How dangerous is it to buy more than you can watch? (1 Viewer)

[DonRoeber]

I was buying things because they were a good deal, even if I wasn't necessarily interested in the movie. To help keep my collection under control, I do my best to limit myself to one DVD per week. Some weeks I don't get any, some weeks, like this past week, I get a half dozen. By the end of the year, I'm sure I'll have purchased more than 52 DVDs, but it won't be a whole lot more.

I also just signed up for Netflix, which is great for checking out foreign and anime films that I want to watch, but are expensive and I may not like 'em.

 

[Matt Pasant]

I still think of everything in terms of laserdisc prices- anything under $15 is "Free" as far as I'm concerned! I've got over 100 DVDs I haven't watched yet, as well as about 100 LDs bought at clearance prices the last couple years.

How true... It still cracks me up when someone complains on having to spend $25 for a 3 disc SE.

-- MAtt

 

[Paul D G]

I feel my purchasing is slightly, just slightly out of control and I do my best to keep it controlled. I don't buy movies just to buy them, but only movies that I happen to like. I don't always watch them. In fact I don't have the time to watch them, period. There are movies I've been itching to watch for months and months that I don't have the time to get to (specifically I'm thinking of Das Boot but there are others).

I've bought movies that I've thought in the past "I'd like to get that" but didn't due to the price, because they were on sale (2001 and Shining in Best Buy's 2x$20 deal). I'm not getting to these any time soon.

Honestly, I've always wanted to collect favorite movies but I didn't think the videotape format was good enough. There were a number of movies I've wanted but didn't buy because I didn't think videotape did them justice, and laserdisc was out of my reach. But now there's an affordable format and I have the income to buy what I want so I do.

And it's nice to think when my 15 month old gets older I can pull out a movie like 2001 or the Shining and watch them with him.

-paul

 

[Rob T]

Any disc I buy I try to watch it within a week

Same here. Although I may only buy like 1 in a month sometimes or other times it could amount to 4 or 5.
I think the longest time that elapsed before I finally managed to find some time to watch a new one was 2 weeks but that's only becuase of exams.

Looking at what's coming in the next few months, I'll need more money than time. I got plenty of time.

 

[Britton]

TV on DVD is what is killing my time. I just got the first 3 seasons of DS9 on ebay and Buffy Season 4 is on the way as well. A lot of people ask me why I buy TV shows when I can just watch them anytime on TV. It gets on my nerves because the way they act, you would think I was spending their money to buy my DVDs. I let them know what with TV on DVD, I can watch the episodes I want to see anytime. It's not all the time that I can catch Season 2 of Buffy or an episode of Twin Peaks.

So far I've managed to keep up with my purchases. Everyone is astonished when they see my 310+ DVD collection, but I always smile to myself since I know I'm a relative minor leaguer. Here's to all of you who have piles and piles of unopened DVDs you haven't gotten around to watching!!!

 

[Joshua_Y]

You guys have over 100 discs that you have not even watched...man thats just a waste...give em to people who are gonna watch em...and Ron...you have 1,000...tsk tsk...

 

[Dharmesh C]

Upon delivery of a disc, I usually unseal it and make sure the discs are there. If the DVD is a digi-pack then I always keep the outer box in the seal to keep it mint as possible. I like to keep my Amarays in seals...sad :b

 

[Ronald Epstein]

My excuse for having so many unwatched DVDs is
simply that I consider myself a collector.

There are those that collect stamps, coins,
books and figurines. Me? I collect movies.
I have always been a collector of films. In
the 70s I had a sizeable 8mm film collection.
In the 80s I had 5,000 VHS movies. In the 90s
I had a large laserdisc library.

