Right, MoviePly is defo the best of those free alternatives. Most other ones just make my pc hang and are smoke factories in comparison.

Installed DVD Chief and tried using it. Inserted a dvd - "Minority Report", but no info was added to the database. Loaded a BluRay - "AVATAR" and the same thing happened. Tried to manually add it by doing a search on IMDB and my computer froze. Will be unloading this software.

"Does it also have numbering and location capabilities?

What do you mean by that?"

Giovanni, I store my physical DVDs in numerical order, with some located in one part of the house and others stored in another place. I would need a field which indicated where the DVD was stored and another field to tell me which number to look up to find it.

@12 What Are you talking about? What does a home movie database have to do with music?

@07 There's been Comic Book databases for like 20 years. Where you been?

I give up on this.
Three times I tried to enter the same flick (The Haunting, 1963).
Each time it dutifully downloaded a bunch of choices from IMDB.
Each time I chose the Haunting, 1963.
And each time, it added a movie entitled The Haunting Hour, made in 2007!

I downloaded and installed this program. I like very much, it is easy tom use and to look at. Entering information is also easy, from movie names to cast to reviews. The only thing I did not like was that it seemed to be dependent on IE, which I do not use (Firefox and sometimes Chrome). Because of this I did find out that there is something wrong with my IE9 (it will not connect).

I would say to all that you should try this program, I think you will like it too.

Take care and keep FREEWARE flowing!!!

@ Chris (#9)

http://calibre-ebook.com/

The best book software I have ever found is Calibre.
It is free, it is mainly intended for e-books, but can be used just fine for print books too, you just create an "empty" record.
It will organize them into a e-book library for you. It checks multiple sites for book details, converts formats, is compatible with quite a few devices, can do so much I can't really tell you how good it is :)
Loads of options, very customizable without requiring a degree in it.
I gave up a software I had paid for to use this, its just better than anything else I have found.
Make sure to check out the plugins too, there are some really, really good ones.

Just got a chance to sit down and see how good this is.......... pleased to say I was VERY impressed.

I plugged in my portable hard drive, and proceeded to set it scan a folder on there; considering the amount of videos I have on there it did not take very long at all.

DVD Chief had no problems finding information for all of my backups (Made using the wonderful WinX DVD Copy Pro); From the entire 100 episodes of 'Stargate: Atlantis', through to my backups of those cinematic masterpieces like 'V For Vendetta' and 'Monty Python And The Holy Grail'

The startup time of the program, as well as the size of the program, has me a bit puzzled, but all-in-all, a fantastic little program that anyone with a sizable collection of videos should have.

I see that there a couple of comments regarding how useless some people think a movie cataloguing software is. (As for the bloke wanting a Comic Book cataloguer, try Calibre e-book manager). Using this kind of software is no different to using Windows Media Player to find album art and info for your music collection. (You probably know whose album it is, but you still download that information don't ya?)

Thanks heaps, GAOTD and DVD Chief, this ones a keeper!
(Also, in regards to my first post #2, why is a perfectly good question marked down? If it is such a stupid question, perhaps you could inform someone of the answer hmm? Obviously I submitted that before Ashraf's comment was visible; or I wouldn't have needed to ask.)

Installed fine. I tried adding three movies manually. Two of them locked up the program when going to imdb to search for details: Casablanca and Traffic. Forrestt Gump did work. I find this behavior unacceptable and am uninstalling it.

I installed DVD Chief on windows 8 with no problem. after reading the
Readme.txt I found that there will be no upgrades to future versions.
This is fine with me, But in the settings menu there is a means to turn off updates, Which may not have anything to do with Upgrades. But it seems to be disabled, I've changed the setting to never update, and it defaults right back once a week. Why?? I would rather turn that off for now, since Ive seen other GAOTD software disable Licensing after an update has occurred.

Omg Movieply is just amazing !! I think it beats all the other ones. It's much simpler, fast and found most of my movies. It can search by Actor names and the cover flow style is wooow

http://www.movieply.com

Would be perfect if it's built inside my dvd player/blue ray player and when i wath a movie it sync's with my mobile, so when i go rent a movie i will never get tha same movie again ! Or when i'm in a bar, and i want to remember the name of that movie to tell a friend...
But, put dvd on computer, take it out, put on DVD Player, watch the movie...
Another interesting feature would be -> "What's the next movie for you" once the database should be a bit intelligent and know my preferences, i could rate the movies i already whatched...

I agree w/Swamp Thing, a comic book database would really rock!!!

