Best Free DVD Collection Software

[George]

Hi luckyjim1968,

thanks for your comment. I understand where you (and also Boris) are coming from.

With DVDProfiler you are not only getting the software but also free access to a huge online DVD database at Invelos, holding the profile data that gets downloaded at certain events. I can't remember that there was a larger initial download in my case though. However, one advantage is that this database is also fed by the many users that provide details like individual cover scans, easter eggs and other DVD specialities. I haven't seen any other "free" product offering so much DVD details at your fingertip.

"Free" of course is restricted in this case. And I absolutely agree with you, it is annoying to loose some nice features when you get above 50 DVDs. No doubt about that. If you know your collection is definitely getting bigger than that, then there are also the contenders that have no such restriction.

The GUI is indeed quite busy, as you put it. But if I was given the task the design a configurable layout that can display all possible information - I would not know how to do it differently. At least it is configurable and you can make it very simple and un-busy if you like.

I also like Mbase 2 a lot. However, it is not a DVD collection software but a Movie collection software. Because it does not offer any DVD related details it cannot be considered in this category. Think about UPC codes, audio tracks, subtitle tracks, special features, boxing and such or if you have two DVDs of the same movie from different countries or with different features. But again, what it does it does very well and is easy to use. I also like the GUI, it was done with much attention to the detail. If I just wanted to register the movies I own, Mbase 2 would be my first choice.

Btw, I have contacted Invelos the other day to provide me with a better description of the restrictions of the free version.

[korbenPL]

0.9.9.19 is released! Version 1 development started.

http://www.videodb.info/forum_en/

my full support goes to this one...

[George]

Thanks for the heads-up on PVDB.

I installed the new release and gave it quick review. Unfortunately I do not see any considerable improvements towards the release I reviewed in the article. The GUI still has a lot of flaws (see image attachment). Still no UPC identification and the web search is generally pointing to Wikipedia presenting a lot of movie unrelated pages.

I do see potential in PVDB but I also feel that it has a lot of room for improvement.

pvdb.jpg

[luckyjim1968]

Thanks for your considered reply George.

It did occur to me, although I forgot to mention it, that the category is for DVD (not movie) catalogers; apologies for veering slightly off topic.

Perhaps some thought could be given to expanding the category to cover both types as they do similar jobs, but with a different emphasis.

Save for the crippleware aspect, my comments on DVD Profiler are more about personal preference than a criticism.

I absolutely agree that it provides very comprehensive information about the DVD; however, this is at the expense (in the free version at least) of information about the movie itself.

The option to download user generated layouts, as well as manually changing the interface is a nice touch. Personally, I got in a bit of a mess, changing things unintentionally and not being able to restore them.

[Aimhere]

Originally Posted by George

Thanks for the heads-up on PVDB.

I installed the new release and gave it quick review. Unfortunately I do not see any considerable improvements towards the release I reviewed in the article. The GUI still has a lot of flaws (see image attachment). Still no UPC identification and the web search is generally pointing to Wikipedia presenting a lot of movie unrelated pages.

I do see potential in PVDB but I also feel that it has a lot of room for improvement.

Just offering a few comments on Personal Video Database (PVD)...

Wow, your "Select Movie" dialog is really that badly munged up (with the overlapping, unreadable rows)? Mine doesn't look like that at all. I don't know why yours shows that second column of tiny images, either (all mine shows is the list of matching titles with year of release). Which site are you using for your movie info?

The Web search lets you search on any of several sites, it only points to Wikipedia by default because that happens to be the first one in the list of sites. If you click on the word "Wikipedia" to the right of the Web Search box, you get the complete list of available search sites. If that's not enough for you, you can add your own, or reorder or change any of the prepackaged searches, in the program's preferences. (I suggest going into Preferences and moving IMDB to the top, if that's the one you prefer.)

As far as UPC codes, there is a "Barcode" field available. It's true that the "Add New Movie Master" dialog has no provision for entering a barcode directly... you have to add the movie by other means (i.e. a title search), then edit the record to add the barcode info. If you have any programming skills, you could write a script to lookup a movie by barcode on whatever web site you like for UPC-related searches, then download and extract the movie information (including images) and populate your database fields. (That's the beauty of PVD, you can write scripts or plugins to do just about anything, then share them with other users on the program's website.)

Granted, most users aren't going to be able or willing to go through this much trouble just to be able to lookup movie info by barcode.

Aimhere

[George]

Hi Aimhere,
thank you for the addl. info on PVD, specifically on the scripting option. If you are into that kind of programming it really can help implementing your custom features.

[Aimhere]

Oh, by the way, PVD allows for the addition of custom fields, which can be any of a number of different datatypes (text, memo, multiselect, checkboxes, etc.). Some people on the PVD user forums add dozens of them. (With reference to the original review, "casing" and "Easter eggs" could easily be added as custom fields. I should point out that there is already a field for "media type".) These will show up on the movie record at the bottom, after all the basic fields. It's possible to make them appear somewhere else on the page, but you have to create a custom skin to do that.

Speaking of skins,you can change the appearance of PVD with them, though the process for doing so requires some technical skill. A few skins are included, though, and others are available for download.

Aimhere