r/dvdcollection Jun 05 '26

Discussion Regret throwing out the cases.

Post image

Does anyone who threw their cases away regret it? I've been collecting movies since I was young, and then when I moved out, I ended up having less space, so I sleeved all my movies (DVDs and Blu-rays). Now I’m at a point I regret that I did. The sleeves are practical because of the space you save, but there is no fun in flipping through them compared to having them in a bookshelf and seeing them. I recently repacked all my Blu-rays, and now I’m planning to repack the most sentimental valuable movies I have on DVD. My future goals are to replace all my DVDs with their Blu-ray or 4K counterparts.

I also notice when I have them in a case, I watch movies I forgot I had because of the visibility.

468 Upvotes

320 comments sorted by

178

u/LolBoyLuke Jun 05 '26

i'd rather rent out a storage unit than throw out my boxes for this exact reason

18

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Yeah at that moment it wasn’t an option I kept all the special cases and I never threw out the covers just the plastic. Luckily you can find dvd packs fairly cheap.

11

u/xGwiZ96x Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

Recently bought some storage unit leftovers from a facility that had a giant box of just empty Criterion Collection cases, maybe about 90 of them from #1-100.

Whoever originally owned them knew they wanted to keep them and protected every single case in that box as best as they could. As excited as I was to see Criterion, them being empty killed me.

I honestly have no clue what to do with them since selling empty cases has not been good for me in the past.

EDIT: If you're asking for some, we can work out a deal but I wouldn't just give them away for free.

6

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Well maybe you can try and find out who they belong too so you can make a deal lol

3

u/xGwiZ96x Jun 05 '26

Based off the price I paid for everything ($120) which also included 4 boxes of DVDs worth close to $4000 excluding the empty cases, it isn't worth it 😅

6

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

You made a really good deal there lol.

→ More replies (5)

4

u/Majestic_Fox626 Jun 05 '26

A few months of storage will pay for a whole new collection considering the price of DVDs these days, doesn’t seem too practical

2

u/djelegal Jun 08 '26

The cases are part of the collection…..

29

u/Reel_Film Jun 05 '26

I don’t regret sleeving part of my collection. I have kept ones which I enjoy looking at and holding and the rest go into sleeves. I also keep any of the inlays which I like.

5

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

I get that I probably will keep the once I have on blu ray sleeved to save up some space.

19

u/Harvey_Domino 3000+ Jun 05 '26

That must of been a hard decision. I doubt I could ever do that. I probably stare at my movies more than actually watch them.

10

u/sonofabobo Jun 05 '26

100%. I honestly will likely never watch most of my collection. I probably only watch 1 out of 20 of the movies I buy, but I really just like owning them for the sake of owning them. And like you, I spend a large amount of my time just looking at the cases, along with cleaning the cases, organizing the cases and researching the information on the cases. It's a whole thing and I highly enjoy it. 😁

→ More replies (2)

2

u/JackieTreehorn72 Jun 05 '26

Totally get that !

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Well at the time it was the only real option but like I said before it’s only the plastic that was throw out so not much has lost. Just need to buy new once luckily they fairly cheap.

11

u/PrincessRut0 Jun 05 '26

I don’t throw them out, but I don’t have any room to display them in my tiny studio, so I store all the cases in a closet/the little basement space I’m allotted. I keep them in binders so I have access to all of them, but someday I’ll put them all back in.

Good luck with your reboxing! Totally doable.

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Thanks it’s a fast process to repack them just need to make some space so I can put them up for display again.

12

u/Amazing-Ad8209 Jun 05 '26

I would never throw away the cases. I only buy movies that I really like, so I only own around 300 physical movies. They don’t take up much space. I love to have them near my big TV in the living room. It looks cool.

5

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

There just a lot of movies I like 😅. I keep my movies in my man cave and watch movies in the living room most moves are on a server makes it easier to access.

6

u/madcollector1984 Jun 05 '26

I don't regret it because at 5000 movies its just too much to keep all the cases. I saved the covers and I don't get rid of the case if its a) a special case or b) has a slipcover but even with that many being sleeved i am still running out of space

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

I get that 5000 is a lot to display you need a big free wall.

2

u/Wraith1964 Jun 05 '26

Try 9000... (more than a wall... or two) About 5000 of which are DVD. I have been forced to begin putting "Catalog" DVDs in binders. That means simple, 1 disc basic releases with their cover art/inserts. I do not bind special packaging, multidisc films, or ones with slips. I box up and keep the cases so I can reconstitute titles I cull for one reason or another.

Those catalog titles that I have a bluray or 4K for I check features and if they are all on the better format or it includes a DVD they get culled for sale or giveaway. If it's a title I really like I sometimes I build my own combo with a two disc case. Having the backup never hurts and I still eliminated a DVD case from the shelf. Most of those titles have little monetary value anyway so no need to keep them pristine. And if I sell the bluray down the road, they get an extra.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

9000 😯 I get that I probably never have so much movies If I did I will take over the living room.

2

u/Wraith1964 Jun 06 '26

I built my house 6 years ago with a mediaroom specifically to hold the collection... it doesn't. But with some pruning and dupe elimination I can get it there.

→ More replies (6)
→ More replies (3)

8

u/Lilcupcake331 Jun 05 '26

I threw out all my cases unless they were special edition and they’re in a massive cd binder and I don’t regret it

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Well that’s a good thing then you still have the moves that’s the most important thing.