I have movies and cds from along time ago, but rarely use them anymore! Basicly rip and store all movies and musc, vidioes in my external harddrives! I seem to come to conclusion that this program will seek info on movies if have dvd! Does it also seek info on movies if person wants info on movies for people like me who have thousands of movies stored in their computer and rarely use dvd or cds! Seems like waste of money to buy dvds if you store mutiple movies in external harddrives taking up faction of space! Software would be useful if seeks info on movies stored like I have them! Does it??

Pros:
* Ability to collect information from different sources. You can even chain them to get all the info automatically. For example, Ant Movie Catalog, can only get info from one source at a time (data you get from other source replaces the one, you've gathered before, not completes it).
* UI is good-looking (not like many others programs with style of win95 software) and easy to use.
* Actors and their biographies.
Cons:
* UI is not responsive (opening a movie takes 5-15 seconds on my PC and it's not good).
* While the whole lot of data is stored in the DB it is not easily accessible. For example, I grabbed information from a few sources in different languages. Main view can only display info in one language only, there is no way to display all of them (you can view the info only using "Edit Movie" dialog).
Overall:
This program is actually pretty cool. I'd buy it if it did not really restricting pricing (it's 2013 now, lifetime licenses time). Also, it would be great to see more plugins (by the way, maybe you do have some sort of SDK for them?). Software development, however, started only in 2012 so, I hope a lot of stuff will be implemented in the future versions.

Had a minor glitch trying to install the first time. Second time went like a charm. I "worked" with this for an hour or so before ultimately deleting it from my machine. Had the same problem as #17 the first couple of times I tried this program, freezing machine. (Asus G74Sx , so I know its not a hardware problem) Third try I guess it was it finally downloaded SOME of the information for SOME of the movies I have on my external. By some I mean......... it downloaded a few pictures/posters for about 2/3's of my collection. I had to end up manually choosing which one to use which is no huge deal but just an added annoyance to me. It could have picked a "default" cover/poster. Very hard to change once you HAVE picked one also. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to which movies it could "find" and which it could not. Found some quite obscure old Film Noir of mine but not the X-Men? Kentucky Fried Movie but not V for Vendetta? I'm guessing with more trial and error I could have figured out how to get it to download everything ELSE it says it can get, but to just "add a movie" it seems that most if not all you get is..... covers/posters. I couldn't find hide nor hair of any meta-data.



I have a minor/casual need for a program like this so was excited to see it offered today. I'm disappointed myself but maybe others will like this software better than I did. When deleting it DID leave behind 24 registry entries for those of you who keep track of things like that.

is anyone else getting "the database is lock" when you use imdb?

Since my memory isn't what it used to be I need a physical record of all the Movies and TV shows I bought over the years on DVD and Bluray.
If only to stop buying things more than once (Night Court anyone?).
I just need some software that will take the UPC code tell me basic info and let me add where that DVD/blueray is stored or who I lent it to.
Thanks

Fredward (post 12). Enjoyed your post. BBSs with virtual cd servers! I remember the days of receiving $100 telephone bills telephoning BBSs all over the world accessing BBS posts and downloading trial/demo programs and eventually buying many of them. Not much has changed. Here we are doing it easier, faster and hopefully not selling our first born to pay for it all!

The ANT MOVIE CATALOG can import from excel, etc. Does it then automatically go out to the internet to find the info for all the movies listed in the excel file?

YES, it does!

Does it also have numbering and location capabilities?

What do you mean by that?

There can't be many people who want so much information about a movie they're gonna watch and maybe delete not long after. Most of us know who's in what and when it came out and what certificate it is. What else do we need to know? Unless you are a real movie buff and love impressing others with your knowledge - which you could pick up at IMDB anyway - this soft seems....irrelevant.

Giovanni or others,

The ANT MOVIE CATALOG can import from excel, etc. Does it then automatically go out to the internet to find the info for all the movies listed in the excel file?
Does it also have numbering and location capabilities?

Thanks,

This will ideal if I cannot read title on the DVD, it reads it for me. It do make sence like it if a forein title that hard to understand, could be a good responce. Thank

I have many DVD movies that are kept in a DVD album.
So far have not bothered to "catalogue" or create a database about them. Is there a need to?

Don't bother about the names of the movie producer, director and other mindless details like the names of the movie crew.

Want to see a movie at home? Just open the DVD album and pick out the movie you want. No need for a database.

After you have created this magical and complicated movie database, then what do you do with it?

@ Manick Mondei, post #18 If that's the best you can do in the way of lazy posts and the cheapest of cheap shots then you need to become a darned sight more clever than you so evidently think you are.

You know very well that the 'CONS' section of that review is a shorthand way of summarizing results, and that the summary is a handy little signpost to the main review text details -- well, it is for those with brains enough to recognise a signpost when they see one. You, however, you seem to be yet another of those bile-dripping posting IDs who've never once contributed anything intelligent, or intelligible, to GAOTD, and, for reasons known only to yourself, just have to have a go at Ashraf / dot tech even when no grounds exist at all for such an attack.


