I kept on yapping about DVDs today, about how to create them from AVI files or how to create backups of your favorites, that inevitably, the software I am going to analyze now will also be DVD-related.

This time, I found an application that allows you to keep track of your DVD collection and save not only the title of your movie, but also some additional data, like the director, lead actor/s or the official poster. I know it sounds good, but the best part is yet to follow. The application is freeware.

The name of the developer will surely not ring a bell - Wicked & Wild Inc. (in my ears it rings like a law firm) - but the name of the software will remind you of something if you are a little bit into movies. It is called EMDB and it comes from Eric's Movie DataBase. The connection I immediately made when I first saw the name was with IMDB (Internet Movie Database), the largest collection of information I have ever seen.

Maybe the name was chosen intentionally as all the data you gather about your movies is directly searched and downloaded from www.imdb.com.

EMDB's interface is nothing special (like MyDVDs), but it is functional and, most importantly, easy to use. The toolbar available contains options like Add, Edit, Delete, Swap, Search, Show All, Print, Export, Options and Exit.

When adding a new title to the database, all you have to do is type in the name of the movie and, according to its type, you can check the TV-Series box or not. After entering the title, press the Search IMDB button and wait for a few seconds. The IMDB search results will display and the user will choose from the sections in there the right title (it rarely happens to receive only one result because of the size of the IMDB).

The first results displayed are the Popular Titles, next are the Exact Matches and the last section belongs to the Partial Titles. Giving the OK for the desired file will download all the available data from IMDB. You will get the IMBD number, the duration, director, the plot outline, year of the release, the genre (if you are not content with the IMDB genre rating you can choose your own), the cast (by default only the first five actors will be imported) and the picture of the movie.

In Additional Info (at the lower end of the window) the user can choose the features of the storage media: medium (original DVD, SVCD, VHS tape, etc.), the compression codec, the resolution, source, location, sound (MPEG2, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, etc.), the features included on the medium (menu, extra, subtitle) and the language.

I almost forgot that you can also rate the movie yourself, by using a star slider from 1 to 10 (including decimals).

The Swap option is designed to help you when you want to change the order of the movies in the database. The Search option needs no presentation, as you all know that you use it to find the movie titles. But there are some options in here and you can perform the search by the title of the movie, by genre or by cast.

After the search has been performed, the main window interface will display only the search results and maybe you would like to see the entire database at one moment. What this button does is to reveal all the entries of your movie database. The Exporting option will convert the database you see in the software in a .txt document. The impressive thing is that the data is ordered so that you can clearly see the title of the movie, the year of the release, duration, genre(s), the director, the cast, user rating and plot outline. Practically, you get all the necessary information and more. The only thing missing is the picture, but if it were possible, I am sure it would be included in the file.

For the configuration of the software, you will have to go in Options. Here, the user can set the elements to be imported from IMDB, the Exporting and Printing settings (very impressing is the generated HTML file). The user can also set the default settings for Add Movie. In Backups, the software allows you to create copies of the database.

The Good

The software is completely functional, free, has a direct connection with IMDB, and it can export the database in two formats and it can also back it up.

The Bad

The interface is not as good-looking as it should.

The Truth

Truly amazing software. Except for the good looks, it can compete with MyDVDs and win. The location and loaning options are small details that matter and they really come in handy for someone with a large DVD database. It moves fast and, due to its backup option, it is reliable. And the most important thing is that it is free.

Here are some snapshots of the application in action:


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