Atlantic Oskar - Media storage DVD, CD

This was "Merry Christmas" to me in 2008. I have huge DVD Collections from TV Series and/or movies I like. It was getting to where I had no place to store them so I bought this unit. It is still standing in my living room, completely full of my movie DVD's with more piled on top. This is the best unit I ever had and now have to get another one since I filled this one up. Took under a 1/2 hour to put together. Now if they only had one that would hang over a door, I'd get a few of them too. Not everyone has cable T.V. (I'm one of the few who still have rabbit ears and 6 channels) so I prefer to collect DVD's and watch shows I like, whenever I like. This DVD unit fits my life style. Will definitely buy another one. Excellent value for the price and not a cheap piece of furniture. My DVD storage unit still looks like new and it's going on 4 years old.

The shelf was not that hard to put together. Only had trouble with one part and that was the bolt you put inside to lock it to the screw. It would not completely lock and kept slipping out. But once you turned it upright gravity took over and held it in place, plus the weight of the DVD's that I put on the shelf helped as well. Overall a nice media shelf.

Except for the poor packaging (thin styrofoam got crushed inside the box, which allowed the corner of one side board to arrive slightly crunched), it is just what I expected, based on the one I already have. Luckily, the crunched corner is toward the back and can be hidden against the wall. The basic price is great - ~$35. However, Walmart.com indicated the cabinet was not eligible for Site-to-Store free shipping, so I had to add MORE THAN HALF the price of the cabinet to have it shipped to my home.

Although the Atlantic Oskar Storage System looks very nice on display in a picture, when you begin putting the pieces together, you very quickly realize why it didn't cost very much. I found that many items need a higher level of quality control. To name a few, the parts don't line up correctly from top to bottom, the seams are zig-zagged. I tried to line up the parts, but the pre-drilled holes made it impossible. Also, the fiberboard will not withstand a heavy hand when tightening screws. One of the plastic inserts became stripped. The screw heads wont hold up under tightening and loosening. I found that it was easier to replace the screws that came with the unit then to fight with the sub-grade material. Several of the heads broke off without any effort. The directions to assemble the Storage System also need some help. Since the base is 1" wider then the storage system, caution needs to be used when attaching the back panel. The directions direct the builder to turn the unit over to attach the back panel. When this happens, it bends the unit apart at the middle connection stripping the screws. Before turning the unit over, a 1" support needs to be placed down so that the unit can be laid flat during the rear panel attachment and not bend. (I placed a 1" block under the top board to maintain a level working surface.)

The hardware came nicely packaged and clearly labeled in a blister pack rather than little plastic bags, which was a welcome change for this type of product. The instructions, however, were not entirely clear. It would have been more helpful if the diagrams included labels such as "finished side up" or "finished side down." My husband and I made several false starts because of that, but even so, we got the thing put together and mounted on the wall in about an hour. If it's sitting on carpet, MAKE SURE you mount it to the wall, because otherwise it will tip over far too easily and spill everything.