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If so, what information do you add: additional cast, more technical details, purchase info, more about extras, plot information, personal ratings?
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The question you raise is a very large topic. Before deciding what to do, each database user should first decide what approach to take. There are 3 basic approaches to using the database from my point of view. The first one is to simply download the data provided by the reference catalog. This approach is the easiest method and the least time consuming - but the least satisfying. The reference catalog provides only the most basic information and cannot include information specifically pertinent to the user and it does contain factual errors. In addition, the reference catalog only includes discs manufactured in the US. The second approach - which speaks more directly to your query - is to nearly fully or fully complete all the information that the disc and program forms provide space for. This approach will necessitate carefully recording information found on the packaging and available on the internet for both the disc and the program material contained on the disc and recording where, when and how much was paid for the disc item etc. This approach engenders a much larger commitment of time and perseverance. It pays not to get too far behind and should include creating images of the disc packaging when they are missing from the reference catalog. The third approach is even more time consuming because it not only seeks to fill in all the information spaces provided by the database creator but also using the database format in creative ways so that all the information and interests of the user can be fully accommodated. Examples of this are: country of origin for both the disc itself and the programmatic material on the disc (i.e., a blu-ray disc made in Hong Kong containing a Czech film whose spoken language is predominately French) - displaying the Budget and Box Office amounts pertinent to various films - significantly enhancing the genres and theme choices so searching can be better accommodated (i.e., films that have been based on the body of written work of a particular author like Stephen King or a particular film producer like Roger Corman).
Still, no matter which approach you decide to take, there are some rather basic considerations or conventions that all users need to decide upon in order to organize their approach to recording the information.
First, deciding on what the user will do with regard to the four custom configurable fields - two for the Disc Details Form and two for Movie or Program Details Form. The choices are endless but practical choices are reasonably limited. My choice, for example, for these fields is: "My View Status" and "In or Out" for the Disc Details Form and "Writer/Composer" and "Status" for the Movie or Program Details Form. These choices allow me to indicate which discs I have viewed or not viewed, which are in the collection versus those that have been lent out, indicate the name of the screenwriter (or creator for a Television Series) or composer if the material is a musical work or concert or None or None Found if that is the case. The use of "Status" provides me with a place to indicate if the film is a Placeholder or not.
Second, the user should decide how to consistently classify the collection’s program material. To do this, the user should decide first whether program material should or should not be classified primarily by the delivery medium of the program material - was the program meant for dissemination to the public in theaters or televised or direct to videodisc. The database creator provided a limited list of choices for classifying program material. These are Adult, Animated, Documentary, Movie, Music, Special Feature, Television and Workout. Adult, Music, Special Feature and Workout are basically delivered to the public in the form of Direct to Videodisc. The problem is that the classification “Television” can also be program material that is also classifiable as Documentary, Animated or Movie (not just television series material). So which do you choose for classifying a televised mini-series like Frozen Planet – is it to be classified as a Documentary or as Television. Depending on your default perspective, the choice is more clearly made. Television is a medium of deliver to the public, so it seems logical to place all material that was televised into this category whether it be a documentary, animated or a made for TV film. If this is the choice, then additional Genres can be created to allow for further sub-categories by adding Documentary, Animated, and TV Film to the Genres particular to the Television Classification. The user could also add Series or Mini-Series to the Genres list as well. If the user decides to classify any animated program as Animated whether or not it was televised then additional Genres for Movie, Television, or Direct to Videodisc could be created for the Animated Classification. Given the choices available for Classification, a convention must be developed in order to be consistent and to preserve the ability to sort and filter the collection into meaningful groupings.
