DVDAF

Work on DVDAF Continues

2011-10-25T19:29:00.001-04:00

Just a quick interruption on the HTPC thread to say that work on DVDAF continues. I'll try to add the Color Correction section on the HTPC sometime over the next few days.

HTPC Build Log - Part 13 - Software Install

2011-10-23T15:58:00.031-04:00

Windows 7

We will use Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. That is pretty much the thing to get for HTPC's nowadays. No reason for 32-bit on a new build.

You can get the Full Version for system builders.

Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit (Full) System Builder

Or if you have 3 old licenses for XP or Vista you can upgrade them by getting the Family Pack Upgrade and save some money. It is a good deal and bringing some of your other computers current will make networking them much easier -- I did that.

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3-User)

This is an in-place upgrade. However, if you want a clean install you may want to check you the "double install" method. Check it out here or google for it. Follow the instructions to the letter.

Whichever you choose make sure all the windows updates get applied. This is the most painful part of building a new system. It will take many hours. Check in periodically to press a button as needed.

Antivirus

Microsoft offers free Antivirus with Microsoft Security Essentials.

Follow the link above after the you have applied all the "Windows Update" patches.

A word on Backup

Windows 7 Home Edition does not come with support for backups over a network. That is silly because backing up "machine A on machine B" is pretty much the easiest way to get a reliable backup going.

There is a work around though. Create a VHD ("Virtual Hard Disk") on the remote machine and map it as a drive.

Here are the instructions or google for "windows 7 network backup workaround."

The drive I created was for 30GB and it was plenty. Make sure to create a system image and back up the entire C drive. Make sure your back up is current before installing any new software -- if later you want to revert that will be the cleanest way.

Gigabit Network

With network backups and possibly media files on different computers, it may be a good idea to take this opportunity to upgrade to a gigabit network. It will make moving stuff around computers much faster. Wireless networks are still for less intense usage. I would only use them for handheld devices like tablets and phones. For a computer that will stay in place you want a wired (cat-5e) connection.

I use the following switches and I'm pretty happy with them. There is no configuration. It is plug and play.

	NETGEAR GS105 ProSafe 5-Port Gigabit Switch
	NETGEAR GS108 ProSafe 8-Port Gigabit Switch

Playing Blu-rays

You will need some software to play Blu-rays. Windows 7 does not play them out of the box because licensing fees would increase the cost of Windows for everyone, including the folks that do not play BD's on their computers.

CyberLink PowerDVD version 9 came with our BD Burner. It is working fine for playbacks -- I have not burned anything yet. The maintenance upgrade was free. They had a promotion to upgrade to version 11, but I did not take it -- at least not yet.

Whatever drive you get make sure it comes with something you can use to play BD's. If not, a standalone application can set you back close to $100.

Color Calibration is next. It came out awesome :-)

HTPC Build Log - Part 12 - Wrapping Up the Hardware Part of the Build

2011-10-21T23:02:00.002-04:00

Oops, blogs show things in reverse. Start here.

All done with the hardware part of the build.

Has nice feet for a computer.

The vent on top the top of the case is for the CPU cooler.

A view from the back with all the connections. We have four USB2 (red), two USB3 (blue), Gigabit (the other red), DVI (white), HDMI (the socket to the right of the DVI), and an optical out (gray).

HTPC Build Log - Part 11 - Putting it all Together

2011-10-21T21:26:00.001-04:00

Oops, blogs show things in reverse. Start here.

Placing the CPU on the board.

And adding the cooler and the memory.

It is a pretty nice cooler. And we still have plenty of room left.

Putting it in the case.

Adding the rest of the components. Cables get tucked under the BD and the SSD drives. That improves case cooling. Note that this build has only 2 fans: the CPU and the PSU. Both are reasonably quiet. Using an SSD instead of a mechanical HDD also keeps the noise down.

Putting the bar back in place... Voila! As easy as pie :)

HTPC Build Log - Part 10 - Unboxing BD Burner and Remote

2011-10-21T21:19:00.002-04:00

Oops, blogs show things in reverse. Start here.

Lite-On 12X Blu-ray Burner with Blu-ray 3D
Rosewill Windows 7 Certified Media Center Infrared Remote Control RRC-127

This is the OEM "packing"... well, as long as it works.

The 50GB BD media was a NewEgg special for $5 :)

What's in the bag? Another SATA cable and a software disk.

The Remote

Plug and play with Windows 7. Works with Windows Media Player and Hulu Desktop. The button configuration takes a while to get used to.

The gizmo on the left gets hooked up to an external USB port in the back of the unit and you put the "eye" where you want it towards the front.

Lite-On 12X Blu-ray Burner with Blu-ray 3D
Rosewill Windows 7 Certified Media Center Infrared Remote Control RRC-127

HTPC Build Log - Part 9 - Unboxing PSU

2011-10-21T20:53:00.014-04:00

Oops, blogs show things in reverse. Start here.

Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Power Supply

Ah, a green CPU.

I’m starting to pay attention to power consumption on my builds. To figure the power consumed you need to measure it after the thing is built. Like, this is a 380W PSU which means it is designed to provide at most that much power. It does not mean it consumes that much under normal operation. As mentioned earlier our HTPC will consume 32W while streaming -- I still have to measure how much it consumes when playing Blu-rays.

As a reference, at current rates, if I leave a 100W light bulb on (equivalent to an old desktop computer) 24 hours a day will add $14 a month ($170 a year) to my electric. In our case the numbers are not so dramatic because we consume much less and it will not be on all the time.

If we run this HTPC for 4 hours a day it will still cost us less than $1 a month.

Our case is not very deep. There is no room for a modular PSU or the BD burner may not fit. This one works very well.

Green packing -- i.e. egg crate -- oh well.

It is green in color as well. The screws are black matching the case.

