We have wish lists, but what’s on your dump list? (1 Viewer)

[David Deeb]

Paring down several styles or groups. Already got rid of all the Disney Treasures. Got caught up collecting those in early days of DVD mainly because we didn't have many choices. Good stuff to revisit from time to time, but not something I want forever (anymore).

Getting rid of Loony Tunes collections. Hilarious shorts! But the DVD format makes for a huge hassle - you have to suffer through an idiotic lecture and "warning" from whoopee G. each and every time you just want to watch a 3:00 minute cartoon. The "warning" needs a warning.

Tired of watching CGI spectacles, let alone owning them. Bought Ready Player One on 4k Blu-ray as a blind buy. Half way through it, I was ready for it to be over. How many more special effect films do I need to watch especially when it's just another quest where the hero has to find 3, 4 or more rings, stones, coins, sages, wizards, swords, etc., and then face a 30:00 minute CGI fight finale. Man, I'm sick of that kind of movie!

 

[Martin_Teller]

I don't have a dump list.
If I have something to dump, I dump.

This.

But also, more and more I question whether I need a collection at all. Mine is relatively small compared to most people here (I don't know the number, but it's under 500). Collectors often talk about the comfort of knowing they can, at any time, pull a title off the shelf and watch it. And yet how often does that actually happen? For me... once, maybe twice a year. And that's always just because it's something I want to show my wife (who usually isn't all that interested anyway). Do I love the movies (and TV shows) I own? Absolutely, yes. But the reality is there just isn't time. The only time I rewatch a movie is when there's a new Blu-Ray release. Then I watch it once and it goes on the shelf to collect dust with the others. And even though I do enjoy that viewing, it feels like an obligation. I'd rather spend my (increasingly rare) free time watching something new. So why am I bothering to buy movies I've seen before? There's this fantasy of "oh, when I'm retired and my son is grown I can just watch my favorite movies whenever I want". But I don't think that will actually be the case. There's always interesting and enjoyable new content to watch.

It's more of an identity thing than for any practical purpose. And yeah, no one is coming over to admire my collection or getting to know me from my taste in media. On the other hand, it's not taking up a huge amount of space and I don't spend that much money on it, so what does it hurt?

Oof, sorry for this rambling post.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I am really digging this thread.

We've had any number of similar threads on the forum over the years, but this one seems to be bringing out a lot of honesty in members about their motivations of film collecting and the number of titles on their shelves.

I have agreed with so many of the posts so far. I have plans to re-organize my collection this spring and prune dozens of titles, (I now realize there are MANY titles I will never rewatch.) I also have grown weary of "CGI spectacles."

I LOVE this:

How many more special effect films do I need to watch especially when it's just another quest where the hero has to find 3, 4 or more rings, stones, coins, sages, wizards, swords, etc., and then face a 30:00 minute CGI fight finale. Man, I'm sick of that kind of movie!

I would also LOVE to see a resurgence in the Classified section of the forum. Back in the early days of the forum I used to maintain what was known as the "Good Trader's List." It was basically a way for HTF members to give a "like" to other members when successfully selling/trading/buying discs and compiling them into a directory so that one needn't worry about the other's reputation. But there hasn't been much call/need for anything like that any more. Once my pruning is underway, I expect to have a number of titles to offer up.

But I don't really have a "dump list" (as the OP put it). But there is one title that keeps staring back at me as I contemplate this upcoming cleansing. And that's Moonlight. I like the idea of having as many of the Best Picture winners in my collection as possible...yet that's a title I really don't think I'll ever want to watch again. I want to keep it. But I really want to cleanse. And sadly, I think there'll be a number of similar tough choices ahead when I seriously get into the task.

 

[Robin9]

. . . . Collectors often talk about the comfort of knowing they can, at any time, pull a title off the shelf and watch it. And yet how often does that actually happen? For me... once, maybe twice a year.

For me: about five times a week! That's why I've built up a collection!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

For those who asked about the app: I use a program called MyMovies. I use it on iPhone but I think it’s available on other platforms too.

One of the cool things about it is that it’ll give you a link to your collection viewable on a web browser - so you can always send a link to a friend if they want to borrow something and want to browse what you have.

 

[Citizen87645]

Highlights of what I'm purging (for now), and why:

Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volumes 1 and 2 – Never got to collecting the other four DVD volumes and I have the Platinum Collection Blu-rays. I'm not a completist about the Looney Tunes cartoons, so these are easy removals to save space / make room.

Justified Seasons 1 and 2 – Heard good things about the series, but haven't gotten to watching it. The series is available on Amazon Prime, so I'll opt for streaming if I want to start.

The rest are basically DVDs that got upgraded to Blu-ray (e.g. Miller's Crossing) or older Blu-rays that got upgraded to 4K Blu-ray (e.g. the Rambo trilogy).

I should mention that I store my collection like a comic book collector, in white cardboard boxes. There are 35 of these boxes in my closet, seven stacks of five. I basically told myself the collection must fit into these boxes. "If it doesn't fit, I must do away with."

Though the wrench in the works are the big box sets I bought in the early days of collecting or got when I was reviewing. They have to be stored differently and elsewhere.

There's this fantasy of "oh, when I'm retired and my son is grown I can just watch my favorite movies whenever I want". But I don't think that will actually be the case. There's always interesting and enjoyable new content to watch.

It's more of an identity thing than for any practical purpose. And yeah, no one is coming over to admire my collection or getting to know me from my taste in media. On the other hand, it's not taking up a huge amount of space and I don't spend that much money on it, so what does it hurt?

I have the same thoughts. For now I'm still nursing the fantasy of having the time to watch everything after my kids are grown or I'm the only man left on the planet. I just hope I don't break my glasses.

