And he'll find nothing because what DVD Spot gives you is a .ZIP file. (Does anyone actually read the other posts?)

How to get your DVD Spot collection:

1. Go to DVD Spot and go to Membership Tools

B. Click the Export To File button.

3. Click the big Export link. (Note the small text reading: Exports your DVD collection into a Zipped CSV file format. This format can be read by many types of applications, such as Microsoft Excel.

4. Select the Save File option and click OK.

5. From the dialog box that comes up, navigate to wherever you want to save the file. Put it someplace easy to find like My Documents or Desktop.

6. After download is complete, go to where you saved it and double-click the file to begin the extraction process. Save it someplace.

7. Open the CSV (comma-separated variables) file with Excel/OpenOffice/Google Docs or import into DVD Profiler and get crazy.

No, he'll find it, because Windows XP (and presumably Vista) treats .zip files like folders in the file system. I just did a simple search test to make sure.

Assuming he is using a recent version of windows, search looks in compressed folders, so it would find it... I was strictly clarifying the search process and the file extension, not the DVDSpot process.

I just downloaded Profiler, even though I vowed I would never go back to it, and now I'm not finding where I can upload my backup from Spot. Will Profiler accept the Spot backup file, or do I have to enter every one of my dvds from scratch?

And where in the Profiler program do you go to do this? From everything I've been able to find, Profiler won't accept a csv file.

You have to use the steps in the DVD Profiler forum thread mentioned upthread here. (Don't have time to find the link.) It involves added a plugin and following a couple of steps, but it appears it sucked up my 1500-title collection without many problems. When I filter by format, I see some regular DVDs being lumped in with Blu-rays, but otherwise it appears to work well. I need to poke around a bit more to see if I'm gonna drop the coin for it, but the import went bloodlessly for me.

So not only do I have to search through this thread for the link, but then I have to search through a Profiler forum thread to find out how to do this? Fuck that. It's either going to do it or it's not going to do it, and since there's nothing in the Profiler program to directly import a csv file, I guess it's not going to.

Too much damn trouble. Uninstalling Profiler, and a big fuck you to the assholes at Spot. I hope these precious "other projects" you're going to be working on all go under, and you end up begging for change in the streets.

Jeez, who urinated in your breakfast cereal this morning? Here, calm down and let me make it all easy for you...

I went to the "Search this thead" box up top and searched for "plug-in" which led to this post which referred to this thread and instructs us to scroll down to the 7th post by mediadogg. It's really big and detailed and a little confusing, but the punchline is that with the BulkEdit plugin (available here), I was able to import my whole Spot list without any errors that I've noticed.

There. No work necessary for you to do short of someone coming over and clicking the links for you. You're welcome.

I don't blame the Infidel for feeling frustrated with the process of importing your collection into DVD Profiler. I did it but it was a hassle. I think it would have been easier to do it manually one title at a time. First the bulk edit only imports 50 titles with the free version and will disable the function afterward. Anymore DVDs that require importing and you have to buy the paid version to restore the bulk edit function. DVDProfiler more or less forces you to buy the paid version to import your list. Another problem is it only imports the list of titles, and you have to go back and download the DVD covers and title information separately. A real pain in the ass if you have a large collection. It also can miss titles and add titles not in your collection. I spent a lot of time removing DVDs I didn't own, or looked for DVD titles it flat out missed. I still have about 5 DVDs remaining from my DVDSpot list that are not on my Profiler list I haven't found yet. Even using the bulk edit function I have spent hours working on getting my list imported completely and have not finished yet.

Well, if DVD Spot didn't take the gas pipe, we wouldn't be in this discussion in the first place. (If DVDAF hadn't screwed the pooch too.) Getting the covers and title info is an automatic process for Profiler, so what's the problem?

Manually add 1500 titles? Not happening!

Can someone who catalogs their collection with Excel post a screenshot or a file please? I'm thinking of listing my collection that way but can't figure out the best way to go about it.
Thanks

Each DVD is a row, each column is a field you care about (Title, UPC, Genre, Release year, director, etc).

You use as many columns for as much as you're interested in tracking. You might track the date purchased and how much you paid, for example.

Oh, and there are a world of spreadsheets beyond Excel, many better, all free:

http://www.openoffice.org/
http://www.gnome.org/projects/gnumeric/
http://docs.google.com/

It might still be cool if people posted their sample screens, to give everyone ideas on how to format them or such.

