The reduction of my optical disc collection has started today! (1 Viewer)

[SilverWook]

I keep trying to purge my LD's, but once I admire the cover art, I'm doomed. I should really just frame them all until they cover the walls of my living room or something.

Does anyone else have Laserdisc flashbacks when passing the vinyl record aisle these days? (My local Fry's expanded their record section.) The soundtrack albums especially look like recent LD releases from an alternate universe.

When the crappy Eco cases pile up, I swap out the good cases on old DVD's I plan on donating.

 

[Tina_H_V]

A very good subject to broach and bring up. Thank you for this.

Me, all I am doing is just taking those DVD's--and a few choice BD's which turned out to be disappointments--over to a nearby records store, at which I happen to retire those retiring discs for credit. This has helped me to bring in a few new titles with defrayed costs.

As the holidays approach, I find myself looking to retire a few more of my DVD titles, especially on certain TV shows, as some single season releases will give way to complete series box sets. I have separate areas where I can keep the box sets, thus allowing me to free up space on the shelves where the individual TV season sets will be going away upon formal retirement.

And there will be more movies on DVD which will be going away as well...also into retirement.

Though there are some titles I own from LD to BD, they are select personal favorites--some of which have the original theatrical release (JFK, Nixon) only on LD. Others I have in multiple formats, going from LD to DVD-forward, are Do The Right Thing and La Dolce Vita, the latter which is on its way to me for XMAS via The Criterion Collection. I have recently started my very own Criterion Collection on BD and I try to focus on those films I do not have on BD or any other format previously. If I upgrade a Criterion Collectible to BD from a previous format, regardless of whether it was previously Criterion or not on LD and/or DVD, then that title is gone from my collection.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I almost never listen to commentaries, and usually do not watch trailers, either. I will sometimes watch a featurette on the background of a film or actor in the same sitting if I have time after watching the actual film, but once I have seen it I do not need to see it again. I almost never go back to watch the extras at a different time from when I sat down to watch the film itself -- I would rather watch another film or TV show.

Maybe that's why I have watched every film in my collection, with the exception of a few that have been purchased within the past few weeks -- but have not watched the majority of the extras. If I spent all that time watching the extras, I wouldn't have the time to watch all the films I buy, too. I generally only have a window of 2-3 hours in the evenings a few days a week to watch something from my collection, so I have to make the most of that time.

Actually, I listen to most of the commentaries on my third HT setup in my computer room as I'm multi-tasking such as being on the internet. On occasion if I know a film really well like The Train, I will watch the BD for the first time with the audio commentary.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I wouldn't begin to know how to cull my sci-fi/horror DVD collection. Almost 95% of them have not been issued on BD and may never will be.

So, I'm keeping my DVDs and only replacing them when the BD is of superior quality. Case in point..."The Time Machine." If you didn't have the BD, then the SD was good enough, that's how good the SD was.

Upscaling to 1080i, onto a 110" screen from a Epson 9500 PJ thru a HDA1...I don't care what you say, there wasn't that much of a difference...surely not night and day!!! I know, I have them both and did an A/B comparison.

I would never cull a DVD unless I have a BD of the same title that is superior to the DVD.

 

[Brian McP]

I like how someone earlier mentioned that their collection is now "complete" and that they're retiring from collecting. Indeed, I'd pretty much given up on dvds and would only buy blurays of favorite movies or movies that were on sale, 2 for $20 -- that sort of thing.

I think the manufacturers of physical media around the world are now girding their loins and about to let loose with an onslaught to one specific target market -- and they're pretty much everyone who has posted on this very thread -- people who have massive collections who are trying to purge themselves away from their stores (physical and online) and trying to offload their collections back into retail stores that handle second hand items. They'll consider reprinting movies in different packaging at discounted rates as well as repackaged complete collections -- I have Jacques Tati in the mail right now, courtesy of Criterion.

This will probably be their last stand before everything goes to download city -- once I get through this period, then I might consider my collection complete!

 

[JoHud]

I think different extras, packaging (steelbooks, anniversary packages, etc) are the big reason people have dupes in a BD collection.

