DVD Profiler. Worth paying for?

StevenFC · 01-17-2004, 02:07 AM

Would someone like to give me an opinion as to whether or not DVD Profiler is worth a premium registration? I would like to support them--but if I'm going to buy something, I want to make sure that I'm buying the best.

Any recommendations?

Casey Trowbridg · 01-17-2004, 03:48 AM

My suggestion would be this. Look at all the options you have for keeping an inventory of your DVDs, these will include: Guzzlefish, DVD Collector, DVD AF, and a number of others that people may have suggested. See which one you like the best and think of the reasons why, and then decide.

I like DVD profiler, it is my main way of tracking everything, but I'm not sure I'd pay for it for reasons that likely only apply to me and not anyone else.

Just my .02

Andrew Bunk · 01-17-2004, 04:50 AM

I'd probably remove Guzzlefish from the list. They're really falling way behind in title updates, and title like Indiana Jones have just disappeared from their database.

Ryan Wishton · 01-17-2004, 05:50 AM

Keeping a DVD inventory for me consists of putting the DVD's on the shelf... It doesnt cost me a cent...

I must admit that I do like checking out peoples collections though. Why you ask? I have no idea.

William Waits · 01-17-2004, 06:55 AM

Quote:

I would like to support them--but if I'm going to buy something

You may want to support them, but they DON'T want to support YOU... With their latest update, they changed database structures. In doing so, they TOTALLY screwed up the updating process.

I can add new items. I can download from my profile. I can upload to my profile. However, updating any profile fails, and about 10% of the images fail as well.

This problem was NOT in the previous versions, and occured only after updating. I can reproduce the problem every time with either an update, or a brand new and fresh install. I am a premium registration holder, and you know what their answers are:

- Clean install (as indicated, been there done that - doesn't work)
- Use database repair tool (shouldn't have to do that on a new and fresh install, but OK, I did - it didn't work)
- You are just going to have to live with it

I have reported the exact error messages and whathave not, and they show no investigative measures whatsoever. They claim because they can't reproduce the problem, that they can't solve it... Well, I've worked in software developement, and that is a piss-poor way of thinking... It gives you an easy cop out against not solving the problem. There has been many times that I couldn't reproduce a customer's problem, but you have to attack it from a different angle - Ask yourself, what would specifically cause the messages to be seen? (Can't write to disk, can't read file, etc..), and then find out what could be causing those issues (corrupt file, disk full, can't read database table, etc..) You'd be surprise at how many problems that you solve that way when you can't reproduce the customer's experience... Sometimes, it leads to deficiencies in other programs instead of your own or what I call a "lack of surroundings" for the end user (such as having on 3 MB of HD space left), so just because an error message is present, it doesn't mean that it is your program at fault, but you have to tackle it that way...

**HTF Ads**

Scott_F_S · 01-17-2004, 07:13 AM

I have the premium, I bought it for two reasons ... to support them (I always do with shareware that I end up using frequently) and because the images are much, much better.

No problems at all like William is experiencing.

Robert Crawford · 01-17-2004, 07:20 AM

With a dvd collection approaching 2400 dvds, "DVD Profiler" is an essential tool for me in keeping track of my dvd collection. I don't have any of William's problems. Also, I do have the premium package.

Crawdaddy

dpippel · 01-17-2004, 08:00 AM

I also paid for a premium registration, have been using the product for 3 years, and have experienced none of William's problems. I'm using the latest version and build. Has DVD Profiler had issues? Sure. All software does. But in my experience Intervocative has been good about identifying and correcting bugs in a timely manner. In my opinion it's $25 well spent if you have a need to organize your collection electronically.

Christian Heber · 01-17-2004, 09:37 AM

I paid but I regret it. They add new titles way too slow, though I guess they add R1-titles fast.

01-17-2004, 09:56 AM

I recently bought the premium package, but not for any reason other than just to support the product. I have been using it for years and have never had any of the problems the above person mentions. The better images are nice and the ability to turn off ads is nice too.

Kai Zas · 01-17-2004, 10:11 AM

I also ended up paying for premium registration. It's a top class program that gets frequent updates en bugfixes and it deserves my support.

Ofcourse, with new versions, other bugs show up. This is normal with any piece of software, so don't worry too much about it. The program has a build-in backup function. USE IT!

They are kind of slow with other regions, but that depends mostly on the users, doesn't it. I don't know why people complain about this. If a title isn't in the database, take an active part in the dvd-profiler community and add the title yourself! That's the way this program works. No point in wining about what you can fix yourself, right?

stewart borland · 01-17-2004, 10:21 AM

Premium package for me too

No problems with new upgrade, brilliant system and not expensive - well worth supporting I'd say.