DVD's Have they Lost their Luster? (2 Viewers)

[JohnRice]

Don't blame that on technology. It's you. My main speakers (Thiel CS 3.6) are over 10 years old, but I have no desire to replace them. My RPTV, which is nearly 15 years old will have to be replaced sometime, since I know one day it will just blow up and I want to keep a reasonable HT going. It's my only luxury.

 

[MarkHastings]

Yes, my mains are almost 15 years old and I'm not ready to replace them, but I AM ready to replace my 3 year old 16x9 tv. :b It just looks so small now that I've gotten used to it. And I wouldn't mind getting a new sub...Oh, and my center speaker seems a bit small now that I have the big tv...Argh! and my amp. only supports 5 speakers and a sub.....

 

[Tony_Faville]

Placed my first pre-orders with reel.com back in 1999, still in love with DVD but find myself watching more and more TV on DVD than I do actual movies. My list of unwatched movies in my collection is close to 100 but with the financial changes that will be coming to my life this fall (quitting my job and going to Culinary School....a 12 year dream), I may finally be able to catch up on those unwatched purchases without the help of additional purchases.

I also find myself building my genre collections more and more, I am a Zombie, Vampire and General Horror fan so I find I am buying more and more of them.

 

[Michael Elliott]

I believe this is known as The Criterion Collection. :b


It's interesting but there was a time when I saw 200-300 movies a year in the theater. I did this from 1993-1999. In 1998 I watched over 400 movies at the theater, which not only included the new releases but several older films that were playing at a local art house. In 2000 I saw 2 movies in a theater, in 2001 it was 1, in 2002 it was 1, in 2003 it was 2 and this year I've seen 1. Why? Because I feel my home theater offers a lot more than any theater could. I haven't got the greatest setup in the world, far from it but what I do own is my "own" theater where I don't have babies crying, no crowds, no lines, no people talking and so on. Watching my favorite films for the first time on DVD is just as exciting because it's like seeing them for the first time again.

Another key thing is the price. I took my girlfriend and two other people to see THE PASSION and it was $32 to get in the door. With that money I could have bought 3 DVDs and the four drinks, which were another $20 could have bought me two more movies. It cost me $52 at the theater for two hours when that movie could have added five discs to my collection at home, which I could watch at any time. When I buy DVDs, I think of that $8 ticket price. If a title costs $15 then I ask myself if I'm going to watch it at least twice in my lifetime. If so, I buy it. It's it's $10 I'll give it a blind buy since it's only $2 more than a ticket. I could always trade the thing if I didn't like it.

This is my "want list" for the next few months:

MARCH 30

Broken Dolls/Helter Skelter
Bob Dylan: MTV Unplugged
Final Countdown
Prisoner of Second Ave.
Something's Gotta Give
Sunshine Boys
Vampire Junction

APRIL 6

Blaze
For me and My Gal
Grapes of Wrath
In The Good Old Summertime
Meet Me in St. Louis
Pink Panther Collection
Police Academy Collection
Ziegfeld Girl

APRIL 13

Kill Bill

APRIL 20

Helter Skelter

APRIL 27

Dracula Collection
Dracula Has Risen from Grave
Fat Man and Little Boy
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
Taste the Blood of Dracula

MAY 4

Best of Abbott and Costello 2
Desk Set
Marx Bros. Collection

MAY 11

Night of the Following Day
Posse
Tin Star

MAY 18

Around the World in 80 Days
Enter the Dragon
Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Wyatt Earp

MAY 25

Enemy Below
Great Escape
Morituri
What Price Glory

JUNE 1

Cary Grant boxset
Copland
Snake Pit
Tarzan boxset
Tarzan The Ape Man (1980)


Several favorites, several blind buys but as a film fan, my wallet might be crying but I'm happy as heck to have these movies. As someone else said, I think the V/A/E talk takes over the movie talk a bit too much. As great as the V/A/E is, the movie is still the best thing about this young format.