Third, the user should decide how to use the Version and Version Notes fields in the Disc Details Form. These two fields are used by the Reference catalog to occasionally indicate a Special or Limited Edition etc. This use can be left intact or it is possible to place that information in the title box after the title in parentheses or preceded by a colon or dash. If the user does this, then the Version and Version Notes fields can be used to indicate other information that the user wishes to display such as the country of origin of the disc and film, the region or zone of the disc, the size of the disc (BD-25 or BD-50), the number of episodes on the disc, the existence of a surround sound encoded audio codec etc. [Note: the database when viewed in the most popular View Discs > Grid mode allows for four lines of selectable information to be displayed under the front image of the disc, therefore, by choosing the Location and Version and Version Notes field for three of these lines, a user can quickly see the most of the pertinent data about each disc and its program content without even opening up the large disc and program forms themselves]
Fourth, the user should decide whether or not to use the AKA box under the Title box in the Movie or Program Form for additional displayable (but not searchable) information. This field allows far more room for information than the Version or Version Notes fields do. It is possible to input key information about the program that will be featured at the top of the presentation page for the film or program material. This is particularly useful to highlight information pertaining to a Program that is a Television Series [Original channel, number of years the series ran and the total episodes made, whether it is a series, mini-series or tv film] or Movie [budget and box office amounts, sequence of a film in connection with a film series (Harry Potter, James Bond etc.)] or Documentary [date and location and title fight of a UFC sports documentary event].
Fifth, the user should decide exactly how the Year date field in parentheses to the right of the Title field for the Disc Details Form should actually be used. The original intent of this field seems to be for the year date the disc was first published in. This information is not uniformly available in the Reference Catalog (or even on the internet and especially for foreign discs) and in many cases the Reference Catalog actually reflects the Year date (or Year date range) that the program material on the disc was first released to the public for viewing not the publishing year of the disc itself. It is possible, therefore, to create the convention that this Year date on the Disc Details Form always reflects the same year date as the release year of the included program material. Those who choose to do this will realize that the View Disc > Grid viewing mode will always indicate the year date in which the film or program material was first released since this Year date always appears next to the Title of the disc wherever disc title appears.
Sixth and last, the user should decide where to obtain the information that populates the following fields: Disc Details Form – Remarks, Movie or Program Details Form – Technical Specifications, Themes, Remarks, Episodes or Tracks. There are many websites that review discs and films and provide this information. The following list is the ones that I mostly use:
For reviews of DVDs: DVD talk at www.dvdtalk.com
For reviews of Blu-rays: www.blu-ray.com
For program remarks especially for Movies and Television Series: en.wikipedia.org
For Technical Information and Themes and short user reviews of films: www.imdb.com
Regards,
jsroberge
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I suspect people only add information to selected parts, emphasizing the things that are important to them. Most of what I add is technical information about the disc (number of discs in a set and the like), additional movie entries when the reference is only to some generic movie entry rather than to a specific film or set of television show episodes, and additional information cast information. I am finding increasingly that the web version is more friendly and flexible for adding information. The biggest problem I have with the existing structure is that there is no way to identify additional roles beyond the principal director and the actors. (I have complained about this, BTW.) I would love to be able to easily specify other roles and the people who performed them, such as co-director, second unit director(s), producer, etc. The web version (2.0) does at least allow multiple directors to be specified but not their specific roles in a film. Of course, I am not consistent about adding info, not necessarily adding all the information I can to every entry but being selective about particular ones. When you have a large and still growing collection (which I suspect many users have), it is not possible to add all the information you might want without it becoming something approaching a full-time job.
What I particularly wonder is what information people have added they really find useful and informative. I could certainly add every actor in a film to an entry but is it valuable for some actor who may have never appeared in another movie? I don't really know yet. But it might be useful to note that some film had the first on-screen appearance of an actor who later become famous, even if that actor was only on camera a few seconds and never spoke a word of dialog.
I would certainly like to see more information about films and TV episodes made possible. You already mentioned things like country of origin and alternate titles. But there are still issues dealing with things like multiple languages (when old classic movies were sometimes shot more than once in different languages), other roles beyond the principal or credited director and actors, etc. Though DVD-Register still seems quite a bit ahead of the competition in these areas. I have looked at some competing products and they provide little original population information and even fewer opportunities to add your own.
BTW, I use a lot of the same sources you do plus DVD Beaver and The Digital Bits. I also make quite a bit of use of the Amazon search capabilities in 2.0, which makes it much easier to get the basic information about almost all the foreign-sourced discs I buy.
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