# Blu-ray and games storage?



## jmy2469

Now that my blu-ray and games collection is growing, I am running out of space in my television stand to place them,not to mention, it is starting to look bad with everything just thrown under there. Wanted to see what some people are using for storage? It's time for me to buy a rack or a cabinet to place all of my things in. Thanks for the help.


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## gorb

I have one of these. It's okay. I need something bigger though.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/PREPAC+...4082587&skuId=5368942&st=dvd shelf&cp=1&lp=11


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## KalaniP

There was a thread a couple months ago on this, some guy here recommended the Ikea BESTÅ shelf unit, which you can get with or without doors to conceal the contents. Pure genius. Holds a ton of discs. (well, I think I've crammed about 600 or so into the two we bought)

My wife hates looking at the cases, so we got it with doors. Not going to last forever (it's from Ikea after all), but looks quite nice for the price! Add a couple extra shelves ($5 each) and it's perfect for DVDs and Blu rays. I just got it a few weeks ago so I don't think I have any photos yet...


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## Mopar_Mudder

Home Theater PC. Then take all the DVD and BluRays and stick in a box, hide them in the basement and you will never look for them again 

And it is probably just a cheap to build a HTPC and Server as it is to get a quality cabinet to stove DVD's in.


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## KalaniP

Mopar_Mudder said:


> Home Theater PC. Then take all the DVD and BluRays and stick in a box, hide them in the basement and you will never look for them again
> 
> And it is probably just a cheap to build a HTPC and Server as it is to get a quality cabinet to stove DVD's in.


An HTPC may be relatively cheap to build (although a good one under $200... the price for a storage system that will hold quite a lot of DVDs and BRs, is not a certain proposition), but enough hard drives to store several 500 DVDs and over 100 BRs is NOT going to be cheap, nor is the many hours of tweaking, ripping, and possibly encoding all those discs trivial.


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## Mopar_Mudder

KalaniP said:


> An HTPC may be relatively cheap to build (although a good one under $200... the price for a storage system that will hold quite a lot of DVDs and BRs, is not a certain proposition), but enough hard drives to store several 500 DVDs and over 100 BRs is NOT going to be cheap, nor is the many hours of tweaking, ripping, and possibly encoding all those discs trivial.


But you only have to do it once. Once the sytem is setup it is pretty much zero maintainance and make for a great eye candy when searching your movies. You are correct that storage can add up if you are starting with alot of movies. But the original post doesn't say exactly how many he has, with that info we could figure out what size server it takes.

For instance I have 502 (DVD and BluRay) movies and 72 seasons of TV shows on 8tb of storage.


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## Zeitgeist

I built a shelf that's very very wide, something like 4+ feet, and then 4 shelves each a little taller than a DVD... Can hold 300 or so.

I probably could have built it less deep though.


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## typ44q

If you are looking for something inexpensive this is not bad http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sauder-O-Sullivan-Multimedia-Storage-Tower-Cinnamon-Cherry/13044874?findingMethod=rr 
As soon as the price of hard drives drop back down I will be building a new HTPC with enough storage for my entire blu-ray collection then putting the disks in boxes


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## Bullitt5094

BRD Changer? Just an alternative to HT PC building/ripping. Most of the convenience, much less work, about the same price. Just a though...


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## typ44q

The changers are nice but if you have a very large collection a HTPC becomes cheaper, plus you have the option of removing the annoying trailers and warnings before the movie starts


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## Bullitt5094

typ44q said:


> The changers are nice but if you have a very large collection a HTPC becomes cheaper, plus you have the option of removing the annoying trailers and warnings before the movie starts


That's a good point on the trailers/warnings. I'm really on the fence on this. Too bad hard drive prices are so high right now. I think I may just use my PS3 for a bit longer unit the HD prices come down some.


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## Mopar_Mudder

That is one of my favorite parts of the HTPC. When I play a movie it is instant movie, no trialers or menus to deal with. Well not totally true, I do downlaod all current up comping movie trailers and it auto plays two random ones before the movie.


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## ls1_sounds

You guys are making me want to build a HTPC! I haven't looked into it for a while, but previously wanted to set something up for streaming from our den PC into the living room HT, through a PS3. A dedicated HTPC would be much better Im sure. Are HDD prices coming down yet?


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## typ44q

Mopar_Mudder said:


> That is one of my favorite parts of the HTPC. When I play a movie it is instant movie, no trialers or menus to deal with. Well not totally true, I do downlaod all current up comping movie trailers and it auto plays two random ones before the movie.


What software are you running on your HTPC and is the storage part of it or is it remote? I would like to have all the media on a NAS then be able to access it from different HTPC in my house



ls1_sounds said:


> You guys are making me want to build a HTPC! I haven't looked into it for a while, but previously wanted to set something up for streaming from our den PC into the living room HT, through a PS3. A dedicated HTPC would be much better Im sure. Are HDD prices coming down yet?


From what I have been reading, HDD prices are not expected to come back down to pre flood prices until the end of 2012


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## Mopar_Mudder

All of my media is stored on a server running UnRaid. It can be accessed from any of the PC's on my network.

To get what they call the Meta Data (cover arts, backdrops, movie info, ect) for all my movies I use a program called MetaBrowser, it goes out and downloads and saves all the meta data iin the movie folder. MetaBrowser also has a nice little feature that automaticly checks for and download new movie trailers for you. I run MetaBrowser on my normal desk top so as not to have anything extra installed on the HTPC.

On the HTPC I use Media Browser which runs inside of WMC. It is what you use to surf through all of your movies and pick what to play. Media Browser has a plug in called MBIntros that I also use, it can do alot of cool things before your movie starts, this is what I have it doing.

1) Plays a custom intro video with the name of our theater
2) Plays a custom intro says "coming soon"
3) Plays two trailers that were downloaded my MetaBrowser
4) Plays a custom intro says "From our Collection"
5) Plays a trailer from a random movie that we have
6) Plays a intro for "Featured Presention" also this is different intro based on aspect ratio. it shows the aspect ration in the lower corner so I know what to adjust my masking to
7) Plays either a DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD into based on what format the movie is in

It makes a pretty cool set-up before your movie.


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## typ44q

WOW that media browser software looks great! exactly what I was looking for. hmm I really need to start looking into this. How do you control the system?


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## Mopar_Mudder

Just a harmony remote and IR receiver on the HTPC. You can buy a cheap Windows Media Center remote that comes with the IR receiver, then you can use the windows remote if you don't have something programable.


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