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Newb Question - Starting a Project (I think)


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I have a VB script that I wrote that sorta mimics Mark Treborg's Auto Rip'N'Compress functions, with some features that I wanted in. I would like to make this into a plugin for MB3.

 

Read Disc from Front End Machine

Use MB3 to scrap for the info

Use MB3's Media Library to put the movie into the right folder (network/local)

 

Makes calls out to MakeMKV

 

Right now my VB has support for 3 profiles I can pick from : Lossless / HQ (which has some compression) / 3D (MCV Support)

It makes a read to my //server/media/video and will display the subfolders so I can pick the one I want. Then it uses GD3 to get the metadata, and will make a folder to store the movie

 

So If I ripped Avengers it would make a folder //server/media/video/Avengers (2012)/   Then puts the movie in that folder.

 

My Goal is to make this into a plugin that can be used from the MB3 interface.

 

 

I assume I need to convert this to .NET4  Right now I manually just execute the vbs

 

Thanks

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Latchmor

Hi, I used to use Auto Rip N Compress too and really liked it. I wanted some features in (can't remember what now!) and got in touch with Mark but he wasn't to keen on working on it which is fair enough.

 

I like your idea! I always used ARnC with DVDFab and always made VOB rips so I don't know if your possible plugin could be expanded to allow other options?

 

Cheers

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What machine do you intend to be the target? Many run the server app on systems that are tucked away. Do you intend for this to be a server plugin? Or, instead use something like MBT, pop the disc in, copy it to the server, then watch the movie, all from the couch. So the first thing I would do is decide on that.

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Hi, I used to use Auto Rip N Compress too and really liked it. I wanted some features in (can't remember what now!) and got in touch with Mark but he wasn't to keen on working on it which is fair enough.

 

I like your idea! I always used ARnC with DVDFab and always made VOB rips so I don't know if your possible plugin could be expanded to allow other options?

 

Cheers

 

DVDFab I know accepts command line parameters, so I could add that support as well... I need to get more experience with VB.NET verse vbs, but I will keep that in mind as I am working on this.

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What machine do you intend to be the target? Many run the server app on systems that are tucked away. Do you intend for this to be a server plugin? Or, instead use something like MBT, pop the disc in, copy it to the server, then watch the movie, all from the couch. So the first thing I would do is decide on that.

 

I would like to do it all from the front end, then move it to the back-end automatically.

 

Right now, I use MCE with MB3 Classic (We use MCE for TV). The way it works now is that it rips it from the front-end machine and places on the media server which is in my basement.

 

This way you can rip it from your couch; and don't have to go to the back-end server.

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As long as you rip/move the video into a properly named folder, you don't need to do any metadata fetching.  MBS will already do all of that.

 

So, you just need the ability to call the ripping program with proper parameters and determine what the proper folder name should be.

Though I was using the meta-data to create the folder structure; ie

 

//server/movies/<movie name>/<movie name>.mkv

 

 

Does VBS translate to vb.net well?  I just installed the .NET stuff... also, are there any examples/info on making a frontend tile?  Or option from the fronted?

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As long as you rip/move the video into a properly named folder, you don't need to do any metadata fetching.  MBS will already do all of that.

 

So, you just need the ability to call the ripping program with proper parameters and determine what the proper folder name should be.

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Sorry, I have virtually no experience with VB or VBS.  @@chef or @@Cheesegeezer might be able to weigh in.

 

What do you mean by front-end tile?  An app in MBT?

 

Yes, an app in MBT; I have not seen any as of yet (though to be honest, I use MBC mostly)

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Though I was using the meta-data to create the folder structure; ie

 

//server/movies/<movie name>/<movie name>.mkv

 

 

Does VBS translate to vb.net well?  I just installed the .NET stuff... also, are there any examples/info on making a frontend tile?  Or option from the fronted?

 

 

Hello,

 

Although there are similarities between the two scripting languages, they are most definitely two on a kind.

 

I come from both VBS and Vb.Net background and  I can be a great resource to you, and help to answer questions regarding your formulas (I wish some one had offered that kind of support to me...lol).

 

I think over all you'll find using the .Net infrastructure very easy to get into.

 

After all Visual Studio pretty much writes the code for you (that is once you have figured out the formulas you need to create objects and destroy them!)

 

Perhaps a good start to understanding VB.Net, and how it differs from the scripting language, is to spend some time reading MSDN (Make sure the "VB" tab is highlighted.)

 

Most important thing to know about VB.Net (that is different from the Scripting language), is that you'll have to Declare everything in Vb.Net.

 

 The scripting language will probably seem quite lenient in comparison, but with Visual Studio you will be able to keep a better handle on this (unlike writing scripts in notepad and trying to run it to see what the errors are, Visual Studio will tell you before you try to debug).

 

You'll even be able to utilize WMI Services and what not like Scripting.

 

 

Here is an example: (this is off the top of my head so forgive me if this wouldn't compile)

 

Instead of using this: (VBS)

 

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

objStartFolder = "C:\dev"

 

Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(objStartFolder)

 

Set colFiles = objFolder.Files

 

For Each File in colFiles

Msgbox(File.Name)

Next

 

You would use this

 

Imports System.IO

For each File As String In Directory.GetFiles("C:\dev")

Msgbox(File.Name)

Next

 

As you can see things are very similar, Except that many of the objects you have to declare in VBS are already created for you in .Net.

