Out of fear of appearing completely biased in my video library plugin choice, I decided it was time to put up a few more short reviews and screenshots of those that are available outside of Video Browser (soon to be Media Browser).  While I find Media Browser to be perfect for me, it is slightly behind in popularity in comparison to others like MyMovies, OML, Movie Collector MCE, etc.  I don’t want this site to become just another one-sided news repository about a handful of plugins, so I’ll mix it up a bit – even if I don’t use them.

My curiosity kicks in every couple of months and I wonder how OML is looking anyway, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.  I attemtped to compile the latest SVN, but got build failures referencing Nunit, even though it is installed.  Oh well, I haven’t been able to successfully compile it since the early goings when I was one of the few who was actively testing it.  So, I downloaded the latest daily build for the x64 platform (r864) and installed.  OML now requires a reboot after installation, which I wasn’t expecting, but that’s OK.

After restarting, I went into Media Center to check out the strip and found that it was missing. Hmmm.  So, I went into the Program Library to start it up from there and it was not there either.  Not off to a good start OML.  I then downloaded and installed MC Menu Mender to put in the entry points myself and was finally able to get some startup points for the plugin and the settings panel.  However, I still need to import my library, which will be done by exporting an XML file from MyMovies.  This will not include my TV shows since I removed them from MyMovies, but I will at least have something to work with.

I found there was no OML entry in my Programs Start menu either, so I had to go to the installation directory in order to run the database importer.  Once there, I ran the importer and was greeted by a nice “Open Media Library has stopped working” crash window.  I then opted for the command line importer, which I’m more familiar with anyway, and was finally able to get somewhere.

Finished…

After importing my libary, it was time to start up Media Center again and see where OML had gotten since I last looked at it (at least 2 months ago).  I’d give a shot of the strip, but I did not have one, so here is what I was presented with after a default installation.

It does look very nice and they make very good use of screen real estate.  Scrolling through the titles is very tight and responsive – I did not experience any lag at all and I suspect that is due to the use of a live database in comparison to individual XML files.  The title screen is pretty nice also.  Most all of the relevant information from MyMovies was there except it appeared as though my User Rating value did not transfer.  Also, the actors list just sort of runs off of the bottom of the page and is not selectable for scrolling through.  Unfortunately, it appears something else is broken since I received an error when hitting “Play”.  I know the file is good since I tried it immediately afterward via MyMovies and Media Browser.  At least it’s nice to look at.

The settings screen contains many configurable options to tailor how OML works and feels on your screen.

The top strip allows for the most common, and a couple of not-so-common, sorting arrangements.

The top bar.

Sorting by genre…

…and by parental rating.

Tagging, in particular, is how OML is currently getting around its deficiency in categorizing movies into box sets and other collection types.  I’d show you this, but the database editor did not work for me.  Basically, you have a tag field where you can assign a value to any title entry.  Matching values will belong to that tag category within OML.  It’s a logical system, but nothing I’d want to start manually editing for considering my collection size.

All in all, OML has big aspirations for greatness as a Media Center plugin.  It has other features such as its own transcoding engine, but not having an extender, this was not something I could try.  I don’t even know if it works yet.  It also is capable of reading VIDEO_TS folders and full disc images.  However, I just was met with too many issues to be completely fair to it.  There is still a lot to do and a long way to go, but I know there is a lot of hard work and time being put into it.  I will keep an eye on it and I suggest you do the same.

Next week, I will start off with a visit to JackLuminous’ Video Library plugin.  I’ve given it a shot in the past and while I could never stick to it, it is a very exciting plugin, nonetheless.  Stay tuned!