Is it bad to pack DVD's tightly together?
 

I have my DVD's side by side on nice wood shelves, but sometimes they don't fit exact, meaning I either have to pack them tight or else they are too loose on the shelf. So, if they are packed tight would that be bad, cause any undo wear on the cases or anything? Keep in mind that most of them are Special Editions and have cardboard cases, some are plastic.

Just wondering what anyone thinks or if anyone has similar notions and experiences...

I have this shelf and the three dividing columns sometimes forces me to squeeze in DVDs which seems to apply a fair amount of pressure to the DVDs in that section. I usually try not to have too much pressure though because I'm afraid that it will bend and cause damage to my digipacks, particularly multi-disc sets.

More likely to cause damage to the packaging as opposed to the DVDs inside.

You probably shouldn't pack them in too tightly. Doing so could put stress on the packaging -- scuff up the clear plastic on keepcases, wrinkle/crease digipaks, or press rings/scuffs into the artwork inlays where they're in contact with depressions in the plastic keepcases.

If you're not concerned about the condition of the packaging, it probably wouldn't harm the actual DVDs.

I don't pack mine too tightly. As long as I can pull a DVD from my shelf without having it drag its neighbors along with it, it's okay.

I try to keep my DVDs firm but not tight.

If the packaging is not too sturdy (e.g. digipacks that don't have perspex disk holders) packing them in really tight could cause the disks inside to crack.

Yes, it happened to me with one or two :(

Now I give them a little room to breathe.

not really worried at all about the DVD's inside, actually didn't even think of them. just more the outside packaging.
i can take them out just barely without taking its neighbor with it.

This is so annoying. For me, it's very often that shelves are either very loose or very tight. For the former, if I try to put another DVD in it becomes too tight. Sometimes I move DVDs a little out of alphabetical order just for the sake of using the shelves more efficiently.

I have to do that, too. It makes me a sad panda. But then again, I don't even have any space to put my DVDs at all anymore, so I'm having to stack them everywhere. :(

Er, we're talking about DVDs still, right?

On my shelf, some rows are tighter and some rows are looser. I'll err on the side of accessibility and nice packaging to space economy.

hey, i have this rack too and face the same problem, but i wanted to ask you if you have a problem fixing the shelfs to w/ extra space. it seems on the bottom part i cant set it up w/out have some sort of space of like 6 inches or so and it throws the whole the off. it bugs me.

There's a joke there somewhere, but I'll leave it at that. ;)

Whoops, looks like someone else beat it to me.

Well...anyway...

i will do that too, but then it haunts me through the night so i find another way to make it work...i still have one out of place right now "ET: 2-Disc Collector's Edition"...it is just so useless. It has no writing on the spine, you can't see what it is from the side, it is just blue and folded sitting between nice spines, it is useless, so i tucked in back with other special editions. just nothing else to do with it!!

Good attitude. Doesn't matter if you can't play the disks, so long as the packaging looks good :thumbsup:

Hi--

Speaking as someone with ARCHIVE and Museum knowledge-- you should never pack any media, including books, too tightly; HOWEVER you want the items on the shelf tightly enough that they aren't going to fall over by themselves. The nice thing about DVDs is that like CD's they don't *care* if they are vertical or horizontal, it's not going to hurt the DVD either way (I keep my vertical so I can read the spines easier).
VHS you want to kept VERTICAL and re-wound, but with DVD it doesn't matter.

Oh-- and whoever mentioned the possibility of raised print pressing into whatever is next to it, was absolutely RIGHT-- in that respect it's like books, if you can leave a bit more space around your packages with raised print, then do so.

take care,

Brit TV fan

Wouldn't having them horizontal enable you to read the spines more easily?

"You're right, no human being would stack DVDs like this..."

same goes with hanging your clothes in the closet. they need space, so the fabric can breathe.

meaning...there is no way in heck i am packing them that tightly that the DVD's inside would even remotely be affected.

Mike, subtle joke or Freudian slip?

On Topic: when in doubt, I always err to the side of a little too loose than packing the DVDs so tightly that they pull out the one(s) next to them. But, like many others, overall space is getting to be a BIG problem.

Firm but not too tight is correct. I wasn't impressed with 6_second_DVD, but had good results with DVD_Roller.

Well, I guess it makes those space-saving vacuum packs useless. ;)

In this case, it was a Freudian slip. Didn't even catch the irony.

Hi--

VERTICAL-- like the spines of paperback books!

--Brit TV fan

Actually, right now I am using two shelves to hold my collection and don't need the entire capacity of this shelf yet, so I have two rows of CDs taking up the very bottom of this shelf. I hadn't noticed that the spacing of the shelves would be that uneven when using all of the shelves for DVDs. I hate it when that happens.