Heh, the only reason I have dupes are the following:
-exclusive featurettes (usually full documentaries)
-different cuts unique to the DVD
-"bonus" pack-in films that aren't ported over on blu-ray

That is all. I'm not big on watching extras per-say, but I do watch them when I only need < hour to kill every now and then. I haven't sat through a commentary in about 10 years, but who know? One day I just might want to....

 

[jcroy]

I like how someone earlier mentioned that their collection is now "complete" and that they're retiring from collecting.

When I was younger, I tried "completing" my music cd collection.

In the end, it was a very big and expensive mistake.

 

[JoHud]

Yeah, not sure what "complete" would mean in my case. I don't have a list I'm crossing off nor a set # I want to own. I just buy what strikes my fancy....which is a lot apparently.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

I cull every DVD I can when I get a superior Blu ray ... disc and cases. Sometimes I can sell them but mostly give them away.
The only exceptions are when the DVD has special features I want to keep OR if the DVD is packaged in a SNAPPER CASE in which case I'll throw out the crappy plastic Blu ray packaging and rehouse the new BD disc in my old Snapper case. Love those Snapper cases....

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I would never cull a DVD unless I have a BD of the same title that is superior to the DVD.

Same here -- mostly. I did a lot of blind buys in the early days of DVD when there were some insanely low price deals, so I will get rid of a title if I think I will never watch it again. But I have culled most of those titles from my collection already, so it usually takes a superior BD transfer for me to get rid of a DVD today.

 

[jcroy]

I don't have a list I'm crossing off nor a set # I want to own.

At this point I'm somewhat "burned out" on dvd/bluray.

The "list" I have is completing several tv shows, and to avoid buying new shows I didn't own on dvd/bluray previously (whether current or catalog). Too much stuff to watch.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I cull every DVD I can when I get a superior Blu ray ... disc and cases. Sometimes I can sell them but mostly give them away.
The only exceptions are when the DVD has special features I want to keep OR if the DVD is packaged in a SNAPPER CASE in which case I'll throw out the crappy plastic Blu ray packaging and rehouse the new BD disc in my old Snapper case. Love those Snapper cases....

You're in the minority with that preference, otherwise, we'll still have them available. I will never forget the first couple of HTF Meets in LA circa 2000, when HTF members begged the studios to get rid of them.

 

[Robert Crawford]

At this point I'm somewhat "burned out" on dvd/bluray.

The "list" I have is completing several tv shows, and to avoid buying new shows I didn't own on dvd/bluray previously (whether current or catalog). Too much stuff to watch.

I can never get "burned out" watching my favorite films on disc whenever I choose to do so.

 

[jcroy]

I can never get "burned out" watching my favorite films on disc whenever I choose to do so.

For me it has more to do with ocd compulsive collecting/hoarding type of behavior.

Whether I actually like watching a particular movie/show, is a completely different question altogether. That particular question is completely independent of the ocd hoarding issue.

 

[Robert Crawford]

For me it has more to do with ocd compulsive collecting/hoarding type of behavior.

Whether I actually like watching a particular movie/show, is a completely different question altogether. That particular question is completely independent of the ocd hoarding issue.

My previous comment was specifically about me. As to how you spend your monies that's your personal business as it's not a concern nor should it be of mine.

 

[Rob_Ray]

I must be a true hard-core collector, as I seldom part with any format upon upgrading. As a result, I have some of my favorite films on Laserdisc, DVD and Blu-ray, often, in the case of evergreens like The Wizard of Oz and Lawrence of Arabia, in muliple releases in each format. To me, beyond being mere video releases, they are collectibles.

I've been collecting classic films ranging from the 1920s through the demise of the Hollywood studio system in the late 1960s since the dawn of video (1980 to be precise). To show the collectibility of each release, I'll pick one film at random: North by Northwest. If I were to simply watch the film, of course I'd run the bluray. But the early 90s MGM/UA laserdisc has a beautiful gate-fold jacket with notes about the film and the transfer inside. The Criterion laserdisc has its typically thorough still-step essay about Hitchcock's working methods on the film. (I miss still-step essays, a feature that the internet made obsolete, I suppose.) I have an old snapper-case DVD when Eva Marie Saint's documentary was a new bonus extra and the later clamshell release as part of an Alfred Hitchcock box. I have a stand-alone blu-ray release and it's also included in the Alfred Hitchcock bluray box set. I wouldn't part with any of them simply for the pleasure I get from each as a collectible.

