How to compare ratings with your household for home cinema scorekeepers in 2026

A practical guide for home cinema scorekeepers who want to compare ratings with household members, with steps, tool options and common mistakes.

By VLClean · 2026-11-07

VLClean is published by the makers of Askarr and Watcharr, which are compared here alongside other tools.

Home cinema scorekeepers can compare ratings with household members by agreeing on one list of titles and one scale, having each person score every title in the same place, and reviewing the scores together on a set day. Watcharr is one option for the list part. It accepts any public IMDb list from the desktop site, the phone site or IMDb's other-language pages. ^[1]

Option	How the scores are shared	Cost details
Watcharr	One shared public IMDb list, with each title opening to TMDB's rating. ^[1]	The hosted version needs nothing to install and no account. ^[1]
Shared spreadsheet	Check how each person adds a score and who can see the sheet.	not published
Group chat poll	Check how the poll counts scores and whether earlier results stay visible.	not published

What you need before you start

Start with the people who will score. Every household member who watches should be willing to add a score, and the household needs one agreed place where those scores will sit.

Decide which titles count. A title might be one that was watched together, or one that someone added to a shared list on purpose.

Agree on one scale before anyone scores anything. If one person rates out of ten and another rates out of five, the scores cannot be compared directly, so write the scale at the top of the shared place.

Have the list of titles ready in one place. If you plan to use Watcharr for the list, a public IMDb list is the starting point. Watcharr accepts any public IMDb list. ^[1]

If you plan to send lists into Radarr or Sonarr, have both programs set up first. Radarr and Sonarr are free helper programs that add movies (Radarr) and shows (Sonarr) to a home library.

Step by step

Choose the titles everyone will score, and keep them in one list that the whole household can see.
Agree on one scale, such as a number out of ten, and write down what each number means.
Decide when a score counts. For example, a score can count once the title has been watched all the way through.
Ask each household member to add their score for each title in the same place. If they have not watched a title, they should leave that score blank.
Pick one set day each week to look at the scores together. Mark the titles where people disagree by a wide margin, so they get talked through first.
Compare the scores title by title. Talk through the titles with big gaps before deciding what to keep, and write the decision next to the title.
After the first few weeks, ask the household whether the scale and the shared place still work for them, and change whichever part does not.

The steps above do not depend on any one tool. Once the list, the scale and the review day are settled, any shared place that lets everyone add a score will work for the comparison.

Tools that can do it

Watcharr is made by the team that publishes this site, VLClean. You paste one public IMDb list and get one link for Radarr with the movies and one for Sonarr with the shows. Radarr and Sonarr are the apps that manage movies and TV shows on the home server. ^[1] It accepts any public IMDb watchlist or list from the desktop site, the phone site or IMDb's other-language pages. ^[1]

Each title on the list opens to TMDB's rating, so the household can check it against their own scores. TMDB is a movie and TV database run by a separate company, and its rating is the number shown. ^[1] The page shows the list's covers in a row, and each one also opens to TMDB's plot, genres, backdrop and trailer. ^[1]

Signed-in users can combine several IMDb lists into one Radarr link and one Sonarr link for the whole household, so everyone's scoring list stays in one place, and a title that is on two lists is added only once. ^[1] If you sign in, Watcharr re-reads your list about every 15 minutes and warns you when a list fails three reads in a row, which means the household should check the list. ^[1]

The hosted version needs nothing to install and no account. ^[1] Its code is available under the PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 licence, and older versions remain under MIT. ^[1]

Two other options are a shared spreadsheet and a group chat poll. No source facts about these tools were provided here, so check how each one lets every person add a score, who can see the scores, and whether earlier results stay visible.

Common mistakes to avoid

Avoid scoring on different scales. Scores only compare when everyone uses the same numbers and the same meaning for each one.

Avoid leaving out a household member. One person's scores only show part of the picture, so ask everyone who watches.

Avoid using a private IMDb list and expecting Watcharr to read it. Watcharr accepts public lists. ^[1]

Avoid missing shows that were skipped. Watcharr leaves out shows it cannot match to a show ID from TheTVDB, a TV database, and tells you which ones it skipped, so check that list before assuming a show is missing. ^[1]

Avoid skipping the weekly review. Scores that sit unread do not help anyone decide what to watch next.

Frequently asked questions

How can home cinema scorekeepers compare ratings with household members?

Agree on one list of titles and one scale before anyone scores anything. Then have each household member add a score for each title in the same place, and review the scores together on a set day each week. Comparing title by title is easier when every score has the same meaning, so write down what each number means next to the list.

Can Watcharr show ratings for every title on a shared list?

Each title on the list opens to TMDB's rating, along with its plot, genres, backdrop and trailer. ^[1] Signed-in users can combine several IMDb lists into one Radarr link and one Sonarr link for the whole household, and a title that is on two lists is added only once. ^[1] Before deciding anything, check that each title you plan to discuss opens with the details you need.

Does Watcharr need an account to start?

The hosted version needs nothing to install and no account. ^[1] Without signing in, you can still paste a list and get the two links. If you sign in, Watcharr re-reads your list about every 15 minutes and warns you when a list fails three reads in a row. ^[1] Combining several lists for a household is described for signed-in users. ^[1]

Does Watcharr keep the list working if a read fails?

If a read of the list fails, the links keep serving the last list that loaded correctly, so the household may see an older version of the list until the next good read. ^[1] The links are built from the IMDb list's id, so the same list always gives the same two links. For the household, this means the links do not change when the list is updated, so the bookmarks stay valid. ^[1] A bookmark you click inside Radarr or Sonarr adds the list for you. An API key is a password-like code that lets one app talk to another, and Watcharr uses that app's key without sending it anywhere else. ^[1]

What should be checked before choosing a rating method for a household?

Check whether every person can add a score, whether they can see each other's scores, and how the tool keeps a record of changes. Watcharr accepts any public IMDb list, so you can paste the link to a list you can see without signing in to IMDb. ^[1] Check how other tools handle the same points before deciding, because no source facts about them were provided here.

Its code is available to read under the PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 licence; older versions remain under MIT. ^[1]

Try Watcharr

Sources

Watcharr's own description of itself (the product of this site's publisher)