DVD Thinpak and other Slim Cases

#91

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5/4/03 at 6:58pm

Joe Isham
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Quote:

Hey, Image, maybe you could send me thinpaks with the inserts with the five boxes for free. That's the least you could do for me who bought all 45 volumes the first time!!! The only proof I could show you is a photo of me next to the loooong line of keepcases lining my shelf with me holding up a sign of my address and name. Ha ha. Maybe I should post this in the Studio Feedback section and e-mail them directly!!!

I e-mailed Image about this already:

Quote:

Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately due to the fact that we do not
package our own DVDs we do not have any of the new Twilight Zone cases on
hand. Therefore we are sorry to say that we cannot provide you with any of
these new cases.

#92

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5/5/03 at 7:51am

Will_B
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USPlastic.com has the CLEAR ThinPaks -- much, much better than the black ones -- for only 40 cents each.

http://www.usplastic.com

They also have the black ones so be careful.

"Scientists are saying the future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted." -Krysta Now

#93

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5/5/03 at 8:35am

John Simon
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when asked about it, one of the people running DVDCover said (partial quote) "I don't want people downloading a cover from the site, resizing the spine to a thinpak, then uploading it back. for most covers, there's no need to have it in several different sizes when someone can download it and make the necessary changes in 5 minutes."

They did say they MAY make a size category for thinpaks.. maybe...

Well, it looks like they've modified their stance. This just got posted on DVDCoverArt.com:

We've added the option for single and double disc ThinPak Cases. Templates are available to download on the template page.

The policy for accepting ThinPak covers will be twofold: if it is a custom cover, then we want it; if it is just a resizing of a scan or an existing cover on the site, then we only want it if it is a request (same as with regular keepcase scans).

Credits for ThinPak submissions will be handled slightly differently as well. Custom covers will remain 4 credits (6 if a request), but if it is just a resized scan/existing cover, then it will be 2 credits (regardless if a reuqest or not). Exceptions will be resizings which have complicated spines and require more time/effort, but this will be up to the discretion of the upload staff.

The credit policy is not fixed in stone and may be adjusted if necessary. Please feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions/concerns, or post on the message board

thanks!

Sounds like a good deal to me.

#94

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5/5/03 at 9:23am

Rick P
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Well, let's get the requests flowing folks

#95

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5/5/03 at 10:07am

Matt DeVillier
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yeah I dunno where you guys got the idea that we wouldn't be supporting ThinPaks. I've said personally I'm not a fan of them because IMO the spines are really too narrow for individual discs (tv series are a different animal), but never anything that would suggest the site would not have them. I just needed to figure out how I wanted to integrate them with the site policy and adjust the credit system accordingly. Limiting them to requests insures that there is an immediate need and helps reduce the workload of our (entirely volunteer) staff

#96

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5/5/03 at 2:40pm

Dave Molinarolo
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Sorry, I don't like'em. I happen to like the current style cases. And like the special cases like for the LOTR-EE and FH-Dune.

But really, for TV box sets, cases like what Paramount used for its DS9 sets are perfect. Holds 7 discs and is only an inch think.

Besides I LIKE staring at my collection. Make me feel proud.

DVD Aficionado

DVD Profiler

#97

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5/5/03 at 3:51pm

Will_B
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I just think back to when I got my first DVD, opened the case, and exclaimed (to myself), "Woah, there's a lot of empty space in here!"

"Scientists are saying the future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted." -Krysta Now

#98

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5/5/03 at 7:47pm

GarySchrock
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Quote:

cases like what Paramount used for its DS9 sets are perfect.

Hmm, maybe if you get rid of those annoying wrap around plastic flaps. With them there I find it a pain to get to the actual discs.

My DVD collection

#99

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7/6/03 at 6:20pm

Will_B
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great news everyone who cares!

The DOUBLE THINPAKS have started to hit the streets!

Remember when the initial double thinpaks turned out to be nothing more than two single thinpaks welded together, and everyone was like "what the heck is this"?

Well apparently that mess has been straightened out, and the ACTUAL double thinpaks have been sighted.

Here is the vendor I found, with an actual photo:

http://www.genesysdtp.com/doubledvdthindetails.htm

"Scientists are saying the future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted." -Krysta Now

#100

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7/7/03 at 3:20am

David Lambert
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Yeah, Video Business magazine had a brief article a few weeks ago announcing their availability. Without any pics, though, I thought it was pretty useless to bring that item to this thread's attention. Glad you found a pic of it!

Here's that pic, by-the-way:

DAVE/Memphis, TN

...Want to see your favorite show on DVD?

#101

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7/7/03 at 4:33am

Shane_M
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Those are nice. I sure do approve of the thinpak. I think I'm going to order me about 300 of them to down size my shelves.... it's just going to be a pain redoing all the DVD covers.