 

[JohnRice]

Mark, I'm glad you didn't feel attacked. An awful lot of people would have jumped all over me for what I said, but you took it in the manner it was meant. Well done. As far as the TV, would I like a new 16x9? You bet. This 15 year old RPTV is doing surprisingly well, but I know even a pretty cheap HDTV would awfully nice to have. I'm hoping to get one within a year.

Tony, I just have to say, Way to Go!! I did a similar thing almost exactly 10 years ago. It can be incredibly difficult, but definitely rewarding. Of course, I also made two horrible mistakes at the same time and I am still trying to recover from them. I think I may just be beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. My point is, take a little care.

 

[MarkHastings]

Group hug? :b

 

[JohnRice]

Mark, you probably have no idea how many people have gone off on me in this forum for the things I say, so I just try to thank people when they pay attention to what I am actually saying.

 

[John Watson]

The first rule of HTF, it isn't Fight Club

 

[Jeff_HR]

:frowning: ??:frowning:

 

[JohnRice]

Did you have something to say Jeff?

 

[Jeff_HR]

Was the quote above directed at me, seeing that it follwed my speaking about technology?
Would you explain this, if the quote is directed at me.

 

[BrentPollard]

I still enjoy the thrill of DVD's. Iv'e been collecting things for more than 35 years, comics, hard cover books, vinyl records, cd's, VHS, laser dics and now DVD. What I promised myself after moving from Ld to DVD was that I would only purchase a DVD that I would watch a minimum of twice per year, if it dosen't fit the bill I rent. As a result, after 5 years of collecting DVD I have only about 60 titles give or take. i always wait for an SE or maybe a Superbit before buying as I hate to double dip. I am now doing the same with Hi Rez music. i have only replaced two CD's with SACD or DVD-A. the rest (about 20) are all first time buys.

 

[Norm]

I also have slowed way way down. I don't even come to the HTF that much anymore. I always have HD-DVD on my mind. I would rather wait for that. I will never buy as much as I did when DVD first came out. When HD-DVD comes out I will only buy my all time favorites.

 

[Don Giro]

I've slowed down and become more selective with my DVD purchases mostly because I've run out of room to store them all in (closing in on 700 titles).

I'll never have the time to listen to 1/3 of the audio commentaries on my collection. While I am still glad they are included on most discs I buy, they're not the "selling draw" they used to be for me ( I used to say to myself, " I kinda wanna see this movie. I could rent it, but, hey, it's got commentary by the director, so I can listen to that on a rainy day").

New Technology is always fun for me, but the reasons I got into the "digital movie" game in the first place were time and money. My laserdisc player set me back a "fortune" ten years ago, but it was a small price to pay for the satisfaction of being able to purchase PULP FICTION on a great-looking widescreen LD for $35 on the same day the pan-and-scan VHS release hit the street for $110.

I was skeptical about DVD; the display showing TWISTER on a first-generation Panasonic DVD player at my local Wiz (my first encounter with the fledgling format) didn't look any better than my laser of the same film. Of course, the lower priced discs, great capacity for A/V and extras soon won me over to the format.

Yes, now almost EVERYONE has a DVD-player, and I think that's a GOOD thing. DVD no longer has the "elitist" feel LD had, and I'm happy about that. I'm the only one in my circle of movie-junkie drinking buddies who's ever owned a LD player, but it never made me feel like I was "in" on something special or "above" anyone who didn't own an LD player. I just wished the players and discs were cheaper my friends would buy in and lend me their discs. Thanks to DVD, I get to lend and borrow freely with a whole bunch of great people.

I have a stack of about 35 discs I haven't watched yet. Sometimes I wish that stack of unwatched discs would disappear so I can revisit the 600+ discs on my shelves. But most of the time I'm THRILLED that backlog of discs exists, because I always have NEW stuff to watch whenever the mood strikes me. I'll get around to the supplemental material on the extended TWO TOWERS at my leisure.

