04-19-2004, 06:00 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 108
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Movie Mastery On The Go: MoviesCE v2.1 Review
Product Category: DVD/video collection manager
Manufacturer: Patrice Pennetier
Where to Buy: Download from Handango (affiliate link)
Price: $24.95 USD
System Requirements: Pocket PC 2002 or Windows Mobile 2003; 1Mb storage space for the application plus extra for the database depending on number of movies stored.
Pros:- Movie details, cover images and quotes can be downloaded from the Internet;
- Innovative message update feature.
Cons:- Some user interface issues;
- Of limited use without a connected Pocket PC;
- Internet search supports US movie titles only;
- Limited querying capabilities.
Summary:
MoviesCE has been around a while, but the recently released version 2 effectively transforms it into a new product through the ability to download movie data from the Web. If you're looking to take the next step with your movie obsession and start cataloguing your DVD or video collection, then MoviesCE does the job, albeit with some limitations.
Read on for the full review!
What Is It?
MoviesCE is a specialised database that allows you to store a variety of information about your DVD (or video) collection. I'm not normally much of a fan of inventory applications like this; you can typically do much the same with a general purpose database/list manager such as ListPro or even a simple spreadsheet if pushed. So MoviesCE had better add something special to make it worth the investment.
Data Entry Part 1 - Searching for Titles on the Web
MoviesCE is shipped as an empty database, so the first thing you need to do is setup your collection.
Figure 1: The add movie dialog.
Whilst you can enter all your movie details manually yourself, the unique selling point of MoviesCE is the ability to download movie information from the Internet, thus saving a lot of time and effort setting up your collection.
Figure 2: Searching for a movie title on the Internet.
You can search for a movie title, a director or an actor. You can even key in a barcode from the back of your DVD to go straight to your specific movie, but this only works for region 1 titles. In fact, no matter how you do it the search will only bring back US titles, although in most cases this isn't too much of a problem as most movies are released worldwide. Most of my DVDs are region 2 and I was able to locate them all, but sometimes I couldn't find my specific special/widescreen/collector's edition, or the cover image was different. Occasionally the titles are different as well, for example you won't find Leon (released as The Professional in the US) or Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (...Sorcerer's Stone in the US).
Figure 3: The search results.
Another issue here is that long movie titles don't fit in the find results list, and as there's no sideways scrolling or wordwrap, it can be difficult to distinguish between similar titles without laboriously fetching the full details for each one in turn. The same problem also exists on the main screen.
The data is currently retrieved from sources such as Amazon and the Internet Movie Database. The Internet search involves first going to Patrice's own server though, to perform user authentication plus downloading of any messages (see below). In spite of querying several sites, the search is generally pretty fast - or at least it was using broadband via WiFi, but painfully slow via USB ActiveSync passthrough.
Data Entry Part 2 - What you get back from the Internet
Once you've found your movie and selected it, a variety of basic details are displayed, such as the director, first four actors, studio, running time, age rating, etc. One minor problem here is that the actors list is an alphabetical list of seemingly all the cast, and because there's only space for four you don't always see the main stars.
Figure 4: The cast and cover image page.
You also get a (very) short plot synopsis, some quotes and an image of the DVD cover. The ability to download covers seems trivial at first, but actually seeing your movie, 'in the flesh' as it were, really makes a big difference.
Figure 5: The technical information page.
Figure 6: The plot synopsis page.
The quotes are also surprisingly good; there's typically a large and interesting selection for most movies, and all your favourites are there.
Figure 7: The quotes page.
On the downside, I found that several movies had incomplete details, such as missing director and actors (The Two Towers four disc box set), missing story and quotes (Ronin) or no cover image (Goldeneye special edition). Obviously you can always fill in the blanks yourself, and in the case of covers you can load in your own scanned images, but that just seems like too much effort to me.
Figure 8: The full technical information page.
In fact, you have to enter some details yourself anyway. Once you've clicked to save the selected movie, you're presented with more detailed screens where you can enter the DVD region, sound format, screen aspect ratio and category. Unfortunately you can only assign a single category to each movie, whereas I wanted to have combinations such as 'Fantasy' and 'Children', or 'Science-Fiction' and 'Animation'.
Data Entry Part 3 - Your own Personal Information
Once you have the main details sorted, you can then enter your own more specific information about each movie, such as when you last saw it, whether it's loaned to anyone plus some free-text notes. Here the application allows you to cheat a bit as there's also an 'Owner' checkbox, so you can record all the movies you'd like to own as well as those you already do.
Figure 9: The strangely named 'Check Movies' screen for entering your own movie attributes.
So Then, What Shall I Watch Tonight?
Phew, having got all the raw data in, it's time to sit back and wallow in the bounteous information resource you've created. A variety of questions spring to mind:- Which movies haven't I seen for at least six months? Or twelve months?
- I've got only an hour and a half to kill - what can I see in that time?
- What were the exact words spoken by Maximus when he revealed his identity in Gladiator? Or the jive dudes in Airplane? Or Matthew's eulogy to Gareth in Four Weddings and a Funeral?
- Which horror movies do I own? Which science-fiction ones?
- Which of my movies were directed by Ridley Scott? Or Martin Scorsese? Or Ron Howard?
Figure 10: The filter selection screen.
You can answer many of these and more besides, but unfortunately the first question - and by far the most useful in my opinion - can't be answered by MoviesCE. You can search for those movies not seen at all, i.e. irrespective of date, but how many of your films are you not likely to have ever seen?
Figure 11: The main list filtered to show action movies only, and with covers un-zoomed.
