How do you alphabetize your movie collection?

[Relayer1]

Blimey !

 

[Solariabsg25]

Never kept my movies/TV shows in alphabetical order, just use a simple process. Marvel Movies are in movie order, War Movies are in chronological order (e.g. Gladiator (ancient Rome) is before Waterloo (Napoleonic), before Zulu (Colonial) and Saving Private Ryan (World War 2). Sci-fi is arranged similarly e.g. have the three Predator movies, then the AVPs, followed by Prometheus then Aliens Quadrilogy (yes I know that Predators should be AFTER AVP, but just seems to flow more smoothly in my head the other way). Doctor Who is in order from classic stories onwards.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I ignore the "A" or "The" and sort movies alphabetically, not separated by genre. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is in with the H's.

The Hobbit/LOTR sets have their own shelves along with the collectable figures, and the Rankin Bass movies are over there too.

The 1978 BSG movie is with the BSG & nuBSG sets.

I keep some Roger Corman movies together on the Sci-Fi TV shelves.

Serenity is with the Firefly set, Peacekeeper Wars is with the Farscape sets.

1 shelving unit is Sci-Fi TV, 1 unit is regular TV, 1 unit is movies. Each shelving unit is 4 or 5 shelves worth of DVD's and blu-rays.

 

[John Clark]

Our DVD collection is so large that I had to come up with my own system that separates by SOME genres, because it proved impossible to store all our DVDs in less than three rooms.

"Television Series" Has a set of shelves, but "British Mystery/Drama TV" and "Major Science Fiction Television/Film Series" have separate shelves, except "Just Doctor Who" has its own couple of shelves.

"Animated Family Movies," "Christmas Films," "Other Family Films," and "Musicals" all have their own separate shelves, as does "Animated Films Not Suitable For Small Children." But we also have shelves for (because J demanded them) Joss Whedon productions, and "Movies and TV Shows Ron Perlman Stars In."

In hindsight, it's actually a completely insane organization that probably only makes sense to us. If I had a bigger house with sufficient shelving, I would trash the whole system and start over. And I really probably should get the whole collection insured.

Yeah, that sounds kind of familiar with regards spacing and numbers

 

[MacLeod]

Split into film and TV then mostly alphabetical, unless it's a sequel i.e

X-Men FC, X-Men: DOFP, X-Men: Apocalypse.

 

[jaz'a]

My collection is split into Movies, TV and music. Within each one I do via alphabetical order. I assume I ignore A, An and The.

I rarely add to it any more. I can't recall when I last purchased a physical copy of anything and will only purchase a digital copy when renting isn't an option.

 

[{ Emilia }]

I don't sort them. I also hide them away from vistors' views because I think that shelves full of DVD/bluray cases look horribly busy and messy from an interior design point of view.

Lots of colorful plastic, ugh.
Not a fan, not my style.

 

[BillJ]

I keep mine in a pile on the floor. Except Star Trek.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I keep mine in a pile on the floor. Except Star Trek.

The Star Trek are in a pile on the couch?

 

[MacLeod]

I don't sort them. I also hide them away from vistors' views because I think that shelves full of DVD/bluray cases look horribly busy and messy from an interior design point of view.


Lots of colorful plastic, ugh.
Not a fan, not my style.

I temd to go for steelbook releases rather than the plastic cases.

 

[{ Emilia }]

I temd to go for steelbook releases rather than the plastic cases.

I'd still hide them away from view which means spending extra money on fancy cases would just seem incredibly silly to me personally.
I care about the movies, not the packaging.

 

[Velocity]

I just slap them on the shelf in no special order except that series/seasons are together.

 

[suarezguy]

I pretty much organize by original release date (the best system, of course ) but I also think of titles that start with a number as equivalent to the letter they would start with if it was spelled out.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Our DVD collection is so large that I had to come up with my own system that separates by SOME genres, because it proved impossible to store all our DVDs in less than three rooms.
...
In hindsight, it's actually a completely insane organization that probably only makes sense to us. If I had a bigger house with sufficient shelving, I would trash the whole system and start over. And I really probably should get the whole collection insured.

How about ripping the collection to hard disk and putting the originals in storage? If you use KODI to organise the rips, it'll even provide jacket images and information about each movie or TV show.

I buy far fewer discs nowadays as most recent films are available by streaming (legally). I've been able to donate many discs to charity shops as I would probably never watch them again and I could probably rent online should I felt the urge. The only discs that I really feel I need to own are my TOS Blu-rays and Futurama and Babylon 5 DVDs.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I don't alphabetize; I group roughly by genre and have multiple CD albums with eight sleeves per page. It's better for space but a pain if you're looking for a specific movie and aren't exactly sure where it is. That's why I have seperate albums for classics, science fiction, and Favorites.

