I'm the tech savvy one in the family, as I'm sure there are quite a few people here in the same situation. What I enjoy is watching others get satisfaction from things that 'just work.' My Movies being one of them. Now My Movies is great for watching movies...however my family isn't that comfortable in navigating the network. So I thought I would develop an application that would allow you to connect to a computer on the network. You would then be able to browse the movie folders and as you do, the cover will be displayed and information on the movie. You can then click 'Play' and the movie will open in Windows Media Player, create a playlist for multiple files (ie two avi files) or optionally open different movie formats with different media players, like VLC. Scripts can also be optionally run after your media is run or mounted (ie Daemon Tools).

This way of browsing movies over the network is much simpler, more visually appealing and informative as the xml files in each movie folder are read and displayed to the screen. I thought I'd share this application for anyone else who may find it of use. Feel free to give me feed back as it will help this application improve.
Supported formats are: .avi, .divx, .dvr-ms, .mkv, .mp4, .mpeg, .mpg, .wm, .wmv, .xvid and TS_VIDEO folders, you can also add your own formats and the player that you'd like them to launch with.



All images used in the program are accredited to binnerup. If it is not appropriate for me to be using these, please let me know. I will pull the file and make a custom set of images. Thanks to binnerup for the awesome My Movies software and I hope someone finds this tool useful.

Changelog

1.9
-Added the ability to not show titles marked as 'Adult'. Add #AdultOff#True#/AdultOff# to Settings.xml file (Replace # with < and > - Forum is blocking post)
-Double clicking a movie title in the list will open the folder
-Language handling completely rewritten. Language files now under the language folder in an editable XML file
-New engine written to allow different file types to be launched with different media players, a script can additionally be launched after the media player (useful for image mounting)
-Major rewrite and code optimisations
-Minor bug fixes and fixed bug where incorrect movie information is displayed if My Movies database titles are not in order

1.8
-Added support for multiple movie discs ie box sets, tv series etc

1.7.3
-Fixed folders not displaying in the correct order (in folder view mode)
-Added the ability to change the background image (place an image file called 'background' in the images folder - must be bmp, png, jpg, jpeg, or gif)
-Added the option for the user to add additional supported file formats in the XML file

1.7.2
-Added support for databases that point to movie files ie \\htpc\movies\shrek\shrek.mkv (Traditionally only folder paths would work)
-Fixed movies not being detected if the file extension was not lowercase

1.7.1
-Fixed unhandled exception error

1.7
-When in Database mode, covers are pulled directly from My Movies server
-Added option to sort movies by "Sort Title"
-Multiple languages supported : English, Bulgarian, Dutch, Faroese and German
-Fixed user interface resizing glitch
-VOB rips now play with default player (ensure your .IFO file is associated with the video player you want)

1.6.1
-Fixed the database incorrectly reading covers and folders when titles have not had their numbers reset (from Collection Management of My Movies)

1.6
-Added option to use My Movies database for meta data instead of XML files

1.5
-Added option to remember screen size from last session (ie Full Screen / Normal)
-Reads XML files regardless of My Movies version ie 2.47, 2.48, 2.49 can all be read
-User interface adjustments (bigger play and open buttons, close button when in FSM and a new settings button)
-New settings window
-Automatically load and expand movie list from XML file upon load
-'Escape' button can now exit full screen mode (same as F11)
-Movies that are in a single video file will open in the default video player (Multiple disk movies will open in Windows Media Player)

1.4.1
-Program correctly reads XML files for My Movies 2.49 (If running an older version of My Movies use 1.4)

1.4
-Added ability to browse through directories
-Added ability to launch with location parameter To Use: Create a shortcut to the program, right click the shortcut, properties, add switch to target e.g. /location:"\\htpc\family movies" Click to View Example

1.3
-Added ability to launch movies by pressing 'Enter' when selected in the list
-Added ability to resize window
-Added option to go into Fullscreen mode (via F11 or checkbox)

1.2
-Fixed bug where DVD paths with spaces would not parse correctly

1.1
-Added the ability to play standard DVD folders ie TS_VIDEO folders
-Added option to use folder.jpg for cover, instead of extracting information from XML file
-Added Setting.xml file to remember last valid directory and movie cover option

