Funnily enough, freebie DVDs! Yep, a lot of freebie DVDs (at BEST BUY particularly) have that hub. Drop by your local BEST BUY and see if they have any of the preview discs for "A Prairie Home Companion" left. Those have the hub you're looking for, although they have "spine crap" issues if you're worried about that sort of thing.

Another option may be Circuit City, because I've heard they have a preview disc now with any in-store purchase (you could probably just pick up a candy bar or something), and if that disc is in an Amaray case, it may have the same kind of hub.

Good luck!

Those are the best hubs, period. I wish they all came with those.

They're okay, but look and feel kinda cheap to me. Give me the original Amaray "pluck" hub any day. To be fair, the pluck hub isn't so great at holding discs in transit, but I've found it the most comfortable and cooperative in daily use.

Actually, the hubs in the cases that TDK used to sell were pretty good too, especially for floater prevention.

Anyone know where i can purchase these?

I think they're made exclusively for the studios. I haven't even been able to determine the name of the brand. But I'm with you, I love those cases. For singles it's a toss up between those and Amaray Safecases - I like both - but their slim doubles are nicer than Amarays since they use that nodule hub on the flip page as well as on the inside shell.

If you like those hubs and are in need of some single-sized triple cases, check out the VERSApak cases from Nexpak which hold between 4-10 discs. They use flip pages that have an almost identical hub (only with 3 inward-facing arrows instead of 4). Each flip page has a hub on both sides. I cannibalize a lot of those pages and sub them into my slim-doubles to make slim-triples. They work great and look a lot better than the generic double-sided flip pages I was using before.

Hmm... VERSApak? I've seen the ones at Bags Unlimited which hold up to 6 discs and are 1" thick regardless of how many discs they hold, but are there ones that hold three discs, but are the size of a single-disc Amaray case? If so, where can those be purchased? Thanks.

There are ready-made slim-triples, but they are of the cheapo variety. If you like high quality cases like me, then buy some Amaray slim-doubles and some Nexpak VERSApaks. Then remove the flip pages from the slim-doubles and replace them with the ones from the VERSApaks. Instant Amaray slim-triples. Obviously this is not the most cost effective alternative since it will cost more to buy the VERSApaks then a bunch of cheapo budget slim-triples.

Btw, the VERSApaks themselves are very nice if you're looking for multi-disc cases with 1" spines. They're just like the budget ones at GenesysDTP and Effectuality Inc. only with, in my opinion, superior hubs (almost exactly like the ones in the pic posted by Premise). You can get them at U.S. Plastic Corp. or at Sleeve City. Just be careful ordering since I believe both places also sell the generic thinpaks as well.

Well if the VERSApaks are the ones at Bags Unlimted (which seems to be the case from your post), then I guess it couldn't hurt to hand-assemble some instead of getting flimsy cases just for the sake of holding 3 discs. You can buy Amarays that will accept a middle page from BU, although I'm not sure about buying Nexpak pages separately. I'll definitely look into that, though.

Actually Amaray does make a slim-triple. They have them at U.S. Plastic Corp. But the issue there is that the flip pages have one of the worst hub systems I've ever seen. They aren't like the hubs on their slim-doubles, they're more like three small hooks. The discs pop on easily enough, but then you have to practically snap the disc in half to get them back off.

Btw, I don't know if the ones at Bags Unlimited are the VERSApaks or not. They say "Nexpak" so I imagine they are, but I can't say for sure since I've never ordered from there before. Like I said, you'll know them by the hubs. They look almost exactly like the ones Premise posted a pic of except with 3 inward-facing arrows rather than 4. If I have time tonight I'll try to post a couple pics for reference.

Here's a stock photo from Sleeve City:

Thanks for the pic. I actually went to BU's website and they do now have a 2-disc page for the Amaray cases. If the hub is the same as the 1-disc add-on page, you just have to press in the center to release the disc, no big deal. I'm working on a project that'll use a 3-disc single-Amaray-sized box, so I'll have to order some soon and post a description.

The two-disc Amaray pages do not use the same hubs as the 1-disc pages. They use a vastly inferior hub that is difficult to release. Trust me, don't waste your time with those.

The cases that have these hubs are in my opinion by far the best Amaray design. They're sleek, close firmly and are made of quality plastic. I was disappointed to pick up some recent DVDs (don't remember which) and find they'd continued to overdesign the thing and it was no longer as nice.

Did someone say these kinds of cases are not available for purchase? I once found some for sale by a brand named "discwasher" but I don't know what happened to them since the store I bought them at stopped selling them.