Here you can figure the space gained by not going modular. It is a lot of cabling. I'll be cutting some of it off.

Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Power Supply

HTPC Build Log - Part 8 - Unboxing the Memory and SSD

2011-10-21T00:42:00.018-04:00

Oops, blogs show things in reverse. Start here.

G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 Memory
Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" MLC Internal SSD

4GB of memory is cheap and more than enough for most things we do on a PC.

The SSD is a bit of a luxury option, but it is dead silent and will make booting fast. If you have an extra HDD I suppose you could use that and save $100. Otherwise if you are buying a new drive and you do not plan to store media in the HTPC an SSD makes a lot of sense.

64GB is plenty as long as we do store media locally. Windows 7 will take 20GB. But you do need some room for updates and general workspace. 40GB is probably as low as I would go in this type of setup.

A good place to put movies and pictures is in an energy efficient media server where it can be accessed from any computer in the house. Make sure you have a gigabit network. More on that later.

Unboxed!

It does not show, but the G. Skills sticks are a very pretty shiny/chrome red. We could have used the cooler looking Rip Jaws for a couple of dollars more, but when you are building these things you never know exactly how it will all fit together. So we went with the lower profile sticks. No matter, these are great.

G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 Memory
Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" MLC Internal SSD

HTPC Build Log - Part 7 - Unboxing the CPU and Cooler

2011-10-21T00:41:00.010-04:00

Oops, blogs show things in reverse. Start here.

Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz LGA 1155 Dual-Core CPU
Scythe SCSK-1100 CPU Cooler

The i3-2100 is plenty. Google "Sandy Bridge" for more info.

An aftermarket cooler is not strictly necessary, but they are pretty, will keep your chip cooler, and make less noise.

Here the Intel cooler which comes with the CPU on the left and the aftermarket on the right. The CPU is in the center. This is a 65W CPU. It does not mean it uses that much power, it just means it is designed to dissipate at most that much heat. In fact our whole HTPC only consumes 32W while streaming. That is the same as half a light bulb.

Both coolers are low profile. The Scythe, at 64mm, is absolutely as tall as you can go for a build with this case.

Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz LGA 1155 Dual-Core CPU
Scythe SCSK-1100 CPU Cooler

HTPC Build Log - Part 6 - Unboxing the Z68 Motherboard

2011-10-21T00:12:00.010-04:00

Oops, blogs show things in reverse. Start here.

Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Micro ATX Motherboard

The board. This is supposed to be a pretty nice board. We are not using a video card so between the Sandy Bridge CPU and this Z68 board is where it all happens. If you want to save some cash I would compromise on other items.

If you are used to an ATX-sized board this one will seem pretty small.

The unveiling... Pretty!

The connections and the backplate. It includes four USB2 (red), two USB3 (blue), Gigabit (the other red), DVI (white), HDMI (the socket to the right of the DVI), and an optical out (gray).

Four internal USB2 headers (3 blue and a red+white which can be configure to be on when the HTPC is off, so you can charge you iPhone or whatever), an audio connection for the front panel (green), four SATA 3Gb/s (blue) and two SATA 6Gb/s (white). We only need one USB header and the two 6Gb/s SATA. Will not use the PCI slots. Everything we need is on the board itself.

Comes with a couple of SATA cables… 2 is all we will need.

Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Micro ATX Motherboard

HTPC Build Log - Part 5 - Unboxing the Silverstone ML03B HTPC Case

2011-10-20T23:53:00.018-04:00

Oops, blogs show things in reverse. Start here.

Silverstone ML03B Micro ATX HTPC Case

Silvetone makes very nice cases. This is a basic model.

It is slim, like a traditional component.

In the front you will find space for a BD or DVD drive, two USB3 ports, a headphone jack, etc. Well... our mobo only has headers for USB2, so in this build the USB3's will be in the back and in the front we will get USB2's.

The bottom has a section with mesh in case you are using a PSU with a 120mm fan. We will be using a smaller PSU with a 80mm. No reason for larger in this built.

The purpose of the rest of the openings will become clear as we build it.

This case is very thin and will bend if you grab it with only one hand while you are building it. That is why you have that bar in the middle of the case front to back – it gives it some rigidity and keep us from messing it up before we even start. Once the whole thing is assembled it is solid.

The "accessories". We used the USB3-to-USB2 adapter (cable on the top-left) and some of the screws. The yellow rubber washers can be helpful to reduce noise if you are using a mechanical hard drive.

Silverstone ML03B Micro ATX HTPC Case

HTPC Build Log - Part 4 - Nice Add-Ons

2011-10-20T23:28:00.012-04:00

Oops, blogs show things in reverse. Start here.

And now that we saved some money, we can spend it :)

Logitech Wireless Illuminated Keyboard K800
$79.99

This is an amazing keyboard. Nice tactile feedback, very stylish. I have the wired version on my desktop. May be I'll get this wireless version for the HTPC.

Rosewill Windows 7 Certified Media Center Infrared Remote Control RRC-127
$24.99

Native Windows 7 support. It works well for Windows Media Center and the Roku Desktop. You still need a mouse for Amazon Prime, DVDAF, and regular browsing. Not strictly needed.

HTPC Build Log - Part 3 - Lowering the Cost

2011-10-20T22:52:00.011-04:00

Oops, blogs show things in reverse. Start here.

Here a few more options to lower the cost.

Replace:		Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core $124.99
With:		Intel Pentium G620 2.6GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core $72.99

Savings: $52

Probably no more 3D, should still do 1080p, I think.

Replace:		Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Micro ATX $114.99
With:		Gigabyte GA-Z68M-D2H Micro ATX $94.99

Savings: $20

Very close specs, but the GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 had USB 3.0 and more importantly, many more reviews. Search for Z68 with HTMI on Micro ATX. I like Gigabyte and ASUS.

