Movie Collector

3.0 stars

"Great Software, Crappy Database"

October 30, 2011  |   By JoeFerr11

Version: Movie Collector 8.1.1

Pros

While their database has most movies,

Cons

it is missing way too much basic information(MPAA rating, IMDb rating, actors, plot, length, etc.) about way too many movies, both recent and old. when i complained about this, they told me that i should add it myself, then send to them. it seems that they dont get that i'm paying them so they should be doing it

Summary

not worth fees

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1.0 stars

"Great Software, Not so Great Movie Database"

September 30, 2011  |   By JoeFerr11

Version: Movie Collector 8.1.1

Pros

Software is great, company seems responsive to user requests, etc.

Cons

I have only 1 gripe, but it is HUGE to me. While they have a lot of movies in their database, a HUGE percent are missing some what I consider to BASIC fields (movie release date, movie length, IMDb rating, MPAA rating, plot summary, actors, etc.).

Summary

Great Software, Not so Great Movie Database. By Not so Great Movie Database, I am Not referring to the number or scope of movies in their database, but to the completeness of those entries. And I'm mad.

I have contacted them several times and have received infuriating responses such as "we have a way for you to submit updates to our database." If I wasn't paying them an annual fee, I would be happy to that. I have suggested that they start with all new entries they add and be sure they have complete info and then go back and fill in missing info for older entries, but to no avail. At least HALF of new MAINSTREAM movies I add are missing BASIC fields. After getting nothing from my contact with them, I decided to hit the review sites (like this one) and try to put market pressure on them. If you are a Collectorz user and have similiar problems, please help.

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5.0 stars

"I have used this product for around 1 Year"

April 7, 2011  |   By robdob1

Version: Movie Collector 7.1.5

Pros

I love this program, I use the cue cat scanner and scan bar the codes on the movie and there it is, then search, movie shows up complete with all info..I have just begun using the current version and no complaints.
all Pros

Cons

No Cons for me at this time

Summary

I would recommend to a friend and have done so and they are very satisfied also. I would buy again if I needed too.

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4.0 stars

"Not perfect but..."

January 21, 2011  |   By soundofmusicals

Version: Movie Collector 7.1.4

Pros

1. Independent on-line DB
2. Full network capabilities
3. Flexible structure
4. Responsive to users

Cons

1. A few fiddly ideosyncrasies

Summary

Goes without saying it's got a nice up-to-date interface, and that it does what it's supposed to do. For that matter so do its competitors, more or less. So what has it got that the others haven't?

1. Firstly - its severed its tethers to the other on-line databases. And CDDB, Amazon, ans even freedb do "tether" on-line cataloguing programs that use them - imposing conditions of use that impact on end users. The latest case is Amazon - any company giving free promotion to them through accessing their sale catalogue must now agree not to market mobile apps!! There have been some teething problems with the collectorz.com database, and it has gone down once or twice, but on the whole, we now get a higher hit rate and better downloadable records than we used when it used CDDB exclusively.

Secondly - it works properly on a network. If someone else has a file open for editing - you can only open the same file in "read only" - so no edit clashes are possible. And you can even install the application on (say) a "public" terminal to be read only, to avoid malicious or inadvertent changes to the database by "outsiders". Even if you don't want to run this on a network - its nice to know the program is a proper database application, and not a toy.

Thirdly - while it has a (more or less) completely relational structure and is generally fairly well designed - you don't have to do things in quite the same way as everyone else. There are many "reserved" user definable fields, and in fact you can rename ANY field.

Perhaps the best feature is an active and responsive (if not always overly polite) attitude to user suggestions - bugs (and these occur in any software constantly undergoing enhancement) get reported and fixed FAST. User concerns (sometimes) result in features being tweaked and improved.

I DON'T like the way that "drop-down lists" (in "relational database terms "subtables") are in some cases duplicated - as if there is someone there who just hasn't got the "relational" message. I DON'T like the way strings are sorted as if they were Library of Congress Calssification numbers?? (Don't worry too much, it probably will never impact on you but it IS very silly). But then....

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1.0 stars

"Hasn't been worth a thing for several builds"

January 19, 2011  |   By sdwillie

Version: Movie Collector 7.1.4

Pros

It still works.

Cons

It no longer does ANY of the work for you.

Summary

For a long time it used excellent dbs (imdb et.al.) to organize your library. For the last couple of years they've reduced their sources to a single db--their own, and it's horrible. On the website they claim 170,000 listings (for movies) which isn't inaccurate, but they fail to point out that this includes every single disc--South Park season 2 is a three disc set, each disc is counted toward that 170,000. Maybe worst of all, whenever anyone has a problem with finding something, they let you know that it's YOUR fault. Last, their servers go down with some regularity, which puts you in the mode of entering every bit of info until they come back online, which normally takes a while.

It was an excellent program when they played to their strengths, and left the database management to people who were good at it. Since they decided to take that on as well I'm sure their jobs have become considerably easier, if only because it's simpler to maintain a worthless db than to maintain access to a good one.

