Storage? To those with 200+ DVDs (1 Viewer)

[Nick Pudar]

For the last couple of years, I have been keeping my discs in UltraSlim CD jewel cases. I scan and print the front and back of the DVD case, and create my own liners.
I know this approach is unappealing for most -- you miss the aesthetics of seeing all the titles -- but it sure does conserve on space. By adjusting the shelving heights, this approach allows you to store four times as many DVDs in the same space.
Getting caught up the first time with all the scanning and printing can take some time (depending on the size of your collection) -- but keeping up is not a problem. I can scan, print, cut and insert a new DVD jewel case in about three minutes.
(Oh yeah, I'm also saving all the pristine original cases in a box in the basement for when I have a dedicated HT room with LOTS of shelving space.)
Nick

 

[Carlo_M]

I like shelves fromwww.boltz-usa.com
Just string a couple of the 252 DVD holders together and you should have enough for a good, long while (at least a year or two). Plus, they are expandable beyond that so the shelving grows while your collection grows!
The downside is that they are a bit pricey, but they last forever and I think it's better than constantly shelling out the $50 for cheapie wood racks that you'll want to toss eventually. These are keepers, even when I move into a condo or house!
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I know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve - Bilbo Baggins

 

[Tom Boucher]

quote: I've got to be honest that although I am interested in the cover art of the movies I purchase, I am most interested in the movies themselves. To that end, last year I began storing my DVD's in specially designed PVC plastic sleeves that are the width of a CD. The sleeves also have cloth protection for both sides of the movie. I then created catalogs out of DVD profiler that list both in Alphabetical Order and by genre, all of my movies. These PVC covers have tabs that list Movie Title, Director, Year, Rating, and Length (I exported this information from Profiler to a Word Template for printing).[/quote]
I'd like to thank everyone for all their comments. David, I'm really liking yours. At first the conglomerate of 200+ DVDs and 700+ CDs that I have looked cool, but now it's getting ridiculous.
Though I don't know if I have the patience/time to do what you did, it sounds quite the set up.
Where did you get all the cases that you used?
Oh yeah, I hate snapper cases
Thanks
Tom Boucher
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[Edited last by Tom Boucher on July 12, 2001 at 12:01 AM]

 

[Jay W]

I use Atlantic racks, very similar to the Boltz ones though not as costly and still very solid with a nice finish.
Here is the http://www.atlantic-inc.com/mainframe.tpl?cart=3077737955511764&page=products
Pretty flexible in that every time I run out I buy another unit and stack it next to the existing ones, I rather like them.
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Home Theater
DVD Collection

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Craig,
That shelf unit may be the answer to my dreams. What's the shipping cost?
Jehan,
How much are the Atlantic shelves? The website is a mess to navigate through and I couldn't find any pricing information.
Thanks much.

 

[Jay W]

From what I can recall, the one that holds 180 DVDs is around $80, with the 320 DVD model being around $110 or so. Look around on the net (google "Atlantic Media Storage") and you should come up with a few e-tailers, or try your local BB.
Hope this helps.

 

[Craig S]

Mark, the price of the Leslie Dame unit in my initial post includes shipping. $199 is the total damage. It comes in two large boxes (one tall one contains the supports and long cross shelves, a smaller on contains the small adjustable shelves). Shipping was pretty quick - got it about a week after I ordered it. It took me about an hour to put together by myself.
I'm probably going to order a couple more of these for my CDs (collection now numbers nearly 2400 and growing).
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Too many DVDs, too little time...
AFI 100 Challenge - 38 to go!

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I'm seriously considering storing my 400 disks in CD Binders with printouts from DVD profiler and storing the original Boxes. I had one rack custom built for me in my theater and it's almost filled, I cannot see in addition to all the $$ spent on Disks constantly building or Buying racks. Also He's an important consideration for me. I have alot of people that will come in and see the theater. Once they see my DVD collection they instantly assume I'm a blockbuster ! I then Have to go thru the uncomfortable situation of explaining How I don't lend them out etc.... this isn't a big issue for friends but it is for People you do not know too well. The boxes look neat for a WOW factor but I'm beginning to believe it's worn out it welcome.
A Local store to me have Caselogic DVD binders that hold 100 discs but I'm concerned about scratching discs. Although A DVD will not be taken out of a sleeve as much as an audio CD. Anyone have any good suggestions on Binders?

 

[Carlo_M]

Mark if you like the look of the Atlantic racks, I highly suggest you look at www.boltz-usa.com -- the 320 DVD Atlantic costs $110 and the 252-DVD boltz costs like $200, but shipping and tax are included. So for a small premium you would be getting the all-steel construction and satin-feel finish of the Boltz. I used to buy the wood/combo racks from Tower/Best Buy/etc. and would never go back after buying the 600 CD Boltz rack that I have. I'm currently saving up for the 252 x 2 DVD rack that they sell (but I gotta buy my HDTV first).
Cheers!
Edit - I didn't mention that they come with optional wall-mounting brackets that can be secured in the event of an earthquake, something we Southern Californians have to think about. Granted in an 8.0 the last you'll be thinking about is the HT, but in a small 5.0 or so it's nice to know your movies aren't going anywhere...
[Edited last by Carlo Medina on July 13, 2001 at 10:04 AM]

 

[Garry I]

A cheap and easy solution is to use a cardboard box. It can hold 100 dvds and you can stack them on top of each other and label the boxes e.g.a-d. e-h

 

[andrew markworthy]

My home office is lined wall to ceiling on all walls with adjustable wall-mounted shelving. All books and DVDs [for those who find these figures interesting, though goodness knows why, the numbers are circa 2000 and 200 respectively] are stored in there (I personally hate clutter in living rooms). My CD collection (deliberately limited to about 800 - if the total exceeds that, I sell some) is stored in a purpose-made cabinet we commissioned.