For those of you wanted Excel examples, here's what I do ..

Part 1



Part 2



A - Title
B - (Blank)
C-J - Decisions throughout time whether I want to keep title
K-L - Genre/Type
M - Country
N - Country/Genre Sort
O - Run Time
P - DVD Edition
Q - Misc Notes
R - Distributor
S - Release Year
T - Discs
U - Region
V - Disposition (Anamorphic/Full Frame/P&S)
W - Aspect Ratio
X - Soundtrack
Y - (Blank)
Z - Rating
AA - (Blank)
AB - Director
AC-AD - Actors
AE - (Blank)
AF - Amount Paid
AG - Purchase Date
AH - DVD Release Date
AI - UPC
AK - Location Purchased

Drop in some filters and it's easy to manipulate the data. It's a fairly simple table, but it works for me.

I am an idiot when it comes to excell. For one how do you get those things at bottom for instance that say owned, film pending, etc.

Also if anyone out there has a blank one of these that they created that they would mind letting me and other idiots use it would be appreciated. I used DVD spot and tried using DVD.af but I dont like it. Need something to catalog dvds until something else comes along that I like. If not I will try and figure these things out.

those are worksheets. IIRC, they can be inserted from the insert (?) menu.

What does "film pending" mean? Is it for movies in theaters or otherwise unreleased?

What I'm doing with mine is making the film or show title an IMDB link, so I don't have to include info about it (at least for now). For boxed sets, I'm using a row for each title and then merging the cells for the "unit" title and UPC. Here's an example from what I've done so far for the HD collection:

They are called worksheets as kms_md pointed out. When you open up excel there are 3 default sheets in any new file (Sheet1, Sheet2, Sheet3). Just double left click on any one of them to rename or single right click and select insert to add more sheets ..

It's really a generic table that I track DVDs I intend to eventually buy or rent. I include release dates, version info (which region, distributor, etc.), ranking of importance (I wish I could buy them all at once!! ) and some misc notes.

But I also throw in foreign or unreleased (including release dates if available) domestic films of interest so that I don't miss out on 'em when they come around stateside later on. I rarely go to the theater so it's primarily DVD info only.

So in short, it basically covers any film that I don't yet own ...

That's not a bad idea. I was thinking about do this at some point (and I still might), but I like having the ability to group my films by specific information like director (and eventually writer, which I plan on adding in), genre, country and so on. IMDB = no help on that end.

It can get as sickening (complex) as anyone really wants it to be really.

Just wondering but why aren't people using a database program to create and manage their databases? Sure, a spreadsheet works for simple layouts but a database would be more versatile for additional info such as viewings and imdb info.

Because the people that are going to have trouble setting up a spreadsheet aren't going to want to learn how to make a database. It's probably just easier and enough for most people.

Also, all the stuff that you mention for doing in a db can be done in a spreadsheet. If in the future they want to move up to a db, they can import the data from a csv file from the spreadsheet they already made.

The star of this thread will be the excel master that comes up with a fancy spreadsheet and lets everyone download a copy.

Any excel experts out there will to take the challenge? Even if one person starts something, others can build onto until we have some sort of increadible spreadsheet going.

Well, at first I was going to transfer all of my DVDs that are on DVDSpot to DVD Aficionado. I got most of them, but a lot they didn't have the exact DVD that I own; either the UPC didn't match up or the Edition was incorrect. I think I might still try and keep my DVD Aficionado page up-to-date, but I just finished transferring everything from DVDSpot onto a coherent and clean Excel sheet. Not as in-depth as some of the ones posted above, but here is mine:



I like this better than DVD Aficionado, and this way I am not dependent upon a site that could shut down to keep track of my collection.

My collection on Excel looks a lot like kstublen's. Tried to keep it simple.

The only cell descriptions I have are:

-DVD Title
-# of Discs
-Region Code
-Details
-Loaned Out

Maybe I'll get more detailed sometime down the line, but I just wanted something so I could keep track of my collection.

An idea for the spreadsheet people, add a column for covers since you can import images.

Don't forget to save your stuff. Zero hour approaches.

DVD AF for me...*sigh*. I shall miss those cool statistics....

I just added my mother's DVDs to my collection and did a final export. Sucks sucks sucks sucks SUCKS!!!

BTW, WTF are the "other great web properties" that were more important, so I can boycott them?!?