LDDb - Update v2.1.5
Julien Wilk (LDDb.com)
--
LaserDisc Database v2.1.5 - http://www.lddb.com/
--
Hello!
I realized, ashamed, that the previous LDDB newsletter was sent more
than a year ago... But it does not mean LDDb was in a limbo at all. I
was personally quite busy on the school/work side but managed to keep
LDDb alive and add a few (I hope) improvements in the process. Here is
a
summary:
[NEW FORMAT - HD DVD]
Following the addition of D-VHS/V-Theater and the merging off all
current formats in a single database, I could add HD DVD to the mix.
I
expect around 1,000 titles when the pending updates will be validated.
http://www.lddb.com/list.php?format=hddvd&list=all
All formats can be added to Collection and Wishlist now, as well as
submitted as new. Added selling capability is also under assessment.
Updates are still locked because I have to come up with a smart way
to
cope with multi-language/encoding on a single disc. That problem
didn't
really exists on previous formats.
http://www.lddb.com/submit.php
[COVERS]
We just passed 40% coverage for covers. That's more than 18,000
single
covers submitted one at a time by LDDb users. Thanks a lot for
everyone's time and dedication to shoot the best picture as possible.
http://www.lddb.com/stats.php?id=14
[BEST OFFERS]
Users can now submit a "Best Offer" (from 1% to 50% discount) for
consideration if this option is activated by the Seller in the "Shop
Option" interface.
The idea is that, because LDDb is using fixed price and no auction
system, Sellers have the responsibility to set the right prices.
Current
"best bids" give a guideline but can sometimes be completely crazy
(e.g.
$999 with no intent do purchase anything in the end).
Therefore some mechanism is needed to let potential Buyers signal to
a
Seller that his/her price might be a little too high right now. When
a
best offer is submitted, it is as binding as purchasing the LD
outright
and gives the Seller the option to accept it (creating a standard
transaction), reject it (no other offer below that price will be
accepted) or just let it expire.
Best Offer can be anywhere from 1% to 50% discount and is valid for
48
hours.
I will keep monitor them to check that I did not introduce new bugs
in
the transaction system!
[SHOPS]
A few milestones were reached recently:
100+ User Shops active at the same time
5,000+ LDs sold through LDDb
20,000+ LDs available for sale (eBay LD category shows 5,642)
Since I am trying to invite honest Sellers (not everyone asking for
Seller's Rights actually obtain them) and keep things smooth and fair,
I
think you would like to check this through feedbacks posted.
http://www.lddb.com/stats.php?id=15
Blue is good, orange acceptable. Of course negative feedbacks should
be
minimum, ideally 0. On this graph, pair of columns show feedbacks
posted
on Sellers (left) and Buyers (right). A negative feedback for a buyer
usually says that a transaction was not honored (never paid) -- time,
not money was lost. A negative feedback for a seller is more of a
problem. It means that LDs were not as described, were the wrong
title,
arrived damaged, never arrived, etc. -- time and money are lost.
Always remember that I am always available in the middle to negotiate
in
case of problem, do not post negative feedback out of anger without
asking a few questions first. Also remember that insurance is often
optional but is always useful. A broken and uninsured LD will
probably
trigger a negative feedback for the seller when it should have been
insured... I can also mutually withdraw feedbacks if both think,
after
calming down, that we could sort out the situation in the end.
[IMPROVEMENTS]
The complete log of new things can be found at the bottom of this
message as usual, but here are a few highlights:
[+] Feedbacks accounting has been changed to give a little push to
Sellers/Buyers engaging in multiple transactions over time leading
to
multiple positive feedbacks. Previously, any number of positive
feedbacks from a single user would result only in a +1 increase in
overall feedback. Now, an additional "bonus" will be added.
[+] Added a private picture on the Account page to display the
proportion of pending and validated updates/submit.
[+] Adapted an existing Flash module into the "iCover" flow to browse
through covers a lot more easily! (with an iTunes touch)
[+] When searching, keywords are highlight. A spellcheck will also try
to propose alternate spelling when nothing is found. Roman numbers
will be equivalent to numerals as well.
[+] Search in Collection will also search in "private notes".