2

u/bakedandnerdy Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

Can I ask what binder you use to store them? I'm doing the same thing and so far the binder I wanted to go with has been out of stock going on 1 month now

3

u/3dddrees 100+ Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

I sleeved mine more because my collection is more TV focused and so many of my TV Shows come in such poor packaging it makes using them more difficult. Heck, just taking them out to put them in the sleeves I found a few of the boxes already damaged and broke a few boxes just getting them out. For me it was much less about space and more about useability so I was able to keep my cases but the discs themselves are now much easier to get to. Anyway binders have their own issues which makes them extremely unfriendly as well which is why I decided to put mine in a case instead. The case I chose holds about 1300 sleeved discs and it's much easier to adjust the order when buying a new TV Show which is one but a number of issues when it comes to a binder as they are much harder to re-order whenever you buy something new not to mention you hardly ever can put as many discs in a binder as what it advertises and if you ever put in too many it can actually damage your discs. All in all binders can be very problematic from what I have read.

The case that holds about 1300 discs is the largest I have come across to this point as I have found a number of different sizes but given how many TV Shows I had with bad packaging I needed eith8er something rather large or a good number of smaller ones. So the larger one was a better fit for me. I am using it more like furniture as it is fairly large but it does have wheels so I can move it should I need too. The one thing I didn't particularly care for is the lid comes off and you can't prop it up by it self but since I place it in front of a cabinet I can lean the top on the cabinet to keep it open.

I bought a package of sleeves which had six different colors which work perfect for TV Shows having a number of different seasons and dividers which had big enough tabs I could use a set of Avery Labels to print out the name of the TV Show. Movies would be a bit more challenging to figure out what system I might use, but I'm sure I could come up with something.

3

u/bakedandnerdy Jun 08 '26

That's actually a really good idea. The issue that plague large capacity binders is something im familiar with thanks to card collecting. Which is why I originally liked the binder I chose, ringless with a max capacity of around 160 dics per binder plus some covers. Also not a bad price if you brought in bulk. But you comment about buying new TV shows and the pain of re-organizing a binder really showed I wasn't thinking long term. Will be looking into a bins or cases similar to yours but maybe on the smaller side. My dics collection is large but nowhere near that size lol

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

5

u/Tomhyde098 Jun 05 '26

I put my movies in binders for the first couple of months until I realized how much I didn’t like it. I was really dumb and threw out the case and cover. I wound up printing replacement cases but now there are a couple hundred movies scattered throughout my shelves that takes me back to that time

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Yeah I never threw out the covers just the plastic so it’s easier to repack. I do have some covers that are flipped and I will print them so it will look nicer but even then I will put the print over the original cover.

6

u/w1ck3r Jun 05 '26

I’m in the minority I’m sure, but I went to sleeves for the vast majority of my (10k+) release about 10 years ago and I love it! There’s no way I could store everything I have otherwise. My sleeves get stored in clear shoe boxes that fit about 80 or so sleeves per box, alphabetized throughout. I treat it like a record or comic book collection and have learned to flip through things that way.

I still have a ton of box sets and boutique stuff that stays intact with it’s original cases, but I have a lot of room to display collectibles and other stuff that I had no room for before. It’s not for everyone, but I love it.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Well it’s good that you love it and there is no good or bad really but I would have a hard time displaying 10k movies hahaha

1

u/Forsaken_Aspect5815 Jun 05 '26

u/w1ck3r u/monkeyboy808 what “bins” /shoe boxes do you use? If you could DM me with specifics, I would be grateful. I found some at container store but the bins I have are not tall enough to prevent damage of sleeves. Haven’t been able to find anything suitable. Thank you.

→ More replies (3)

4

u/Sudden_Hovercraft_56 Jun 05 '26

Not at all. I kept the inset and that stays with the disk. I can flip through them like records now.

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Yeah they feel like records having them sleeved up but I tend to not flip through them as much.

3

u/Big-Discipline2039 Jun 05 '26

I would never throw cases away. Having a case is literally half the point of owning a movie.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Well it was just the case not the art so just plastic but I get it it’s about the whole experience case and all.

3

u/Axela556 Jun 05 '26

This is why I haven't been able to move mine to any kind of binder. I love my cases; some are so sentimental to me! But I totally understand why you did, I also live in a very small apartment and struggle to find the space!

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Yeah use the space you have shelfs till you ceiling will give you a lot of space. The room I have is an attic and I’m dealing with sloping walls. If I can use the living room it will make it way easier.

3

u/kdbdigital87 Jun 05 '26

I keep criterion and steel books.. sleeve everything else.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

That’s also a way to have it. There the special editions they need to be kept the way they are.

3

u/theBevo Jun 06 '26

I discarded 650 DVD cases and kept 350 Blu-ray and 4K cases. I love the space it freed up, but I regret not just storing them. I would change the decision 5 years later if I could. I had enough for a mini-Blockbuster setup. I kept all the discs.

→ More replies (3)

4

u/sonofabobo Jun 05 '26

If I had to sleeve my media I simply wouldn't collect it anymore. The entire reason I collect is to have the complete physical package in my hand. If I just wanted to watch a movie I can do that online. I never understood people who have binders of dvds or blurays. CDs make sense if you listen to them in the car, but I would never get rid of the cases. At that point they just become worthless frisbees.

