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View Full Version : Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide for Pocket PC


Jason Dunn
08-24-2004, 06:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.landware.com/movieguide/ppc/index.html' target='_blank'>http://www.landware.com/movieguide/ppc/index.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Think of all the time you have spent watching films that haven't lived up to the studio hype. — Now with a few taps of the stylus you can find the gems and side step the turkeys. Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide places essential facts for over 20,000 films at your fingertips including ratings and capsule reviews summarizing plot quality and often great tidbits of information."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.landware.com/movieguide/ppc/tour/images/p2-1.gif" /><br /><br />If you're a movie fan, this software is worth a look - and at $19.95, it's actually quite reasonably priced when you factor in the royalty payments for the "Leonard Maltin" brand name on the software. I'm tempted to get this because I'm constantly grabbing my laptop to look up info on <a href="http://www.imdb.com">IMDB</a>. I'd love to be able to use my Pocket PC for this instead - are there any other software apps I should look at in this same vein?

Bruno Figueiredo
08-24-2004, 06:23 PM
Well, for me there's nothing better than my IMDB 1920-Today TomeRaider Database. It's a hefty file (16MB) but worth it.

Jereboam
08-24-2004, 06:31 PM
I was about to post the same thing. TomeRaider, and the IMDB databases from Memoware (www.memoware.com). There are a number of different versions...for example the 1980-present Micro View is under 2 megs.

Plus there are so many other great works at Memoware, it makes no sense to pick this up...sorry. For another $5 or so more get TomeRaider (which is about to go to version 3 with image and HTML support) and gain access to so much more free content.

J'bm

Jereboam
08-24-2004, 06:37 PM
OK, having looked at the app itself it actually has some nice features like a DVD library manager, rental reminder, and online release updates...

I suppose if you are looking for a dedicated app for this one purpose it is excellent. But for pure reference and versatility, I still go for TR.

J'bm

brianchris
08-24-2004, 06:44 PM
I've had my eye on this for awhile. I love the fact you get free film updates (until the next version of the app is released).

The clincher is can you flag films you want to watch and falg films you want to buy, and filter for just either of those? If so, I'll definetely be purchasing this app. Looks great!

GadgetMan
08-24-2004, 08:20 PM
The clincher is can you flag films you want to watch and falg films you want to buy, and filter for just either of those? If so, I'll definetely be purchasing this app. Looks great!

When you find a movie you like (i.e. want to see or buy) in Viewing Guide, you tap and hold on it and then select "Add to My Movies..." from pop-up menu. This will add the movie to Movie Manager list.

Once there, you can put (or not put) a checkmark in "Owned" and "Viewed" fields. E.g. if you want to buy the movie, you would not checkmark "Owned" field.

Then you can tap on Show... button and choose to:

- Show Items I Own
- Show Items I Don't Own
- Display Viewed Status.

Show/Don't Show owned movies will work like a filter, so it will only show the movies you own or the movies you don't own (i.e want to buy), or both. Display Viewed Status is not a filter, but it adds an eye icon next to the movie entry in the list view of Movie Manager, so it is very easy to spot the movies you already saw and differentiate them from those you want to see in the future.

Leonard Maltin Movie Guide is far more than just a movie database like IMDB edition for TomeRaider. This program not only features powerful personal movie library and rental management tool, but also provides regular updates of the following:

- DVD Release dates
- Film Festival dates
- Film Premiere dates

I personally like it a lot and highly recommend to all movie buffs out there.

Cheers,

brianchris
08-24-2004, 08:42 PM
Show/Don't Show owned movies will work like a filter, so it will only show the movies you own or the movies you don't own (i.e want to buy), or both. Display Viewed Status is not a filter, but it adds an eye icon next to the movie entry in the list view of Movie Manager, so it is very easy to spot the movies you already saw and differentiate them from those you want to see in the future.

Wow....thanks for such a detailed reply. Your reply single handadly made me not need to hassle with a trial version for this app (if one even exists). It is functional enough that I will be buying it.

I really wish the "Display viewed status" was a filter. BUT, based on your explanation, I believe I can use the viewed status in an unintended way to accomplish MY goal (to remind myself which movies I want to see but haven't). If I haven't seen a movie, but want to, I will mark it as viewed, and clear that mark once I have viewed it......a filter for that would be great though :( I know that's backwards from how they intended it, but for me, one of the biggest problems I have is trying to remeber which films I wanted to see when I have the opportunity to go to the theater or rent a movie. To be honest, I'm surprised that functionality isn't there all ready (or perhaps I'm the only one with that problem? :oops: )

Again, not enough of a deal breaker for me not to buy it, and hopefully the authors will implement that functionality in a future release.

Jonathan1
08-24-2004, 09:31 PM
Hmmm I can't remember if its Leonard Maltin who's reviews I hate or not. I know more then a few critics who's reviews I stay as far away from as possible mainly due to tunnel vision review syndrome. e.g. If you aren't a mainstream movie such as a drama or some artsy crap you suck. Examples would be any type of Sci-fi. Any type of fantasy that isn't a big rave with everyone else. (I call it peer pressure.)

But again I'm not sure if it's Maltin or not. Isn't Maltin the guy who regularly shows up on Entertainment Tonight? If so then I'm mistaken and will probably pick this app up. My tastes generally are inline with whoever the guy on ET is.

