Movie Manager

[Utley]

I have about 1,000 movies stored on my hard drive.  I have been searching in vain for a good movie database manager to help me keep track of the movies, provide a brief synopsis of the plot, list the actors, etc. to help me decide what I want to watch.  Can anyone recommend a good movie manager?  Freeware or paid software doesn't matter as long as it will scan my hard drive to load the titles.
 

[thedemon]

Kodi will do all those things. It is free.

 

https://kodi.tv/

[sniffdog]

Plex ... It plays your movies too. Also software like collectorz.com


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[Utley]

On 10/6/2016 at 10:17 PM, thedemon said:

Kodi will do all those things. It is free.

 

https://kodi.tv/

Thanks - I'll give Kodi a look.

[Utley]

On 10/7/2016 at 9:47 AM, sniffdog said:

Plex ... It plays your movies too. Also software like collectorz.com


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Thanks - I'll give Plex a look.  FYI - I ran into installation problems with collectorz' software and had to ask for a refund of the purchase price (to which they readily agreed).

[tutsiwarrior]

with the mentioned software does the user input all the info for the film or does the program 'read' catalog data from the item and make the necessary entry onto the database?

 

if the former probably too cumbersome but if the latter would be great to have the same database software for books and recordings too!

Edited October 8, 2016 by tutsiwarrior

[Peterw42]

As others have said, kodi is good, If you want a great DB program (it does play as well) have a look at this one. It scans HD then gets covers, synopsis, cast etc from internet. Easier than Kodi to set up.

 

http://www.emdb.eu/

[johng]

I use this one

 

http://mediacompanion.codeplex.com/

[lopburi3]

http://www.collectorz.com/movie/

 

Above is pay but very good and often updated - they have there own database to input all information from title and it works well.  Had tried half dozen other and this is by far the best.

[sniffdog]

Suggested this in an earlier post but OP had problems with the installation.


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[lopburi3]

Sorry - was adding information for another poster asking how information obtained.  OP might give the free download a try anyhow - might be issues that were preventing install have been resolved and a no cost option to try.

Edited October 8, 2016 by lopburi3

[Digitalbanana]

5 hours ago, tutsiwarrior said:

with the mentioned software does the user input all the info for the film or does the program 'read' catalog data from the item and make the necessary entry onto the database?

 

Usually not much to do from the user end if the movies and TV series are stored well on your HD. Usually a folder per movie and a TV series stored per series folder, then stuff like Kodi will catalogue, provide artwork and synopsis all for you.

[JHolmesJr]

Actually trakt.tv is pretty amazing…simple to use, great interface….it syncs up with a few kodi add ons and your kodi library…very handy to subscribe to episodes of ongoing tv shows.

[tutsiwarrior]

55 minutes ago, Digitalbanana said:

 

Usually not much to do from the user end if the movies and TV series are stored well on your HD. Usually a folder per movie and a TV series stored per series folder, then stuff like Kodi will catalogue, provide artwork and synopsis all for you.

 

sounds great...I got a lot of DVDs that I wanna put on hard disk and it now looks like I need to arrange that inna manner that would facilitate cataloging later...good to know...

 

I've got the entire 70s 'Upstairs, Downstairs' television series on DVD and to identify individual episodes would be handy...

 

and there is the normally obedient parlourmaid Rose, lamenting the death of her husband in the Great War and the sanctimonious head butler Hudson takes her to task: 'we must be strong! otherwise our enemy will defeat us!' and she rounds on him with fire raging in her eyes: 'take yer bleedin'  self sacifice somewhere else yer bleeder!!! I lost the only person that I ever loved!!!'

 

magnificent...introduced by Alistair Cook who always reminded that we were about to watch a melodrama...

 

 

 

[lopburi3]

I am really starting to wonder if we need to collect - there is so much media to watch today that there is just no way we are going to have time to rerun anymore.  Really believe the era of collections is passing us bye - but being creatures of habit we are still stuck in the VHS era in spite of our limited remaining shelf life.  

[tutsiwarrior]

5 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

I am really starting to wonder if we need to collect - there is so much media to watch today that there is just no way we are going to have time to rerun anymore.  Really believe the era of collections is passing us bye - but being creatures of habit we are still stuck in the VHS era in spite of our limited remaining shelf life.  