HTPC Build Log - Part 2 - Lowering the Cost

2011-10-20T21:47:00.018-04:00

Oops, blogs show things in reverse. Start here.

Here a few options to lower the cost by replacing a few components.

Replace:		Scythe SCSK-1100 CPU Cooler $34.99
With:		Standard Intel Cooler that already comes with the CPU $0.00

Savings: $35

Slight increase in the noise level.

Replace:		Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" MLC SSD $109.99
With:		Samsung EcoGreen F4 2TB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s $109.99

Savings: $0

Slight increase in the noise level.
Increase in the time the HTPC takes to boot and/or resume.
Extra 2TB of storage could mean you do not need a separate home server -- for a while anyway :)

or...

Replace:		Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" MLC SSD $109.99
With:		Intel 320 Series SSD $89.99

Savings: $20

Decrease in available storage. Still enough if all you load is Windows 7 and a few applications.

Replace:		Lite-On 12X Blu-ray Burner with Blu-ray 3D $99.99
With:		Samsung Blu-ray Reader / DVD Burner SH-B123L $54.99

Savings: $45

You can burn DVDs, but not Blu-rays... though you can still play both.

or...

Replace:		Lite-On 12X Blu-ray Burner with Blu-ray 3D $99.99
With:		Nothing $0.00

Savings: $100

You will need a standalone player or a PS3 to play DVDs and Blu-Rays.

HTPC Build Log - Part 1 - Intro and Parts List

2011-10-19T23:36:00.032-04:00

Hi everyone, after quite a while we are picking up the blog again by sharing our experience in building a Home Theater PC. We will start with the hardware. If you find it useful tweet/link to it. If we get enough views we will add more stuff.

The HTPC we are building will be whisper quiet, fairly powerful, and energy efficient.

It will be able to play and burn Blu-rays, access a media server in your home network (more on that later), stream content from Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc.

It will have more than enough juice for 3D and 1080p movies, but it will not be a gaming system.

A word about streaming. Even at high definition it is not as good as Blu-ray. The number of titles available is a bit limited, particularly in high definition. Still, we like it better than cable/TV for the options it provides.

Keep in mind that as of this writing you can get 12 months no interest at Newegg.com with a preferred account!

The full blow system:

	Silverstone ML03B Micro ATX HTPC Case $59.99
	Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Power Supply $39.99
	Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Micro ATX Motherboard $114.99
	Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz LGA 1155 Dual-Core CPU $124.99
	Scythe SCSK-1100 CPU Cooler $34.99
	G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 Memory $32.99
	Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" MLC Internal SSD $109.99
	Lite-On 12X Blu-ray Burner with Blu-ray 3D $99.99
	Logitech Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo MK260 $28.99

Read on for the unboxing and photos of the build.

Here is a preview:

Priorities: iPhone App and Current Work

2009-04-07T11:23:00.010-04:00

I mentioned earlier that by now we would have an iPhone App. That has not happened and I feel I owe you an explanation.

Two new factors came into play:

The current DVDAF setup can no longer handle the number of users it has.
Our revenue (donations and commissions from Amazon) went down and our costs are going up.

Both of these are "life-support" type issues and need to be addressed quickly. That is the reason why the iPhone App kind of took a backseat.

Here is what we are working on:

Increasing Capacity for DVDAF

More, bigger, better machines. We are moving from 3 older servers to 5 newer ones. The new machines are bigger and more powerful.

Until now the DVDAF database was in a single machine. In this new setup the data is distributed over 3 machines. The challenge we will be facing over the next few weeks is that in each machine the information gets written at different time. Therefore we will need to add smarts into the website so that it knows where to get what when.

It is also possible that what was fast in 1 machine becomes slow when you use 3 machines. It is not intuitive and the explanations are complicated, but it happens. What matters is that it is possible that things get a bit rocky until we iron out all the kinks.

Obviously 5 bigger machines cost more than 3 smaller machines and that leads us to the second issue.

Addressing Revenue Shortfall

The approach has 3 fronts:

Increase the number of members. With more members we hope that donations and more Amazon sales will rise accordingly. To that end we want to make DVDAF more accessible, changing landing pages, providing simplified ways to sign up and enter a collection, a sexier skin, etc. We want someone who has never seen on the site to be able to sign up and have 100 titles up in less than 5 minutes.
Add Advertisement. We resisted adding ads to the site for almost 10 years, but we can use the extra boost now. We will experiment a bit. Currently we are thinking 1 vertical ad on the right side of the page.
Get film-talk.com to stand on its own. We do not have formal data on this, but it is my opinion that in the past film-talk has relied either on DVDAF or on me to pay its bills. To this end we have added advertising and are now tracking film-talk commissions from DVDs and other Amazon sales separately from DVDAF. We also have been using a few tools related to traffic and advertising to learn a few things which will help us with DVDAF.

As you can see we have a large amount of urgent work. That is why the iPhone app is a bit late.

Thank you for your understanding and support,

-Ed

In a Couple of Days DVDAF Will Disappear

2009-04-06T17:58:00.002-04:00

And pop back up a few hours later :)

How long that will take depends on where on the Internet you are, but it is usually about 5-7 hours -- for some people it can take over a day. It is happening as we move to the new machines and the new addresses get propagated all over the net.

When it comes back up DVDAF will be able to respond to more people more quickly because its new machine is faster and has more memory.

In the weeks that follow we will spread DVDAF over a larger set of machines so that 200 people can be helped by machine #1, 200 by machine #2 and another 300 by machine #3 and so on.

With all this work and horsepower DVDAF should be good for another couple of years :)

We kindly remind you that DVDAF needs your help!

If your situation permits please Make a Donation

&

Please use our links when shopping online

Your help is the only thing making DVDAF possible

We thank you for your support!

-The DVDAF Team

New dvdaf servers, An end to outages (we hope)

2009-03-31T18:20:00.007-04:00

We just signed the contract for the new dvdaf servers.

