DVD Manager freeware released

[Rehevkor]

I've been working on this for a while as a follow-up to my less-than-great DVD Catalogue program. This one is much nicer, and as before it's totally free. You can read up on the features and download it at my website.

This program requires the Microsoft .NET Framework to run. If you attempt to install it without the framework, setup will tell you so and give you a URL to download it. You can find a link to the framework installer on my website.

Feedback is appreciated

[Rehevkor]

Updated to v1.1 and added a Find feature. And there was much rejoicing. Yay.

[Blake]

Any screenshots? I like to see programs before downloading. What sets it apart from other dvd cataloging programs?

[Rehevkor]

Screenshot:


The only thing that sets this apart from other DVD catalog programs is that I wrote it It was more of a personal effort at improving my programming skills and having fun coding it than any effort at competing with programs like DVD Profiler. I thought it would be interesting to distribute it a bit and see what people thought of it anyway.

Next I'll try something in an area with less stiff competition

[Blake]

I was just curious as to what set it apart - currently, I'm not using any tracking software, but I'm looking to catalogue my DVDs (haven't updated my dvdaf list in a while). Where are the details of the discs pulled from? Do they have to be entered manually? I guess I could download and experiment, but perhaps other people have the same questions.

[Rehevkor]

Yes, they are entered manually. I'm working up to using online databases in my programs, but the classes for that don't start until the Fall semester The whole point of writing DVD Manager wasn't to provide anything new in the category but as a learning experience for myself and a test to see how my work would hold up in general use. The next project I take a swing at will go a bit farther, so I can further improve my skills. Not to mention that a list of published programs would look good on a resume.

You're welcome to tinker with DVD Manager if you like, but if you're serious about cataloging your collection you would be better off with Intervocative's DVD Profiler. It's an impressive piece of work, and one day I hope to work on software as good as it is. I'll worry about that after I graduate, though.

[innocentfreak]

Originally posted by Rehevkor Next I'll try something in an area with less stiff competition

I know something that my friends and I have been looking for if you really want to try something else. In fact it is probably extremely simple, just none of us have programming skills.

[Rehevkor]

Originally posted by innocentfreak
In fact it is probably extremely simple, just none of us have programming skills.

Often the most simple looking idea is the hardest to implement, but I love a good challenge. What's the idea?

[innocentfreak]

Originally posted by Rehevkor
Often the most simple looking idea is the hardest to implement, but I love a good challenge. What's the idea?

A bunch of us have multiple Tivos, and we have been trying to figure out a good way to maximize the shows we record and at the same time balance the shows so we aren't recording the same thing on both tivos.

Basically we are looking for a program we can enter a show and the time and channel it records on and then when there are two shows on at the same time we can select which show we would prefer to record such as Amazing Race over Friends. In the end after entering all the shows it would list everything in the order that would record the most amount of shows while sticking to the priority ranking such as listing Amazing Race above Friends.
ie
1. Amazing Race
2. Friends.

[Rehevkor]

That's simple enough, although there probably isn't any demand for that sort of thing beyond you and your friends. Also seems to me like you could arrange things like that with your friends easily enough without the help of a program. Or maybe I'm missing something. *shrugs*

[innocentfreak]

Originally posted by Rehevkor
That's simple enough, although there probably isn't any demand for that sort of thing beyond you and your friends. Also seems to me like you could arrange things like that with your friends easily enough without the help of a program. Or maybe I'm missing something. *shrugs*

It is fairly easy to do manually except when the number of shows increases. None of us had problems until we had over 50 shows we recorded per Tivo and now most of us have over 100 shows per Tivo. At the same time we have to redo our list every couple of days when a new show starts up or another show ends. I don't know how much demand there is but I know I have talked to over people at Tivocommunity who have looked for something similar especially the ones who have upgraded their Tivo's recording time and surpassed the 100 mark on shows to be recorded.