# Creating a DVD library database and accessing it via iRule remote



## jdhatfield (Jan 2, 2014)

I posted earlier about my pursuit of the "perfect" remote and in that post, I mentioned that I'm presently using iRule. One of the attractive things of iRule is how easy it is to expand the capabilities of your remote when you get it all set up. I'm not sure if others would benefit from my most recent addition but thought I'd share in the event others are looking to add this capability.

We have a moderately sized DVD collection (550+) and thought it would be cool to have a database of all our DVDs and preferably have access to all of the metadata so that the titles, description, and trailers are at the finger tips from my iRule android based remote. Over the holidays, I found a Mac inventory app called Delicious 3 and then d/l'd the bar code scanner app for my iPhone. The bar code app connects over the network to the Mac and everything that is scanned in using the phone is stored on the Mac. It took about 1.5hrs to scan in all of the DVDs and once complete, I exported all of the bar codes to a txt file and then import into the Android app (MyMovies Pro) which pulls all of the metadata and gives a nice front end to the database using the DVD artwork.

Now that the database is set up, a simple app link to in the iRule remote is all that is needed to access it from iRule.

The first picture shows my main selection screen where I can access the app and the second screen shot shows the Movie Pro. All of the detail information and trailers is automatically pulled from IMDB. 

The inventory app for the Mac is $25 and the Android app was $5.99. I plan to use the Mac inventory app to ultimately have a home inventory database some day otherwise I might've found a program that could do the same thing for less money. 

Not sure if others have done anything similar but thought I'd mention it in the event someone else was looking to do this.


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## Savjac (Apr 17, 2008)

That is great, I may have to give it a go.
I have a great deal of movies as well and often forget what I have and do not have and will rent something already in my library. I was thinking about getting this type of program but did not know where to look.
Thank You


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## B- one (Jan 13, 2013)

Thanks for the info! I would like to do something like that as well.


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## Hagman (Jan 26, 2014)

I have the my movies iPad app. All my movies are stored on an NAS. I use Dune media streamers. In addition to the collection management aspects of the program you discussed, I can browse my collection on the iPad and then use it to start playback on any Dune in the house. It is a great interface.


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## johnboy (Dec 10, 2013)

Hi Hagman, your nas setup sounds similar to mine. Care to provide more details on how you did this? Are you also using iRule?


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## Hagman (Jan 26, 2014)

Sure Johnboy, I use AnyDVD as the software. I have ripped all my DVDs to ISO format. They are on an NAS share and each movie is in its own folder. The My Movies software works great with the Dune players. When you select a movie it starts to play and brings up the Dune remote control. I do not use iRule. I have Roommie Remote set up instead, but it is not fully integrated with My Movies. I have to launch the Watch Dune activity with either Roomie or my Harmony remote. Then I open the My Movies App, select the movie and it plays. Roomie is similar to iRule except the learning curve to get up and running is much shorter. The trade off is that iRule is much more customizable. What is your set up like?


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## johnboy (Dec 10, 2013)

Well I used to use boxee box with all vids hosted on a qnap nas. I'm rebuilding though and based on a lot of ideas ive read here I'd like to use iRule for control, and plex for serving up and streaming.


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## jdhatfield (Jan 2, 2014)

Johnboy - The one thing I've been disappointed in is that I haven't found a reliable way to control my boxee with iRule. If there have been others that have been successful, I'd love to hear what you did. 

Before we moved a couple of years ago, we ditched satellite TV and used Plex running on a mac mini as our primary media server to watch Hulu, Netflix and access movies from the NAS drive. I've used the Oppo and Boxee to access the NAS drive since but liked the Plex front end a bit better. Let us know how that goes when you get your iRule and Plex/media server playing together.


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