Updated on Mar 1, 2011

I feel obligated to add this--there is a fair amount of unhappiness with their database--I realize that it's a big job, but for the most part I agree. I was just looking at their forums and read a thread where someone posted why he didn't like the software, and the author, also the lead mod of the forums, posted that this user wasn't qualified to judge the software and posted his history to make the point.

Maybe someone else should explain to the software's author (Alwin) why this is unethical, because when I did he deleted my account. So you can add thin-skinned to unethical.

Never mind the complete breach of trust and that he, the author, horribly violated his responsibility to his customer, the bigger issue is when will it happen again, and what personal, privileged info will he post to the internet in the future?

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4.0 stars

"Did not realize that there was such a software"

August 23, 2010  |   By Crnalknowledge

Version: Movie Collector 7.0.3

Pros

Excellent and quite easy to use. Still have to play with program yet. So far I am trilled.

Cons

Can not comment on this now without having the full version.

Summary

Waitng to get on my feet financially and then It will be the first software I purchas. It will go great and simple to enter movies. Great control over my 2000+ titles I have. Thank you for the trial edition, I enjoyed the simplicity of it. You could even match the covers needed for certain movies not shown in initial display.

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3.0 stars

"Too many fields-too much information"

July 25, 2010  |   By sndwnr

Version: Movie Collector 6.6.2

Pros

It does just what it says it does and MORE.

Cons

Too much information (yes, that can be a bad thing)

Summary

There are many, MANY tabs, buttons, bells and whistles...IMHO way too many. The search features worked smoothly, the drawback being that I had to go in and fill certain fields (such as denoting that it was a blu-ray disk and not a standard dvd...which it should have done in the first place, since it finds your movie by bar-code). I also entered my own field under "extras" for digital copy

I just think that if the dvd is entered by UPC barcode, the correct, complete information should come up and require no editing by me (that isn't the case). I'm still mulling around whether or not I want to spend $30 on this program. Maybe somebody somewhere has a better alternative.

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1.0 stars

"This program is probably not for you."

June 21, 2010  |   By malthusian

Version: Movie Collector 6.6.2

Pros

It's a DB for your DVDs.

Cons

Use of automated scripts to scour the web for info about you DVDs so you don't have to - have been REMOVED. For a while third-party software allowed a work-around but that has been shuttered, also.

Summary

I enjoy watching movies. An open mind and a Netflix membership showed me the extent of cinema beyond the confines of my local video store. My tastes matured, Hollywood blockbusters with see-through plots no longer interested me. At the periphery of film I found great - often overlooked - gems among independent, classic, and foreign films and I began buying these enthusiastically. I started using version 4 of this program in 2006 to catalog my DVDs and I can tell you it was great. The information found from many sources around the world was customizable and saved me lots of time. Unfortunately, this functionality has been completely written out of the current version (6.x). As a result, if you collect DVDs that are off the beaten path (i.e. independent, classic, or foreign cinema) - this program is not for you!

From Collectorz:

"P.S... URGENT NOTICE: While Movie Collector is the fastest, most powerful version we've ever made, it does not fit the cataloging methods or collection styles of all of our customers. If you have an collection of
older films, mostly adult movies, or MUST have data from sources like IMDb, this upgrade is NOT FOR YOU. I repeat, if you fit into one of these
categories, then you are most likely not going to be happy with Movie
Collector 6.1."

So if you enjoy having a unique DVD collection that includes anything other than the most common titles - be prepared to manually cut and paste - or - worse yet, use a keyboard to input your information. Not exactly quick and easy (!) for lots of DVDs. And that's the problem - if you didn't have lots of DVDs in the first place you probably wouldn't be looking for a database to help organize them.

Otherwise, if you're lucky enough to find your movies in Collectorz's user submitted database you will soon observe that it lacks many of the details that you were probably hoping to find about your DVDs. Collectorz database entries are riddled with with user submitted errors, too.

The bottom line: The current version of this program really misses the mark. Stay away from this stinker!

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2.0 stars

"Awful compared to version 5. Version 6? NO! NO! NO!"

December 14, 2009  |   By cookiebun

Version: Movie Collector 6.4.1

Pros

You can catalog your movies if you don't mind typing in ALL THE DATA yourself. And finding your own cover images.

Cons

No more access to amazon or imdb. ISBN searching always comes up short too. You have to hope they have something close to your dvd already in their "EXCLUSIVE" database.

Summary

I will NEVER EVER install an update for this product again.

This WAS a good program, now its junk. They rave about how great their own database is, but actually it's pretty limited. Now I remember why I never bother to update my software. They actually want the people who've paid for this software, as much as 60$, to scan their own dvd covers and upload them to their database. For 60 bucks, I think you should pay me a few bucks for my efforts. I will not be "linking" my collection and I certainly won't be uploading my dvd covers either.
I'm rolling this back to version 5 even if I have to re-catalog my entire collection. Use an old version of this, never install the updates or buy some thing else entirely. Freeware preferably

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