Double dipping: what do you do with your old discs? (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

Obviously, in the case of certain titles, double dipping doesn't mean you can get rid of the earlier edition necessarily. Maybe it's an alternate cut, or there are extras that weren't carried over or whatever. That I understand. But: on the occasion that a double dip/upgrade renders the first copy useless to you, what do you do with it?

The impetus for this thread came with the recent Gkids re-release of Spirited Away, which was my third purchase of that film (first on DVD in 2003, then an upgrade to Disney's Blu-ray release in 2015, and now to Gkids' edition.) There are a couple of minor Disney-produced extra that are not carried over to the Gkids edition, but I watched them again recently and concluded that they are not significant enough to justify hanging onto the Disney disc just to keep them. The vast majority of the extras that matter have been ported over to the Gkids edition, and the Gkids edition uses a new subtitle translation provided by Gibli which is studio-approved and differs from the subtitles on Disney's disc, which may have been partially based on the English dub script (dubtitles.) I don't really want to get into comparing the translations in this thread but, essentially, the new edition is Gibli-approved and matches the subtitles on the Japanese Gibli release, so that's why I bought it again.

Now, normally, if I double dip and come to the conclusion that there is nothing in the original release I want to keep, I give away my previous disc to a friend. If it's a case of DVD-to-Blu upgrade, I have tons of friends who are still DVD-based and don't care about HD for their movie collections. If it's a case of upgrading Blu-ray to Blu-ray for extras purposes, I also have Blu-ray-based friends who don't care about extras, for whom the previous edition will do fine if all they want is the movie.

I have never tried to sell used movies on eBay or the like because nothing I have that I would want to get rid of has a significant value that would exceed the cost of listing the title and dealing with all that goes with that process. (I do have a few rare movies, but in those cases they're not anything I would want to part with.)

But for Spirited Away, I'm not really sure what to do with the old disc. It's a perfectly fine disc and I feel like I'd love to give it away and let someone enjoy the film -- but my friends would care about the subtitles being correct, so they would all want the Gkids edition, not the Disney one. This sort of renders the Disney disc useless, unless you were never going to watch the Japanese and concentrate all of your attention on the English dub.

Now, I actually like the English dub of Spirited Away quite a bit. It was the first version I saw because, first of all, it was what was playing in local theaters, and when it came out I was a young teenager. I wasn't smart enough to read subtitles yet. Even now that I do read subtitles often, I think that the dub is excellently produced and have no qualms recommending it to people as a good dub for those who are interested in it. However, because the Japanese is the original, I would never suggest that people should ignore it and ONLY watch the dub. And my friends who would want Spirited Away largely feel the same way.

So, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the old disc. There's no reason for me to keep it; I'll never use it again and I would love to pass on the film to someone who desires it. But I'm guessing that people who would only be interested in seeing the dub are children who don't know any better and won't want to do the "work" to "read," and while I wouldn't have a problem giving Spirited Away to a family with kids, I don't know anyone with kids the right age for it. (A couple of my college friends in other states have recently had babies, but that's it.)

So that brings me back to my question: what do you all do when your use of a particular title has reached its natural end via double dipping or otherwise?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I'm trying to be better about not holding on to every little thing. Easier said than done!

My mom is a big movie fan and she encouraged my movie watching and video collecting back as an 80s kid. She has a smaller but very respectable collection. If its an extra of something that I think she'll like, or if I know she likes it, I'll often give it to her.

A colleague of mine runs a small eBay/Amazon resale business. A couple times a year I might give him a stack of extra copies to try to sell. He takes care of all the listing and shipping and pain in the ass stuff and keeps 30%, which is well worth it to me. Sometimes he can make good bundles between stuff I give him and stuff he's selling for other people which can help. And he likes movies too, so if there's one he's interested in, I'll just give it to him.

I've had some success listing stuff on the HTF classifieds for sale and for trade. And sometimes I'll just pop into a movie's relevant thread here and offer to give away the disc just for the cost of postage.

 

[titch]

About six years ago, I gifted my first Oppo to a good friend from student days, when I upgraded to the 103D. Since then, I've been sending him all my old blu-rays, which have been superseded by upgrades. Averages about 20 a year; increasing a bit now, due to the advent of 4K UHD disc blu rays and 4K blu ray rescans coming out. He lives far out in the countryside and has two children, one of whom is severely handicapped - he never has the opportunity to go to a movie theatre. His family has had great joy with my cast-offs. They have a simple set-up in their living room - just a TV connected to a stereo sound system, so they aren't as particular about the PQ and sound, as I am.