It may sound silly that I may never watch
everything I have obtained in my library (and
scarier to think I may be replacing them with
the next format), but this is what I enjoy
spending my money on, so be it.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

My Amount of unwatched DVD's has certainly grown of late. Of course it does'nt help that I'm watching the Red Sox in the summer alot, and I do follow some TV Series so that eats up time. I find the thing that has really killed alot of my Movie watching time is the advent of all these TV Box Sets. I Find these are taking up more and more of my viewing time. Right now I probably have about 50-60 unwatched DVD's and I do feel bad having them on my shelf and unwatched. I will get to them and at least I always have something to view.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Ron,

I share your sentiments. I'm a collector too. Some people collect china that sits in their closet and never gets used (well I do that too but at least I use it). What's so wrong with collecting something if it's one hobby and passion? What better than movies?

i just picked up the LOTR:EE last week for $20.
this would have easily ben a $125-150 LD set.
how can you think twice about dropping $20, even if you won't pull it out and watch it for a while?
$15? i could barely buy bare-bones used LDs for that price back in the day.

I hear you loud and clear. In fact...I almost say that to my self every time I see some wonderful SE on DVD for $20 that I knew would have tempted me to spend $100 in my laserdisc days.

Those of us who fell victim to those high-priced 12" platters come to DVD with a very different perspective. 16x9 anamorphic component video with 5.1 sound and tons of extras...and you only want to charge me a fraction of what I would have spent on the LD box set? Cha-Ching!

 

[Malcolm R]

Oh c'mon. We all know how that's gonna end. You may as well spend your time watching DVD's.

My collection is approaching 400. I'd say about half are unwatched (rough guess).

Heck, I think I still have a few laserdiscs that are still factory sealed. :b

 

[Craig S]

I'm a collector as well, with probably as many titles as Ron. However, I don't leave them in the shrink wrap. Whenever I get a batch of new titles, pull them out and load them up in the changer. I then go through and make sure all discs are playable, check out transfers, etc. It's kind of become a Tuesday night ritual (last night's session, with 5 2-disc sets, was a marathon). This way I am reasonably sure I don't have any duds lying in wait for me.

The best "defense" I've ever read of having a large movie collection was written by Douglas Pratt as part of the intro to the 1992 version of his book THE LASER VIDEO DISC COMPANION. HTF's own RAF has this posted on his web site - I'm sure he won't mind me (once again) pointing interested parties to it:

Link Removed

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I'm a collector too, and you know what? In the long run those unwatched discs will eventually get watched. I have had Liquid Sky sitting around and I know I'll watch it, but haven't gotten to it yet. But if I wanted to watch it now and hadn't bought it when it came out, it'd cost me fifty bucks or more on eBay. Things go in and out of print so fast that you really need to buy it when you see it....you snooze, you lose (Can you say Salo?). If Warner gets its way and VOD is the next step instead of HD-DVD, then DVD may be the last good ownership format for movies. So I intend to own the ones I want to own. All of them

 

[Frank@N]

This raises the interesting topic of 'dud detection'.

Problem is, all the duds I've encounter were of the sneaky type.

I had a new copy of Galaxy Quest that would go berserk during the rock monster fight.

A used copy of Titan A.E dropped out of play late in the movie due to 'unable to read disc'. Tried to clean, no help.

A used copy of Basic Instinct had video corruption and skipping late in the movie (but would keep playing). Tried to clean, no help.

Probably the most annoying thing is taking the movie back for exchange and then having to watch it all over again to see if it works.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Yeah I'm sure you're right in regards with the Sox. You cannot win without Pitching. I'm slowly weening myself off more games but its like a train wreck just can't pull my eyes away !

 

[DarrinH]

HOLY CRAP RON!
1500 DVD's!!!
Do you have any pictures of your storage?

 

[Frank@N]

When it come to DVD ownership, I've noticed that there are a number of consumer mentalities or strategies:

====

Some people only have 50 essential movies they wish to own.

In my case, that number is probably closer to 500 at least.

IMHO, if a collection isn't sufficiently diverse; there isn't much point to having one. More often than not, you'll wind up doing something else. Not much of a hobby.

I have to admit, I'm totally ignorant of low cost/'watch it when you want' rental approaches like NetFlix.