This hobby will never be a "chore" to me. It's my drug of choice, and I enjoy it as I see fit. Lately, I find myself watching repeated viewings of LOST IN TRANSLATION and SCHOOL OF ROCK. No, I haven't watched most of THE ALIEN QUADRILOGY yet, but what's my rush? Who knows, I might get around to the commentary on CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN SUBURBIA someday...

I think TV shows on DVD are a godsend. I would NEVER have seen an episode of "Buffy" unless a friend had lent me the first season (which I only wanted to scan through because I find Sarah Michelle Gellar VERY attractive). Now I'm a Buffyholic. Same goes for ALIAS, ANGEL, and DARK ANGEL, never mind the shows I was a big fan of in the first place. It DOES take a good chunk of time to get through a season box of THE SHIELD, but I certainly feel it's well worth it.

I may have slowed down on purchasing, but I still look forward to each and every week's announcements of titles with relish, and I hope I always do.

 

[MarkHastings]

The one saving grace to not having enough time to listen to every commentary is, if there ever comes a time when I stop buying DVD's (due to money constraints), at least I know I'll have a TON of material to catch up on.

I think that's the one reason why I've held onto so many discs and not sold any off (or given them away). The fact that they still have material to be seen (or heard) is enough for me to hang onto them.

 

[Seppo]

Late 2003 and this year have easily been the best time for me when it comes to collecting DVDs. In October I got a 5.1 surround sound system and a 28" widescreen television in January (I know it's not compared to the high standards this place obviously has but I'm well pleased about my home theater equipment). Because of the new equipment purchasing DVDs has become more exciting. Pre-2003 I couldn't give a toss about what kind of a sound mix each DVD has but now it's pretty much the first thing I take look at when I'm searching for DVDs.

At the moment I'm in the process of getting "classic" films (e.g. 'Jaws', 'Indiana Jones Box Set' etc.) and other childhood favourites, such as 'The Birds', 'Modern Times', 'The General' etc. Once I've acquired the ones I really want the enthusiasm towards getting DVDs will probably decrease. But fortunately new releases of old classics are on their way, and many great films are still made nowadays so that should keep me inspired. Long live DVD!

 

[Todd Robertson]

1,500 titles and growing. nope...no "dvd burnout". to suffer this, I'd have to have "film burnout"...and that wont happen. bad cover-art and double/triple dipping and the like...is not enough to sour my passion for collecting my fave films. I buy 6 to 10+ a week...and it's been like this for some time. the only thing that will drop this weekly outburst to a lower number is that I'm starting to be stocked up with all my personal faves.

it's a library. I dont need to watch everything all the time. it's not only for enjoyment, but reference and research.

I have a few books on the top shelf of my book library, with a nice thick layer of dust, I'm sure. maybe have not touched them in a few years. should I dump them? I think not. who knows when I might need that book on building paper airplanes.

 

[Spero D]

HD DVD will be out next year and all will be fine again

 

[Joel Vardy]

Though there are a handful of DVD titles I am still keeping my eye out for I also have reduced my puchasing habits from the early days. With 1400+ titles (since 1998) I am out of storage room and have plenty to rewatch without having to fall back on this habit of buying rather than renting. I haven't bought very many of the titles I've rented over the years since I assessed fairly well the ones that I wouldn't see more than once. The idea that the buying habit comes in waves holds some truth with me as well.

Joel

 

[JonZ]

"On that level, I think some of the fun has been ruined by DVD because I still think the movie itself is the most important thing."

I absolutely agree.

I wouldnt mind at all if they dropped extras and the price on/of DVDs. Im not saying DVDs arent reasonably priced, they are - but Id be more willing to buy films that arent "must haves" if they were a bit cheaper.

I like documentaries and deleted scenes but except for a few that are really excellent (The Thing, Tron) I rarely watch them more than once. I have no real interest on Commentaries. Some Ive listened to can be enjoyable (Re-Animator wa fun) but do we really need 4 Commentaries on a DVD?

Id prefer if DVDs took teh Superbit route and used the space for video and audio.