[+] Added the Mint-o-Matic page to allow manual matching of mint
markings (when possible) out of curiousity
http://www.lddb.com/mint-o-matic.php
[+] Added a link in Wishlist Notifications messages to renew ALL bids
at once (increased to 180 days).
[+] Shop Policy description size limit was raised from 5,000 to 10,000
characters.
[+] Bulk Upload in "Shop" mode will take you directly to "Add to shop"
with pre-filled information.
[+] Added an additional screen to allow an overwiew of Pop/Jazz
artists
on Laserdisc:
http://www.lddb.com/artists.php
[+] Redesigned the contents of the main/welcome/index page.
[+] Best Offers (see above)
--
Some stats since 2007-12-13 (v2.0):
Active Users 2,170 (+ 37.2%)
Titles 46,903 (+ 7.37%)
Collections 233,812 (+ 33.8%)
Wishlists 15,982 (+ 31.6%)
Covers 18,758 (+130.0%)
Shops currently offering 24,878 LDs in 102 User Shops
http://www.lddb.com/shops.php
History for v2.1.5
===================
Current status v2.1.5 (updated 2009-05-07)
1. The Collection lists will differentiate between covers you
submitted personally and other pictures.
2. All titles will provide direct search to YouTube. now.
3. Removed the optional "discard extra characters" for reference
searching. It will be always active from now on.
4. The limitation in buying for accounts less than 48 hours was
removed... It never worked in the first place!
5. Major update: Users can now submit a "Best Offer" (from 1% to
50%
discount) for consideration if this option is activated by the
Seller:
* When "Best Offers" are accepted, will appear in the list
of
a shops offer for a specific LD
* If you have a pending offer, the button will turn into
* Offer can be anywhere from 1% to 50% discount on the
current
price, by steps of 0.5%
* A best offer is valid for 48 hours and can either:
o Be accepted (this will create a regular transaction)
o Be rejected (you may then submit a new best offer as
long as its price is above the previous one)
o Expire
o Be removed because the LD was remove from the Shop
o Be removed because the LD was purchased at the
current
price
o Be removed because the LD was purchased through
another Best Offer
* The point of a Best Offer is to bring more balance in
prices
offered and requested than the "best bid" mechanism in
place
in the wishlist
Current status v2.1.1 (updated 2009-04-23)
1. Finally found an elegant way to add some of the Moviesgoods
poster
offering, title by title. Even if you are not interested in a
sponsored link, it gives another rather pleasant visual
dimension.
2. Redesigned the contents of the main/welcome/index page.
3. Added another sorting by format in Collection and Wishlist
front-ends.
4. Added an additional screen to allow an overwiew of Pop/Jazz
artists on Laserdisc
5. Since covers are reaching 40% coverage, I moved the shop
availability first in cross-listing instead.
6. Google search should be made easier by providing separate links
for Title and Reference searches.
7. Bulk Upload will not try to make things a little more convenient
for sellers matching long list of titles.
Current status v2.1.0 (updated 2009-02-21)
1. Improved slightly the generated graphs and fixed some issues due
to the change in year.
2. Finally a long overdue addition to LDDb: the possiblity to add
to
Collection and Wishlist any format currently supported (LD, VHD,
CED, D-VHS and HD DVD).
This might create a few interferences between database and some
displays, please don't hesitate to contact me if you find
something strange...
3. Minor change: the daily stats are now triggered from a cron
table,
no more inside PHP code. This should remove the 20~30s wait
while
loading a page when new stats needs to be refreshed.
4. Added the "COMBO" information to the HD DVD lists.
5. Shop Policy description size limit was raised from 5,000 to
10,000
characters.
6. Japanese HD DVD will now provide a direct link to CD Japan
website.
7. The overall % computation was wrong for users with 1 or more
negative feedback. It's now back to normal.
8. When adding a LD to your shop, the past sales and current offers
will now be displayed to help you price it fairly.
9. Wishlist active notification were increased from 90 (3 months)
to
180 days (6 months).
10. Every search results can now be filtered to display on LDs (the
main topic of this website to start with!).
11. Fixed: a nasty frame-in-a-frame-in-a-frame issue would make the
browsing of the Global Shop an endless loop.
12. Added a link in Wishlist Notifications messages to renew ALL
bids
at once.
