DVD Library

Discuss North American DVDs and Blu-rays or other DVD and Blu-ray-related topics.
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tryavna
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2005 4:38 pm
Location: North Carolina

#76 Post by tryavna » Fri May 30, 2008 12:25 pm

denti alligator wrote:Alphabetical by director is fine, but with lots of films I don't know the director
What? None of our resident auteurists are going to gently razz Denti over this? I'm looking at you, Davidhare....


I'll actually be moving soon, too. And my system of grouping DVDs by label of distributor (as a means of justifying keeping all my Criterions together) is becoming too unwieldy. So I'm looking for a better solution, too. Schreck's system sounds intriguing. I suspect I'll still need to keep my other regions separate. (Friends occasionally want to borrow DVDs from time to time, but few of them are region-free, so I don't want to have to keep saying, "I'm sorry, but....")

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jguitar
Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2006 2:46 pm

#77 Post by jguitar » Fri May 30, 2008 1:25 pm

Strictly an auteurist here: I shelve alphabetically by director's last name, and chronologically within each director. The thing that drives me nuts, therefore, are discs or sets with multiple films by different directors. In the case of something like the Sony set of Cary Grant films, it's easy; they had those great DVD case-sized lobby cards that you could insert in a case and then shelve them by director. But the Film Noir set vol. 4, or the Koch Lorber Chinese classics with films by two different directors on the same disc--what do you do with those? They're intentionally trying to drive me crazy.

On a side note, I love how effortlessly the term kevyip has become the word for one's unwatched DVDs. Earlier this week, I found myself thinking about my kevyip and realized that it's just become part of my vocabulary. It's nice to have a word for that, rather than the unwieldy "pile of unwatched DVDs."

Tom Peeping
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#78 Post by Tom Peeping » Fri May 30, 2008 2:09 pm

HerrSchreck wrote:I just go straight chronological... a history of the best of cinema unfolding physically before my eyes, and connections manifest via the physical nature.

And genres like noir, precodes etc tend to lump up in the same spot anyhoo. You get few guys like Lang or Wilder stretching from the silents to the 60's & 70's, anyhow.

Most non-cc boxes (or non-director boxes) I throw up on top or a shelf devoted to boxes. In the case of eisie or cocteau cc's, I just sort them by the earliest film in the set, and keep the box in tact, and in the chrono stuff.
Exactly same thing here. Starts with "Cabiria" and ends with "Cloverfield" (for the moment).

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fiddlesticks
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:19 pm
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#79 Post by fiddlesticks » Fri May 30, 2008 7:27 pm

I recently reorganized; I had used a Criterion/MOC by spine, otherwise by country or genre hodgepodge method, but now I am organized (like others) by director and chronologically within director. I have segregated the R0/1 NTSCs in one room and all non-R1 and/or PAL in another, more for reasons of space than any other, but employ the director-by-date within each sub-collection. Box sets are also shelved separately, since they can stand on their own on tops of things (another concession to space limitations), and the little bit of TV I own is quarantined in its own bookcase.

I keep my approx. 40 kevyips sticking out in their places so I can find them easily. I've made up shelf labels for any director for whom I have at least 3 (non-box set) DVDs, which helps me find my way around. I had the same concern as Denti ("Alphabetical by director is fine, but with lots of films I don't know the director, so that's not practical.") but I figure doing it this way is like a learning exercise each time I'm looking for a title without knowing the director off hand. It works, too; last week at this time, I couldn't have told you that Revenge of the Nerds was directed by Jeff Kanew. :) (I also have three digitized sort systems to help me find things.)

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domino harvey
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#80 Post by domino harvey » Fri May 30, 2008 7:44 pm

fiddlesticks wrote:I keep my approx. 40 kevyips sticking out in their places so I can find them easily.
I was wondering if anyone else did this. It makes it easy to decide what to watch and it's so satisfying to slide a DVD all the way back when it's finally watched.

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domino harvey
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#81 Post by domino harvey » Fri May 30, 2008 8:12 pm

Awesome, I was afraid after Jeff's post that no one would post pix plz

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Oedipax
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:48 am
Location: Atlanta

#82 Post by Oedipax » Fri May 30, 2008 9:17 pm

David's pics really make me want to buy a projector and create a dedicated movie room. There's just something about projecting onto a wall that says 'movie' to me more than a widescreen set. One of these days...

