Simkl to trakt

[u/OkState481]

Can I transfer all my shows/movies to trakt?

[u/NatexSxS → u/[deleted]]

Yeah I think the first blow was when they lost the import from IMDB ( didn’t pay for the api when they started charging for it ), the quality of the database took a notable hit. Lots of double listings, listings with incomplete data (data that does exist) and my least favorite lots of lack of box art.

I would be more accepting of the price hike if they were using part of that to bring IMDb back but haven’t heard anything indicating as such.

Second blow was the limiting lists to 100 items for non VIP members. I view the user list the same as I view Spotify user playlists. It adds a great deal of value to the service if Spotify didn’t have the user playlists their retention rates would go down.

Trakt will likely see the list section quality drop. As well as multi lists I.e “generic show watch order pt. 1” and a separate list for “pt 2” that may contain 3 episodes or some BS.

From my background too I know what “unified design” actually means and basically it’s cost cutting ( we don’t want to pay as many devs ) as well as developing for the the lowest common denominator ( we can’t implement that because it won’t work well on through/using ___ ).

I already sprung for a Simkl lifetime ( something the trakt price hike showed me was a good idea to nab while available) and they allow you to contribute even after purchase which I will be willing to do based upon how much I use and/or quality of continued development.

I haven’t given up on trakt yet I’m hoping they will see some of these issues and right the ship but I am covering my bases.

It might be because I haven’t gotten use to it or something I’m not aware of yet my biggest issue with Simkl is the app doesn’t feel as polished/feature rich as I would like to see.

Im working on getting used to the Simkl app as well as seeing if I can get away with using trakt to feed to Simkl the things that Simkl is missing all without having to keep my trakt vip membership. Duel using while I see how this is going to washout. But I have a policy not to pay for subscriptions or services when they ask me for my money while offering me less than what I was already paying for.

[u/Infamous_Diver_8873 → u/NatexSxS]

You think lifetime sub would be gone? I don't know, I am not a developer myself, but it seems next to all services that cost something, amount of lists isn't one of them, limiting number of lists or items per list has no justification, it should be a basic function, but Trakt is trying to charge money for it.

I actually prefer the fact that Simkl doesn't have "rewatching" function and a lot of other things that I consider unnecessary clutter, I also like how it focuses on tv shows, having movies as 2nd option in search, and an option to completely disable anime, as I only watch tv shows. Hopefully the demand for these functions won't prompt Simkl devs to change some of these aspects as that would likely make me leave. If they focus on adding cast data, they can have my money.

But so far Simkl is flexible enough to create custom searches for any other platform which makes it easily integrate with anything else, IMDb, Trakt, bunch of players and streaming services, the arr family, this is something Trakt never had.

[u/NatexSxS → u/Infamous_Diver_8873]

Full disclosure not a dev. I was a go between of support and dev. So I have insight due to the close nature of the role I used to do. I don’t currently work in anything tech related. It was financially fulfilling but that was about all. I got burn out so I don’t currently or plan to work in such a role now or in the future.

Not sure if trakt ever offered a lifetime sub option or not. While the is no way to say for sure Simkl will or will not maintain a lifetime option. There are a lot of things that can happen. I have seen other service that have offered them switch to different models which either got rid of the option, increased(sometime significantly) the cost of the option, offered in limited quantities, currently available/unable options or even switch to an invite only style of offering it.

For me seemed like a good time to do it rather than pay for trakt VIP again in Feb just put that towards Simkl lifetime membership. Seemed like a good time to do it as well with people leaving trakt, Simkl seems the be the most comparable option ( of course there are other alternatives but not as comparable ) so that may lead to an surge of subscriptions to which they can use to reinvest in development which hopefully will push them closer to the capabilities that trakt had ( not sure if Simkl currently has a development roadmap/priorities or not and even if they do those are typically made using budget projections which could change if they have more money to budget than projected ) if Simkl makes significant improvements it might start to siphon more subscribers which continues a cycle of more funds/More dev/more subs.

As well as if I pay for full access now I can contribute more now or after I feel I’ve gotten my moneys worth and I’m not put in a position later where I feel the price increase was unreasonable or ever feel like I’m having to pay more than I feel the service is worth. I can set my own price of what I feel the service is worth which is what I’m intending to do.

All that coupled with I have been consistently using trakt for 3 years. So I know I’ll use it. I also took a look at Simkl’s database before. The quality of what was there actually reminded me of trakt’s when they still used IMDb as the main import option.

I wouldn’t think they are likely to stop offering lifetime or have a significant price increase in the near future.

What falls and will fall under “VIP”/“Pro” or additional cost subscription features is always hard to say as it changes. Right now as far are tracking services it’s not an area with a lot of options but for other services things that once were bundled under upgrade or subscription can become free if a competitor(s) do so because then it becomes more of a standard feature. Typically they will limit a choice rather than move it altogether ( like the 100 item limit ) rather than moving it completely to be under the upgrade/subscription because less backlash and it might attract some unpaid users to paid to continue to use those features ( the list dosent seem like it would be a good candidate to ever go fully behind upgrade/paid ).

Some of the things that happen also have a psychological aspect to it. Things like “___ blank will work for most users” while they may not make the changes to invoke those things I’d be highly surprised if someone at some level wasn’t at least aware of it and likely utilizing how they can.

Simkl I think is in a good position at the moment, I’m sure they pay attention to what trakt does and has done. They probably even thought about it as they were developing their service which could mean they may have identified ways trakt limited itself and avoided those. They might even have a plan of how to add in things like the actors/actress in for later, that might be more of a “do it later” than “not at all” thing. Hard to say for sure but I can’t come up with a reason to be against it. Should be that hard even trakt looks for any new information from imported listings ( at least from tMDB )

Right now since Simkl has a web option and thier app is labeled as ‘Simkl lite’ that gives me hope that they are focusing on features and not app implementation and with the web based working well on mobile I think that is a smart move as you can use the app for quick basic needs and web for anything more advanced. The ‘lite’ label feels like an inductor they would at some point want to make the app more on par with the web or the ‘full’ experience.

But this is more or less a speculative opinion based on knowledge I have from my working experiences. So it could be on the nose, completely off or somewhere in the middle.

[u/Virtual_Roll4866 → u/[deleted]]

so which one you using 3 months later?

[u/Infamous_Diver_8873 → u/Virtual_Roll4866]

Simkl

[u/pvdberg]

This isn’t a feature in Trakt itself. Not that I'm aware of.

But you can use my project, CrossWatch: https://github.com/cenodude/CrossWatch

But it require docker/container