Actually, it was DVD Profiler that was down for quite a while in 2003. There is a big thread about it somewhere over at HTF, and the owner actually posted some updates about it. That downtime is the only reason I stumbled upon DVDAF. I paid for my DVD Profiler premium registration, and it was worth every penny.

And, yes, Gutwrench, I am here as well. I'll be in your town next weekend, so I'll be sure to stay away from your collection!

No way man! Let's hook up at Rock Bottom Brewery and slam a few pints.

I give my vote to DVD profiler and that mostly because they have pretty much every DVD. I have quite a few R2 DVD's and they are mostly a problem for the most but not for the profiler.

DVDSpot works best for me. I used DVDAF and Guzzlefish for a while. I like the statistics on the DVDSpot site.

Really? Hmmm. I've been a lister for quite some time and remember them being down maybe twice...if that. When they were....Ed told me exactly what was going on without the bullshit. And they were not down long. A bunch of us donated some cash and the new server was pumpin' as soon as promised. it's profiler that went down more than once and offered poor communication. Being available off line just is not enough saving grace for me.

As far as titles....I have almost 2,200 and all had already been in the database or were added within 24 hours of me submitting them. That included rare imports.

Dvd Aficionado suits me quite well. I just started using dvdspot and it's quite good as well. Though navigating there site isn't as easy as aficionado. They seem to be missing quite a few wrestling dvd's. Which is a major part of my collection.

I use them all. You never know when one site will go down or call it quits.

Same here.

Once you get them all in, it's not a big deal to maintain the lists. You can easily export from Profiler to Aff. With a little more effort (using the XML file option in Profiler to get all the UPCs--wish they'd include those in the CSV file), it's also not too hard to copy your collection from Profiler to DVD Spot.

If I had to pick one, it'd be Profiler because:
1. I like how it looks
2. I like some of the reports you can generate
3. I like the fact that it's not totally web-based (for example when it did go down, I was still able to use the local version of the program, and when something isn't in there, I can still add it to my list)

I like Profiler because it allows me to search my collection. I can select only DVDs that have audiocommentaries, and sort by production year and pick out a movie from the thirties, or whatever I want to do.

Another vote for DVDAF here. Why not give it another shot when the 2.0 site is up and rolling? Its pretty reliable; the only other time I remember it being down is when NYC had its last blackout.

I just tried DVDAF and DVD Spot. It's easier for me to import my collection in DVDAF than in DVD Spot, because I have a mixed collection of R1 and R2, plus few R3 from Korea. Just copied the column of DVD title in my excel file (I didn't record the UPC). But for DVD Spot, it listed mostly R1 DVDs for me and lacked many titles (e.g, 1900!). Therefore it would take more time to load them up. Maybe with UPC it will be faster, but not for me at this moment.

I may try the DVD Profiler later.

I just signed up for Flix Society and it is looking very nice! I like the focus on the users and community. How very Web 2.0! These are the kinds of sites we will find more of in the next internet era... Impressive!

The only downside is there are too few DVDs listed at this point, and I don't know how I'm going to add all my foreign DVDs. I will see if I can add them myself.

I wonder though... With all the features on the site, it's got to be made a paysite down the road. I can't imagine ads alone can generate enough revenue to keep the site up. If it grows nicely and isn't neglected, I would happily pay a reasonable yearly membership.

===

Edited to add: My actual recommendation would be DVDspot. I love the format and layout. I'm not a fan of the actual appearance of most major DVD cataloguing services out there.

DVDAF is easiest and the best IMO

I'd like to add another vote for DVDAF. I find it has the best look to it and the best database that I've seen. I do find the submissions are bit tricky until you get the hang of it and tend to take longer to update compared to DVDSpot which I also use.

I would also like to point out that I'm for the DVDAF and less than for the DVDAF forums.

I'm really hoping that DVDAF 2.0 will be a lot better. Maybe I'll finally be able to add my titles to more than one folder. I use DVDAF and DVD Spot and they both have their strengths and weaknesses.

I also tried to participate in the forum discussions at DVDAF but that didn't last long, maybe there's something wrong with me, who knows but I don't think they liked me very much and the feeling was mutual.

I had high hopes for DVDAF 2.0 (about a year ago), but now that I've seen it - I'm not very enthusiastic about it anymore. It tries to look flashy, but it instead looks worn and unimaginative. Some features are great, but it's taken so long to come up with only a few new features.

