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I can't keep up - am I screwed? (1 Viewer)

Stephen Heath

Stunt Coordinator
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Jan 31, 2003
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91
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

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

Patrick Sun

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Jun 30, 1999
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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

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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.
 

DonRoeber

Screenwriter
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Feb 11, 2001
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1,849
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

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jan 31, 2003
Messages
91
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

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Joined
Aug 20, 2002
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155
Jon
Me too! Now I just buy films that are on DVD, and for sale:D :D. 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.:)
 

Stephen Heath

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jan 31, 2003
Messages
91
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

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Feb 22, 2000
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9,467
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.
 

Carlo_M

Senior HTF Member
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Oct 31, 1997
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13,381
Yup I definitely have a tier system as well (Must Buy, Want, Nice To Have). But it's affected by the studios' pattern of price drops. Columbia, Warner and MGM always drop and relatively soon. Disney is much slower to drop (and their SEs and low-demand titles rarely do). As such, the Miyazaki trilogy will be bought immediately since it probably won't drop in price any time soon (if ever!) whereas it would have been a "want" and not a "must buy" immediately.

It also depends on how many releases are "must buys" in the month. April is a relatively slow month and I just got my tax return back, so Miyazaki's are on the shopping list...
 

MarkHastings

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2003
Messages
12,013
It's like the old curse says:

"MAY YOU GET WHAT YOU WISH FOR"

Before, we wanted more and more DVD's to come out and now we're so overwhelmed that we want it to slow down :D
 

Jeff Kleist

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Joined
Dec 4, 1999
Messages
11,266
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).
Easy, the same item is more expensive from Amazon.com than Amazon.ca
 

Todd Robertson

Second Unit
Joined
Dec 18, 2002
Messages
293
yeah...it sometimes is tuff to keep up. I'm closing in on 1,000 titles now but I have over 500 on my wish list....some being not out on dvd yet...or ever. once I hit about 1,500, I'll have all my favs and those which are essential for me. then I'll just get "new" releases as they come out. I found that this was such an addiction for me that I made sure the buisiness I bought generated tips. I never pay "real" money for my films...just that extra bonus cash. this way...I'm without the guilt of spending my hard earned $ on my hobby. this makes my wife happy as well! still...I can never seem to get enough and I'm up to about 8 to 10 dvds a week. so I hope it's true that dvds will not fall apart(delamination) after 3 or 4 years. this is my only concern, but as you can tell....I must have alot of faith.
 

Brett_B

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 26, 1999
Messages
902
Stephen,

It seems that you are at a phase that I was at not too long ago. I used to buy all of the movies that I wanted the day that they were released, but after a while I knew that there was no way to keep up. The one thing that I started to notice was that movies that I originally bought on release day can be found mostly at a lower price than what I originally paid. You can't imagine the frustration when you see one of your "must-haves" on the shelf for basically half of what you actually spent, and that was usually a sales price.

Basically, when I buy a DVD anymore I always question myself if it is a movie that I intend on watching (here's the keyword) "multiple" times between the time it is released and the possible time that it may come down in price (lower than the sale price at that).

As far as keeping up with releases in general, I highly recommend to check as many DVD news sites (My favorites are DVD File, The Digital Bits, & DVD Review) and this site (Software Area). This probably will not solve your problem with knowing what is current out there, but at least keeping up with these sites (only takes a couple of minutes to browse through release information) will make the task of finding out what is out there easier.
 

ShaunS

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jun 16, 2002
Messages
163
Amazon.com always pops up with an "Are you Canadian?" button for me (and I am, eh). Now i'm scared. How do they know I'm Canadian? :)

The thing I find with amazon.ca is some DVDs are not a good deal. Try looking up the films "Smoke" and "Blue in the Face". One is listed as IMPORT and one is not. If I buy both from amazon.com I can get both with a discount. But I'm worried shipping and duty will make it more expensive. We may have free health care, but damn it if I want cheap dvds.

ShaunS
 

Terry H

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 17, 2001
Messages
316
You may want to check out www.dvdtalk.com They have an "International dvdtalk forum" which has several threads listing international (obviously including Canadian) etailers. You might find it helpful.
 

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