knowing which films you have when you're in the shop (1 Viewer)

[george fr]

When you go shopping,how do you know which dvd's you have.I mean,when I go shopping,I try to have a book that I've made up of all my films,so when I go into a shop on the off chance and I see a bargain(I mostly buy used,so I don't know what I'll come across),I'll know what I've got.How do you do it?

 

[Brian PB]

Though it won't help right now, DVD Profiler will be coming out with a Pocket version in the near future.

I always shop online and track my wishlist and purchases in DVD Profiler, so I avoid duplication (which can be easy to do once you have a large collection).

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

I don't know how.

I just know.

 

[Dane Marvin]

The concept of not knowing which DVDs you own is a foreign one to me. In fact, even if I had thousands of them, I'm pretty sure I would keep track well mentally. The only exception would be if other people were adding to my collection all the time. Such is not the case at this time.

 

[Arnie G]

I once bought Silkwood only to find once I got home that I already had it. When you have a large collection it's sometimes difficult to remember every last one.:b

 

[george kaplan]

Well I mostly remember, but they are all listed in my palm pilot, so I always have the list with me. Fortunately I hit a point a long time ago, where I have everything I want that's been released, so now, the only thing I buy in stores are new releases that I want (which are also listed in my palm pilot), so it's not much of a problem for me.

 

[Christian Preischl]

Same here. If I should ever run into problems knowing what I own and what I don't own I'll either stop collecting DVDs or have my memory checked.

Chris

 

[Kyle McKnight]

OK, I would like to challenge you to name every DVD that you own, without looking at them

 

[Will_B]

I keep a list in my wallet of which seasons of particular shows I have. And also which Cirque du Soleil shows I have (since they all look alike).

Knowing which seasons I have wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for my trying to buy them all used, which means I end up getting them out of order.

But as for movies, I know pretty much what I have. Sometimes - rarely - I will think I have something when in fact I don't but this is mainly confusion caused by sequels (I thought I had Men in Black 1 when in fact I only had Men in Black 2).

 

[Dane Marvin]

Kyle - It's not so much being able to name off every DVD you own without looking at your collection as much as it knowing whether or not you already own a certain DVD when you see it on the store shelf.

For me, it's just hard to fathom not knowing. I do a lot of trading at dvdtalk.com so there are certain titles I've owned 3 or 4 different times (like Planet of the Apes 35th AE, Freaks & Geeks, etc.), but I still know what I've got at any given time.

 

[TravisR]

I'm in George's boat, I have what I want so I almost exclusively buy new releases.

 

[Jon Martin]

I'm sort of the opposite. I just keep lists of the DVDs I want.

I tried DVD Profiler, but it took too much time and was kind of pointless. Why make a list on your computer of all the titles you have? Why not just look in your shelf, or look in the boxes you keep them in?

But, I keep a list of what I want to buy, and if I go out shopping will go through it, remember what titles to look for.

 

[george kaplan]

Lots of reasons. Since I only buy films I want to rewatch, I basically just cycle through them, watching the one I haven't seen in the longest time. With nearly 1300 dvds, that would be kind of hard to do without a list. I also use that list to generate other lists. For example, when I invite people from work over to see a film, I give them a list of about 50 of the films I haven't seen in the longest time, sorted by genre, for them to pick a film from.

This list is also used to keep track of which films my wife likes (which I wait and watch with her), and which ones she doesn't (which I watch by myself). Also, I keep track of content issues in films that impact how old my son will have to be before I let him watch them.

I use this list all the time, and can't imagine just "looking on my shelves".

 

[Christian Preischl]

Smartass.

Well, Dane already answered it. Ask me for a title and I can tell you whether I have it or not. Obviously I can't give you the entire list of what I own by memory. Kinda reminds me of the "name all 50 states" bet on Friends.

Chris

 

[Kyle McKnight]

Haha, that was a great bet! I love that episode. I have only purchased one DVD twice, and that was X2. I almost bought American Pie 2 again a long time ago, but passed and found it on my shelf when I got home. Generally speaking though I know what I have.

 

[Jeff D Han]

I am always checking sites to see what is coming
out on DVD in the future, and writing down what I
would like to buy and when it comes out. I will update
my DVD database occasionally (Microsoft Access), and
I have a pretty good memory of what I have recently
purchased and watched. Also I purchase the majority
of my collection through internet orders, and I can
easily check my library to make sure I don't already
have a title. I doubt I'll ever make the mistake of
buying a DVD twice.

 

[Hans M.]

I think the key to my familiarity of my collection is buying only DVDs that I know I like (stuff I have seen already or I am quite familiar with the director). In other words, I never blind buy. I do blind rent, however, but still, not without knowing at least something about the movie from articles or reviews I've read.

It also helps to keep the collection small and have a very specific, short wishlist that meets a high criterion of desirability. I have no "kinda" wants on my wishlists. Either I really want it or don't care.

Finally, raise your aesthetic standards for your collection and you will never forget what titles you own.

 

[Michael Qualen]

I don't have this problem either. I don't think I could name EVERY movie in my 800+ collection, but I could name most of them, and centainly answer yes or no if someone asked me if I owned a particular movie. I guess that when it comes to stuff that interests me, I have a very very good memory. I worked in a local videostore years ago, and even though we weren´t the biggest one around, we still had about 1800 titles at any given point, and I could tell you in a second if we had a given title or not, and I could show you where it was on the shelves. I guess that comes with the job...putting the movies back on the shelves over and over again (We had empty covers on the shelves, and the VHS behind the desk)

But I´ve had a few occasions where the customer didn´t believe that I could tell in a second whether we had a certain movie or not...but I guess they finally got used to believing me

 

[Mark Lucas]

If you can't remember what dvds you actually own maybe you should go home and actually watch them before you enter a store again.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I don't have too many DVDs (only about 1,300 titles). Although I can't name them all, I know which ones I already own and which ones I don't already own.