Help on cataloging ideas

I need some suggestions......I have 550 DVD's now. I only count a set (ie. Dr Quinn season 1) as a 1, so actual physical disks is probably heading over 800. With that many boxes to look at to decide, it is a problem to find a specific one, unless you get luck and find it early.


I first thought about just plain alphabetical, then have thought about trying to do something like the video rental by breaking it into categories then alphabetical. But with kids, they never put the back in the right spot. One would think that by the time they get to middle school, let alone college, they would know the alphabet, but that is obviously asking too much.


I thougt about ripping to a computer drive, but to keep the quality and load the bonus material, etc., I would have to have an array of drives that would rival AOL and cost that much. At a lower resolution, the picture is crappy. Daughters boyfriend show me his using XBox and did not like. Would like a visual menu with picture then make the selection and it play, but don't think that is available at a reasonable price yet.


Does anyone have any suggestions or experiences that I can learn from?


The kid part will probably just require a lock and key to solve.


Thanks in advance


Mickey