Movie Catalogs

[FLL]

I put tags in file names when I add links to the queue. I have a script that moves completed files to right destination directories based on those tags. Eg., for FLM stuff I have a directory /shared/FLM/, which in turn contains a subdirectory for each FLM subforum.

Not a bad system, it would probably save me some time.

I've still got a single-layer DVD burner only. Can't imagine burning 50 DVDs in a week

Mine is a doublelayer external but all my archives are single layer burns. If you set up all your burns at once it's pretty efficient: create 50 numbered subdirectories, drag files to be archived on each DVD into them so they are all staged. Then to do the actual burns you number a blank, put it into the burner, drag a subdirectory into Nero, burn and verify (25 mins or so), repeat with next subdirectory until done. A dozen a day. Though I admit by the end it was getting tedious, I will take a break before I do the remaining 350GB.

The other problem is that I am not sure about the lifetime of discs. Even some of my older commercial DVDs have read errors. It would be a nightmare to check hundreds of DVDs regularly.

The advantage of DVDs to me is while it's more likely I will lose *something* it's much less likely I will lose *everything* in one event. I find I have enough archived that losing a small part of it no longer bothers me as much. The stuff I want the most is still on the hard drive, anyway. And I save the ed2k links for each archived file so I can detect corruption.

You almost sound like a UNIX guy

I have done some Unix work, when interfacing my software to a Unix system. But I've always been primarily a Windows guy, because that's what my employers needed. I do prefer command line stuff though, my preferred script environment is perl (or php which is not command line but is similar programming).

I am using similar methods, but some people who want to add cover pics and other info into the DB may need something more sophisticated.

I started doing this originally but gave it up, too much maintenance and I can always use imdb and google and flm if I want info.

[Pardal2008]

I have roughly 2500+ movies on about 500 discs, so a catalog program is a must. It's tough leafing through 4 huge binders full of discs to find that one movie I was looking for, especially since I'm easily distracted when I see other good movies I haven't watched in awhile.

I've been using Ant Movie Catalog - at http://www.antp.be/software/moviecatalog/ - for a long time because it's

1) free
2) has updateable scripts for finding movie information
3) lets you include cover pictures
4) can export to html, .CSV, and SQL
5) has a bunch of other nice features.

I've used several other catalog programs but Ant works very well, especially since it let me import from the last one I used - converting was a pain but not as bad as it could have been.

So, which catalog program do you use/prefer and what features make it the right one for you?

Hi guys,
is something new in this thing?
Phuzzy you have 2500 movies?
You can open the video library
Pardal

[ptguardian]

Phuzzy you have 2500 movies?
You can open the video library
Pardal

That is a small video library around here these days.

[Pardal2008]

For Czech users, how to set Ant Movie Catalog
and
how to set it to download script

switch2world.blog.cz/1103/evidence-sbirek-cast-i-ant-movie-catalog
switch2world.blog.cz/1110/jak-nastavit-script-pro-stahovani-informaci-z-csfd-cz

Pardal

[Phuzzy4242]

Hi guys,
is something new in this thing?
Phuzzy you have 2500 movies?
You can open the video library
Pardal

I doubt my library is half the size of some people here. I still use Ant - it's still good and it's still free. Unfortunately, I haven't kept up on burning everything to DVD - I have about 350 films waiting so a hard drive failure would be a disaster. I think FLL has it right - you might lose a single film or even an entire DVD, but that's better than losing hundreds of them at once. I guess I'll have to crack down and do that... one of these days. I'm getting a blu-ray burner to ease the pain. They're cheap enough that making two copies each (for safety) on 50GB DL disks are well worth it.

That is a small video library around here these days.

It's quite a bit larger than that now, but still not close to some people.

[starfish21]

i sometimes imagine Ptg walking round his house, weaving a path through towers of dvds,trying to find a movie.

[ptguardian]

It's quite a bit larger than that now, but still not close to some people.

Apparently big enough to get the newbies excited.

I have no idea how many I have on hard drives or how many dvds(1000s) I own and have to do constant searches to avoid duplicates because I can't remember what I have. I also have over 30 3D blu-rays and even with that few I forget what I have in 3D. Them suckers are expensive so I have to be very careful not to double dip.

[ptguardian]

i sometimes imagine Ptg walking round his house, weaving a path through towers of dvds,trying to find a movie.

I have several boxes in my attic I have to navigate around. My computer room has all the walls completely covered with racks containing dvds and my theater room has shelving I keep adding that is getting filled with Blu-rays that by the end of this year one wall will probably be covered.

[Phuzzy4242]

I have a couple hundred movies that are actual DVD's but most of them are .avi or other computer format since you can put 5 or 6 on a single-layer DVD so you get an idea of how many actual disks I have and hence the need to catalog films so I know where they are. A 25 GB single-layer blu-ray can hold 30-35 films. Dual-layer BR media is too expensive to make it cost-effective but prices will come down eventually. It looks like the industry is moving away from 'permanent' storage and more toward adding hard drives, either NAS, flash, SSD, etc. That's short-sighted and dangerous. I doubt we've reached the limits in capacity for non-volatile storage.

I got rid of almost every jewel cases because they take up too much room - I don't have to weave around through tottering stacks. I may organize the blu-rays so eMule can use them and clean off more hard drive space. Terabytes ain't enough any more.

[vidman49]

I am glad this thread was reactivated, as I had never run across it before! I did not know there were programs to help catalog movies. I have used excell for a number of years because I have the problem some of you have - I can't remember everything I have. I list the movie name, the time length, the category, the country, and a few other items of interest - plus a rating system of how much I liked the movie. I own over 2,600 official DVDs and have burned about another 1,500 DVDs and I have a list of over 2,400 on hard drives. I try to keep a back-up of everything on hard drives in case of failure - but I am probably behind by about 200 or so for backing up. I hate downloading a movie just to find I already downloaded it earlier. Even more, I especially hate buying a movie just to find I already had it on my shelf.

I am looking up the program mentioned to see about switching over to using it to catalog my movies, though it will be a lot of work at this point if I do the whole thing. When I really like a movie - I still buy the DVD or BluRay - I still prefer an official hard-copy, especially if there are extras - I especially like the director's commentaries and extra/deleted scenes. Unfortunately, on foreign DVDs, many extras are not subtitled, and I love foreign movies.

Yes, downloading is "illegal," but if more people did it like me, I think the studios would not be so against downloading. I have bought hundreds of movies I would never have purchased had I not downloaded them first and found out I liked them.