I might also consider the plastic sleeve thing depending on where I end up living next. I can see space becoming an issue - I'm well over 600 titles now.

As for organization, I do alpha by director and chronological within that. No major complaints, except for the odd film whose director isn't committed to my memory.

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fiddlesticks
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:19 pm
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#83 Post by fiddlesticks » Sat May 31, 2008 9:24 pm

You can click each photo to enlarge it:
Image
Above, these are either PAL or R2+ (mostly both), alpha by director, as well as some of my opera CDs. There's an additional rack to the left with a few more DVD box sets (mostly operas) and the rest of my opera CDs.
Image Image
R0/1 NTSC discs alpha by director (Abrahams thru Lucas on left, Lumet thru Zinnemann on right) with box sets on top. TV is in between these shelves, not shown because I'm embarrassed by it. :) All told, there's about 900 DVDs shelved, all in their original cases, and I don't think it's overwhelming--at least not from an aesthetic standpoint.

If you look closely, you can see the kevyips sticking out.

flyonthewall2983
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#84 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sat May 31, 2008 10:08 pm

Nice rack on the latter two pics. You wouldn't happen to know the brand and model, would you? I've had the same rack for nearly 6 years and it's begging to be thrown away.

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souvenir
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:20 pm

#85 Post by souvenir » Sat May 31, 2008 10:13 pm

Does anyone else arrange chronologically? I find sorting by director to be unhelpful and largely arbitrary in the whole shelf of things. Chronologically fits my moviewatching habits much more.

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cdnchris
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#86 Post by cdnchris » Sat May 31, 2008 10:44 pm

I still keep all of my Criterions together. I had them mixed in with the rest but then I broke them apart again.

Keep my TV shows on their own, same with my box sets. The rest of the DVDs are alphabetical. My hi-def discs (not shown) are on their own as well, alphabetical.

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htdm
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 3:46 am

#87 Post by htdm » Sat May 31, 2008 11:46 pm

Really nice set up Chris - looks like you got relegated to the top floor, too?

Couple questions

- are their backs on those or do they simply nest against the wall? (looks like an outlet on the one wall but I'm not sure)
- how much window space did you lose?
- is that a floor vent (and) do you notice a loss of cool/heat?

Sorry - really pragmatic stuff but I'm curious.

flyonthewall2983
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#88 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sat May 31, 2008 11:53 pm

I can see the outlet

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subliminac
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2005 1:21 am
Location: Columbus, OH

#89 Post by subliminac » Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:32 am

My DVD collection has left me with nothing but Ikea furniture as well. :) Or perhaps my conclusion is a bit of a stretch given the few photos you have provided us.

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cdnchris
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#90 Post by cdnchris » Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:00 am

htdm wrote:Really nice set up Chris - looks like you got relegated to the top floor, too?

Couple questions

- are their backs on those or do they simply nest against the wall? (looks like an outlet on the one wall but I'm not sure)
- how much window space did you lose?
- is that a floor vent (and) do you notice a loss of cool/heat?

Sorry - really pragmatic stuff but I'm curious.
This is upstairs in the loft.

As to your questions:

There is no back to the shelves. They're bolted to the walls.

I didn't lose window space. They're small windows. The shelves fit right under them.

And yes, that's a vent, but there's no loss of heat. What I should have done was cut a spot there and then have something to deflect the air, but we haven't noticed an issue yet. Maybe at some point.
davidhare wrote:Chris, have you ever considered the plastic sleeve option?

Also, yes what's the temperature control like up there - is this a loft?
I should probably go the sleeve route, but just like having them all displayed like that. It's a loft area but the temperature is fine up there.
flyonthewall2983 wrote:I can see the outlet
Yeah, should have probably put backs on the shelves.
subliminac wrote:My DVD collection has left me with nothing but Ikea furniture as well.
:) Leftover from my bachelor days (though will be gone soon once we put something else up there) but yes, Ikea furniture was what my place was made up of.

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

#91 Post by HerrSchreck » Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:33 am

If I showed you guys my room in its present state you'd fucking laugh. DVDs all over the bed (its king sized), (like I'm fucking digisexual or something, the jokes would fly.. needless to say been sleeping at the old lady's house mosta the time when getting together), old tv-rip vhs's piled everywhere and up so high on my dresser I hafta stand on the bed to get a look at myself in the mirror. DVDs on the floor, a thousand plus DVDs in a wall unit, piles everywhere.

