Media and RETS 

RETS accesses the media servers on the NTREIS MLS System.  Media added to the MLS system is immediately available to RETS users. 

NTREIS provides a tool for verifying the media exists on the Media Servers.  Use this link:

http://ntreisphotos.ntreis.net/vendors/MediaLookup.asp

and enter the MLS Number.  The results will display all the media as it exists on both servers that store media. 

Every listing has a MLS Number and UID in the Property Class.  The UID in each Property Class links to the TableUID in the Media class.  In addition, there is a UID in the Media class. 

• The MEDIA UID does not link to the UID in the Property Classes. 

• The TABLEUID in the MEDIA Class links to the UID in each Property Class.

You can download media from the media servers using “GetObject” and the MLS Number or you can link to the media on the NTREIS MLS media servers.  Currently, the media is 200GB in size.  By linking to the media as opposed to downloading the actual files, you will minimize the amount of space you need for storage and not have to manage the media files.  Linking to the media also decreases the amount of bandwidth needed, allowing for better performance by all.  Linking to the media on the NTREIS Media Servers may be the optimal way to access the media.

NTREIS previously used a separate NTREIS Media Server where the Media Table contained fields with the URL’s for the low resolution and high resolution media.  Although the Media Class on the NTREIS RETS Server does not contain the URL’s, you can either

1. Use the RETS “Location” parameter to download the media URL’s or
2. Generate your own URL by using the TABLEUID and MEDIASOURCE from the Media class. 

You would then use this URL as a link that will access the images on the media server. 

To download the URL’s use “Location=1” in your RETS client, or if you are using the MarketLinx RETS Connector client, Under the MEDIA tab, check “Add Locations to Data File”.

If you wish to generate your own URL’s, follow the instructions below:

To start with an example, these are the URL’s for the low and high resolution images for MLS Number 10442368:

http://ntreispictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/37/HR2019637-1.jpg

http://ntreispictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/37/LR2019637-1.jpg

Pasting these into your browser will display the images for this property.  The URL consists of:

1)  “http://ntreispictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/”

2)  the last two digits of the TableUID,

3)  “/HR/” for high resolution media or “/LR/” for low resolution media; and

4)  the MEDIASOURCE

Below is the SQL Script that you can use to generate the media URL’s.  You would modify this as necessary to insert the URL into your media table. 

select

'http://ntreispictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/' + RIGHT(TableUID, 2)

+ '/HR' + MEDIASOURCE,

'http://ntreispictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/' + RIGHT(TableUID, 2)

+ '/LR' + MEDIASOURCE

For reference, a similar script was run on the MLS Data that returned the MLSNUM, TableUID, MEDIASOURCE, and the generated High Res URL.  The results are below

Deleting Media Files

The MarketLinx Tempo MLS System does not have an intrinsic method to identify media that has been deleted from the MLS System.  When a user deletes an image or other media from MLS, the corresponding file is removed form the Media Table with no indication to RETS users that the image is no longer in MLS.  This requires users to download 2.8 million rows in the media table to keep the user’s Media Table current.

NTREIS recognizes that RETS users needed a simpler method to keep their Media Table current, especially as users make frequent updates to the listings and media.  NTREIS created a process that identifies which UID’s in the Media Table have been deleted and outputs these UID’s to DeleteMedia.txt file.  Users can download this file from http://www.ntreis.net/resources/DeleteMedia.txt. DeleteMedia.txt includes the date the media was deleted. 

An updated DeleteMedia.txt will be available at half past each hour and will contain the last 60 days of data. 

NTREIS recognizes you may have media information that has been out of date for some time.  There is a much larger file that can be downloaded from http://www.ntreis.net/resources/MASTERDeleteMedia.txt  which is a list of UID’s from the past few years that have been removed from MLS.  You may want to use this MASTERDeleteMedia.txt file once initially and the DeleteMedia.txt file on a regular basis.

If your media table becomes out of synch with the MLS Media Table, you can download the full MLS Media Table via RETS and then apply the current DeleteMedia.txt to remove the most recently deleted UID’s. 

Media Types

There are seven MEDIATYPES in the Media Class:

Per NTREIS Rules and Regulations, the media type, “url” should never be displayed on an Internet website that faces the public.  NTREIS monitors the media type, “vt”, to ensure no contact information is present anywhere on the information displayed by the media type “vt”. 

The media type, “url” is not monitored.  You may not wish to use the media type, “url”, as it often contains  the contact information for the listing agent and or office.  NTREIS suggests you give careful thought to using the media type ”url”.

Updated: 5/26/2009