Wiggster
08-24-2004, 09:42 PM
Here he is, that guy from ET, Leonard Maltin:

http://www.wiggster.com/images/leonardmaltin.jpg

chunkymonkey75
08-24-2004, 10:43 PM
Hmmm I can't remember if its Leonard Maltin who's reviews I hate or not. I know more then a few critics who's reviews I stay as far away from as possible mainly due to tunnel vision review syndrome. e.g. If you aren't a mainstream movie such as a drama or some artsy crap you suck. Examples would be any type of Sci-fi. Any type of fantasy that isn't a big rave with everyone else. (I call it peer pressure.)

But again I'm not sure if it's Maltin or not. Isn't Maltin the guy who regularly shows up on Entertainment Tonight? If so then I'm mistaken and will probably pick this app up. My tastes generally are inline with whoever the guy on ET is.

I used to get his review books every year. He is NOT one of those types of critics you mentioned. I found that he had about the same opinions of movies that I do. He's one of my favorite critics out there.

foebea
08-25-2004, 03:03 AM
This software is beautifully executed. They thought of everything.

Thanks for posting this here, there is a 14 day trial available on the site, and after an hour I went ahead and picked up the license. If you grow to need this software, I recommend you pick up a license before the trial runs out though, it is a 1 or 2 business day process.

This is one of those programs which will stay on my pocket pc for years to come i think. With any luck it will continue to be updated, but even if not, it sure beats loading up amazon.com or imdb for a cast list, or filmography by actor or director.

Check it out! :mrgreen:

Jason Dunn
08-25-2004, 04:38 AM
Thanks for all the great comments guys - I've installed the trial and will be checking it out. It seems though that it doesn't do the one thing I'd want it to do: keep track of which DVDs and to whom I've loaned them out to?

Jeff Rutledge
08-25-2004, 05:29 AM
I'm checking it out as well. For the amount of times I'm looking up movie info or deciding which DVD to rent, I can't see myself not buying this. :lol:

bjornkeizers
08-25-2004, 08:49 AM
I used it on my palm; but the fact that I can't update it nor export my list really hurt its functionality. Dont get me wrong: it's a great app and I love it to bits, but I really need and want some of the features that it doesn't have.

I can also recommend DVD Profiler; it's a PC app which does everything but make popcorn. You pop in a DVD, it'll add it. You can add it from a list, or through a UPC code... It'll connect to IMDB and get you the info you need, you can cross reference everything from actors to directors to shoe sizes to favorite colors.... And best of all, they have a free version.

Anyway, I'm definitely going to try the Maltin guide on my PPC. I'm hoping it's even better then the palm version.

marlof
08-25-2004, 09:23 AM
Thanks for all the great comments guys - I've installed the trial and will be checking it out. It seems though that it doesn't do the one thing I'd want it to do: keep track of which DVDs and to whom I've loaned them out to?

If you've added movies to your My Movies list, go to the DVD in question, edit the entry, and you can change the status to Loaned, add a name, and a due date. The only thing I find lacking is export functionality, to export the My Movies list.

clach04
08-26-2004, 07:34 PM
Thanks for all the great comments guys - I've installed the trial and will be checking it out. It seems though that it doesn't do the one thing I'd want it to do: keep track of which DVDs and to whom I've loaned them out to?

This isn't a PPC tittle but I use the (free version) of DVDProfiler (I use it with a CueCat barcode reader). It exports to CSV amongest others so I sometimes import to a spreadsheet or HandDBase so I have the info on my device. It handles loaning out DVD's but I have to confess I've not used that functionality.

DVDProfiler is http://www.intervocative.com/Products.aspx you have to register (which is free) and you get access to low quality images, the pay version gives you hi-res images.

Chris

Jeff Rutledge
08-26-2004, 08:06 PM
OK, I've been playing with this a little bit here and there and I like what I see so far.

I have one question that I need an answer to though before I start the long task of adding my DVD collection, wishlist, etc.

Where does my movie list get stored? I don't want to go through a manual input process if I move devices or hard reset my iPAQ. I looked at the Help file and couldn't find anything.

JTWise
08-26-2004, 08:54 PM
This isn't a PPC tittle but I use the (free version) of DVDProfiler (I use it with a CueCat barcode reader). It exports to CSV amongest others so I sometimes import to a spreadsheet or HandDBase so I have the info on my device. It handles loaning out DVD's but I have to confess I've not used that functionality.


Chris,
Check out this nifty PPC program that one of the DVD Profiler forum members created. It works very well. Should keep us out of trouble until the Pocket PC version of DVD Profiler is out (beta starts Sept 10!!!)

http://www.intervocative.com/Forums.aspx?task=viewtopic&topicID=7055&PageNum=1

David Porfido
08-30-2004, 03:13 PM
Jeff-

If you have ActiveSync set up to synchronize "My Documents" then the Movie manager data will get backed up to your desktop PC. The file is named: My Documents\Movie-ListsVolume.

DP

Jeff Rutledge
08-30-2004, 03:38 PM
Jeff-

If you have ActiveSync set up to synchronize "My Documents" then the Movie manager data will get backed up to your desktop PC. The file is named: My Documents\Movie-ListsVolume.

DP

Good to hear David. Thanks!