Well, unfortunately I have a project that demands a 3-disc case that's the size of a regular Amaray case, and it wouldn't be cost-effective to buy the larger cases just to snap out the middle 2-disc page. I appreciate the warning, and I certainly won't buy a huge quantity without trying them out, but until the 2-disc pages with the better hubs are made available separately, then I have to use what I can get.

You're still better off buying a bunch of the budget 3-disc cases the same size as a standard single and cannibalizing those pages instead. Those are fairly cheap and work way better than the ones in the Amaray slim-triples. That's what I used to do for slim-triples before I discovered the VERSApak pages - throw the double-sided flip pages from the budget cases into Amaray slim-double shells. The hubs on the flip pages from budget 3/4 disc cases are very similar to the ones used on a standard Amaray slim-double page.

Here are a few pics for reference purposes (sorry about the quality):



VERSApak:






VERSApak:






Budget Thinpak (3/4 disc same size as standard single):






Budget Thinpak:






Amaray Slim-Triple (with different hub than their slim-doubles):

Thanks for the photos, they're VERY helpful! Better than you can find on the sites trying to SELL you these things for sure. Again, I need a lot of these cases so I don't really think putting together elements from two different cases is going to be cost-effective. Still, the photo of the Amaray 2-disc page does illustrate what you're talking about very well -- did you get that sample from Bags Unlimited? I'm just not sure that's what they're selling, but I could be wrong.

As for the "Budget Thinpak" version, those look fine to me. Where can those be purchased? If that's what you're using the outer case from, then maybe I could just use those as-is. The hub might not be as good as the VERSApak one, but it looks to be much better than the Amaray one at the bottom.

I got my Amaray Slim-Triples from U.S. Plastic Corp. The "budget" ones you can find at Sleeve City, GenesysDTP or Effectuality Inc.

Personally, I don't use the shells from the budget cases; I find them too flimsy. I always use Amaray slim-double shells and substitute in some other flip page. But lots of folks use and love those budget cases so ymmv.

Thanks for the info. I think I've seen one of the "budget" cases, and you're right, they are definitely crap. I'll pick up a few of the 2-disc pages Bags Unlimited is selling, and if they're the ones with the little hooks, it won't matter that much because it's not for discs in my own collection. If that happens though, I'll probably switch after going through the few I buy at first.

How is the quality on the Versapaks cases flip trays? I remember buying a bunch of triple cases with a similar design, and the quality was very flimsy (and stunk), so I ended up tossing them out. Are they as hard as regular Amaray flip trays?

They're aren't quite up to par with standard Amarays. The flip pages aren't as hard, but not overly flimsy either. Design-wise they're very similar to the budget ones except that the hubs are different (much better, imo) and they come in odd as well as even incriments disc-wise (they can be configured to hold 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 discs without leaving any empty hubs). And, yes, they also have that smell you're referring to. I'm not sure what causes that exactly, but it does fade eventually. It'd be cool if Nexpak would make an actual Amaray version of these cases using these same hubs, but maintaining the hard outer shells and thicker plastic sleeves of a traditional Amaray. Until then, these are the best 5-8 Disc cases around as far as I'm concerned.

I'll echo most of what joliom said... the trays aren't technically as hard as Amaray trays, but that's just because it's a different plastic. They're much thicker, so they're just as sturdy (the trays, that is). The VERSApaks I've had don't smell (and I know what odor you're referring to), but mine have all been from dealers who use them in their DVD projects -- I haven't actually purchased any new, so they may smell at first, who knows?

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the smell of cheapie DVD cases is most likely a combination of the materials used (possibly recycled stuff, or just not as pure as quality cases), and/or the environment in which they are molded. Short of a "clean room", you're always going to get the smell of the environment in which something is produced (plastics especially) into the finished product. My guess is that the facilities where cheapie cases are molded just have a distinctive aroma we're not used to. I'd imagine that in some countries, cases from the U.S. may be regarded as having a pungent chemical aroma, because it's pure PVC, or whatever. Either that, or the smell is just not noticed in the area in which they are produced due to environmental factors, but when we get them here, we think they reek. Anyone with more than the guesstimation I've made here is welcome to correct me (contrary to popular belief).

Sorry to bump this one up again, but it seems Disney is using them on their Treasures line this time around, but in Alpha size. Has anyone seen them on eBay, or have any extras?

I found a company that sells cases with a hub like that.

http://www.brackley-industries.com/

If you look at the small pictures for the cases, particularly the products:

DVD Swivel DTE Tray

ONE-Time™ DVD Double Clear Swivel Tray

Their cases use the hub in the picture you posted.

But from the looks of their site, maybe they only sell cases to DVD companies.
And on their profile page, the company is in Australia, and I think they only sell cases to people in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

These are my favorite cases, next to Amaray cases. Now to try to find a company in the US that sells them.