After 30 years, I have so many TV shows on videotape and DVD, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m a compulsive hoarder. LOL
I have dozens of VHS video recordings on tape that I haven’t watched in years, and some DVD sets I’ve never finished watching–yet I continue to collect and record old TV shows on DVD.
I think it probably all stems back to my pre-VCR childhood. A time where you could only watch a TV show on television once, and not see it again unless it was re-run. If I loved a show bad enough, there was always this yearning to watch it again and not being able to. That all changed when VCR’s became affordable.
Recently, I started recording the old soap opera, The Doctors. I enjoy watching the show daily now, but will I want to watch it all over again in a few years? Probably not, but I can’t help thinking that maybe I will.
I think I record stuff now, so I will always have it in my possession if I ever get a craving..
Nowadays, one can find almost anything on youtube. It may get removed, but it always seems to get uploaded again.
Nevertheless, I continue to record and save, record and save.
I should mention that I ONLY collect things that interest me. I don’t have the desire (like some people) to collect EVERY TV show produced. Still, I have a huge collection.
Can anyone else identify with this concern I have?
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I can tell I struggle with getting all the episodes of watched of DVD sets I have. I'm trying to get caught up and some times I fall behind. Telling myself I don't need to buy anymore until I get everything I already have watched is a new strategy.
James
This is very subjective.
If you do not believe it is OCD, then there is nothing more to talk about.
If you do believe it is OCD, then only you can deal with it. For me, the only way to jump off a particular OCD compulsive collecting "treadmill" is complete utter burnout and total abstinence subsequently. (As extreme as this may sound).
I keep saying Im not going to start anymore collections. Then, I bought The Andy Griffith Show and discovered That you could only complete it if you got Mayberry RFD. I also started Perfect Strangers and only Season 1 and 2 are out. Warner Archive says they plan to Complete the series .. After that and Mayberry RFD Im done and Im serious this time. The only thing that would change my mind is if A Full Uncut release of Gomer Pyle USMC Came out
This is the type of scenario I try to avoid in regard to my OCD compulsive "completionist" collecting. Basically my OCD is screaming "I WANT IT ALL" repeatedly.
Unfortunately I am not always successful in avoiding such situations.
I'd say both apply for me.
I love watching old TV shows on DVD so therefore I want to collect them.
At one point, I was buying shows that I didn't even really like….I had to stop that and eventually sold those from my collection.
Now, I only buy the shows that I really want and intend on actually watching but I still have lots in my collection and it'll take forever to watch it but at least it's there when I want it.
I beginning to think it might be. A few years ago, I didn't even know what OCD was. I thought that -maybe- by talking to others, I might be able to solve or identify this problem. I never used to think it was a problem, but recently, sorting through my collection, I started thinking: this is not normal. I think I'm reaching the "burnt-out" stage. None of my friends or family members have this "hobby", so I turned to this forum for some answers or enlightenment. Thanks for your responses.
Another way I was able to determine whether it was genuine OCD for me, was examining other parts of my life unrelated to cd/dvd/bluray.
It turned out this compulsive "completionist" collecting mentality was running theme in other niches/hobbies in my life. For example, such as books, comics, etc … and previously vinyl records. (Also other unrelated niches, which will remain unnamed).
^Yeah, I'm a completist, too. It gets so annoying but what's the point if the set isn't complete?
I finally realized if I didn't start traveling while I could still get around, I was going to regret it at the end, right along with working too much and not spending enough time with friends and family. My point: I have 7000+ discs. Enough. So I made a deal with myself. I wrote the five sets I dream about owning on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope and gave it to my wife. If one of those sets is released, I'm all in. Otherwise, I stopped buying set after set and started watching all the great sets I had piling up in shrink wrap, like Hawaii Five-0. I'm having a ball. And I save thousands of dollars to put toward travel now. It's a win-win. Best thing I've done in the last ten years. Truly.
At a core fundamental level, my OCD thinking is completely irrational and very emotionally charged.
I have long given up on trying to understand it in a logical / rational manner. It is an exercise in futility for me.
You are talking to someone who owns 5000 movies on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K; not to mention nearly 100 TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray. My boss who had no interest or taste in movies once commented, "Wow, that's kind of an obsession, isn't it?" to which I slyly replied, "No, at a thousand movies it might have been an obsession. At 5,426 it's called 'mental illness'…but I have decided to find it charming!"
Don't worry, Ron Lee Green – you are normal. As normal as I am. Take that with as large or as few grains of salt as you will. And best and congrats on your formidable collection. As long as you enjoy it, it isn't a waste of time. Some people collect spoons, power tools, vintage sports memorabilia and other stuff you and I couldn't give two hoots about. That's them. This is us. Take care. You're doing just fine!
I've found that if I buy the first season of a show I tend to want to have them all on the shelf. Whether I have the time or inclination to watch I still get satisfaction knowing it's there. Part of it is fear of availability in a shrinking physical media world. Have you priced Season 1 of Hazel recently? If I start a show that I'm not 100 percent on board for, I sell it. No more desire for a complete set.
Quitter! 😀
**** Give in to your addiction *****
**** Resistance is futile *****
**** You will be assimilated ******
What's the point of having a complete TV series if you don't like certain seasons? Why have something on your shelf you don't enjoy? I do not buy a lot of TV on disc, but I have both complete and incomplete sets. Some series just run out of gas in later seasons and are not that appealing to me, so I don't see the point in owning those seasons.
I do have some complete seasons where I don't care for the later seasons, but those were purchased as complete series because it was cheaper than buying individual seasons.
Ah, but I didn't quit. I have those five set titles written on a sheet of paper stored in the Holy Grail. If and when those sets are released, I will throw my money at them. I'm still game to buy. I'm just being selective. Plus, as long as I am actively watching sets I previously bought, I am still a player! 🙂
If you watch every DVD film/TV season set within 3 months of purchasing it, and are likely to revisit that content at some time in the future, it is a hobby and you are a fan. If you just buy dozens/hundreds of DVDs to sit on a shelf with no current or future plans to watch them, it might be something else. You still qualify as a collector, I suppose, but this material is designed to be watched and not just displayed, so you're buying something without deriving any pleasure from it. It's like buying a painting and putting it in a closet.
I'm probably more into music than home video (I have my series I want obviously, some I'd give my eye tooth to get), but I can still answer. I have around 30,000 songs on my computer. That number is growing with digital downloads and a friend who constantly gives me CD's and DVD's full of mp3's and old Grand Ole Opry/Louisiana Hayride shows from the 50's. Will I ever listen to some of this beyond the initial time or two? Probably not. Will I get rid of it? Not a chance. Storage is cheap!
I like the idea of having everything just because maybe I might want to watch it at some point and its there if the mood strikes me. Or if someone asks to see something, it would be pretty likely I have it or can get it easily from a fellow collector. Is it logical? No. Does it hurt anybody? No. On the scale of compulsions, like alcohol, drugs, gambling, smoking, sex, etc., I would say its a lot more harmless.
Even though I know we're all joking around here, I can honestly say, yeah I kind of have a problem. 30 years ago, when I bought my first VCR, TV shows weren't being sold in complete sets. I did what many VCR owners did at that time, recorded episodes of my favorite shows off the air. I managed to even complete a couple of them like Star Trek and Little House on the Prairie. At that time I had very few shows I wanted to own. Fast forward to now, where I already own most of the shows I love on DVD, Blu-ray or iTunes such as The Dick Van Dyke Show, MASH, Little House, The Big Valley, Bewitched, and The Fugitive. That's all fine and dandy. The problem is that I didn't stop at just the ones I loved. Shows that I thought were just okay or in some cases had never even seen, were all of the sudden getting snapped up in sales because, I don't know, why not? Quantum Leap and Flipper were shows I had enjoyed but never considered necessary to collect, but then they came out on Blu-ray and I was mysteriously compelled to purchase them. A perfect example of a show I had no business buying is Lost in Space. I had seen a few episodes and I knew the show was completely asinine. But it was beautifully remastered on Blu-ray and I just had to have it in my hot little hands, because (I have no idea). Out of obligation I have now watched every single episode from the somewhat silly pilot to the horrendously ridiculous final show. And if I live to be 100 I will never put myself through watching those Lost in Space Blu-rays again. So yes, Virginia I have a problem and I need to get help.
That's what I've done with a lot of the all-in-one releases of series that I wasn't totally in on– to be honest, I've taken them to a trading store called 2nd and Charles in Greenville, and gotten store credit towards some things that might actually look better and be more of interest to me.
