DVD Profiler not working?

[Corey31]

Anyone know with the server down can we transfer our collection over to Collectorz or will it need to be a one title at a time transfer that will take forever for some of us?

[CH2]

I've never been able to find a program that worked as well for me. Man, if I could just add the discs manually, I'd use Profiler forever, but every attempt to add begins with an attempt to connect to the server which hangs up the whole program.

[Bugg]

Did this company never have any kind of facebook or twitter to update people on stuff? It seems strange this day and age that a longtime company like this is just suddenly gone without warning or any info. I have no idea if they are simply down to a faulty server or if they just called it quits.

[CH2]

There appears to have been a twitter page, but nothing's been posted on it since 2015. I think this program was dead a long time ago and for whatever reason the server was maintained anyways. And now perhaps 2022 was as long as they felt like doing that.

[hariseldon]

They've had server issues a few times in the past. Last summer they were down for several days though I can't remember if it was just parts of the service or the whole thing. I've dearly hoping it's just a similar issue or if there was some place they would make an announcement of some sort. Bluray.com is a nice back up, but nowhere near as useful to me and I've never found a similar service remotely as useful and complete.

Like others, I've been with them since early 2000's and fully paid not long after that became a thing. I've read they've had financial stresses and would have been happy to change to some sort of yearly fee or Voluntary had they set up a way to do it

[CH2]

I would absolutely pay a yearly fee to keep it going. I didn't hang out much on the forums over there, but I remember a couple people making vague plans for a day when/if the server ever got dropped, but there's no way to know right now if anything ever came of that or how seriously it was discussed since the forums are inaccessible as well.

EDIT: I think I found it archived, but it was not serious talk at all. Just a bit of "what if" and vague gesturing.

[AmishParadise]

Originally Posted by CH2

I've never been able to find a program that worked as well for me. Man, if I could just add the discs manually, I'd use Profiler forever, but every attempt to add begins with an attempt to connect to the server which hangs up the whole program.

I add discs manually all the time. In fact, for years I did so quite a bit when my laptop didn't have an Internet connection. No issues. See where I'm going with this.

Accessing the "Add DVDs to Collection" option when Invelos.com is not available...
The trick here is to not be connected to the Internet. If the Invelos.com website is not available just disconnect your computer from the Internet prior to accessing the "Add DVDs to Collection" option. DVD Profiler will not hang in that case. The "Connecting to Invelos Software..." message will be displayed as normal. A second or two later a small popup message will be displayed stating, "Unexpected end of file". (It's displayed behind the "Connecting to Invelos Software..." message, so you'll have to bring it to the foreground.) Press "OK" closing the popup. The status bar of the "Add DVDs to Collection" window will then quickly display "Resolving hostname http://www.invelos.com" followed by "Download Complete" and just like that you're good to go.

You're then able to add titles manually and can do so while connected to the Internet at that point. Just be sure to uncheck the "Download profile from Invelos" option located in the bottom left corner of the "Add DVDs to Collection" window. Also, for that session of DVD Profiler you won't need to disconnect from the Internet again prior to accessing the "Add DVDs to Collection" option. On subsequent attempts the "Add DVDs to Collection" window will quickly come up free and clear, irrespective of whether the Invelos website is available or not. And one final note, when adding titles manually there's an essential tool I couldn't live without. If you haven't done so already I highly recommend downloading the DVD Profiler plugin called "Cast/Crew Edit 2" which can be found here. Well, it's not a plugin per se. It's a standalone application which is used to scrape Cast and Crew data from the IMDb website. You're then able to copy the Cast or Crew data for a given title in one shot pasting it into DVD Profiler. Again, it's an essential tool when going to add titles manually. The other data points don't take long at all to enter so.

[CH2]

That is so simple that I'm quite embarrassed not to have thought of it. Thanks for all the info.

[cgurley]

Really pretty easy to add titles on the PC version with no service. But does anybody know if it can be done on the phone app? Or, can it still be synced? Like to have my collection with me.

[AllNight]

ALL those people on that forum, spending ALL that time... over a DECADE... devoted to trying to "find the common name" for cast and crew....

[AmishParadise]

Originally Posted by cgurley

Really pretty easy to add titles on the PC version with no service. But does anybody know if it can be done on the phone app? Or, can it still be synced? Like to have my collection with me.

