Tips on Searching

What is Blackstar Suggest?

As you type into the Blackstar Search Box, Blackstar Suggest guesses what you are typing and then offers up to 10 potential searches in real time. The more you type the narrower the real time search becomes and the fewer potential searches you will have to select from.

For example, if you type "pir", Blackstar Suggest might offer a list of potential searches that include "Pirates of the Caribbean" or "Piranha" or "Pirelli British Rally Review".  As you continue to type, giving us more information with each letter and word, we update the results for you in real time. E.g. If you continue to add further letters, "piran" then the options are significantly reduced.

Blackstar Suggest is designed to work in conjunction with ALL United Kingdom available titles in the database in order to help you find the exact match to the title that you are looking for exceptionally quickly.

Blackstar Suggest is capable of working with fragments of words and will attempt to guess what title you are searching for.

For example, if you type "car", Blackstar Suggest might offer a list of potential searches that include "Cars" or "Care Bears" or "Carry on up the Jungle". As you continue to type as a new word, we update the results for you in real time. E.g. if you continue ..."car cam" Blackstar Suggest will update and might offer a list of potential searches that include "Carry on Camping" or "Carry on follow that Camel"

Can I search for Actors or Directors using Blackstar Suggest?

NO. Blackstar Suggest has been specifically designed to target the titles of DVDs in order to be as effective as it can be. For searches of actors, directors or anything other than the title please use Blackstar's default search technology.

How do I get back to normal Blackstar Search?

On every page on Blackstar there is a toggle button underneath the main search box, simply click this and it will change to "Suggest is off", you will then be back to the default setting.

Can I set Blackstar Suggest is on as my default search settings?

You can bookmark the URL: http://suggest.blackstar.co.uk/ and then whenever you click this as opposed to http://www.blackstar.co.uk/ your default settings for searching will be set with "Suggest is on"

I don't want anyone to know my searches for titles. Is my information private?

Yes, your information is private. Blackstar Suggest does not base its suggestions on your personal searches, although it does use information about the relative popularity of common searches, and popularity if certain titles to rank its suggestions. Your Blackstar Suggest searches, as with any information provided to Blackstar, are covered under Blackstar's privacy policy.

Can Blackstar Suggest see what I'm typing?

Yes. Blackstar Suggest needs to link to the Blackstar Database while you type in order to offer suggestions to you. Everything you type, though, is protected by Blackstar's privacy policy.

Do I need a specific browser to use Blackstar Suggest?

Your browser must be Internet Explorer 6.0 (or newer), Netscape 7.1 (or newer), Mozilla 1.4 (or newer), Firefox 0.8 (or newer), Opera 7.54 (or newer), or Safari 1.2.2 (or newer). You'll also need to have both JavaScript and cookies enabled.