I've tried over 15 different movie database/organizer programs in the last four days in my quest for finding the best suited for my needs. I was surprised by the sheer number of programs available in this category.
I've narrowed down my choice to
five six, no doubt there are other good programs in this category, some of which have been mentioned in
this thread.
Four Five of the programs I've picked deserve a mention coz they're worth trying out once at the very least and may suit you best, depending on your requirements.
The
fifth sixth, which I think is the winner, I've covered in a little more detail.
Special mentions in no particular order:
Ant Movie Catalog (Freeware)
http://www.antp.be/software/moviecatalogOpen architecture, very flexible, support for scripts - tons of import scripts available.
Catvids (shareware $ 39.95 - fully functional trial available)
http://www.fnprg.com/catvids/An overall well designed program with a strong set of features & a well designed & configurable interface. Really fast IMDB updates!
Movie Label 2008 (shareware $ 49.95 - fully functional trial available)
http://www.codeaero.com/movie-label/Has the most features of any program in this category.
Definite overkill for those who don't want a very complex set of features + interface. Very likely overkill even for those who do want tons of features
Office 2007 interface - the love it or hate it factor applies.
Eric's Movie Database [EMDB] (freeware) - [
Nighted's review]
www.emdb.tk The best looking program of the bunch - a few insignificant bugs but I never lost my data to it even after extensive use (adding 100+ movies).
Only supports IMDB for online importing, very quick.
Only imports thumbnail sized covers.
Lacking certain functionality that almost every other program in this category has.
A very good choice if you want to quickly catalog your movies without too much fuss into an attractive looking app.
Sole developer + No open architecture reg. plugins, read: if the development stops & the IMDB functionality breaks, you're screwed and will be forced to move your data to another organizer (which is possible thanks to .csv export functionality, but a pain all the same)
Movie Collector (shareware - Standard $24.95, Pro $39.95 - fully functional trial available)
http://www.collectorz.com/movie/A full featured, polished app and a popular favorite (read the next few posts in this thread for more info)
My Pick!Personal Video Database (freeware)
http://www.videodb.info/index.html
What's to like:
- Sole developer but open architecture - Has an SDK and plugin functionality, which means you won't be stranded even if the main app's developement stops.
- Fast IMDB import, includes every major field IF the user wants
- Three views, grid, normal (flat list at the side with detailed info on the right), and tree. The tree view lets you configure its nodes and sub-nodes, for example you could have a main node for year of release and a sub-node under that for country and a sub-node under that for genre and yet another sub-node for the first alphabet of the title. There doesn't seem to be any limit to the number of sub-nodes and there are 20 fields to pick from so you can see just how powerful a categorization you can have.
- The database includes a section for people, you can retrieve info for selected cast/crew from online sites, most other programs do not support this.
- Preview and import (approx dvd case sized) posters and covers from several sites.
- Imports from Excel - you can map the fields and the import order in the plug-in preferences, so the app can import data from pretty much any app that supports .csv export.
- Threaded app - you can work on something even while it's busy online, retrieving data.
- Support for adding custom genres - even whole new custom fields.
- Links to physical files, lets you play the movie from within the program as long as it's on HDD or the correct media is inserted. Intelligently disables the play option if the link is inactive.
- Customizable interface, every significant field can be shown or hidden. Fields like cast that can get rather large and occupy a lot of space can be configured to collapse inline. Layout colors can be customized.
- Statistics (bar graph views) based on several categories
-
Amazing Ajax search 
: This is possibly one of the programs best features, there's a search box in the main window, and you can search not just titles but _anything_ - directors, cast, year, description, personal comments, rating, you name it and it's there! Just use the dropdown menu to select the field you want to search and start typing and it immediately narrows down the movies listed to match the criteria. This feature is simply fabulous and no other program comes close. If that's not enough, there's also an Advance Search which lets you specifying more than one field to further narrow down the results.
- The program is being actively developed and the author interacts in the support forums.
5 stars - a total winner! I'd recommend it even to people who haven't bothered archiving their movie collections yet.
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). Is there anything that'll let me do this in direct stream mode? I assume Premiere or Vegas may be up to the task but they seem like total overkill for this.
) & anyone who posts here.