DVD Profiler. Worth paying for? (1 Viewer)

[StevenFC]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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...

 

[Scott_F_S]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[Christian Morley]

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]

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]

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

 

[Christian Heber]

Kai Zas: I do submit titles. It took about one month for them to accept X2 and Futurama S4. Though first they didn't add my X2 (I followed the contribution rules), instead they added someone’s contribution which was practically empty. Mine was added later though.

By the way, according to DVD Profiler a 200x280 picture is bigger than 370x530.

 

[Jeff_HR]

From my POV it is worth paying for.

 

[Kai Zas]

What do you mean?

 

[Larry Bevil]

I've had the premium version for quite some time. The program is well designed and certainly worth the money. I continually add titles that are not in the database and within a fair amout of time, they are added to the database. I have had very few problems with DVDProfiler over the years. Highly recommended.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Count me as another Premium supporter of DVD Profiler. $25 lifetime registration is a ridiculous bargain for what is easily the best and most comprehensive on/offline DVD database currently available.

I have not experienced any of the issues that William Waits reported, but I have not yet upgraded to version 2.2. I am still using the previous version, 2.1 (build 616).

InterVocative has a very substantial message board with several diferent forums regarding DVD Profiler. You might want to post your reported issues on the DVD Profiler Technical Support Forum. I had some minor problems when I upgraded from 2.0 to 2.1 and received immeadiate assistance after posting in that forum.

 

[Tony_Faville]

I have been using it as a paid user for over 2 years now...it's well worth it, I find it indispensable and have never had any problems with any of the upgrades.

And my insurance agent accepts it as official inventory for my renters insurance.

 

[David Norman]

I have been registered for at least 2 if not 3 years and I think $25 for a 'lifetime' contract is certainly a good deal. Like Tony, I think it will probably be a nice Insurance Inventory issue in case a disaster or robbery occurs. I think at least one HTF member had this happen recently and it made a nice list for the police dept and Insurance company to work for replacing a large collection -- small amount to pay for a potential $5K problem.

I'm approaching 500 DVD's (even counting each multi disc box set as an individual title) and it's nice to be able to look at them all in one list.

 

[Jay Taylor]

I paid for the premium version and love it.

I especially like the numerous printouts you can make using the “Reports” feature. I make a full-page printout of each DVD that I own (~865 DVDs). Without the premium version the DVD covers in these printouts would be inferior unless you scanned them yourself.

Then I place the printouts in document protectors and large 4” binders on the bookshelf in the home theater room.

By doing this I can keep the DVDs stashed in a more secure room while still allowing visitors to select a movie by viewing the beautiful printouts.

This helps keep kids from playing Legos with your DVD collection.

Jay Taylor