"Best" storage solution for 500+ DVD cases.

April 5, 2016 11:25 AM

I have a large Playstation 2 collection and as a result I'm looking for a way to store / display 500+ DVD cases.

I know I could just rip these to a hard drive; that's not my interest and others have already done that work. I'm committed to this giant pile of plastic. I would, however, like to have a reasonably "adult" storage and display solution.

I'd like some kind of shelving solution that is practical, unobtrusive as possible, with a minimalist design sensibility, and not terribly expensive. HA HA SO EASY.

I'd like them stored in such a way as to be easy to browse and pull titles.

posted by radiosilents to Shopping (14 answers total)

Really, a grown-up storage and display for things like books and shelf-requiring items such as an extensive disk collection would be... a nice shelving unit for your "library". If you put up some pictures of the intended storage area, we could recommend some specific ideas.

The tip to making the storage and display look more grown-up is to incorporate other items besides the dvd cases. Like plants, decorative items (vases, statues, objets d'art), framed photos/art, bookends, etc. If you've got gamer/nerd objects you'd like to display, you can up the classiness with frames or display bell jars/shadow boxes. If you've got any particularly special display-worthy games, there are A-frame type holders for things like dishes, books, and dvd cases so you can display them facing forward.

So you should get enough shelving/bookcases to have spare room after housing your entire collection.
posted by lizbunny at 11:38 AM on April 5, 2016

Have you looked at the Billy Bookcase line from Ikea? You have a few options: A bunch of the DVD bookcases (Gnedby), which the description says holds 88 of them, or a couple of the narrow regular bookcase sized ones(this or this). We have DVDs and playstation games on the latter, and it's a tad deep but not excruciatingly so. Bonus, you can put regular bookcases on one or either side of them and it blends in nicely.
posted by telepanda at 11:41 AM on April 5, 2016

Best answer: I've got something like this. You can see all the spines at once and it's shallow so fits against the wall but doesn't take much floorspace, unlike a deep bookcase. When I got mine it was cheaper to order online for collection at Best Buy than to just walk in and buy it.
posted by w0mbat at 11:56 AM on April 5, 2016

My recommendation would be some Billy bookcases with some games, some books, some action figures, plants, framed photos, etc.
A Giant Wall of Games just looks like the monolith from 2001 and not in a good way.
It may take more bookcases to hold the collection, but you're not wasting space, you're opening it up and showing off some of your other passions and interests and taste.

When you get it done, share some photos!
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 12:17 PM on April 5, 2016

Best answer: My best solution was to make something. Of course you have to have the tools and space to do this, but the expense is minimal for what you get. If you make your plans you can go to one of the home stores and they will cut the wood for you perfectly straight. Then you just screw and glue it together. The result is nearly bombproof compared to flimsy pre made furniture. This also works for bookshelves.

For what I have you need a big open wall, it’s one big shelf. But it’s really shallow to fit DVD’s so it doesn’t take much space from the room.
posted by bongo_x at 12:18 PM on April 5, 2016

+1 for some sort of shelf from Ikea. There's lots of options. If you don't have an Ikea, then something similarly styled.

I personally use this cabinet with these storage bins. Each bin fits 16 cases, and each shelf holds 7 bins. We only have about 110 dvds/games and a few box sets that I just stack.
posted by Crystalinne at 12:22 PM on April 5, 2016

I'm coming from the same angle but opposite direction from lizbunny on this one. Why not get a shelf or cupboard of some kind that fits the DVD cases, make sure it's not completely inappropriate and doesn't look super weird, and it's just "the place in the room where we keep the DVDs". I'd probably go with closed storage if it were me, but I think something like a simple bookcase would also be fine.

With 500 DVDs, unless your goal is for DVD storage to monopolize the room, breaking it up with other knicknacks is going to seem weird. That's for people who own like 10 books, 20 DVDs, and 5 records and need something else to make the shelves look less sparse.

To me, the only way this is going to look dated, immature, or janky is to invest in one of those specialized DVD display things that used to be all the rage back when people used physical media. Just get something that looks unobtrusive in the room and you're fine.
posted by Sara C. at 12:23 PM on April 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I do love the Billys. Unfortunately, the nearest IKEA is 400+ miles from my home. Shipping costs make them a prohibitively expensive option, by and large.
posted by radiosilents at 12:24 PM on April 5, 2016

How about something enclosed like this? Each half-height cabinet holds ~190 DVDs, so it would take a couple of them. Full height also an option, but it starts looking like a wardrobe; the half-height ones are cool in that you can put other design elements on top, so it's less of an altar to gaming. The benefit is that it can go right next to doorways and windows and only block the space while it's open. The hazard is that you can't put 2 next to each other, else the door storage won't open.
posted by aimedwander at 12:27 PM on April 5, 2016

You can do what my wife did before my daughter got here and put them all in cheesy 90s-style cd binders and throw out the cases and manuals!
posted by Oktober at 12:35 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Oktober : I'm constantly astounded at the huuuuge numbers of incredibly rare, valuable games I stumble across in our local gaming stores just sitting naked in a blank DVD case, no manual & no art. This breaks my heart.
posted by radiosilents at 12:37 PM on April 5, 2016 [5 favorites]

Have you tried searching for "Media Shelves"? Like, they have a bunch of different ones at Wayfair, Amazon has Media Storage category, etc.

I mean, "best" is going to depend very much on your personal aesthetic. You're going to need about 8-10 meters of shelf space, assuming they're 15-20mm thick.

This cabinet is reasonably non-hideous in a Billy bookcase sort of way and claims to be able to hold 504 DVDs.
posted by mskyle at 1:36 PM on April 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm not you, and sentimental reasons may keep you from using this advice, but my solution to a large DVD collection has been to put the media into a few large DVD wallets and then either discard the cases or put the cases into storage. I find this solution much easier to browse than a wall of spine-out text that I have to squint to read. That said, a big part of the reason I do it this way is that I simply don't have the space for a large wall of DVDs in their cases. Still, perhaps it'd be a useful compromise: pick out the favorites that you definitely want to keep in their cases, have a more modest shelving unit for those, and then put the rest in wallets and/or storage.
posted by Aleyn at 3:01 PM on April 5, 2016

I have an enormous collection of DVDs and video games that I store in pull out bins with handles. (By system, genre, then alphabetically.) They all fit into my entertainment center behind cabinet doors. All of the original art, manuals, etc. are there--I just pulled them from the original DVD clamshell and inserted them into much slimmer clamshells that had room for art inserts. I ruthlessly bent/creased wrap arounds to slide into the art sleeve on the front of each case. In a few cases I had to break out scissors. It was worth it.
posted by xyzzy at 5:41 PM on April 5, 2016