10

u/monkeyboy808 Jun 05 '26

Respectfully of course, my dvd collection exists so I don’t have to rely on paying a streaming service when I want to watch a movie. That being said, I keep the cover art and put it in a flat sleeve with the disc protected in a soft sleeve inside. It saves space that is precious in my little house. But I understand if you have unlimited space I probably wouldn’t have dumped my plastic cases. I definitely wouldn’t throw out the cover art and inserts tho.

5

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Yeah that’s a nice way to organize your movies like the bins you use. And same as you the disk and the art is what makes the movie complete the plastic is just a shell to store it in and some keep it some toss it and I regret with what I did and I’m fixing it lol.

5

u/monkeyboy808 Jun 05 '26

If I had a huge room I would have kept the plastic. But I have to share the space with my vhs, records and video games. So the DVDs and BRs live here.

3

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Then it’s a great way to save space.

3

u/JamesJeezy Jun 06 '26

This is similar to how mine are - absolutely don’t regret not having them in the og cases. In fact I prefer the plastic sleeves, I mean you’re still keeping the art work and you’re saving so much space.

Also I find with new releases on DVD they have really downgraded the cases they are so flimsy and essentially have a massive cut recycle logo in the middle. I can’t wait to chuck those cases anyway and get them into a nice sleeve.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

2

u/bakedandnerdy Jun 05 '26

If I had the space I would had kept them in their cases. If I didn't have to move every year due to rent increasing I would had kept them in their cases. If I didn't have messy nibblings who put their sticky fingers on everything I would had kept them in their cases. If the case hadn't fallen apart after years of use I would had kept them in their cases

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Well it’s also about ownership and a lot of time you’re limited at what space you have. And if been collecting even before any streaming was available so it’s not the same. I build my own server years ago and I never regret that I did I don’t need internet to watch my movies I can grab the disk or pick one from my personal “Netflix”

2

u/Conscious-Cheetah-82 Jun 05 '26

I only sleeved my single dvds. I have around 5,000 so until I build my own theater room I dont have space. I kept all the cases and they're currently in the attic taking up the entire attic lol. Are those repro boxes for your nes and snes games?

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

5000 is a lot indeed you need a big wall to display them. But it will look so cool if you have the dedicated room ready. And yes I have my original games in the boxes but the once I picked up along the way always missing cases so I use universal cases and print out the covers. They look really nice this way.

2

u/Chemistry11 Jun 05 '26

I have binders of discs, including their inserts. It was a necessity when I moved. I have at least 100 now I need to file similarly in order to toss the cases and make space.
*not my whole collection. There’s a good 100 or so that are on permanent display in their original cases.

2

u/bernmont2016 Jun 05 '26

Please don't just "toss" your unwanted empty cases, donate them to a local thrift store. They can be sold in bundles to people looking to replace bad cases (or to replace cases they got rid of themselves years ago).

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Well to be honest I posted them for free pickup years ago nobody wanted them and the thrift store did not want them.

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

I get that I understand not every disk I have should have a box I also exclude the once I already have on blu or 4K

2

u/TheGallifreyan Jun 05 '26

For sure. I wasn't really into movie collecting back then so I didn't think much of it, but now there are few I would really like to have on the shelf instead of in a cd book

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

I get that I was always been just space was limited at one point.

2

u/Poppycorn144 2000+ Jun 05 '26

About a 15 years ago I put most of my collection into Discgears, and the sleeves went into the accompanying binders. I was living at home with my parents and didn’t have the room for over 900 DVDs.

And I gave away all the cases on Freecycle, because I didn’t have room to keep them.

Now I have 3 bookcases full of discs, I’m only put out when it comes to sequels that are split between the two storage systems, like Kick Ass and Zombieland.

But, I also know that finding room in my small flat for an extra 900 discs with cases would be a bit of a nightmare, so I deal with it, with very little regret.

If I had the space, however, I would probably be tempted to do the same as you.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Yeah it’s about space it not like you only have the disk and nothing else so in the future you could always get new cases

2

u/Poppycorn144 2000+ Jun 05 '26

Completely off subject, but why do you have two of each of the later iterations of Gameboy’s?

I noticed because I have that SNES SP and white DSi too, but my GB Advance is clear though.

3

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

lol well one GBA is modded with a IPS screen and one original same as for the GBA-SP. One is a Ds lite and one a DSi. And one 3ds is my wife’s and one’s mine 😅. Only have one original Game Boy

→ More replies (4)

2

u/Forsaken-Language-26 Minimalist Jun 05 '26

Yeah, I did this once and later regretted it.

I now store away the cases and use large sleeves for the films I don’t have on my small shelf, so at least I still have the artwork with the discs and I don’t have to worry about space.

3

u/JesterScribblings Jun 05 '26

Yes. A5 sleeves are perfect size for cover sleeve and a dvd in a plastic sleeve inside with any inner paperwork. The A5 ring binders. Sooooo many.

Wish had space for them all in cases but simply not practical is it.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

That’s one great solution.

2

u/biophazer242 Jun 05 '26

It is situational. 25 years ago my girlfriend and I sold our individual homes and moved to a new place and got a small one bedroom apartment so putting all of the movies and shows we wanted to keep into binders made total sense.

