How do you organize your collection?

[milo bloom]

Mostly alphabetical with some exceptions. All Criterions are under "C" where the word Criterion would be as a title and then in spine# order.
Same for the Fox Studio classics (I got all 41 of them).

I recently decided to pickup the rest of the Bond series (Connery, Moore and Lazenby) so I'll probably start that collection under "D" for Dr. No .

Of course titles like Army of Darkness are kept with the Evil Dead films, things like that.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by milo bloom

Mostly alphabetical with some exceptions. All Criterions are under "C" where the word Criterion would be as a title and then in spine# order.
Same for the Fox Studio classics (I got all 41 of them).

I recently decided to pickup the rest of the Bond series (Connery, Moore and Lazenby) so I'll probably start that collection under "D" for Dr. No .

Of course titles like Army of Darkness are kept with the Evil Dead films, things like that.

Those go under Bond, sir.

[mpengle]

Originally Posted by rexcrk

I’ve been kicking around the idea of changing things up a bit too. Maybe organizing by genre.

I have been considering this too, but actually on this site not on my physical shelves. There's just so many titles I have though that I feel I cannot easily place into a single genre. Currently I just have my owned titles broken into the following: film, television, region B, Korean, and documentary. I do have another called Added this Month just to see what I’ve purchased for the month but then I move them into the other categories at the end of the month.

[thornhill]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Those go under Bond, sir.

That's where I have mine.

[Doomhunter]

While currently I have the bulk of my animated titles in their own animated section, I am somewhat tempted to move then into my sections of non-animated films. So like sci-fi animated in with live action sci-fi, horror with horror etc

On the other hand, if I feel like watching an animated film, it’s a lot easier just to scan the one section for what I want. Maybe I’ll separate the animated section into genres

[bigshot]

I got to the point where my theater was full to the gills with stacks of blu-rays and CDs. Every shelf was full, every closet was full, the garage was full, even the couches and chairs had stacks on them. I have thousands and thousands of blu-rays, DVDs and CDs. Perhaps close to 25-30,000 total. I decided last year that enough is enough... I need to bulk down.

I didn't want to get rid of my media library, just make it so it doesn't take up so much room. So I started with blu-rays and DVDs... I discarded the cases and saved the cover inserts and booklets. For box sets, I kept the outer box, but not the plastic cases. The packaging went into bins in the garage and each disc went in a sleeve, labelled by genre and then into shoebox sized storage boxes by genre. As I shucked cases, I entered them into My Movies 2 Pro. This took the video collection down small enough to fit in a normal sized closet.

I bought those CD books that hold 400 CDs and cut the pages out. It's impossible to sort new CDs into a book unless you can insert pages. I found a nice rugged cloth sack that exactly fits the pages. For classical box sets with mini-LPs I got Ikea racks that fit them and ran them all along the bar in the back of my theater. Now my CD collection fits in about the size of a small closet too.

I've found that I can find things a LOT better now, because "horror movies" don't consist of stacks of cases that fill an entire wall. They fit on the coffee table now. I'm still organizing... my multichannel music collection is still in piles, and I've got blu-rays and DVDs that need to be sorted into genre boxes. But I see light at the end of the tunnel.

My genre sorting involves a hierarchy of info... Domestic/foreign (then sorted by country within genres) > movies/TV > genre (silent films, animation, horror, drama, comedy, etc.) > sub genre (monster movie, ghost, satanic, killer, etc.) > decade (30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, modern). Each genre has special wild card categories for major directors, stars and studios (Hammer, Hitchcock, Bogart, etc.) TV is sorted pretty much the same way.

[IanTheCool]

Originally Posted by thornhill

That's where I have mine.

Mine are in my secret agent section.

[roughdraft_zero]

Originally Posted by Adam C.

I know that it might seem just a tad extreme, but the side-by-side comparisons usually don't turn out too bad. (Especially when they're 'interspersed' throughout the Collection as a whole.)

Here is a what ARMAGEDDON looks like as a trimmed-down DVD next to it's Blu-Ray counterpart after I upgraded the film.

That's cool, and I applaud the ingenuity and dedication, but my OCD nitpicks the other direction...I want to see at a glance which items in the collection could still be upgraded to blu/4k (when possible). And even moreso, I'm a stickler for packaging that is both complete and original. The only exchanging of packaging I'll ever do is replacing standard jewel/norelco/amaray cases that are damaged.

