Any TV and Movie Tracking Website/Software Suggestions?

nomadic

Does anyone here use anything to keep track of all the TV episodes and movies they watch?

I have been using TasteDive.com, which has been alright, but I would like something better. The nice thing about TasteDive is that it includes tracking for books, which doesn't seem to be offered by any competitors, but the mediocre music tracking, lack of per episode granularity with TV shows, and an occasionally buggy interface makes me willing to look for an alternative. TasteDive was also purchased awhile ago, so there is always the possibility of them shuttering the website unexpectedly.

The main alternative I have seen is Trakt.tv. It is only TV and movies, but my searches have told me that I should settle for using separate services when it comes to music and books.

I rejected TVTime.com for lack of an API, as I will probably write an extension to help me track what I watch. Don't particularly trust the extensions put out by the various services.

Main features I am looking for:

TV episode viewing history
Movie viewing history
Free API for easy programing
TV and movie recommendations based on liked content
Notification of new seasons/series of a TV show
Ability to make lists of content

I have sort of broken my brain by watching YouTube videos at higher playback speeds, so I end up going through a lot of TV shows, ~~some might even say too many~~. While my method of saving the last episode watched in a text document works, I do occasionally forget to do so, and am often shocked to hear that there is a new season several years after it has aired.

So, before I take the dive into using Trakt.tv, figured it would be good to see if anyone has any insight to add.

pafflick

Unfortunately, I don't know of any, but I'd like to hear if somebody has found/uses something useful in this regard.

Right now I have an account (for more than 10 years now) on a local equivalent of IMDb, which helps me to keep track of the movies/shows that I've already seen (in addition to reading/adding reviews, suggesting new movies/shows, participating in discussion threads & more). It's been pretty useful for me, as I have a really bad memory for movies. I can totally forget that I watched some movie and remember that I've already seen it only after watching half of it again.

barbudo2005

@pafflick

What helps me the most in discerning which series to watch are the IMDB user reviews, and not the explanations of the critics.

pafflick

@barbudo2005 Not sure how it works on IMDb exactly, but using the platform that I'm on, I'm basing my choice on the movie/show's description and user reviews. Similarly, I don't pay attention to those "critic's reviews".

nomadic

Well, TasteDive just received an update to the UI that made it much less useable, so guess it is finally time to make the switch...

elenamash9

When it comes to deciding which series to watch, I find that IMDB user reviews hold more sway for me than the critiques penned by professional reviewers. While the insights of critics certainly have their place, it's the authentic, unfiltered opinions of fellow viewers that truly guide my viewing choices. Their perspectives often shed light on elements that resonate with the audience on a personal level, allowing me to gauge whether a series aligns with my particular tastes and preferences. Rather than solely relying on the technical analysis of the show, I value the diverse range of experiences and emotions expressed by regular viewers, which give me a more holistic understanding of what to expect.

wintercoast

In the UK there used to be a site whose name I've forgotten now that was very good for TVs and films, where you could entry a title and it would notify you where and when you could watch that title again.

Unfortunately, they closed down but I've not been able to find anything similar.

nomadic

@wintercoast Trakt.tv does that. I use the 3rd party app Showly on Android to tie into Trakt, but there is also an official app now that I haven't tried.

It gives me a notification when new episodes release, has a view where you can easily see progress, and also a calendar to show upcoming episodes.

Progress View	Notification

RobertTuckerin

This post is deleted!

Azmarine

If you are still looking for an answer. I would recommend you to try SIMKL

It keeps track on Movies, TV Show episodes, Anime and many more - All in one place

I have been using it for several years now, I recently switched from Justwatch & TV Time to SIMKL as it had more features like:

Viewing history
API available
Personalised recommendation
Custom notification
Advanced filtering
Share profile with friends
Ability to make custom lists
Rate / Review / Comment / Memos / Private notes feature
And several more...

If you are switching from Tratk or TV Time, it does have an amazing import/export feature.

Azmarine

@Azmarine P.S Forget to share my profile, LOL, can follow me here: https://simkl.com/5743957/stats/

Watched over: 5900 Episodes

Obiwan2208

With TrackTV also you can know the TV show/film status.

