IMDb Mobile v0.45 - Movie Info and Trailers

[jimski]

I was reading my PocketNow RSS Feed tonight and came across a new app by Blade0rs over at XDA-Developers. It's called IMDb Mobile, for Internet Movie Database. The link to the thread is here. From what I have read, the app mimics the iPhone app with the same name. It's still in beta but I found it to be pretty stable (no lockups or freezes but it did kick me out once).

NOTE: If you don't have an Unlimited Data Plan or have access to WiFi, don't read any further. This app consumes lots or megabytes. Playing with it tonight and trying to get videos to work (more on that below) ate up more than 95MB's .

The app let's you search for info about: movies, TV shows, actors, directors, etc. You can also view movie trailers . You get started by: entering a search term, viewing the Top 250 or checking out what's Coming Soon. As you can see in the screen shots below, I entered "Indiana" and was presented with all the Indiana Jones movies, the Young Indiana Jones TV series, a movie names Indiana that was released in; 1916, 1920 and 1966, a TV series called Indiana, an Indiana Jones Video Game, movies and another TV series; The Adventures of Young Indiana, and some other stuff. Quite a thorough selection.

Once you tap a selection you can view; a summary, additional info, cast info, trivia, quotes, goofs, photos and trailers. Viewing the cast will allow you to tap other links to look up an actor's or director's filmography, so you can really dig down deep. There is lots of information here. The photos take a bit of time to load, one at a time, and some are crunched down but viewable. The images measure about 7/8" x 1 1/4" on my Fuze screen. I found it a little difficult to tap the screen selections (the Menu selections were fine) using both my finger and a stylus, often having to tap three or four times for it register, but maybe that's just me.

You can also view trailers, which is especially cool for the Coming Soon movies. Before you get started trying to view a video, you have to set a default video player by tapping View/Settings on the Main Screen. You will get an error if you don't do this first. I started trying to view my first MP4 trailer using TCPMP, but the playback was very poor. Audio was perfect, but I lost 75-80% of the frames. The 2.5 min clip was 5MB, and I could not find any place on my device where it was being buffered so I guess it was streaming. No way to save it to your device and view later. After TCPMP, I tried Streaming Media and WMP, with both displaying error messages. Back to TCPMP and played with buffer settings, etc. with no results. I finally checked out the XDA thread and one user had good results with Core Player, so I loaded my licensed version and it worked perfectly on the first try with no adjustments. I had given up on Core Player and didn't bother to load it after my last few resets, but I guess I will keep it around for this purpose.

If anybody finds another way to view these trailers you would be helping out the community. Core Player costs $29.95 and I don't think they have any Trial Version. WARNING: If you are going to play with this and want to try any video player installed in the \windows folder, instead of setting the player as described above, edit the config.xml file in the apps folder. Trying to navigate to the \windows folder using the Settings screen takes about 10 minutes to load. Instead just overwrite the .exe file name in the xml file. It will save you a bunch of frustration. Navigating to the Program Files folder is not a problem.

UPDATE: Feedback from the XDA thread states that users with TP2's/Tilt2's and HD2's can all view trailers using Streaming Media Player (streamingplayer.exe)s o I would guess that Streaming Media included with WM6.5 is an updated version. Probably no need for Core Player. Lucky you.

Almost forgot. The developer has not put up Donation link yet, but if he does and you find this app useful or enjoyable, be sure to do the right thing and buy him a beer.

Below are some developer comments from the XDA thread:

Important Info
1. This application downloads a lot of data. Please ensure you're using an unlimited data plan
2. The "Download Thumbnails" feature is unstable. If you're experiencing a lot of errors, switch this off & soft-reset the device.
3. The application downloads data as-required. Therefore a constant data connection is preferred. Areas where signal is intermittent may cause errors


Features:- Search Movies/TV/Video Games/Actors
- Finger-friendly interface
- DVD Covers
- Actor Headshots
- Trivia
- Quotes
- Photos
- Top 250
- Coming Soon List
- Videos/Trailers
- Goofs
- App-To-Date Support

Requirements:
.NET Framework 3.5

TODO List:
Low Priority
- Interface Design & Layout. Possibly separate versions for different resolutions
- Fix Thumbnails/Stability Issues

Known Issues:- Quotes screen shows unnecessary whitespace
- Director filmography only shows Actor/"Self" roles

UPDATE: New Version - v0.50 Release Today

What's New:
- New interface
- Episode Listings
- Movie Certificates
- New Photo Viewer (Click on image to open full-size image in default viewer)
- Reduced Thumbnail Filesizes
- Uses Cache Directory for downloading all images
- Better Trailer-downloading feedback
- Miscellaneous tweaks and fixes

[Doug]

Awesome jimski, it's posted on all websites crediting you of course!

[respatick]

Thanks Jimski, I have been looking for an app like this for over a year. The main part I was looking for was the ability to find and play movie trailers easily. Iphone, Pre, Android all have had good app to do this with. I believe there is an app called Flixter, and I kept looking waiting for a Windows Mobile version which never came.

It was very easy to set up this IMDB program to work with Core Player to play trailers. From the main screen before you search movies, just click the left soft key which is view. Then hit settings. The browse under default Video player to program files and CorePlayer folder and choose player.exe. Then Choose a movie. . Click on view. Arrow or scroll down to the last option Trailers then Choose edge or 3G (on my tilt1 on ATT 3G played perfectly in CorePlayer. It actually cycles and keeps playing the Trailer until I exited Coreplayer.

The only thing missing now is Movie/Trailer integration in one app. I usually use the Bing app to look up movie times. Microsoft could totally hit a homerun by adding the ability to watch trailer along with movie times, like the apps on other phone platforms do.

P.s. ??? Are there any apps that came out previously that I may have missed that make it easy to search and play trailers? Thanks again to all those involved in this project and bringing it to life.

[jimski]

You and me both. I have gone to a few sites trying to view trailers with no luck. I agree, the trailers make this app special.

I still get frustrated by needing different players for each different video format (some work better than others) or different sites I visit. And even finding video with my phone is still elusive even though all those phone commercials make it look easy.

Tying movie times with trailers is a great idea. Very logical approach .

[TechniSol]

It's pretty cool, but is anyone else seeing the last line, or last couple words, cut off on movie descriptions? Rotating to landscape sometimes displays it... BETA, Beta, beta... I know.

[jimski]

New version released today v0.50 fixes the cut off text problem. I am having some trouble viewing photos (crashes each time I open a photo) but the new interface looks and fees better.

[TechniSol]

This reminds me of another thread we've been posting in Jimski...

Think I'll wait for a few more versions to be posted before I take another turn. Believe me I understand the desire to fix bugs, but I also come from a real time control background and understand the need to make sure there are as few as possible to begin with. When you're dealing with things that operate in the tons range you learn to respect debugging... or you learn to help shovel.

OTOH, it's a handy little app and I hope it's debugged soon.