Overloaded on DVD's

     Quote:

You don't even want to know, James. 

Seriously, I don't even go to the theater (last movie I saw at a theater was about 15 years ago) and I'm still way behind on the dvds I have.  So yeah, I have the same problem and it's horrible.  I've got dvds that have been sitting on my shelves for months and months that haven't even been opened yet.  And that's a terrible thing because if any of them are scratched I'm likely up the proverbial creek on getting them replaced.  

I've really cut back this year, which has worked out well for me because vintage TV series have definitely not been coming out at the pace they were last year or in the last half dozen years.  So in that sense things have worked out well for me because at least I'm not still buying bunches of things that sit on the shelves.  I've stopped the bleeding, so to speak.  And looking at it positively, if the market for classic TV on DVD is going to keep slowing down (and I personally think it is) then at least I've got a great stockpile of things to watch - probably till I die!

Gary "I definitely went crazy in the early years of this hobby" O.

I'm one of them, although I made a dent in it by finishing "Cheers" #1 and "Get Smart" #2. I still have "Get Smart" #3 to get through, and the first ones of "Sanford" and "Family Ties."

Definitely. I will say that in the last couple of years, I've gotten better with actually watching what I buy (what a novel idea! ). I'm a collector of all types of junk so getting things is part of the fun for me but like I said, I'm much better at going through all the stuff on the DVDs or Blu-rays that I buy now.

My Signature bears testimony to the number of TV Shows and Movies I have accumulated since I got rid of Cable three years ago. I figure it will take at least a Decade to watch em all, but that's ok with me. IMO, there is absolutely NOTHING worth watching on Broadcast or Cable TV these days. However, there is no such thing as "Nothing to watch on TV tonight" at my house. I have no regrets about getting into this hobby as a DVD Collector. I make my own schedule, and nobody butts in to try to hawk some Product or Service that I have absolutly NO Interest in purchasing. Best of all, after watching a Program or Movie, I GET TO KEEP IT!
Edited by Regulus - 11/17/09 at 1:21pm

I have the exact same problem. 

Same problem here, too. We have so many DVDs there isn't room for them all. Been having a hard time finding a media cabinet that has shelves tall enough for DVDs. We have to store ours on their sides.

I rarely watch the extras on a disc anymore, even though I sometimes buy the disc for some new documentary or extra. But I prune the library the same way I do my books - if I'm not likely to read it or watch it ever again, out it goes, whether passed along to a friend or traded in for store or Spun credit.

I forget who once said that your library should only be comprised of the books you INTEND to read, but that works for DVDs as well. So if you have a lot you haven't caught up with, that's okay. It's the ones you deep down know you're never going to watch again you should let go. What's it sitting there for?

as far as storage, i recently bought several of these

http://www.shopperinc.com/product.htm?pid=570609&catid=26233

as far as being behind, dont give it a thought.  watch when your life gives you the ability to watch.  but do so when you can enjoy them, not as if it is a job to be done.

I watch when I can and know I will never lack for good shows to see now thanks to dvds.

James,

With this group the more effective question would have been whether anyone is caught up on their DVD watching. My guess is that you would have received very few, if any, responses to that question.

I've built up a backlog with my low frequency viewing. Friday nights I watch an episode each of two shows. Then one on Sunday evenings. Saturdays are for Netflix. Unwatched have piled up so much that I've decided to cut back on purchases, except for those shows I'm already into - Lost, Life on Mars (UK) The Fugitive, The Tudors, Robin Hood...not much of a cut-back, eh.

For the rest of the week, I like to read books.

Read?  Somebody still reads books!!!!  LOL

i believe that most shows will get re-released.  but they wont sell them forever. so get stuff while they are available.  you never know when you might want to watch something.  better to have it and not watch it, than to want to watch it and not have it.

Good replies to James' question.

I'm like most here "never enough time to watch DVD's".  I can blame it on sports (DirecTV)   If not for that, I might be close to caught up by now. 

From what I read on the Bd, my collection is a lot smaller than most here.  Even with that, I have a lot on the shelf that's un-viewed.

Examples of where I'm at with my stuff:

A-Team's been out for 2-3 years?  I have all of the sets and just recently finished S4. 
Bewitched: Just started S5 with all of the show on the shelf.
Daniel Boone: Thanks to a great friend I have S1-5.  Just started S1.
Dick Van Dyke complete series: In the middle of S3
I Dream of Jeannie: Have the complete series.  Middle of S3
Looney Tunes Golden Sets: Have all, just started Vol 2
Munsters complete set: Just started S1
Rockford Files: Have all, nearly done with S3
Taxi: Have S1-4.  Still viewing S1

That's some of them.  I didn't list the ones where I have 3 seasons and viewing Season 1.

As Gary said, I've also reduced my DVD buying over the last year or so.  One reason is the decline of classic TV/DVD releases but the other is that I have enough on the shelf for a while.

