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Getting started the My Movies 5 Pre Release

Introduction

Welcome to the My Movies 5 Pre Release - with this document we will try to answer some of the questions about what My Movies 5 is and is not, compared to our prior My Movies 4 version.

My Movies 5 combines the functionality of the My Movies Collection Management, My Movies for Windows Media Center and My Movies Home and Essentials Server Solution into one combined product. This means that there now are two installation options available only; "My Movies for Windows", and "My Movies Home and Essentials Server Solution".

The products "My Movies Collection Management" and "My Movies for Windows Media Center" is now merged into one common product named "My Movies for Windows". This product will install the Windows Media Center parts of My Movies on solutions that have Windows Media Center available automatically, and install without these parts on solutions that does not - Windows 8 users who add the Windows Media Center feature after installing My Movies 5 must re-install My Movies 5 to receive the Media Center parts.

The "My Movies Home and Essentials Server Solution" continues as normal, but receives a product version upgrade from 2.XX to 5.XX, indicating that it is now part of the same source code base as My Movies 5, but simply packed into an installer for Windows Home Server 2011 and Windows Server 2012 Essentials. The "My Movies Home and Essentials Server Solution" now features the Collection Management as part of the installation, which can be launched from the dashboard, or through a remote desktop connection to the server.

"My Movies 5 for Windows" requires Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 installed, or Windows 8/8.1. With My Movies 5, we are fully deprecating My Movies, including only the Collection Management program for devices running Windows XP and Windows Vista.

"My Movies 5 for Windows" brings the functionality known from our Server Solution software to standard Windows products, including the fully automated disc copying, video conversion functionality and with that, the ability to connect mobile devices running My Movies for iPhone, iPad or Android to the server, allowing for playing converted videos on the mobile devices.

The My Movies 5 project contains another major functionality, with the addition of generic movie profiles to be used alongside disc titles, but this functionality we are holding back until further into the Pre Release, or possibly for a 5.10 update.

The Pre Release is intended for users who would like to participate in reviewing, testing and giving us feedback for My Movies 5. The Pre Release requires 2,500 points (excluding trial points) or a licensed installer license file to participate - this is done to limit the amount of participating users to a level that we are able to handle support wise.

We have created a forum specifically for the My Movies 5 Pre Release, allowing you to report issues, post requests or discuss the release in general. You can find this forum here.

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Important Notice

Before you install the My Movies 5 Pre Release, create a backup of your database in the Collection Management program, or through the dashboard on the Home and Essentials Server Solution software. This is very, very important, because if there is any bugs in the pre release that affects your database, you are sure to have a backup from prior to the Pre Release.

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Download

Before you download the My Movies 5 Pre Release, we strongly recommend that you read this page fully, as it contains important information that you need to be aware of before downloading and installing.

When you have read the page, the program is available for download here:

IMPORTANT: Make sure always to create a database backup before installing the Pre Release.

IMPORTANT! You need 2,500 points on your user account to use the Pre Release, or registered professionals can download a demonstration license in the installer area.

My Movies for Windows 5.00 Pre Release 10 - for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8/8.1.

My Movies Home and Essentials Server Solution 5.00 Pre Release 10 - for Windows Home Server 2011 and Windows Server 2012 Essentials.

Changelog is available in the bottom of this page. Edit

Screenshots

Users of Windows Home Server 2011 and Windows Server 2012 Essentials will be familiar with having a dashboard. In My Movies 5, users on Windows 7 and 8 now gets a similar dashboard for the My Movies server functionalities.

The dashboard contains alerts for various My Movies events, which is also a feature that users of Windows Home Server 2011 and Windows Server 2012 Essentials knows from these products.

You can through the alert viewer configure e-mail alerts to receive alerts of the various events through e-mail.

The settings area in My Movies 5 now combines the functionality of our server solution product and the Windows Media Center product into one common configuration. The settings area automatically adjusts and contains fewer configuration options when Windows Media Center is not available on the device.

Through the My Movies Tray application, the user have quick access to drive configuration, allowing for configuration of manual or fully automated disc copying.

Running in Windows Media Center, the user can also configure the operation modes of the individual drives, allowing perhaps to have one drive for automated disc copying, and one drive for playback, or, to manually start copying if having only one drive.

Users on Windows Home Server 2011 and Windows Server 2012 Essentials will find that the Collection Management application is now available directly in the dashboard.