And that is the reason why, for instance, I have only 7 seasons' worth (1957-64) of the CBS 1957-66 Perry Mason series, and not all of that series– I had heard that the last two seasons kind of went flat somewhat, so I didn't see why I should have the whole thing.
Ron – only your therapist will know for sure if you're OCD(:mellow:), but you sound normal to me. If you eventually hope to watch what you buy, that seems to be a normal part of this hobby. You can't watch everything immediately, but you might as well buy the things you want to watch while you have the money and they are still available. On the other hand, if you said you purchased things or recorded shows just because they looked so pretty sitting on your bookshelf, then I'd be a little concerned. Or if you had to have every episode of every tv show ever made, then I'd be gravely concerned. But if you just enjoy watching classic tv, then I say relax and enjoy the Doctors or anything else like it.
I’m a collector of both blu-rays and old pottery, hardly a week goes by I don’t receive a package of one or the other in the mail. I’ve tried to get a handle on it but it is very hard so I feel for you. Good luck with figuring out the best way to treat it.
There's a third option: Archivist.
Some people like to create a library of shows and movies they deem of value or historical significance. Like any library, you may not read (or watch) every title.
However, I suspect the truth lies somewhere between OCD, archivist and collector.
I only buy DVD sets I want to watch, though it may be quite some time before I get around to them…. I have a few sets that I've had for years and not even took out of the shrink wrap yet, but I do plan to watch them.
I know that DVD's are going to go away sooner or later, and after that point we will be 100% at the mercy of content providers as to what they choose to show us via streaming media, and whether or not they censor or change that content, and how much they charge for it, and whether it's commercial free or not, and we'll be at the mercy of our internet connections with no net neutrality in place. So, I want to make sure I own every TV show and movie that's important to me before that happens.
Perfect – I'm going to use this idea the next time my wife asks me if I'm done buying tv shows on dvd. "Honey, I'm an archivist and I'm preserving precious components of our cultural history". She may not get it now, but she'll thank me when physical media is completely gone!
Ron – I had the same issue for years. I would literally buy discs for no other reason than "it was on sale." My collection – BD and DVD – ballooned to over 1,000 titles. It was widely unmanageable for me and there were things I hadn't ever watched. It would freak me out just walking past the bookcases. My rationale ALWAYS was I'll watch them at some point. I'd never have to rely on streaming or internet connections or anything like that for entertainment. I'd always buy an entire series (Mission: Impossible, Transformers, GI Joe, etc.) even if I didn't "like" them because I had one title in the franchise…and I couldn't have an incomplete set.
Last Thanksgiving, I went on a tear and pulled down 500 titles to sell. Just like that. I did it in the course of four hours. Cut the collection in half. No joke. And this year I have bought one movie and one CD. That's a HUGE change for me. This past weekend, I was tempted to just buy a ton of new titles…I walked out of every store with nothing. I couldn't work up the enthusiasm for anything I saw at the prices available.
The by product of this is I'm actually watching more movies and TV shows now and enjoying them instead of trying to get through them as fast as I can. I'm enjoying the experience again.
I get you. I really do. I just got burned out and decided I needed to put my attention elsewhere.
Maybe that's how I ought to look at it– archiving a good chunk of television's past!
Perhaps if I got rid of a lot more of what I wasn't fully in on, I might find a shade more enjoyment in all this, instead of thinking it a chore (having to see it all just because you put the money in it– the classic "sunk cost fallacy").
With all the series that I've been happy just to own a subset of due to what I feel was a decline in quality, I feel sort of relieved. Whatever ails the average HTF member apparently doesn't seem to have strickened me, yet. 🙂
Although I do have this odd impulse from time to time to hunt down the Dick Van Dyke Show on VHS since it would look neat on my shelf next to the original complete series DVD set and the later Blu-Ray set, so maybe I'm showing the early signs…
Exactly what I did. I'm a kid of the 80s and love GI Joe…but never watched any of the TV sets I had. They left. I like Transformers…never watched the new movies or the TV show…they left. I kept the two newest GI Joe movies and the animated one; kept the Transformers animated movie. I was very strategic what I kept: Disney, DC Comics, Marvel, Criterion, Twilight Time. And I'm very strategic in what I get now.
Technically such an "official" diagnosis is only required if one needs it for legal / insurance type reasons, and/or one is seeking treatment with real medication (ie. pills, etc …) for the condition. The person doing the diagnosis would technically also have to be a psychiatrist (ie. a trained MD + specialist), if they're legally allowed to write prescription drugs for an OCD type diagnosis.
I buy only what I can watch (and right now nothing is unwatched) and what I like. Some I want complete — Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere (please!), The Fugitive, WKRP, Law & Order (all but SVU) — and others I'm satisfied with just one or two seasons — Peter Gunn, Mission: Impossible, Perry Mason, The Untouchables.
While researching this topic, I found the following info on wikipedia under Compulsive Hoarding. I never heard of Bibliomania (Book Hoarding) before. How long before they come up with a term for DVD Hoarding?
From wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive_hoarding
Book hoarding
Main article: Bibliomania
Bibliomania is a disorder involving the collecting or hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged. One of several psychological disorders associated with books (such as bibliophagy or bibliokleptomania), bibliomania is characterized by the collecting of books which have no use to the collector nor any great intrinsic value to a more conventional book collector. The purchase of multiple copies of the same book and edition and the accumulation of books beyond possible capacity of use or enjoyment are frequent symptoms of bibliomania.
One of the most famous bibliokleptomaniacs in American history, Stephen Blumberg, never felt that he was doing anything wrong. "Blumberg was trying to save a forgotten world from a system (the libraries) that neglected it.
I may be borderline with OCD. I'm now collecting second copies of DVD sets I already own(just the ones I really love) new and sealed in the case that someday a disc may fail, or get scratched. I will have a back up.
I know this is bad, but it makes sense….sort of.
I'm quickly headed down that road. I've been cutting back and mostly only purchasing seasons of series I've already started and would like to complete. Taking stock of my unwatched piles brought a reality to the situation that I'd known about yet ignored the past several years. If I don't stop I won't have time to watch what's in those piles, much less revisit favorites. I already revisit many of my favorites on occasion and want to do more of that.
Exactly! While I do own some complete series for which I don't like all the seasons it's simply due to economics. It was less expensive to purchase a complete series set than just get the season(s) I wanted. Often those sets have a smaller footprint than the few seasons I truly want. Then there are a handful where the last few seasons went on sale at a ridiculously low price so I bought them for completion's sake.
I have a section in the spreadsheet I use to track what I own and have watched called "More available but I have all I want so it might as well be complete." There are 2-3 dozen titles in that section, some of which are well known, highly regarded, series. Flipper will be the next addition.
I'd been on the fence on that one because I recalled not much caring for it beyond season 2. I also had a few other older series I'd felt that way about but had purchased a "test" season, found I greatly enjoy them as an adult, and purchased the rest. So when Flipper S1 went on sale for an acceptable price I snagged a copy. While I truly enjoyed the season I found it had too much "sameness" in the episodes and don't feel I'd serve any purpose other than "completeness" by purchasing more. Of course, once I show my grandkids a few episodes I could easily change that if they show an interest in more episodes past S1.
I tried that, adding that I don't hunt, fish, attend sporting events, attend concerts, ride motorcycles, do off roading, or any of the other high $$ "entertainments" many of my friends seem to enjoy. She still complains every time a package from Amazon shows up at the door: "So… what is it *this* time?" She won't care when physical is gone. She won't bother putting in a disc for the handful of shows I purchased just for her. She has both movies and TV shows that have been specifically purchased for her, some of which she asked for, that are still in the shrink wrap as much as 10 years later! The only ones that have ever been opened are those I opened myself for either me or one of the grandkids to watch.
In a way, that's how I see it – archiving the past. But for me it's also for my grandkids to experience TV shows I thought highly of when I was their age. I get a kick out of their reactions to some of the classic TV shows!
Even for shows I'm not "fully in on" I find some enjoyment. Generally, those will be the ones with only a season or two purchased but I'm still happy to have them represented on my shelves. Admittedly, I do own a few shows I'm not particularly fond of, Maude for example, simply because the complete series went on sale for a super price, usually less than a season or two. All of those I like enough to watch a few episodes or I'd not have made the purchase. For those, I'll watch a season or two and then shelve it. It's there if I want and I feel no pressure to finish watching it.
I refuse to make my TV watching a chore. I *love* watching old, and some new, TV shows and movies. I *love* revisiting TV shows I've not seen in decades! I *love* "discovering" new to me oldies! I *love* collecting TV shows and movies! I *love* sharing them with friends, coworkers, and my grandkids. In short… I *love* this hobby!
