Acquiring details for your Media Center’s Movie Library can be difficult. Built-In support for adding this information is slim and complicated, furthermore it can’t be edited by the end user. You’re stuck with what you get. There are a few other options like DVDXml.com, though searching for all those movies on the DVDXml.com website can get tiring. Fortunately, there is another option: DVD Library Manager.
DVD Library Manager allows you to download movie information from Amazon or IMDB then save the movie details and even cover art to your media center. Even better, you can edit the information once it has been entered into the system. Managing your movie information with DVD Library Manager is a snap.
Before using DVD Library Manager, however, you should know that it will only pick up movies with a folder named “Video_TS” inside. You can add this as a blank folder under each movie folder, for example “C:\Movies\Movie Title\Video_TS”. After using DVD Library Manager, however, you will most likely need to go back and remove this folder from wherever it has been added. An easy way to do this is using the Windows Explorer search box at the top right corner of Windows Explorer.
First, download the latest available version of the program from The Green Button forums right here. Once the program is installed give it an initial run, if your movies are stored in the default Media Center locations you should see a list of movies populate the main view.
If your movies aren’t loaded into the main view you may need to change some settings by clicking the settings tab on the main toolbar. Once inside the settings you will see the default media locations and a second area for adding additional folders. Add your movie locations and save your settings.
Once you’ve got all your movies listed inside the main interface you’ll want to go through all the incomplete entries and scan for information. Doing this is quite simple, double-click on any incomplete entries to bring up the details view.
Your view will most likely contain missing or incomplete information and may or may not have a cover. To rectify the situation you can scan one of two databases to get new information, Amazon and IMDB. At the time of this article the option for scanning IMDB was not working due most likely to changes in the IMDB site.
Once you’ve found the right title and information for your movie you can make edits to the information either in this window or in the previous window. To save your new information and return to the details window press “Select Movie”. From the details window you can make any edits you wish or select different cover art from another location. Once you’re happy with the results press the “Save” button on the details toolbar.
Windows 7 Media Center also has the ability to pull down further information from the internet for your movies from inside Media Center. This function seems to work best when your movie’s title contains no additional information such as “widescreen”, “full screen”, “collectors edition”, etc.
Continue on this way until you’re satisfied with your collection’s details. Each movie will be saved through the details screen and there is no need to save details again in the main view before exiting. If you’d like to see cover art in the main view as well there is an option under the advanced tab in the main window that will allow this.
DVD Library Manager is a simple way to automate your DVD collection info gathering. Though it is still somewhat labor intensive it is slightly easier than DVDXml.com. Whichever method you choose provides much better results than Media Center. Have fun with your newly detailed and polished Movie Library.
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