My own collection is approaching critical mass and ruthless pruning is in order. Last month, I looked long and hard at the digibook blu-ray of ET and wondered whether I should hang on to that because I only purchased the standard 4K UHD ET blu ray. I concluded that my friend and his young sons would have far more joy out of my digibook, than I would. I hardly ever take out the digibook a second time to read it - for me the most important aspect is the transfer upgrade.

The only regret I've had so far, is when I sent him my original five disc blu ray Blade Runner from 2007! (He kindly returned it!)

 

[Robin9]

I give my redundant discs to my friends. I doubt I'd make any real money trying to sell them.

 

[Carabimero]

If it's one of my favorite movies ever, I get a BD case with extra space and move the DVD(s) to the case with the BD disc. Glory is a great example of this, as the DVD set has many special features the BD releases do not. The great thing about the system is that it takes up less space, and even better, it keeps all the discs together. My collection has a lot of examples of this: ET is another good one, because the DVDs have so much more than the BD. And I love, as I said, how the system streamlines the physicality of my collection while enhancing organization and convenience.

 

[Suzanne.S]

dvds4VETS.org

VA Hospitals accept donations of DVDs and Blu-Rays for use at their rehab centers.

There are a few caveats from their FAQ:

Do my used DVDs or Blu-rays need cleaned prior to donating?

While V.A. hospitals accept pre-owned DVDs and Blu-rays, your donation is going into a healthcare environment. All discs and their cases should be clean before being sent to a VAMC.

Can I send former rental store DVDs?
Veterans facilities cannot accept rental discs. This is due to the chance of retaining bacteria.

Are there any DVDs or subject matter I should not send?

Veterans facilities (hospitals, Vet Centers or State nursing homes will not allow or accept the following subjects:
No extreme violence
No horror
No political or religious content
No pornography
No serials (1930s-1940s)

My only issue is, if you have a large collection, they want you to send it their headquarters so they can distribute the discs. I haven't tried it yet, but I would assume that your local VA facility would accept your donation and save you the trouble of shipping them.

I have recently done a cleaning out and will be sending a large donation to Jefferson Barracks Hospital. We shall see what they say.

 

[FoxyMulder]

I sharpen my old discs to make weapons of them, as I am preparing for the day when the asteroid hits and the world falls into a Mad Max state, it’ll be cat eat cat when that happens, gotta be prepared folks.

 

[3D Projectionist]

Often hear about double dipping on here but not exactly sure what it means, must be because I'm British.
I'm guessing it means replacing older media versions we may already have?

If that's the case that takes me back to the 1960's as over the ensuing years I've tried to upgrade/improve on my film collection to find 'the perfect versions' for maximum enjoyment on a projected image onto a screen albeit film, tape or more recently disc. Having collected film for a very long time that in itself is self limiting as many of the old film acetate prints have gone with vinegar syndrome giving of a strong smell so the automatically go. Other film prints suffer from colour fade so off they go from the collection.

Moving on swiftly through Laser Disc, VHS, Beta, digital tape and finally DVD I've gradually replaced much of what has gone before with Blu-Ray where possible which is the way forward for me. It was difficult to part with much of the old collection being a huge part of my life and every film holding memories but its been a good move all round to slim down the collection plus probably the most rewarding time has been now having Classic 3D films I could have never dreamed of projecting at home let alone being fully restored to former glory.
I spent decades also collecting Bela Lugosi material with what was a fairly hefty film collection but here we are in 2017 and a good number are making appearances on Blu-Ray which you'll gather more than makes my day.

So, the question was what do we do with our old discs and with DVD in mind this is what I do. Some of the old DVD's do contain extras not to be found on a Blu-Ray so I keep those obviously, but the obsolete DVD's of vintage titles notable Lugosi are taken to Colleges and Schools where I encourage anyone involved with media or film studies to make use of them or pass them onto someone who wants to make use.

