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EMDB
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DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorGSyren
Profiling since 2001
Registered: March 14, 2007
Reputation: Highest Rating
Sweden Posts: 4,679
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I have no plan to leave DVD Profiler, but out of curiosity I have looked at a few alternatives. I recently stumbled across EMDB - Eric's Movie Database. It's a free movie cataloging app, and if it is - as the name suggests - created by a single developer, then I am really impressed with what he has accomplished. I doubt that many Profiler users will find it a suitable replacement for DVD Profiler, but I decided to take a closer look anyway.



It does have features that some people have asked for in Profiler, like the ability to catalog downloaded movies, and play them from the the app. But it lacks a lot of features. It doesn't list any crew other than director, writers and composer, for example. And the program doesn't feel quite stable.

Would it be possible to import from DVD Profiler? Yes and no. There is a import facility. It requires a .csv file. Creating a .csv file that allows a basic import of title, UPC/EAN and production year is not too difficult. Creating in import file that includes things like cast and features would be a lot more complicated and would require some programming skill. There is in fact no field for features other than an "Extras" checkbox, but here are two custom fields, and one of those could probably do.

The program is then supposed to be able to update from IMDb or TMDb. The IMDb update didn't seem to find cast and crew, but it did import a poster image (used rather than a cover image). The update was slow, and unfortunately ended in a crash after a while. Updating against TMDb didn't seem to find very many of the titles.

There is no way to get the cover image from DVD Profiler in a batch update. You can update it manually, but that's not really practical unless you have a very tiny collection. Getting cover images from DVD Profiler could be possible with some programming.

To sum it up, it's fun to play a little with EMDB. Don't be afraid to try it. I seriously doubt that anyone who is used to DVD Profiler would settle for EMDB. But what do I know?
My freeware tools for DVD Profiler users.
Gunnar
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantJLYoung
Royale with cheese
Registered: May 13, 2007
United States Posts: 97
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Thanks for the review.  Always good to have options.
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorRMHanneman
Registered: August 2, 2012
Posts: 17
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I'm going to give it a check, the cast and crew features are fairly superfluous for me personally, so there wouldn't be any real loss.
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorMithi
Sushi Annihilator
Registered: March 13, 2007
Reputation: Superior Rating
Germany Posts: 2,217
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Quoting GSyren:
Quote:
There is no way to get the cover image from DVD Profiler in a batch update. You can update it manually, but that's not really practical unless you have a very tiny collection. Getting cover images from DVD Profiler could be possible with some programming.

Did someone say "using the XML with a proper XSLT"? 
If someone needs a batch-file for transferring the Profiler-Covers I'd need to know the path to the EMDB-covers and the naming scheme to see if it is automatable. A DVD Profiler XML-export of lets say 10 titles and the 10 resulting path/filenames should suffice.
Mithi's little XSLT tinkering - the power of XML --- DVD-Profiler Mini-Wiki
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