I Catalogued My Entire Physical Media TV And Movie Collection (1 Viewer)

[Kevin Collins]

I have my entire collection catalogued using DVD Profiler. I have 3648 optical discs entered. I had to resort to putting numbers from DVD Profiler on each disk and then storing them numerically as it is impossible to move that many discs for a new alphabetic entry. So, the entire family uses DVD Profiler to find what movie they want to watch and then we get the DVD Profiler # and look it up in the appropriate door. I went with custom made cabinets to hold them all as it was more space efficient that way. It took A LOT of time to move to putting the numbers on all the discs and sorting them, but it is well worth it now with that many discs.

 

[DennisBassi]

I tried something like this in the past, but unfortunately it didn't work for me. Most of my collection still remained unlistened to, regardless of the format.

In practice, I've found that I usually listened to the same few bands repeatedly and not a whole lot else. Hence my disc buying pattern, is largely those particular bands.

I have an extensive collection ripped to iTunes and my iphone is 256GB and pretty much holds everything. Then I listen on shuffle play for ALL songs which by definition dictates that I don’t go back to the same few bands. You would be surprised how this enhances the enjoyment of the collection that you have curated for years. You listen to things you forgot you had and it moves you for the same reason that you bought it in the first place.

 

[DennisBassi]

For my video I have been using CatVids for over 20 years. The publisher has retired but still updates existing licensees. I have found nothing better and I have about 1900 entries. I use Catraxx for my music which is from the same publisher. Both programs download all the informational details from online. I use iTunes for what I have ripped and Catraxx for my entire collection, many of which I have not gotten around to ripping. I have a bar code reader to enter them upon acquisition.

 

[Kyle_D]

I used to keep a simple Excel spreadsheet of all my discs, but I recently started ripping my entire library of UHDs, Blu-rays, and DVDs to a local Plex server. The Plex interface works well for cataloging and browsing. So far I've ripped about 600 movies and a dozen seasons of television, and I have about 250 movies and 20 seasons more to rip.

While it's been a chore to rip all my discs, it's extremely convenient to simply press play on the AppleTV without needing to pull the disc of the shelf and sit through FBI warnings, forced trailers, BD-Java loading screens, etc before the movie starts. Quality is bit perfect over my local network except for lack of Dolby Vision support, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for convenience. As an extra bonus, I've gained peace of mind that my discs are all backed up, as I've lost about a dozen movies or so over the years to disc rot.

I use Roon in a similar manner for all of my music.

 

[MovieMan66]

A

 

[DaveF]

Media-tracking systems are a dime-a-dozen now. I use MovieBuddy, which works on iPhone and iPad, has a shared library so it works for both my wife and me across our separate devices. It can scan UPC-codes. And it costs all of $5. I have all blu-ray, UHD, and digital purchases in it. I didn’t bother with DVD since I never watch those anymore, except for TV series.

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[Charles 22]

I did something like this about three months ago, and my tally was around 500 seasons; not discs, seasons. As far as movies went, I may have as much as 200. I actually sold a ton about a year ago, and my only excuse for this excess is I plan to sell it all one day. In fact I have a stack of them I have both viewed and will sell. To further break it down with the notion of selling a great many of them, they remain until I can get into that total mode of chopping off the only slightly desired bits.

 

[ArnoldLayne]

I have all my DVD (233) and BD (2049) captured on Blu-ray.com, and their free app on my iPhone. It's perfect. In addition, all my CD (1226), DVD, and a few BD are ripped to disc. I use Plex for all those digital assets, with the Plex app for desktop, iPhone, and on the Roku attached to my HT receiver- it's fantastic.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I used the MyMovies app extensively until I set up a Plex server in 2019. Nowadays a new disc gets ripped and added to the system, and I’ve gotten lazy about adding to MyMovies. Just using Plex itself has taken over for my database needs.

I have a simple list in my phone’s Notes app of titles that I only have digitally - it’s such a small list compared to what’s in my Plex server that I don’t worry about having something more integrated for it.

 

[Blu_rayfan66]

I have all my DVD (233) and BD (2049) captured on Blu-ray.com, and their free app on my iPhone. It's perfect. In addition, all my CD (1226), DVD, and a few BD are ripped to disc. I use Plex for all those digital assets, with the Plex app for desktop, iPhone, and on the Roku attached to my HT receiver- it's fantastic.

I use the same- Blu-ray.com. Tried a few things but find this the most convenient by far.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Some of us use DVD Profiler:

Invelos Software's DVD Profiler - DVD Collection Software for the DVD and Blu-ray Enthusiast

It's mostly pretty convenient, including the mobile apps' ability to just scan UPC bar code. I do very sporadically run into rare cases where a specific title's not (yet?) in their DB (and I don't feel like creating my own entry for it)... and it doesn't really accommodate digital purchases (so far) other than letting you customize a little for makeshift-DIY cataloging of those.

