The worst is definitely those crappy-ass paper cases that Panic Room & Grease came in. Flimsy as all hell. For multiple discs, the fat double amarays (e.g. Speed Five Star) get my vote.

The best is the standard Amarays. For multiple discs I like the Vista Series packaging and even the "swinging" amaray (Shrek) are pretty good in my book.

I like the Se7en & Godfather sets.

ET packaging was completely awful!!!

Wow, someone else feels this way about the T2 tin. I am also unhappy with the metal case, everytime I have pulled this dvd of of my media shelf, the dvd slides out, drops to the floor and I am left holding an empty metal container.

Absolute worst: I have an old edition of Four Weddings and A Funeral that comes in the godawful 'sliding clamshell' cases that were floating around when dvd's first hit the shelves. Thank God they don't make these anymore.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention another definite contender for worst packaging. How about Warner's JFK: SE with the second disc in the seperate paper sleeve??? What was up with that?

Well, from what I have seen, I would have to say that the New LOTR:EE (both 4 and 5 disc versions) are going to be the ones that are compared against from here on out...

Worst: Anything in a snapper.

I finally got Band of Brothers today. Man is that a classy case. It's my favorite until my copy of LOTR: EE comes next week.

I am personally a fan of the Dogma SE package as well as The Royal Tenenbaums. However, by far, my favorite DVD package is my Evil Dead BOTD. It was a nice centerpiece for our Halloween festival here this year.

My worst also goes to JFK. Oi, what were they thinking?

I should preface my list by mentioning the following: I am part of the school that hates anything paper. Even though Fight Club, Seven, Memento, etc. are unique and employ interesting gimmicks, they really aren't very durable and tend to degrade rather easily. Foremost for me is practicality. Is it easy to open/close? Is it durable? Does it fit on a shelf nicely and blend in with other DVD's? Does it protect the disc and materials properly? Is it easy to identify? For me such questions are more important than overall novelty. The metal shell for T2: UE was cool and all, but the others are dead on--every time someone pulls it off the shelf the DVD goes crashing straight to the floor (not to mention it has a bad habit of catching on things). That said, here is my list:

WORST:
Pearl Harbor: Vista Series (combined cardboard slots for the discs???)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (flimsy and opens like a bad road map)
E.T.: Collector's Edition (all told maybe the worst case ever)
Total Recall: Special Limited Edition Tin (all I can say is thank God Costco had it for sale in a keepcase)
Digipaks (especially Paramount's like Grease)
Any and all Snappers

BEST:
The Evil Dead: BOTD (no title on spine, but fairly durable and wins major points for creativity and attention to detail)
E.T.: Ultimate Gift Set (even putting aside the big blue box and extra materials, the actual dvd case is well made and looks fantastic on its own)
The Bridge on the River Kwai: Limited Edition (also a very well made non-keepcase).
Lawrence of Arabia: Limited Edition (other than the piece of paper glued to the case which can be easily removed, this is a pretty solid case as well).
Most every Amaray slim-double and Alpha double/triple (understated, but gets the job done right)

Best

E.T The Ultimate Giftset
Blood The Last Vampire Complete Box R2 Japan
Amelie R2 France Cake Tin

Worst

Pearl Harbour Vista Series
Evil Dead BOTD
The Short Films Of David Lynch

Basically any package that doesn't have hubs to secure the discs therefore preventing the possibility of scratching.

I just picked up the Coffin Joe 6 disc box set from brazil...six discs in standard clear cases, but the art is fantastic. Each sleeve has the original, super-cheesy 60's art and the reverse features very well done new illustrations (sorta Edward Gorey meets the Sandman comics). Very cool...and of course, the wood-burned wooden box for The Wicker Man.
aaron

I just picked up the E.T. 2-disc tonight and I have to admit that is the worst packaging I have yet to buy. Where the hell is the title on the spine and what the hell is supposed to hold the case together - it's a big, floppy piece of sh1t!

My favorites are the slim-doubles such as Gladiator/Snatch/BladeII/Lotr:Fotr2disc/Spider-man...

Best: LOTR Extended, Royal Tenenbaums, Band of Brothers, and Brazil.

Now I know that we have all said and praised numerous times the work on the LOTR EE packaging, but when it comes down to it at the end of the year, and being totally un-biased because we like one thing more than the other, which is packaged better?
Band Of Brothers?
or LOTR:FOTR EE?

I think these two are the big winners for the year.

LOTR:EE you have your nicely designed box. Band Of Brothers comes in the collectors tin. What's your opinion?

Band of Brothers.

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (EE)

Based just on packaging, Band of Brothers. Doesn't really get much better than metal.

The Complete Monterey Pop Festival: Criterion Collection

I would have to say LOTR: I own both BoB and LOTR, and I think both are great, but the LOTR just stands out in my mind, I love it. It looks phat, and it will look even better when it is sitting next to TTT and ROTK EE-Collectors Edits.

I don't have either, so I'll cast my vote for Pearl Harbor: Vista Series.

Rob

Yeah I know what you mean. The Lord Of The Rings EE is pretty nifty and it's really great, and Band Of Brothers is up there on the charts as well...it was hard for me to decide but I'm going to say that yes, just based on packaging alone, Band Of Brothers. Metal tin and the inside folded cardboard that holds all the DVD's is attatched to the bottom of the tin so that it doesn't fall out or get ruined or anything, damn good packaging.

Both are great (Pearl Harbor VS, too). I can't decide.

While the metal casing of Band of Brothers is appealing, I hate its folding disc holders being stuck to the inside of the casing, which makes it awkard to get a disc out!

The Pearl Harbor:VS is great too but its weak point is the discs being stored in the sleeves.

I vote for the LOTR:EE.

Between the 2, I'd vote for LOTR:EE

I also thought E.T. Ultimate Gift Box was pretty good too. It's about the sturdiest cardboard you can get

I like metal case better than a carboard case so I vote for Band of Brothers.