Thanks for my ever evolving vintage film collecting on BR largely is due to Kino, Olive, VCI, Universal, RetroMedia and Legend Films who continue to release Bela Lugosi titles bringing me and many others much pleasure particularly in the case of Kino.
Much thanks to all of the above.

 

[jcroy]

(From a very different perspective).

I have actually double dipped "downwards" numerous times, where I purchased the dvd version AFTER I had already purchased the bluray version (which had no dvd copy). I primarily do this for dvd titles which are known to have some interesting sounding additional "basketcase" drm (in addition to the standard CSS dvd encryption).

I read a lot of the archives of message boards where users encountered these sorts of additional dvd drm back in the day, when they attempt to "rip" their dvds to the computer. Nowadays many of these same dvds with additional basketcase drm are now dump bin fodder.

(More generally).

I have a very unhealthy obsession and hobby in understanding how these additional basketcase drm schemes function. It turns out some of these same drm ideas which were originally tried on dvd, have also been implemented on bluray.

 

[Matt Hough]

Thankfully, I have several friends who are movie fans, and they get my double dips when I upgrade. With the healthy number of review titles that I don't keep for myself and that my friends don't want, I donate them to the library. I pack up a box or two of them every few months.

 

[Mike2001]

There is always the library for unwanted discs.

 

[AshJW]

It depends what films the old discs contain.
Is it a Western my father is going to get it. Other old(er) films my brother is maybe interested in, maybe a friend who is not into Blu-ray already. Others I keep for various reasons.
But most of them I try to sell or just give away. Unfortunately most of these discs are still in my possession. Maybe I try it with the library, thanks for that tip, Mike.

 

[Paul Penna]

I have some 20-somethings who appreciate older films - son of a former co-worker and his friends - over for movie nights occasionally and let them pick through my excessed pile and take what they want. I still have a goodly pile of orphans, though.

 

[Rodney]

dvds4VETS.org

VA Hospitals accept donations of DVDs and Blu-Rays for use at their rehab centers.

Thanks for posting that, I think that is a good cause.
Though I do wonder why they won't accept serials from the 1930s-1940s.

 

[Alan Tully]

Life's too short to go to the trouble of trying to sell them & I don't give them to family & friends, my thinking is, if they really wanted them they would already have bought them, so, they all go to the charity shop where they'll do some good.

 

[KPmusmag]

I live near a store called Buy Backs that gives store credit for DVD/blu in good condition. They stock new and used DVD/blu/CD and I have gotten some fairly good deals with credit. Anything they won't take I give to local charity store. In fact I have a stack right now that I need to take down there.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Thanks for posting that, I think that is a good cause.
Though I do wonder why they won't accept serials from the 1930s-1940s.

The no serials thing puzzles me a bit, too. Perhaps the veterans hospitals want to avoid multi episode fare, and/or excessive stereotypes?

CHEERS!

 

[TravisR]

I either give it to a friend or I sell it on eBay.

The no serials thing puzzles me a bit, too. Perhaps the veterans hospitals want to avoid multi episode fare, and/or excessive stereotypes?

My thought is that they fear there being a cliffhanger at the end of a disc and they're trying to avoid making someone mad if they don't have the next disc.

 

[Malcolm R]

I sell mine a couple times a year to secondspin.com. You can get a flat price quote through their web site and decide if it's worth it to you. No hassle posting auctions or paying processing fees (years ago I used to sell on Ebay, but it was a lot of work for little return). They also run specials a couple times a year where you can get 20% more than their regular price with a special coupon code.

They don't offer too much for most titles, and you do have to pay to ship them the discs though they'll at least partially reimburse you for the Media Mail shipping rate. They will usually pay a decent rate for newer releases. I just purchased "Get Out" from Amazon for $10, and sold it back to SecondSpin for about $7.

Generally if they're offering less than $2, I'll just donate those titles to Goodwill.

I've also sold at least one batch to Amazon, though that was a while ago and I don't recall much about that process.

 

[David Weicker]

I use Amazon TradeIn.
The offers vary a lot . Many popular titles are well under a dollar (I usually bypass these), but there are many cases where I’ve gotten over $5, or over $10. The good thing is it is 100% hassle free - they send you a postage paid label to print. You pack it up and drop off with UPS Or USPS . A week or two later you have Amazon credit.

I also use disc resellers - Disc Replay or Half Price Books

I’ve used EBay a few times