Is it still worth owning DVD's? (1 Viewer)

[MarkHastings]

Really? Hmmm.....

 

[Jon Martin]

So do what I do, hold on to the Netflix DVD until you get your own copy in the mail.

I agree that to rent from Blockbuster isn't worth it. To pay $5 a rental (when many DVDs can be BOUGHT for less than that) and all the driving, time limits and all that is very annoying.

But Netflix, I look at as a sort of DVD preview service. I get 20 DVDs a month, that I would never buy blind, and if I like something, I can buy it. If not, I pay for my monthly subscription with one bad rental that I would have bought otherwise. I've literally saved thousands of dollars since joining them.

 

[Ricardo C]

My point is, why not have our cake and eat it too?

With HD DVD (and BluRay when it works out its kinks), we have source material that compares to 35mm film. HD-capable projectors are coming down in price. If one can supply the space, we CAN have a true theatrical experience at home. That's why I'm slowly abandoning DVD. It was the last obstacle in the quest for a perfect translation of the theatrical experience.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Mark, you know I like you, but I don't understand you at all.

So you return the rental and then swing by Best Buy or Circuit City and buy it, I don't get the dilemma.

 

[TravisR]

I rarely rent (since I see a fair amount of stuff in the theater so I know what I want and don't want) but the way that I look at it is that if I ended up liking the movie enough to buy it, it was the worth the 'extra' $5 that I spent to rent it.

Granted, it's easier for me to say that since I'm lucky if I rent half a dozen movies a year. If I was renting weekly and found myself buying everything that I rented, I'd probably have a different view.

 

[Thomas T]

Renting doesn't work for me because I'm an impulse watcher. Tonight, I will look at the titles on my shelves and pull out what catches my fancy, now, this minute.

If, for example, I ordered, say, Memoirs Of A Geisha from NetFlix because I wanted to see it, in the couple of days it takes for it to arrive, I may not be in the mood to see it, maybe I'll be in the mood to watch Sunset Boulevard instead so I pull Sunset off its shelf and watch that instead till the Geisha mood strikes me again but in the meantime I order Failure To Launch from NetFlix but when it arrives I'm not in a mood for a romantic comedy and want to watch The Birds instead so I pull The Birds off the shelf and watch that while Failure To Launch sits with the Geisha waiting to be watched meanwhile someone recommends The Squid And The Whale and it sounds good so I order from NetFlix but when it arrives ..... well, why go on, get the picture?

 

[george kaplan]

Rental as a way of seeing movies you've never seen before isn't a bad thing at all. On the other hand, renting movies you've seen and love on a pay-per-view basis, instead of owning them and watching them whenever you want without ever having to pay again for the privelege, is a different story altogether.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I think there's a pretty big difference in renting or buying a home or buying a DVD. For starters, you use your home every day, with a DVD in a sizeable collection it may be watched once or twice a year, if that. The edition that came out today will be supplanted later. There are very good arguments for renting, the biggest being net cost. You are paying for entertainment time, and unless you want a DVD enough times to equal or surpass the amount you would have spent renting it, you are behind financially. Obviously finances aren't the only consideration, but I know my collection could easily be halved or quartered with no real loss since there are way too many titles that were bought on the spur of the moment which really could have been done without. As rentals they would have been fine, but now they are taking up valuable room, and for many of them their resale value is next to nothing.

 

[RickER]

Its funny, i think about watching stuff i may not like, and i think life is to short. When i was 20 i would watch crap,might like it, might not. But now at 42 i think i dont have enough time left in my life to waste it on crap. But i still LOVE that crap from 30 years ago....Anyone for Shockwaves?! The old crap just holds up so much more, not to menton the memories of the time.
Yes i own Shockwaves, and i love it. It is MINE to watch when i want.

 

[MarkHastings]

I don't know...I just never liked the thought of renting something, then going out and buying it.

Who knows...maybe it's because I never was into movies until I got into DVD. DVD's have opened my eyes to movies I never would have watched before. The whole collecting a library of movies is just as thrilling as wacthing them. I keep all of my 'wacthed' DVD's in a separate rack and every now and then, I look at that rack and I'm amazed at the fact that I've seen more movies in the past 8 years, then I have my entire life.

So, for me, owning the DVD is almost like a sense of accomplishment. I'm just way too excited about DVD's to have to return them once I've seen them.

 

[John H Ross]

Yes. Sky Movies shows almost everything correct OAR across their 9 film channels. The remake of Flight Of The Phoenix was on last week in 2.31:1 aspect ratio. The only problem is that unless you have Sky+ you don't get 5.1 sound.

Then again I'd rather that than rent a DVD which is scratched and jams up every 20 minutes (which, according to my friends, is actually quite common).

John

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Wow this thread grew pretty quick in just the few days it's been in existence.

I have really cut back on my purchasing. I have many titles that I never get around to seeing, because I am watching new titles or shows from TV. Now I rent most titles and have gotten pretty picky about what I will consider buying. I have to really like the movie a lot, and be certain I'll want to see it again, (no room for buying a movie that I liked, but 1 viewing is all I'd ever care to see).

