Weekly Update for 1/24 - 1/28: A Brief Interlude

Probably because all the dung-handling they do.

Oh, you were talking to Ivan…

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Woohoo, got my code for the shorts collection!

If I’m reading my lists right, with the shorts collection available, there’s only two shorts that won’t be available in the Gizmoplex either individually or as part of an episode.

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Which ones were not there?

Also- does anyone have copies of the MIGIZI shorts? I donated, but don’t remember if there was ever an option to download them. And I can’t seem to find my link for the webpage that hosted them…

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I was really glad to see Assignment: Venezuela in the shorts collection. That’s such a hidden gem!

I’ve got them from ripping the streams when they were up. Happy to circulate the tapes if no one objects.

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The Sport Parade: Snow Thrills (311) and Century 21 Calling (906). Both were on DVDs.

Also should have specified classic shorts. The MIGIZI shorts aren’t there either.

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Both of those are available at ShoutFactoryTV.com so I would assume they’d be available in the Gizmoplex. (Eventually, at least.)

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I certainly do not object! Though I’m just one man…

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So is Dr. Neil Connery, and he can do EVERYTHING!

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It’s a surprisingly complicated technical answer. How badly do you feel the need to know?

Well, I am a computer programmer by trade, so I’d definitely have some professional curiosity! But if it’s a bother, I can just let it go.

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A guess by a forensic programmer - requires a unique string/key/identity to generate each, hence the slight change in spelling, as the same spelling is not allowed twice.

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So, the way BackerKit is set up, we create a list of what rewards each person gets.

The BACKER collection and DELUXE collections are considered different rewards, but both of them ALSO receive the SHORTS collection.

To distribute digital rewards, you make rules that essentially amount to,

“If reward = BACKER COLLECTION, distribute = SHORTS CODE.”

The problem is, you can’t do OR or AND conditions, so if you want to distribute the same digital reward (SHORTS COLLECTION) for two different rewards (BACKER and DELUXE collections), you have to create two separate rules.

The name you give the rule is what backers see in BackerKit, where you saw the #MadeMoreMST3K and #MakeMoreMST3K distinctions. And – here’s the kicker – you can’t have two rules with the same name, so the only way to give the code to everyone with either reward, and have the name still make sense, was to make it just SLIGHTLY different, knowing almost NO ONE would ever see both.

If we had put (e.g.) SHORTS COLLECTION 1 and 2, or BACKER and DELUXE, people would get confused and ask (e.g.) why they had COLLECTION 2 but not 1, or why DELUXE didn’t seem to have more shorts than BACKER did.

Make sense?

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Not without the PERL listing.

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Yes, that all makes sense. I’m sure that the BackerKit name is a primary key of some table somewhere. It’s unfortunate that whatever code BackerKit uses doesn’t let you have more flexibility about the rules you write, and has such limited conditions.

Software limitations can be… frustrating.

Right now, I’m actually dealing with a software limitation of SQL that’s forcing me to write some code in a C# method inside an application to update some records, rather than to do it in a stored procedure on the SQL server like it SHOULD be. But, unfortunately, SQL is just so much more limited of a language, that you can’t do some of the “fancy” things you can do in a higher level language like C# (such as a “foreach” loop)… ugh!

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Does anyone know if the Emily shorts for Supermarket and Fair will be made available? Or if anyone has them currently? I’m hoping they will be up for purchase in the Plex.

Inquiring minds need to know!

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We don’t even get server access. We’re limited to their front-end GUI.

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Gah. Still, that ensures the experience is simple and safe!

image

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My employer decided (before I was hired) to purchase NetSuite as their ERP system, so I’m in the same boat. Coming from a job where I had direct access to an on-site Oracle SQL Database that includes the PL-SQL programming language ON THE SERVER, to an internet based ERP system where I can only modify and control data by using Javascript on the customized GUI and only able to obtain read-only data via SQL-92 (as in… 1992 standard!!!), it’s like moving from having God-power to becoming Oliver Twist begging for some more gruel…

FEEL MY PAIN… FEEL IT!!!

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@ivan - I’m sure this has been raised before, but the Shorts Collection brought it to the fore again. Is there any way to have the file’s extended metadata already set when downloading movies and shorts from VHX? I had to manually add the titles to all the shorts so that they would display properly in my NAS. Possibly this is something controlled by the vendor and nothing you can affect, but if it’s possible it would be a real help!

EDIT - Here’s an example. This is the short’s properties in Windows. The Title field was blank when downloaded, I filled it in so that my player app would use that instead of just the filename.

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