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    Invelos Forums->General: General Home Theater Discussion Page: 1  Previous   Next
Organizing DVDs
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DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorAce_of_Sevens
Registered: December 10, 2007
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With the help of a local rental outlet that went belly-up, I now have enough shelves to hold all my DVDs, video games, CDs and Blu-rays comfortably (books are still a problem due to height issues.) I've always organized DVDs alphabetically, with some concessions to things like series. For instance, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone comes before Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. However, I keep running into problems. For instance, should The Very Best of Sheryl Crow be under V, S or C? Also, I have lots of box sets. Breaking them up would have several advantages. For one, sometimes I come to the end of a row and have space for four more DVDs, but the next item alphabetically is a nine-disc box. It leads to wasted space. Also, people unfamiliar with my collection who want to watch Easy Rider wouldn't necessarily know it's under "America Lost & Found" and sometimes I have a duplicate which I can't easily remove because it's in a box. However, breaking up sets is also impractical because a lot of sets, like "TCM's Forbidden Hollywood" or the "Columbia Best Pictures Collection," don't have individual packaging for their movies, so I'd only half-solve the problem and I'd need to find a place for the boxes.
 Last edited: by Ace_of_Sevens
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantCalebAndCo
Ralphie shot first.
Registered: October 6, 2008
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Not a perfect solution to the out of order situation, but for the discs in my hallway (the ones my son is allowed to view), I put the discs/sets titled by theme/actor/etc. on top in their own section.  You could make placeholder cards, with the titles of the film and the release, for the films that are out of alphabetical order, if you are anxious to make them browsable.

I would put Sheryl Crow under 'C.'
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantMark Harrison
I like IMDB
Registered: March 13, 2007
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Quoting Ace_of_Sevens:
Quote:
For one, sometimes I come to the end of a row and have space for four more DVDs, but the next item alphabetically is a nine-disc box. It leads to wasted space.


That's not always a bad thing.  It just means you have less shuffling to do when you add something to your collection.  If all the shelves we're full and you picked up an A movie, every shelf would need re-adjusted to make room.
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DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar Contributorbbbbb
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Registered: March 14, 2007
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Quoting Ace_of_Sevens:
Quote:
However, I keep running into problems.

The only solution is to separate sorting from storing.

Quote:
who want to watch Easy Rider wouldn't necessarily know it's under "America Lost & Found"
Don't confuse while the film is playing with when the film is played. [Ken Cole, DVD Profiler Architect]
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorAce_of_Sevens
Registered: December 10, 2007
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Quoting Mark Harrison:
Quote:
That's not always a bad thing.  It just means you have less shuffling to do when you add something to your collection.  If all the shelves we're full and you picked up an A movie, every shelf would need re-adjusted to make room.


This goes the other way, too. If you have an wide set at the end of the row, then buy another movie, you can suddenly have ten movie widths added to the next row and have to reshuffle.
 Last edited: by Ace_of_Sevens
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorLJG
Registered: March 14, 2007
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For the Sheryl Crow one, what do you think of when you think of the dvd? Very, Sheryl or Crow? Then go with what you think of otherwise you'll never find it again. I "lost" a movie like that for a couple days until I realized how it was sorted in my collection. I had sorted it by the title of the DVD which had nothing to do with what it was about and I always thought of it by subject matter.

For box sets, I hate breaking up the sets, so leave them in. But I don't have so many that it's a huge problem looking for them. Most of them are usually filed near they would be anyway as most of the box sets I have tend to be movies in a series. There are exceptions, but I go by the first rule. How would I look for this set? and go from there.

And if all else fails, I write a note in the location slot in Profiler which has helped!
Lori
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorAce_of_Sevens
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Quoting bbbbb:
Quote:
The only solution is to separate sorting from storing.


What do you mean by this? They have to be stored in some order.
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantMark Harrison
I like IMDB
Registered: March 13, 2007
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Quoting Ace_of_Sevens:
Quote:
Quoting Mark Harrison:
Quote:
That's not always a bad thing.  It just means you have less shuffling to do when you add something to your collection.  If all the shelves we're full and you picked up an A movie, every shelf would need re-adjusted to make room.


This goes the other way, too. If you have an wide set at the end of the row, then buy another movie, you can suddenly have ten movie widths added to the next row and have to reshuffle.


I keep my TV set and boxed sets separate from my main collection.  Of course that has much more to do with storage space and less to do with organization.
Get the CSVExport and Database Query plug-ins here.
Create fake parent profiles to organize your collection.
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar Contributorbbbbb
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Registered: March 14, 2007
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Quoting Ace_of_Sevens:
Quote:
Quote:
The only solution is to separate sorting from storing.

What do you mean by this?

The common language is quite complicated for me, is "to abstract" the right verb?

Quote:
They have to be stored in some order.

Yes, in the order you buy them. Once you have a unique location key for them, it's like a database. Where you do not modify the database entries anymore, but where you add any report or query.
Don't confuse while the film is playing with when the film is played. [Ken Cole, DVD Profiler Architect]
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar ContributorAce_of_Sevens
Registered: December 10, 2007
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That would make them difficult to find without DVDProfiler, which is kind of not what I was going for. Databases are searchable. It doesn't matter where the record is on the disk because you don't find records by pawing through them. Shelves, not so much.
 Last edited: by Ace_of_Sevens
DVD Profiler Unlimited RegistrantStar Contributorbbbbb
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Quoting Ace_of_Sevens:
Quote:
That would make them difficult to find without DVDProfiler

Have you thought about a printed list of Title / Location?
Don't confuse while the film is playing with when the film is played. [Ken Cole, DVD Profiler Architect]
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