So do I, and I have quite a few favorites– two Western series among them (a genre which I thought I would never find favorites in until just lately, perhaps last year).
The only classic American TV series that I have complete that were more than two seasons are Superman, Perry Mason, Star Trek: TOS, and Dragnet 1967-70, none of which I've seen in its entirety, although I'm making good progress with Perry Mason, having got to the middle of Season 4 this month. I plan to watch it systematically in order, as I feel like it, until I'm done, however many years that takes. I'm never not in the mood for a Mason episode, but I tend to watch them one at a time and maybe two, but not more than that in one session. (I'm not a binge-watcher.) I have sample seasons from dozens of other series, usually because the sale prices were so great I couldn't pass them up. But I have no compulsion to complete any of them even though I like the series (e.g. The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Combat, The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, Kung Fu, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, etc.). Otherwise, if it was one or two seasons and came out in a complete set for a low price and was something I wanted, I bought it, e.g. last year's release of the one-season 39-episode policewoman series, Decoy (1957), which I then watched in its entirety.
I have lots of anime and Japanese live-action series, either whole or in part. Since most such series are short-lived by design–one or two seasons, it's easy to get box sets of many of these shows. However, some franchises go on forever, e.g. Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Pokémon, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Mobile Suit Gundam, Lupin III, etc., so I have multiple seasons from those but not the whole series. I've seen hundreds of episodes from these franchises, especially Pokémon. But I have way too many of these series and don't know when or if I'll get to watch them. I'll start a series and watch, say, the first eight episodes, and then switch to something else, even if Iiked what I saw. It's hard for me to stick with it till the end in one continued viewing cycle. Still, last year I watched four complete series that I had on DVD, two Japanese and two American, for a total of about 140 episodes. That's an improvement for me.
I have most of the Power Rangers box sets, and what I don't have I taped on VHS when the series ran. (Both Pokémon and Power Rangers continue with new seasons every year, both shown on American television. I usually watch every episode of each as it airs.) Shout Factory has been releasing English subtitled sets of the Super Sentai seasons that have been adapted into Power Rangers and I've been getting those as they've been coming out (pretty much the only TV box sets I continue to purchase). My plan is to systematically watch the Japanese versions in tandem with their American counterparts, but it's a daunting task. I made good progress with Carranger and Power Rangers Turbo last year, but stopped about halfway through when I switched to another project. I also get the new Super Sentai seasons from Japan via my local Japanese video store which records them and sells discs with four episodes each at $3.50 a pop.
Here are the first three Shout Factory Super Sentai box sets, which provided action and effects footage for the first three seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers:
Exactly this. The thought of streaming is a massive turn-off for me. I enjoy owning a physical collection and like most of us here, mine is pretty extensive. Mostly 60s, 70s and 80s. Much of it considered too UN-PC for the softer generation of the last decade or two but was quite normal in my day so I don't wish to watch something via streaming that's been cut and edited to just to satisfy the PC brigade.
I have this fantasy that someday I will cut the cord with my Cable TV and simply watch all my discs. That's one way I justify my collection.
Crikey!! I've been doing this too. For example, I love my 60s Hanna Barbera cartoons like Flintstones, Wacky Races, Top Cat e.t.c and I recently purchased another set of each for the very same reasons, just in case I ever need to replace any that get damaged.
This is mainly because I know that DVDs (and CDs) are dying a slow death in favour of streaming. Some titles are now only available On-Demand on those inferior DVD-R so I'm getting in quick whilst my favourites are still available on those proper pressed shiny discs.
I hope those that are making the effort to do this are storing the back-ups securely and in a different location separately from the original sets in case of flood, fire, etc., so that you don't lose both sets in the same event should something happen.
That's basically the reason I'm collecting….that and I enjoy watching TV on DVDs.
If it weren't for "Days of our Lives" and "Wheel of Fortune", I'd get rid of DIRECTV in a heartbeat. I've already reduced my channels to the lowest possible package they offer.
I am.
If I didn't know any better, this sounds like "jargon proliferation" by social science or medical school professors + researchers, attempting to make a name for themselves and/or getting more citations on their books / papers.
(With that being said).
One of my other OCD compulsive completionist collecting activities, centered around a certain narrow niche of books. The only way I was able to jump off this particular OCD treadmill, was from complete utter burnout.
I was at the point where I was going through the "dump bin" equivalents in this niche, which involved searching and buying long out-of-print titles being discarded by college/university libraries. I gradually came to the realization why so many of these titles went out-of-print many years/decades ago. (ie. They were either lousy and/or superfluous).
Essentially I was deep in the "Sturgeon phase" of OCD completionist collecting, where the titles I didn't have were mostly the remaining turds which were long forgotten. The really marginal stuff that only the hardcore old timers (without alzheimers / dementia) would be able to remember from back in the day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law
As in a safe deposit box in a bank vault ?
😉
They're in the Anderson fallout shelter at the bottom of the garden.
I essentially did that a couple of years ago when I got an HDTV.
My CRT is a 32" model and a bit on the heavy side. It resides in a large TV/storage unit (it's 4' x 4.5' x 1.5' – one of those things with compartments, shelves, and drawers below the set and storage to the side) with all those compartments and drawers full of TVonDVD titles with a DVD player and game system under the set on the smallest shelf. The last time it was emptied was to move it away from the wall just enough to get behind it and connect a video game system. I spent at least an hour just unloading and reloading season sets – and that's without taking the set out (I can lift the "empty" cabinet by myself just enough to swing it out a bit). The set is too heavy for me to move safely by myself, my wife is unable to help (too heavy for her), and I get few visitors at opportune times. So… the HDTV was put on an end table on an adjacent wall and has never been connected to cable. The CRT is still in the cabinet and still connected to cable but I only turn it on to play that one game system (the other is connected to the HD set). It's never used to watch TV unless one of the grandkids turns it on because grandma's set is in use. That's very rare.
All of my "TV" viewing is via disc on the HDTV. I've connected a laptop a couple of times to stream something but it was somewhat of a hassle as it was a TV program with commercials (for the record, it was The Orville, the only current TV program, outside sampling a few episodes of STD, I've bothered to watch "live" and it's allways a day or so later via streaming). If I just watched via the laptop in my comfy chair I'd switch tabs during commercials and do some generic surfing. I couldn't do that with it connected.
If my wife would allow it I'd have the cable disconnected. I get my news from the paper, weather from NOAA, and have zero interest in sports. I have no use for anything cable offers. IMHO it's a rather expensive boondoggle. When I think of all the TVonDVD sets I could purchase with that money…
I can say with almost complete certainty, the TV on DVD sets I am buying duplicates of will never see another DVD or Blu-Ray release. Knowing this makes them easier to re-purchase.
An obsession is only detrimental when it negatively impacts your wallet, your waistline or your morality. Collecting vintage TV shows on home video does none of the above. My purse has oft' been lighter for my 'addiction' but never to the point where I had to start selling my body – at this age…only to medical science!
The question might not matter soon. I believe that the whole tv-on-dvd hobby is circling the drain as we speak. Not enough forum members collect current shows for them to really notice, but a LOT of current shows are being abandoned on dvd. I don't know if or when they will resume.
As for classic tv, what did we really get last year? We got Laugh-In and Green Acres complete, but what else? Angie? It's About Time? I expect 2018 to be at least similar or not as good. It's going away.
I notice retailers more reluctant to even carry tv shows. Shelf space for dvds in general is disappearing. My Target doesn't seem to carry any tv shows except for Game of Thrones and maybe one copy of Westworld.
Our OCD problems will be solved, even if we didn't want them solved.
Depends who you ask. I say healthy, enjoyable hobby. My wife says OCD
The following list contains all the DVD sets I have acquired duplicates of for backup purposes:
THE FUGITIVE MOST WANTED EDITION
🙂
The main problem is the complete and utter misuse of the terms compulsion, obsession, and OCD.
OCD or hoarding is not defined as "more than I think you need or is necessary" or "more than I have"
It's not defined as having a bunch of movies sitting on the shelf that you never watch. That could be wasteful or even silly (according to others), but in no way would by itself make a diagnosis of OCD.
You could very easily have 20000 discs and be nowhere close to either of those.
You could have 200 and be floridly OCD.
Is is disruptive to normal daily functions.
Are you spending money you don't have instead of paying rent, buying food or clothes for your childrend
Are you blowing off work and getting rid of friends to go buy discs.