And T.Bickle, it's not just you that has had problems with DVDAF's forums, trust me. Their forum (my frustration with it) is a big part of the reason why I've been helping out with Flixsociety.com

Flixsociety.com has a very nice setup, but they need to add alot more titles in their database for the online collection tracking.

I use a program called Movie Collector from collectorz.com because:

I don't have to worry about an online site shutting down and making me have to redo everything

it grabs data from amazon US, dvd empire, imdb, sendit, amazon FR, amazon UK, amazon CA, amazon DE, amazon JP, dvd-shop, atlantic dvd, dvd Fr, and the collectorz.com dvd database. I don't really have to worry about not being able to get the info with all these places I can choose from.

It a database so I can do all the normal database stuff like searches.

I can keep track of who I loaned stuff out to

If you have a barcode scanner you can input movies that way instead of typing

It can design fancy websites with your movies including pictures of the cases and also has links to imdb and other places. The way I had it set up was one page was the index and each movie linked to it's own page. I'm in the middle of getting everything to my new site but I'll throw a link up of my collection to give an example later.

If it downloads data from imdb, it grabs the rating there and you can compare it with your rating

Export to HTML, XML, CSV

If you don't know what you want to watch you can have it randomly pick something either through the entire collection or a specific genre

You can make graphs to look at statistics like how many movies you have from a director or studio or a certain actor, etc.

You can set the "In Collection" status for movies to be, in collection, not in collection, wanted, in collection or for sale, for sale, and not in collection or wanted

You can easily print lists for insurance purposes

I use DVDAF, but I always liked Guzzlefish (apparently not working anymore) and Profiler. DVD Spot is good, too.

The DVDAF forums were pretty good for a while, but then they got WAY too strict with their rules. It's great they want to keep the jerks out and keep it cool, but, man, they really cracked down to the point where it was usless to try to post anything.

Also, this is my first post at DVD Talk. It's nice to be here.

Yeah Studd.....I remember you.

Nice to have you here.

I still use dvdaf for tracking....will until they are dead, I suppose. I have too much time invested to pull out. I still prefer the tracking portion by a long shot. Too many jerk-offs invaded the forums and the ones needing to be banned...live on.

Plus, when I became ill and had many hospital stays.....I never heard from more than 2 people during the whole ordeal....especially the head guru. After donating the $ I did....I expected a little "how ya doin"?

Here, I must have recieved over 30 emails and PM's asking how the progress was comin'. Oh well...like I said...I still prefer dvdaf for my library tracking and still like little about the others. Most of all...I owe my brief time as a spotlighted true dvd whore to dvdaf. It was there that I was noticed by the New York Times and even some of my quotes were printed in the Dvd Revolution college textbook from last year.

Good times...and bad times.

For those who have multiple programs, how do you get them all in? I like the way DVDAF has different genres, but I'm not about to type all my titles in again.. or buy a barcode scanner.

Wow, that's pretty sweet.

I wonder if DVD Talk will ever morph into a setup that allows you to track your collection here al la flix society....

Collectorz.com looks good. Is it any different than DVD Profiler?

I just didn't care for their tight grip on everything that was said. You weren't even allowed to refer to someone by name unless it was for something positive. I recall responding to someone's post in a thread that was found on the first page. It was up to the third or fourth page by that point, so I included their posting handle in my response so people knew what the hell I was talking about. That was promptly snipped out and when I questioned the logic behind that, I became a former member thanks to Ed's Banning Button O' Doom. We'll ignore that I had never questioned anything until that point, nor created any sort of problems beforehand, but I suppose any sort of questioning to how things worked over there wasn't allowed.

At the time, it bugged me a lot and I eventually registered a new user name over there, but found that the place was so structured because of the posting guidelines, few people stood out as individuals. Instead, it just seemed like a bunch of people sharing the same brain with no flair in anything they posted. I'm no fan of messageboard donnie brooks, but everyone should allowed to be themselves within reason. So even though I got a new account there, no one ever realized who I was, but it didn't matter since I stopped posting (and subsequently, stopped checking) over there before the summer was over.

But I still prefer their original purpose over any of the alternatives by a longshot. It's just a shame that the powers that be have no clue how to run a successful community and insist on running everything with an iron fist.