13. Linux Kernel updated from 2.6.18 to 2.6.24.
Current status v2.0.4 (updated 2008-12-12)
1. Fixed: a nasty bug was displaying recent titles in shop properly
but something else when ordered!
2. Fixed: past feedbacks dynamic display that failed on IE6/IE7 due
to specific Explorer bug.
3. Fixed: visitors trying to display recent LDs for sale in shops
would get the whole list instead.
4. Fixed: when adding a title to cart, the requested quantity was
missing.
5. Few maintenance upgrades:
* eAccelerator (0.9.5.2 -> 0.9.5.3) (to fix a shared memory
deadlock)
* Reflection.js (1.9 -> 2.0) (for Google Chrome support)
6. Disctronics (DMI USA, former PDO USA) was added back to the
manufacturers' list. Their mint marks typically show a W.O. #
pattern, meaning Working Order #.
Thanks to laserking (6) for pointing this out.
7. The Mint-o-Matic. engine was updated accordingly.
8. Added a new statistical graph for monthly covers.
9. Export(s) will also carry the picture ratio (P&S, Letterboxed,
etc.) from now on.
10. Limited support added for D-VHS and HD DVD, only for simple
submission for now to build an extensive basic catalog before
adding collection/update support.
Current status v2.0.3 (updated 2008-05-09)
1. The SEARCH engine was modified in several important ways:
* When doing a straight search, matching words will now
appear
in color.
* Quick Search now also accepts full (and valid) UPC/
barcodes.
* When no results are found, a spellchecker will tentatively
give you a "Did you mean? alternative option.
* To improve searching, failed search will automatically try
to offer a close match.
* III, II, etc. should also match 3, 2, etc. in the titles
from now on.
2. Before adding players and HD DVD support, I spent time cleaning
up
the code. Nothing will show on screen but future adaptations
will
be made easier.
3. Searching in Collection and Wishlist will also search in Notes
from now on.
4. Collection can be sorted by "Date" now.
5. Wishlists will also display the current Shop offers for a given
title.
Current status v2.0.2 (updated 2008-03-22)
1. Added a small reflection under the cover to make it look
slightly
more engaging.
2. Added a background to the menu to make them look a little more
professional.
3. Modified the location of the LDDb.com watermark on thumbnail to
make more space for revelant cover information and move most of
it
our of the newly added reflection picture.
4. Added a few more "Specific Lists" in the menu to make access to
most common lists easier.
5. [Internal] Thumbnail is always regenerated on the fly when
missing.
6. [Internal] ISBN/UPC cached data are now stored in separate
folders
(to speed up access and backup).
7. BRAND NEW: introducing the "iCover" to browse through cover a
lot
more easily! Shamelessly based on:
* SubModal from SubLog
* Flash iTunes Cover Flow - Version 2 from Weber Design Labs
Current status v2.0.1 (updated 2008-02-19)
1. CED and VHD update/submit are now fully operational.
2. Fixed: users' pending submit/update list where using wrong
internal id leading to broken links.
3. Fixed: "how old?" in recently inserted was showing the time
title
was submitted, not validated!
4. Added: recent covers tab and top 100 list
5. Covers for titles tagged as Adult/Pornography will not be
displayed to unregistered users (to protect orphans and innocent
souls).
6. Feedbacks accounting has been changed to give a little push to
Sellers/Buyers engaging in multiple transactions over time
leading
to multiple positive feedbacks. Previously, any number of
positive
feedbacks from a single user would result only in a +1 increase
in
overall feedback. Now, an additional "bonus" will be added as
follows:
* Positive = 1 to 3, Bonus = 0
* Positive = 4 to 7, Bonus = 1
* Positive = 8 to 15, Bonus = 2
* Positive = 16 to 31, Bonus = 3
* Etc.
Note that in case of a negative feedback balanced with positive
feedbacks, the "bonus" will not apply. Neutral feedbacks are
really neutral and do not influcence the overall feedback.
7. Maintenance upgrade:
* script.aculo.us (1.8.0 beta 3 -> 1.8.1)
* JPGraph (1.20.5 -> 1.21b)
8. Added a private picture on the Account page to display the
proportion of pending and validated updates/submit.