I honestly see a lot more true OCD behaviour in the way many people use Social Media and their Smartphones. I know a whole lot
more people that would become physically ill and become essentially non-functional or have a debilitating panic attack if I put them in a room without access to their phone/Facebook. I know of virtually no BD collector who would have a severe reaction if I restricted access to their Disc collection or arranged that they couldn't buy a New Disc for 2 months. I have a very large collection (far/far more than I 'need'), but if my house burned down/got hit by a tornado and every single item was destroyed, I'd be unhappy but I'd be able to function perfectly fine in life, go to work, talk with my family, and continue on pretty much the same way in life.
Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to respond to my post. It's been nice to discuss this issue with other people who have similar interests and experiences, and I've found your comments very helpful. I've come to the conclusion that I don't have OCD mainly because I don't meet the criteria as some of you have explained.
My hobby is just a silly, little thing I do, but it really hasn't affected my social life, work, health, or daily routines to a degree where I can't function normally. It hasn't been really expensive, either, because I usually wait for things to go on sale.
I'm going to start focusing on storage issues, now, because I've live in an apartment and I'm slowly running out of space. I have one bookshelf filed to capacity with my absolute holy grail DVD sets. The rest are in storage boxes underneath my bed, or in the closet.
I'm thinking of moving some discs to binders, and discard or breakdown the cases to free up space.
I buy a lot but I don't consider it an obsession or OCD because like a couple of others above have mentioned, I really fear that this will be the last time such TV shows (and films) will ever be released on a physical format and that day is dawning at a fast rate.
I'm English and live here in the UK. Now that I'm almost done collecting my favourite home-grown TV shows, I have started importing from Amazon (US) classic TV shows like Highway Patrol, Adam 12, Storm Trooper, Bat Masterson e.t.c. before it all comes to a halt. We just cannot get those over here in Region 2 Land so I have been kind of panicking a bit lately, probably unnecessary but knowing my luck, if I don't get them they'll suddenly be available from 3rd party sellers only at extortionate prices.
Which, I would say, is good common sense– all that packaging probably takes up a lot of room, no matter how they're packaged!
In the end, it is your decision as to whether you consider this behavior to be a form of "OCD" and whether it has to be treated (either professionally or by self-discipline, reverse engineering, etc ….).
Other factors could be contributing factors such as: eviction, divorce, imminent bankruptcy, etc … as to whether any behavior has to be changed.
I have quite a few more than you on that score–
Barney Miller
The Bob Newhart Show
M Squad
Arthur Hailey's Hotel
Mannix
Cannon
Wanted: Dead or Alive
and, as you, O-R NBC 60s Star Trek.
And, also, as you, I'm not the binger either– one at a time for hour series, and at most two at a time for comedies and shorter dramas.
Hobby.
For me, it's certainly a hobby…but I also have archivist tendencies and I make my living as a professional archivist. I think it's certainly true that the attention to detail and completion that helps me at work can carry over to my home collecting, and sometimes, costs more than necessary. But on the whole, I'm at peace with my choices. I don't look at my shelves and wish I had the money back.
I remember that as a kid, I'd catch Star Trek, Honeymooners and Twilight Zone reruns on WPIX in NY, where they'd be on ever changing schedules and rarely in order. I loved those shows – and to this day, they remain my holy trinity of TV – but the idea of seeing my favorite episodes on my timetable was foreign to me. From a practical point of view, the few hundred bucks that those DVD and BD sets cost have been well worth it for the convenience to be able to put on an episode of my choice at will.
What I've learned is that I don't need to purchase a set just because I watched it air live. I don't need to own everything I loved or liked. But I do want to own things that I think I'll revisit.
I've gone on vacation without internet access and brought discs with me. I've had discs to keep me company in periods of unemployment or underemployment when there was literally no money for a cable or internet subscription to stream. I've bought discs where it was cheaper to buy the set than to subscribe to stream the content.
I think for me, the big hurdle was realizing I didn't need to buy every movie I saw in theaters, or every show I saw on TV. But also, that if the disc was $8 and the streaming rental was $5, go for the disc cause if you watch it twice, it's cheaper than the stream would have been. Balance is often a work in progress but I think the majority of my purchases were sound.
And quite a few things of what I've gotten have been revisited– unfortunately, however, at the expense of a lot of other things I've gotten that I'd like to advance further on.
It's great having a large film collection as it allows you to craft an evenings (or even a seasons!) entertainment on a whim. For example my wife & I have been doing a film noir every Sunday since Christmas. It's been great digging through my collection, which often leads us to new avenues of discovery via different directors, actors etc. Something which the Netflix, Amazon experiences don't provide (here in the UK at least — I subscribe to both).
I was born in ‘69 so most of my favorite shows are from the ‘80’s. Magnum, P.I., Miami Vice, Simon and Simon, V. But also a big fan of the ‘70’s shows like Rockford Files, Hawaii Five-0, Battlestar Galactica. Then I’m big into sci-fi so of course I have all of my Star Trek, Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis, Twilight Zone, etc. I don’t watch regular tv. All shows I watch are either on disc or streaming and I prefer disc, it just looks better.
I have a fairly large collection of movies too, nothing compared to some here. I certainly understand feelings of OCD but I’m pretty confident it doesn’t apply to most here. I do a fair bit of rewatching my favorites. Sometimes it’s an episode here and there and other times it’s every episode in order.
Everybody buys something that they’re into. Movies and shows is not any different.
It's not a disorder. It's a choice. I collect be cause I like what I collect. I have approximately 1200 vhs movies, around 100 dvds, over 100 ced discs, and laser disc, beta tapes. I still buy anytime I find something different.
This is a great topic. I have collected over 2000 DVD/Blurays/UHDs over the years, costing me literally thousands of dollars, and taking up a lot physical space. Although my significant other doesn't understand my zeal (I don't think it is an obsession), she doesn't bug me about it either. This is on top of the litterally a thousand or more movies, TV shows that I have downloaded or copied off TV and burned to disc. So I have QUITE the collection, but I don't classify myself as an OCD sufferer. A fanatic maybe. 😛 I tell myself that someday after I retire, I will cut the cord for good, and survive off my collection. Then again, maybe my DVD/Bluray players will go kaput, and by that time, no more physical players will be manufactured. 🙁 It is a conundrum.
What's wrong with having an incomplete collection? A lot of shows had two or three good seasons and then it's time to move on.
I guess the real question we all have to ask is do we buy discs to watch them or just to store them?
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If you watch what you record (or buy, for people who do that), your house doesn't look like a disaster area with piles of tapes and discs everywhere and disorganized or unlabeled, you still have relationships with people in the real world and the collection isn't a financial burden, it's not OCD, it's just a hobby and a fairly benign hobby at that.
But if any of the above is true or you wind up buying (or recording) duplicate copies because you don't even know what you have or "because it's there", then I would say one does have OCD or is a hoarder.
I have a rule with most clothes: if I don't wear them over the course of a year, then I don't need them and I give them away.
IMO, the same should be true for media, but perhaps a longer timeframe – say 3 years? Exceptions, of course, should be made for rarities, special packaging, things important to the history of TV or film, things you might want to leave to children or grandchildren, etc.
What I don't understand are people who collect more than they could ever hope to watch in a lifetime and even if it's possible to eventually view them all, what's the point of ownership if you're only going to watch once – you might as well stream them. Personally, I only purchase discs that I know I'm going to want to watch more than once unless the purchase price is less than the rental price. But having said that, I have two friends who have record collections many times the size of mine and I do sometimes envy them and think, "I should have done that." On the other hand, I frequently look on the shelves at my Blu-ray discs and don't feel like watching any of them again and then sometimes wonder why I bought them.
I think this collection business is generational. Younger people don't seem to feel the need to collect any media. They're completely satisfied being able to stream and if something isn't available, they'll watch something else. When I was a kid, I projected 16mm movies to groups and just having those reels of film in my hands of "an actual movie" seemed so magical. And I remember when pre-recorded VHS first came out, I thought "you mean I could own a collection of every film that won an Academy Award? Wow!" But today, with the easy access to home video via so many channels, it's no big deal anymore, in fact that ubiquity combined with the amount of trash out there has reduced the perceived value of movies (and music) IMO.
For me, it's about not being complete. I don't jump into a TV show in Season 4 Episode 18 for that reason, as an example. I go back to Episode 1 and start there. If I start a listen to a new podcast, I'll go back to the beginning. If I'm watching the third Maze Runner, I'm watching the first two first…or the first seven Harry Potter's…or all the James Bond movies. I feel like I'm missing something.
Better example: CBS released a "sampler" disc of The Next Generation on Blu ray. I bought it and keep it on the shelf even though I have all seven seasons of the show on the shelf…along with the recut "TV movies." Why? Again, that's a complete series for me. I couldn't just have the fourth and sixth seasons, plus one of the movies. It's all or nothing for me.