At least its all confined to one room. Dave back in the vhs days I knew the guy who usedta supply Kims with all their *cough* available unavailable titles, so to speak.. you know, down at the big St Marks store. This guy had a big prewar apt up in Inwood with all four rooms completely filled waist-high with vhs tapes (he's the guy who had the movietone Street Angel was sent)... the only spaces where you could see the floor were alleys carved into the piles to access closets, the can, cook, etc. One time he put me on the floor laughing saying "I need to make space, I want to be able to dance"-- not fuck, LIVE NORMAL.. but dance. And if you saw the total reject weirdo no-rhythm crusty-asexual-not-quite-hippy kinda guy he was, you'd realize what a nonsequitor that was.

So yes, dvd cases can be a bitch, but we have evolved. At least we can live. And dance...

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Lemmy Caution
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:26 am
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#92 Post by Lemmy Caution » Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:34 am

souvenir wrote:Does anyone else arrange chronologically? I find sorting by director to be unhelpful and largely arbitrary in the whole shelf of things. Chronologically fits my moviewatching habits much more.
I use a combination of systems, which has served me well.

First, films are separated by country.
For foreign films, directors' works go together chronologically, within a larger loose chronological scheme for each country.

For American films, I use a loose chronological org, but with a few genres together within that (noir, westerns, war). The general chronological approach works well, as I don't have to check exact years and worry about exact placement, and it makes the genre groupings seem more natural as they tend to be from the same decade.

That's all for my watched DVDs.

I do have a harder time keeping my kevyip straight. Partly because I'm adding to it every week. And then a fair number of them are out in two or three "to-watch piles." Most of the kevyip is in large plastic containers with clamp-on lids and wheels on the bottom.

All of my DVDs are with covers and disc sleeves, but without cases. I have a few thousand and the cases would be far too bulky.

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Scharphedin2
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 7:37 am
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#93 Post by Scharphedin2 » Sun Jun 01, 2008 4:26 am

As a youngster, there was a time, when it was my confirmed ambition to read every book in our town library; it was not a huge library, but still… I never was a particularly fast reader.

Considering this early, formative resolve, it is perhaps not surprising that I should have later come to relish the idea of owning a small library of my own. This private library includes sections dedicated to music, books, and films – initially confined to separate areas of my flat, but at present intermingling rather freely in whatever space is still unclaimed in the flat. The films are largely confined to a single room lined with racks of shelves, the films filed in alphabetical order, with those boxsets that cannot be split up, running across the tops of the shelves (just beneath the ceiling) in an alphabet of their own. The library at this point numbers several thousand titles, and there are more titles that I have not seen, than titles that I have seen.

There is a rule that I spend some minutes with each film, viewing a few scenes, looking through the extras, etc, once I receive it. Only after this procedure has been completed is a given film entered into the library proper. Over the last 6-9 months, time has been even more restricted than usual, so these lost souls that have not yet been initiated into the library have taken up temporary residence under my living room table, and along the back wall of my living room. They are a concern, because even once they have passed through the ceremony of initiation, there is no home for them in the library, where DVDs are already lying on top of the alphabetic rows of titles, and a section on the floor is segmented off for the foundation of what looks like a tower of DVDs four units square. Soon, further expansion of the library will need to come to a temporary halt, as I look around for a larger flat. I am trying to time this to the inevitable slowing down in titles released, once DVD production truly slows down in favor of Blu-Ray.

Once we begin to talk in terms of library, the kevyip index loses it meaning.

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Kinsayder
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:22 pm
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#94 Post by Kinsayder » Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:47 am

Scharphedin2 wrote:There is a rule that I spend some minutes with each film, viewing a few scenes, looking through the extras, etc, once I receive it. Only after this procedure has been completed is a given film entered into the library proper. Over the last 6-9 months, time has been even more restricted than usual, so these lost souls that have not yet been initiated into the library have taken up temporary residence under my living room table, and along the back wall of my living room. They are a concern, because even once they have passed through the ceremony of initiation, there is no home for them in the library, where DVDs are already lying on top of the alphabetic rows of titles, and a section on the floor is segmented off for the foundation of what looks like a tower of DVDs four units square. Soon, further expansion of the library will need to come to a temporary halt, as I look around for a larger flat. I am trying to time this to the inevitable slowing down in titles released, once DVD production truly slows down in favor of Blu-Ray.
My initiation ceremony is more brutal. DVDs are stripped of all their packaging and checked for cracks or blemishes. Any disc that looks suspect is experimented upon and cloned if necessary. Cover inserts and any items of value -- booklets, soundtrack CDs and the like -- are tossed in a drawer. The discs are then put in plain white sleeves with a brief description scribbled on them. They are then catalogued and stored in narrow boxes, filed and shelved by director name.