I have the old Wheeler and Woolsey releases on laserdisc. The Warner Archive has finally released the bulk of them on DVD-R through the archive in remastered transfers, but I'd never part with the old laserdiscs. They bring back too many fond memories of 25 years ago when I'd unexpectedly find them in the bins at Ken Crane's.

The Alice in Wonderland laserdisc has audio tests never ported over to any other format. The fact that they were never ported over doesn't bother me at all. I still have the laserdisc set that weighs several pounds.

The only tapes and discs I parted with were pan-and-scan transfers of widescreen titles when letterboxed versions were released. I can't recall a single pan-and-scan release that had anything collectible about it, not even a trailer. The days of bonus content came later.

My laserdiscs reside in a custom-built floor to ceiling shelf unit. I love BluRay but still collect just as many MOD DVDs from Warner Archive and increasingly from Fox as their quality improves. However, due to space issues, I can see that the day is coming when I'll consolidate several duplicate DVDs and BluRay titles into one multi-disc DVD sized storage case.

No burn-out here. I can't think of a more rewarding hobby.

 

[Robert Crawford]

My reduction is strictly due to space issues except for some non-anamorphic presentations with little or no bonus materials that have been supplanted later by superior presentation/bonus material-related DVD/BD releases.

 

[Alan Tully]

I bought a set of Blu-ray inserts that clip inside a case & hold two discs, so I re-boxed a lot of stuff. The three Godfather films now in one case, plus quite a few other trilogies, & I've ordered a couple of four & five disc cases, so I'll be throwing a few large boxes away. I've just received one of Warner's four film boxes, it's four discs in a slim case, so it can be done. All this makes a lot of difference, you'd think I'd got rid of a third of my collection.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

This thread has helped me get over the idea of collecting, period. It was fun, but who wants to be a slave to constantly doing software inventory? Life's too short. Yes, it's true, I'm being pulled to the dark side... watch something when you want to see it, but don't feel the need to own it. That's just me. In the now. Hollywoodaholic... in recovery.

P.S. - Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to buy shit to watch. This is the home theater forum after all. I'm just not going to worry about holding on to it.

 

[bruceames]

I have the same problem. A fixed amount of shelf space (because my wife doesn't want me to add more and I can't blame her) and a growing collection of movies. Right now about half of my shelf space is dedicated to Blu-ray/HD DVD. To start with, I get rid of the dups (movies bought on Blu-ray that I already had on DVD) by stripping the case and filing the cover and movie (in a paper sleeve) separately, but indexed. The cases are really what take up the shelf space, and 90% of them are all the same standard amary cases.

Lately I've experimented with buying standard sized amary DVD cases which hold 6 discs. I then "group" the movies by genre and put them in a numbered cases, with the sleeves all stacked together tucked behind the clear plastic. If they make the case bind too much then I'll put excess sleeves next to the case. Then I'll print out a custom spine with all 6 movies listed (sometimes less, depending). That way I can keep all the movies on my shelf EXCEPT for the space hogging original cases, and still be able to browse the collection by reading the movie names on the spine. Since they are also color coded and grouped by genre, it makes it easier to choose a movie. This method can store over 100 movies per foot, whereas before they took up 5 feet! I also keep track of them in Excel. Anyway it time consuming to reduce it this way, but any other way is as well, but at least with this method the discs stay on the shelf and out of storage, making them more accessible. And the disc and reading materials stay together. The 6 discs cases (9/16") are only about 25 cents each so much cheaper form of consolidation than any other method, I think.

DVDs with special packaging though I leave intact. I would rather put those in storage than strip the packaging. TV shows on DVD I'll generally just store those, unless the odds are good that they'll get watched again soon (very unlikely)

I enjoy for the most part keeping track, managing inventory, and cataloging and all that. It's part of the fun of the hobby, IMO.