Scraping support or API connections

[Challion84]

I'm impressed by this piece of software. Lots of potential in it. But I feel like, that without proper scraping functionalities or connections to API's like https://metadataapi.net/, this can't compete with Stash or similar solutions. So I hope this is something that'll be added in the future. Personally I probably wouldn't use it without much more automatism. Otherwise it's too much manual work^^

Ideally it would be cool to have some kind of scrape-script builder for scenes and performers. Or the possibility to add custom scripts to work within the software to scrape data from external sites or API's.

[fupdec]

There is already a scraper for performers. This is a huge task as long as there are others in line. Perhaps this will be added in the future.

[fupdec]

How do you imagine searching for videos in this database from the point of view of the user and the developer?

here is my vision. the title of the video is automatically taken. then it searches for an exact match. if nothing is found, then a search is performed by individual words from the name. and here I see several problems. very rarely will there be a complete match in name. also it is difficult to identify a video by individual words.

if you present the user with a graphical interface with video search, it is similar to searching on the Internet. and finding each video is the same routine as filling in the information manually.

[Challion84]

I know that this is a difficult topic and that it is a lot of work to implement something like this in a reasonable way. I don't have an exact idea of how this can be implemented in your software, but I know that for this kind of software automation is extremely important.

Nobody wants to manually search and enter metadata for 5000+ videos. Of course, not everything can be automated satisfactorily, like tags, but a certain foundation of data that you don't have to worry about much, like release dates, actors, covers, descriptions, studio, etc., is very valuable.

The Stash app can perhaps be taken as a good example here. There they work with factors like hash values (pHash), video lengths, etc. to identify videos. However, they have also created their own large database for this with the Stash DB, where users also help to validate data.

In addition, there are community-written scrapers for individual web pages or even sites like metadataapi.net, which can then of course only work with the titles or embedded metadata. But this also works quite well in many cases. And if you can only scrape 70% of all videos with it, you already won a lot. Some scrapers only work with a specific video URL. But even that is a big time saver.

There just needs to be a simple way to use them in the software. For example, there should be a mode in which the current view of videos can be scraped and then the corresponding results for each video can be selected. This must then be designed in such a way that one can immediately recognize whether a result is correct or not.

To your last sentence: It is a very big difference whether you select something from a list of search results and the rest happens automatically or whether you have to gather this information first and then enter it one after the other. Processing a video fully automatically is of course only possible if the file can be fully identified programmatically, which is almost never the case. Unless, for example, you have a unique hash value to compare.

I can only recommend having a look at how Stash handles this issue. You could certainly use some of their ideas and possibly even improve on them in terms of convenience.

Anyway, keep up the good work. To be honest, I would probably pay quite a bit more for this software than the 25 bucks for the lifetime license, if this would be on the same level or above of what Stash is doing in terms of automation and convenience. But until then I stick with Stash I think ;) Even though it surely has its downsides, for example every x265 video must be converted to x264, because it's running completely in the browser. This takes up a lot of additional space. And a few other things you already do better..

[fupdec]

Thanks for your honest opinion.

I would like to step back from the topic a little and talk about my thoughts throughout the development of the application. I have been developing applications for a long time without knowing what Stash is. When I tried it, I realized that it was superior in functionality to my application, but it looks very outdated. By the way, updating the look is a task for several days. But it is also unfriendly to non-programmers.

So when I tried it, I began to think how else I can make my application more unique, so that it is not a copy, but an alternative. And I added a new metadata system. This made the app suitable for any type of video. The next step is to add all types of files to the application (pictures, text, etc.).

Returning to the topic, I think that I can add support for metadataapi, I have already contacted the developer of this database. But it won't be soon, as the application is still developing in a different direction.

[fupdec]

Just a small recommendation to improve the experience of using my application: add metadata (tags, actors, studios) before adding videos. When added, the file name is parsed to match the metadata already available in the database. For me, this fills in half of the required metadata for the video.

[Challion84]

Yes, you are right. Stash looks terrible at times and is not necessarily intuitive to use. It's clear that it's aimed more at technically skilled users. However, Stash is still in constant development and a lot has been done to make it easier to use for the normal user. Nevertheless, this is one of the reasons why I always keep my eyes open for good alternatives.

And even though I respect your decision regarding the direction, my experience tells me that it's never good to try to make all sides happy. Then you end up being able to do everything a little bit, but you don't make either side really happy. You obviously started the program as an organizer for adult videos. And in my opinion, you should stay more in that direction and try to make the program the best it can be.

It wouldn't be a copy of Stash if you focus on ease of use, good design and a clear UI and offer a similar set of features. Then it would be a viable alternative to Stash. Especially because it doesn't run in the browser and therefore offers some advantages by default.

Of course, I don't know what your ideas are in detail, but I mean, for normal movies and series etc. there are already perfect solutions like Plex, Kodi, Emby etc. Would be difficult to achieve something in this area.

But that's just my opinion. It may also be that I'm completely wrong^^