DVD Thinpak and other Slim Cases (1 Viewer)

[KerryK]

Oh, now I'm a surgeon?! You could probably fold over the side, but it's a fairly small amount that has to be folded and I don't have the level of coordination required. You could also probably cut off small amounts on the sides, but again, that would require ability and a paper cutter (neither of which I have!)

 

[MarkHastings]

If it was made out of cotton (and not paper) you could wash & dry it and it'd shrink

 

[Will_B]

I think I'm going to give it a try... I've never been a fan of ironing so maybe I can live with it... I'll start with a few and see what's what.

I've ordered some singles and some doubles and will post some pics once I attempt this amazing feat.

 

[Dave F]

I like 'em. I'd be happy if all releases came in this case, but I think it should be mandatory for all sets of 3 or more discs.

-Dave

 

[Will_B]

I've made a pair of Photoshop templates for the ThinPak for everyone, both the single-DVD version and the 2-DVD version.

300 pixels/inch, CMYK color (you can change that if you want), and there are guidelines showing where the spine text should be. There's no bleed area since I figure you'll be cutting it by hand and can be exact.

http://www.centerchange.org/thinpak.zip

I may have to take this down in a few days depending on traffic, but get it now.

 

[Frank_Ber]

Maybe I am the only one here but I like the size and style of the DVD-A packaging. I hope DVD-V will use it too. But then again, it will be harder for me to recognize a DVD-A to DVD-V.

 

[MarkHastings]

Maybe I am the only one here but I like the size and style of the DVD-A packaging

I suggested it on page 2. I like the packaging, but sometimes it's hard to get a good grip on it and open it, unlike CD's which I can seem to grab with one hand a lot better.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

It's far too late to change the form factor of DVD-Video packaging.

The DVD-Audio is in jewel case plastic, and it'll crack.

 

[Will_B]

As promised, here are some pics of the ThinPak in action.

In this first pic, I've taken three of my music DVDs and scanned the cover art, redid the spines to be smaller, then printed on my color printer. The beauty part is this ThinPak doesn't need oversized paper, regular size works fine.

Notice the spines still are plenty visible.



In this second pair of pics, notice the inside. That's the real, actual booklet for the Sheryl Crow DVD -I did NOT reprint the booklet at all - I just tucked it underneath the cover and it is visible through the transparent plastic. The booklet fits perfectly there and it held tightly enough. (It could also fits INSIDE but there's a hub recepticle which prevents that from working too well). On the right is just another view of the spines.

 

[Ric Easton]

Nice work! I am rapidly running out of room, you may have sold me! How thick are their double DVD cases? Are they as thick as a thin double Amaray?

Ric

 

[Will_B]

The doubles, I am confused about. From the NexPak website it appears that they're designed a double DVD pack. However the webstore from which I bought a sample sent me what looks like two single-DVD cases which are connected by a piece of plastic...like two books with the edges connected...like this:

/V

I would have to advise you to stay away from anything describing itself as a 2-DVD ThinPak until this becomes more clear.

By the way, I am throwing the original cover art into a 3-ring binder (a Unikeep binder, actually, from Staples). Easy.

The real cost may be the inkjet ink!

 

[Debbie E]

Hhhmm at first I thought $100 was too much... but that's what a couple of new shelves will cost... so if this halfs the space in the two shelfs I already have... it might make sense.

 

[Ric Easton]

Yeah, thats what they looked like on the site, I'm a little confused as to why anyone would want those, but maybe I am missing something. I trust you don't have to punch holes thru your old sleeves with that Unikeep binder?

Ric

 

[Will_B]

Oh heck no, I put the cover art into Avery sleeve protectors, the kind that have the 3-ring holes on the far side along a white plastic strip, not the kind that rip holes through the actual art. Then those go into the UniKeep (frankly any 3-ring binder will do, I just like promoting the UniKeep because I love them!).

I've got a little more to tell: I've discovered SOME booklets are a hair too large to be tucked under the cover of the ThinPak - specifically, Dreamworks ones are just a hair too tall. Discovered that while making an American Beauty cover.

DVDcoverart.com is coming in really handy for copying/modifying the cover art, since my scanner doesn't eliminate moire artifacts that well. Though generally speaking I am finding that if I scan at 400 pixels/inch, and then use that as the source for making a 300 pixels/inch cover (shrinking it to 76% as I copy & paste it into my Photoshop template provided above), the copied covers look very good.

Still, I am going to get most of the cover art from dvdcoverart.com just to save time. Then all that remains is to shrink the spine down to size.

I'm thrilled, because I don't have room for more shelves. And I didn't want to put everything in binders because half the fun is having someone look at your shelves and pick out the movie that grabs their eye.

 

[John Simon]

Did anyone ever figure out exactly what the 2-DVD ThinPak looks like? I'm starting to make custom covers to move The X-Files seasons into ThinPaks, but I wanted to see if the 2-DVD cases would be a decent choice.

Oh, and for those of you who have bought the ThinPaks, where have you ordered from? I've seen a few places but wanted to know where you've had the best service/selection. Thanks!

 

[Will_B]

My best guess is that NexPak designed a 2-DVD ThinPak, evident by a template found on their website, but it has not yet been released.

What HAS been released is a 1-DVD ThinPak...

...and a 2-DVD ThinPak which is simply two 1-DVD ThinPak's connected at the edge.

I suspect that this was just a way to quickly get some "2-DVD" ThinPaks out to market, before the tooling was done to create the real thing.

Have you written to nexpak? www.nexpak.com is their address, they must have contact info there somewhere.

 

[KerryK]

I will try to remember to ask their sales rep next week.

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

Reading the spine of a disc may become rather hard.... but I think it's a good change. I got 300 myself, I wouldn't mind a slimmer case.

 

[Rick P]

Perhaps we should all join forces and pool our 'cover conversion' effort?? (those that are scanning/reworking spine/printing). DVDCoverart has express distain for any uploads of ThinPak conversions so that route may not be open.

We might save ourselves a lot of time and avoid re-inventing the wheel (I am working on MST3K now, Next up are Avengers, Monty Python, Buffy and M*A*S*H (altho I may wait on the last two till their next releases comes out, since I'll bet good money that they will be in the thins)

Now, where can we find slipcases??? (2,3,4,5,6 and 7 THIN size??)

 

[Will_B]

I've been saving my ThinPak cover art files, but they're too massive to host on my own website (which has no room for such things). They're also too large to email.

I've made ThinPak art for the following. Please note the "+" "-" and "*" which are explained later:

+Bedazzled*
-American Beauty*
+Coupling
-Clerks
+Exotica*
+End of Violence
+Enemy of the State
-Gattaca*
-Goldmember*
+Grosse Pointe Blank*
+Lair of the White Worm*
+Not Another Teen Movie
+Point Break
+Spanish Prisoner, The*
+Tadpole

Key:

*asterix denotes these have custom cover art, such as the original theatrical one-sheet art.

The "+" denotes that I made these myself and could share these, perhaps, one at a time.

The "-" denotes that I cannot share this because the art came from dvdcoverart and so it would not be proper to share. For example, someone on Dvdcoverart.com restored the original blurb-free theatrical poster art to the case for American Beauty. So I used that when I modified it to make the ThinPak sized cover art, but my modification is not enough to make it proper for me to share what is 99% another person's effort.