This should end the outages dvdaf is having... collections not being displayed, etc. We are having these problems because more people are hitting dvdaf than the current servers can handle.

DVDAF itself will take 4 machines. 3 of them are quad-cores with plenty of memory, a 4th machine is the picture server and is a bit smaller.

Film-talk will also migrate to a new server, our 5th machine. We worked out the deal so that this new machine will be better and cheaper than the one film-talk.com currently runs on.

We will roll off the current machines over the next 10 days. You may expect film-talk.com and dvdaf.com to be down a few times for a few hours as we migrate.

Thanks!

More Search Features

2009-03-01T17:10:00.018-05:00

Over the past week we have rolled out about 20 bug-fixes and small improvements.

The new stuff includes:

Ability to search within your own collection

The "exclude mine" option now flips to "include mine" when you click on it (make sure the flipping option is on in your Search Preferences).

Pinning is back

You may pin Region, Media and the Include/Exclude titles from your collection options. These are sticky settings and remain in effect for all your searches until you unpin them. They follow you across computers and browsers as long as you are logged in.

Media added to search preferences

Just like "Region" you can set your preferences for "Media Type" (DVD, Blu-ray, etc.). These are more flexible than pinning because you can easily override them temporarily. They will come back when you are finished with your search sequence, or press the clear button.

Sticky criteria while looking at someone else's collection

This is a great feature because it allows you to look at someone else's collection and easily apply your pinned criteria over it. For example you can pin "exc mine" and then go to http://dvdaf-criterion.dvdaf.com/owned/criterion to see what are the Criterion titles you are missing.

Easy identification of current versus OOP titles

This icon denotes items for which we do not have prices. It makes it easy to figure out which are real titles that you can get versus the ones that are OOP, bonus disks or only part of a box set.

So... where do I find this stuff?

Check the "Options" link next to "Go" and "Clear" in the search bar where you can access your search preference settings.

...next

Working ont the new homepage and iPhone app as described in

The Road Ahead. All else kinda on hold.

Thanks!

Blocked IP addresses

2009-03-01T09:52:00.002-05:00

We have been blocking what we perceive to be ill behaved web crawlers. These are automated robots collecting information for search engines and such. Some of them put an undue load on the servers for the benefit they provide. This degrades the experience for real people.

If you find yourself permanently unable to access dvdaf your IP address may have been inadvertently blocked because you were "too close" to a robot.

Contact us at FT or Twitter and we will help you with your situation.

Thanks!

The Road Ahead

2009-02-24T18:40:00.006-05:00

We would share some of our thoughts on dvdaf’s immediate future.

A more compelling destination

We would like for the home page http://www.dvdaf.com to be a more compelling destination. We are thinking upcoming titles, recent releases, leader boards (of some sort), select deals, etc. I’m hoping to get a first cut over the next week or two.

iPhone!

An iPhone app of sorts is on the horizon. I expect an initial version to be out by the end of March.

FilmAf

The 800lbs gorilla. The concept needs to get a bit more mature. It is a huge amount of work for everyone at dvdaf and we will need everyone’s help updating the database. However, this is needed to support the next wave of functionality including naming members of the cast, having multiple genres, a better ratting and recommendation system, etc.

Comments, thoughts, concerns?

Thanks!

DVDAF's New iSearch

2009-02-24T15:11:00.007-05:00

A new, fresher, faster, easier to use, interactive search for dvdaf.

Interactive

Start typing a word, wait half a second and the auto-complete will kick in offering you a series of suggestions taking into account your media and region settings. Place your mouse over a suggestion for a picture preview of the matches. Make your choice by clicking either on the image or the auto-completed suggestion.

Simpler

Pick your preferred region using the "Options" button. This and the media type are the only choices most people will ever need. Especially if you consider that DVDAF's iSearch is smart enough to recognize directors, studios, UPCs, Amazon ASINs, and imdb ids.

Flexible

The older, more arcane, choices can still be accessed with the "Options" button assisting you to put together complex search criteria.

Pinning

It is tucked away under "Options". We need to re-write that piece, which will take place in due time. However, with the new preferred region setting most people will no longer need to use this complicated feature.

As usual see the change log for additional features and bug fixes.

Thanks!

Getting Rid of the Pinning Functionality

2009-02-16T01:26:00.004-05:00

The simpler approach being considered is to remember what you selected last and restore it when a new screen is up or when you press the reset button (currently named clear).

This would be available for region and media.

The current pining and double pinning functionality is confusing and probably very few people make use of its more advanced capabilities like applying pinned criteria to link navigation from director, studio or genre links. Most people use the pinning and double pinning as a way to keep results to their country or region. Perhaps that can be achieved in a more straight forward manner as described above.

Comments here in the blog or at film-talk.com please.

Thanks!

Dropping REGION and replacing it with BLOCK

2009-02-11T23:41:00.024-05:00

We are considering dropping REGION and replacing it with BLOCK in the search tool bar.

(Edit: Initial feedback indicates the word COUNTRIES (in the plural) is a better choice than BLOCK)

(Edit #2: As noted in the comments section this is being implemented as an addition to the region options and not as a replacement. Thank you for your feedback.)

This is a big change so I’m looking for input.

The idea came as we are looking into better the search and provide more accurate results.

We want to help you find the DVDs you want more quickly.

Region coding by itself is not sufficient because many DVDs and Blu-rays all over the world are published as region-free.

Having a person select each country they are interested in is not practical. So we are coming up with groups of countries that are most useful to our members. Think of them as a shortcut, a quick way to specify a group of countries. We are calling these BLOCKS.

We have tentatively identified the following:

US and Canada

Europe and Africa (there are virtually no titles from Africa)

Latin America (titles are mostly from Brazil and Mexico)

Russia, China, India and most of Asia

Southeast Asia

Japan

Australia and New Zealand

Note that the underlying data still specifies Region and Country. We are only deriving Block from it as an aid to better search results.