I like Williams' post about the reason most of us collect these things.  There's nothing like having a library of shows to watch whenever we want to watch them.  As for current TV?  He said it for me.  I've been out of touch since the late 90's with series TV shows.

Wayne mentioned another good question, "rewatchability".  Nearly all of mine are the kind that I'll most likely watch again someday.  There are maybe 2-3 shows where I'll probably sell or give away eventually.

I just finished watching the Sand Pebbles almost three years after I first bought the DVD and enjoyed it immensely. When I first got it I watched probably 20 minutes of it, set it aside and forgot about it until now. I thought I had to watch a DVD the minute I tore open the shrink wrap but over the years I realized I wasn't just buying movies because I had nothing better to do but because I was building the film collection of  my dreams consisting of programming I would enjoy in the comfort of my home whenever I desired - a beautiful thing indeed. I no longer worry about not having the time to watch a movie - I'll watch it whenever I'm in the mood to watch that particular film. I was in the mood for a 3-hr historical epic last weekend and I had just the right movie for that. That's what's its all about, folks - being able to pick one out of your collection to enjoy whenever YOU want. That's why we got into this and that's why its so much fun. Think I'll dust off my  copy of Mutiny On the Bounty next.

I'm glad to read I'm not the only one who is way behind. 

My wife's finally given up asking "what... buying *another* movie/TV show/CD/book?" and accepted my collections.  I finally got her to understand that I actually spend less money on this stuff than friends who hunt, fish, watch sports, gamble, etc. and that I only buy what I like or promises to be a good value on a blind buy. I also *never* rent unless it's 100% free. :)

I currently have over 200 movies and over 100 seasons of TV shows still in shrink wrap with more on the way (just got one TV season in the mail today).  I'm planning on more purchases on BF (hopefully from amazon so I don't have to venture out) and just joined CH TVonDVD club for the 15th time.

At the rate I'm able to watch it'll take me a couple of years to "catch up"... of course by then I expect to be even further behind.  I very much like to be able to go to the shelf and pick something to watch.  I've not been to a movie theater for over 5 years and don't miss it.  If it were not for my wife wanting to keep cable I'd have dropped it long ago and spent the money on DVDs.  I've grown to *hate* commercial TV and commercial interruptions.  The massive increase of commercials on radio caused me to stop listening to radio and build a massive CD collection.  The DVD collection is hot on its' heals and I've run out of storage for both.

I've actually increased my purchasing over the past year as prices have fallen on many series I've had my eye on and some really *great* deals have come along.

I, too, make time to read and have a fairly good sized library with enough unread books to fill up several years as well.

My family has accepted my "addictions" and no longer say "oh, *another* CD/DVD/Book list for Christmas, eh?"

So... overloaded?  Nah... just a bit behind.  :)

That looks quite a lot like the Can-Am storage systems but at a bit lower price.  How much is their shipping?  I didn't want to register just to get that info.

I wonder who came up with it first?

i had been considering can-am for years - but their price is real expensive.  these are almost exactly the same, in quality.  their shipping is way, way lower - as well as their pricing.  i bought 3 of the wheeled bottom carts, along with 6 of the 3 drawer cabinets.  so i ended up with 3 wheeled units, each with 2 cabinets, or 6 drawers.  i got a good discount without asking for it.  i was already saving 50% off the can am prices.  the company is only about 25 miles from me.  i think they were somewhere in the san fernando valley area.  if you live on the east coast, shipping is probably gonna be a lot higher.

i still havent gotten my cabinets put together, yet.  if you are gonna stack them, they have screws and knockouts, so that the 2 cabinets stay together.  they would probably stay okay without the fasteners.  but if you are gonna have them on wheels, so that you can move them - and if you want them earthquake safe, i do plan to fasten them together.

as far as who came first - i can say that i was aware of can am for years - i only found this place this year.  i dont recall when they started business - but i was real happy with how they dealt with me.  can am has a much bigger selection of other types of cabinetry.  this place had mostly just drawers to store cds/dvds.

This is shameful to me, as well. I've gotten to the point where I'm extremely selective to what shows I've been buying. While I have a pretty good sized library, I don't buy all of those shows that I really want. I've actually stopped buying those shows on DVD that are fairly recent shows, like Lost and House and have just stayed with collecting those shows that I grew up watching like Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie and Gilligan's Island.

There's just too much crap out there to worry about and it's the fault of the studios for not finding better ways to condense the size of these sets. Personally, I'd rather be able to buy a set that contains the complete series on a few disks, single sided. The problem is that studios are busy cutting the number of DVD's in a boxed set by using both sides of the disk to eliminate the number of disks they are using while keeping the same retail price.

This is why I have eliminated 95% of my purchases for new shows. The studios continuisly cut their costs on DVD sets and they don't pass those savings onto the consumer and that's what's harming the market. The only shows that are currently broadcasting as new episodes that I purchase are basically, Bones, NCIS (the original series), 24, Leverage and Grey's Anatomy. I just refuse to support the studios anymore.

