# I would like to wishlist movies by stars



## anotherme (Nov 24, 2004)

It is not possible right now. But it sure would keep me from missing some good movies.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

By whose estimation of what constitutes "good". Whose determination of how many stars is to be used? How is this information to be obtained by the TiVo? To be sure, there are databases on the internet with movie ratings. IMDB is one, and www.movie-xml.com is another. Neither of them have every movie, however, and they do not always agree on the movie rating. No two critics always do. There are some movies on some critics "worst" list that are on my "best" list and definitely vice-versa.

I'm just not sure this is at all practical, and even if so, I'm not sure you would find it as useful as you think. The idea just sounds rather "iffy", to me.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

lrhorer said:


> By whose estimation of what constitutes "good". Whose determination of how many stars is to be used? How is this information to be obtained by the TiVo? To be sure, there are databases on the internet with movie ratings. IMDB is one, and www.movie-xml.com is another. Neither of them have every movie, however, and they do not always agree on the movie rating. No two critics always do. There are some movies on some critics "worst" list that are on my "best" list and definitely vice-versa.
> 
> I'm just not sure this is at all practical, and even if so, I'm not sure you would find it as useful as you think. The idea just sounds rather "iffy", to me.


So, the stars could vary by your tastes, but a wish list can be used just to review potential movies to watch. The data is there. Why bother including it in the description if you can't search on it.

I want the same capability. They do it on Netflix and on IMDB as you mention.


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## BobB (Aug 26, 2002)

TonyD79 said:


> I want the same capability. They do it on Netflix and on IMDB as you mention.


Netflix and IMDB maintain their own databases. TiVo only has access to the metadata attached to every program in the MPEG transport stream (the same metadata that it uses to compile the program guide).

However, since a star rating DOES appear in the program guide for movies (and thus is present in the metadata tables), it should be a relatively trivial job for TiVo to enable searching on it. In fact, if you could figure out what the ACSII text is in the metadata stream that the EPG (electronic program guide) generator sees and converts to those nice yellow stars, you could probably search on it today.

Just speculating...


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

TonyD79 said:


> So, the stars could vary by your tastes


I'm not certain what you mean. The TiVo Suggestions routione does an astoundingly good job of selecting program based upon the user's taste, which is kind of the point, it seems to me. The stars rating is based upon someone *else's* taste, not the user's.



TonyD79 said:


> but a wish list can be used just to review potential movies to watch. The data is there. Why bother including it in the description if you can't search on it.


Obviously for informational purposes. Indeed, I am sometimes curious how other people feel about a program, but I would never base my decision on someone else's opinion of a movie. To each his own (or someone else's in this case) I suppose, however. It certainly wouldn't be difficult to implement.



TonyD79 said:


> I want the same capability. They do it on Netflix and on IMDB as you mention.


'And does the search by star rating on those two sources bring up the same list of movies? It does not. So which one is the correct list and which one is incorrect?


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

BobB said:


> However, since a star rating DOES appear in the program guide for movies (and thus is present in the metadata tables), it should be a relatively trivial job for TiVo to enable searching on it.


True, but my point is the search is not in any sense "accurate". Personally, I find the star rating agrees with me less than 10% of the time, but of the remaining 90%, I find it no less likely the reviewer would find the show less enjoyable than more desirable than I. Thus, something like 90% of what I want to see they consider not worth watching and about 90% of what they consider good I consider to be drek. As always, YMMV.


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## BobB (Aug 26, 2002)

lrhorer said:


> True, but my point is the search is not in any sense "accurate". Personally, I find the star rating agrees with me less than 10% of the time, but of the remaining 90%, I find it no less likely the reviewer would find the show less enjoyable than more desirable than I. Thus, something like 90% of what I want to see they consider not worth watching and about 90% of what they consider good I consider to be drek. As always, YMMV.


You make a good point about star ratings being dependent on the reviewer's taste. However, by the time the star ratings make it into a system like the metadata of the cable channels, it represents not one idiosyncratic reviewer's taste but a sort of averaging of the industry. You will rarely see a movie that gets four stars in a format like this that is not generally considered a gem of some sort. It may be a gem of a genre or style that I don't personally care to watch, but I would probably even then be able to acknowledge its quality within its own realm. In my opinion, it's mainly in the two to three star range that individual tastes are most likely to skew a viewer's feelings about a film most strongly.

If your opinions coincide with most rating systems only 10% of the time I'd say you have extraordinarily contrarian tastes - which is great, a variety of opinions is part of what makes these forums enjoyable - but does not negate the validity of the OP's desire to be able to sort on this factor. For him at least (and, I dare say, many if not most others, including myself), the star ratings are a useful tool; not a bible, but a tip on where to start looking when presented with a list of 100 unfamiliar films.


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## BobB (Aug 26, 2002)

Looks like your wish has been granted - sort of. Per today's TiVo Newsletter:
*********************************************

TiVo Tip: Only the Best, Thank You
So you want to see the 100 greatest American movies of all time, do you? Easy! Get the AFI, 100 Years Guru Guide and TiVo will automatically record every movie from the list that comes into your living room, from Tootsie to Toy Story, Swing Time to Star Wars, and 96 more. Here's all you need to do:

From TiVo Central, select Find Programs & Downloads. 
Select KidZone Recommendations & Guru Guides. 
Scroll down to find AFI, 100 Years 
Movies will magically appear on your Now Playing List, just like regular TiVo recordings. 
Note: You must be broadband-connected to get a Guru Guide using your TiVo remote. Alternatively, try browsing the guide and scheduling recordings online.


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