I wrote this little tool for my own use because I have a long list of titles in my DVD collection and a short memory. So when I'm browsing various sites I often ask myself "Do I own this title?". Since I often look for older titles, the fact that I recognize a title means little. I may have owned it on VHS back in the day, or on Laserdisc. I may have watched it in the cinema or on TV. I may have just read about it in Famous Monsters or some similar magazine, or perhaps I just saw the trailer somewhere. Or perhaps I already own it, and have just forgotten about it. I have been known to double-dip on titles without realizing it.

So, it would be nice to have a really quick way of checking. Sure, I could search for a title in DVD Profiler. But that would mean switching applications, typing in the title and seeing if something matches. Doesn't sound to difficult, but if your looking at a lot of titles it becomes a drag. So I wanted something even simpler. And that turned into CollectionCheck.

The basic idea is that the program watches the clipboard, and if something is copied to the clipboard, the program will search for it, either as a title or as an id (UPC/EAN). The title search is done as an exact word search, so if you check for "Kong" you will find "King Kong" but not "Konga", if you search for "King Kong" you will find "Making of King Kong" but not "King of Kong Island".

Here is an example of what the searches may look like:




I realize that this probably isn't something that most of you would find useful. So no need to tell me that. But since I wrote it I thought that I might just as well make it available, just in case there is someone out there who is just as absent minded as I am, and has a large collection.

Anyway, if you feel like checking it out, you can find some more info and a download link here.

So much fun watching your brain work!    (Yes, I mean as a compliment.)

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Well, that's what they say. I say Stupidity is the father of updates. Well, not always, of course, but sometimes. Like in this case.

I was browsing DVD Drive-In and I noticed that Warner was going to release When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth on blu-ray. I had CollectionCheck running (minimized) so I highlighted the title and clicked Ctrl-C. CollectionCheck pops up and tells me that there is no such title. DUH! I know I own it on DVD. What's wrong with this stupid program?

Well, I took a look in DVD Profiler to make sure the title wasn't misspelled, and - DUH again! I had forgotten that I had bought the Spanish release, so the title was actually Quando Los Dinosarios Dominaban La Tierra. So now it was DOH! I hadn't thought of checking original title in the program. #SlapMyFace

Well, I don't know if anyone else but me cares, but that's fixed now in 1.2.0. Just FYI.

PS. Not that I really needed a reason to upgrade WDRTE to blu-ray, but it turned out that my DVD was non-anamorphic, so it became even more of a no-brainer. The movie may be just so-so, but the stop motion animation by Jim Danforth is every bit as good as Harryhausen's best efforts. Avoid only if you can't stand seeing Victoria Vetri topless