Ugh...here we go:

The Addams Family: Saw all of season 1; haven't gotten around to season 2.
Ally McBeal Complete Series: Have it, will marathon at some point.
Beverly Hills, 90210: Watching for the 10th and final season before I marathon the whole series (something I've always wanted to do. Yes, it's a sickness).
Bewitched: Happily plugging away thru season 8 now.
Dallas: Lost interest at the beginning of season 7. Will get to the rest someday :(
Dark Angel: have it...never watched it :(
Family Ties: wtf is wrong with me...I wanted this show more than anyone, and I've barely made it halfway thru season one.
Get Smart: I have season 1 & 2: it's all right...not as funny as I'd remembered :(
Gossip Girl: Have seasons 1 & 2: haven't gotten around to them. Maybe by the time season 3 comes out? lol
Knot's Landing: I have them; I wish there'd be a few more season before I start to watch :(

Melrose Place: Waiting for it to be completed (I hope) then I will marathon.
Party of Five: I have the 3 seasons, have seen about 1/2 of season 1. Kind of lost interest when Sony stopped delivering.

Reba: Started season 3: it's very, very easy to watch this show!
Roswell: Saw it all when it originally aired; I never did get around to watching the dvds, although I do have them.
South of Nowhere: I have the first two sets, waiting for the dang price to drop on set 3 (it's like $55!!) then I will marathon the whole series.
That 70s Show: Barely started season 1; and the first 6 seasons are on HUGE discount at Target. I will definitely get around to watching them, just not this second.
Three's Company: Lost interest in the dvds midway through season 7. That's funny, because that's about when I lost interest during the original airings, and stopped watching. Maybe one of these fine days I'll actually watch the dvds of all those episodes I've never even seen??? lol

Howie,

I also have a large CD collection but I've found that XM & Sirius Satt radio is a gold mine of listening pleasure.  I have DirecTV and they carry a lot of the stations on their system.  Commercial-free as far as I've heard, on the ones that I listen to, mainly the Jazz stations.


I don't know how many of the major cable providers carry the satt radio services but perhaps your cable provider carries some of them.

I feel your pain about "Family Ties"-- that's kind of hard to look at. I haven't even finished the first disc.

As for "Get Smart," I agree with you about that. I thought that it would be very funny and fast-paced, but it's very, very slow.

I'm not buying nearly as many sets anymore, but I still do have a backlog to go through. I rarely find myself watching extras anymore--not because I don't want to but it's more important to go through the episodes/movies themselves. Lately the problem has transfered over to CDs as well--even though I can easily listen while multi-tasking (I spend enough time on the computer for it), for some reason I constantly delay it. I think it took more than two months for me to finally listen to the second disc of Michael Jackson's HIStory.

 Nah, i dont have that problem. Dont know what you guys are talking about.


Guess i should get off here and watch something.

Right now, according to the excel list I keep, I have just over 500 unwatched titles in my collection. That includes 70 full or half season TV sets, so there is conservatively 750 discs I need to watch.
And more on the way.

The first movie media I collected were Laserdiscs, back when I was younger and had far more limited funds available.
That experience cemented the impression in me that movies were worth $40-125 to own in a high quality format.
And that was just for movies. The only TV content on that format I remember was the 2 eps to a disc Star Treks, or $500-$1000 multi disc imports from Japan.
So when I see a loaded Criterion edition going for $14 at B&N, or the full, complete Prisoner series in High Def for $35- my brain screams "LOAD UP"!

Bargains are one reason, the other is the ephemeral nature of this business model. The number of beloved movies/TV shows I have now on disc that already gone Out-of-Print is staggering. Most of these will NOT see a reissue on DVD or Bd. They have too limited a niche appeal. They'll show up on VOD at some point, but for physical media, they're time has come and gone. I hoard now because some day the spigot is going to get shut off completely.

_____________

actually, now that I think about it, the first format I collected was Super 8 as a kid. I would go into K-Mart or Two Guys and see a 14 minute digest version of Star Wars or Superman and it would run almost $50. The prices I paid for Laserdiscs years later were a bargain in comparision

We kept forgetting which episodes we'd last watched of our shows, so we started keeping a notebook and writing down the disk number and ep title, and even the date we watched. That helps speed things along. Do we watch too many DVDs or what? 

I know! I bought the first two seasons of Get Smart in that Target gift set for $20; watched 4 eps and was already getting bored. And I have 56 episodes to go. Yesterday I was at Target again and they had season 3 and 4 for only $12.99 each--and I couldn't work up the enthusiasm to get them either :(   And Family Ties...I still think it's good and I was actually laughing, but I dunno...maybe too much time has passed for me to really get into this show like I was back in 1982. It was my favorite sitcom during its first couple years yet today I felt totally ambivalent towards watching it again.

Ah well maybe one of these days---

I got that "Get Smart" 2-pack myself. It took awhile, but I got through it, I think. I'm working on #3 now. Another thing that's holding me up is "Sanford and Son" #1. It's only 14 episodes, but at 26 min. apiece, with no scene selection, that's taking a good long while.