Lately, I've had to cut ALL of it off, so it's nothing.
For reference, I am a licensed psychologist – so take from this whatever you wish. If you are hoping that I'll diagnosis you without meeting you first, I am afraid you are going to be disappointed. And OCD, if you have it, is a nasty disorder — all the more reason to be cautious. Here are a couple of questions I would ask if you walked into my office: (1) do you feel that your collecting interferes in your life — does it interfere with your personal (including partner, if applicable), professional, or scholastic endeavors? (2) What happens if you don't record an episode? Do you fixate on that lost episode that you'll never see again, knowing full well (as you stated in your post) that it is available elsewhere? (3) Have you ever purposely tried not to record something and either (a) as the soon-to-be missed episode came closer you inevitably recorded it anyway, or (b) berated yourself endlessly? Those are the first questions that come to mind without their respective answers. Frankly I find a lot of people present to me with a belief that they have something like OCD and MOST OF THE TIME their symptoms do not meet criterion for the disorder — and that is a good thing. In your case you sound like a collector, which does not necessitate a diagnosis, but it can be difficult to change that behavior. You may want to consider an appointment with a professional but make sure that they treat OCD and that they utilize, among other things, cognitive-behavioral interventions — on the off-chance you do meet criterion. Best of luck.
Fuzzylogik
Which is precisely the thought process behind why I stopped where I did with Perry Mason— I got seven great seasons of entertainment from all the releases I purchased, then decided to cut it off there.
Good point, I cut off Gunsmoke after Season 9.
That is one exceptional rule.
And it can be applied to SO MANY other "things" in our lives.
I'm not so sure… I think streaming has striped away the causal movie watcher (i.e. most of the population!) across a variety of age brackets. But there are still hardcore film (and for the sake of this topic TV) lovers, who still feel the need to collect physical copies of their favourite movies/shows. Take a look at Instagram… search for a hashtag such as #dvdcollection or #bluraycollection and you'll see tons of young people passionately posting about their latest purchases & disc collections.
Now I think an argument could be made that a lot of young people aren't using forums such as this any more, and have instead moved to social media platforms such as Facebook & Instagram to chart their passions. I think the result of which has resulted in the death of a meaningful dialogue — instead they share snapshot comments & emoticons!
Just ask yourself: does your home look like a garbage dump like the homes of these hoarders (pictures)? If not, then you don't have a disorder.
We're only human beings. We all miss 99.9999999999999999999999999% of what goes on.
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^ In my case, yes. And the thought of moving them all (again) in 2 or 3 years gave me anxiety. So they had to go.
If you don't have any first hand experiences with a brain that is constantly screaming "I WANT IT ALL" in a compulsive completionist manner, then it will be difficult to understand. There is no other easy way of describing it.
Fundamentally it is very irrational and extremely emotionally charged. There is absolutely no logic behind any of it.
(On a weird extreme "OCD" tangent).
When I ran out of movies + tv shows dvds to actually watch/buy, I started to buy a lot of dvd discs which were known to have a lot of extra basketcase drm. (They were mostly $2 dump bin fodder). I was even buying dump bin dvds which I suspected had extra basketcase drm, but which turned out to not have any.
The actual movies on such discs were largely secondary. I was mostly interested in deciphering how the extra basketcase drm functioned on such "sick" discs. (Basketcase drm stuff like garbage playlists, deliberate bad sectors, etc ….). I probably spent more time reading the *.ifo files from such basketcase sics, than watching the actual movies/shows on these discs.
Hell yeah, I second that. Except in my case, it was a Home Theater. I always had big screen TVs and excellent gear but always dreamt of a dedicated Theater and I wanted the real thing with commercial seats, etc… I use to purchase VHS in widescreen special editions, replaced them all with LDs which some of you might remember used to cost over $100 per movie and not like today's $5 Blu-rays. Then, of course, I replaced them all with DVD's then Blu-rays and of course the special edition this and that. To re-quote Carabimero "enough." Until I cooled down two years ago and only since purchased a handful of Blu-rays, and recently two 4K Blu-rays. In the end, I built the room, soundproofed it, bought nine commercial seats and a projector and now purchasing some other stuff and the theater is 90% done. It's all about choices. I use to justify saying I did not spend my money on alcohol and tobacco, so I was buying movies.
As for Ron, hoarding is a big word; I think we're more nostalgic than anything. Heck, I own tons of relics that I probably will never use like old walkie-talkies as seen on Stranger Things, boxes full of Commodore 64 and so on. But they're packed in boxes in my garage and not all over the place, and I collect specific things from the 80s era. So do I consider myself a hoarder? No. Ron, are you alone? No. Does my wife know about all the boxes and what's in them? Hell no! She'll make me sell it on eBay! Lol All just perception. Why should you worry about collecting stuff that makes you happy? You said it yourself; you're a "collector," not a "hoarder."
How about this: Life is short as the old saying goes, so enjoy it while you can. If it makes you're happy to collect stuff or watch Mash reruns for days on end then just do it! If you want to do something else, do that. Just have fun doing it!
In the case of my music, music is cheap (and so can be TV shows, naturally). I love hitting the flea markets and purchasing LP's and 8-tracks for 50¢ or $1. I've really wasted no money, and if I like what I hear, all the better. If not, crap on it, it can go to charity. I've actually been on YouTube this morning pulling up mp3 versions of some lesser quality tapes that needed repair work done. I own the music already, so I'm not breaking any copyright laws.
95% of my collection has been purchased very cheaply. Most DVDs for $1 and most Blu-rays for $2 or $3. Some of my box sets I’ve gotten stupid cheap. A few years ago I got the original complete Twilight Zone Blu-ray set for $6. Star Wars 6 movie Blu-ray set for $10. I also get box sets with my CC points. Just got the original Hawaii Five-0. Occasionally I’ll buy online but it’s usually something that will rarely show up at a pawn shop like Twilight Time editions etc. Or if it’s something I consider a must have such as when (not if, thinking positive) Magnum, P.I. gets a domestic Blu-ray release. That will be a day one preorder.
I purchase a lot of DVDs on sale, too. I'm sure we've all gotten great deals. It doesn't matter if you pay a $1 or $100. You could be a millionaire and pay full MSRP and still have this problem. The point is: Do you watch them? If you do, than you're good. If you don't, than maybe something else is going on.
I purchased a lot of TV DVD sets dirt cheap during the Big Lots' Warner Bros. dump fiasco a few years ago. I bought seven seasons of Dallas ($6 each), Six seasons of Superman ($3 each), five seasons of The Flintstones ($3 each). I didn't buy them just because they were cheap. I actually like these shows. I passed on other sets like the Dukes of Hazzard, and whatever else they had. I keep saying I'll watch them someday, but its been at least 5 years since I purchased them and they're all still sealed. There's just not enough time to watch everything I want. Nevertheless, I feel I'll regret it someday if I get rid of them.
My DVD (and preferred Blu-ray) collection is only for TV shows I have loved over the years.:) But my Movie collection is out of control.:eek:
I did the bulk of my disc buying in the 2000s and I'm still working my way through some of them, both movies and TV. There are a handful of core favorites I give priority to for format upgrades, then I sample new (or new-to-me) releases to see if I like them enough to watch them more than once. If I do, then I buy them. I have two swiveling shelves from SkyMall (may they rest in peace), so that affects how much constitutes "enough" in my book. And I also have to make space for books, music, furniture, and to be able to walk around in my own house.
Of course I watch them. Usually every day of the week. They are my nightly entertainment after I put in a day of work.
It got me thinking so I did a bit of Googling on the subject.
https://www.verywellmind.com/the-difference-between-an-addiction-and-a-compulsion-22240
The Key Differences
There are two main differences between addiction and compulsion. They include:
1. Pleasure
A compulsion, at least as it is experienced in obsessive-compulsive disorder, does not include the experience of pleasure, whereas an addiction does. While people who have addictions suffer all manner of discomforts, the desire to use the substance or engage in the behavior is based on the expectation that it will be pleasurable.
2. Reality
Another major distinction between an addiction and a compulsion has to do with the individual’s awareness of reality. When people have obsessive-compulsive disorder, they are usually aware that their obsession is not real. They are often disturbed by feeling the need to carry out a behavior that defies logic, yet they do it anyway to relieve their anxiety.
You can get both of those shows over-the-air for free.
He might not have an OTA antenna. Not all of us can get by with rabbit ears! :laugh:
The only times I buy movies I don't necessarily watch (at least not right away) are movies that I haven't seen and may have only a passing interest in (which I have no way of knowing for sure without seeing them first), and yet are hard to find for rental, streaming, or rarely shown on TV, etc. And if limited edition discs are available and may go out of print easily, I will be tempted to buy them out of the curiosity to see them, fearing that if I miss this chance I may not have another one again. With the proliferation of streaming, this is becoming rarer and rarer.