Currently, I have over 2800 titles catalogued (though I'm actually a fair bit behind mainly for digital purchases since beginning of this year) -- I only catalog digitals where I either don't already own the disc version or the disc is lower quality...

_Man_

I've been using DVD Profiler for years and years

 

[JediFonger]

i use blu-ray.com’s db and app “my movies”: https://www.blu-ray.com/community/collection.php?u=85595&action=hybrid

 

[greenscreened]

When I got my first PC in 2000, it came with Winamp, which I was using to catalogue my CDs.
Didn’t know much about that app, or what it could or couldn’t do, as far as search functions go.

I bought the Microsoft Office Professional 2000(?) package at Costco, as neither of my PCs was ever on the internet (afraid of viruses).
I then started committing my CD collection to Microsoft Access.
I could have used Word, but it was too limited (I think) for my purposes…pulling up all songs albums for an artist, regardless of when I added them, or if they were part of a comp.

I chose the Access database because there were so many ways I could enter and gather specific criteria from that DB or others. It seemed to me it was a lot more powerful than Excel, back then at least.

I bought my first Mac in 2005, strictly for internet security and iTunes (though the latter was also available for PCs as well).
I then noticed I didn’t have to use Access anymore, since iTunes did that automatically.

I did buy the Microsoft Office package for Mac, but it doesn’t come with Access, or can’t be bought separately (don’t know why).

Fast-forward to 2007 when I started backing up my DVD collection, ‘cause from what I’ve heard, they are more susceptible to disc rot, and, it was easier for me to watch selected episodes w/o messing with too many discs.

I may try and add that Microsoft package to my current Mac, and try using Excel, since I have many themed video playlists, with lots of meta data in the comments, description, category, grouping, composer fields that help recall those playlists.
Sure, most of this data will be saved in the files themselves, even without having to save the Music folder or at least the .itl file, it’s just an extra backup.
Plus, if I’m watching a DVD and find some new criteria to add, I just add it to the spreadsheet.


One of the only things that is not embedded in the files are playcounts, which are kind of important to me.
So, what I’ve been doing (rather laboriously) is saving my playlists via File>Library>Export Playlist.

I then go to the folder where the playlist in question is stored, right-click it and choose ‘Open In Numbers’ (app), which is close, but no cigar to Excel or Access.
Stored that way, it will remember the playcounts from the last backup, as well as skips, last played/skipped.

Of course, after a week or two of activity, I repeat the process of backing up the playlist in iTunes, then adding that newly updated playlist to the Numbers doc.

The file ratings are not stored in the actual file, but I don’t use them in my iTunes video library.
Don’t know when iTunes started automatically rating files for me (at least as far back as 12.8), based on the unrated songs on the same album or by the same Artist or video file, but to me, it’s intrusive.

I do have playlists by rating, so if I wanted to play only 5* rated files via a Smart Playlist, it will also pull up greyed-out 5* ratings, as dictated by iTunes, which negates the purpose of automatically grouping songs with my 5* rating.

My work-around is eliminating the Rating column, and using the BPM field…30=3*, 35=3½* etc. instead.
I suppose I could also use 0-999 BPM, but I don’t think I need to be that detailed...yet!

 

[Richard V]

Main resource is Movie Connect (Mac) and CLZ Movies (iPhone) - sync'd together - both by Collectorz.

Started with a spreadsheet (which I still keep up to date, but not as much data as the apps)

I also use CLZ Movies

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Well, I'm really old school, then. I started cataloguing my stuff using Quark Xpress desktop publishing software and have been building on that document ever since (my QXP usage goes back to version 3, and I still use the app in my profession). Statement-size pages (5.5 x 8.5") so that they could be folded/saddle-stitched into a handy little booklet. Was about 24 or 32 pages or so when I first started doing that around 1995 (this was back in "tape-trading" days when folks in the hobby often swapped printed lists). I followed the example of 'legendary' (in some circles) tape-trader Bill Anchors, who ran the mail order company Star Tech in Dunlap, Tenn. I listed episode-by-episode, with quality designation, "generation" (first-generation being an off-air recording or store-bought tape), recording speed, and "tape number". For example, E 1 SP ST-1.

I certainly don't print the list anymore (it's grown exponentially), and after not updating it for a few years, it became way out of date (I not only list commercially-available stuff, but also things I've recorded off-air, etc. so the list probably includes a lot more things than most others). To keep it from being excessively time consuming (and long), I usually don't even list individual episodes anymore (especially for UK shows with short-run seasons), I just say "series one, six episodes", etc.

I certainly have no interest in re-entering things into new software (who has the time?), and since I'm the only one here who knows where stuff is (and exactly what I have), it's not for anyone else's benefit (the wife prefers to stream things or watch normal TV. When it comes to 'the collection', I'm always the one who finds/retrieves it).