Searching by region would still be available in the "more" mode, when the search bar takes 4 lines and you get to specify multiple criteria.

Would this work for you?

Would it help when searching for titles in DVDAF?

Please reply/comment here in the blog or at film-talk.com by EOD Saturday.

Thanks!

New Wall and Microblog Features

2009-02-11T10:56:00.006-05:00

Interactivity

Wall, Microblog and Updates now supporting edits and replies -- you need to be friends to reply. See http://vandtor.dvdaf.com/ for a few examples.

YouTube Hi-def

Our YouTube player looks a bit different with an option for videos to take the whole screen. Videos will be played the HQ ("high quality") when available. http://ash.dvdaf.com/ currently has an example with the Iron Man trailer in HQ.

Collapsible Titles

Another frequently requested feature. You can choose whether you want to see only the first 5-6 lines of a title or the whole thing. The option presents itself for long titles or as a site-wide setting in the header/grayish section of a list of DVDs.

As usual see the change log for additional features and bug fixes. There has been a lot of stuff going on. Between Bugs, Twitter, and the Blog you should get most of it.

Thanks!

Twitter

2009-01-22T11:50:00.009-05:00

We are now using Twitter to broadcast thoughts, ideas and updates about dvdaf.

If you think that is a good idea follow

http://twitter.com/dvdaf.

If you do not know what Twitter is check HFW:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_PbFDsyKQU

Thanks!

Grammar and Style Geek

2009-01-22T10:54:00.006-05:00

We have film geeks and computer geeks. We kinda need style geeks.

There have been a few questions where we probably could use some help.

Example #1: Proposed Revision for Title Capitalization

<quote>
Title Capitalization

Capitalization can get very complex. We need something relatively simple, even if that means it will not be perfect.

English (sorry not very simple)

All words are capitalized with the exception of articles (a, an, the), prepositions (regardless of length), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet), and the "to" in an infinitive phrase. However, the first and last word in a title are always capitalized.

With "multipurpose words" it can be hard to tell when they are being used as a preposition, coordinating conjunction or adverb. There are a bunch of rules, but it may be simpler to look at http://www.dictionary.com

Lord of the Rings, The

German

All nouns are capitalized. The pronoun Sie (the formal "you") and its derivatives (Ihnen, Ihr) are also capitalized. The other sie(s) ("she" and "they") are not... it's downhill from there, so we will leave it at that. The first word of a title is always capitalized.

Stadt sucht einen Mörder, Eine

French and other languages

Only proper nouns and the first word of a title are capitalized. Yes, this can get more complicated too, but we will leave it at that as well.
Raisins de la mort, Les
</quote>

Example #2: How To List Multiple Versions of a Title

Big Sleep, The
- 114 Minute Theatrical Version (1946)
- 116 Minute Pre-release Version (1944)

Big Sleep, The
-- 114 Minute Theatrical Version (1946)
-- 116 Minute Pre-release Version (1944)

Big Sleep, The
-- 114-minute Theatrical Version (1946)
-- 116-minute Pre-release Version (1944)

How about when it is a single version in a box set, etc., etc.

On the simpler side of things we are always finding spelling mistakes, missing or left-over words from previous edits, etc. We would appreciate if one or more people would point those out.

There is more, but this is the general flavor of the help we need in this area.

Let us know if you want to help.

Thanks!

Chrome Support

2009-01-20T20:29:00.006-05:00

We are extending support to Google's browser.

It is based on the same engine as Safari (WebKit) so we do not foresee many additional issues.

The current site (2.2.3.2) works with it, though the formatting is not as nice as some of the other browsers. It is on the fast side though.

Ticket #276 addresses the spacing in the search bar which was a bit odd in some browsers. It will be rolled out in the next release.

With this we officially support over 99% of the browsers out there (IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, and Camino) -- note that Netscape is now defunct with AOL discontinuing support for it early last year.

More ways to Print

2009-01-20T15:55:00.003-05:00

Another much requested feature!!!

With the new export feature (see previous blog entry) you can customize the format and the fields you want.

Once you load the generated file in your favorite editor or spreadsheet it can be printed in a more compact form.

The previous printing functionality continues to be available under "Mode: Printing" at the bottom of a DVD list or collection.

Export Your Collection

2009-01-20T15:44:00.006-05:00

A much requested feature!

You can now export your collection in a variety of formats. Access "Export your collection" under the "Site Map".

You can select which fields to export and the format.

The "Your Computer" setting will make sure new lines start when they should start -- this is needed because different computers represent the line breaks differently.

The "Format" settings allow you to export the data in a tab-separated or fixed-length format. Tab-separated is better if you plan to manipulate or format the data with a spreadsheet or word processor. It is also better for backups and importing a collection back into dvdaf (upcoming feature).

The fixed-length format can be used if you plan to use a simpler program to view or print your collection in a compact format.

See release 2.2.3.0 in bugs for details.

Improving Communications

2009-01-20T15:34:00.003-05:00

Submission Feedback

1) Moderators can now provide feedback on picture submissions. This was a major hurdle. People were having their pictures rejected and had no way of knowing the reason.

2) Comments are now required when a DVD or picture submission is rejected and a "one-click comment" feature for the most common moderator observations will help feedback remain clear and objective.

3) The Submission History screen (DVDAF / Contributions / Submission History) has been greatly improved.

See release 2.2.3.0 in bugs for details.

Social Networking

2009-01-20T14:20:00.008-05:00

Oops!!!

This is my favorite feature and we never really announced it.

Back August we debut DVDAF's social networking features. Works sort of like MySpace or Facebook, but it is much smaller and focused on films. It is integrated with dvdaf and youtube.