Does intention to watch them count? I fully intend to watch every single purchase but it’s going to take the rest of my life at this point.
Or at least, not a severe one that has spiraled out of control. A few years ago, the Mrs was on a kick with viewing such shows about extreme hoarding (Fearing that we could end up like that, if we weren't careful!), and many of these extreme cases of unhealthy hoarding (Way, way beyond simply owning too much physical media!) were indeed, heartbreaking to witness!
Jason, the fact that you recognized this as a potential issue, and became proactive in rectifying your situation separates you from these depressing stories about extreme hoarders who actually reach the point of hoarding garbage! My wife and I have also been purging in preparation and anticipation of a big move, hopefully later this year.
CHEERS! 🙂
Maybe showing this thread to my wife would improve the WAF for my own collecting, LOL. 😀
FWIW, I generally avoid buying TV series if I can. There are definitely too many discs in TV series to collect. And honestly, I find that most network TV series are so easy to enjoy at random that there’s really no need to collect. I’m generally never looking to watch a very specific episode of a specific series to care to own them anyway — and many of the better ones are readily available via streaming services like NetFlix and Amazon Prime, if not on YouTube or the like. There are a handful of high quality (usually shorter) series that don’t fit that description, and those are pretty much the only ones I own — and that’s already more than enough IMHO…
And yes, some people would probably still wonder if I’m not a little OCD or a hoarder, LOL…
_Man_
I live in the sticks so satellite is my only option. Cable isn't even available in my area. A regular antenna doesn't pick up anything where I am.
Here's, I think, another possible reason why we don't see all the releases of all the shows we purchase on DVD– some of us grew up in strict, incredibly sheltered organized religious environments that put heavy emphasis on avoiding "the world" and "worldly entertainments."
Where this applies here (agree or disagree if you will) is that some organized religious environments only frown on most of what is on today, but don't say much about the classics of yesteryear. Others, however, it would seem, take it much further and make no such distinction– it makes no difference whether it's from yesteryear or today, or how much sex or violence it has; just because it's television, it's a "worldly entertainment" and "immorality," and therefore to be avoided, lock, stock and barrel.
The way I've been is that (as I've said before, IIRC) I may not care for a lot of what is on today, but I'm not going to make those who do like what is on today give it up (I'm generally a "live and let live" type in that respect; before, I was incredibly judgmental).
I just thought I'd bring that out there as another possible reason.
I have a rule about my collection. Saves me a lot of time, money and space – a sort of inverse OCD. I'm allowed 200 feature films on BD or UHD, period. If I go over that amount, I have to sell any I'm not so hot about anymore or lower-res redundant titles. It's like my top AFI 100 (although in this case 150); the films I would take to a desert island or show again and again on movie night, and that's it. I do the same with my Super 8 and 16mm film collection.
I think the convenience of having entire seasons on DVD, at a fraction of the cost/space of what it used to be on VHS made it easy for many of us to build large collections that snowballed before we realized it.
I myself am guilty of buying shows I NEVER would have recorded on VHS for the above reasons. Series like Get Smart, Little House on the Prairie, Murder She Wrote and Leave it to Beaver are not ones I would have ever recorded from TV but since they were cheap enough in bargain bins, I couldn’t resist.
Now that I am approaching age 50, it seems daunting to find the time to watch all these before I ultimately expire. Working 70 hr work weeks for 10 years didn’t exactly afford me free to time binge either. Now that my work schedule is normal, more or less, I am taking time to enjoy my purchases. But I know I will eventually end up selling sets that I will never have the time/inclination to watch again. Mostly, the more modern ones like The Sopranos, Two and a Half Men, Sex and the City, Glee.
A few months before Ron started this thread, I decided I wasn’t going to buy anything more, aside from a few unreleased grails, should they come up, like the rest of Alice, Donna Reed or Phyllis. Otherwise, I’m done.
With the exception of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In I'm just waiting for a few "Grails" myself' It's been a great 11 years since I began this hobby'
Everyone has a formula for collecting. Mine is pretty simple and easy to understand.
First, I don't care about TV shows so I don't have ANY dvd's or BD's of TV shows/series. Where my collection habits differ from most folks is I am a 35mm film collector foremost. Film is expensive and requires a lot of storage space. A long time ago I decided that I wouldn't buy a film print if I didn't intend to watch it at least 3-4 time a year. That formula keeps my film collection manageable in terms of storage space and if during the year I discover I'm not watching a certain title, I sell it and free up space for another title. When it comes to blu rays, I have a theory. If I'm interested in a new title release that cost $14-$30 I'll buy it because it's cheaper than two tickets, 2 drinks and a large popcorn in a southern California movie theatre. I just look at that as buying two tickets to a theatre and I own the title to watch later, or not.
I don't double, triple or quadruple dip on BD's. DVD's upscaled to 2K and blu rays projected with a good projector and BD player in a 2K format are good enough for me. I'll never buy a 4K BD and I won't upgrade my Oppo 103 to a 4K player.
On the other hand, I will purchase EVERY golden age 3D movie that hits the market regardless of the title. I love 3D BD's and 35mm 3D titles.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!
bd
Normally, I watch mostly westerns and Japanese movies and TV shows–samurai, yakuza, superhero, J-pop, anime, etc. But lately, I've adopted a habit of watching an old Hollywood movie on VHS at night to help me fall asleep, something that doesn't require subtitles and is not filled with action or stimulation of any kind. I have tons of such movies and have had no difficulty finding tapes that fit the bill, usually with three movies on each, mostly taped over the last decade or so off TCM (or the Fox Movie Channel). I've watched five films this way in the past week. Three of them were notorious flops when they were released.
The trouble is, some of these films, which may be pretty bad on the surface, are just astounding and I wind up not falling asleep or at least not until more than half-way through (I invariably watch the rest of the film the next morning since I tend to wake up super-early). This was true of VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1967), the trashy boxoffice hit based on Jacqueline Susann's novel, and THE PRODIGAL (1955), a biblical spectacle starring Lana Turner as a high priestess of a fertility cult in ancient Damascus, both of which are genuinely bad, but absolutely compelling and I'm glad I watched them. However, one of them, again generally considered a "bad" film on the surface, was so engrossing I watched it all in one two-hour sitting and then got up to type up notes on it, not getting to bed till 2AM, three to four hours after I usually fall asleep. It was SINCERELY YOURS (1955), Liberace's only starring film, and I loved it. Every scene had something startling in it and every plot twist had me dropping my jaw and muttering, "Oh no, they didn't!" Sure, Liberace is terrible as an actor, but the film is built quite strongly around his act, which is smoothly incorporated into the film, giving us lots of virtuoso piano scenes, all beautifully staged, including a Carnegie Hall finale. I liked it so much I now want to get the Warner Archive DVD.
Other films I watched during this VHS binge are ONIONHEAD (1958), a very unusual Andy Griffith vehicle set on a Coast Guard ship during WWII and indicative of a completely different path Griffith could have taken as an actor, and TWENTY PLUS TWO (1961), the only real stinker in the bunch, a low-key crime drama with a plot hole so egregious it derails the whole film. Yet I'm glad I saw it because of the cast (David Janssen, Dina Merrill, Jeanne Crain, + numerous great character actors) and the polished direction by Joseph Newman. It's part of a brief cycle of Janssen starring roles before he started "The Fugitive" and they're all fascinating to watch for the differences between his movie characters and his TV style of acting.
My point is that I wouldn't be making these discoveries from hidden corners of Hollywood if I didn't have these tapes and I didn't have a DVD/VCR combo connected to a monitor in my bedroom for just such late-evening viewing. Sometimes the best viewing experiences are random ones like this.
However, as I get older and more focused in my retirement, I'm going to have to get rid of hundreds of these tapes, particularly the older ones, pre-cable, taped off pan-and-scan airings from broadcast TV complete with commercials. Those started back to 1982. I did purge some of them a couple of years ago, but that barely made a dent. I'll do it and I'm sure I won't miss most of them, but I hope I don't discard an unsung discovery-in-waiting like the films I cited above.
P.S. I also watched THE BRIDE WORE BLACK, a Truffaut favorite from 1968, because it happened to be on the tape after SINCERELY YOURS and I had the urge to see it again and hear that gorgeous Herrmann score again. And I didn't have to go looking for it!