9. Tried to improve the visual look of the Stats/History graphics.
Best Regards,
Julien
--
http://www.LDDb.com/ - The LaserDisc Database
Grasshopper
wrote:
> (this is identical to the newsletter sent to registered users)
>
> --
Julien,
You know what I was thinking the other night, if just maybe we could
make this into a installed database program and have a hard copy of
the database and just be able to install it and use it for looking up
titles and info without the interenet except for looking for copies
that are available. You think this would be a good path for the
future?
Also, maybe making a area where to purchase a good Laserdisc player
from in the area specialization and someone honest. As its getting
difficult and very hard for others that shop on E-bay etc. That idea
was based on my own experience and other's that I have talked too and
their experience in the LD player buying Experience.
NOTE: Just a suggestion on the lasedisc player Feedback as most look
on E-bay and other forums for and many big Electronic repair people do
repeated sales on Laserdisc and DVD Players. As this economy gets
harder there seems to be more dishonest people sneaking in and making
it harder who to trust. Most are honest but who can fail once or twice
in trying to find that one good player in Today's Economy regadless of
+ / - feedback.
Grasshopper........
Thanks for any other's Input on the Subject
Julien
A hard-copy of the database is a tricky thing because it's getting
quite large and always moving. It's about 11MB in bz2 and takes around
2~3mn to generate/pack.
For the local application, it was a deliberate choice from the
beginning to avoid this because:
1/ I did it before on a different project and maintaining both
application and database takes too much time for a single person
2/ Not 100% sure it would work on everybody's PC
3/ Has to have Windows, Mac, Linux versions
4/ Had multiple cases of copycats websites emerging from the freely
available database dump with no reference to the original source,
and often claiming ownership and authorship of the whole thing.
A very sad thing.
All in all, a web-based application was 99.9% sure to be compatible
for everyone -- only browsers issues -- and can be accessed anywhere,
anytime, either at home of not. It seemed a more practical way to deal
with it.
Two different users mentioned:
But I don't have a Mac. However one can find some webcam barcode
reader and I should investigate this a bit closer soon. I tried a few
already but my webcam is just not good enough.
I was looking at YQL (http://developer.yahoo.com/yql/) hoping that
they would provide documentation as "how to create a back-end URL able
to provide YQL-based data from LDDb" but it seems to be very
proprietary and only implemented on Yahoo website. I'll wait for an
open source version of the concept to look into it.
LD Players... have been on my mind for some times. There is a very
rough draft found here since Day #1 on LDDb (http://www.lddb.com/
list.php?format=player&list=japan) but I always had other things to
deal with. Now that the LD part is rather stable, I might venture into
the player side but might not plug it directly to LDDb (already heave
on the front page) but on completely different beast I'm working on,
aiming at aggregating LDDb contents as well as audio niche formats
(DCC, MD, SACD, DVD-Audio, 8-track, dts CD) and by extension of the
concept LD players, AC3 demodulators, MUSE decoder/converters, etc. I
would stay in the niche markets, where eBay is not providing adequate
services.
I just finished my Master, still have a financial analyst exam to
prepare for early June, will be busy end of June.
That would probably start taking place in July... and continue in
September if I have to move back to France in the (seemingly probable)
case that I can't find a decent job by the end of June.
Rgds,
Julien
--
http://www.lddb.com/ - The LaserDisc Database
Thad Floryan
> [...]
> For the local application, it was a deliberate choice from the
> beginning to avoid this because:
>
> 1/ I did it before on a different project and maintaining both
> application and database takes too much time for a single person
> 2/ Not 100% sure it would work on everybody's PC
> 3/ Has to have Windows, Mac, Linux versions
> 4/ Had multiple cases of copycats websites emerging from the freely
> available database dump with no reference to the original source,
> and often claiming ownership and authorship of the whole thing.
> A very sad thing.
Looking at my notes and as a point of reference, the entire Region 1
DVD list is available here:
<http://www.hometheaterinfo.com/dvdlist.htm>
Available in Excel spreadsheet format, HTML document and CSV (comma
separated lists) are the main file (with all R1 DVDs), weekly changes,
and future releases.
Using the free Open Office Suite which works on Windows, Macs, UNIX,
Linux, FreeBSD, etc. the spreadsheet form can be used on any system
as can the HTML form with local files. The CSV form can be imported
into a variety of database programs.