 

Hope to hear from you soon.

 

One last thing: as far as creating Plug-ins of any kind, you are on the right track choosing .Net. I have tried to use Scripting myself to interface with MB. Although this is possible, you will have much better, and faster results on your new route to programming (using VB.Net).

Edited by chef
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Hello,

 

Although there are similarities between the two scripting languages, they are most definitely two on a kind.

 

I come from both VBS and Vb.Net background and  I can be a great resource to you, and help to answer questions regarding your formulas (I wish some one had offered that kind of support to me...lol).

 

I think over all you'll find using the .Net infrastructure very easy to get into.

 

After all Visual Studio pretty much writes the code for you (that is once you have figured out the formulas you need to create objects and destroy them!)

 

Perhaps a good start to understanding VB.Net, and how it differs from the scripting language, is to spend some time reading MSDN (Make sure the "VB" tab is highlighted.)

 

Most important thing to know about VB.Net (that is different from the Scripting language), is that you'll have to Declare everything in Vb.Net.

 

 The scripting language will probably seem quite lenient in comparison, but with Visual Studio you will be able to keep a better handle on this (unlike writing scripts in notepad and trying to run it to see what the errors are, Visual Studio will tell you before you try to debug).

 

 

I spent alot of time last night on MSDN and got myself a .net book today from the bookstore. While I agree with you 100% that VBS / .NET are similar, they are quite different. Seems adapting my little script to an all out plugin is defiantly going to take more work then I was expecting, though should be fun. (I'm disturbed like that, heh) I do a lot of webdev, and write a lot of Active Directory scripts for work, so its not that like I am jumping into this blindly. After I start poking more deeply into this, you might find I take you up on your offer for some help, Chef. (BTW: I love what you are doing with the Kinect... I just ordered a new PC to be my front-end, since my current one bogs down when I install it.... (Its an older box that I was going to retire sometime this year).

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Well, after several glasses.... okay, bottles of Scotch, I have a simple app that rips DVDs/Blurays from MakeMKV and DVDfab using a manually created config file. Now I need to figure out a configuration tool that will read/write the configuration file.   Before I keep on this, If I write this fully in .NET, is it easy to slide it into a plugin?

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I guess I should been more specific, I will ultimately support both, until MB3 can support full HDTV with cable cards. ;)  (hint hint wink wink).   Though I will be starting with MBC, as that's what I use primarily myself.

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then what i would do is write your code in .net 3.5, and isolate the code that works with the file system. Then all you'll need to do is create client plugins for the two apps that use the code and display feedback.

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then what i would do is write your code in .net 3.5, and isolate the code that works with the file system. Then all you'll need to do is create client plugins for the two apps that use the code and display feedback.

Thanks Luke!

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Well I would think you'd want to do an MBC or MBT plugin so that you can provide on-screen feedback. So first I would decide which app, and then once you know that then start building a plugin.

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  • 1 month later...
Latchmor

Hi @@robsch I've been experimenting with vbscript for a few things (nothing to do with Media Browser) and I remembered this thread. I was just wondering if you'd share your ARnC version with me?  No problem if not though  ;)

 

Cheers

Latchmor

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Robsch,

 

I for one would be seriously interested in this. I've been using arc for about 3 or. 4 years but the latest versions of dvdfab have broken it. All I want is a simple interface to rip main movies in dvdfab at 1:1 into BR folders without having to leave MCE (and like you hopefully MBT instead once livetv support hits it).

 

That said I'm useless at coding so I'll be 0 help sorry but happy to test once you get it up and running.

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robsch

Its still currently being worked on. At this point, I have a working configuration tool, that will be used to store all the variables, etc. I am still having some issues to get it to recognize the DVD/BD/Etc that is in the drive. Once I have that licked and working, I should have it pretty close to being buttoned up.

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Latchmor

Oh sorry I didn't realise you were currently taking the 'script' a bit further. No problem and no hurry.  ;)

 

Quick question: have you used the DVDFab 9 command line switch of /VOLUME to let you name the output folder?  This used to work fine in version 8 but it won't play ball in version 9 and it just names the folder whatever DVDFab reads off the disc. I asked at the DVDFab forums and after 88 views no reply yet!

Cheers

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  • 8 months later...

Not to necro my own thread, its not a dead project... but I have gotten it to work as a baseline standalone app. I have not found any decent way to query TMDB/IMDB to pull down the information that it reads from the disc, so it can be properly named.

 

I have it the point where I put the disc in, and when I hit rip, it will run MakeMKV and will pass variables that you fill-out in the config (Subtitles/lang/sound). I am looking it other programs that support command line passing (DVDFAB, handbrake). Once it makes the move, it moves it to the base of the movie folder. (I will be working in the bits where it will read "folders" that you setup, and when you check that folder, it will hopefully put it there. ;)

 

Sorry this has taken much longer then I expected. Work has been kicking my butt, and with the holiday my eCommerce clients are going nuts.

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Latchmor

Hi, no worries. I bit the bullet a while ago now and started converting. I have several scripts now using MakeMKV and FFMpeg and they work very well with some manual input. Probably 70% done now but I wouldn't be near that much if I didn't have the script convert a season folder of 24 eps at once in a batch!

;)

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