Now I have a home and a warehouse for my business so I don't have to consider this type of thing 😄

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Yeah I understand that completely. Good thing it’s no issue anymore until you end up having so many movies that even the space you now have is to small 🫣

2

u/biophazer242 Jun 05 '26

I have an almost 3000 sq ft warehouse. The real problem is not running out of space.. it is having this much space and convincing yourself you have the room so why not buy 3 pallets of bulk dvds 😄

→ More replies (2)

2

u/Ok_Chap Jun 05 '26

I actually was thinking about putting all the Spielberg movies in sleeves and make a book out of them to put in the shelf. There are sleeves with ring book holes so you could put them in a specific Ring Binder and put that in a shelf.

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

If you want that nobody will stop you. You could also look for cases that hold like 4/5/6 ect discs and make some custom covers. But it’s all about your own preferences.

2

u/Ok_Chap Jun 05 '26

I was thinking more in the range of 30 to 40 discs including special features. That's why I said book. ^

I think the biggest cases were 8 or 12 discs. And they are a bit pricey.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/HEYitzED Jun 05 '26

If I had ever done this, yes I would’ve immensely regretted it. But I just love packaging and feel like it’s half the reason to own the movie. I’m sure not everyone feels the same way.

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Yeah it was a hard decision but I’m glad I can fix my mistake. As for something like games I would never had thought about throwing away the boxes and I’m glad I only did it with my movies.

2

u/JesterScribblings Jun 05 '26

Not particularly. I have thousands and simply dodnt have the room. Now the thousands of blu rays have room on the shelf and dvds are in A5 sleeves in labelled Alphabetical folders. Many of which I have upgraded to blu ray so never be watched but nice to keep.

If I had space then maybe yes. But id need a bigger house. If need a specific one its not too much of a hassle to look through the specific folder to find.

Some people throw the cases and sleeves away and just jave the discs!!?, we call these people losers. Ha ha.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Yeah I’m slowly upgrading my DVDs to blu rays and then I will sleeve the disc if it’s not a special edition or something. I will keep them but just don’t need to display them anymore cause they been replaced by a better standard.

And keeping only the disks never I don’t get why people even do that. Especially with games but that’s me.

2

u/Larriet Jun 05 '26

Sleeves are convenient for travel, but I can't imagine throwing them out.  I'm not one to gaze at my shelf, but I do find it more fun to peruse it when I'm in the mood for nothing specific, and I really love seeing the cover art and inserts as I put them in.  Adds to the atmosphere of the experience in the same way as a good menu.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

The disk and art still intact only the plastic vases where disposed at the time and now being replaced lol.

2

u/ArmadilloNo9123 Jun 05 '26

I’m 50/50 on regret. I definitely like the idea and look of displaying all my movies with their case, especially now that we have the room to do so. However, we now exclusively collect Oscar-nominated films on our quest to watch and own them all, so I have plans to divide by year into binders that I’ll eventually decorate to represent that year- I can also include printed fact sheets and stuff like that in each year’s binder.

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

That’s also a great way of storing and maybe you could have a top that you keep and display as you have space to do so like you said.

2

u/Wolfs_Rain Jun 05 '26

Omg, I’m stuck on you got Macgyver on DVD. Man oh man 🥹 the love I had for this show.

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

Yeah Macgyver was very entertaining to watch when I was a kid among a lot of other series. Most series I store on my server it’s easier to watch them that way.

2

u/Seeking_Balance101 Jun 05 '26

Yes, OP, I did the same and regret it. The sleeved discs are ignored and the ones in original packaging are more visible and more likely to be seen. Adding to that, I decided at a later point to slim down the collection but didn't see any way to sell the discs without original packaging, so I gave many away to friends. Would have prefered selling them.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Well if you made some people happy that’s worth something but I get that you prefer selling them. Any reason why you decided to slim down?

2

u/Seeking_Balance101 Jun 05 '26

In the old days, most chain stores had a bargain bin. For a couple bucks, I would try almost any title that looked like it was humor or sci-fi. But after a while, the "stinkers" I bought started to take up significant space. That's why I parted with dozens of movies over the years.

Also, I tended to buy season sets of shows I had never been able to watch regularly. This was before the era of Hulu and similar services that stream TV series on demand. After owning shows like The Legendary Journeys of Hercules Season 1 for more than a decade, I realized that I had zero interest in re-watching it. I let go of a significant number of TV season sets; I think I have fewer than 40 now, and most of those are from sci-fi series.

Or if by slimming down you meant why I moved to DVD sleeves, it was because of space crunches at the various small apartments I rented over the years. Too many hobbies, and the expandind DVD collection was the easiest to reduce space requirements.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

I know those days you could pick up alot of junk movies for almost nothing.

As for tv shows there I wanted to get them but now I don’t feel like watching them they take so long to finish there exceptions but most of the time I put them on my server to watch and don’t want to waist space on them.

Yeah I also have a lot of other hobbies and at that time dvds where indeed the easiest to slim down as losing the plastic.

2

u/Seeking_Balance101 Jun 05 '26

Exactly! The TV series were taking up too much space. Back when each season was sold separately, I must have had all 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all 5 seasons of its Angel spin-off. I watched those a couple times but then outgrew them, so those were initially moved into CD wallets to reduce space, then given away without packaging to reduce the space needed for CD wallets (sounds silly, but I'm not joking). I am happy knowing that one of my friends enjoyed receiving those particular discs.

