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New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

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New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

Old 04-02-14, 05:26 PM
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New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

Just bought a house and had a custom entertainment center put in the basement in my theatre.

I am debating on how to arrange everything and was wondering how everyone out there does it. Do you mix DVD & BluRay? I plan on separating by TV Shows/Movies/Sports...
Old 04-02-14, 06:15 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

I separate by movies, TV shows and music videos/concerts. After that it's just alphabetical, although I tend to keep franchises together (Bond, etc.).
Old 04-02-14, 08:56 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

I doubt anyone mixes DVD & Blu-Ray. Except Best Buy.
Old 04-02-14, 09:16 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

/\ I do. It is all alphabetized from there.

It is more important for me that myself and others can find the film without concerning themselves with format, genre, packaging, etc.
Old 04-02-14, 10:30 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

Originally Posted by Cardsfan111
I doubt anyone mixes DVD & Blu-Ray. Except Best Buy.
I do. No reason not to.
Old 04-02-14, 10:34 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

Looks like I spoke too soon.

I just remember all the complaints when Best Buy started mixing the formats on their shelves.


Back to the question asked by the OP. The key to how you arrange things is doing so in such a way that you can find things quickly. That's why I've never understood why some do so by genre. I would consistently be struggling when trying to recall whether something was a comedy or more of a drama.
Old 04-03-14, 04:23 AM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

Do it alphabetically.
Old 04-03-14, 11:43 AM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

Originally Posted by Cardsfan111
Looks like I spoke too soon.

I just remember all the complaints when Best Buy started mixing the formats on their shelves.


Back to the question asked by the OP. The key to how you arrange things is doing so in such a way that you can find things quickly. That's why I've never understood why some do so by genre. I would consistently be struggling when trying to recall whether something was a comedy or more of a drama.
I can see complaints with a store doing this. After all, if I'm looking for a BR I don't want to have to wade through DVDs as well - same if I'm looking for a DVD.

At home? I've struggled with this myself.

I don't separate BR from DVD - both are films with a title and at home I don't care about format. Currently mine are alpha by genre with certain franchise/actors films grouped. The Hammer films are grouped as are Bonds, A&C, Stooges, Jackie Chan, Marx Bros., Star Trek, Charlie Chan, Universal Horror, Bob Hope, and others. It works for me because *I* know where to look for a film - but if anyone else were to look for a specific film they would likely have a hard time.

My TV programs are in two groups: British and US - *both* in alpha order with all seasons/discs of a series together on the shelf.

Because it's so time consuming to reorganize the shelves when a new title is purchased I've toyed with doing a numbering scheme and just giving each new *box* a number. Then use a database to find the film based on box number. That allows for those multi film sets to be cataloged and filed easily and means a new purchase simply goes at the end of the last shelf. I think I could do this with films but *never* with TV. My OCD wouldn't allow it and would want the entire series to be together on the shelf in alphabetical order.

At the end of the day it's like Cardsfan111 says - what works best for you so you can find things easily. I'd take the suggestions, try a few, and settle on the one that worked best for me. That could easily mean you'll reorganize several times before finding your golden method.
Old 04-03-14, 12:04 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

My OCD is list/organization based, so I've spent almost as much time organizing my film collection as watching it. I agree that in the stores I want DVD and BD separated. But at home, while I reserve the right to change my mind and re-do everything again, I'm pretty firm in that every format should be mixed together.

It's the film I want to find, not the type of disc.
Old 04-03-14, 12:36 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

You should PM Alan Smithee on the best methods of storage...
Old 04-03-14, 01:04 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

The film is more important than the medium. The only thing I have separated are my Criterions on my first shelf (and a few boxsets being displayed on top), but otherwise everything is alphabetical.

I don't have an issue with Best Buy mixing their formats, but I can't stand their bizarre genre separations. New TV, old tv, tv from HBO....wtf?
Old 04-03-14, 04:59 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

I need to rearrange my collection and I'd kind of like to put the Blu-Rays and DVDs together, but the only thing that kind of worries me is the Blu-Ray cases don't seem as durable as DVD cases. I'm afraid of sandwiching a Blu-Ray between a bunch of DVDs could damage the disc since I try to fit as much as I can on a shelf, but are those fears unwarranted?
Old 04-03-14, 08:01 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

My only concern with mixing is how sloppy it would look with big and small cases next to each other. Only one way to find out tho and that is to do it. And If I did decide to separate then I run into the problem of series that started out as DVD but then later started out as BD.
Old 04-04-14, 12:59 AM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

I keep my blu-ray and DVD separate in order to minimize the amount space my collection takes up.