 

[TheLongshot]

Well, that's why you have a decent core of films on hand, so when you are in the mood for a particular type of film, you can watch that. Meanwhile, NetFlix can be used to supliment that with films you aren't quite sure you want to own.

For example, I had "Primer" sitting around a couple of weeks until I was ready to watch it. I also adjust my queue all the time based on what I want to see next.

As for going to the theaters, I'm not doing much of that now since I have a newborn son. Last film I saw in the theaters was "V For Vendetta", only because my wife was with a friend.

In the meantime, I can watch films in the comfort of my home on my 106" projection screen whenever I get a free moment. (Usually late at night when the little guy is asleep.)

Jason

 

[Paul Arnette]

Glad somebody else said it, so I didn't have to...

 

[Chris Atkins]

Last night I learned (again) how much I still have to enjoy and discover with standard DVD.

I rented North By Northwest from Netflix. Never seen it before. Not only was the film an immense treat, but the transfer was absolutely gorgeous on my HDTV.

So, I think standard DVD will still be fun for me, and I can wait out the format war until (hopefully) a winner emerges that will be supported by all the studios.

 

[Bryan^H]

I have quite a large dvd collection. I follow a sort of rule with the movies I own on dvd. When I reach over 500 titles, (let's say 507) I sell 7 movies so that my movie collection is always at 500, and never over. Maybe someday I will stretch it to 600 titles, but as of now I can always sell some of my older forget about type movies to make room for new ones.

This doesn't count my tv on dvd titles,(I own about 150) and for some reason, they are much harder to part with If I need the space.

 

[joshEH]

The burning question now on all of our minds:

Why someone would even order Failure to Launch, period.

 

[Jeff_HR]

No offense taken, but you can't say my system & methods (Doing my "kind" of research) of deciding what DVD to "BUY" (Not Rent) is not valid or is "ridiculous" until you or any other man, woman or child has walked in my shoes & body & mind & gone through the EXACT mental process I go through. Until that time please don't pass judgement on me.

I'm not telling anyone NOT to rent. Spend a MILLION $$$ renting if you wish. My way of doing things works for me. So I save the $$ that is not spent renting.


P.S. Thanks for spelling the word ridiculous correctly. So many people are unable to spell it the right way.

 

[Jim_K]

Is it still worth collecting DVD? YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!


I’ve watched my entire collection, I’ve re-watched about 70% of my collection and I plan on re-watching pretty much my entire collection (sometime) in the future – no rush, it’s always there.


As for the Renting vs. Buying argument, I don’t get the conflict. I do both (throw in DVR-recording movies from TCM and FOX movie channel), have done for years. I can’t imagine doing just one or the other.




Buy exclusively? There are many, many movies I watch that I don’t desire to own. Some I’ve enjoyed, others…….meh. It’s as simple as that. Buying everything I watch would be a major waste of money not to mention the storage problems. I want to see the The Da Vinci Code despite the not so great reviews so am I going to buy it to watch it. Um, no.



Rent exclusively? Puuuleese. I consider places like Netflix (which I use) a necessary evil. It has it’s use but to depend on it in the future when I want to re-watch a favorite film? Titles no longer available, damaged discs, checked out discs. Forget it.


As for slowing down because of the new formats, I’ve no interest in HD-DVD for the foreseeable future because (take your pick):

• Wake me up when the format war is over (I’ve a feeling it’s going to be quite a few years)
• I’m satisfied with current DVD (GASP! Yep you heard right)
• I’ve grown tired of collecting the same movies over and over again.
• Sorry just don’t see an astronomical difference between upscaled DVD and HD… not enough to jump in so early.
• Buggy first generation technology (I need to download a firmware patch? FU)
• These are only first generation releases so……… What’s the rush!? This wont be the last time the studio’s will try to sell us T2, (or whatever) in HD. Come on. They will be released again and again and again with improved PQ hopefully minus the glitches. Besides I can't think of any first generation DVD’s that I'm glad I own right now, that I wouldn’t upgrade if I could.

The only thing that holds me back is what’s being released. I average buying only about 10 new/recent movies a year on DVD, the majority of what I buy are catalog titles. So aside from Warner and the occasional Fox/Universal offering the other studios have really dried up with the catalog releases this year.

 

[MarkHastings]

I TOTALLY agree with this and this is the MAIN reason why I no longer rent.

My 'buying' moods NEVER correspond with my 'watching' moods, so I buy all of the movies that I want to watch and leave them on my shelf until I'm in the mood to watch them. Like I said before, sometimes it will be years before I watch it.

Oh man! There was one time I rented a silly comedy from Netflix and when it arrived, it was cracked in a bunch of pieces. I had to return the movie and by the time the replacement came in, I was no longer in the mood to watch it. I hate when that happens. That rental fee was for nothing and I ended up buying the movie a few months later.