It is a lot of stuff. The best thing is to look at how people have been using it. Once you get to one of these pages you can navigate by looking at their friends for more.

drawingkatiepics.dvdaf.com
sehnzeleid.dvdaf.com
johnbobtheeighth.dvdaf.com
dvdaf-film-noir.dvdaf.com
moviefreak1980.dvdaf.com
ash.dvdaf.com

You can turn these features on and off by clicking on "Edit" in the Profile section. See release 2.2.0.0 in bugs for details.

Woo-Hoo Auto Zoom!

2009-01-20T14:19:00.004-05:00

Probably the coolest addition to DVDAF!!!

When you hover over a DVD cover or a friend's picture we will pop a nicer, brighter, fresher, cooler, larger image.

It can be turned off: When an image pops up click on

It can be used on-demand: After having turned it off, click on a DVD listing and select "Show Image Popup"

It can be turned back on: After selecting "Show Image Popup" click on

This feature is available in microblogs, walls, all search results, and DVD collections from star members.

See release 2.2.2.0 in bugs for details.

DVD Cover Art Customization

2009-01-20T13:57:00.003-05:00

Since we added the ability to upload multiple pictures for a DVD listing people have been asking how can I select the one to display in my collection. Well now you can. Just click on a DVD in your collection and if that DVD has multiple pictures you will be able to select which one to display in your collection.

Note that in order to avoid confusion the original ("default") picture will still be used in search results and price comparison screens. However, you can now pick which one to show in your collection.

This also address one of our petty peeves: when to use 3D covers and when to display flat covers... now you take your pick.

See release 2.2.2.0 in bugs for details.

Blu-ray Region Coding

2009-01-20T13:48:00.005-05:00

Added Blu-ray region coding and a few new features and bug fixes.

See release 2.2.1.0 in bugs for details.

Also got a few new convenient options on the DVDAF menu underneath the Search bar:

New Blu-ray releases by country

New DVD releases by country

New Title Submission

Submission History

Updates

2009-01-20T13:43:00.003-05:00

Lots of changes and new features which have been communicated on the site's front page (http://www.dvdaf.com/) and of course in bugs (http://bugs.dvdaf.org/repo.php?md=changelog).

Need to do a better job of updating the blog. Will probably do a bunch of pots in a row latter on :)

New "Explain Me This" Feature

2008-12-28T01:58:00.003-05:00

In many DVDAF screens you can now click on the icon to get quick info about something or details on how stuff works.

We wrote the "explains" for the DVD listings and half of the DVD Edit screen. As time allows we will write the pieces for the other half of the DVD Edit, the profile maintenance, and others.

Check http://bugs.dvdaf.org/repo.php?md=changelog for more on bug fixes and other features recently implemented.

iMac + Ajax Firefox Blues

2008-07-23T23:07:00.008-04:00

I took advantage of a nice $250 off plus 12 months no interest and finally got an iMac. Meaning in future releases we will be able to make DVDAF look its best on the Mac as well.

So far I can tell that although Safari does not support our contextual menus the Mac version of Firefox 3.0 does (no special settings needed). So... we are recommending FF for the Mac. I have not tried Camino yet, but it is said to work as well. Eventually we may extend support for Safari if we can figure out how.

The new homepages are coming along very cool and very easy to use. We did a demo on the Skype call yesterday and it was very well received. We did hit some Firefox problems related to Ajax calls. Things would work on IE and Opera, but not in Firefox. We finally figured a work around tonight.

Still trying to figure out the best balance between how much functionality to release and how soon. I would release it medium-rare, but Bud wants medium-well. We could get medium-rare within a week... Medium-well would be a bit longer. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

DVDAF Update

2008-07-13T17:16:00.005-04:00

Lots of progress on the new home layout with lots of things working already. I'm kind of using it as my jukebox, though in the live version I may add fave film clips and stuff. We will see how each member uses it.

Waiting on the ability to send and respond to friend requests in order to release a first version. That plus some other stuff to avoid spam... May be in a week.

New Collection Home Layout

2008-07-06T20:13:00.007-04:00

As mentioned below I have been working for the past month on a new layout for the collection home screen (the one today where you see the stats of your titles by folder and genre). It is taking a bit longer than expected, but it is also coming up much nicer than I had envisioned. We are bringing in the ability to add video clips, links to collections of your friends, microblogging and more, all in your collection home page.

Hope to unveil something within another month...

I'm posting this so that people do not think we went AWOL... There are a lot of requests on http://bugs.dvdaf.org/. I will get to those eventually as well.

Thanks!

Member Homepage Redesign

2008-05-24T10:28:00.005-04:00

Just a quick update...

This next release is taking a bit of time. It is a major do-over of the member's home page -- the one where today we have some collection stats (as in the address: your-member-id.dvdaf.com). It will probably take another couple of weeks to release. Together with that we will be rolling out a couple of other changes including Opera support (mentioned earlier) and scrolling menus (useful for those with a large amount of folders).

BTW, trying not to bundle more stuff to it so not to space out the releases too much.

As always, thank you very much for your support and encouragement!

Opera Support !

2008-05-13T20:09:00.004-04:00

DVDAF will support Opera in its next release!

Today Opera users are missing about half of dvdaf.com because they can not access the site's contextual menus. In dvdaf's next release Opera users will be able to access everything... me thinks.

So.. when is the next release?

Two to three weeks... I'm in the middle of working a very cool piece of functionality and do not want to get distracted too much.

Who's got it is back!

2008-05-05T00:51:00.008-04:00

The new Who's got it works in 3 modes:

Single title: Click on the DVD picture and select "Who's got it?" from the popup context menu. You will see all members that own that DVD.
Multiple Titles: Select up to 10 titles. Click in one of them and select "Action on Selected Titles / Who's got them?" You will see the members who own all selected titles.
Any Editon of a Film: Click on the listing's "imdb" link and select "Who's got it?" from the popup context menu. You will see a list of all DVD editions of that film and all members who own at least one of them.