If the cases were the same height, I would mix them.
Old 04-04-14, 03:34 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

I have my dvds and blu-rays of movies separated, but I had merged my dvds and blurays of tv shows. I plan on merging the movies soon, just for convenience.

But the biggest thing that I would recommend is using this opportunity to go through your collection and find any titles that you want to get rid of, and putting them aside and not on a shelf. Because eventually those shelves are going to fill up, and it's a lot easier to decide to get rid of something that's siting in a box or on the floor rather than on the shelf.
Old 04-04-14, 04:04 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

Certain genres and formats easily lend themselves to segregation. I don't mix Classical music with Rock/Pop in my collection. Mixing Blu-rays and DVDs together is an abomination and I'm pretty sure it was outlawed in the South.
Old 04-04-14, 08:50 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

My collection is separated by formats. I don't like the idea of mixing the DVD's with the Blu-ray's plus I don't have that many films on DVD anymore as I've upgraded most of the titles I really want. I keep everything alphabetized other than films that belong in the same franchise I keep together. Some of my box sets I keep separate too because some are too big to fit on a standard Blu-ray shelf and I don't want to have to constantly adjust shelving. Also the TV shows are separated from films.
Old 04-04-14, 11:25 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

Originally Posted by Cardsfan111
I doubt anyone mixes DVD & Blu-Ray. Except Best Buy.
I do. I don't have enough BR to make it worth while and if I'm looking for a movie, I don't want to have to remember if it's in Blu or DVD format. I can just get to my shelves and grab it.

Originally Posted by ThomaMon
My only concern with mixing is how sloppy it would look with big and small cases next to each other. Only one way to find out tho and that is to do it. And If I did decide to separate then I run into the problem of series that started out as DVD but then later started out as BD.
I don't have a ton of Blu yet, but I don't think it looks bad. For the longest time, I had several different shelving units. I was given 2 nice display cases that replaced 3 of them and think that totally made things a lot cleaner looking. It's hard to even notice when the line dips.

But to the OP...I have mine by alpha, TV shows separated out and alpha'd and Disney separated out and alpha'd, as well. I do have all my Bonds under "J" because there are so many of them, but most things are by title rather than series. I have too few docs/music vids to keep them out separately, so they're mixed in the main movie section.
Old 04-08-14, 04:56 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

In a store, having DVDs & BDs together seems like such a clusterfuck, but at home I alphabetize everything together, makes things easier to find.

Go figure...
Old 04-08-14, 07:07 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

I have mine separated by format. Within each format I have it broken down into various grouping like genres, personal top ten(twenty), etc.
Old 04-15-14, 12:14 PM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

Originally Posted by milo bloom
I don't have an issue with Best Buy mixing their formats, but I can't stand their bizarre genre separations. New TV, old tv, tv from HBO....wtf?
"TV most customers are looking for," "TV some people will ask for" and "expensive sets," maybe..?!
Old 04-20-14, 11:52 AM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

I separate tv shows from movies, and also any music-video/concert type DVD's have their own section. Otherwise, everything is alphabetized. Some over-sized collectible box-sets are arranged differently on top of certain bookshelves. Blu-Rays are in a separate section as well.

I also have 4 different areas of the movies alphabetized from A-to-Z. That's because I have thousands of DVD's spreading across two and 1/2 rooms. In other words, one wall in the office has an A-to-Z, and the other giant wall has a separate A-to-Z. And then there are two other A-to-Z's in the other room. This makes it slightly harder to find a title, because it is completely random in what A-to-Z I would file a certain title, but I would only have to check 4 sections max. The best part of this format is that if the shelves get full in one section, and I need to add a title, I don't have to shift all titles across the two rooms to add one title in the middle. I can just find the best A-to-Z section that may have a space, and everything can stay alphabetized pretty easily.
Old 04-21-14, 10:24 AM
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Re: New Entertainment Center/Tips for Arranging?

I separate some into catagories but most are just A-Z.

I separate like this:

TV on DVD/BLU
Disney/Pixar/Studio Ghibli (its own section)
Criterions (own section by spine number)
Fox Film Noir (own section by spine number)


Basically a studio that put out a numbered listing of movie will get displayed and sorted by the spine numbers unless I only have a couple of that "series".

Standard movies are alphabetized and I mix the BLU with the DVDs. It doesn't look bad and when I have the movie in both DVD and BLU I have the choice of which to watch without having to search two areas.

I don't have/collect music vidoes but it I did, they would be separate also.

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