[mythtv] New thetvdb.com query engine (grabber)

[Doug Vaughan]

Jean-Yves - "Did you use similar function/class structure to the 
original imdbpy.py script ?
...
find_meta is great for automating the scanning of a directory"

No I did not code to use a similar function/class structure to the 
original imdbpy.py script.

In the past I did not use mythfrontend but rather used Mythweb. With the 
coming addition of fan art and banners and the new themes, I want to use 
Mythfrontend to catalog my entire video collection, not only video files 
on hard drive but also my DVD's. I ended up creating a directory just 
for DVDs and created zero length files named after each DVD. Through a 
wrapper script I downloaded graphics (Posters, Fanart and Banners) from 
themoviedb.com and thetvdb.com for all my DVDs and video files 
(transcoded HD-PVR recordings and TV shows from my DVDs).

At this point I needed a mass updater that would add meta data including 
Poster links, so I integrated ttvdb.py with find_meta.py and added some 
personal features (e.g. check for missing Poster links and update if 
that Poster is now available). This was made to the find_meta.py version 
as of trunk r19951. Due to the recent removal of IMDB.py I did not 
submit this patch. I would have no problem sending you the patch if you 
like. I have on my todo list to check out the recent changes to 
find_meta.py.

Even though ttvdb.py conforms to the tmdb.py command line standard it 
has some subtle features that may make mass updating more efficient. 
Here are some examples:

1) You can have multiple information requests in one call:
 > ttvdb.py -P "Fringe"               # Gets you all Poster URL(s) for 
the TV show Fringe
 > ttvdb.py -PBF "Fringe"          # Gets you all Poster, Fan art and 
Banner URL(s) for the TV show Fringe

2) With one call you can get all data for a TV series
 > ttvdb -DFPB "Sanctuary"       # Gets you all graphics Urls and all 
episode data for all seasons
 > ttvdb -DFPB "Sanctuary" 1    # Gets you all graphics Urls and all 
episode data for only season one

I added this flexibility as tmdb.pl is movie focused and TV series have 
more layers (season and episodes).

With all that being said I am not adverse to making changes if it allows 
for better functionality but adheres to the future direction of MythTV.

Doug