It did help this weekend though that I was able to offload most of my VHS tapes, which took up a LOT of space. YARD SALE! Now, all I have left are Disney titles and Star Wars OT & SE.

Shane
EyeCraveDVD.com (Owner | Editor-In-Chief)
My Blog

#102

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7/7/03 at 2:34pm

David Von Pein
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This photo is a bit confusing. I assume it's just due to the angle, but this ThinPak doesn't look nearly 7.5 inches tall. Looks more like a CD Jewel Case. What do you think? .....

MY REVIEWS
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DVP ON THE JFK ASSASSINATION

#103

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7/7/03 at 2:51pm

Rick P
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it's the angle... they're the right height...

(now, where can we get blank slip-cases in 3,4,5,6,7 and 8 disc sizes????)

#104

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7/8/03 at 10:40am

DeeF
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I've purchased 300 of these, some black, some clear, so I'm just beginning to think about the process of fitting the art.

I think I may not scan these titles, or reprint them at all.

I'm going to make up a template, with the right size spine, and then print these out on my (b&w) laser printer, with the name of the DVD typed on the spine. Then, I'll cut the original cover art, and insert the front and back in front of my paper insert.

It remains to be seen what I'll do with the snapper cases since these have cardboard fronts and backs. Maybe I could just take them apart, and tuck the cardboard inside the plastic insert area.

We'll see.

#105

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7/8/03 at 12:26pm

Matt DeVillier
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We have templates for the thinpak covers on dvdcoverart here

#106

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7/8/03 at 5:17pm

DeeF
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I just wanted you all to know...

I got my ThinPaks tonight, 300 of them. I tried out my process on a collection of Gilbert and Sullivan, 10 DVDs in a collection, each with a libretto.

Basically, I removed the art from the original box, folded it in half, cut a very little amount off the right side (since its folded, this removed equally from front and back), and it went into the ThinPak pouch perfectly.

I cut about 1/16th of an inch off both sides at once. The entire procedure takes about 1.30 for each disk.

Voila! Perfect.

Then I tried a snapper pak, in this case, Woodstock. This didn't go so well -- since these cases are as wide as the keepcases, but all in cardboard, one must cut them a lot. I ended up cutting the cardboard into 3 pieces, which I slipped into the pouch. It worked, but I'm not going to do another one until I've figured something else out.

But still, replacing all my keepcases with ThinPaks will significantly reduce the space my DVDs take up.

Hurrah!

Next, I'm applying this to the new Billy Wilder collection, which I got tonight.

#107

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7/8/03 at 6:57pm

Will_B
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I got my shipment of double Thinpaks today (super fast service from that vendor!) and at first I was like, "eh, these don't look too much thinner than a regular single-width double-Amaray."

Then I put them side by side to compare.
And now I'm convinced.

These doubles, though thicker than the singles, are indeed slimmer than Amarays by a few millimeters. They will make for a nice reduction in needed shelf space, though not the same massive leap that the single ThinPaks create.

I'd post a pic but I'm lazy. Maybe later.

"Scientists are saying the future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted." -Krysta Now

#108

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7/8/03 at 7:03pm

David Lambert
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Is a double thinpak slimmer than 2 single thinpaks together?

DAVE/Memphis, TN

...Want to see your favorite show on DVD?

#109

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7/8/03 at 8:08pm

Will_B
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Quote:

Is a double thinpak slimmer than 2 single thinpaks together?

Yes.

One other observation about ThinPaks in general.

I've found that there is a slight variation in the size of the hub. Nothing that could be measured - I imagine it just depends on how fast the plastic cooled down or something - but it does explain why some people said that discs fit too tightly on the hubs, and others had no problems. It's a random variation caused by the relatively soft plastic I guess.

I only mention it because when I've been putting DVD-Rs into ThinPaks, I've very rarely had to make a decision to pull a different ThinPak out of the box to ensure an easier fit, since DVD-Rs seem to be more fragile than DVDs. Maybe I am being over-cautious. But if you're ordering a case of 50 or whatever, know that subtle variations exist so don't be alarmed if one seems too tight.

"Scientists are saying the future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted." -Krysta Now

#110

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7/8/03 at 9:03pm

Nathan McMahan
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As for snapper case conversions, I found it just easier to go to Kinko's and make color copies reduced by 94%. Two covers would fit on a page (11 X 17, if I remember correctly)and 4 inserts. It's time consuming and can range from .75 to 1.50 per cover depending on how you print, but ultimately I found it far easier than trying to manipulate the cardboard.

And then you have all these little mini posters to cover your bathroom wall, or den or basement or ceiling or neighbor's car or dog or driveway or....the possiblities are just endless.

