Switching TV Show Metadata Providers - Thoughts? (Updated Feb 9, 2021)

Metadata & Artwork
#1

Update Feb 8, 2021: We’ve been weighing the options for the past few weeks, and as of right now it looks like we are planning to move to TMDb within the next few months.

Update Feb 1st, 2021: We are considering switching again…and would love to hear your current thoughts. :slight_smile:

Friends -

We’re currently considering switching from TheTVDb to TMDb for TV show metadata, and wanted to gather some opinions before we make this rather critical decision.

Infuse has used TMDb for movie info since its inception on the ATV2 in 2010, and at the time they did not offer TV show metadata. However, that all changed in 2013, and since then their TV show content levels have matured quite nicely. In our opinion, their offerings now surpass TheTVDb - especially considering TMDb offers hi-res artwork.

For example, here are direct links to the artwork for a recent episode of Doctor Who.

TheTVDb

TMDb

3840×2160 1010 KB

Having access to higher resolution artwork would not only improve the current Infuse experience, but would also open doors for some exciting new design options that simply weren’t possible before.

However, due to Infuse’s historical usage of TheTVDb, our biggest concern is content and ensuring we are not losing anything if we make the switch. The stats currently show the databases are within about 1% of each other with regard to total series coverage.

So what do you think? Which database have you been using lately? Are there any series you notice are listed on one, but not the other? All thoughts and comments are welcome.

Thanks! :slight_smile:

** Update 5/11/17 **
Big thanks to everyone who chimed in. We’ve received some great feedback, both in this thread and through other means. As of right now we’re working towards a hybrid model that we believe will give us the best of both worlds.

This approach will consist of:

  1. Update to TheTVDb's new v2 API (it's faster and better).
  2. Augment data from TheTVDb with metadata/artwork from TMDb when appropriate (if the TMDb has better artwork, we'll use it).
  3. Make this 100% automatic to run seamlessly in the background (no silly settings to adjust). :D
Upcoming Features (updated 2/23/21)
Switch from TheTVDB to TMDB
Wrong season poster ... understand why
TV Show - thetvdb.com vs themoviedb.org
#2

High res and better images or bust!

#3

GO !

#4

Do it ?

#5

Definitely time for a change.

#6

trakt.tv ?

#7

If it’s not an issue you can leave both with a switch in settings so we can try out both :wink:

#8

Definitely go for it :slight_smile:

#9

Waste of time :frowning: do it as a low priority task.

#10

Need some more investigation but don’t forget international metadata … sometimes there is a lost there.
Why not a switch? Maybe only during the beta period so you can ask us to test and maybe grab some analytics…

#11

I’d say go for it but keep the option to roll back in case it doesn’t work as expected.

#12

Sounds good to me ?

#13

You have my blessing , James.

I’ve been using tmdb.org for years and it looks really well. Hope this change will bring us awesome news in the future!

#14

why not give us an option though? I think the one you’re currently with has low res which means faster metadata loading but TMDb has quality and has matured a lot as well…

personally i’d go with TMDb but I’d also make it default with the option to switch to TheTVDb if the user wishes to.

Users like control, having the ability to have more features = Win and more users.

#15

Please no! Please stick to TheTVDb!
Or at least let us have a switch!
International support (e.g. German) for TV Shows at TMDb is very basic.

Thanks
Stefan

#16

Could you share a few examples of series that are better represented on TheTVDb?

Thanks!

#17

I vote to switch to TMDb.

Try it out and see if something breaks.

#18

Yes do the switch! ??
I think mostly all entries are on TheMovieDb too!

As long as we get the possibility in Infuse 5.5 to create own TV-Shows XML with custom cover, artwork etc there is no problem to add any TVShows wich are not listed on TheMovieDb ??

#19

One of my favorites has no content at all at TMDb in German (and this is a German TV show):

This one has no content in English:

I did not make a thorough research, but from what I saw I think that TMDb is far from being ready to be used for TV Shows for languages other than English.
Please do not make the switch, or please let us have the possibility to choose!

I think, you have a lot of loyal customers all across the world, many of them using Infuse in a language other than English.
And most likely not all of them do read this forum entry.

Thanks
Stefan

#20

exemple of popular serie without international support:

vs
http://thetvdb.com/?tab=series&id=295759&lid=17

of course you will say: Supergirl (TV Series 2015- ) — The Movie Database (TMDb) exist … so it’s depend how you look on themoviedb also …

a switch is the best option …