Problem with SearchSubtitles - Search by Name

[eduo]

I have found a bit of a problem with the "SearchSubtitles" xmlrpc method when searching by name. I'll try to explain:

As we all know searching by hash works. Has worked for years now.
Not long ago additional search mechanisms were implemented. They allow greater flexibility when a hash is not present (and make it easier to download unhashed subs and reupload the hash matches.

One of the new search criteria implemented was "by IMDB", which usually implies searching (via CheckMovieHash, for example) for a proper IMDBID to use. It works well too.

Then there is the "search by fulltext" which searches using the filename (usually) or a user-input text.

And that's when I have problems.

See, there's no way to link results to the originating files.

Imagine I have a file:

leolo.avi

It searches by fulltext and comes back with a subtitle result entry. SubtitleID 3299027 which lists movie as Léolo.

Now, this causes a problem, since there's no way to match the result to the original query automatically. In a normal search you'd have the hash and in an IMDB search you'd have, well, the IMDB ID.

In a fulltext search you can't map the results since there's no field that matches the original query.

So, the search only works in one-by-one searches until it's fixed.

How to fix it?

Including the original $query in the results for fulltext search.

Alternative solution:

Provide a CheckMovieName that searches for IMDB IDs based on fulltext using the subtitle names and movie names uploaded as well as a query name. Provide one or multiple results (in a similar way CheckMovie and CheckMovie2 currently work with SeenCount) and obtain IMDB IDs for them. Then use THAT for searching.

I wanted to avoid doing per-file SearchSubtitles since it's slower and it's a bigger hit to the database.

Of course, this doesn't cover TV Series support, which really should have its own method to stop SearchSubtitles growing even more.

Lastly: I was going to ask you to consider adding search arrays to searchsubtitles, so I didn't have to do three searches as I do right now. Then I realized this would probably be some effort and wouldn't be used by most.

[oss]

ok, I will add in result originating query for fulltext. Also I am not sure, if it is searching in names, it uses fulltext search provided by sphinx-search, so...

but yeah, maybe the best way is using CheckMovieHash2 and then use imdb for searching...

[eduo]

but yeah, maybe the best way is using CheckMovieHash2 and then use imdb for searching...

But even then you might need to resort to name searches.

I currently do just that: I search by hash, then by imdb from checkmoviehash and finally by name:

http://grab.by/44M9

The second option can't currently be used for tv series as the imdb points to the series. In the screenshot you can see a tv episode matched by scene name but a "corrected name wouldn't work.

[erndev]

ok, I will add in result originating query for fulltext. Also I am not sure, if it is searching in names, it uses fulltext search provided by sphinx-search, so...

but yeah, maybe the best way is using CheckMovieHash2 and then use imdb for searching...

hi
i have just read about this option in text query.
Has it finally been implemented? I cannot see in the docs a "query" field in the results of SearchSubtitles.

Best regards.

[eduo]

It hasn't.

I recently requested a similar "search by subtitle name", as there are always subs named like the scene releases and we verified there wasn't any way to search for this, even if it came in results.

[erndev]

It hasn't.

I recently requested a similar "search by subtitle name", as there are always subs named like the scene releases and we verified there wasn't any way to search for this, even if it came in results.

Hi

thanks for the answer.
So i guess the only way to perform a text-search and match it to the corresponding video file is by doing it one by one. right?
It's a last resort, but i've found that some movies cannot by matched by imdb nor hash, but you can find the subtitles using text search.

i don't know how the server can be affected if we do a text search for a list of files one by one.

best regards.

[eduo]

I do text searches in SolEol at this time when Hash and IMDB fail. It's tedious because it's one by one. The server doesn't really care because as it's one by one it's not that much of a burden.

[eduo]

Bump: Can't search by release name yet (searching by release name would, actually, search in movie names and subtitle names, removing file and language extensions).

This doesn't work over web or over XMLRPC method.

Searching by release name for fresh releases can be as accurate as hash searching over time results get muddled, because personal names keep being added (for example, release names being "1x01" by uploaders that like generic names in their video files).