Overall the filter criteria are pretty limited, and there's also no way to further refine the results of a previous search.
Other Features and Options
Patrice has introduced what I think is a fairly unique feature, namely the ability to send MoviesCE users messages via the application itself. These are actually downloaded when you connect to the Internet to search for movie titles, and supposedly cover things like program update news, hints and tips, etc. However I only received one over several weeks of use, so it remains to be seen just how useful this will actually be compared to simply sending emails to registered users.
Figure 12: The messages screen showing a tip I received.
You can also display a slideshow of your movie covers, where you're treated to the full size cover images in all their glory.
Figure 13: Slideshow in progress.
There are various configuration options covering things like the quality of cover images, the default DVD region and the second language to specify sound formats in.
Figure 14: The first options page.
Figure 15: The second options page.
Figure 16: You guessed it - the third options page.
Unfortunately one thing you can't configure is where to store the database files, and as they're not stored in My Documents you'll have to remember to back them up yourself.
You can also define your own categories, sound formats and movie types.
Figure 17: The edit menu.
Conclusions
So in the end does MoviesCE add anything special enough to make it worth the extra investment? The answer, I think, is yes, as the movie information download is a killer feature in what is otherwise just a simple customised database. The cover images and quotes especially, as these are things that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to do yourself.
However there are some inevitable caveats, some of which may be showstoppers for you. Firstly you obviously need a connected Pocket PC to really make use of it, and a fast connection at that. It also uses a lot of memory. Even with the movie information download, I still found entering my movie collection a time-consuming process, and I only have 50-odd movies - I know some of you will have 10 times this amount. I'd like to see some way of speeding up the bulk entry of movies, maybe via pre-defined bundles based on trilogies, series, common themes or categories, etc.
The user interface generally lacks polish, with a slightly unprofessional look and feel probably due in some part to the use of Embedded Visual Basic as the development language. For example, each screen in the application is a top-level window, and sometimes they don't refresh properly if you switch applications half way through doing something; the error message dialogs have 'Visual Basic' as the title and the application uses the default VB icon; and screen response can be a bit sluggish.
Price-wise MoviesCE does come in towards the expensive end of Pocket PC software, but it may help to think of it partly as a service rather than just a standalone application. This is not written by a faceless software house but by one person, and someone who should be applauded for innovative thinking, especially as I understand from Patrice that he has some more exciting and original ideas lined up for the next version.
Ultimately MoviesCE allows you to take your DVD/video collection with you, and saves you the tiresome bother of getting up from the sofa to browse your collection. All we need now is a robot to actually get your chosen movie off the shelf and put it in the player for you.
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04-19-2004, 09:24 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 90
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Why is Larry Wachowski listed as an actor in the first screenshot?
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04-19-2004, 09:39 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 241
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hmmm...
Because director took up two slots, and when the author of this program coded it, he did not expect that to be the case. usually, almost always, there is only 1 director. I think.
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04-19-2004, 10:31 PM
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,998
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This looks OK. I am personally using DVD Profiler on my Desktop. They've been talking about a PPC version for months and months, but nothing yet. 
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04-20-2004, 08:35 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 734
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I've been using a similar program for Palm - Leonard Mailtin's Movie Guide. Which looks better then this, I'm sorry to say...
About the only downside to the Palm movie guide is that you can't download updates (yet) it can't export movies (yet) and it doesn't have covers (yet)
I'm really hoping someone will port it to PPC or make a good one from scratch... I'm a movie addict and I truly need a great tool to keep track of all my movies (I have about 150 and I buy at least four new ones a month)
<edit> Hey hey, this DVD profiler thing looks pretty good... Free and it can update?.... I'm downloading & registering right now.
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04-20-2004, 05:10 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 734
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Wow! DVD profiler is ****ing awesome! I just added a few DVD's - amazing. It can scan the DVD in your drive and automatically add it to your collection 8O Now I don't have to manually add every movie!
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04-20-2004, 09:19 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 82
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I've been using DVD Profiler for a long time too. Before they even mentioned a Pocket PC version, I've been exporting my DVD's to a CSV then importing them into a SprintDB database I wrote. Sure, it's 2-3 extra steps, but it's quick, painless and keeps my DVDs with me. I even use the "Ordered" category for movies I want to rent. Then I have a complete list of all my movies and can filter for movies I just want to rent. So far it's worked beautifully.
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04-22-2004, 08:06 PM
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02-23-2005, 11:45 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 1
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MoviesCE remembers your profile
If you download data from the Pennetier server about a movie, it remembers and adds that movie to your database.
If your PocketPC crashes and you loose your information you can
access and download a list of everything you ever got data about
and rebuild your database. It also allows you to update movie
thumbnail images, although not every movie in the database has
an associated imate to download. For example, you can find the
original cover for Resident Evil, but not the Special Edition cover, etc.
One of my concerns is that a large database takes a lot of space. I currently have more than 1300 DVDs and that eats up all of the memory on the average PocketPC...particularly the thumbnail images.
Yes, you can move the database to a memory card...or even have the entire program on a memory card...but there is not really a provision for moving the database from it's default storage setting from within the program. You must manually move everything and then manually start the program from that source. It will run that way, but VERRY SLOOOWLY!
I had to get a PPC with 128 MB RAM to have my database run the way I want it to...quick and easy.
I've had MoviesCE since it's 1.X days and really appreciate the 2.3 version...however I have only had 1 message from Patrice in over a year that his special communication system has been in place, so THAT'S not much of a benefit.
On my PC I run Collectorz Movie database. That can be customized more than the PPC software but it's still not easy.
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Linear Mode