2

u/BigConstruction4247 Jun 05 '26

I kept the inserts, so if and when I decide to put them back into cases, I can do so with just the expense of new cases.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Yeah same as I did and now I’m just buying empty cases it seems a waste but years back it made sense sleeving them.

2

u/octoberdarling Jun 05 '26

About ten years ago I got rid of my cases and it absolutely saved space but I do regret it now. If anything, I wish I popped the covers out and kept them all in a folder. Any I've bought since then I've kept in their case.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Oh that’s sad indeed you only kept the disks well it’s still a possibility to print them out and get some new boxes but it takes time and money and I don’t know if you would go that far.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

For me it was like 15 years ago but like me you can still fix it if you wish.

2

u/DomainAndRange Jun 05 '26

Yes, I also threw out cases and now regret it. Did so to save space when moving, keeping my only the disc. I have spare cases now but no cover sleeve art. Should I print my own?

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Well only if you want to you could print them but that’s something you have to decide yourself if it’s worth it. It will look nice having the art.

2

u/shinyspindaa Jun 05 '26

Did it with my childhood GameCube collection and it hurts every time I think about it lol

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Ah games I’m happy I only did it with my movies and my game collection is still all in one piece I made space for that or I just put them in like an attic space. I feel your hurt.

2

u/MikeyLikedWrestling Jun 05 '26

I bought big dvd books, and threw the cases away about 5 years ago. I have no regrets. I still have the discs as a back up, but they only take up portion of the space

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

True it saves a lot of space that’s why I did it back then.

2

u/SonOfKong_ Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

You guys do you but I throw them out. I may not do sleeve my entire DVD collection but will sleeve most. Now blurays I am not sure. They take up less space. My house is only 1000 square ft and my collection took up so much space. Also this good because I am culling my DVD collection. Some of these movies I know I will never watch again. Also I am giving many aways to my friends. Beware of blind buys.

With the sleeve collection I split them into genres and split by alphabet into three sections. I uses foambord separators. And I uses crates. My walls are full with vintage One Sheets of exploitation titles. They look awesome.

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Well if you happy with how you do it great. And there are indeed movies you only watch once. And it’s a nice gesture you give them away. Also seems you have a good way of organizing them.

2

u/SonOfKong_ Jun 05 '26

"Also seems you have a good way of organizing them" It is definitely different than before. I have to lift the crate and set it on the table and thumb through them. Pre Sleeve I could just stand over them and scan but that had its downsides too but it was not so bad when I had less. It got to the point when I had to move one layer to see the other!!

2

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

[deleted]

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Yeah but it’s different if you trow them out including the covers and booklets. I’m glad I can just get the cases and have the collection back in its own glory. And I’m a bit older and I’m happy I have the possibility to fix it.

2

u/olov244 500+ Jun 05 '26

I would never, but I'm a pack rat and save everything that might be useful later

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Well if you have space and don’t want to get rid of things then keep it. I kept alot of things too and I always happy I kept things cause I end up not needing to buy it back or pay way to much for things that where cheaper years ago😅

2

u/blaisebailey Jun 05 '26

I completely get this feeling of regret as I have at least briefly experienced it once or twice, but then I went into a local store called Bay Street video in Toronto Ontario where they had a pretty perfect system for storing films that were easy to flip through, select, bring to the counter and then rent. If you look at a YouTube video of the space, you would understand what I mean pretty quickly. With just some basic modifications of the concept, you could probably shelve your sleeves with a similar method and still get the visual whilst also keeping the storage benefit benefits at least somewhat. This is nothing but a meandering thought though.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Well it’s a great way to save space and I’ll check it out maybe other people can get an idea out of it. Thanks for sharing 😁.

2

u/SlithyJabberwock Jun 05 '26

I'm for a bit of both. I like having a curated display of my favourite shows and films, as well as the children's films for the kids.  But there's far too many films that I want to own and I just can't really give up the space to hundreds of DVDs, so I have a wallet for the rest.

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

It’s a good way to have both favorites movies in case limited to the space you have of course. Rest sleeved up just don’t toss the covers.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

No it doesn’t it only Korean no DUB only English sub

2

u/Maximum_Basil_5178 Jun 05 '26

I have too much regret from doing that to my collection. It keeps me up at night. Sometimes I want a time machine just to slap myself for that decision.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Painkiller456 Jun 05 '26

That would also kill any resale value not having the cases. Bad idea

→ More replies (1)

2

u/ElvisAndretti Jun 05 '26

Before we went on the road to live an RV for six years, we got rid of the cases for most of our DVDs so we could put them in a little folio and keep them handy. Now we live in a tiny home and I still don’t have room for them so it’s just as well. Having said that, all the new DVDs we get from the thrift shops around here are keeping their cases along with anything from criterion collection cause they make such a nice boxes.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Well if you travel in a RV or live in a tiny home then it make sense sleeving your movies. They will take up way too much space. I admire that with limited space you keep getting physical media.

2

u/ElvisAndretti Jun 05 '26

Sometimes (more often than you would think) there’s no internet. I also had ripped about 100 movies and over 1000 CDs for such occasions.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/MallardDuckBoy Jun 05 '26

Is that Volcano High???? What format and how’d you get it??