 

[Bryan^H]

I stand by my statement that watching a movie even once in the comfort of your home is worth the price of the disc. So I don't really have any guilt "dumping" discs to my local Goodwill. I still have 3,000 + movies, but realize that I really only want to keep about half that...maybe much less. Dumping DVD titles that upgraded to BD is easy, but now comes the part of dumping the films I don't need, or want to revisit.

 

[Mike Frezon]

"If it doesn't fit, I must do away with."

For now I'm still nursing the fantasy of having the time to watch everything after my kids are grown or I'm the only man left on the planet.

I have a major lifestyle change presently coming upon me: semi-retirement. Will I have more time to plow through my backlog of unwatched titles? I should soon know the answer.

I stand by my statement that watching a movie even once in the comfort of your home is worth the price of the disc.

That's very true. I completely agree. I've even convinced my wife of the truth of that statement! It's the unwatched titles that skew the results. So I'm really hoping to watch more--soon!

 

[PODER]

Pretty much any film that won one of the top five Oscars over the past fifteen years or so, as well as any that
were extremely popular. If I want to watch one of those titles again, the library will have a copy. It's the oldies,
the lesser known classics and the hard-to-find ones that I'm hanging onto. (Okay, so there are a few in those
categories where the Blu-Ray replacement is so spectacular I will hang on to it. Always exceptions ...)

 

[CraigF]

I "dump" stuff when I run out of shelf space. Dumping for me means putting it in the basement, because honestly if *I* don't want it, probably nobody does...selling used discs around here is almost pointless, it sure has an extremely low pay rate. [edit: libraries here don't take donated discs (another member here informed me, I had previously tried), they do buy an awful lot though]

But the other day when I was fruitlessly searching for a disc I knew I had, I did start thinking about a bloody cull. The easiest for me is my Comedy section, many of those are shiny turds, it's not even a matter of taste, they're purely bad.

The money is spent. No point deciding if it is/was "worth it" now! Just get a big box, put all the prospective dumpees in it, put the box away, then see if you missed anything after a while. If not, dispose of the box, or just ignore it like I do.

 

[Martin_Teller]

I dump my old DVDs at the public library, not worth trying to sell unless they're rare/OOP.

 

[Brian Kidd]

I definitely don't dump as many as I should. With that said, I used to sell or give away quite a few several years back. There were quite a few times, though, that I ended up regretting it because I had a hankering down the road to watch the film/show, no longer had it, and found that it was either out of print and the asking price was higher than I was willing to pay or it simply was difficult to find at all. I'm definitely going to get back into unloading ones that I've either replaced with better copies or that I know I'll never watch again. I ran out of usable shelf space a long time ago and have several plastic bins stuffed with DVD's and BD's in my garage. I'll probably put the more common ones in a yard sale and any that are selling for enough to make it worth the effort, I'll sell on eBay.

I'm never getting rid of my Walt Disney Treasures sets, though. I made the mistake of selling a couple when I needed money several years ago and have regretted it. There's no way Disney will ever release sets like them again, now that they're all about increasing Quarterly Profits and could care less about, you know, their history as a creative entity.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

If someone told me that I had to get rid of every disc I owned except for one shelf’s worth, the Disney Treasures tins would be on that shelf for me.

 

[Robin9]

If someone told me that I had to get rid of every disc I owned except for one shelf’s worth, the Disney Treasures tins would be on that shelf for me.

If someone told me that I had to get rid of every disc I owned, I'd put a gun to my head! At my age, life wouldn't be worth living!

 

[BarryF]

 

[Rob W]

I'm never getting rid of my Walt Disney Treasures sets, though. I made the mistake of selling a couple when I needed money several years ago and have regretted it. There's no way Disney will ever release sets like them again, now that they're all about increasing Quarterly Profits and could care less about, you know, their history as a creative entity.

I'm trying to decide what to do with my Treasures, some of which have never been opened. With Disney's upcoming streaming service looming, it will be interesting to see how much of the vault material will be made available. I'm betting most of the animated shorts will be there, at least.

 

[John Dirk]

For those who asked about the app: I use a program called MyMovies. I use it on iPhone but I think it’s available on other platforms too.

One of the cool things about it is that it’ll give you a link to your collection viewable on a web browser - so you can always send a link to a friend if they want to borrow something and want to browse what you have.

I've used My Movies for years now. It's available on Windows, MAC OS X and Android. There is also a Windows Server edition, although nowadays I'm not exactly sure why. My Movies was much more practical [for me] when WMC was still supported by Microsoft but it's still a great collection management tool. When I'm out in the world and gleefully considering purchases I always check my online collection to avoid duplicates.

 

[John Dirk]

So what's on your dump list? I may update this later with highlights of what I've recently purged.

I don't have any space limitations so I would like to volunteer as your dump site.
Seriously though, I just never know when I'll want to re-watch a title. I'll never purposely get rid of a disc unless I have another that is identical.

Not to derail the thread but that's one of my problems with streaming. It puts others between me and my collection and we may not always agree.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I would say that if I had unlimited space (or at least, if I owned a house), I would be more forgiving about what I held on to. I would keep more marginal titles if I had more space. I’d give more time to unwatched blind buys that have sat on the shelf for a decade untouched.

I would also be more interested into holding on to titles I didn’t enjoy that much or didn’t think I’d rewatch if the people around me were more interested in physical media. I used to loan out discs all the time 15 years ago, and over the last five, people have stopped asking almost entirely. So the value I saw in keeping something like that in my library has changed due to those external factors.

 

[Carl Johnson]

For the first ten years or so that I was collecting DVDs it was common practice to trade in titles that I didn’t want at a video store, so my DVD collection never got very big. Nowadays I watch more movies on streaming than I do on disc so I only buy blu rays that I anticipate viewing repeatedly. So I screened out my dump list titles over time.