TV shows can be running (runtime and episodes aired), finished, cancelled, etc, and films as planned, rumours, postproduction, etc. Specially interest for the re-starting TV shows that been declared as ended.

As @nomadic said you can check the release dates for specific TV/film, or the calendar for check the releases for next days weeks, months...for TV/films you're already following/seen or set into your 'Watching' list.

I use "TV Show & Movie Tracker" on #Android

josephj11

@nomadic I keep a text file of my viewing schedule too.

The other tools I use only meet a few of your criteria, but they're worth mentioning anyway.

I use the Hobi app on my Android phone. It can keep track of the episodes you have watched and sends a notification an hour before a show starts. It's good with suggesting similar shows as well.

On my notebook, I use https://epguides.com/menu/current.shtml
It doesn't track, but it tells you all the episode dates and when a new season date is known. Most already aired episodes have summary descriptions which are good if you lose track of the last episode you've seen and want enough of a description to remind you without spoilers.
At the top of the page, they list new shows and I sometimes find new ones to watch there.

I also use https://premieredate.news/ which is very good for tracking if shows are renewed and when the seasons will start. They are having some financial problems, but still seem very good. They send out email reminders when the status of show you're tracking changes.

These are all TV shows only with no APIs I am aware of.
They are all free, but some have paid versions with more features. I use the free versions.

nomadic

@Azmarine I actually did give SIMKL a try before ending up with TRAKT. They are both remarkably similar.

The main reasons I chose TRAKT over SIMKL where:

TRAKT seemed more popular, so it has a wider array of people making stuff that caters to it
I don't really watch anime, so SIMKL's extra focus on that didn't appeal to me (did watch and enjoy Cowboy Bebop, but even that got too into anime tropes for my taste)
The UI of TRAKT was slightly better for my usage, but I didn't really like either's UI. Luckily I am fairly happy with the third party Android apps that tie into the APIs and rarely deal with TRAKT directly

I was leaning toward using SIMKL mostly because of their lifetime paid option (hate ongoing subscriptions), but it became clear I was mostly happy with the basic free features of both services.

@Obiwan2208 Have you been enjoying Tv Show & Movie Tracker?

I have been using Showly and find it great, but the free version now has popup ads every once and awhile. I am seriously considering buying the premium, but since it is $16 USD, which is fairly steep for an app, I wanted to take a survey of the other options available.

My only real gripe with Showly is needing a few extra taps when moving something from the "Watchlist" to "My Shows". That is because I treat the watchlist as a list of things I am interest in watching and want anything I actually watch to be automatically moved to my shows, but the watchlist is treated like a regular list, so anything watched or unwatched can exist inside it.

@josephj11 Luckily my days of the text file are past me now. Although, I do pin links in my clipboard history for fast access to the current episode of shows I am currently watching, so maybe I am not completely free of it...

I did also consider Hobi, think they also had a TRAKT API integration, but looking now, Hobi seems to be dead with their PlayStore listing gone.

Thanks for the links as well. Luckily TRAKT through the Showly app fills most of my needs in their regard.

Showly is good about notifying me when shows on my watchlist premieres, letting me see a calendar of upcoming releases, displaying the status of a show (such as canceled/returning/ended), giving brief mostly spoiler free descriptions for seasons and episodes, giving some popular show/movie recommendations, and some similar shows/movies under each listing.

nomadic

@Azmarine Those are some impressive numbers, but...

Screenshot showing my stats of 471 days of total tv show watch time and 70 days for movies.

At least a lot of that was watched at 1.75 or 2 times speed, so it isn't too bad, right? I also don't bother tracking rewatches or a lot of the cartoons I watched as a kid (too little exact memory to accurately track), but think it is best for my sanity to not consider what the true numbers might be

Obiwan2208

@nomadic said in Any TV and Movie Tracking Website/Software Suggestions?:

Have you been enjoying Tv Show & Movie Tracker?

For sure. I tried like 2 or 3 clients, even the official one, but I feel more comfortable with TV Show n Movie Tracker.

I'm not a smartphone hard-user, but the times I used the app does its job, I haven't problems with it today.