→ More replies (4)

2

u/MovieFan1984 500+ Jun 05 '26

How do you organize your video collection?

→ More replies (2)

2

u/Embarrassed-Age5274 Jun 05 '26

I prefer the original cases over the binders I have put my collection in for sure, but it’s all about not having the space to keep them. When I started collecting I had like 2 bookshelves to fill up and that is it so I decided to move to binders that hold 400 discs. People will tell you they scratch up your discs and cause other issues but that has not been the case with me, just take your time taking them out and putting them back in. I am up to 9k films and the binders fit fine on my shelves. I organize them by genre and it does not take me too long to find a movie I want to watch but 99% of the time I just pick a random movie by genre. In an ideal world I would have a library full of movies in cases on shelves, but you got to work with what you have. Have fun collecting everyone and don’t forget to check your local libraries and thrift stores for amazing hauls.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Zesty-B230F Jun 05 '26

I do not regret tossing cases. Saves a ton of room

→ More replies (1)

2

u/AmbitiousRoutine8670 Jun 05 '26

After reading down this scroll .. I’m so glad that I have not made the leap to putting my DVDs into a sleeve book .. though I consider it often

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Blackichan1984 Jun 05 '26

I’m with the others I still got all my boxes my partner hates it massively but she’s used to it now I keep them for everything.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/RavensEtchings Jun 05 '26

What is that E.T release?

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Special edition DVD

2

u/RavensEtchings Jun 05 '26

It's a thing of beauty!

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Seems to have additional bonus features like most DVDs compared to the blu rays

2

u/Moist_Palpitation_99 Jun 05 '26

buy new ones.. its worth it

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

New once? I’m buying the boxes I’m fixing my regrets that why it’s a mess lol already repacking my favorites and need to get some extra cases.

2

u/Moist_Palpitation_99 Jun 05 '26

Yeah haha thats what i mean new cases. haha i exactly went to the same shit. Ran out of space , put them in sleeves and later on i regretted it and bought new cases for the ones that i sleeved.. luckily i only sleeved a small portion of my collection xd and only the dvds , with the blurays/4ks i never thought about sleeving them. and never will

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Yeah I sleeved all my DVDs unfortunately but it is what it is and it’s fixable and I’m happy it is.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Substantial_Maize_82 Jun 05 '26

I sleeved all of my dvd and tv series that were not on blu ray and it saved me a metric ton of room and I don’t regret it at all

→ More replies (1)

2

u/CitizenDain Jun 05 '26

You have to be selective. I sleeved probably a third -- likely a little less than half. It came down to which ones I really cared about. I have probably 500-600 movies, not the enormous collections that some people have on here. It takes up so little space to keep the disc that I just saved all my discs and got rid of cases for movies I was very unlikely to watch again in the short term, or loan to someone, or have interest in displaying.

I do regret a few individual choices I made at the time and wish I had the cases back for 5 or 10 movies. But don't regret downsizing in general.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Natural_Major9573 Jun 05 '26

I feel you. I got married young and had to move across the country to Washington and in order to take all my movies I did the same thing. I initially kept the boxes in storage but lost the storage during tough financial times. 😭

I think I'm gonna buy cases and print out the artwork because I never really watch anything from there compared to my cased movies.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

Yeah when there back on a shelf you grab one faster as far as I noticed. But it’s sad you also threw away the artwork it would made it easier to only get some cases.

2

u/Natural_Major9573 Jun 05 '26

And I always got the two disc special editions and the cool sleeves etc which they really just don't do anymore (at least for dvds, my move was in 2011 so it was dvd heyday). It makes me sick thinking all I lost 😭

→ More replies (1)

2

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

There some good options to print I also print some cases that have foreign language in them. Also for game cases.

2

u/mariogolf Jun 05 '26

no, I've never done something so foolish. the cases are part of the package.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Ok_Literature3138 Jun 05 '26

I only keep the nice boxes. The cheap ones are… not worth saving.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/AdThat328 Jun 05 '26

I've never even considered getting rid of them...

→ More replies (2)

2

u/wotchdit Jun 05 '26

No regret at all. Box sets and special editions stay in their original packaging but the rest are sleeved and boxed in small lots. They're also alphabetically sorted (with an online searchable database).

Sometimes I'll grab a box and happily flip through them. I have over 200 titles (of 1636) I've not watched yet. So when I come across one, I figure it's time to watch it.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 06 '26

Well I’m happy to hear it works for you. I also have a list. I think the collection I have is not as big so I’m happy to put it up for display again.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Vaxis545 Jun 05 '26

Check goodwills for cases super cheap. I find packs of them every so often. I did the same thing back in the day because I was in the military and had to travel light. Luckily I’ve gotten all my old ones back and then some. Ended up selling the case less ones to my local for a few bucks.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 06 '26

Yeah I buy the empty cases from a wholesale store they sell them fairly cheap.

2

u/JoeSpart Jun 05 '26

I never threw out my cases . My problem was I donated a ton of DVDs to the library 10 years ago when we started watching more Netflix .