 

[Timewalker]

I don't sort them. I also hide them away from vistors' views because I think that shelves full of DVD/bluray cases look horribly busy and messy from an interior design point of view.

I have to say that the OP's DVD dilemma is more in keeping with my book dilemma. I started collecting science fiction books in November 1975 (first two I acquired were Star Trek 4 and 6; still have them safely on my very large Star Trek shelf in the living room). I branched out into collecting fantasy in 1985, after a friend got me addicted to the Dragonlance series (now that series needs a whole big bookshelf all by itself).

Some time back a couple of people decided to help organize my books, and decided that everything with a yellow spine should go together because it "looked better." They were flabbergasted when I told them I would have to redo that because they'd mixed up authors, series, and genres, and some series aren't published by the same company. Just because a book has a yellow DAW spine, that doesn't mean it's got anything in common with another book with a yellow DAW spine. And when I tried explaining how I organized the Star Trek stuff, their eyes glazed over. Not sure why; organizing by genre, author/series, novel/anthology, edition, etc. seems pretty straightforward to me.

As for DVDs, thank goodness I don't have so many of them that I can't just glance at the shelves to have a look. Star Trek isn't a problem because I don't own any Star Trek DVDs - just two or three VHS tapes plus some audio versions of a few novels, and an 8-track recording of one of William Shatner's convention appearances (wasn't able to take the 8-track player with me when I moved, so I can't listen to it anymore ). And there are no worries about Star Wars; I have the VHS set that came out before Lucas started "improving" them. That's good enough.

I have a Library Thing membership for keeping track of books (haven't updated it in quite awhile); I'll have to see if it could be used to catalogue DVDs as well...


As for displaying books/DVDs so people can see them? I don't care if other people like it. I'm the one who lives here, so things are organized to please me. If visitors don't like it, they have my permission not to look.

But in my experience, most people see the various SF/F/gaming stuff and tend to have a "gosh, you sure have a lot of books/movies, have you read/seen all of them?" reaction.

Nope. Not by a long shot. If I were to read a book a day of everything I haven't read so far, I would have at least 3 years' worth of reading before running out... assuming I never bought anything else in the meantime, and assuming I could actually get through some of those really long books in a single day.

As for the DVDs, I've probably seen most of what's in my collection. I don't tend to buy programs or movies unless i already know I like them.

Displaying stuff can result in interesting conversations, as occasionally happened when I used to have a couple of home-based businesses. Things got odd sometimes, though. My grandmother was upset at me displaying my D&D books ("what will your customers THINK?!"). It never occurred to her that her carved, shrunken heads might be a wee bit disturbing to people who didn't know she was a dollmaker... I just explained to my customer that my grandmother was a headhunter, smiled nicely, and got on with the reason they'd originally come over.

 

[{ Emilia }]

I have to say that the OP's DVD dilemma is more in keeping with my book dilemma.

I can relate to that much more than I can to the DVD dilemma. They're mostly organized by genre, although I take much more care with the books that really mean something to me than with others. I've mostly switched from "dead wood books" to ebooks in recent years, though, mostly for space saving reasons. I've even re-bought some of my traditional books as ebooks because I'm more likely to pick them up again in digital form. I like to read in bed and since I don't want to disturb the s.o.'s sleep, I prefer using the backlit ebook reader over a bigger light and traditional book.

(Side note: I'm so glad people are mostly over the "book vs ebook" rant stage. That was so tiring. As long as people read, it doesn't really matter what form they prefer. Whatever works for them is fine.)

As for displaying books/DVDs so people can see them? I don't care if other people like it. I'm the one who lives here, so things are organized to please me. If visitors don't like it, they have my permission not to look.

Like I said I personally don't like the look of shelves full of DVD/BD cases. I think they just look messy and cheap with all that colorful plastic. That's why I hide them from my view (and visitors' views).
It's certainly mostly about me, not about others.

I don't hide my books, although admittedly they're all in my office/library, where only few people other than me go.

 

[Timewalker]

I can relate to that much more than I can to the DVD dilemma. They're mostly organized by genre, although I take much more care with the books that really mean something to me than with others. I've mostly switched from "dead wood books" to ebooks in recent years, though, mostly for space saving reasons. I've even re-bought some of my traditional books as ebooks because I'm more likely to pick them up again in digital form. I like to read in bed and since I don't want to disturb the s.o.'s sleep, I prefer using the backlit ebook reader over a bigger light and traditional book.

(Side note: I'm so glad people are mostly over the "book vs ebook" rant stage. That was so tiring. As long as people read, it doesn't really matter what form they prefer. Whatever works for them is fine.)

