(BETA) DVD Talk Forum - Catalog of DVD Cataloging Software

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Catalog of DVD Cataloging Software

Behold, 202 options for DVD cataloging software programs - offline, online, and mobile - all gathered in one place! :D

Many of the DVDTalk forum members use DVD Profiler or the online DVD Aficionado, with a handful of other programs scattered around. Some people have tried using a program but got frustrated or tired of it (or had it disappear on them) and gave up. Some people are using manual spreadsheets; some are even using hand-written lists. And some aren't cataloging at all.

I've included a poll of some of the programs that seem to be popular, DIY options, and 'none of the above' type options. Please vote for your current cataloging solution. :)

I began this research because I was considering starting to catalog my DVDs, and wanted to know what my options were beyond the obvious DVD Profiler and DVD Aficionado seen linked in many people's signatures. As I kept finding more and more programs (many more than expected), I thought this would be a useful reference to share.

If you're happy with your current cataloging method (or lack thereof), keep on doing what works for you. But if you're curious what your options are to change programs or to get started cataloging, here is the current complete compendium!

Notes:

All information in this list, and the following tables in which it is presented, is current as of May 31, 2010, when I completed this research. Like a few other programs (particularly online ones) have disappeared in the past, any of this information may change in the future, and it's way too much to be constantly re-checking for changes.
I did not attempt to document which programs offer which features, as there are too many programs and too many features. The tables subdividing the list by free/non-free and OS should help narrow it down some at least; I suggest opening all the links from a table of potential interest to you in a bevy of new tabs, to easily compare the programs' websites, closing tabs as you narrow it down further.
When a link to an official publisher's/programmer's website isn't provided, only a third-party software archive, it's because the official site is no longer working.
When a link to a third-party software archive is provided in addition to an official website, it's because the official website has very little information about the program, so you can learn about it on the third-party site.
Directly-related programs are listed next to each other in a sensible order, causing some of them to not be in strict alphabetical order. Like shelving sequels in order next to the original movie. ;)
Programs I tried not to include in this list (yes, despite the size of this list, there's even more that could've been included :eek: ):
- Non-free programs that can no longer be purchased, because they:
  - no longer have a working official site
  - have an otherwise-working official site but I noticed that the purchase function is broken
  - have an otherwise-working official site but are no longer being offered since the publisher/programmer has moved on to other things
- Free programs that no longer have a working download source, and online programs that no longer have a working website.
- Expensive programs (and higher-level editions of some of the included programs) designed for businesses/libraries.
- Programs that can only catalog movies as video files (avi, etc), with no provisions evident for entering movies as physical DVD video discs. (Some of the programs that are in this list can do video files in addition to DVDs.)
- Programs that are designed to index data files/folders. You don't want a list of "VIDEO_TS" stuff, you want to know about the movies. Some of these programs mention DVDs in addition to CDs/hard-drives/etc, but they only mean the files on data DVDs, mainly burned DVD-R/RW discs.
- Programs that don't provide some amount of features specific to movies; any general spreadsheet software (including Microsoft Excel and Google Docs) or general database software (including Microsoft Access) can of course also be used to catalog DVDs, but you have to set it all up from scratch yourself, and you don't get any auto-lookup help filling in the data like is provided by many (but not all) of the programs included in this list.
Programs that haven't been updated in quite some time, but are still available, are included in this list. I made a "Last Updated" column so you can avoid the older ones (from whatever cutoff you want) if desired, but most of them are still useable for most people, and might happen to fit someone's needs.
If a program's official website is only in a non-English language, even if the program itself might have English as a language option, it is designated as "('x' language only)". There are a couple of them whose website appears to provide an English option, but didn't actually work for me at all or only on the first page.
Some of the programs not designated "('x' language only)" do provide options of using them in non-English languages, but I didn't attempt to list all available languages, since the vast majority of people reading this forum can at least use the English language on all the programs.
All iPhone programs can be used on the iPad. Only programs with a separate version designed for the iPad specifically mention iPad in the OS column.
Many non-mobile programs can be used to export your catalog in a format such as CSV, HTML, or PDF which can be viewed on a mobile device.
Programs that need to be set up on your own web server (on your own computer or a hosted server) are only listed under the Linux category. They can be set up on Windows too, but the vast majority of people who'd want to mess with setting up things like Apache web server software would be doing it on Linux, and the vast majority of people looking in the Windows category would expect to find regular desktop software rather than things as involved as that. The Online category has ready-to-go multiuser services already on web servers.