Collection FAQ

« Back to Collection

• Why won't some of my movies show up?

  Collection scans your Watch Folders for files that are in a recognized video file format. Once a file has been found the filename is checked to see if it represents a movie title. If the title is obscure or contains excess information, or insufficient information, the movie title can be hard to find.

  Please see the list of Supported Formats on the Help page.

• Can I manually add movies to Collection?

  Absolutely. Add a new movie by pressing the “+” button in the lower left corner of the Collection window, and start entering a movie title. When you have provided enough of the title for the search engine to be able to recognize a movie title, you will be presented with matching titles. For added precision, you can add the year of release of the movie.

  Example: You want to add the movie “12 Angry Men” from 1997, but are presented with the more popular original from 1957. Expand the search to be “12 Angry Men 1997” — you should now be presented only with the 1997 version. Select the suggested title to use the downloaded information.

• Why does Collection use themoviedb.org and not IMDb?

  IMDb has a licensing program which is particularly expensive. This is why Collection uses themoviedb.org, which is free and open. Anyone can edit it — just like Wikipedia.

• How can I use a different player to view my movies?

  Movies on your Mac (non-web movies) will play in the application associated with the movie file type. To play in a different application, select the movie you want to play, click the “Movie” menu item in the menu bar, go to “Open With”, and select the application you want to play the movie. You can also control click (or right click) on the movie in the movie list and do the same from here. Your selection will not be saved.

  Alternatively, you can change the associated player in OS X (see Apple Support). This change will be reflected in Collection as well.

• Can I only use VLC to view Web movies?

  Currently you can only use VLC to view Web movies. This is because of technical limitations set by many other video players. VLC is the only player among QuickTime Player, MPlayer Extended OSX and VLC itself that supports starting a video by passing it the URL of a movie. If you wish to use another player, you can control-click (right-click) on the movie in the movie list and select “Copy URL”. The URL is then copied to the pasteboard, and you can paste it in whatever player you wish to use.

  If you know of a popular video player for Mac OS X that supports this, please let us know.

Was your question not answered?

Please take a look at the Collection Support and Help page to see if the action you are look for is explained there. Otherwise, feel free to contact us.