 

lop...there are always challenges...I lost my beloved Memories of Underdevelopment (Tomas Guiterrez Alea - Cuba, 1968) on VHS and I couldn't replace it on DVD no matter how hard I looked...then last month I torrented it and there it was! in Spanish with portuguese subtitles which is a challenge...colloquial cuban Spanish is doggeral and extremely difficult to understand in the best of times and the production values (audio) of the film leave alot to be desired...

 

Fidel pounding the table in an interview after the Bay of Pigs: 'no nos van a intimidar! patria or muerte! venceremos!!!' and a theater packed with supporters roared at the UC Berkeley campus in 1970...

 

 

[thedemon]

1 hour ago, lopburi3 said:

I am really starting to wonder if we need to collect - there is so much media to watch today that there is just no way we are going to have time to rerun anymore.  Really believe the era of collections is passing us bye - but being creatures of habit we are still stuck in the VHS era in spite of our limited remaining shelf life.  

 

I was thinking exactly the same thing. 6 years ago I moved house and (reluctantly) threw out my entire CD/DVD collection because more or less all the content could now be downloaded and stored digitally.

 

6 years later I have no regrets about doing that but now with the advent of reliable high bandwidth internet and streaming (e.g. Kodi addons like Exodus) I now wonder whether maintaining any local collections is worth the effort.

 

To put that in perspective, I have a 100Mbs connection at home so in theory I could download 1 SD movie (average 700MB) every minute which will then take 2 hours to watch. Certainly I feel mortal.

 

 

[tutsiwarrior]

yeah...it is certainly the consensus that why should we bother collecting if any media is at our fingertips...

 

but I look at my shelves of DVDs and select Red River, one of the finest westerns ever made and there it is, mine, in my hands...whole, round and pure...

 

streaming video on demand just ain't the same...

[lopburi3]

True - not the same - but an argument can be made it is today rather than yesterday.  And suspect most of us not running for president are little concerned with our apparent hand size.

[Utley]

On 10/6/2016 at 10:17 PM, thedemon said:

Kodi will do all those things. It is free.

 

https://kodi.tv/

I installed Kodi and I have to say - it is a very nice piece of software; exactly what I was looking for.  Thank you for the recommendation.

[JSixpack]

15 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

True - not the same - but an argument can be made it is today rather than yesterday.  And suspect most of us not running for president are little concerned with our apparent hand size.

 

Then again, vinyl albums and retro hi-fi systems have surged in popularity in recent years. :) Old friend of mine always insisted in keeping his ancient rotary phone in his kitchen . . . .

 

But more seriously there's a lot of free streaming and downloading happening now but who knows how much longer that'll last. G'bye Kickass already. Some fine old movies only exist on VHS and a rip someone has kindly uploaded on a torrent site, with maybe 1 or 2 seeders. And haven't we always heard anguished cries here that a Thai ISP is "blocking" or "throttling" or "stuttering" or "down?" In short, having your own collection, organized, instantly accessible, has its merits.

 

The live streaming is a great addition, however. Good thing ISPs are so fast & stable nowadays compared to just a few years ago--but maybe not quite to the point that most can now "cut the cable" if that's what they're heavily relying on. 

[tutsiwarrior]

very true...there is definitely a retro aspect to my attachment to my DVDs...

 

I still have problems with touch screen telephones and devices with key pads are becoming increasingly hard to find...

[lopburi3]

Do not disagree - just removed my SIM from a smart phone I started giving a try about six months ago (which somehow turned on data after I had turned it off and wound up with excessive bills for last month or two) and returned it to my Nokia under 1k baht dumb phone where such nonsense does not happen.  Just as I was starting to get used to touch screen.  

But it is a lot easier to carry than today's smart phones - and I prefer to people watch when out and about.

 

But speaking of the world and today's data rather than just Thailand.  And most of the world now has access to pay service which makes sense (you make the choice of what you want to watch when your want to watch it).  

[Digitalbanana]

14 hours ago, tutsiwarrior said:

I've got the entire 70s 'Upstairs, Downstairs' television series on DVD and to identify individual episodes would be handy...

 

Don't bother with it myself, but all that kind of stuff is already on Kodi with Exodus or Specto addons inclusive full synopsis and every episode ever made available to stream.