As far as my style of arranging...everything alphabetical, numerical first, if the title is indeed a numerical one (Seven goes in the "S" section, but 8mm will be at the beginning of the collection). Formats are intermixed. The only "separating" I do is in three categories: 1) television, 2) live performance, 3) feature-length movies. Box sets are removed and placed atop the shelves, not by preference, but by mere necessity for space (and only box sets will balance without shelf sidewalls, obviously). If I were more into anime it would probably earn its own separation status, but as of now I don't have more than 20 or so releases. The way some of you put things in order by director, studio, genre, etc., I don't know how you could live that way.

I just moved into a new place and am still unpacking/organizing but I will post pictures soon.

[zebredy]

I was initially thinking of having the Blu-rays and 4k separate, but I like sequels to be next to each other (like Home Alone and Home Alone 2) and what with me only having Home Alone on 4k (and not the sequel) it made sense just to put the different formats all together.

That said I do have all my Disney / Disney Pixar separated, with the 4k films at the front. This is mainly because I don't think I will ever part with any of the Blu-rays I have collected over the years.

My DVDs have their own section (mainly due to the cases being different sizes to the others), and as I slowly upgrade some of them to Blu-Ray or 4k that section will hopefully shrink a lot over time (although I do have a few films that sadly never made it beyond DVD).

The only other sections I have are for Star Trek, Anima films, Marvel, DC, TV series (which are mostly on DVD) and a section just for animated films and cartoons (that aren't by Disney) like the Kung Fu Panda and the Minion films, as well as the TMNT and Ghostbusters cartoons etc...

[IanTheCool]

Originally Posted by zebredy

I was initially thinking of having the Blu-rays and 4k separate, but I like sequels to be next to each other (like Home Alone and Home Alone 2) and what with me only having Home Alone on 4k (and not the sequel) it made sense just to put the different formats all together.

That said I do have all my Disney / Disney Pixar separated, with the 4k films at the front. This is mainly because I don't think I will ever part with any of the Blu-rays I have collected over the years.

My DVDs have their own section (mainly due to the cases being different sizes to the others), and as I slowly upgrade some of them to Blu-Ray or 4k that section will hopefully shrink a lot over time (although I do have a few films that sadly never made it beyond DVD).

The only other sections I have are for Star Trek, Anima films, Marvel, DC, TV series (which are mostly on DVD) and a section just for animated films and cartoons (that aren't by Disney) like the Kung Fu Panda and the Minion films, as well as the TMNT and Ghostbusters cartoons etc...

It makes sense to have Blu and 4K together despite Blus and DVDs not making sense. For one, they're the same size case, and for another, its called 4K bluray, which is like just an enhanced version of a bluray.

[kansascitymisery]

Alphabetically by what's on the case. So the "Ultimate Party Collection" with Dazed & Confused and Fast Times I'm hoping to add here soon is filed under "U," for example.

[trobrianders]

I have a weird system for BD

Firstly
-By label

The rest like this
-By big name directors A-Z, so Woody to Orson
-By certain favourite actors, Day-Lewis, Oldman, Streep

The remainder
-By decade from 1930s to 1980s, A-Z

The remainder
-Post 1990, A-Z by title

[FogDog]

Originally Posted by Video Ghoul

Alphabetically, without splitting a series. I have been thinking of going nuts and completely reorganizing, though.

That's what I do as well. I've sorted into genres before, but I've found that this is what works best for me.

[roughdraft_zero]

Originally Posted by roughdraft_zero

I just moved into a new place and am still unpacking/organizing but I will post pictures soon.

Finally getting things together to be almost presentable now.

I have one spare bedroom that is a dedicated "media room." It is, of course, not big enough. So before entering, just outside the door, are most of my standard/Norelco cassette tapes:



The singular pine shelves are leftovers from the next-pictured large shelves (since they're adjustable and I use the same shelves for CDs as well as DVDs/Blu-rays there are extras). I just grabbed some brackets from Amazon and threw the extra planks on them. Below those are the old "Napa" shelves that hold 100 cassettes each...I hate these, adding to the collection is always a huge chore as they're individually slotted. Anyway, all music is organized alpha by artist, and then within a particular artist's discography by chronological order of ORIGINAL release--a 2023 reissue of a 1985 album will go inbetween the 1983 and 1987 albums, UNLESS a reissue adds extra content to make the latest material contained within it necessitate appearing later in the artist's discography (the 2023 reissue of the 1985 album features bonus material in the form of a full live set of the reunion tour, recorded in 2022. That puts it at the end of the list for that artist now).