Even since the Divx debacle, I've opted for straight-on ownership and never looked back (no destructing DVD's wanted here).

====

Some people restrict their purchases base on fear/knowledge that another/better format will be coming.

In my case, HD is almost a non-issue. I don't really care.

If you control your screen size and stick to enhanced transfers, DVD is incredibly watchable.

My guess (possibly wrong) is that HD-DVD will arrive and resume the same old LD price structure ($30-40 per movie).

Since DVD will still be around, I can only imagine that HD-DVD will assume the higher price point.

I'm buying DVD because I plan on skipping HD.

I won't go back to high prices; particularly due to the number of movies I'd like to own.

For me, quantity is more important that absolute quality.

 

[Jan Strnad]

I've beaten down my collector instinct and, for the most part, ground it into dust. I've had two sizeable comic book collections (sold both) and a collection of VHS tapes (mostly sold). I collected laser discs for a time (also, most have been sold). I have 2.5 small shelves of DVDs, and I try to limit my purchases to my core enthusiasm, 1950s s-f and horror movies. A few others slip in. Most of the time, I rent.

I feel incredibly unburdened.

Gabriel Zaid (a Mexican essayist) wrote, about private book libraries, "a book not read is a project uncompleted." Every unviewed DVD would weigh (to some small degree) on my mind like the chip in the wall that needs painting, like knowing that it's been too long between oil changes, or like a smelly dog that should have been bathed two weeks ago.

I don't want more obligations, I want fewer. I don't want more stuff that means a little bit to me, I want less stuff that means more to me.

For me, mere acquisition does not bring happiness. There's always more to want, the longing is never satisfied. And every item carries with it the need to inspect it, to store it, to protect it, to insure against its loss, and, in the case of DVDs, the implicit obligation to one day watch it. That's a lot of baggage that I don't want in my life.

I'm a long way from Gandhi's level of non-materialism. (I believe he died owning a bowl, a spoon and a chair.) I love my gadgets, I love my books, I love my DVDs. But I'm no longer compelled to collect and collect and collect for the sake of collecting. I feel that I have a better life, free of the obsession.

YMMV, of course!

Jan

 

[Magnus Nord]

I would defend massowning dvd's to anyone who would complain about it in a second.

I only own about 29 DVD's, well 3 are box-sets but im doing my best to buy the favourites. Im only 21 and have a long life ahead of me to buy a increasing scale of DVD's in.. I have seen all my DVD's, i think ive seen blade runner 10 times on this copy alone.

So have a nice time fellas, and keep racking them dvd's up!.

 

[Jamie Cole]

this is what I enjoy spending my money on, so be it.

YES!!! Exactly!

Sometimes I really tire of defending my hobby. With my wife, it's been fairly easy. I ask her to think of all the things I could be spending money on. I have friends that GOLF and FISH... now THOSE are expensive (have you seen the price of greens fees lately?). Or how about cigs or even worse addictions? This doesn't affect my health (I DO go to the gym, in the mornings before work, and try to reserve certain nights during the week for movie-watching.)

The real effect my collection and home theater has had on our lives is that we watch MUCH less TV (probably good) and rarely go out to the movies (DEFINITELY good... I can own just about any movie I want for the price of two adult admissions). I get to watch a DVD whenever I want, I have a screen big enough to satisfy the movie-watching experience, and I am more and more a homebody anyway.

I buy it if I think I'll want to watch it more than once or twice. I buy it if its special to me for some reason. I buy it if one of my favorite directors or writers was involved with it (particular weaknesses for Stephen King and Brian De Palma). Netflix helps me get the stuff I'm on the fence about, watch it, and decide if I want to buy it, particularly for touted new releases I'm not sure about. For my ~$20 a month, Netflix is the best thing to happen to HT owners since the advent of the DVD technology. That, and new release Tuesday at Best Buy.

The wife and I LOVE to go out for a nice dinner and come home to our home theater. It's long been a dream of mine, and like Ron, it's what I WANT to spend my "hobby" money on, and that's what counts.