I do this for all keepcases (as they could in theory be reassembled if I wanted to sell them). Digipaks and box sets get a temporary reprieve, and are stored haphazardly, until I run out of space and start picking off the weaker looking individuals for processing.

It may sound drastic but it's the only way to deal with the keepcase blight that was consuming my house room by room.

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Scharphedin2
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 7:37 am
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#95 Post by Scharphedin2 » Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:55 am

Dear comrade Kinsayder, this makes it sound as if you police a DVD concentration camp... :wink:

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fiddlesticks
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:19 pm
Location: Borderlands

#96 Post by fiddlesticks » Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:42 am

flyonthewall2983 wrote:Nice rack on the latter two pics. You wouldn't happen to know the brand and model, would you? I've had the same rack for nearly 6 years and it's begging to be thrown away.
This question is posted right after my pix, so I presume it's directed at me (although nobody has ever before suggested that I have a 'nice rack!') Those are bookshelves of indeterminate age, probably 40 or 50 years old and perhaps more, and I have no idea where they originated--I took them from my stepfather when he wasn't looking. In their day I'm sure they were considered cheap and flimsy, but compared to what's being made these days they're solid and beautiful.

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Felix
Joined: Fri Nov 24, 2006 1:48 pm
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#97 Post by Felix » Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:36 pm

Scharphedin2 wrote: Once we begin to talk in terms of library, the kevyip index loses it meaning.
Yes to this and the rest of your post. David Bowie once talked of his library saying he had read one third of the books, would read another third some day, and would probably never get round to the final third, and that they would be recycled and replaced. He could not understand people who had read all their books, where was the spirit of enquiry in such people? He would be taken by an interest and explore it in detail but would inevitably move on, only to return to the same thing again some day, when the books would be waiting for him.

All hail the kevyip, it speaks of treats and wonders and discoveries to come. I have about 700 discs, of which I am probably at about 70% kevyip if I refer to the DVD itself, 35% for films that I have seen at some stage. I am thinking I should be starting to work my way through all my VHS videos right now, in the knowledge that the technology may fail before I do so, and I have films taped in, oh, 89-90, that I have still to watch... And I keep on buying and buying, how could I not, with such rich pickings? We live in a golden age.

thebadsleepwell
Joined: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:30 pm

Decisions

#98 Post by thebadsleepwell » Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:55 pm

So we know how people organize and store their vast collections, but how do you guys decide what to watch? I have often wanted to start rewatching my entire collections (about 700 films and TV shows) but I don't know where to start. In alphabetical order, by director, date released (theatrical or DVD), etc. I always go back and forth on this and am pretty neurotic about it..how do you folks trudge through your collections?

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Lemmy Caution
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:26 am
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#99 Post by Lemmy Caution » Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:48 pm

Trudge?
Watch your language, sir!

I have about 50 films or so sitting out in vague to-watch piles. New pickups are often most enticing and frequently go on quickly. Since I mostly watch films late at night, if I'm tired (or suffering from allergies), I usually go for a short film, or an English language -- non-subtitled, non-silent -- film.

Last year, I had a default option in place. If I couldn't decide what to watch, I would go with a Hitchcock film. Finished off all my Hitch kevyip that way. Then I did the same with my Japanese kevyip, although I didn't finish off the pile. I was thinking of digging out my many unwatched Bergman's and using that as the next default option. Though I've recently bought a lot of early Hitchcock courtesy of Studio Canal, so that's again an option, with the late night benefit of being short English language films.

So to-watch pile, new pickups and a default option when I can't decide. I do think it's important to be in the proper, receptive mood for a given film.

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Hopscotch
Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:30 pm

#100 Post by Hopscotch » Sun Jun 01, 2008 2:10 pm

I go totally on my mood / my whims. Sometimes during the day I'll say to myself, "Hey! I'd like to rewatch L' Atalante tonight," but then when it comes time to pluck it off my shelf I end up eyeing my Ozus or Rohmers or something, then watch The Shining.

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