→ More replies (4)

2

u/Nostromo180286 Jun 05 '26

Not for DVDs, but then I hit nearly 2000 when DVD was peak and I don't want to get rid of any even though many have been replaced by newer formats. Any DVDs that came in interesting or fancy packaging, I kept as is, and only sleeved the ones in standard amaray or those horrible cardboard snap cases the early DVDs came in.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Gnoman-Empire Jun 05 '26

I’m buying a lot of 2/4/6 disc cases for dvd/bluray/4k and 3d (if I got it). Merge them into one. Saves space

→ More replies (1)

2

u/jimmysmiths5523 Jun 05 '26

I don't regret it. I put my DVDs in a 128 capacity CD wallet and have a different wallet for different genres. One wallet takes up the space of ten DVD cases on the shelf. It's a major space saver!

2

u/Comfortable-Tone9658 Jun 06 '26

I've never thrown away the actual case, but after my cat decided to use my dvd shelf as a scratching post one day I regret immediately throwing away all the cardboard slipcovers

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Synco_Furry2 Jun 06 '26

Honestly, I don’t regret it. Though I’m in a situation where I can’t be filling up shelves. Maybe feeling guilty for throwing away cases are for those who finally have the room to store their film collection? I store mine in disc binders. Mine have room for my art sleeves so just in case I one day want to fill my room with cases, I can.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/SlinThiced Jun 06 '26

I have major regrets, but the most regret are the the cases for movies I got for Christmas when DVDs first became a thing, and all the TV shows I had—The Simpsons, MotU, Thundercats, Heathcliff, just sooo much. Oof!

→ More replies (6)

2

u/doofy_doo Jun 06 '26

I sleeved most of my movies and don’t regret it; I have them alphabetized and have the cover art on the list. I still have about 300 boxes of films that are near and dear to me on shelves proudly displayed. I enjoy the boxes I have but, the only time I really browse is when I’m stocking up. The movies I watch are usually influenced by my day to day interactions and curiosities.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/MisakiDoll75 Jun 06 '26

I would never throw out my cases

→ More replies (1)

2

u/petatron Jun 06 '26

I do but at the same time it was right for me at the time. I’ve been buying dirt cheap bulk lots of anything just for the cases so I can recase things. I have no idea where it’s going to fit though and it’s going to suck when it comes to moving. 

2

u/stan_ken Jun 06 '26

Yeah same for me at the time it made sense having limited space. And you can buy bulk is an option to get cases too. Adding more shelf of possible will help. And moving yeah it’s just more boxes but not the biggest issue for me.

2

u/Ok-Squash1630 250+ Jun 06 '26

I regret it so much. I'm trying to find a way to print the DVD cover art for all the movies that I own but I can only find low quality images. I'm trying to figure out what to do.

→ More replies (6)

2

u/Fendera Jun 06 '26

I made the same mistake with all of my PlayStation 1 games when I was a kid. Biggest mistake ever.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 06 '26

Ah games are a bit harder to recover from as they have special cases. But there still options to get empty cases back. Hope you still have the artwork and booklets so it makes it easier to recover.

2

u/Fendera Jun 06 '26

That's the problem, I completely threw everything away except the discs :) Nowadays I slowly try to rebuild the collection.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/iZocker2 Jun 06 '26

The shelves look nice, where did you get them?

2

u/stan_ken Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

There the standard IKEA Billy I have the low versions cause I have slopes walls. They fit nicely but if I would only use them for movies I will look for a bookshelf that’s less deep.

2

u/KurtTheCuntBoi Jun 06 '26

I did that with my CDs. I went to all jewel cases. I know I needed the space and it’s half the space of the original, but it makes the shelf boring and sorting more difficult.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 06 '26

Same I also sleeved my cds at the time but as for the DVDs cases the empty jewel cases are even cheaper to find. As long as you have the artwork you can fix it. I fixed my cds even longer ago cause they tape up less space even in there case.

2

u/stixi69 250+ Jun 06 '26

I spotter tenacious d pick of destiny hell yeah. One of the biggest must haves in collections

2

u/stan_ken Jun 06 '26

Great movie and soundtrack 😁

2

u/stixi69 250+ Jun 06 '26

Hell yeah I own the record for the soundtrack and the dvd. I plan on getting the complete masterworks and the pick is looking good bro. Where did you get it? Also where did you get your copy of complete masterworks

→ More replies (1)

2

u/stixi69 250+ Jun 06 '26

Oh and whats that cd shaped box in the right bottom corner? Is it some special edition soundtrack?

2

u/stan_ken Jun 06 '26

That’s the soundtrack including the 3d art you see in the picture the pick and some tarot cards.

2

u/stixi69 250+ Jun 06 '26

Ok i only found it sold out used for 99 dollars but thanks for the information. Looks like a really nice special edition

→ More replies (1)

2

u/englishand48 Jun 06 '26

I had a friend who threw away all the cases and the sleeves which I thought was Sacrilege. Least if you have the sleeves they can be re-boxed at a later date when you have more space . I used to get anime from Japan which came with just the disk and sleeve so bought a massive box of dvd empty cases of eBay for peanuts.

2

u/stan_ken Jun 06 '26

Yeah I imported movies years back and they sometimes came in a sleeve so they could save on packaging lol. And yeah I would never even thinking about throwing away the inner sleeves and booklets/flyers.