This functionality and many others are not available to Opera users due to limitations in that browser. If you are currently using Opera we recomend that you switch to Camino, Firefox or IE.

Bud's Bugs is Up!

2008-04-27T13:24:00.012-04:00

Our New Bug Tracker and Feature Request Tool: http://bugs.dvdaf.org/

It replaces the forums for the following:

Reporting web site bugs
Requesting new features
Submitting data quality quibbles (that can not be addressed in the title submission screen)

It adds:

Roadmap - when new features or bugs fixes are planed for
Voting - influence dvdaf work prioritization

It picks up who you are from DVDAF.

The items currently in the forum will need to be migrated to Bud's Bugs. We are counting on members like you to help us with that. Thank you!

Note that peer-to-peer support will still take place in the forums.

We spent about 2 weeks customizing The Bug Genie, adding things like Reddit-style voting, a roadmap, a change log, cross-site authentication, changes in layout, etc. We may add more changes in the future, but the result is pretty good already. We are happy that we did select The Bug Genie over the competition.

Recent Changes

Release 2.1.41.2 - April 22nd
- Changes related to cross-site authentication for Bug Tracker
- Other small fixes

Bug Genie

2008-04-09T00:58:00.005-04:00

Things are never simple... We run into a few hiccups with Trac.

Now looking into the Bug Genie. So far the genie seems to be closer to what we need and will probably require fewer customizations.

We will be trying to evaluate its performance with a large number of open tickets and a large number of users. There are other kinks but these could probably be addressed over time. Authentication is a question mark as we would still like to have some sort of co-registration and/or co-authentication with dvdaf similarly to what we described earlier with OpenId.

Trac and OpenId

2008-04-04T21:46:00.003-04:00

I have begun to customize Trac.

In doing this, I started to realize that perhaps it was time to implement a common login amongst dvdaf.com, filmaf.com, and dvdaf.org (dvdaf.org is where Trac and other tools will live). This means that if you were to login in one of these sites you would login in all of them. It makes it easier to report a bug, vote for a feature, etc.

OpenId seems to do most of what we want, and I think we can hack in the rest. We will probably make dvdaf a provider of OpenIds in order to give us more room to address possible limitations in the standard. OpenId would also have the added advantage of allowing dvdaf'ers to post comments to this blog (and possibly other sites) without having to create an account.

On the Trac side we are working on:

A template/skin to set icons and colors.
A plugin so that the workflow will support a "verified" state for a bug.
A plugin for a "Wizard" bug entry series of screens to make it more usable for non-technical users.

Depending on how things go we may roll release 2.1.42.0 before all of this is done.

Customizing your page size

2008-03-30T20:34:00.022-04:00

You voted for it... You got it!

The most requested DVDAF feature (see the poll): the ability to show more than 50 titles per page. Depending on your membership level you may now select up to 200, 500, or 1,000 listings per page. If all titles in a folder do not fit in a page, you get to see them in multiple pages as usual.

The feature can be accessed by clicking on the icon next where it says "Showing 1 - 50 of 148" in the upper left corner.

Ramblings:

Bandwidth (server and network) like any other limited resource needs to be managed. In the case of the variable page size the issue is that bursts of image requests can overwhelm the picture server. Even at current levels the default distro of Apache chokes and freezes (we tried thttpd but that had other issues). We came back to Apache and changed the MPM ("Multi-Processing Module") plus a few other things and got a stable machine that has been running well for the last year. On a big corporation the solution might have been to throw in a couple more machines, increase system resources, etc. But on a shoestring budget we have to make do with more limited resources.

I considered several ways to address the "variable page size" request.

The first idea was to get the page out with a large amount of titles, but only 50-100 pictures. Then Javascript would kick in and load the remaining 100-400 pictures at a reasonable rate. The idea was to give a quick initial response and then to fill in the blanks with a bit more time. We even thought of only requesting images as that particular section of the page came to view. The problem is that if you navigate out of that page and then use the back button Javascript would again go through all that trouble.
The second solution, and the one I liked the most, was to hack some of the Linux networking systems and create two classes of service. For normal people we would give 80% of the bandwidth. For greedy requesters we would give 20%. The system would monitor all TCP-IP traffic and dynamically move people from one class to another as their traffic went up or down. I did a bit of research and the closest thing I found was Bert Hubert's tc. It did not quite fit the bill. We could probably send greedy requests to a different port, tag them in iptables, and pick it in tc. Since I'm not familiar with this stuff it would take me a few weeks to get it working and it would not be browser cache friendly as it would request and cache images from both ports event when they are the same.

[Edit] One important detail is that we cannot deny requests, only slow them down. This means that in order to handle the issue beyond the network layer we would probably hack Apache so that it would respond to requests not in normal order, but in a way that we find suitable -- if not by writing an Apache module, probably by hacking the server itself. It would probably take me a month to do it, but then we might run into maintenance/compatibility issues in the future.
The third solution, and the one I implemented, is very simple. Guests and regular members can see up to 200 pictures per page. Star members ($10 level donation) can see 500. Star members that are even more generous ($30 level donation) can see up to 1,000. The idea is that if a lot of people get to see 500 or 1,000 pictures per page they will be supporting the site with donations and then we would be able to get a new server to handle the load.

What is next:

I got no takers in helping setting up Trac (see previous blog entry), but I think that it is really an important thing. So I'll be splitting my time in setting it up and customizing it, plus the changes identified in 2.1.41.x below.

Release 2.1.42.0 will probably have the second most popular feature request: "Who's got it?"

Thanks!

