Installation
The IMDb+ plugin only works for MediaPortal v1.2+.
You can update any older installation of MediaPortal easy, so please make sure you have done so before proceeding.
This plugin expands MovingPictures, so you need to have this installed already. If this is a fresh install then do not add any import path to MovingPictures just yet. Wait till you are done with configurating all the options via the IMDb+ plugin, so that each new imported movie will use the settings you want. On an existing collection you can simply use the 'Force IMDb+' option to convert all the movies already imported into MovingPictures and then via a refresh they will all be updated according to your IMDb+ preference. For more information on an existing collection please jump to the 'existing collection' section.
To make it as easy as possible, the IMDb+ plugin has been put inside a MediaPortal Extension Installer package. You can manually download the latest package from the 'Downloads' tab above and proceed with the installation.
Or open the MediaPortal Extension Installer shortcut on your desktop and look for the IMDb+ plugin in the list of "Known extensions". If you have the MPEI GUI plugin installed, you can do it all from the comfort of your couch inside the MediaPortal GUI.
ALERT: If you do not find the IMDb+ plugin inside the list of plugins within MediaPortal GUI, then I'm sorry, but you have just encountered a small bug in MediaPortal. It is being worked on to get it fixed, but in the meantime; simply open MediaPortal configuration and then press 'OK' to properly close the configuration. This should then correctly update the mediaportal.xml file to show the IMDb+ plugin.
The IMDb+ plugin does everything automatic now. If it is the first time you use it, it will detect if the IMDb+ scraper script is installed, and if not it will grab the latest version automatic and add it to MovingPictures.
When you open MediaPortal for the first time, you will be greeted by the following message to notify you of this:
(version number shown is just an example)
You might not always notice the update message shown above, so you can look at all the details of the IMDb+ plugin and scraper via the "IMDb Info..." option in the hidden menu on the left side. Some skins might be able to show all the information in a single view, but for the DefaultWide skin it is spread over two pages.
Use the up and down arrows on your remote or keyboard to switch between the screens.
If you have the MPEI Extension plugin installed, then when there is an update to the IMDb+ plugin you will be notified as per:
There is also a notification button in the hidden menu on the left side. In the future this might be used to link directly to the MPEI GUI plugin.
If this is your first time to use the IMDb+ scraper, then you might have a collection already most likely imported via the default IMDb scraper. The scraper script that was used originally to import the movie with is forever tied to the movie. So to get the benefits of the IMDb+ scraper to work for your entire collection, you have to 'Force' all your existing movies to switch over to the IMDb+ scraper script.
To make this easy, simply open the hidden menu on the left side, and use the "Force IMDb+..." option as per:
You will then get the following confirmation message:
Select 'Yes' and in a relative short time, depending on the size of your movie collection, you will be greeted by:
So now that you have switched your collection over to use the IMDb+ scraper, you probably want to see the results it offers. This means your existing movie details have to be updated. Simply open up the hidden left-sided menu and use the "Refresh Movies..." option. You are then greeted by the following choices:
This will allow you to not only refresh all the movies assigned to the IMDb+ scraper, but restrict the update to only the movies with an entry in the rename databases. Once you pick a choice you are brought back to the main view and you will see an animation on the left side and the top right will show you the progress.
If you wish to cancel the refresh, then at any time bring back the hidden menu again and use:
Or wait till everything is done.
MovingPictures only updates the movie list when it starts for the first time, so you would have to restart MediaPortal to see the new results correct.
For even more control in refreshing your movie collection, you can use the MovingPictures configuration.
So close MediaPortal GUI, and open the MediaPortal configuration. Then click on the 'Plugins' entry and right click the 'MovingPictures' icon and open the configuration screen.
Switch to the "Movie Manager" tab, so you get a result such as:
You can hold down the CTRL key and multi-select individual movies from the list. Or if you just want to refresh your entire collection, click on the first movie in the list on the left side, as per step #1 below. Then hold down the SHIFT button on your keyboard and hit the END key. You will then see all your movies highlighted as per step #2 below.
Now click on the refresh icon as shown per step #3 and you will get the following warning:
Confirm this message, and sit back as your entire collection is being updated via the IMDb+ scraper.
After the 'Working' progressbar has reached the end, you will be able to enjoy the results. Unfortunatly MovingPictures does not yet update the list when you adjust the title or sortby order, so you would have to close it first and re-open to see the new list or simply close all the configuration screens and launch the MovingPictures GUI.
To show you the differences, here is a before and after of a test-collection:
| Before | After |
|---|---|
 |
 |
There is support for foreign information for title, summary, language, genres and certifications for Icelandic (kvikmyndir.is), Swedish (filmtipset.se) and Dutch (moviemeter.nl). Amazon has dropped support for German (imdb.de), French (imdb.fr), Italian (imdb.it), Portugese (imdb.pt), and Spanish (imdb.es) so those languages are unfortunately no longer functional for title and summary.
You can adjust the option for this inside the IMDb+ plugin near the bottom. But by default MovingPictures will be using a scraper that auto matches your language, so please adjust the option to force a Manual scraper source at the Importer tab. And do not yet add an import path on a new installation. Otherwise the moment you would start MediaPortal to change the IMDb+ options, the MovingPictures plugin will immediatly start importing movies, and the default IMDb+ language is 'English'.
It is easy to correct the movies that got imported wrong afterwards, but if you take the few extra steps to adjust the IMDb+ options first before you add your import path, it will all go a lot easier.