1.0
-Initial Release

Black Ice

File Attachment(s):
Media Client for MyMovies.zip (388kb) downloaded 279 time(s).
Media Client for MyMovies v1.1.zip (388kb) downloaded 23 time(s).
Media Client for MyMovies 1.2.zip (387kb) downloaded 27 time(s).
Media Client for MyMovies 1.3.zip (388kb) downloaded 97 time(s).
Media Client for MyMovies 1.4.zip (388kb) downloaded 14 time(s).
Media Client for MyMovies 1.4.1.zip (388kb) downloaded 42 time(s).
Media Client for MyMovies 1.5.zip (395kb) downloaded 41 time(s).
Media Client for MyMovies 1.6.zip (397kb) downloaded 50 time(s).
Media Client for MyMovies 1.6.1.zip (397kb) downloaded 215 time(s).
Media Client for MyMovies 1.7.zip.zip (1,719kb) downloaded 33 time(s).
Media Client for MyMovies 1.7.1.zip (1,719kb) downloaded 136 time(s).
Media Client for MyMovies 1.7.2.zip (1,719kb) downloaded 298 time(s).
Media Client for MyMovies 1.7.3.zip (1,720kb) downloaded 64 time(s).
Media Client for MyMovies 1.8.zip (1,720kb) downloaded 308 time(s).
Media Client for My Movies 1.9.zip (422kb) downloaded 274 time(s).

Thanks very much iansilv :)

Nice job, it loads very fast and looks nice as well.
Any chance of having standard dvd folders being recognized as a movie? It plays everything else fine, but not dvds.

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New to My Movies and confused? Start HERE - CLICK ME!

"One inch of joy surmounts of grief a span;
Because to laugh is proper to the man."
Rabelais

1. Yes I will make an option for remembering the directory last used with the program [Added to Version 1.1, See first post]
2. With regards to displaying just folder.jpg...I could make an option for this, perhaps under a "settings" menu. So yes [Added to Version 1.1, See first post]
3. If the program is open and you create a new folder, you will need to click 'load' again to see the changes.
4. It could load multiple folders quite easily...however I can't think of a nice 'clean' and optimum way of removing specific directories from the list - without adding quite a few buttons. It's do-able but I'll need to think about it

The idea is that this program displays info about the movie, using the my-movies xml files in each folder. However you can still click "play" on a non my-movies folder and it will play the movie if it contains the correct file type inside.

5. Playing standard dvd folders, I don't have many of these (if any at all). Edit: Figured it out [Added to Version 1.1, See first post]
6. Nested sub folders aren't used, not sure how you are using them spinman. If you could give me a screenshot, or description as to how you have them set up, I'm sure I could add this

I didn't expect this program to take much interest :P Thanks everyone for the feedback. As I said I have my final exams soon, I'll be finished them in 7 weeks. I can't promise much development until then, however, given spare time I will try and work on these suggestions.

Sounds like something to look into. I'll have to learn to work with databases (only really done so with PHP), but it should be a fun challenge. For now I'll keep things as is, until I'm up to the task. I guess the one main advantage now, over a direct database connection is that the program will work if the host is not running MyMovies Server. This benefits those who store their movies on a file server etc. Thanks for the input Binnerup, definitely something I'll look into.

Sounds good, might help others find this thread easier. Thanks :)

I won't say bootleg here, but it screams that this is your issue. My Movies has the data for most regions once the title is released - if your titles are newer than that, My Movies is not created for you......

I did not see at disrespectful - it's just important for me to point out that our stuff is NOT created for bootlegs.

While I personally have no problem with what people chooses to do with their own stuff, I belive that the high amount of users downloading bootlegs from the internet is a good part of the reason that everyone else can't legally put their purchased discs on storage devices, create personal copies, ect.

1) It isn't designed for multiple nested directories at the moment, could you please explain how you have them setup? And what is in each nested folder.
2) It runs VIDEO_TS.IFO fine for me with WMP, what error do you get...?

Thanks

Ok mattardo,
Thanks for that, I think it might be the folder path (caps or lowercase etc). I'm looking into it now. I'll try replicate this and then fix it.

Edit: Okay I renamed the folders to the ones you had above (so using lowercase and uppercase in the file and folder names), it still runs the movie. Is the .NET framework 2.0 installed?

To be clear this is the location of my movie:

\\htpc\movies\Movie Name\Video_Ts\Video_ts.ifo

The program displays 'Movie Name' in the list and when I click play it runs fine