I finally decided to upload my collection to DVDAF, having pretty much gotten over mourning DVD Spot. There's a few DVDs they don't seem to have in their database, and I can't get through their crappy contribution page. All I was able to successfully enter was the DVD title, and the next thing it asks for is the date. It won't let me put in a date. So I skip to the DVD language. It won't let me put in a language.

What am I doing wrong?

i had trouble at first contributing SteelBooks, but learned after many failed attempts. it def. is not user friendly and i don't look forward to contributing there. i feel your pain infidel.

Well, It's been easy for me. But it can take a while to contribute a title. I've had no major issues at all.

DVDAf rules!

Well, it's working now. Seems I got logged out somehow.

[Emily Litela]Never mind![/Emily Litela]

DVDAF is kinda crappy now all over. There's too much junk, I just want to upload my collection, not shop at Amazon or fool with some kind of Facebook-lite homepage and Twitter with people.

Nothing about DVDaf is like facebook. facebook is cleanly designed, entertaining, and easy to use.

I am still disappointed that DVDSpot went under. I have yet to really migrate back over to DVDaf. It's too bad, I was satisfied with DVDaf 1.0, if they'd never upgraded, I'd never have been to DVDSpot.

DVDaf was miserable when they made the switch to 2.0 but it has slowly improved since. I still think it was better at first, though.

To me, the whole website just looks completely amateurish. It's really unappealing.

I finally submitted a new listing, but for some reason you have to submit the listing and the cover pic separately. Both got turned down because "the pic was too small", but there's nothing that I saw to tell you what size they want the pic. Maybe it was there and I didn't notice.

I really have nothing to do with DVDAF although I would consider myself friends with the guy who does mostly all the work. Maybe that's why threads like this get under my skin a little bit - because I know how hard he's been working to improve it and make it more accessible for transplants/new people.

Everyone has different opinions on what works and what doesn't, what looks good, what's easy to use, etc. I will say this, however, they listen. In fact, they have a site ONLY for recommendations and bugs. They've added long-requested features like exporting and iPhone apps. They have a blog that lets you know when new features are coming and what improvements are down the line.

The "Facebook-like" changes were made after discussing it with the people at the forums there and they're actually used quite a bit. In my opinion, I could give a damn about Facebook and their stupid quizzes and games but it's fun to see what movies my buddies have gotten recently or watched. Also, there's an option to disable everything so you don't have to use it.

Obviously, they link to Amazon and other sites (and accept donations) because they don't want to sell out and disappear like DVDSpot. They need some money to come in to pay for their bills and they mostly rely on small "spiffs" from purchases and donations (when about 99.5% of the users are using it free, right?). In fact, they've been very up front about the costs and what they need to do to continue growing - adding new servers, etc. To me, that's better than just shutting down one day and giving the finger to everyone.

For me, DVDAF is extremely easy to use but that's probably because I'm used to it. This I do know, if you have a problem, complaining here won't change anything. Go to there Bugs page and request a feature to be added or deleted and, if there's enough people that vote for it, it will be implemented. Send an email or, if you want a really quick answer, go to their forum and post your question. I've seen dozens of people ask questions and get them answered promptly.

I'm not trying to change anyone's opinion on things but I find it difficult to read things like this when I know how flexible and helpful everyone is over there.

Of course, I'm sure working retail doesn't help me either - where I have to listen to constant bitching from people who don't really seem to want any help at all....

I actually really like DVDAf and prefer it over Invelos (where I was a long time paid member) simply due to layout. For the most part it's easy to operate and allows a fairly simple approach at cataloging a collection.

As far as submissions go - I'd like to see what the response time is historically compared to DVDSpot/DVDProfiler/Guzzlefish or whatever other user DBs that are available. Everything that I have put through was generally available two days out at the longest. In some cases when I woke up the next day. There is also an option for paying members to bypass censorship controls and post immediate updates. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that to be the case. And as far as ease of use - shit, after the first submission anyone should be able to put through a second without a glitch.

Where I do agree with some is that DVDAf is getting clunky with unnecessary pop up assistance (which I can't seem to locate an off switch for). The large picture pop ups are fine and easy to turn off but the search function window is a constant menace. But it's only a small concern.

I'm kinda on the fence on this one. I've sumbitted titles to the late, great SPOT and DVDAF (latest one yesterday) and it is definately a bit more difficult to do so on DVDAF. Still, if you have all the data requested and a decent-sized JPEG of the cover, it gets accepted. Of course, there are some things about DVDAF I don't care for, but it's the only major game in town in the $0 price range.

I'm in exactly the same boat as you (used DVDaf v1, they upgraded I moved to DVDSpot) although I did finally put my collection on DVDaf, just because I need to have it somewhere. I think part of the problem is the fact that v1 was pretty good, and then they changed it. If it had always been the way it is now, it might not seem as bad.

I'm surprised DVD Talk has not come up with something for this purpose.

If I recall correctly, there was a bit of discussion about doing something as a premium feature. It seems as if that all led nowhere however.

Okay, I submitted an alternate cover for a certain selection, and it was accepted. Now how do I make the cover show in my collection, instead of the one they have attached to the listing? I tried clicking on "upload or edit picture", then choosing to make my cover the default picture for the listing, but it's not working.

EDIT: Never mind. Figured it out. Boy, this site really isn't user-friendly.

Same here. The "upgrade" is what pushed me to DVDSpot in the first place. I've considered going back to DVDAF, but there's not a chance of that happening until they have a way to import a collection. There's no way in hell I'm going to sit there and enter 1000 titles by hand one at a time.

You all have valid concerns. I'm not sure when they'll implement an importing feature but he's said that his next big goal is to be able to have a new person register and add 100 titles in less than 5 minutes. Hopefully, it'll be soon.

DVDAF just is crappy in general overall now. I liked DVD Spot much better.

I love DVDAf - the layout lets me quickly search by studio, which is helpful whenever DD or Planet has a sale. Also, they list the lowest price for all titles, which is great for a bargain hunter like me. DVD Spot had horrible cover art - mostly blurry, low-res scans. They simply accepted whatever junk people submitted. DVDAf is the exact opposite - all of the covers look sharp and stylish. Also, DVD Spot was missing a ton of R2 titles, almost all of which DVDAf lists. I've only had to submit a couple, which I was able to do quickly and painlessly. Sure, I prefer DVD Spot's stats page to DVDAf, but that's about it.

That's good to hear. I can guarantee them at least one new user right here the day an import feature goes live.

I still love dvdaf. Ya, I remember being disappointed with the new look, but I've become used to it now and they've made lots of improvements since the big change. To be honest, I can't even remember what v1 looked like any more and I signed up back in 2002.

Submissions are a breeze once you've done a few. Make a good scan first. You know what data you need, so just open the imdb page, open the Amazon page, and then start entering the info in dvdaf's submission page. I sent a submission in just this morning and it's already been approved and on the site.

I don't understand the hatred, really. What a great service - and for free! People still rave about DVD-Spot, but look what they did to all their members with hardly any notice. Ya, they were really cool.