original source to facilitate and speed up access".

Again, this could be just wording and oversimplification on my part. I tend to only use samba for sharing so my view may be askew becaus of that. I am purposedly avoiding thinking of XBMC as "the Media Center for Xbox" too and more of it as "a Media Center solution" and as such I see it working in standalone linux installations or running from Windows or OSX. In these cases my proposal makes more sense than when it was running on the XBOX, as it's common to have your network media drives mounted in the local OS.

[topfs2]

I for one wouldn't dream of sharing my mutlimedia in RW on any network as I have spent a whole lot of time just organizing the media. This is one of the reasons I hate both windows and mac that they both polutes all my very tidy and well organized folders with a zillion weird tbn and such. WMP for example puts atleast 4 different sized thumbs for my album art in every musicfolder....
I don't want to think of all the times I've cleaned these ones out in pure frustration when I am forced to boot into windows again.

Also there are countless of benefits with storing the info as XBMC currently does. Mainly that it is always accesible wich makes it less errorprone and you are able to roam the library even if it isn't mounted for the time beeing. Also you wouldn't experience speed downs if there is a lag on the internet, not good to watch movies then either but you get the point ..
This could ofc. be fixed by having both a local cache as now and also pollute the targets filesystem. This "fix" will both take time when it should be syncronised, and checked if sncronised and is also takes space. Also it would need to check if the fs is RW or just R.

On the subject of letting the O/S care for the mounting and just have XBMC connect to a local folder have both advantages and disadvanteges were the advantages are that it may have less bugs, but the disadvanteges are greater in my opinion. Slower acces (Due to overhead and that the O/S may close the connection to soon and forcing it to connect up again wich takes time). And if it is natevily supported it is easier to be sure things are the same on different plattforms, same smb code on all plattforms and such. Much easier to maintain. And you have the choice to mount it local by yourself and just let xbmc mount the local if you want.

[eduo]

Ok, then it must be a special situation I'm in. I'm the only one that handles media in our network shares at home. I'm the only one that moves, copies, renames or deletes files or directories, so I have to have it mounted as RW in my machine.

My mac does create .directories but they don't show in XBMC nor Linux, which is what I use, so I don't mind them that much (I could theoretically disable them globally, I just choose not to).

I can see where you come from, though. It's just seeing it from a different situation. I don't worry about other users moving or changing stuff nor are invisible directories a burden to me (OSX creates invisible (to unix/linux and XBMC, at least) directories where it puts all its metadata, not thumb.db files, which are more conspicuous).

tbn files are XBMC-specific, I believe. I could be wrong, of course.

As you say, there are pros and cons. I think the pros outweigh the cons, you think otherwise. It's a good thing then that XBMC will end up doing both anyway then

[jmarshall]

There has been a request for "export" of library data out to the filesystem that outlines potential problems and some potential solutions. You'll see in SVN that there is code in CVideoDatabase::ExportToXML() to support exporting "nfo" files as individual files for instance (it's currently not in use).

These potential problems and potential solutions need an enterprising person to create a "do it this way" solution and (preferably) implement it

Cheers,
Jonathan

[Gamester17]

Originally Posted by jmarshall

There has been a request for "export" of library data out to the filesystem that outlines potential problems and some potential solutions.

Please see the existing feature suggestion topic-thread "Extract Movie Video Database to seperate files" and the discussion about that there, so there is no need to hi-jack this thread here for it.
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=29299

Thanks