Any tips on using new Leopard features with the pedias?

[ScottH]

I know Spotlight has all pediaitems indexed. Has anyone played with Saved Searches in Finder, or QuickLook, or new Spotlight capabilities to better access pediaitems and their metadata when the program's not running? I tried setting up a Saved Search with kind=pediaitem, but haven't been able to get it to work yet.

[EDIT: Oops, just found Conor's note in the Support forum, and the video in the new Articles section on Bruji.com. Maybe that will cover this! Still, anyone with other ideas or experiences, please use this thread.]

[Conor]

I wanted to send you a screenshot of my new sidebar in Leopard, but I am in Tiger at the moment testing. I have saved searches for PediaItemBook, PediaItemDVD and PediaItemGame named DVDs, Books and Games. If you do only PediaItem, make sure you sort it by kind to keep the items from each pedia together. Under the view options command you can tell it to always open in Cover Flow; the only thing I've been having trouble with is getting it to remember that I want a large window size; I always get the default window size. Selecting the sidebar items will not change my current window size of course, but I also have the smart folders in my LaunchBar and that opens a new window. Also double clicking the item in the Cover Flow takes you to the program but then it also brings the Finder forward again, so I double click on the list or use the command-o to open an entry, while 10.5.1 comes around.

[ScottH]

Thanks, Conor. I was able to set up the Saved Search after viewing the video (and turning Spotlight off and back on in DVDpedia). Coverflow for pedia items is a great bonus, and it's very nice that QuickLook will show me the cover and all the info for a DVD!

One question for anyone who's experienced at Leopard Spotlight searches: I've set up the DVD "Saved Search" of all my DVDpedia items. But now I'd like to do a search OF those items. I'm looking for something with less keystrokes than typing "pediaitemDVD moviename" into Spotlight (and without using the Dashboard widget). Is there a way to search JUST the Saved Search for items? Every time I try this, I get a system-wide search.

I love using DVDpedia to organize and view my collection, but that quick search, without having to open it or leave it running, is something I do all the time.

[Conor]

I too wonder if it's possible to easily restrict the search to items in the current folder. I personally use "DVD: Princess Bride" when I do searches to type less. Of course depending on the type of files on your computer (many text files mentioning DVDs) DVD: might return to many results.

[iBoy]

I am really impressed of the new possibilities with Leopard. I have tried to make a search of "PediaItem", but Spotlight only finds a few of my movies, only those added the last month I think. Is there a way to "speed up" the Spotlight indexing so it finds all my movies faster, or do I just have to wait?

[Conor]

Turn the Spotlight off and on again to reindex the Pediaitems in Leopard. You will find this option under the help menu of the program. The Cover Flow and Quick Look are nice.

[nestor]

I know Spotlight has all pediaitems indexed. Has anyone played with Saved Searches in Finder, or QuickLook, or new Spotlight capabilities to better access pediaitems and their metadata when the program's not running? I tried setting up a Saved Search with kind=pediaitem, but haven't been able to get it to work yet.

Hi, I recently bought DVDpedia and it's a very nice app and the integration with spotlight/quicklook it's great! I'm trying to make a more complex search with finder to have a saved search that shows the dvdpedia items marked as "not seen" in a custom field but didn't succeed. What are the DVDpedia metadata that spotlight can see? At present the only metadata I found in "others" menu in the finder search menu that could work is "comments" but I'm wondering if a "tag" or "custom" metadata could be added to the others...am I clear? (sorry for bad English)

[Conor]

You are correct, custom one is not included in the spotlight items. We tried to keep it to the most useful fields to not fill Spotlight with to many results, also custom titles would not appear on Spotlight because they are user customizable (it needs to know them ahead of time). You do bring up a great point that the tags should be included, they are a recent addition to the programs. We shall add the tags to Spotlight for an upcoming version. In the meantime comments are included if you would like to use that field and are not using it for anything else.

[nestor]

@Conor:
thx for the fast reply...I'll be waiting