I think you are spot-on. I also think TMDB currently has lots of problems with TV episode listings, e.g. compare TVDB vs. TMDB for the TV Shows Timeless and the final season of The Big Bang Theory.
Maybe useful: I got a reply from TMDB Staff once saying “the main episode listing on TMDB must match/come from official sources, e.g. the official networks webpage”, and that’s why the last episodes of the TV Show Timeless are all “funky” in TMDB.
Another point:
According to the Contribution Bible of TMDB their are not allowing an own translation.
“We currently only support the original episode titles and original translated episode titles (i.e. the first TV/digital/physical title for each language). […] The translated episode name field should be left blank [if] there is no official translation. For example, if an American TV series is not yet released in Russia. Please do not add unofficial translations of the original episodes names.”
Which language is trakt grabbing from TMDB if there is no english translation?
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As a lot of you have pointed out, this is a major job to get all shows on equal level. I think the work should start with show by show as they match. For ongoing shows the data may change from day to day, so it’s better to move off-season, or asap as they match.
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What would the approximate cost increase be for each VIP user (per year) if Trakt.tv just distributed/pushed-out the TVDB’s API fee to them? i.e. don’t change from using good TVDB data
I’ve wondered what the cost would be, but also how the TVDB pricing model works. Is it based on the number of users that access the data or just the number of calls? Would it be practical to use TVDB for shows selectively on an ongoing basis or is there a need for a hard cutover at some point?
At the same time, I’m not a fan of companies suddenly charging significant costs after having spent years getting their product for free from users, so I would actually prefer to avoid rewarding TVDB for this decision. I understand the need for funds, and they may be in a hard place, but ultimately I’m just tired of my uncompensated time being someone else’s product.
Especially for shows that are finished, can Trakt just freeze the existing data rather than having to get TMDB updated?
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that’s a good idea to freeze old data and use tvdb update (pay for api) for new shows only
I also remember that TVDB had a big “Verified” tag/logo/badge on shows pages with good finalised and double-checked data. That could be an indicator for freezing.
TVdb is full of English translations that is either not translations at all (just repeats the original title in a different language), or unofficial translations that doesn’t make much sense. I guess the majority of this is because it is required to get it into trakt, and getting a database where this is not required is a huge advantage for all parties. Ideally trakt should work just like tmdb, where users can chose one primary language and then a fallback language.While this might be a huge overhaul to implement in trakt, I think for the time being original language should be default fallback language where no English title is present.
Once a show is moved to TMDB as the primary data source, it will use all data (including episode titles) from TMDB only.
We’d use whatever default info the TMDB API sends back as the default on Trakt as well. We are saving translations from TMDB behind the scenes for future use.
It’s not quite as simple as passing the cost onto the Trakt user. With free and VIP level accounts, paying for TVDB data quickly becomes unsustainable. And to @thedave’s larger point, we also have philosophical differences with asking the community to provide and edit data for free, then charge for access to it.
Yes, that is one way we are considering dealing with shows that either don’t exist on TMDB or differ so much it would be hard to convert them.
The TVDB API won’t work like that to pay for only some API access. AFAIK, it’s either all or nothing.
We save translated data for future use, but like you said it’s not a small undertaking to use it throughout Trakt. It is something we have on the radar though.
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I think it really comes down to what exactly is considered for billing purposes? Is it based on the number of (Trakt.tv) users? Or the number of requests? If the number of requests, can you request just a season or the whole show?
I suspect that going forward it doesn’t much matter, TVDB support will probably just go away regardless.
I don’t know those details. It’s a flat fee per app afaik. Or users can pay for access directly. Both options don’t work for Trakt unfortunately.
I maintain a few shows on TVDB myself, mostly from YouTube (PBS Digital Studios, Star Wars, etc.). If I start migrating them over to TMDB, how would I tell Trakt that I’m ready for their listings to move over to TMDB? i.e., how can I, as a Trakt user, confirm that a series is ready to use TMDB as canonical source?
I just submitted a bunch of shows that can be changed from tvdb to tmdb:
https://support.trakt.tv/forums/188762-general/suggestions/42157063-shows-to-move-from-tvdb-to-tmdb
Might I suggest that any new shows that do not have episodes yet be auto switched over to TMDB only right away? So as to not have to deal with any inconsistencies between TVDB and TMDB once episodes are added such as Star Wars: The Bad Batch, saving time later.
Also perhaps a way to flag a show with a comment attached directly on the comparison page would help speed things up. Because there is 93k+ shows that needs moving over.
What stuff got deleted and what was their reason?
TVDb isn’t accepting either. It’s probably they haven’t noticed. I don’t bother reporting stuff that shouldn’t be there anymore either. I’ve lost all hope for them.
Over on TMDb I know for a fast recently added content (as in new shows and movies) is looked at way more throughly. It doesn’t need to be accepted before being added but still. They look at it. I doubt TVDb does.
when i used to update data on tvdb they expect to write the summary of the episode by your heart or take an image from the set as screenshot. Do not copy-paste from IMDB the summary, that was ridiculous for me. I do not know if this is the case here but how do they expect to update data? its the internet, the information flow, its a SUMMARY OF AN EPISODE not Obama’s exclusive interview with copyright.
I will continue to update tmdb now, so far i have no pullover of any of my updates.
Unfortunately copy/pasting like that is still a violation of copyright. Since the market value of one episode is tiny, it is not likely anything would happen, but the cumulative effect would be worth pursuing if IMDB wanted to knock a competitor out of the market.
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I will tell you now that they probably haven’t seen it yet, but please don’t copy overviews from websites like imdb. Only from the official source or press release. IMDb is even mentioned by name in the guidelines.
If you haven’t received any complaints yet, you’re bound to get them.
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