VHSdb

hej,

This database is very informative and helpful - I use it quite often and really enjoy looking at all those cover scans. (especially since you can view them in bigger size!)
I noticed that you have added a lot of foreign (non-french) editions lately. (I’ve tried submitting some myself and it’s really easy to do.) I am in the process of scanning some of my video covers (mostly German) and could submit them, however I’m not quite sure what kind of foreign videos you want to have on to the database. I could not find any rules/info, therefore I have a few questions:

1. Are there any criteria which films get added, and which don’t or do you (currently) take everything you get?
It seems to me that you’re trying to get most (if not all) French videos added, but what about non-french releases? Do you only want French films, or films that are already on the database, or films that have not been released in France, or only videos from labels already on the database, or only older videos released before ~85, or only films from certain genres, or …?

2. Also: how do you want the scans when it's not possible to scan a full sleeve?
(for example complete cartons, hardcover boxes, or tapes with sealed-in covers where putting them flat on a scanner would break the box)
For these I usually only scan the front, would that be good enough to be added to the database, or do you need all sides?

3. And what about damaged covers, or those with stickers?
Is it ok to submit damaged covers (the scans could be replaced later) or do you only want scans of covers in good condition?

Thanks for all the work and making those scans accessible. Best Regards,
johannes

(This was originally intended to be an e-mail, but since the answers might be of interest to others thinking about submitting scans, I decided to post it here instead. Sorry, my french isn't good enough to ask these specific questions.)

hej! (I thought that was Swedish!)

Thanks for the kind words and for these very relevant questions!

1. Basically, we take everything we get. But given the large quantities that are submitted and the fact that we scarcely have time to scan our own collections, I would tend to say that we would prefer tapes that might be of interest to collectors... I mean old or rare releases, genre films, etc. I understand some people collect other kinds of stuff but I still wonder if Teletubbies tapes, for instance, are worth adding to the database! Anyway, feel free to submit anything you want, French or foreign films releases from all over the world!

2. If you cannot scan the sleeve in one piece, please try to send us scans of the front, back and spine separately and we will assemble them: I often do it with cartons and it also works with hardboxes: http://www.vhsdb.org/fiche.php?vhs=45zfvb9l

3. Never mind the stickers or the damaged covers, we'll do our best to restore them but they don't have to be in mint condition...

Finally, I think I forgot to tell you the "Shogun Assassin" scan you submitted didn't make it into the database... It sometimes happens, please send it again if you can.

Thanks for your interest and we hope to get plenty of nice sleeves from you soon!

thanks for the quick reply!

I'll try to make it a routine to submit a few scans each week and help grow the international part of the database.

Yes, 'interest to collectors' is very difficult to define. I for one am more of a label collector, so even if it's a title nobody's ever going to watch (certain documentaries, gardening tips and the like) - if it's on the correct label, I'd be interested.
The majority of the German tapes I'm currently scanning are released pre-85 so there should be some interest even if they are not rare. I'll just stick by a simple rule: if I thought it was worth the time to scan it for myself, I'll submit it. And if you think it shouldn't be on the db just don't add it - overtime I'll learn which editions you don't need.

I'll see if I can work out a time-efficient way to scan and stitch cartons - you're right, it certainly looks better to have more sides.

If I'm doing something wrong with my submissions, just let me know and I'll try to improve.

All right, I've tried to scan & stitch a few cartons and hardboxes and I think the results are usable - I just need to get quicker at putting them together. (an example)

Just to make sure, you want cartons scanned similar to sleeves like this:
a) and not all sides like this: b) , right?

And I have a new question:

4. For films released on two (or more) tapes, each packed separately, but with nearly identical covers, do you generally only want one entry with the first tape and a note that it's a 2-tape set, or one entry for each tape? (like this one: http://vhsdb.org/fiche.php?vhs=sh862jc0 & http://vhsdb.org/fiche.php?vhs=co9o1hvm)

Hi!

Thanks for the hard work!

Yes, cartons like this are fine:
a)

You can also scan both spines if they're different like this one :
http://www.vhsdb.org/fiche.php?vhs=ppd92udk

For films released on two (or more) tapes, I think it's better to have one entry for each tape, simply because someone might have one tape and not the other!

Bye for now!

Thanks for the (again) very quick reply! I'll remember to scan both spines (if different) from now on.

I'm done scanning the first box and I'll submit the remaining ones in the coming days. Out of the lot I thought that these were the ones you most likely don't want on the database:

If I was wrong, please tell me which ones you want to have added and I'll submit those as well. (already have scans for most of them so it wouldn't be much trouble)

Well, I think you can send them all if you want!

Don't know if we'll find an IMDb link for the cartoon rabbit but he's cute anyway !



PS : We didn't get your "Flucht nach Athena" scan!

I took a break there for about a month, but prior to that I actually finished scanning the videos I wanted to get done in the summer. So I have close to 400 covers ready to submit to the database, which I plan to do over the coming weeks. Here's another question for you:

5. What do you prefer to do with double-sided sleeves with different artwork on each side? Make two database entries, or just choose one cover-motive to submit?

And again, there were a number of videos I'm not sure anybody would want on the database, so I won't submit the following tapes, unless you want me to.

and a few adult titles: NSFW!.
(I only have scans for a few of these and they are back in storage at the moment, but I can scan them the next time I get them out.)


I haven't forgotten about these, but I need to find the time to check if there are any credits on the tapes themselves. Couldn't find any info on these films online as they seemed to have been produced by the video company themselves.

Hej 8537935!

Indeed, double-sided sleeves are a problem! There's a number of them waiting in the back-office... You can make another entry for them if you want but they won't appear until Kubiak finds a way of linking them to the main entry...

About the other scans, don't hesitate to submit anything you want : there are many sleeves on the database which are far less interesting than yours!

And another question:

6. How do you want Video titles from countries which don't use Latin script submitted?

I have several Japanese tapes from VHS Wasteland and Greek editions from Miltos, who was kind enough to allow me to add his scans, bookmarked for submission. (I also have some Korean tapes somewhere, which I might scan later on.)
Looking through tapes already on the database, it seems that if there is an English (or other European) title somewhere on the cover, that should be used. If there isn't, the original (or international English) title is used. (Examples inlude Exposé, Death of the Snow Man or Due rrringos nel Texas) However there are also a few Greek tapes which use a romanization of the Greek title; for example Zwntanos stoxos 2 or To vitsio tis mavris kaltsas.

Which is preferred, Original/International title or a romanized version of the title as it appears on the cover?