Having just moved to Southern California two months ago, I've become a bit conscious about earthquakes. My DVD collection has just passed 550 DVD's and outgrown my old dinky rack system. I'm looking for a decent looking rack that can survive an earthquake... not a major 7.0, but perhaps a 5.0. I know the Boltz racks have wall brackets to make them more secure... but they are too costly for my budget. Can anybody suggest any other racks that are really sturdy?

Wood is probably the best material for an earthquake, and as for earthquake retro fitting a dvd rack, one word: brakets. Try Wood Technology. They have a nice bookshelf design that can hold 300 dvd's. Just fit it against your wall with some L frames. You should have no problems. I'm not an earthquake retro-fitting contractor, but I have lived in Northern California my whole life and have survived many shakes and rolls, including the Loma Prieta. That bastard ruined my whole World Series experience. It sure was a fun ride though. Entire house rolled like a roller coaster. Welcome to Cali.

Thanks for the tips, Jsph.

Anybody have any other advice? Come on, I know there are a lot of Californians here... nobody thought about this at all?

First of all, in the 5 years that I've lived in LA, there were only 2 earthquakes that you could physically feel, and even then they felt like some fat guy stepped into an elevator, nothing more.
Second, if it will shake hard enough to make your shelves fall, I don't think you will survive anyway, so who cares.
And lastly, all my DVDs fell about 3 times when the shelves werent up agains the wall, and nothing happened to none of the boxes or dvds, these are not VHS tapes, stop worrying, throw some around, and up agains the wall to relieve yourself. Try breaking one for chrissakes, you'll break your fingers first.

Now, you can stop worrying.