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Providing Feedback

We would like as much feedback as you can give about the Pre Release - including malfunctions, improveable items or general ideas on how to improve the release. Depending on the workload, we will be spending the Pre Release period to solve any issues with the implementation, and if the time allows it, implement functionality that can be improved.

Please use our forum for feedback - there will be a "My Movies 5 Pre Release" forum available for the purpose.

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Discussing My Movies 5

While we require 2,500 points (excluding trial points) on a users account to participate in the My Movies 5 Pre Release, the content of it is not a secret to the public. You are allowed to post any screenshot, thoughts or anything else you might have. This includes both posts on our own forums and on external websites and blogs.

Notice though that the product is available in a Pre Release version with the purpose of improving the functionality for the final product. We ask that you do not judge the product exclusively by the functionality provided in the Pre Release - there will be various improvements in the Pre Release period based on user feedback, and the correct time to fully review the product will be at the time of the release.

The final release date of My Movies 5 is not currently known.

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Changelog

5.00 Pre Release 10:

Added: Improved update dialogs for update of all Disc Titles / Movies / TV Series

Change: Deprecating of langauge settings, it was duplicated.

Fix: Fixed minor error for path setting on discs in disc title when using folder monitoring.
Fix: Issue created in optimize database that could cause it to crash.
Fix: Incoming crash logs. Crash could occur when returning a broken image from the database.
Fix: Automatic refresh rate changing was broken due to an incorrect code change.
Fix: There was an add type label floating on top when adding monitored folder.
Fix: There could be problems with setting up on total fresh machine.
Fix: Unidentified icon did not stick when screen was refreshed in disc copier list.
Fix: When changing away from disc title with changed data, the user wasn't asked to save the data.
Fix: Removed help icon that should not be displayed.
Fix: Folder import/monitoring to take better use of Mymovies.xml
Fix: IMDB import did not work in Collection Management on WHS 2011 and Server 2012 due to a missing file.
Fix: Box set child titles are no longer included in search result when doing import/folder monitoring.
Fix: The copy to video converter option was listed twice on DVD's, but not on Blu-ray/HD DVD.
Fix: Incorrect paths in the database could cause problems synchronizing collection to the online service.
Fix: Language and country lists in PreviewTitle is now sorted.
Fix: The dashboard asked about missing credentials too often.
Fix: There was some differences between handbrake and My Movies titles on Blu-ray, which could cause conversion problems.
Fix: Opening Collection Management on a server could clear the licensing.
Fix: Progress for handbrake showed progress for initial scan instead of only showing for encoding.
Fix: The video failed after converting if the target folder was set to same as source, and the disc copier was set to the video converter.
Fix: Inherited data wasn't shown correctly in preview of TV Series.
Fix: Alert viewer in Windows now allows for disable/enable and delete of alerts.
Fix: Alert e-mails from Windows got more data in them.
Fix: Expired alerts are no longer shown.
Fix: Error occurred when image selector was opening and no images were available from server request.
Fix: Several minor bugs with folder import, Especially in regards to exiting mymovies.xml files.

5.00 Pre Release 9:

Added: Professionals can now mark prior installations for automatic updates, and the software will then auto-purchase an upgrade license when My Movies 5 is installed.

Change: Performance of returning images in API.
Change: Extention of database optimization.
Change: The software no longer asks to confirm credentials for single-element locations.
Change: Personal data for Disc Titles is now saved together with rest of the data for the disc title.

Fix: About page in Windows Media Center showed My Movies 4 and not 5.
Fix: In some situations, the client PC could try to upgrade the server database.
Fix: In case of login problems, the database upgrade could be attempted more than once.
Fix: External credentials dialog could fail if not all credentials was added.
Fix: There could be issues storing drive configuration in some situations.
Fix: On disc title updates, the compare dialog contained a broken image.
Fix: Error when updating TV Series made it look like there was always new updates.
Fix: Person and role image sometimes got mixed up on update of person data.
Fix: Role information for TV Series characters is now updated with Series update.
Fix: Parental Controls were not available in settings when Windows Media Center was not present.
Fix: Discs could start to copy, even when the disc copier was not enabled.
Fix: Dune meta-data storage could not handle multiple elements having the same title.
Fix: Change in the GetTitleList API XML could cause problems for remote control drivers.
Fix: There was a problem in the migration function causing some images used for the API to not be generated for TV Series. Users affected can use the optimize database option, or restore a prior database.
Fix: Various issues with poster language contribution.
Fix: Migration message dialog did not open on top of the splash screen, and could be invisible.
Fix: Monitoring had problems with using folder configuration on Windows Home Server and Server 2012 Essentials

5.00 Pre Release 8:

Added: License key changes allowing for branded customer versions of mobile applications.
Added: New internal API functions for use with My Movies branded mobile applications.
Added: Popcorn Hour NMJ V2 meta-data storage
Added: There were some situations where the user was not prompted for external credentials. If you find locations where you can still enter an external UNC path for other server or NAS device, and you do not get prompted for credentials, please report this.

