That's what I'll miss the most.

Ah.... and then reality set in.

Thanks for the heads-up.

Would you feel that way if DVDTalk ever shut down?

Isn't that what I just said to him a few posts ago?

Reading the entire thread is so 90s.

Heh that's what I get for going afk and not refreshing before I submit the reply.

Argh! I wish this would've been posted earlier.

I did at least save the webpage with my entire collection, so I'll have the thumbnail pics. I also exported my collection, so I'll have all the UPC and title info.

I know, sorry. I discovered it maybe 15 minutes before I posted. I had also been saving a few of the pages by hand.

We all need to lurk more.

No need to apologize. It was very considerate of you to post the app here in the first place. I had checked dvdspot last night to see if it was still up after midnight, but I hadn't caught up on this thread until today. Had I seen it last night, I still would've had time to use it.

I was able to display 'all' my owned list on one page, so it was pretty easy to save. I also thought to save my stats page.

It's really a shame that they didn't keep dvdspot up until the end of the day.

when using excel, how do you keep the 1st row visible throughout the whole sheet?

Window/Freeze Pane command.

Just pick a cell you want to lock in, select it and use that command from the pull down menu. Just play around with it until you get that actual parameters down.

There's one other way (split) to do it that I'm aware of, but it results are annoying ..

I tried bulk edit and it didn't work, I ended up with screwed up UPCs, no images, etc.. So I bought *sigh* DVDProfiler and I'm moving my collection in a little at a time. Seems pretty nice, if a little over complicated. I can't deal with DVDAF anymore, it just doesn't do anything.

Libra is serving my purposes pretty well. The transition was mostly painless. In addition to the obvious entire collection cataloging, I mainly used dvdspot's filters feature, which I can duplicate in Libra with tags.

they should make another site like this, dvdaf is good but not as good as dvdspot

CRAP!!!!!!!!!! I just saw that it's down, and my entire collection was on there! I'm assuming there's no way for me to recover it???

thanks. one more question. is there a way to have an image in a cell instead of just free floating on the page?

Yeah, but it's a serious pain in the arse to do it.

Someone else brought that up in this thread and I was trying to avoid it (ha ha) but I did some playing around anyway ....


Select the cell you want the image in.

Goto: Insert\Object\Bitmap Image (this will insert a blank image object)

Now right click on the blank image and select (Bitmap Image Object\Open) - this will open in the image in Microsoft Paint

Now go an open up the DVD image file you want to add in. Right click on it and select Open With and choose Microsoft Paint.

While in Microsoft Paint do the following (Edit\Select All and then Edit\Copy) or just do Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C (shortcuts). Return to the blank image (the other Paint file) and paste it in or Ctrl+V.

Now you should see the image file in the foreground and the blank (white) image in the background.

You can now close the other DVD image file. [at this point if you go back into excel you should see the DVD image file with the blank (white) image in the background still]. Get rid of the white. Return to Paint and resize the blank image by aligning it to the border of the DVD image file. Once the blank image is no longer viewable just close out of Paint.

Having fun yet!!

Return to Excel and right click on the image and select (Format Picture\Properties (tab)\"Move and Size with Cells"

Now just sort your table to make the object actually moves with its respective row. If it doesn't then you missed the last step.

One thing I noticed is that when you sort the table the rows resize to the character height and the image gets squished. Perhaps there is a work around for this minor problem. But the images should stick.

That's it!!!

Now do that for a collection of 1000 DVDs and when you're done you should notice that it's next fall .....

There really has to be an easier way of doing this, but I haven't stumbled across it. Any questions on the process .... just drop 'em down and although I'm not an Excel expert, I'll do what I can and respond ....

I've loaded about 700 into DVDProfiler, which makes me a little bit less than 1/3 done. *sigh*

Fortunately I had my entire collection in DVDaf as well, but I liked DVDSpot better. I'm not paying for DVDProfiler, and I'm also using this new place called ChasingtheFrog.com too.

Big thanks to Nemein for reducing the clutter.

Back on topic, anyone else still sort of in shock?

I know it was just a website, but darn, it was one of my favorites. I put a lot of effort into getting my collection into it, and used the site every day from home, work, and mobile. Friends used it to see what I had.

I know that we have discussed several other options, but I'm still just not ready to move on. I keep thinking they'll change their mind and come back. Or maybe someone will convert it all into an offline database, allowing us to keep the same format and all on our home computers.

You sound like you just got dumped, Trevor.

Yeah, sort of. I've got back to my static simple HTML page that links each title to IMDB. But it sucks, and isn't pretty.

I sort of feel like a huge void has formed in my geek world. Like losing Firefox or something.

DVD Profiler isn't a workable solution for me (the cost isn't the issue), and DVDaf just sucks too much to waste my time with. I'm holding out for a real replacement for DVDSpot to fill the void.

There must be some other DVD collection sites in another country where it's in French, Norwegian or Spanish. Isn't anyone looking?

Awesome post pinata!

Once I stop crying, I'll probably play around the the csv export file and try to learn the basics of excel.

You can set up a separate excel sheet that you can update (whenever you want) just the fields you want from the exported .csv file. What I do, after that, is have my own list that does a VLOOKUP and automatically fills in the fields I want, and then I have a couple unique columns in my excel spreadsheet like "watched," "special features watched," "easter eggs watched," and a few other things that generate some stats at the bottom of the page for me. It's pretty slick, and I don't have to go into DVDProfiler to keep track of what I watch, I have all the information there, but I hardly have to do any manual entry except refresh and fill in the watched field when it's done.

I tried to emulate the stats from DVD Spot by exporting the actors and whatnot from profiler, I didn't get very far, but I may try again.