Homemade Lexx DVD Season Sets
quote:
Originally posted by tripps:
[QB]The spindles in the Amarays are ultra-breakable. I’ve gotten countless discs in the mail with snapped spindles and free-floating, scratched-up discs. Let an Amaray slip from you fingers and hit the floor and you might have the same problem. If you do it properly (squeeze, tilt, lift), you can pop out a disc in an Alpha case with little stress… and the spindles never break. Of course, all of this is utterly moot: no one other than Alpha makes 4, 5, and 6-disc cases.
What the heck are you talking about? You’ve got to be thinking of some other brand. There are no “spindles” on Amaray cases. There are two very thick clip-like pieces of plastic that hold the disc in place and keep it totally secure. If that’s what you’re talking about, then that is called the hub. And they are [b]anything[/b] but easily breakable. There’s no way the disc would fall free inside the case like you claim. It’s physically not possible. (As I type this I’m tossing my Amaray incased copy of [i]I Worship His Shadow[/i] around the room, juggling it, whoops I dropped it on the rug, I open up the case, and the disc is still secure in it’s proper place.) The only way to free it is by simply pushing in the center and it pops free [b]without touching the disc at all[/b]. There’s no “squeeze, tilt, lift” at all. One effortless button-like action and you can pick up the disc by the edges. No other brand of DVD case does this. All of the others are similar in design and concept as the Alpha cases.
I’m looking at an Alpha case in my hands right now. In the center there is a hub that you have to firmly pinch in order to release the disc. Sure the Alpha cases keep it in place. But try prying the disc out. You have to pinch the hub while trying to pull the disc out at the same time. Let me repeat, you have to pinch the hub with one hand while pulling the disc out with the other. If you don’t pinch it just right, you might risk bending the disc which a very bad idea. Imaging doing this dozens upon dozens of times over the course of the DVD’s lifetime. With Alpha cases, you have to have the ability to pinch that center hub with strong fingertips. With Amaray, the elderly and others with severe arthritis would not have any trouble.
With Amaray cases, you don’t have any problem holding the disc in place or removing. I spent a very long time researching this subject. I had to decide which type of case I was going to purchase for my father’s video DVD productions. I concluded that the Amaray’s were the best.
I don’t know where you got the idea that the Amaray hubs are “ultra-breakable.” I’ve [b]never[/b] had one break. And I’ve used hundreds of them for years. The design is the simplest in form. And with minimal amount of stress placed on the plastic material.
Look, Alpha case hubs are sturdy. They keep the discs in place. But I wince each time I have to pry a disc out of it’s clutches. And I’ve bought DVDs in the store or received DVDs in the mail and I’ve faced the same grief as you described. Discs rattling around loose inside the case. (I’m looking at one right now. It says “MDV Packaging.” It has three things in it’s hub you have to pinch before you can pry the disc out of the case. The Alpha only has two and is designed better.) None of the faulty cases were ever Amaray cases. Nor were they Alpha cases either. The problem I have with Alphas is that you have to risk bending the disc each time you remove it from the case. With Amaray, there is absolutely no risk of bending the disk.
I can see why you are attracted to designing covers for cases that accomidate that many discs. But just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it should be done. It is not “utterly moot,” as you blithely put it. There are things to consider. The most important of which is the safety of your discs.
It doesn’t matter if Trekkers did it with their DVD collections. I say that they foolishly put their discs at risk. I want no part of a plan to do the same with [i]Lexx[/i] DVD collections and you can design these Alpha covers yourself. I will actively discourage people from buying into your plan.
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