Most of the rest of the cassette tapes in the form of boxsets or otherwise awkward/oversized packages. Additionally, the bottom section of three segmented shelves contain also otherwise oversized/awkward (mostly mediabooks/artbooks) CD packages, my small VHS collection and a handful of other DVDs that don't have a good category to call home:



To the right is most of the rest of the CD collection. Each shelf is 3' wide and 7' tall. Box sets and other awkward/oversized releases are on the top of the shevles.



Ok, movies finally:



Same shelves as used for the CDs. Alpha by title, formats intermixed. Sequels stay in line with first title (The Two Jakes comes after Chinatown rather than being in the "T" section, Jewel of the Nile comes after Romancing the Stone rather than going in the "J" section, etc.), and in order of release, not rearranging by storyline or any other nonsense.

TV on disc next:



Alpha by title and volumes in chronological order of release, formats intermixed, with necessary/highlighted boxsets on top. The bottom shelf and a half or so breaks off into my smallest category, music/live performance. This can be anything from a collection of music videos, to long-format music-centered films and concert films (including comedy). Not a large part of my collection but unique and large enough a category to warrant its own section. Also, arranged alpha by artist/performer, unless the project was given a name/title of sorts (The Concert For Bangladesh goes in the "C" section).

Loose ends (doubles, yet-to-be-cataloged, 7-inches that haven't had space made for them yet):






Oh yeah and then the vinyl in the living room/dining area:

[Airmancoop44]

I’m the process if organizing/storing my collection currently. My dvds were in a half dozen large cardboard boxes, with about 2/3 of the discs in a binder. Gonna take out the rest and put in another binder, then the boxes are all going back in cardboard boxes and stored away. Blu-rays are in a cabinet. Collector sets are on top.

[VenomGA]

I do mine by Alpha order (except series like James Bond, they are done in release order all together); Disney Animated movies same way; Music Blu-rays; DVDs that i still have.

[LetterDon]

Reading this thread has motivated me to reorganize my collection. Now I have it alphabetical ("the" doesn't count) with UHD and BD mixed. The few DVD's I still have are thrown in the back somewhere.

I'm going to seperate UHD and BD, and then figure out what I find most pleasing. Maybe but all the box sets and steelbooks / similar spines together, or sort by label. I'm the only one that browses my collection so it's up to my taste.

[liliandco]

I usually organize my DVD collection alphabetically. This is convenient as I can quickly find the movie or TV show I'm looking for. I also separate the films into different genres, such as action, horror, comedy, etc. This helps me navigate the collection more easily.

In addition, I have separate categories for discs I haven't watched yet, and for those that have bonus materials. This allows me to better keep track of what I've already seen and what's left.

For storage, I use various types of cases and boxes, depending on the disc format.This helps me maintain order in the collection.

Overall, I try to combine several organizational methods to ensure my DVD collection is as organized and accessible as possible.

[PenguinInfinity]

Movies, TV shows, and video games are in separate sections. All of my movies and video games are in 4-disc DVD cases. TV shows use their original cases unless the cases are cumbersome, provide poor protection, or are oversized. Everything has been randomized and been assigned a number (each section uses its own set of numbers) . When I add a new disc it gets assigned the next number in the section and goes at the end.

I keep an updated list of everything on my PC (with cover pictures) and my phone (as just text) and use that to find whatever title I'm interested in watching. I use a batch file to create the text lists for my phone from the cover pictures on my PC.

I also frequently choose a title to watch by randomizing the cover pictures in VLC media player and press next until I find something I'm interested in.

[cteddiesgirl]

I have separate sections of my collection. Disney, Christmas/Holiday, Stuff I have Recorded (which in turn is broken down by 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, Classics Mixed and Modern Mixed), and then Everything Else. Everything within those is in Number/A-Z order. The only exceptions are Movie Series, James Bond (in order of release), certain box sets and actor's collections (like Elvis Presley).
All my disc media (DVD, Blu & 4K) is mixed together. What I still have on VHS is in a separate room.
Everything is on a spreadsheet.