My wife and I have laptops and desktop computer and we like to be able to access the database from any computer. The Movie Collector license allows you to install the software on multiple computers, as long as you aren't using it on more than one system at a time. But, in it's default configuration, it assumes its movie database is stored on the system from which you are running the software. But it is relatively easy to configure it to use a network location, instead, and configure the software on each system to use that location.
Inside the program, click on File, then select Open Database. Then select the network location for the database.
That will change a registry at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Collectorz.com\Movie\Databases.
E.g., suppose the movie database is stored on a system named
MyServer under a directory named Movie Collector
within a shared folder named Home. The following registry
modification would occur within that registry key:
| Name | Type | Data |
|---|---|---|
| Data | REG_SZ | \\MyServer\Home\Movie Collector\ |
Another regisry key under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Collectorz.com\Movie\Databases
also gets updated to point to the exact movie database you are using.
E.g., if your movie database was named smiths_movies.mvc,
it would hold the following:
| Name | Type | Data |
|---|---|---|
| CurrentDatabase | REG_SZ | \\MyServer\Home\Movie Collector\smiths_movies.mvc\ |
You would likely want to save images for the covers and backs of the DVDs
plus the thumbnail versions of those images at the same location. When
you install Movie Collector on a system, it creates an Images
and a Thumbnails directory within the default directory where
it expects to place databases. But, since we want those to be accessible
from the central location on the server, I change the Default Folder
for Image Files and Default Folder for Thumbnail Files as
well. Those can be changed by clicking on Tools and selecting
Options and then changing the directories for those two
options.
Before
After
That change would alter registry values under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Collectorz.com\Movie\Settings.
| Name | Type | Data |
|---|---|---|
| ImageBaseFolder | REG_SZ | \\MyServer\Home\Databases\Movie Collector\Images\ |
| ThumbnailBaseFolder | REG_SZ | \\MyServer\Home\Databases\Movie Collector\Thumbnails\ |
If you don't see some of the thumbnails, as in the case for Aeon Flux below, you may need to regenerate a particular thumbnail image.
You can do so by right-clicking on the gears image that appears where you would expect the thumbnail image to appear and then choosing Regenerate Thumbnail.
You will probably also want to change the User Templates Folder and User Files Folder settings under the General tab within the Options settings. Movie Collector creates a Templates folder when you install it, so I use a Templates folder under the network location as well.
Before
After
Movie Collector changes registry settings when
you close it, so after you've made the changes for
the User Templates Folder and the
User Files Folder, the following registry
changes would be made for the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Collectorz.com\Movie\Folders.
| Name | Type | Data |
|---|---|---|
| UserFiles | REG_SZ | \\MyServer\Home\Databases\Movie Collector\ |
| UserTemplates | REG_SZ | \\Dark-Crystal\Home\Databases\Movie Collector\Templates\ |