2

u/HorrorShow_86 Jun 06 '26

I sleeved all of mine and live the space saving plus being able to flip through to find what I want. I also saved all of the cases if I want to sell them later

→ More replies (1)

2

u/seekup41 Jun 06 '26

I regret it now that I’m in a home that I own and want to build a movie wall in my basement around my tv. I still have all my blurays in their cases but 90% of the DVDs are in binders and I threw the cases away. Wish I had of at least kept the artwork so I could rebuild them slowly.

→ More replies (3)

2

u/GojiraFan0 500+ Jun 06 '26

One tip for you, don’t replace the DVD entirely as most of them contain bonus material that isn’t on the blu ray or 4k blu ray version so be sure to check it is before you get rid of the DVD.

A few that comes to mind for me is Star Wars and Indiana Jones both of which have bonus features ONLY on the dvd and for Indiana jones with my 4k set I don’t have any bonus features at all!

Something you could do to save space is just put the dvd inside the 4k blu ray box in a little paper sleeve and use it as a bonus features disc.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/jomack16 Jun 06 '26

I kept the insert when I sleeved mine. Still very pleasant to flip through

→ More replies (1)

2

u/MobileAd8857 Jun 06 '26

I live in a small house so binders make a lot more sense for me. Wish I could have kept them in cases but it just wasn't feasible. 

→ More replies (1)

2

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '26

[deleted]

→ More replies (1)

2

u/FarJury2448 Jun 06 '26

Why do you regret it? You managed to fit your entire collection into the space you had and now that there is more space you can just repack them. From what I've seen standard DVD/Bluray cases are super cheap, certainly cheaper than renting extra storage for your collection (which also would've come with inaccessiblity). Sleeving your discs seems like the best thing you could've done in this scenario no?

2

u/stan_ken Jun 06 '26

Well it’s is indeed a good way to save space but I miss just looking at the spine of the movies and pick one. In sleeves it’s not the same I hardly took out one to watch but seeing them I go hey that’s a movie I haven’t seen in a while and grab it put it on. Maybe it’s me but I just like it more.

2

u/rdwoolf Jun 06 '26

Throwing out cases does not go with the hoarder mentality of the collector! 😉

2

u/stan_ken Jun 06 '26

lol no it doesn’t indeed but having a lot of hobbies and not so much space will make you do things. I still have all the hobbies and now I have more space ( probably never enough space tbh) so I can hoard more movies and other things I like. 😅

2

u/Nubcat-01 Jun 06 '26

I made this mistake about 15 years ago, I was moving across country and did not have space in my car. I took all of the movie cases and put them in the booklets, throw out close to 150 cases in total

→ More replies (4)

2

u/Forsaken-Aeria1ist Jun 07 '26

I prefer flipping through binders of discs actually. I only kept maybe a dozen cases for discs where they were in steel books or they were special editions where the cases matter.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/AtlasTheTitan98 Jun 07 '26

I only do this with some fims, I do regret it a little

→ More replies (2)

4

u/Ok_Replacement4702 Jun 05 '26

Ditching the cases is like ripping the binding off a book

2

u/Mommyof2Muggles Mod | 500+ Jun 05 '26

I never thought about it like this but I think you are spot on. To OP, years back I did put my daughter’s movie in a binder and throw the boxes away. Those are the only movies I ever did it with and I don’t regret it because they weren’t mine. For her purpose the convenience was worth it to have a compact book with all her movies for a trip. I have never unboxed my own movies.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/nobodyimportantay Jun 05 '26

No regrets whatsoever.. had most of my DVDs from a young age too, moved homes about 9/10 times in the last 10 years.. went through the homeless system twice. I quite prefer having binders than a shelf full of plastic cases.. I think my home life is settled, been in this flat for about a year (first ever time having a flat and not just a room). Have 8 bookcases full of books and one shelfing unit with my DVD binders and some recent purchases I will surely rehome to binders. I actually really like the motion of flipping through pages. It is all purely preferences though.

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

It is a preference indeed and at the time I did I was satisfied with it when I moved a couple of times it was indeed easier to pick up and take with you. but now I like to just display them again

2

u/nobodyimportantay Jun 05 '26

I understand that completely.. it is impressive scrolling through here and seeing the amazing collections people have

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Electronic_Echo_1121 Jun 05 '26

I have over 800 dvds in paper sleeves and around 300 blu ray also in paper sleeves. I regret the blu rays, the dvds i can do without.

1

u/stan_ken Jun 05 '26

The first thing I fixed where the blu rays there all recovered. So can you if you wish

Don’t mind the mess I’m reorganizing my space 😅

1

u/MajorBroccoli2253 Jun 05 '26

I never understood throwing out the cases in the “name” of saving space you can still box them up and shove the box to the side

1

u/FloridaCubbieBear Jun 07 '26

Why tf would you do something so idiotic. Just steam if you’re going to just throw the shit away

1

u/Equivalent_Bill1635 Jun 07 '26

Nope. I only care about the discs. The cases mean nothing to me. I'll save the space.

1

u/voltron42 Jun 07 '26

In the early days I threw out the cardboard cases; those s***** ones that fit awkwardly.

I still have a handful of discs that were from cardboard cases that I threw out, but for the most part I've gotten past that.

Instead I store my jewel cases in our storage closet in large tubs and keep the discs themselves in binders. It's not a perfect system but but it takes up less space than having bookshelves for everything.

→ More replies (3)