People keep telling me to switch from physical books to ebooks. Well, the facts are that:

1. I can't afford to replace them, especially the reference ones;

2. Some of them are definitely not the sort of thing that's available as an ebook (Star Trek, Highlander, and Robin of Sherwood fanzines? Not gonna find those on Kindle!).

3. I do have a Kindle and have downloaded some novels and stories, and a few of them are so poorly formatted and so chock full of typos and other errors that I have to wonder WTF happened, as I'm sure the original books/stories didn't have those mistakes.

4. I've been around books all my life. Even when I was a little kid, my night time companions were the requisite teddy bears... plus several children's books, and my mother's old school atlas. At first, of course, I could only look at the pictures. But after I learned to read, I still had books with me. And that old atlas gave me a lifelong interest in maps; it's one of the reasons I ended minoring in physical/cultural geography in college, and why my primary online hangout is a forum for people who play the Sid Meier Civilization games (just started a new game last night). The atlas itself is old and worn out (it's over 60 years old, after all) and the world has changed; my interest in maps and geography has continued.

5. I worked in a library for awhile (pre-internet times). So that's an environment in which one is literally surrounded by physical books, and to me it's relaxing. I like to be able to see and touch them. And in some cases, even smell them... one thing I noticed about the Penguin books I used to order from the UK (Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, a not-even-slightly guilty pleasure for over 30 years) was how pleasant the paper smelled. You can't get that from the Kindle version.

6. Physical books are not apt to get accidentally wiped from an e-reader, or lost if the e-reader is broken or stolen. Books don't need batteries, and there's this huge light source up in the sky that gives me all the light I need, for free (so far; some government will try to figure a way to tax sunlight some day).

Do they take up a lot of room? Oh, yeah. I really need a third bedroom in this place, to accommodate the books I don't have room for right now (have been starting to winnow the collection down some). There are books in every room except the kitchen, cats' room, and bathroom. And it does mean a lot of work when moving. But when I'm in a room with a lot of books I just feel more relaxed.

Like I said I personally don't like the look of shelves full of DVD/BD cases. I think they just look messy and cheap with all that colorful plastic. That's why I hide them from my view (and visitors' views).
It's certainly mostly about me, not about others.

I like looking at my DVD collection, but then I organized them first by genre (mostly), and then by visual appeal. My collection isn't really that big, compared to many other people's collections. I tend to get the series and movies I enjoyed when they were on TV or that I like to rewatch more than a few times. For some reason, Star Trek isn't one of the series I've collected, but maybe some day... I cut back on collecting Star Trek novels because I'm running out of room for them.

One thing about collections that I've felt is that if a person is going to go to the time, effort, and expense, why not let people see it? I understand your point about colorful plastic, and the fact is that my own DVD collection is in a room where most people are unlikely to go. One reason for this is because visitors used to stare at my VHS collection and one of the common things said was "Can I borrow ______?"

Nope. I learned my lesson about lending out books and tapes. Some people are good about returning borrowed stuff, but others... aren't, and don't give a damn about hurt feelings or the fact that they may have run off with something not easily replaceable. I'm still looking for a replacement for a gamebook that somebody ran off with 25 years ago.

I don't hide my books, although admittedly they're all in my office/library, where only few people other than me go.

I would need a very, very large office/library for my books to fit into the same room. I don't even own a couch or dining table; I needed the space for extra bookshelves.

One never knows when letting visitors see the books/SF collection can have an unexpected good result. We have annual inspections in the apartment building I live in, and one of the times was when a new manager had just been hired. I was waiting, wondering if she would be a more easygoing sort than the last one, who tended to find fault for the nitpickiest reasons. The manager got here, took one look at my Doctor Who books and DVDs, and said, "Oh, good - my boyfriend is into Doctor Who and I don't understand half of what he's talking about, so now if I have any questions I can just ask you!". The inspection went very well after that, with no problems at all.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Films sit best in natural order, alphabetical, first on the bottom. Trust me.

Spoiler: /

Star Wars: Rogue One
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars: Phantom Menace, The
Star Wars: New Hope, A
Star Wars: Force Awakens, The
Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back, The
Star Wars: Attack of Clones, The
Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, The
Star Trek: Voyage Home, The
Star Trek: Undiscovered Country, The
Star Trek: Search for Spock, The
Star Trek: One With Spock's Brother, The
Star Trek Nemesis
Star Trek: Motion Picture, The
Star Trek Into Darkness
Star Trek Insurrection
Star Trek Generations
Star Trek Beyond
Star Trek
Lord of the Rings, The: Two Towers, The
Lord of the Rings, The: Fellowship of the Ring, The
Lord of the Rings, The: Return of King, The, The

 

[BillJ]

Books I buy non-ficton and comics as hard copies, fiction I buy digital.