[Stephen Heath]

I LOVE DVD's. Every bit of my disposable budget is now going into these little beauties, I don't buy music, rarely buy books, and my computer has gone longer without an upgrade than ever before, and yet, I still can't afford all the movies and TV product that I would like to buy.

So, of course, I pick up the MUST HAVE's first, and everything else that I would like to buy goes on a wishlist. The problem I'm having is that when I get a chance to go after something from the wishlist, I'm often finding it unavailable anymore. Even worse is finding out that despite watching new releases every week, some movies I'd consider must have's have come and gone without me even knowing!

With the rate studios are churning out more and more product, I just see that getting worse... especially considering how many TV series I've gotten into lately... but will the studios also eventually print more of the titles that the stores have run out of, or is that it, if I don't grab it them I'm never gonna get it? I'm not talking about new remasterings or new editions, I'll be happy if they just make more of the barebones sets they already put out, although a special edition would be a bonus.

So, those of you much more knowledgable than I about how studios work, are they pulling a wal-mart (sell em all and don't bother filling demand) or will they come back and make more later?

[Jeff Kleist]

Well, it's quite possible that your local B&M just isn't stocking the title. Have you looked around online?

[Patrick Sun]

I've started keeping a list of new releases that aren't must-buys, but would be nice to be bought at a discount later (when they show up on Columbia House and a deal can be had on them in a bundle, or if they go on clearance elsewhere). I'm so backed up on my DVD viewing, I can wait for the CH deals nowadays.

"Remaindered" TV series DVD sets seem to be ripe for being offered on places like overstock.com a few months after not selling well at the retail outlets. It just takes a little more effort to look out for a good buying opportunity.

[Marty M]

Online is definitely the route to go for some moives that were released a few years ago or older "non block buster" movies that are being released on DVD. I have been looking for the movie An Everlasting Piece and have only found it available from e-merchants.

[Jon Robertson]

Just become really, really picky and hard to please with your taste in movies. Worked for me.

[DonRoeber]

I hand out my wishlist when people start asking for birthday or christmas ideas. I try to stick to my DVD Budget: One Per Week. It usually works out, but this does tend to generate a bunch of additions to my wishlist in some months. On the other hand, some months I end up buying off of my wishlist almost exclusively.

[Stephen Heath]

Grin, I usually have 40-50 items on my wishlist at any given time, and there are lots of those that are always available, so it's never like I'm at a loss for something to spend money on.

My question, since a few of you have mentioned it, is how do you know when things are being remaindered vs. just running out and more will be printed when the studio can slot it in? Especially TV product, which is coming out an absolutely insane rate these days.

Also, as for shopping online, I have to admit a bias to trying to avoid it where I can, as being in Canada, generally by the time I add exchange, shipping, duty, etc it can add up to a third onto the price from buying from a local b&m. I'm pretty sure that releases are "adjusted" at b&m's due to the exchange. I have seen DVD that are for sale for $18 USD (which would equal, just on pure exchange, around $27 CDN) for sale at our b&m's for $23-25 CDN. TV product is often even more noticible because of the higher prices.

Are there canadian equivalents to amazon or dvdplanet that stock dvd's? I must admit, I'm usually not too good at finding sites that everyone else on the planet has heard about =p

[Darko]

Jon
Me too! Now I just buy films that are on DVD, and for sale . Seriously, it seems that way sometimes. I swear, if I bought 10 DVD's a week for the rest of the year, I still probably wouldn't have all of the DVD's I want, like, need, must have. This doesn't even count the ones I already have. The good thing about all this is; since I've decided that I won't die before catching up on all my films, between my current and future DVD's, I figure I'll have to live forever.

[ThomasC]

Quote:

Are there canadian equivalents to amazon or dvdplanet that stock dvd's?

www.amazon.ca

[Stephen Heath]

You have no idea how irritating it is to learn that the few times I've ordered online from amazon.com I could have had free shipping and no duty because they sell the same dang things on amazon.ca.

Why not a "click here if you're in canada" button... or even better, when I put in a Canadian shipping address and Canadian billing address... shunt me to the amazon.ca site? Most other sites I've seen are the same whether you go .ca or .com (at least location wise).

ARGGHHH!!

(PS : Not mad at the messenger, mad at the lost opportunities and dollars in the past!)

[Brook K]

I've severely restricted my buying habits since I would always have around 40 unwatched discs. I finally realized that unless something truly is a very good deal to preorder/get on sale during release week, that I might as well just wait. Even if it's something I want quite a bit there's no point in buying it now to have it sit on a shelf for 6 months to a year. For instance, I got The Godfather set on release and have never watched it. Now, like Pat I'll just wait and get things from Columbia House.

This works for Criterions too. DVDPlanet and Deepdiscount have the same prices on them whether you preorder or not so I'll just wait until I watch the rest of my unopened's which includes Rashomon and 8 1/2 that I've now owned for over a year.