Is collecting excessive amounts of TV shows on DVD a hobby OR an obsessive-compulsive disorder? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Flugel]

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.

 

[zoetmb]

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!

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.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

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.

 

[Worth]

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.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

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?

Yes Unfortunately

 

[Vic Pardo]

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.

They're not buying cars or houses, either. I guess they're gearing up for the socialist economy.

 

[Ed Lachmann]

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!

 

[Mike Frezon]

Alrighty then.

 

[Ron1973]

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!

Don't hold back! Tell us how you REALLY feel!

 

[David Norman]

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.

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

 

[TJPC]

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.

 

[JediFonger]

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.

 

[Mike LaBorde]

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.

 

[Elizabeth S]

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.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

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.

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.

 

[tlc38tlc38]

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.

 

[BobO'Link]

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.

 

[bmasters9]

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).

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.

(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.)

To address those particular points of what you said in your post:

--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 magical (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).

 

[Jeff Flugel]

--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.

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.

 

[bmasters9]

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).