Collection Trimming (1 Viewer)

[gregstaten]

I've done minor trimming over the years, but most of the DVDs I get rid of are titles I've upgrades to a new release. (I often give them away to relatives/friends who have less-critical viewing requirements or smaller screens.)

But I have to admit that I think more and more about reducing my collection, especially now that my collection stands at about 1750 titles. The problem is that I'm running out of shelf space. I built a set of custom bookshelves to store the collection a couple years ago and I've had to expand it twice so far. The gotcha is that I don't have room to expand it much further!

What does one do when they run out of room for their movies?

-greg

 

[Sean Aaron]

I used to cull regularly, but I've become a lot more cirumspect, especially with regards to the more expensive TV box sets. I've just done a cull of nine titles some of which I've had for years, but I really don't watch and my wife isn't interested in. Basically if it's not something I'm likely to re-watch at some point on my own or to be picked out by my wife when it's her turn to choose a flick I don't see a point in owning it. Even if it only gets watched once in a year it's worth it for me to keep it.

Otherwise, I only pull them if they're original releases and replaced by a superior special edition or new anamorphic release (Silence of the Lambs, Robocop and Spinal Tap excepted as I prefer the Criterion extras, have heard about issues with the branching in the MGM releases of Robocop and Spinal Tap that put me off them and just plain don't feel a need for an anamorphic Silence of the Lambs without the Criterion extras).

Given the low value of the DVDs I've pulled lately, I find that Amazon Marketplace is a lot less overhead than eBay or I'll put it in the bag for the charity shop if there's only one or two I'm unloading.

 

[Mitch Stevens]

I've done this on occasion, but I usually don't. Call me greedy, but I don't think it's "fair" for me to buy a DVD at full price, only to give it away, completely free of charge, to family members who don't want to spend any money to own said discs. I've given about 100 DVDs away, in all the time I've been collecting, but I absolutely hate doing it.

 

[george kaplan]

I trim my collection every week.

It works like this. I look at what new dvds are coming out, and only buy the ones I want to watch. All other dvds coming out that week, are never purchased, and are hence purged from my collection.

What I'm left with is over 1000 dvds, all of which I love and rewatch and would never 'trim'.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I've reached the point where I don't buy any new DVDs unless I plan to re-watch them throughout the rest of my life. There is no room in my library for "one time only" DVDs or things I bought in the past on a whim and didn't really need. I also believe it's possible that some films you've loved to watch 5 times each might lose their luster and eventually warrant an expulsion. So I search my collection about once a year to see if there's any "dead weight" presently. No need to hang onto ornaments. But thankfully I've reached a point where there's not much trimming required.

 

[RogerH]

I'm at the point where I'm alot pickier that I was before. I'm also running into a shelf space problem as well. Looks like I might have to make a shelf as I could never find a store bought one that I wanted.

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

I do a bit of "research" on every title I consider for purchase. I probably could get rid of 5 or 10 of my 300+ collection, but so far I've never really had a need to "trim".

 

[Mike Frezon]

There's a few options:

Some of you folks talk about selling on eBay. Don't forget you've got an option right here at the HTF -- Software for Sale/Trade. Check it out if you haven't. Its a VERY safe place to buy and sell. You've got the Good Trader's List to offer feedback on other HTF members. Out of 1000+ good trades recorded in 2004, there were only a couple of bad trades reported. I gotta figure that's a much better record than eBay.

Regarding shelf space issues...it seems there is always a thread about new/custom shelving popping up from time to time. And, for those who want to approach the problem from another direction...there is always THIS THREAD which discusses shrinking the packaging to create more room. There are lots of great pictures posted in the thread to give you an idea of what we're talking about.

Roger: to answer your original question...I TRY to be as judicious as possible when I purchase DVDs...but seem to always find the occasional clunker or two (usually a blind buy) that gets taken to a used DVD shop. Santa Clause 2 comes to mind!

 

[RogerH]

Santa Clause 2 ... yikes I never even seen that one

 

[Mike Frezon]

Consider yourself blessed, Roger!

