Roadmap please

[AshitakaLax]

Hi, I've been following for a while (before the website was up and running), and was curious about where this web tool is going. I was pondering the idea of something like this, but removing words before viewing.
I do all my viewing with kodi, and have a fairly good size library of movies (100-200 movies, all purchased).

A roadmap would be great for me to findout what your path is, and what could be contributed.
for instance I would love to see a kodi plugin that allows me to login to the web account with my user screening preferences and pull the data. Then filter the videos automatically.

While I realize this is a feature that should come later after things become stable.

Thanks again love the website thus far.

[ocram]

Thank you so much for your feedback and appreciation!

What has been decided on so far is the mission of the project and how filter directives of any kind can be captured and stored in a way that is, hopefully, as universal as possible. In addition to that, the processes of choosing preferences and, later, customizing existing filters based on those preferences have been supported right from the beginning.

In order to make the results instantly usable on a huge range of devices, this included a way to export the customized filter directives to the well-known XSPF, M3U and EDL formats. However, the primary and envisaged way to turn personal preferences and general filters into personal filters and applying these to video and audio has always been the proposed MCF format (see "Specification" on the website) and future APIs that can be consumed by other software, usually plugins to popular media software.

The proof of concept, which was the very first version, consisted of two client-side JavaScript applications. It continues to be available in a separate branch. This alone was not very user-friendly, so the whole thing has been turned into a complete website. During that process, a tool for annotating video and audio and then contributing these general annotations to the project has been introduced. Yet, just as with the exports to XSPF, M3U and EDL, this is not the ultimate goal of how annotations should be compiled and contributed: It would probably be easier if you had a plugin for your preferred media player that let you annotate video and audio more comfortably and more precisely. Apart from that, a media collection has been added to the website where contributed annotations can be stored and accessed.

Now, the way ahead is absolutely open for discussion and would greatly benefit from further input. So any comments, ideas and questions are really welcome!

I was pondering the idea of something like this

What became clear before starting this project was that there have been many small attempts at filtering solutions, but most are either not universal (rather custom solutions to individual subsets of the general problem) or have been abandoned already. So this was born as an attempt to provide an ambitious project that sticks to its mission and, as free software that is being developed in the public, completes all the features that are required for various use cases.

but removing words before viewing

Does that mean you want to do video or audio processing, altering the actual source? This project couldn't make use of such a technique because you wouldn't be able to share annotations or transfer filters from one language to another one, otherwise. But in the final part of the process, where media is being filtered on one's personal device, that would work, of course.

I do all my viewing with kodi, and have a fairly good size library of movies (100-200 movies, all purchased)

Support for further media software (and also devices) is one of the primary goals. The most important question for Kodi is probably: What is the best way supported by Kodi that lets you apply filters to media? Are there any means that let you mute audio or hide video, just as with VLC and MPlayer? If not, transforming the actual content is probably the only thing we can do.

I would love to see a kodi plugin that allows me to login to the web account with my user screening preferences and pull the data. Then filter the videos automatically.

This is absolutely something that would be appreciated! What can be offered in this project is probably a REST API or something similar that makes such a plugin possible, right?

While I realize this is a feature that should come later after things become stable.

Not necessarily. Are there any parts of the project that you've identified as not stable enough, yet? If you found that the current specification, i.e. the categories and severity levels, were not sufficient for your use case, that would be something that needs to be discussed before working on a plugin, of course.

and what could be contributed

Plugins for third-party software, e.g. VLC, MPlayer, Kodi, etc., are probably the thing most suitable for contributions. I will definitely ensure support within this project to make such plugins possible.

[AshitakaLax]

sweet, Thanks for all of the details. I'll look more into the code, and see if I can create some sort of swagger api documentation for interfacing with it. This way I can really learn the API, as well as create some plugin like items.

I look forward to creating a new video, filters, and trying it all out.

[ocram]

Thanks, looking forward to hearing about your progress or first results!

Probably, a reasonable first step is to investigate what Kodi is actually capable of with its plugin architecture. If plugins can mute audio or hide video, I'm sure this will be the easiest solution. It will be much simpler than editing and re-encoding media.

[codybooher]

This is awesome, where do you need help? Have you tried contacting any of the existing companies to see if they would share a few filters? VidAngel is going through some legal trouble right now and might be more willing to share...

[AshitakaLax]

I would say great if vidangel would make there filters public. I'm not sure they are willing to give up their fight just yet. I think they need to come up with an open source structure combined with them streaming. Then they are streaming it like everyone else, but the user is utilizing open source tools to filter the content.
but then they become the middle man, and could be cut out.

If you want to see if they would openly publish there filters that would be awesome.

[ocram]

@codybooher and @AshitakaLax Thank you!

This is awesome, where do you need help?

Thanks! When it comes to third-party integrations (plugins or add-ons for media players, browsers, etc.) it's really everything that we'd need help with. For all things related to the web application itself, it's probably better to discuss things in the issues here first. Apart from that, any kind of feedback, feature requests, thoughts on the roadmap, etc. are absolutely appreciated! Discussing all this here in the open would be the best solution because everybody can join the discussion and read about the roadmap then.

Have you tried contacting any of the existing companies to see if they would share a few filters?

To be honest, I don't think there's any chance that those profit-oriented companies would give up on some of their commercial assets and share them with the world under a free license. It would be awesome, but I don't think that will ever happen.

but then they become the middle man, and could be cut out

Exactly, and they would never risk that. They'll keep their filters proprietary in any case.

[kdparkinson]

I would propose working on converting the files to .mcf files to EDL format. This project https://github.com/rdp/sensible-cinema already can used EDL files to edit movies. This would give a good starting point and you can see a fully functioning filter created and used then expand to other things like chrome and firefox extensions, VLC, or other players.

[ocram]

@kdparkinson Thanks! Didn't know about that project yet. Anyway, EDL support is something that we've had since the very first days. In order to see this, just log in on the site, browse to a movie and export a filter. You will then be able to pick one of MCF, XSPF, M3U and EDL. So interoperability is there, and all filters are under a free license.