Windows 7 App Errors

[seekermeister]

I've been having consistent errors (See Below) when using a movie cataloguer that I have. I have contacted their support a couple of times about this, but they insist that the problem is at my end, and not the fault of the program.

Working on that premise at the moment, it appears to me that the errors relate to some kind of a memory problem, but I have tested the memory and have found no problems. Therefore I'm wondering about some other kind of memory, like one of the caches on my CPU (AMD Phenom II x6 1090T), because I can't think of any other memory that could be involved. Do these errors suggest anything to anyone?

EDIT: These screenshot were taken after occuring when only scrolling through the thumbnail display.

 

[seekermeister]

Here is a screenshot of the options wizard for a text export, before making any changes. How does one determine which to select or not select...trial and error?

 

[patcooke]

To make it a csv you definitely need to change the filed delimiter from space to comma. Not certain about line breaks but I would go for either not replacing them or for new line marker (definitely not space). Try running it, change the output file type to csv, double click on it and see if it opens in your spreadsheet application. It should show one line on the spreadhseet for each database record with a column for each database field.

 

[seekermeister]

Yes, going with the comma and changing the extension made it able to open in Excel, but even though it is organized in an order of sorts, it is still too complex to be usable. One movie's line would probably stretch across 3 or 4 monitors, if one wanted to try that out, but I don't. Even with the fields crammed so close together that one can't read much, you have to scroll and scroll to reach the end of each line.

I guess that leaves the question of whether some other movie catalog program would be able to import the data in a more usable manner? The only other movie catalog I've used (Not sure what the name was...they all sound alike) wasn't very good. When MC worked properly, it was so much better than that program, it was like the difference in night and day.

 

[patcooke]

I'm not suggesting you use it in a spreadsheet - that eas just to confirm generation of a properly formatted csv file. You now nee to look for a piece of software which you think will meet your needs, offers a free trial and can import data from csv files (most software worth it's salt can).

 

[seekermeister]

Not sure if any of these types of programs are worth their salt. I downloaded the program called DVD Profiler, which looked pretty prominent on Google and a couple of returns I checked out, but all that I found was a method to export, not to import. If I can't import, I'm not interested, because that would be like starting over from scratch, which would take eons.

Beyond that, from what little I could see of the program, it is missing some critical abilities, like being able to link to each video file and being able to select it to play from the database. It might have that ability hidden somewhere, but I didn't have the patience to look further since it couldn't import.

 

[patcooke]

Have you checked this one out - handles csv files:

Link Removed

Trial only handles upto 50 entries but enought to test it in principle - Just create a copy of you csv file, delete all but the first 40 or so rows from the spreadsheet and see how th import goes.

 

[seekermeister]

That is the program that I now have and am having problems with.

 

[seekermeister]

This problem continues to itch me. Since my last post I have been talking with their tech support (sporadically) to no avail. They claim that they were unable to reproduce the problem with the copy of the database that I sent them, thus the problem is with something at my end. I somewhat accepted that for a time...until I did a clean install of the OS, and then tried the app before setting it to use my database. It was just as fast as it ever was, which would tend to point the finger at either the database or the app itself, but since they claim that they were able to run my database without any problems, they claim that the problem must be somewhere it my hardware.

The only thing supporting that idea is the occasional Out Of Memory error that sometimes pop up in certain operations, but I have never been able to get them to define precisely what memory that might pertain to, and may occur when physical RAM is not near it limits, virtual memory is set to use as much space as it wants, Windows Memory Diagnostic doesn't indicate any problem with the CPU's memory controller cache either enabled or disabled, and I've not found anything that indicates a problem with the video card's memory. Under the circumstances, I'm at a loss to understand the Out Of Memory error, or if it really is at the crux of the app's performance issue that I'm trying to deal with.

I also found that if I downloaded my movies from MC's Cloud, to a new, clean database, that no speed or performance issue appeared. This seemed to annul the idea that the number of movies cataloged was the problem, since the Cloud download was equal in size to my old database in terms of the number of movies. However some things were abbreviated, like the length of the cast and crew and a few other little items, but I find it difficult to believe that these are responsible for the problem either.

I can't use the Cloud to create a new database for normal use, because of the abbreviations that I mentioned...it would take forever to edit it to a working state, but they also have another online database service they call Connect, which isn't free like the Cloud. The problem is that I don't want to pay for something, unless I am fairly sure that it will help. Since it isn't free, I figure that it must be more complete, and would provide the data that I uploaded to it, rather than substitute some things from their own core system, but I've not found anything on their website that gives a clear picture, and they haven't responded to my questions about it, other than to state that they seriously doubted that it would solve the problem. I really dislike assertions such as that, without any real explanationsa to back it up, especially since all that I've found so far indicates just the opposite.

I know that many would simply toss this app aside and try to find another to do the job, but I've not found any that come close to doing what this one does...when it works properly. That's a lot of words to say that I'm still looking for the solution, and any help that might lead me to it.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Is this an OEM Windows7 computer (Dell, HP, Gateway) or is a Custom-built system? If custom-built; specs on your Motherboard would be helpful. If it's a name brand OEM computer, have you tried contacting your computer manufacturer for support? If it's Windows7 I'm guessing it's out of warranty unless you were lucky enough to purchase an Extended Warranty. Your PC company may help you, but it's gonna cost you between $35-$99 minimum for a support call if out of warranty *which most Computers are that came with Win7 by now*.

BIGBEARJEDI

 

[seekermeister]

The computer is a DIY, therefore any problems are mine, unless I can pinpoint it to a component, rather than the rig overall. I would give the specs, if I thought that would really help, but I don't.

I have most of the specs listed in my computer profile, but I can't find a means to access that, other than through my own controls, which isn't really of any help...one of a number of things I don't like about the new forum format. Why list specs unless they are accessible to everyone?

 

[seekermeister]

I've done a bit more experimenting via the Cloud, downloading a couple more test databases. The first test reacted normally in terms of speed, but the latter two, which differed only in terms of downloading images, as well as the data, were just as slow reacting as my local database. This makes it appear that for whatever reason, either the app or my hardware (which is what tech support suggests) isn't able to cope with the amount of images that the database contains.

I'm no programmer, but it is beyond my understanding of how the number of images could effect the performance of the program as a whole, since the program doesn't have to deal with all of those images during most operations of adding a movie. Even if I select it to not display images, the result is the same.

On the other hand, if the problem relates to some problem with my hardware, the only thing that makes any sense to me is the video card, but the video card that I have is not all that old or weak, and testing it doesn't indicate any problem. Plus, the problem commenced the instant that I upgraded from version 8.x to 9.x, which goes back to the app itself. This idea is countered by the fact that if support is telling me the truth, my database has no problem running on their hardware...a conundrum???