 

[David Rubenstein]

Tom:
I got my sleeves from Jewelsleeves (http://www.jewelsleeve.com/index.html). It really wasn't that big of a project. I used cue cat to import all of my movies into profiler (took 1 hour), and exported the movie information to an index tab template which prints on pre-perforated sheets (included with the sleeves). My wife and I transffered all the movies to these sleeves over the span of a couple of nights (while we were watching movies.
It really has made a difference in the amount of space we need to allocate to starage.
I always thought that when I had a house with a dedicated theater, my storage problems would disappear, but one year into the house I was running into the same storage issues.
I've had my collection organized this way for 8 months and it's been great.
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David Rubenstein
My Theater: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/bbs/...ent/28664.html
[Edited last by David Rubenstein on July 13, 2001 at 11:01 AM]

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Sorry to resurrect an eons-old thread, but I thought this might be useful to some of the newbies on the list (this post should DEFINITELY be archived, admins!).
Craig,
Just ordered one of those big-ass Leslie Dame shelving units and am looking forward to actually having my DVDs and soundtrack CDs in some sort of order. Will give you the thumbs up when it finally arrives. Thanks for the suggestion and the pictures!

 

[KDHM]

I also use Case Logic Binders Two DVD's per page up to 72 discs per Binder. Each "Book" is by Type of films, Disney, Bond, etc. All the DVD cases are in boxes in storage.
kd
[Edited last by Kim Donald on September 01, 2001 at 06:34 AM]

 

[David Lambert]

Interesting thread, from before my time. Here's what I do:
I use a cheapo K-Mart-type assemble-it-yourself entertainment center. Here's a picture of it, that some of you may recall from my old signature:

You'll see that the TV is no longer in the TV area above the cabinet doors, it's in a niche above the fireplace (the house was built that way; I paid them an extra $150 to add the little cubbies for the DVD and VHS players).
I got a hardware store that sells lumber to cut a shelf for me that I varnished and installed ½-way down the TV area in the entertainment center, so to increase storage efficiency and capacity.
Each shelf is doubled up on DVD's, so we have to look at the row of titles behind the front row to get half of our stuff. It's not too troublesome, though...we do our paperback books like this, too.
Inside the cabinet are the Disney titles, both DVD and VHS (until all Disney items are rereleased on DVD, of course).
In the drawer are extra keepcases (thanks AOL for the freebies! ), cleaning kit, headphones, etc.
You can see in the pic that to the left of the TV in its niche is a plastic CD storage unit, which I use for the DVD's that come in the little cardboard envelopes or in CD-jewel-cases. Examples: Total Movie #'s 1-4, Alien Legacy (Thank you Brian Stiles! You are soooooo cool!).
In that empty space between the center and the fireplace I'll probably put a standard store-bought DVD rack that fits, so to increase my capacity. I'm at 807 and running out of room!
BTW, off-camera to the right of the fireplace is another entertainment center. It holds my stereo and my 426 CD's. But the rest of that 2nd unit's storage space holds more DVD's!

I don't know where I'm gonna put 'em all...
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DAVE/Memphis
Widescreen is Family Fun!

 

[Clinton McClure]

I have a 4-shelf unit built and recessed into the wall. Right now, it's holding about 190 with room for about another 50 or so.
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Yes, but are they high-quality balloons? ~ David Letterman

 

[Don Peskin]

I have over 500 dvds. I was going to go with a Boltz unit but had trouble ordering from their website. This turned out to be my lucky day.
I went to look around National Wholesaler Liquidators and the happened to have Sauder multimedia storage units. They are light oak with curved top and bottom shelves. The other shelves are adjustable. They hold 22 dvds per shelf and have 6 shelves,including the top shelf. They come with more shelves for cds but because of the hight of dvds only 6 are usable for dvds. The best part is they were less than $20 each.
I have them lined up in my long narrow hallway. The only problem is if, God forbid, I ever need to use a wheelchair I won't be able to get to my bedroom or the bathroom.

 

[Todd_Brown]

I second the Boltz-Usa shelving system. They provide limitless expansion pieces and look great.
Todd
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I want the people to know, they still have two out of three branches of government working for them, and that ain't bad! -Mars Attacks

My DVD Collection
My Home Theater

 

[Tom Boucher]

I ended up going the Jewlsleeves route and have it ordered, waiting patiently for it.
Tom
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My DVD Collection

 

[Michael Silla]

I only wish I had a storage problem like some of you have. Until I do, my lowly 15 DVD's will have to do....