I agree with those upthread – if your collecting doesn't negatively affect your life, work, health or family, then enjoy it and try not to feel guilty about it. Everyone spends money on something they enjoy doing, whether it's cars, sports, travel, cigarettes, alcohol, expensive restaurants, clothes, etc. What matters is how in control of your hobby spending you are, and of course the limitations of storage space, time, etc.
I have a fairly large collection (though likely nowhere near the epic size of many fellow HTF members' collections) of Blu-Rays, DVDs and TV series. I never got into collecting VHS tapes, thankfully, and laserdiscs were way too pricey for me back in their heyday. I started collecting DVDs since 1997 and have slowly built up a pretty decent collection of personal favorites, many of which were bought on sale long after their initial release date – mainly because I only return back to the U.S. once a year and so have gotten used to buying titles I want on a delayed time frame. It's worked out pretty well for me, though I do miss out on getting certain things I want right away.
Living in a fairly small 2-bedroom house here (roughly 700 square feet), space is at a premium, so most of my 1000-plus DVDs are stored in CD/DVD storage binders, with their cases safely stored away at my parents' home stateside. (All my 400-plus blu-rays are stored in their cases on IKEA Billy bookshelves, however). This system would drive many other collectors nuts, I know, but it works for me and keeps my wife happy. (I'm lucky that she is very mellow about my collecting and never gives me much static about it – mainly because I limit my purchases to a handful of titles – no more than 3 or 4 – a month, plus one big purchase during our trips back home during the summer.)
One day, when we eventually get a much bigger house, I'd like to have my complete collection displayed, but until then, I'm just happy to have access to all the discs I've collected over 20-plus years. And, speaking of TV on DVD, pretty much all TV series I collect are classic or archive ones, many of them rare and surely not easy to find for rent or streaming here in Japan. So having a large personal library of these kinds of shows gives me a wider variety of viewing choices.
The one issue that certainly impacts us all is time. I have an active 5 year old and so most of my watching is done later at night or the occasional free afternoon when he's at nursery school. Even if I stopped buying discs now, it's unlikely I would be able to see everything in my collection in my lifetime. So my progress in working my way through my collection is slow, or done in spurts. As it is, I juggle classic TV series and movie watching with new shows (I like both vintage and many modern shows, though I don't collect any recent shows, since they are easy to find streaming or rental). And I'm OK with all that. I'm spoiled for choice, and am happy with that scenario. All my life I've dreamed of having my own movie and TV show library and a home theater to watch them in. Though neither of these are complete yet, they are exciting works-in-progress and bring me great joy.
There may still be hardcore film fans, but there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that consumers are substantially purchasing far fewer films in physical formats (in the U.S.) as the streaming business gets larger every day. The video physical media business was almost $11 billion in 2009. In 2017, it was $4.7 billion. And every week this year so far is down from last year.
That's no reflection on which is better. Obviously, Blu or UHD is the best way to watch/hear a film. But the market doesn't care. And while I don't have hard data on the age breakdown of purchasers of physical media, I think it's pretty obvious that younger people care far less about ownership. Look at the music industry: physical media is now less than 16% of the total business. Over 65% is streaming.
The switch to streaming is really not good for the industry. It's fine for consumers, as long as they don't mind that their favorite shows, movies, music, etc. can suddenly be taken away from them at any time. But the whole thing depends on subscription models, an all-you-can-eat system that is ultimately limited by audience size and the amount they're willing to pay for a subscription before they rebel. This is why the streaming market is balkanizing as every provider tries to control access to their own material… and it all results in MUCH less money for the artists. The music industry now consists of a handful of corporate-backed superstars, and then a huge gap down to the indie bands who have to tour constantly in order to make a living.
I think there will eventually be a backlash on the part of both consumers and artists and a move back toward physical media, if the physical media market doesn't collapse completely before then.
I don't really think the movie (or movie and television) industry and the music industry are comparable. People tend to listen to music over and over again. With movies and TV, it's one viewing and done, with maybe a handful of favourites that get revisited repeatedly. I don't think that the average consumer ever bought much in the way of movie and TV titles.
Yes Unfortunately
They're not buying cars or houses, either. I guess they're gearing up for the socialist economy. 😆
Mother of Christ, what the hell do you prefer to collect, salt shakers, garden gnomes, obituaries? At least the TV shows and movies I collect get more "action" than any other collectables I can think of. And, if they are blu-rays, they look far better than the crappy lo-rez streaming downloads that pass for hi-def (which sadly most American sheeple prefer)! I would increase the "excessive" part if more of the classic material I desire were available. We live in a obsessive-compulsive world where collecting the masterpieces of the past is the LEAST thing this jackass world we live in should be worried about!
Alrighty then.
Don't hold back! Tell us how you REALLY feel! 😛
Yes, but …
There has been a paucity (basically no) high profile disc releases in the first 6 weeks of 2018
2 of the first 5 reported weeks saw increase in UHD/BD sales compared to 2017, but almost entirely due to continued 20-25% year over year decrease in DVD sales.
2/27 through the first couple weeks of April should show what really going on with 4 major Disneys (including Marvel and Star Wars) and another Marvel release. I'm expecting to see multiple weeks where BD/UHD outsell DVD and possible the 1st 4-5 week total where HighDef outsells DVD in history.
I always wondered what the SD vs HD sales would have been over the last couple years if more than half the TV titles esp weren't released DVD only
To me it is always about completeness. I must have the entire set of whatever. An example: one Black Friday I picked up the Blu rays for season 1 of “The Walking Dead”. This was a show I enjoyed. Because of this I was compelled to buy every other season as it came out even though I have lost interest in the show.
My remedy now is not to start the collection. I think carefully when I purchase any disc knowing I will have to get all future seasons.
Some day I’ll talk about our once vast beanie baby collection and the great collapse of 1998.
when i was young i didn't have $ to collect anything, so laserdiscs, VHS went by me quickly. the first times when i had some funds, i already *knew* that hi-def physical media was coming, therefore i never went crazy on DVDs. just getting things i know i may have a chance of re-watching later on… and you know what? after netflix DVD subscription came out… i never played those movies even ONCE. like i may have put the discs in and unwrapped the packaging and played it to make sure i didn't get dud. but it was all netflix DVD subscription all the time… and then i discovered my public library was carrying a huge amount of new releases as well… damn forget it!
when HD-DVD/Blu-Rays was ANNOUNCED, i sold off all my DVDs! every single last one of them. not when the discs were available to purchase, but just the announcement of them. that way i got some value out of the DVDs that i never even watched.
i went crazy amassing both formats back when they were doing amazon BOGO for $10 (which would come to $5/title), it was like a "steal" in those early days. after HD DVD died, i sold off 20-30 or however many HD DVD i built and started to focus on BDs. i think when i crossed 1,000 titles and started to use blu-ray.com to track my catalog, that's when i realized this is stupid. i'm back to the same exact thing i had with DVDs… which is i never watch the the discs!
using blu-ray.com i was able to track what i've seen and what i haven't and according to my collection i have 40% blind buys… meaning i have never seen the title but purchased it in order to try to and watch it one day later when i have time. those statistics haven't changed since i ended my collection-mania.
several things occured:
-i got married
-streaming
-blu-rays came to my public library catalog
after that i have been selling things i've seen before that i will probably NEVER watch again. that or things that i will watch once and sell. like recently i'm trying to sell a few criterion BDs of bergman's. they are great films… but the possibility of me re-watching them is 0 with limited time of trying to raise a couple of kids.
hell the time it takes for me to move it around in the basement or trying to find anything is time-consuming enough… let alone having time to actually sit down and watch anything hahaha.
and of course… forget UHDs ;).
i think this is likely a reason why the UHD discs wont be very popular in the long haul. for a lot of collectors like me there are so many reasons to no longer collect:
-i really thought BDs were the "final" physical medium. i can't tell between 720p vs. 1080p on my projector
-life changes (like getting married and having kids)
-streaming factors
-equipment upgrades like 4k/HDR-enable or 3-D enabled equipment to enjoy those playback. almost every piece of equipment from source to AVR has to be upgraded.
BTW, what definition of ‘hobby’ are you using? The only one that ever sounded right to me is that a hobby is something you can spend infinite amounts of both time and money on. Anything else is just a pastime.
In the case of collecting movies, tv series, and music, it’s definitely a hobby for me.
Posted by stringbean:
“2. Reality
Another major distinction between an addiction and a compulsion has to do with the individual’s awareness of reality. When people have obsessive-compulsive disorder, they are usually aware that their obsession is not real. They are often disturbed by feeling the need to carry out a behavior that defies logic, yet they do it anyway to relieve their anxiety.”