Ashraf and GAOTD together did a sterling job for several years in running a dot tech rerview as a thread starter, but then that lapsed due to Ashraf's time being taken up elsewhere. In his absence, regular GOATDers suffered everything from 'yay! I'm the first to post here!' to 'I don't want this software so when is GOATD going to give me Photoshop?' as an opening thread comment.

Now, and thanks once again to GOATD's thoughtfulness in allowing an objective, independent review to feature as the thread starter, and thanks especially to the time and effort expended by Ashraf and fellow dot tech contributors to compile that review, GOATD is once more the best and most informative resources of its kind.

But still the yelping about Ashraf and dot tech goes on in furtherance of the who-knows-what hidden agenda of the posters concerned. The other day was bad enough with morons daft enough to complain about "having to go to dot tech to get a link" (aw,what a shame: never heard of Googling for software then?) but this Manick Mondei sad-sack bitterness of yours is in a repellent class all of its own.

Excellent tool today to keep your movie collection under control!!

With this program you can even save your memories about any movies you may run into and then find them at any time by simply entering any part of your comment into the Search box.... sweet!!

So if you are a movie addict just grab it and enjoy!!

Thumbs UP from me (80% THUMBS DOWN?? Simply ridiculous!!)!!!


BEST FREE ALTERNATIVES

* (Portable) ANT MOVIE CATALOG (==> Softpedia Editor Pick and my Personal First choice)
Amazing FREE APP that manages your collection of movies on DVD, CD (VideoCD, DivX, etc...) and tapes with terrific advanced features, such as the ability to automatically download movie info from the NET, besides generating sophisticated statistic data with charts & pies concerning the total number of your movies' collection, the average movie length, subtitles, actors and producers for each film etc... Each movie of your collection is sorted by predefined fields (media label, original and translated title, director, producer, country, category, description, actors, rating, subtitles and languages etc...), but if you wish you can also add your own custom field using a dedicated tab.
Yes, if you have a huge amount of movies at home, usually creating a long catalog of them could actually be a tedious and time consuming task, but this software helps you cut your efforts on this since it supports importing and exporting from and to Excel files, from another Ant Movie Catalog database, from Microsoft Access Database, eXtree Movie Manager, Origons and many others.
Why this magic tool is FREE is a mystery!! Simply AMAZING!!!

http://www.antp.be/software/moviecatalog

* MEDIA COMPANION
Great FREE movie & TV Shows manager and organizer offering full XBMC integration.

http://mediacompanion.codeplex.com/

* EMDB - Eric’s Movie Database
Cool fully portable, easy to use and well-designed FREE movie cataloguer tool which, unlike most similar apps out there, doesn't need a .NET framework.
With this awesome little program you can create a comprehensive database of all of your movies you own, no matter if they are on vhs, cd, dvd or data files (.avi, .mp4, .mkv, Flv etc...).

http://www.emdb.tk/

* My Movie Manager
This is another terrific FREE tool which is able to scan the HD of your PC for movies and automatically download movie details from IMDB website once it has identified them.
Movies are automatically marked as "Adventure", "Comedy", "Animation" etc... and are stored offline, not to mention that you can even play or open the folder of the specified movie directly from the software itself wih just a mouse click.
Cool, isn't it?

http://experimenter.x10.mx

* MoviePly
http://www.movieply.com

Enjoy!!

I tried to install this but the instant I went through the install my antivirus found threats and now I can't open this. I don't know if this is just me but that tells me there's a problem.

@Ashraf... you said...

CONS
*Not 100% bug free

And do tell, what software have you found to be bug free, for this is a lazy "con" and a cheap shot.

Installed without a problem. But everytime I tried to use it it would freeze and lock up my computer. It didn't matter whether I tried to manually try to add a movie title or automatically, it would not work. So had to uninstall it.

Nothing to post today dudes ! Other than this is an excellent piece of software !
lol
My $0.000000000002

Very limited market for this GAOTD. Handy, I suppose, if you are a film nut and want all the minutia about the film, actors, producers, etc.

@1 Please note that reviewer used a DVD Chief version 1.x for review, on GOATD version 2.10 (build 367) is available.

I can't find a way of entering the cast list automatically from IMDB. Very cumbersome if it all has to be entered manually.

These programs that catalog media files, I never seemed to grasp in all my years.

