Cinema Premiere Personal Server Edition
 

Advantages of the Personal Server Movie Manager

  • Resides on your local PC, so there is no need for an internet connection once you have imported the movie information from IMDb.com or Amazon.com.
  • You are in control.
  • You can modify the source code and add any new features you want or change anything you don't like.
  • Displaying search result screens with thumbnail images are faster.
  • Can easily import movies from your hard drive without having to run a program to create a text file of your directory listing
  • Can open up the add log file and the export movie search file with your default text editor without having to download it first.
  • No picture size limitation when using your own pictures as cover images.

Overview of the Personal Server Movie Manager

The Cinema Premiere Personal Server is a stand alone movie manager which is almost identical to the online movie manager except that it runs on your local PC and does not require you to log in. The Personal Server is set up to run on a Windows web server installed on your local PC. If you have Windows XP Pro, 2000 or NT 4.0, you have a built in web server, IIS, that you just have to enable. Windows 98 comes with PWS (Personal Web Server). You can download PHP and MySQL for free. If you don't have a built in web server, there are several other web servers you can download and use for free. I recommend the Abyss Web Server. It is small, easy to install, supports Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, and 2003 and works very well with the movie manager. You can also use Apache which is also free to download. With Apache, however, the 'wait' screen, while importing movies and importing the database, does not display. While testing both the Abyss and Apache servers, I could not get the import hard drive feature to import files across a network which could be something simple that is permission related but I gave up trying. Everything else works fine.

 

The Personal Server Installation Guide will walk you through installing IIS, Abyss, Apache, php, MySQL, the Personal Server Test and the Personal Server. By following the guide, the web server, php, MySQL and the Cinema Premiere Personal server can be installed and running on an XP Pro PC in about than 30 minutes. (It should be similar for other Windows OSs.)

Before you purchase the Personal Server, feel free to download and install the Personal Server Test application to make sure your system is properly setup to run the Personal Server. The Personal Server Test is a slimmed down version of the Personal Server. There are only 4 movies in the database and you can only search and sort those movies.

 

All source files will be released with the application with a copyright agreement that it is for personal use only on a local computer. You can modify the code as much as you like, however, Cinema Premiere will not support any code that has been modified. The Personal Server will be kept up to date with the same comparable features as the Online version and the source code will be made available to download on the Personal Server -> Download page.

 

Both movie managers, the online and personal server, are compatible and your movie database can be imported and exported to and from the other as long as you have not changed the structure of either database on the personal server on your local PC

Using Cinema Premiere Online and the Personal Server together

I personally like using both, Cinema Premiere Online and the Personal Server together. This is my setup. I have my media PC connected to my big screen TV and my surround sound system. I have it setup with IIS, php, MySQL, the Cinema Premiere Personal Server and the Cinema Premiere Online browser. In the Programs Startup menu, I have a shortcut to the Personal Server browser so when my PC boots up, it automatically starts the movie manager and goes to the Movies screen where I have it default to all movies rated G and PG sorted by 'Most Recently Added' then by 'Title'. All my DivX files reside on my media PC and I have all my G rated movies in one directory, PG in another and so on and I share each of those folders across my wireless network. Unfortunately, I have a very old and slow wireless network and my media PC is at the complete opposite side of the house as my router and DSL modem, so I am not capable of playing movies across the network, although, I do have a good internet connection. When the prices drop more, I plan on getting either a Belkin Pre-N or Linksys SRX router which will be fast and extend my range, so then we will be able to play our movies on any PC in the house.

My development PC is also setup with IIS, php, MySQL, the Cinema Premiere Personal Server and the Cinema Premiere Online browser. My extra PC is setup with the Abyss Web Server, php, MySQL, the Cinema Premiere Personal Server and the Cinema Premiere Online browser. Since someday I plan on accessing my movies across the network, I make sure that when I add movie files to the database, that the file path is a network path. To do that, I follow this procedure.

  1. I keep the Online database up to date at all times
  2. On either my development PC or my extra PC, I run Cinema Premiere Online and export the online movie database and download it to my PC. (Tools -> Database -> Export)
  3. On the same PC, I run Cinema Premiere Personal Server and I then import that movie database to my Personal Server movie database. (Tools -> Database -> Import)
  4. While still running the Personal Server on the same PC, I import movie files from my media PC's hard drive.
    • Tools -> Add -> Import HD [Unless I have only a couple movies to add, then I use the Tools -> Add -> Single]
    • Click on Browse
    • On the Choose File screen, I select My Network Places
    • I double click on one of my shared movie folders
    • I double click on any one of my movie files and this creates the correct path for me.
    • When I'm only adding a few movies at a time, I uncheck the 'quick add' option then press the Add button.
    • Only the movie files that are not already in the database will be added.
  5. Once the movies are added, I export the database. (Tools -> Database -> Export)
  6. I then run Cinema Premiere Online and import the movie database exported from the Personal Server to my online movie database. (Tools -> Database -> Import)
  7. Now on my media PC, I run Cinema Premiere Online and export the online movie database and download it to my PC. (Tools -> Database -> Export)
  8. Still on my media PC, I run Cinema Premiere Personal Server and I then import that movie database to my Personal Server movie database. (Tools -> Database -> Import)