Recent and Upcoming Changes

Release 2.1.41.0 - March 30th
- User configurable page sizes
    + up to 200 for regular members
    + up to 500 for "Supporting" and "Sponsor" members
    + up to 1,000 for "Donor" members and beyond
- Changes in colors for dialog boxes and buttons

Planned for 2.1.41.x
- Moderator's ability to process requests to make a picture the default for a title
- Member's ability to select which of the multiple pictures associated with a title he/she wants to display in his/her collection/listing
- Members ability to see the status of his/her picture submissions

Are you a Linux Programmer Extraordinaire?

2008-03-26T14:15:00.012-04:00

Do you want to help build a better world?

DVDAF needs your help!

We are looking for volunteers to help us extend dvdaf. The first project is to install and customize Trac, a bug tracking and feature tracking tool with voting and workflow capabilities. Future projects would include solutions for data quibbles management, web services API, mobile services API, and integration of Wikis to dvdaf and filmaf.

Skills: Significant experience in LAMP, some familiarity with Python, love of performance, aesthetically pleasing code, 3 to 4 hours availability a week. Please drop an email with your experience, likes, dislikes and quirks to 'dvdaf.com' at 'gmail.com'.

Thanks!

Bug and Feature Tracking

2008-03-26T10:53:00.009-04:00

I have been thinking about how we can better keep track of bugs and feature requests. I thought we could do that in the forum, but it has gotten messy and become a source of frustration for many involved.

The requirements were that it had to be usable by regular folks (i.e. non-programmers), run on Linux (preferably LAMP), be affordable for an unlimited number of users, look decent, support voting for the features and bugs, support roadmaps, and have basic workflow capability.

After a couple of days looking into it (all the time I could spare) I selected Trac. Since I did not do an actual evaluation, but only read what other people had to say I will not comment on what I perceive to be the merits of the different packages.

If there is a Linux admin / programmer that wants to help setup/customize Trac please email me at 'dvdaf.com' at the domain 'gmail.com' (no support questions to this address, please use the forum, thanks). Otherwise it will diminish the rate of progress at dvdaf, but we will get it done eventually.

Thanks!

Recent and Upcoming Changes
("User configurable page sizes" will be the next feature to be released)

Release 2.1.40.6 - March 24th
- Picture lookup for new titles prior to approval (mods only)
- Ability to process picture deletion requests (mods only)

Planned for 2.1.41.0
- User configurable page sizes (a.k.a. "Show more than 50 titles per page")

Planned for 2.1.41.x
- Moderator's ability to process requests to make a picture the default for a title
- Member's ability to select which of the multiple pictures associated with a title he/she wants to display in his/her collection/listing
- Members ability to see the status of his/her picture submissions

What the Future May Hold

2008-03-22T20:56:00.026-04:00

Similar to what many of you have done, DVDAF begun as a spreadsheet. A list of the titles from which I would select the ones I was interested in. In order to make better decisions I started adding links to imdb. Soon enough the idea of putting the whole thing in a website came about and in December 1999 DVD Aficionado was born.

Over the past 8 years over 3,000 people have contributed to create a repository with 50,000 films published in 110,000 DVDs. The US accounts for 60% of the titles, UK 15%, Europe 11%, and Asia 10%.

Looking ahead into the next few years we would like to do 3 things:

Move from being DVD-centric to being Film-centric. This means that when adding new fields such as the actors and plot summaries we would have to maintain 50,000 listings instead of 110,000 (the changes in the 50,000 would "magically" flow down to the 110,000). Overtime this will become even more important as we get an increasing number of DVD releases of the same movies not only in the US but from across the globe.
Be more community oriented. We have not done a good job at more actively listening to and engaging our community (more about that another day). Moderators have done and continue to do a huge amount of work in maintaining the DVDAF database. However, I'm still the only technical person around. I do all the admin and development work, as well as the decision making. It is a bit of a chicken and egg situation as far as time is concerned, but I think that slowly we will be able to do better. The "select the next DVDAF feature" begun it, this blog is a second step, and more is on the way.

Open the DVDAF and FilmAF databases. We would like to create a web services interface to allow sites and applications that need film or DVD information to use our data. The idea is that this would tap into a new audience fostering participation and building a better site. One idea, for example, would be an iPhone interface to DVDAF.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Welcome to the DVDAF Blog

2008-03-20T22:13:00.027-04:00

Hi my name is Ed.

I begin this blog because I'm looking for a more effective way to communicate with the DVDAF membership (http://www.dvdaf.com/).

Our objectives:

Share with you ideas regarding the future of DVDAF.
Get you excited about getting involved more actively.
Keep an informal, but somewhat organized record of our releases, thoughts and considerations.

DVD Aficionado has been around since 1999. With over 110,000 titles we are probably the largest DVD database on the net. People use DVDAF to keep track of their DVD collections, research titles, keep wish-lists, and search for the best price of a DVD amongst those we consider reputable dealers.

We want to change all of that... I'll be telling you more about it next time.

Meanwhile a small break for some house duty...

Recent and Upcoming Changes

Release 2.1.40.0 - March 12th
- DVD Cover Art Uploads (previously available only for mods)
- Show Larger Picture option in the DVD contextual menu
- Moderator's Picture Processing Screens (mods only)

Release 2.1.40.2 - March 16th
- Slovak added as a language option
- Option to search for titles with missing language and missing publisher country
- Ability to delete language and missing publisher country when editing titles
- Fixed Unicode libraries that were sorting ".//Hack" and other titles incorrectly

Release 2.1.40.3 - March 19th
- Bulgarian, Georgian and Yiddish added as language options
- Fixed automatic rejection and "de-rejection" of pictures associated with new titles (mods only)

Planned for 2.1.40.x
- Moderator's ability to process requests to make a picture the default for a title
- Member's ability to select which of the multiple pictures associated with a title he/she wants to display in his/her collection/listing
- Members ability to see the status of his/her picture submissions

Planned for 2.1.41.0
- User configurable page sizes (a.k.a. "Show more than 50 titles per page")