Change: You can now enter "guest" as username and no password in the external credentials dialog to connect to open shares.
Change: Media Center meta-data storage deprecated. Users are now expected to run My Movies as a Media Center client.
Change: Folder Monitoring and Folder Import consolidated in back-end code. Keep an eye out for issues with folder monitoring and folder import.
Change: Updates to meta-data storage handlers, letting them store meta-data for Online (File) titles.

Fix: TV Series season posters were missing in the Dune interface.
Fix: It could require a reboot to get fresh installations running.
Fix: There could be problems connecting to the database after restoring a database that was created on another server.
Fix: There was a problem opening the category entries in Windows Media Center.
Fix: Non-default cover profiles were broken.
Fix: Music disc copier could read drive configuration wrong.
Fix: Optimize database could fail if there was elements that needed to be marked.
Fix: Music disc copying could fail due to an image embed error.
Fix: There could still be point confirmation issues in some situations.
Fix: The browsing dialog for adding folder monitoring folders did not allow to select local paths.
Fix: XBMC meta-data storage would fail if there were no genres or studios available on a profile.
Fix: Meta-data storage for multi disc titles, or dual side titles could store with wrong filenames on secondary discs or sides.
Fix: Monitoring did not work correct for local paths.
Fix: Upcoming titles type box was not set to any by default, but was blank.
Fix: Issue storing data if more than one metadata storage handler existed.
Fix: Removed unmodified since checks for streaming, which could give issues on streaming from Windows devices.
Fix: Updating actor profiles would not update images, and could even clear existing images.
Fix: User was not prompt for external credentials when entering paths manually.
Fix: The external credentials feature did not support using \ or @ for specifying a logon domain.

5.00 Pre Release 7:

IMPORTANT: If you have posted about problems prior to this Pre Release, and still have the problem, please reply to your post to notify about it.

Fix: There was an exception when applying settings after having set Dune configurations.
Fix: The system did not log in with stored credentials when storing title media information.
Fix: Save As in the cover right click menu in Collection Management gave an error.
Fix: The video converter detected the main movie for MP4 files, but did not pass it to handbrake, letting handbrake decide, meaning that the functions that should force a better detection was not used.
Fix: Another character in the auto-generated passwords were found that could give problems when restoring databases, creating new databases or similar.
Fix: Due to creations of firewall exceptions at an incorrect time, the install could fail on some devices.
Fix: Wrong message sent during database migration.

5.00 Pre Release 6:

IMPORTANT: If you have posted about problems prior to this Pre Release, and still have the problem, please reply to your post to notify about it.

Added: Warning about it taking time to install SQL Server.

Change: The data service API is now available on port 51415 as an alternative to 51414. The port 51415 is recommended for future usage on My Movies 5, as it also on desktop PC's runs under a service that is always available, no matter if a user is logged in or not.
Change: Popcorn Hour NMJ meta-data storage have temporary been removed, and will be replaced by an updated NMJ 2.0 implementation later.

Fix: Windows Media Center could not be started from mobile devices.
Fix: Auto generated master database password could contain characters that caused inability to log into the database.
Fix: Update statistics call on DB was not longer possible with new credentials situation.
Fix: Incorrect version of a DLL could cause problems with dashboards crashing.
Fix: Minor progress issue could cause a crash under optimize database task.
Fix: The right click menu for TV Episodes had a delete option when an episode was connected to a disc, which did not do anything.
Fix: The icon was not correct after setting a path on a TV Episode, and pressing save.
Fix: The "GetEpisodePlayOptionsForDune" returns that id is invalid, when it in fact was not.
Fix: The external connection to the server was broken on WHS 2011 and Essentials 2012.
Fix: Prior selected cleaning path was not remembered.
Fix: Apply button could be activated in settings panel, even though no changes was made.
Fix: Create new database option could fail if the database had a lot of content.
Fix: There was a firewall rule created each time the service was restarted.
Fix: The ability to use different cover profiles were broken in Windows Media Center.
Fix: The music disc copier could fail with a certain combination of paths and not having a mobile conversion configured.
Fix: There was an error message shown when applying music disc copier settings if the mobile path was set to a local path, and the path would not stick.
Fix: The sub settings for Media Center interface button and default list configurations did not populate correct.
Fix: External paths were in some situations not connected when storing meta-data.

