Desperate Times calls for Desperate Measures (Physical Media Storage) (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Who was the person that recommended this product to me? Anyhow, I'm trying it out so wish me luck.

See on Amazon

 

[Jeffrey D]

Yes I am getting short on shelf space. There used to be a product by Atlantic- a very tall, multi shelf piece of furniture that holds several hundred units- will have to see if I can still find that (Best Buy used to stock these, but stopped doing so a while ago).

 

[ahollis]

I wish you luck. The binders have worked well for me.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I wish you luck. The binders have worked well for me. View attachment 183119

It was you!

 

[ScottHM]

I have a little different approach to storing my discs. I keep my DVDs in a climate controlled storage building in my back yard...

... after I've put them onto my Plex server.

This has been working pretty well for me.

---------------

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Best of luck in condensing your collection - I have a combination of discs digitized on a Plex server, a small number on display on shelves, and most carefully stored away in the attic.

At this point in my collecting journey, I’ve found it useful to just get rid of stuff I will never watch again and to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good in that pursuit - like maybe the old DVD version of a movie has a unique bonus feature not on the Blu-ray, but I haven’t watched it in 20 years anyway, so no reason to keep it.

I’ve also stopped purchasing things simply because they’re on sale. I now make my purchases only when I can imagine myself watching the movie within days of receiving it. If it seems like something that would be nice to have but I’m not in the mood to watch it in the near future, I no longer buy it. I realized that my bargain shopping wasn’t winding up being a bargain in the long term if I wasn’t watching them. I’d rather pay full price on ten discs I’ll actually watch than half price on a hundred discs that I’ll never get around to touching.

 

[Douglas R]

Who was the person that recommended this product to me? Anyhow, I'm trying it out so wish me luck.

See on Amazon

I had something very similar which I used for CDs but after a time I reverted to putting them back on shelves because I missed seeing the complete package, front and rear, easily. My new plan is one in; one out. Although that doesn’t always work either

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I had something very similar which I used for CDs but after a time I reverted to putting them back on shelves because I missed seeing the complete package, front and rear, easily. My new plan is one in; one out. Although that doesn’t always work either

I’ve also bought some multidisc cases to condense multiple releases of the same movie into a single package in instances where the multiple versions are neither valuable limited editions nor scarce in any way. The kind of thing where an old DVD might have a different commentary but will never be worth enough to justify the effort of trying to keep the individual packaging to sell later.

 

[Bryan^H]

I saw this a few months ago and thought it is brilliant. I'm probably going to do the same with mine, minus the clear bag containers. Comic boxes work great. Categorize them for easy access.

 

[Keith Cobby]

I sell discs I know I will never spin again as second hand values fall. Very few people I know buy/collect discs now and some have completely disposed of their collections.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I saw this a few months ago and thought it is brilliant. I'm probably going to do the same with mine, minus the clear bag containers. Comic boxes work great. Categorize them for easy access.

My collection (of some 2.5-3K titles) is not remotely in the territory of Crawdaddy's (nor probably that particular YouTuber), so I'm just trying these bags out for some part of my collection instead (and keeping the discs in their original cases)...

See on Amazon

I'd say though to be careful w/ 4K discs if going w/ whatever case-less solutions since those do seem much more susceptible to defects and playback issues than regular BDs. DVDs are also fairly easily scratched though they don't seem too susceptible to actual playback issues and/or can often be "fixed", if not too badly damaged.

I have a little different approach to storing my discs. I keep my DVDs in a climate controlled storage building in my back yard...

View attachment 183122

... after I've put them onto my Plex server.

View attachment 183123

This has been working pretty well for me.

---------------

Wow! That is some serious, 2-way, fault-tolerant solution to this issue... but unfortunately, (the extra physical storage aspect is) definitely not feasible at all for those of us living in higher cost, densely populated cities or similar...

_Man_

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think it’s one of those things that we as collectors often fail to consider - that there’s a cost to storing one’s collection in perpetuity that just isn’t factored in most of the time when people are buying.

If you’re a long-term homeowner with ample space, it might not be as big of a deal for you, but for people who are renters who have to move every so often, the cost becomes a little more apparent when you’re boxing stuff up and realizing some of them haven’t been touched in years. Or when you’re looking at new places to live and need more space simply to house the collection. I didn’t really think about any of these things when I was a kid collecting VHS tapes, but now as an adult when I see a movie I’m interested in on sale, I don’t just think, “Ooo, $7 is a great price, I should just buy it instead of renting it/streaming it,” I instead now think, “Do I want to be responsible for lugging this around for the next 20 years,” and the answer to that is now a “no” far more than it ever used to be.

 

[dpippel]

This is why I've been ripping BD/4K discs in my collection that just aren't going to get a lot of repeat viewings to my Plex server and then storing the discs out of sight. I get the physical discs out of my rack, I get bit-perfect playback (video and audio) of my ripped copies, and I still have the physical copy as a backup. Retaining the physical copies can be problematic for someone like you, Robert, who has such a huge number of discs. However, if you're a smaller collector and have the expertise to build a server system (plain old Windows 10/11 will do in this case) with plenty of storage, it really does solve a lot of problems. Sure, it costs money, but what doesn't?

 

[Bryan^H]

I have had my DVD, and BD in storage containers for the most part since I moved into my home a few years ago. They are literally out of sight out of mind, which has me rethinking my collection. Seriously thinking about selling all by a couple hundred of them as most I will never rewatch in my lifetime again. It would also give me peace of mind that if something ever happened to me I wouldn't burden relatives with an absurd amount of films on disc to figure out what to do with.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Yes I am getting short on shelf space. There used to be a product by Atlantic- a very tall, multi shelf piece of furniture that holds several hundred units- will have to see if I can still find that (Best Buy used to stock these, but stopped doing so a while ago).

