Ownership, above all else (1 Viewer)

[Jason Seaver]

I've got several dozen unwatched discs, partly because I bought those monster Hitchcock sets last year (both of Universal's plus both of Laserlight's), along with TV collections, various movies bought the week they came out because price reductions weren't really happening and that looked like the lowest they'd be for some time. Anyway, I finally justified it by saying that I'm basically buying security - if I should ever get the urge to watch Volcano at 2am, by god, I can! - as opposed to worrying about watching them enough to recoup what I'd spend to rent them x number of times.

 

[Mark_Wilson]

I'm with Dave Lambert. I've got almost 1300 dvds and probably haven't watched about 500 of them or so. Not that I haven't seen those movies before, I just haven't had time to watch the discs. Its hard to catch up when you buy 75-80 dvds a month(although Jan. has been slow for good titles) and only have time for about 5 or so movies a week. Some day...

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

What can I say, Mario, I wish I was in your financial situation! I can't afford to buy DVDs I'm not going to watch... I only buy 1 or 2 a month and those have garenteed replay value.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Yikes David 300 unwatched! I have about 25 and I was feeling bad about it....

 

[Doug Pyle]

Here's a frustration related to waiting too long to view a new DVD: When I finally opened up Men In Black, it was DOA. I was afraid I out-waited the return/exchange policy. Luckily it was "only" three months old, and the online vendor (DDD) had no hesitation replacing the defect disk.

I do try to crack open every new disk and see if the first chapter plays, then stack it back on the shelf until ready to view the movie. But that can be tedious when you buy a large batch. I had the same problem with a Circuit City-bought defective disk once, and had to verbally wrestle with the manager on 3 visits until I finally got a replacement.

 

[Jeremy Anderson]

I only have 398 discs, but I've watched all but two of them. The two I haven't watched were freebie discs from some special offer, and were movies I'd already seen and had no interest in ever seeing again. I buy pretty much every major release sight unseen the day it comes out, but I never let them go unwatched for more than a day or two. Any movie I buy that really just sucks, I quickly pawn off on one of my co-workers or my local "trade 3 used for 1 new" store. It all evens out.

And for those who have said to me in the past "Will you really watch them more than once?" YES. I have. Sometimes in the same week if I'm bored. Or if it's just an amazing movie, I end up watching it by myself, then with a friend, then with family, etc. That's why I've seen HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH ten times now.

 

[Mario Bartel]

I've got almost 1300 dvds

Holy crap, man! Even at an average cost of about $16 a disc, that works out to more than $20,000 in dvd's (I sure hope you paid less; that would buy one fine plasma tv setup!). Heck, I'm sure many video stores don't come close to 1300 dvd's, let alone 1300 different ones! I am humbled. And in awe.

PS: I still haven't watch Gangster No. 1. Over the weekend I picked up The Princess and the Warrior, and no, I haven't watched it either....

 

[MaxY]

David,
You should be ashmaed of yourself!!! Letting your backlog get that big. I have never let my backlog grow beyond 100.
Next I bet you will try to tell us that you have some sort of life or something, well what kind of life could it be if you don't have time to watch your DVDs?
BTW I am now over 1400 with only about 50 in the still have not seen stack, but that should change quickly with the end of football season.
Max

 

[David Lambert]

Gee, I check back to this thread for the first time in a couple of days, and I see I'm being 'scolded' here!
Yeah, I have a life outside of DVD's, but my wife would tell you that the truth is that I'm spending more time on HTF *talking* about DVD's than I am actually spinning them (we had a thread about that subject before, too!).
I'm glad I'm not the only one..MARK!
As for cost, I spend around $13.80 average per disc, and don't forget that I am counting discs not SKUs, unlike most of y'all. I might do the DVD Profiler thing, just to see how I "compare", but moreso to add more portability to my collection information (i.e., I might get a Handspring and carry the database around with me). Anyway, I've spent enough to buy a new car, okay? Sue me, it's a hobby...
I'll watch 'em all. Someday. Really!
Quit laughing at me!

 

[Patrick_J]

The ability to own the films (or music) is indeed a vice. Aren't we all hunters and gatherers by nature? Once we have something in our possession the need to consume that item is satiated, temporarily, until we see another shiny new box and disc.

One tip that I gathered from another HTF member and hope to have the power to implement myself is to limit myself to a certain number of DVDs each year. This year the number is 300. Having already gone from 223 to 250+ in January, I know I will need to sell some of my unwatched/unwanted titles to remain stable (both financially, mentally and maritally).

Not sure if this budget method will help others (or me) but I thought I would throw it out there to help cut down on some of our compulsive ownership behaviors.

-pjc

 

[Stephen Orr]

I tend to buy only the collector's editions of DVDs these day, and rent those that are movie only or have limited special features. There are a few rare exceptions, of course, like 5th Element, some musicals and any Harryhausen films.

My collection sits at about 100 or so DVDs, and I buy maybe one new DVD a month.

 

[DaveF]

For those of you with, say, 300 unwatched DVDs: does it bother you to have around $4500 in unused product gathering dust? I would think you'd be better served by, say, buying a super-duper HDTV to get the most out the ones you do watch, rather than, rather than having thousands of dollars tied up in unused stuff.
But maybe when I'm no longer an impoverished grad student I'll change my tune

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Already watching the dust-collecting discs on my HDTV. I like having a veritable video store at my fingertips. Winona Ryder filmfest? You bet. Some Chaplin shorts? Uh huh. The Films of Jess Franco? Which of the ten or so would you like? Romantic Comedy? 1930s 1940s 1950 or 1960s? Or more recent? Or silent? War? Which war would you like? Which front? Name the genre, I've got quite a few to choose from. Or the ever-present, what can this system do? Let me grab The Haunting and Saving Private Ryan, or any of a dozen others, and I'll show you....
And frankly, I enjoy this much, much more than I would renting them. If worse comes to worse, I can sell them for nearly what I paid for them (sometimes significantly more) on eBay.

 

[Joseph Young]

I'll be the first to admit that I've purchased more DVDs than I probably should have. There is something psychologically satisfying about 'owning' something, knowing you can come back to it when you want.
And then there's Netflix... people who swear by it claim that netflix is the equivalent of owning a dvd, only at a marginal price. You can revisit the titles for as long as you want. One of my friends (who frequents HTF) says that not going the Netflix route is equivalent to tossing money away.
I am given no end of sh** from him for not doing the netflix thing. He insists it's ridiculous, stupid, futile, for me to continually engage in 'purchasing' anything.
So is Netflix a savior for those of us who want to own our DVDs? Why is purchasing still so attractive?
I'm just being devil's advocate here...
Joseph

 

[Scott Strang]

Renting a movie is good for absolutely nothing but seeing if you want to spend $30 for a DVD.

Renting is annoying for these reasons:

A: If it goes out of print, will the copy you want to see at the rental store still be playable. People seem to think DVD's are frisbees.

B: Buying a DVD of a film pretty much guarantees that you'll be able to see the film some day assuming of course that the disc doesn't rot or is otherwise defective.

C: Rental requires returning the discs which doesn't work too well for me. We live out in the middle of no where and we typically only return to town during the week to go to work. If we go anywhere on the weekend, it's usually in the opposite direction to see my wife's parents (who REALLY live out in the middle of no where) and other family members. Sometimes renting a DVD requires a Saturday or Sunday return. Forget it.

D: I've bought a lot of Sci-fi titles that will never be seen at Blockbuster (which is all we have left) simply because they're "uncool". I may not watch them immediately (which is hard to resist) but at some point I will want to see them.