5.00 Pre Release 5:

IMPORTANT: The database server credentials handling have been changed. Due to this, it is very, very important that you create a database backup before installing this Pre Release.

Added: Folder.jpg storage setting, which was not merged from MM4 correctly.
Added: Dialog to configure external server credentials.

Change: The credentials system for the internal database have been changed.
Change: Dune paths are now always synced to the online service.
Change: Dune paths are now stored with other external credentials. This means that you must re-configure your Dune paths.
Change: There was some upcoming work on WDTV added to the software, which it should not have been. It have therefore been removed again.
Change: Server configuration is now stored in database.

Fix: Enable monitoring did not enable Apply button
Fix: Monitoring could cast alert about not being started because no user is logged in, even when monitoring was not enabled.
Fix: Previews did not contain covers.
Fix: Due to a missing file, external meta-data storage handlers was not included on WHS
Fix: Some issues with robustness of filestorage functions.
Fix: External storage handlers were broken, affecting XBMC storage.
Fix: Various issues with meta-data storage, due to the new file handling.
Fix: AnyDVD was listed as not registered, although it was.
Fix: AnyDVD statuses was off on X86 machines.
Fix: Change title did not work when searching for barcode.
Fix: Clean Tool (in Knowledge Base) updated to support SQL Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2012 installations.
Fix: Progress bar did not display SQL Server download progress on uninstall of prior SQL Server.
Fix: Some problems with caching covers in Windows Media Center
Fix: A failed restore could leave system in migration state it did not get out of.
Fix: Point issue where user could get information that they did not have a number of points that they actually did.

5.00 Pre Release 4:

IMPORTANT: The complete file storage functionality have been changed in this release. Due to this, it is very, very important that you create a database backup before installing this Pre Release.

Added: Access to API through marking on service. To take care of existing customers using the API.

Change: The requirement to have same username/password on server and client machines is no longer a requirement.BR} Change: Windows Defender and Essentials Security set to exclude the full My Movies storage dir.

Fix: In case of incorrect values in registry, AnyDVD could show as version 0.
Fix: The SQL Server now have the TCP/IP protocol enabled, and correct "Private" network firewall exceptions are added.
Fix: The dashboard link for the Collection Management program did not work.
Fix: Remove Element API command did not work.
Fix: Removed re-occurring logging that could quickly fill up the log.
Fix: Nimbie processing could not start.
Fix: Lack of localization on cover context menu.
Fix: The TV Series lookup dialog was not working.

5.00 Pre Release 3:

Change: The data API now returns correct product name, which causes connection problems for mobile apps. We are going to update the apps.
Change: The creator product name of the video converter created files changed to My Movies for Windows.
Change: The read-only database access have been deprecated. The API is available as an alternative for professionals.
Change: The My Movies log file is now added to the excluded paths of Windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials for performance reasons.

Fix: MP4 profiles could fail due to a wrong logging.
Fix: Incorrect point handling could lead to point requirement messages.
Fix: Viewing history on a non-webservice connected titles gave an extra message that the webservice did not respond.
Fix: Opening the edit language dialog multiple times could lead to out of memory issues.
Fix: Titles copied to a local path could not be added to the video converter.
Fix: Some video converter jobs could show as failed although they are running.
Fix: Removed Collection Management icon from dashboard in Windows 7/8 installs, as it is in the start menu.
Fix: Conversions could fail on X86 machines.
Fix: Transcoder job paths was not set correct for local folders.
Fix: Drive configuration button in the settings area did not open.
Fix: The license file for professionals could not be placed in installdir.
Fix: Some video files could not be selected as local trailer file if the file type was not registered in Windows correct.
Fix: There was on X64 machines a problem when storing meta-data for some devices due to an incorrect loading of SQLite.

Deprecated: Storage of Xtreamer meta-data.

5.00 Pre Release 2:

Fix: Selecting an UNC path on a local server could lead to a copy failure.
Fix: The apply button did not get activated in the settings dialog on the change on some controls.
Fix: Default paths for movie and music disc copier is now the UNC shared path of the public videos and music folders, if they are shared.
Fix: Optimize database could turn an error about invalid paths that was not actually invalid.
Fix: The service now notifies with an error in case of inaccessible database.

5.00 Pre Release 1:

Initial Release