This is exactly what my OCD is like as it pertains to other things in my life. I’ve not been able to get rid of it since I was in high school. It wastes a lot of time in my life as well as creating more anxiety and frustration. I once saw a TV report about a man with OCD. I distinctly remember that one of his OCDs related to the throw rug in his house which had a fringe — he would spend so much time making sure the fringe was “just so”, while his family members would unknowingly mess it up. Just thinking about that causes me anxiety for him as I understand perfectly why the fringe had to be right.
So while I may have shelves and shelves and boxes of movies, I have never considered it an OCD for me. They don’t cause me any anxiety and are a nice hobby.
I know that for a lot of people, collecting is about completeness. I understand that mindset and sympathize. In my case, I'm not too fussed about completing all, or even many, series, unless they are my all-time favorites. It basically depends on how many seasons of a show there are. If it was a one (or two) season and done show, and I like it, I'll pick up the complete series (The Rebel, The Loner, Stoney Burke, most ITC adventure shows, etc. – the list goes on and on). But for long-running shows, I'll pick and choose what I consider the best seasons, or just get the first season by default so as to have a sampling of a wide variety of series.
For example, many series undergo casting changes or drastic changes in direction, storyline or tone, that keep me from wanting to have all seasons. For example, I have the first three series of All Creatures Great and Small on DVD, plus the specials…but have no plans to buy the four subsequent series, after Carol Drinkwater quit the show and was replaced by Lynda Bellingham as James Herriott's wife, Helen. The show was still enjoyable to watch, but just not the same with the cast change. So the first three series (and two specials) make a nice, rounded set for me, and give me all I need to own of that particular vibe.
Similarly, I own all seasons of Star Trek: The Original Series (yes, even season 3!) on Blu, but only seasons 3-5 of The Next Generation, because the latter show IMO was very slow out the gate and didn't start to become steady in quality until season 3. And while there are many good episodes sprinkled in those last two seasons, there are lots of duds, too. I may eventually buy the remaining TNG sets some day, but they would have to be at steep discounts. (It helps also that all of the Trek series are streaming on Netflix, so I've been able to re-watch some of my favorite TNG episodes from seasons 6 and 7 and feel even less compelled to buy those two seasons.)
For some shows, I just want a taste, a sampling of that particular flavor of TV program. For example, I'm happy with owning just the first seasons of I Love Lucy, Bewitched, and Hogan's Heroes. I like these shows, but rarely watch sitcoms and therefore a single season of each suits me just fine. (Conversely, I do own all 12 series of Red Dwarf and all 4 series of Blackadder, so some comedies make the grade for me when it comes to collecting.) I really like Sea Hunt but, having purchased the 64 episode sampler set several years ago, don't feel compelled to buy all 4 individual season sets. I might someday, but I ask myself, do I need more than 64 episodes of that show? I'm not sure I do (and again, this is speaking strictly for myself – no disrespect to those who do want all seasons!)
It's all about prioritizing for me – and of course, discretionary funds. This helps keep my collecting somewhat in check, and gives me a better chance of watching most of the shows I own.
I've recently started watching and appreciating the collection that I've accumulated instead of just wanting and buying more for the sake of adding to the collection.
However, if certain titles were released, I would buy them because I've waited so long for them.
For some series, completing them is all about price. For example, I recently purchased S1 of Flipper, on sale, to see if I would like it as much as when a kid. I did enjoy the season but there's so much "sameness" in that first season that I don't feel compelled to purchase S2 & S3. BUT should they go on sale for under $13 each I'd likely purchase them anyway. "Bargain" sale prices are why I purchased the "non Barney Fife" seasons of The Andy Griffith Show, the hour length seasons of I Love Lucy (aka The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour), the last couple of seasons of Taxi, the Dick Sargent (S6-8) Bewitched years, S5-7 of Mission Impossible, S5-8 of The Cosby Show, S7-11 of M*A*S*H, and a few others.
To address those particular points of what you said in your post (a digest, if you will):
–I got VEI's Petrocelli both-in-one DVD from Amazon on high recommendation (at least it seemed that way) from the thread here about that 1974-76 NBC legal series w/Newman, Howard and Salmi, and while it was a shame that it was cut off after only two seasons' worth, what there was, IMO, was magic (especially Barry Newman as Tony Petrocelli; not just that, but Tony's very loving relationship with his wife Maggie [which, I have said, seemed to have been 20 min. into the future of what Hart to Hart would be on ABC from 1979-84 w/Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart]).
–I also have the first three series' worth of All Creatures, but have barely even started on the third (I do not have the specials, though); sooner or later, I will probably get more into that third one, because I have enjoyed the setting, for one thing (which, I would imagine, is somewhat like a British version of The Waltons [being out in the country and small towns]).
–I also have all three seasons' worth of O-R 60s NBC Trek, but I have them in the 2015 all-in-one condensed DVD; I didn't get the Blu of it for two reasons (one, I prefer the remastered visuals over the actual way it looked then on NBC, and two, why would I want another version that would be repetitive of what I have on DVD?). I also got that condensed all-in-one remastered DVD because I had the original seasonals in those bulky, hard clear plastic packages, but they were hard to keep on my shelves; this all-in-one, however, has fit in quite nicely.
–I have all of Barney Miller (8 seasons' worth, 1975-82 on ABC) and all of The Bob Newhart Show (6 seasons' worth, 1972-78 on CBS), and like you, those have very much made the grade for me (passed with flying colors, if you will).
Thanks for the response, Ben. I can understand being satisfied with the ST:TOS DVD set and not wanting to double-dip. But I did want to point out that the Blu version of the series has both the original special effects and the re-done, updated CGI effects – the best of both worlds, you might say…
I'm curious about Petrocelli and, with all the good word of mouth on this board, may add that to my VEI want list, along with The Immortal, The Magician and Longstreet.
You're quite welcome for the response, and also, I've been considering VEI's all-in-ones of The Magician and even the '81 Nero Wolfe w/the late William Conrad (I haven't seen either ever, so I think both of them will be at least as good as Petrocelli).
yes only TNG offers the restored w/added vfx (yes i understand most of the models are real and not CG replaced) but TNG doens't give you a HD non-CG version… it's only straight up 1 version. but overall i'm very pleased with it. it really is the best TV remaster/restoration ever! still!
I didn't purchase the DVD set for the very reason you give for the Blu. I didn't own a BR player when those came out so I waited until I'd picked one up before getting the BR set. I do not regret it for a second. But I also much prefer the original effects and soundtrack. Generally I like the remastered visuals – all but those of the Enterprise herself. She looks too plastic and fake in CGI, more so than the actual model on the original visuals. I also do not like the re-recorded theme song. It's off ever so slightly and I cringe every time I hear it.
I'd say go for it. I liked it during the original run and found it even more appealing when I watched it again after purchasing the VEI set.
They really couldn't offer that. All the effects were produced on video tape post production equipment for SD TV. Those on TOS were all done on film which made the process much easier. With TNG they had to go back and recreate all of the vfx to be able to produce the HD version. I own both a DVD set and BR set of TNG. I was about to start S7 when I purchased the BR set. After seeing the first couple of episodes in remastered format I boxed up the DVDs. They're emergency backup and will likely never be viewed again. But I'm also not as intimate with that series as TOS so have a total disconnect between remastered vs. original vfx.
They really couldn't offer that. All the effects were produced on video tape post production equipment for SD TV. Those on TOS were all done on film which made the process much easier. With TNG they had to go back and recreate all of the vfx to be able to produce the HD version. I own both a DVD set and BR set of TNG. I was about to start S7 when I purchased the BR set. After seeing the first couple of episodes in remastered format I boxed up the DVDs. They're emergency backup and will likely never be viewed again. But I'm also not as intimate with that series as TOS so have a total disconnect between remastered vs. original vfx.
I went in blind on it, because I'd seen the opening, and heard the theme song (both of which I've enjoyed very much, in both versions), and also because I figured that if I enjoyed the CBS Perry Mason that was set in the big city of L.A. (or at least L.A. as it was in the 50s and 60s), I would like a similar series with a different name on a different network that was set in a smaller city/town in Arizona in the 70s (and might I say, it paid off incredible dividends entertainment-wise, as with several other select series that I have completed lately).
I went in blind on it, because I'd seen the opening, and heard the theme song (both of which I've enjoyed very much, in both versions), and also because I figured that if I enjoyed the CBS Perry Mason that was set in the big city of L.A. (or at least L.A. as it was in the 50s and 60s), I would like a similar series with a different name on a different network that was set in a smaller city/town in Arizona in the 70s (and might I say, it paid off incredible dividends entertainment-wise, as with several other select series that I have completed lately).