 

[RogerH]

That bad eh

 

[Bob Cashill]

I trim my collection once per year. This year I'll do it when my fiancee and I move into our new condo. But I still have last year's done-with discs lying around, double-bagged and waiting for me to sell them off. For some reason, I've developed an avoidance about getting rid of them, as I had so easily in the past. [There's probably about 50-60, many of them old versions of DVDs I've since replaced, meaning a net gain of zero shelf space as the new ones simply take their place or worse, take more than their place, as many are two-disc sets that require more room.]

 

[Jeff D Han]

I don't trim my collection of titles that I won't watch
again, because I know what I'm buying first. I very seldom
blind buy. I use Netflix to see if I will buy the DVD.
When I upgrade DVDs to better versions, I usually will
give them away to a friend at work, or we will trade
DVDs. My collection just passed 550 films, TV series
and concert videos, and I'm comfortable with that number.
I would be surprised if my library gets to 700- my buying
has really slowed down lately.

 

[Raasean Asaad]

There are plenty oof us with small or just starting out collections and we would loveto take some of your trimmings...it's a good way to build a collection and discover some new things as well as the fact that I would think most of you keep better care of and have better prices than the alternatives.

 

[Joel...Lane]

Those must have come free with your dvd player. I bought my first player in '97, a Toshiba, and those were the EXACT movies that came free with it. That was back when they offered you free movies if you bought a player. Do they still even do that?

As for the original question. I really don't do any trimming as my collection is hovering around 60. :b I still have those 4 movies though and would have no trouble dumping them.

 

[Jason Hennigan]

My collection is always evolving.

With new editions and SEs coming out of old releases every week (literally), there's always something new to buy, and often something old to get rid of.

That being said, there's other factors too. Space is an issue, and I don't want to ThinPak everything that I have. Also evolving tastes is an issue. I sometimes find that some DVDs I kind of liked when I first purchased them I don't think so highly of anymore. On top of that, I make a lot of blind purchases, and if I don't like the DVD, I'm going to get rid of it.

I know people who abhor the idea of "collection trimming" (specifically a reduction in total number of titles), but I don't have an issue with it since I know that the total number of titles in my collection is only going to go up, and there's little point in keeping a DVD that you either don't want, or have a better edition of.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I have about 800 titles in my collection, and have probably sold 150 others. Like some others here, I do not rent and we rarely go to the movie theater, so any new films are blind buys for me. If I do not care for a film, I do not want it eating up valuable shelf space. I will also sell off older versions of titles which I upgrade (such as Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, etc.).

Since I do not want to hassle with selling titles individually via ebay, I use www.sellmydvds.com . I may not get quite as good a price as ebay, but it's a lot more convenient.

 

[MikeEckman]

I am like many of you where space is an issue with my titles. I have about 540 DVDs now (counting boxed sets and TV Season sets as 1 DVD), and I am out of room. I look through my titles and theres a few I want to sell, but for some reason, I just cant bring myself to do it. The thing is, I know I will probably never watch any of them, but I hold onto them anyway...

 

[Joe Karlosi]

How do some of you store your DVDs? I have three tall bookcases along one bedroom wall, and they've got five shelves each. Each shelf allows me to store DVDs two rows deep (about 90 movies per shelf). That's nearly 1400 discs.
I then use the tops of the cases for "box sets".

 

[Sean Aaron]

We have a sturdy wooden cabinet we got from Olympia (a furniture store that imports furniture built in India): really nice looking and I can fit almost all my collection in it now that I've added additional shelves to it (haven't counted in a while, but it's two or three hundred).

One thing I've done to get back some space is buy clear double-DVD cases to reduce space taken up by TV shows and OAV anime titles that were in single-DVD cases. The double-clear ones are very cheap and I can stick both sleeves into them so I'm not covering up anything.

Might be worth checking into as an idea; otherwise the thinpak and double-thinpak cases might be worth checking out if you're not hung up on the artwork.