In the BBS days, CD's were on a virtual server and could be requested via msg to sysop to insert a requested disc. Yet with hundreds of CD's and only 3 drives at a time it simply didn't work. AS SYSOP I couldn't find the DISC! Some sysops bought those disc carrousel disk changers, even with it they can't put all their data up. Worse for copy to disk Caching, they were likely the HUBS or fidonet filebone and needed to run SCSI so their data space on HARD DRIVE was small, couldn't dump all those discs and so bottleneck, later there was copy only the freq'd file programs, but I digress, it sucked.

Then years later after the first winamp, there were all these mp3 programs, but they drug the system to a CRAWL with their indexing.

itunes turned out to have drag and drop (great for adding media to after effects) but all the extra stuff that comes with itunes and is tied to specific versions of quicktime or some ghastly thing, finally turned me off to that method.

Magix had a media manager whatever. Fun at first, then... as time went by again drag system to CRAWL

Throughout all these years and programs I managed it all with ztree.
The Fastest god damn file manager on this PLANET.

Produced TV show, Produced Videos for Bands, Produced my own music, Software downloads, Patches, everything. All the directories managed via ztree for ALL THESE YEARS. and XTREE on DOS before that and mc on Linux.

If I cataloged 1000 discs, it wouldn't make a difference, sometimes HANDWRITING and plain naming convention is all that matters.

Lots of folks want the IMDB updates... I Never CARED. My BAND never cared about ID3, copyright or anything. about the only time you care is if you need to lookup the copyright on some ANAL LABEL like Universal with their plethora of sub labels (some of which recently opened back up), and for that I just manually look it up from the label,or ascap/bmi lookup, google, or the band can just tell me.

Blagh on this stuff. It's like Lawyers... Do you want to produce music or do you want to fight battles?

I will always vote these down.

DVD Chief support is very unresponsive. Claimed installation problem some hours ago. Still no answer ...

Installed/registered on Windows 7 64 bit no problem. IMDB & DVD Empire databases work, Amazon does not. Have not tried others yet. Like that it takes title from disk. Saves a lot of typing. Works with compressed archival copies, e.g. DVDFab, DVDShrink, Nero Recode.

Thanks, GAotD, I've been looking for good software to catalog my movie, book, and video game collection for ages. Would this software also work to catalog video games? If not, does anyone know of good, free software that can be used to catalog books and or video games?

Thanks!

An excellent, stable, customizable, free and open source program is Ant Movie Catalog.

http://www.antp.be/software/moviecatalog

I have been using it for years without problems, fast and reliable.

Noooo! No! No! No! We want a COMIC BOOK database, not a movie database. That's C-O-M-I-C B-O-O-K, not m-o-v-i-e. You really need to get this right. Nobody watches movies anymore but everybody read comic book. You could make millions of dollars with a COMIC BOOK (!) database! You won't make 17 pennies with a movie one.

It's DVD Chief, Version 2.10 Build 367.

I agree it would be nice if they all listed the info.

Hi, @4 (Spodo Commodo), I too would appreciate if Developer stated on GAOTD (goes for all Developers) which Version is being offered - without us guessing and looking for it on their Websites, simple as that! Versions for DVD Chief can be found here, if it helps.:
http://dvdchief.com/history/

Which version of DVD Chief is this?

A thread in their forums says that, because of a change to IMDB search, info can only be downloaded from that site in version 2 which was released in December 2012.

(Apologies if this appears twice since it disappeared the first time I submitted it)

Free Alternatives : My Movie Library

http://mobasoftware.com/mymovielibrary.php

Sounds good, but will it recognise my dvds that I have backed up as mpeg files?

Pros
*Allows you to input movies manually or have DVD Chief automatically grab movie info from DVDs, Blu-rays, video files (all major video formats supported), or ISO images
*When inputting manually, all you have to do is input the movie name and DVD Chief then pulls the relevant movie data from an online database and stores it inside DVD Chief’s database, which is then available offline
*Supports IMDB, DVDEmpire, DVDList, Blu-ray.com, Amazon, Kinopoisk, TheTVdb, and TheMovieDB
*Movies can be pulled in batch from online databases and stored inside DVD Chief
*Works with TV shows, too
*Stores a significant amount of information about each movie/TV show: title, cast, genre, crew, studios, MPAA rating, description, runtime, release date, countries released in, plus cover image and any other images you want to add
*The database of movies/shows is highly searchable; you can search by over two dozen criteria, including but not limited to title, cast, rating, studio, and runtime
*Once you have a movie or TV show in the database, you can manually edit any of the information about it, if you like — including add images
*Allows you to mark movies/TV shows as seen, unseen, in collection, on wish list, on order, not in collection, for sale, or loaned to someone and filter by these criteria
*In addition to movies/TV shows, stores data about people related to movies (actors, directors, etc.)
*You can have multiple different databases
*…And more

Cons
*Not 100% bug free
*Laggy interface

Free Alternatives
EMDB

Final Verdict
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