I'm simply not going to have time to evaluate this until much later. It certainly has many useful features, but there's also considerable duplication of features which are in recent versions of Windows, which they acknowledge. It's difficult to cover the issues concisely. DBGallery's ITPC/XMP fields may be finer-grained than native Windows support in Vista+. The GeoTagging via Google Maps looks handy, but many photo editors/viewers do that. The database is redundant in Vista+, where Windows Search, especially in Windows 7, provides even more power, especially with natural language queries and partial matching enabled. Windows Explorer in Vista+ can display numerous fields, just right-click a column heading in Details view to see what's available, and of course, sorting and filtering is available. Right-clicking a photo in Windows and selecting Properties, Details shows many basic fields, most of which are editable. Windows Vista+ supports saved searches, Windows 7 supports Libraries. Notably DBGallery is lacking face tagging, which is available in the free Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011, along with numerous other features, including all sorts of grouping, filtering, batch tagging/editing, single-picture editing (more features than batch), searching (but less powerful than Windows Search in Windows Explorer), etc. On the web pages, the headings are live, and generally have photos or videos describing the main features. CyberLink MediaShow 5 has face tagging, and supports Intel Core processors, ATI Stream, and nVidia CUDA (more of its features support CUDA than the others). DBGallery is also weak in its file sharing abilities compared to the others, especially Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011. However, DBGallery can be used in conjunction with other tools or features of Windows. Microsoft abandons many of their products. DBGallery mentions Microsoft Photo Info, which no longer appears to be available, although it remains compatible even with Window 7x64. Photo Info appears to have been superseded by Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2.2, which is also obsolete. The subject of Windows Search is far too complex to delve into. With natural language queries and partial matching, it supports boolean operations and parentheses in a normal fashion. Comparison and ranges (look up the syntax) are available. It always matches property values. Property names must be fully spelled out (just a word will do), and it matches against those before values, so it's best to leave off the last letter of common words if you want a value match, as there's a high probability that those are a property name. I'd like DBGallery better if it were more integrated with recent versions of Windows, without its own database.

Fubar  –  13 years ago  –  Vond je deze reactie nuttig? ja | nee (+60)

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First, what is given away here is the personal version- you need to get a quote to find out about multiuser/enterprise use. Not a big deal for me, I do my own thing.

Second, this appears to use a monolithic database- SQL gets installed first. gonna take a while to search if you have a lot of photos.

Third, this appears to assume you have all your photos 'live' in direct-attached or networked storage. At least that's what it looks like to me.

That kills it for me, as I offload to DVD-R for long-term storage, and using InsideCat's [www.insidecat.biz] thumbnail feature in offline mode is lots faster- and I can search/sort by all the metadata once cataloged.

And on the side I get a fast disc catalog program that allows me to keep track of metadata on multimedia, data files, etc.- for a lower price.

About $10 less base, much faster, and more features.

For a print or media company, this sounds like it might be better in some ways. but not at $50 I bet.

For a single user, unless they're a professional and want to keep massive banks of photos on hard drives... I don't think it's going to be all that useful.

Just my opinion. I could be wrong. As usual.

goodgotd  –  13 years ago  –  Vond je deze reactie nuttig? ja | nee (+39)

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This does not provide an option to create a desktop icon so you have to do that manually if you want one.

I am a bit stumped as to what this is for. At first glance it appeared to be a way to organize and find pics on my PC. According to the 'What Is DBGallery' section of their site: http://www.grrsystems.com/what-dbgallery - This is a shared photo database and tool allowing everyone in an organization to quickly access digital photo assets. The error message I get as soon as I open it leads me to believe that this is for people who have websites with SQL Hosting.
-Am I way off base?
-Could someone dumb down what this product is?
-Is the error I am getting unique to me? What is the resolution?

This is the error message I get as soon as I launch the application:

Error Message: Unable to connect to any of the specified MySQL hosts.

DBGallery has not yet been initialized (likely the first time it's been run) and a database connection cannot be made.
The most likely cause is that MySql was already installed on your system prior to loading DBGallery.
If this is the case the resolution is to choose the 'Advanced Configuration' button below and key the relevant database connection info.

Other possibilities...
MySql wasn't installed. Resolution: run DBGallerySetup.exe and install MySql from there.
The database isn't reachable. Potential Resolution: Connect to the database server via another means and choose the 'Retry' button.

- I appreciate and help understanding this.

standing8  –  13 years ago  –  Vond je deze reactie nuttig? ja | nee (+20)

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Away from today's Software Debate (in a strict sense) - I have noticed that some People who are simply asking questions are being severely "bashed" around their heads with unbelievable hostility!

If You don't find their asking for Help relevant to Your situation - at least have courtesy (and mercy) not to judge. That's my plea. Thanks to Those who look beyond thumbs down, see BETTER! - and take their time to help.

fran  –  13 years ago  –  Vond je deze reactie nuttig? ja | nee (+19)

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@Fubar #3

Most of the time I enjoy reading your comments because they seem well-founded but today my feeling is you should better not have said anything. First off, if you don't have a large collection of photos, you will not understand the need for a good photo database. Searching for photos by resolution (size or dpi) doesn't get you anywhere as all photos shot with the same camera will have the same resolution. Searching by camera make or model is ridiculous for a photographer as they will have thousands of photos shot with the same camera. Face tagging would be a great thing if I could tell the program 'Here, this is the face of my brother John. Now go search all my thousands of photos and tag all appearances of my brother's face with his name.' You believe it can be done? No, it can't. Anyway, even if the program pretended, it had accomplished the task I still would have to go through all the photos just to make sure...

Maintaining a photo database is a tedious job, but if the tool is any good, it's well worth the effort. (As I am using another DAM tool which I am quite happy with, I will not install this one, though.) Even Windows 11 search will not be of much assistance in this unless something drastic happens, such as the camera automatically stores the names of people's faces in some metadata. Might well be, if Google extend their street view to "people's living rooms/bedrooms view" or some such thing.

just_passing_by  –  13 years ago  –  Vond je deze reactie nuttig? ja | nee (+18)

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