It\'s not my goddamn planet, understand monkeyboy!

#111

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7/9/03 at 7:23am

Michael Henry
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Hey Will_B,

Nice pic...are those covers the actual covers, just trimmed, or are they custom?

-Mike

J. Michael Henry
Developer of The United Leagues
My DVDs

#112

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7/9/03 at 8:37pm

Will_B
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Quote:

Nice pic...are those covers the actual covers, just trimmed, or are they custom?

I've made dozens more since I took that pic. They're all reprints - they're scanned into photoshop, I redo the spine (with the intent to keep the titles as large as possible), then I print them out on inkjet. Or, I use dvdcoverart.com to download the cover art if I am too lazy to do the scanning myself. I put the original covers in a binder for safekeeping.

Also the Goldmember cover is a custom from dvdcoverart - a complete custom that is, with new art that uses the teaser poster. Yellow instead of blue, for starters (who was the idiot who made the official cover for GOLDmember BLUE?). And the cover for Exotica is the custom which I myself made for dvdcoverart, using the original American onesheet art (the version I uploaded to dvdcoverart is sized for Amaray cases - I just made a ThinPak spine variation for myself).

The only problem with this whole concept is that I have to keep the shelf out of direct sunlight or the inkjet fades or changes color...I learned that the hard way (you can see the Eurythmics Greatest Hits spine, which was black when I printed it, turned grey over the course of a few day in direct sunlight. So I moved my shelves away from the windows. I'm not in a sunny part of the country anyway (sigh).

Because of inkjet prints fading, some people (who don't own one of those new colorfast Canon inkjets) may decide to just trim their covers as described by DeeF - but personally I wouldn't, because if you cut the cover, you've ruined the resale value if you ever intend to pawn your discs to a used DVD store or on ebay or wherever.

"Scientists are saying the future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted." -Krysta Now

#113

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7/9/03 at 9:00pm

DeeF
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If you've opened the sealed package of any disk, you've lost some of its resale value. If you scan and reprint all the covers, and keep the originals somewhere, you've really lost the point.

I may not be able to resell these -- I've never tried anyway -- but I've certainly gained space, and quickly.

I've left the Criterions in their original boxes.

And I'll probably keep the original snapper cases, since I can't find an economic reason not to. They're narrower than the keepcases, anyway.

Someday, when blue-ray disks become available, I'll donate my entire collection to the library. Until then, I've got my thousand disks on three narrow bookshelves from Hold Everything, and I couldn't be happier.

#114

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7/14/03 at 12:16pm

Dave Scarpa
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Dee, you could'nt post pictures of what the trimmed covers look like outside of the thinpak? I'm thinking of doing these myself..

My DVD Collection

The Megaplex

#115

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7/14/03 at 1:39pm

DeeF
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I spent the weekend doing this. I had bought 260 thinpak cases, and I used them all. It took about 8 hours total.

The titles are arguably difficult to read. Since I didn't rescan anything, some of the titles are fatter than the spine (particularly two-line titles). But I have no more trouble finding a disk than I did before -- I just need to know where to look, beforehand.

The other thing I would warn you against -- I cut off about 1/8 of an inch, from both ends, in one cut. This works fine for sizing, but some information on the backside, on some disks, is even closer to the edge than 1/8 (don't typesetters know about safeties anymore?) Anyway, be careful you don't slice off some words from the back.

Otherwise, I'm very happy about doing this. I've saved about 25% room, overall, and I still have plenty more I could do.

I'm going to buy 100 more thinpaks, and perhaps 20 double thinpaks, and keep them around, so every time I get a new disk, I can transfer it instantly.

I don't know how to post pictures, and I don't have a digital camera anyway.

#116

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7/14/03 at 9:57pm

Andrea W
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Why are the clear thinpaks preferred over the black thinpaks (at least earlier in this thread)?

#117

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7/14/03 at 10:37pm

Dan Rudolph
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Quote:

Why are the clear thinpaks preferred over the black thinpaks?

Because you can do 2-sided printing and still have your chapter insert. There's little spare room in the cases for it.

My Collection

#118

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7/15/03 at 7:10am

DeeF
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With the clear thinpaks, I put the cover art and the insert both in the pouch, back to back. When you open the box, you can see the insert through the clear plastic.

With the black thinpaks, I just stuck the insert inside the box. It works for inserts that are only one page, or two folded pages, but with a bigger insert, its pretty tight. Still, I got those Gilbert and Sullivan disks in one single thinkpak with an entire libretto stuffed into the pouch, and they are fine.

#119

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7/16/03 at 10:18am

Andrea W
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I just ordered a bunch of clear thinpaks. That's pretty clever about putting the insert in there so you can see it through the cover. Thanks for the advice.

#120

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7/16/03 at 10:33am