Besides some alternatives (for some parts of my collection), I recently went w/ this one for a core part of my collection, but still haven't gotten around to building it yet -- I did make sure all the pieces are in fine shape and not missing... given some complaints on Amazon:

See on Amazon

The quality is not quite as nice and sturdy as I'd like, but seems better quality is hard to come by these days and/or would cost substantially more that I'm not prepared to spend.

Prepac seems to claim it can hold 1200 BDs, but that probably at least involves using the 2 center shelves at the top a bit differently (than shown fitting CDs) for a somewhat non-uniform look/arrangement to fit BDs up there. My guesstimate is ~1100-1150 even in that scenario -- if only storing BDs in standard size cases, probably can't fit more than 8 shelves per column in the main part of that unit w/ 33-34 BDs per shelf (for 8 x 33.5 x 4 plus 2 x 33.5).

I did also consider (for quite some time) the Elfa custom shelving solution (from The Container Store) some longtime HTFer uses... but ended up not going that route partly because I wasn't sure how permanent I want/need it...

This is why I've been ripping BD/4K discs in my collection that just aren't going to get a lot of repeat viewings to my Plex server and then storing the discs out of sight. I get the physical discs out of my rack, I get bit-perfect playback (video and audio) of my ripped copies, and I still have the physical copy as a backup. Retaining the physical copies can be problematic for someone like you, Robert, who has such a huge number of discs. However, if you're a smaller collector and have the expertise to build a server system (plain old Windows 10/11 will do in this case) with plenty of storage, it really does solve a lot of problems. Sure, it costs money, but what doesn't?

I may someday go that route as well... particularly if I ever need to move again... but at least for now, I don't relish the idea of putting that much effort into that (on top of the financial expense), hehheh...

Part of the reason I'm trying out the bags I mentioned earlier is that would probably help somewhat w/ moving, if needed.

_Man_

 

[Josh Steinberg]

This is why I've been ripping BD/4K discs in my collection that just aren't going to get a lot of repeat viewings to my Plex server and then storing the discs out of sight. I get the physical discs out of my rack, I get bit-perfect playback (video and audio) of my ripped copies, and I still have the physical copy as a backup.

Oddly enough, doing this has actually accelerated my purging of no-longer-viewed discs because I have all of the data from Plex to help me see what I’ve been watching the past four or five years.

It also has helped me cut down on buying excess titles because now I think, “is it worth the storage cost of hard drive space for me to take care of this title in perpetuity, or do I just want to see it once and move on with my life?”

I have had my DVD, and BD in storage containers for the most part since I moved into my home a few years ago. They are literally out of sight out of mind, which has me rethinking my collection. Seriously thinking about selling all by a couple hundred of them as most I will never rewatch in my lifetime again. It would also give me peace of mind that if something ever happened to me I wouldn't burden relatives with an absurd amount of films on disc to figure out what to do with.

That’s happened to me as well. I have that combination of discs that I’m not missing in the attic plus seeing that I’m not viewing my digital copies on my Plex server.

I had actually done a pretty good job of paring down my collection circa 2016, but then when UHD discs started rolling out later that year, further depressing prices of BD and DVD editions, I wound up getting a lot of liquidated titles for dirt cheap and the collection got really bloated with things I was really just buying to watch once. It’s now past due for me to start eliminating many of those titles as it’s not worth the hard drive and attic space to maintain access to them.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This is why I've been ripping BD/4K discs in my collection that just aren't going to get a lot of repeat viewings to my Plex server and then storing the discs out of sight. I get the physical discs out of my rack, I get bit-perfect playback (video and audio) of my ripped copies, and I still have the physical copy as a backup. Retaining the physical copies can be problematic for someone like you, Robert, who has such a huge number of discs. However, if you're a smaller collector and have the expertise to build a server system (plain old Windows 10/11 will do in this case) with plenty of storage, it really does solve a lot of problems. Sure, it costs money, but what doesn't?

I don’t have the expertise to build such a system. Hell, I was stressed out last year knowing I had to upgrade my computer in order to use Windows 11.

 

[Carl David]

Was planning on starting a new thread but think this one might apply.

What is the general consensus on the best option for digitizing discs?

From what I can tell (although have not yet looked into it in any detail as it is not a urgent requirement) it seems there are quite a few options available.

Stumbled upon some kind of device a year or so ago and thought their website was bookmarked but seems as though that did not happen.

Was some type of digital hard-drive that stores discs with minimal quality loss and the graphical interface software looked very practical and user friendly. Completely forgot the make and model, however.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Was planning on starting a new thread but think this one might apply.

What is the general consensus on the best option for digitizing discs?

From what I can tell (although have not yet looked into it in any detail as it is not a urgent requirement) it seems there are quite a few options available.

Stumbled upon some kind of device a year or so ago and thought their website was bookmarked but seems as though that did not happen.

Was some type of digital hard-drive that stores discs with minimal quality loss and the graphical interface software looked very practical and user friendly. Completely forgot the make and model, however.

This thread wasn’t meant to talk about methods to digitize your movie collection.

Anyone that wants to talk about Plex servers and digitalization of their film library can start their own thread to discuss such topics.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Discussions like these make me glad my collection hovers just shy of 300 films. Two book cases in my office hold my entire collection.