The mobile app is very limited with respects to adding titles manually. Too many of the data points aren't accessible for data entry from the mobile app. There's no way to create a complete profile as a result. As such, the only viable option is to add and edit title data using DVD Profiler for PC.

That being said, the mobile app does allow for syncing directly with DVD Profiler for PC across your local network, i.e. no Internet, no Invelos.com required. That's how I've always used the mobile app. When creating a database on the mobile app the options are "Connect to DVD Profiler for PC", "Connect via DVD Profiler Online" or "Local Database". You want to use the "Connect to DVD Profiler for PC" option of course. You'll be required to enter the "Name or IP Address", "Port" and "Password" of the server, i.e. the computer where DVD Profiler for PC is installed and running. Prior to doing so you'll need to enable and configure "Sharing" from DVD Profiler for PC via the "Tools\Options\Sharing" tab.

Once configured on both ends you'll be able to sync the mobile app with DVD Profiler for PC, the mobile app being a mirror reflection of your local DVD Profiler database as a result, i.e. displaying your local profile data and cover art. The initial sync can take a while depending on the size of your collection, speed of your wireless network, computer and so forth. From there forward performing a sync doesn't take long at all, 10 seconds or so for me on average, somtimes a little longer. It just depends on the number of changes being brought down from DVD Profiler for PC.

Any changes you make from the mobile app can be synced back to DVD Profiler for PC as well. When performing a sync you always have the option to not send any changes. In my case I only update the "Watched" status of a given profile from the mobile app. It's the only type of change I'll sync back to DVD Profiler for PC. All other work with my local database is done from DVD Profiler for PC.

And I'll mention this as well, I do have the ability to sync the mobile app with DVD Profiler for PC over the Internet as I'm routing all DVD Profiler port traffic on my home network to the computer that runs DVD Profiler for PC. In turn, I have the "Connection Settings" for the database on the mobile app configured to use my home's WAN IP address rather than the local IP address of the computer running DVD Profiler for PC. I'm on the go and want to be sure the mobile app reflects the latest changes I've made on DVD Profiler for PC. No problem. I just perform a sync across the Internet. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Well, so long as DVD Profiler for PC is actually running. :-P If the application is not running you won't be able to sync.

[CH2]

It's back!

[AmishParadise]

Originally Posted by CH2

It's back!

[nimrahwt]

and its working again, that happens every now and then

[hariseldon]

My main problem is getting the mobile to connect to the service for an update my Collection, I enter all the discs on my PC and intermittently update the whole online collection which I'd like to be able to update the Phone as well, but that seems to no longer work for me.

I'm not sure it happened when I changed phones and had to reload everything or if they updated teh App, but I used to be able to do it without a problem. Now when I try to Update Collection and download the new items to my phone it just spins and never goes anywhere. I can connect to my PC via WiFi and do an update, but it's excruciatingly slow -- nearly a day the last time I did it.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by jman187

Still down. Any suggestions for a new program just like it?

There were quite a few areas without power in Virginia which has also affected Invelos.

[kishiro]

.... and now they're down again...

[AmishParadise]

Originally Posted by kishiro

.... and now they're down again...

Things being touch and go for a bit after a significant outage isn’t unusual. And yes, it did take another nosedive didn't it.

[AmishParadise]

I host my own DVD Profiler based website for those that weren't aware. The title data and cover art mirror my local DVD Profiler database. (See the link below in my forum signature.) That being said, I was adding a new profile to my website the other day. After completing the update my website wouldn't load the right pane anymore. I spent a couple hours troubleshooting the issue only to discover that it was due to the Invelos.com website having gone offline. Obviously that defeats the whole purpose of hosting my own website. Doh! I've since corrected the issue, so I guess I have Invelos to thank. :-P

You see, some time ago I updated the way the front and back cover thumbnails populate in the right pane. Originally my website would look to see if I had uploaded a copy of the given thumbnail to my web space. If so, it would display it. If not, it would display an "image not available" graphic. It still works that way, but I added a step in the middle there. If my website can't find the thumbnail on my web space it then looks to see if the Invelos online database has a version of the thumbnail that can be displayed prior to displaying the "image not available" graphic. Well as it turns out, the way I implemented this made the right pane always dependent on the Invelos.com website being available. That wasn't my intention and I've since addressed the issue so. Lesson learned.

[nimrahwt]

and online again