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So concerned with longevity of my collection

Old 07-20-13, 11:43 PM
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So concerned with longevity of my collection

I recently started looking into how long dvds will keep data. It used to be expected to keep for 100 years, but recently the number is closer to 15-30 IF you treat your discs with care (I do). I have a collection of over 1000 dvds (about a hundred of those are discs for tv series) and I love collecting and organizing them. After learning that my collection had a death sentence, I became very worried. I have been looking into backing up my entire collection, but that would eat up so much space and take a lot of time. and frankly, it just wouldn't be the same as having my library of discs lined on the walls of my house. How have you guys dealt with the knowledge that your prized discs have a shelf life? Its like my nightmare to one day decide to watch an old show that I collected and discover that 2 of the 4 discs don't work.
Old 07-21-13, 12:02 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

This is certainly not something that I'm going to obsess over. I've got roughly 4,000 DVDs and Blu-rays, and MY big obsession is living long enough to be able to watch them all.

Besides, the so-called experts really have no clue as to how long a DVD will last. They said that VHS tapes, when stored properly, would last 10-20 years; I've still got lots of tapes that are 30 years old and they play fine. To be fair, I've also got some tapes that are 15 years old that shed oxide like a dog sheds hair.

I feel pretty sure that by the time our DVDs start to fail, the technology to actually play them will be as hard to come by as CED players and Betamax players are now. There will always be some new technology on the horizon to replace a current technology, as streaming seems to be trying to do now.

My advice: enjoy 'em while you have them and don't freak out about what's going to happen to them in 20-30 years.
Old 07-21-13, 12:05 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Aside from a number of duds possible in any large collection, I would not worry about most DVDs suddenly going bad within 30 years. By that point, all of Hollywood's entire recorded output will be available instantaneously through streaming. If you were paranoid, DVDs can always be backed up to a hard drive.
Old 07-21-13, 12:06 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

I just wish that once I bought a movie, I was entitled to a copy of that film on every new media phase that comes and goes, I hate that in 20ish years I'll have to replace all my favorite films on a new medium. I wish ownership of a film was permanent.
Old 07-21-13, 01:17 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

By that point, all of Hollywood's entire recorded output will be available instantaneously through streaming
Riiiiiiiiight.

A few of the early dual-layer DVDs have rotted and become unplayable, as well as many Warner HD-DVDs, but I wouldn't worry about the majority of your collection. Anything you have that's over 10 years old that is going to become unplayable would have already done so by now.
Old 07-21-13, 02:59 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Yea. I guess you are right. I should stop panicing
Old 07-21-13, 05:12 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

I've had two discs freeze or break up on me in the past couple of days and another couple within the past month. One of them's fairly new (2009 release), another from Japan but I'm not sure of the date. I have plenty of old VHS tapes that play just fine. The percentage of discs that break up is much higher per capita than the number of tapes I've had problems with over the years. (I've been collecting since 1982.) Still, I have enough movies/TV shows on tape and disc to last me the rest of my life, so I don't think I'll suffer. The big problem is making sure the players last. (I have brand new VCRs and DVD players in storage.) And if the grid ever implodes (a legitimate cause of worry, if you ask me), I have thousands of books I can read in the daylight and a bunch of flashlights for nighttime. Of course, I'm at an age and with a health history where anything can happen, so my big worry is what my poor daughter will have to go through in trying to get rid of all my tapes, DVDs and books should I suddenly become incapacitated...or worse. It's time to stop acquiring new stuff--or just get Netflix for that. Or something.
Old 07-21-13, 09:31 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Originally Posted by cjdilworth1213
I just wish that once I bought a movie, I was entitled to a copy of that film on every new media phase that comes and goes, I hate that in 20ish years I'll have to replace all my favorite films on a new medium. I wish ownership of a film was permanent.
You know what they say about wishing in one hand....

I wish I got a new model car every year, since I bought one new 10 years ago, but it hasn't happened yet. I also wish that every time I finished off a gallon of milk, another would magically appear in my fridge.

There probably is a way around your problem, however. I feel pretty sure that if you were to offer, as an example, Universal $10,000 to send you a copy of Back to the Future (or any other Universal release of your choice) on every new home video viewing format that comes out, they'd probably take you up on the offer. Perhaps if you dicker with them, you could get that fee down to around $8,000 per movie. That way you'd be undoubtedly future-proofed. Otherwise, $20 every 20 years or so for a movie isn't really that bad.

Of course, another way of handling it is to stop buying movies completely. You don't have to replace movies that you don't own.

Last edited by rbrown498; 07-21-13 at 09:42 AM.
Old 07-21-13, 09:39 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Originally Posted by Ash Ketchum
Of course, I'm at an age and with a health history where anything can happen, so my big worry is what my poor daughter will have to go through in trying to get rid of all my tapes, DVDs and books should I suddenly become incapacitated...or worse. It's time to stop acquiring new stuff--or just get Netflix for that. Or something.
Ash, I feel your pain. I have made multiple attempts over the past two years to just STOP. BUYING. STUFF., yet I never manage to curtail my spending for more than a few days before I run into a great bargain that I just can't pass up. It's gotten to the point that I'm actively avoiding thrift stores and library sales just because I can't walk out of those without buying several items.

I wish I knew what the answer was. I'm beginning to find it a bit easier to get rid of books that I know that I'll never get around to reading, but I find it absolutely impossible to get rid of a movie that I haven't watched yet.

We need our own 12-step program.
Old 07-21-13, 11:57 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

size

Spoiler:
Old 07-21-13, 12:00 PM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Originally Posted by rbrown498
I feel pretty sure that by the time our DVDs start to fail, the technology to actually play them will be as hard to come by as CED players and Betamax players are now. There will always be some new technology on the horizon to replace a current technology, as streaming seems to be trying to do now.

My advice: enjoy 'em while you have them and don't freak out about what's going to happen to them in 20-30 years.
I can understand the OP's concern in that, if you like physical media, DVD and Blu-ray will most likely be the end of the line.

Depending on your age, in 20-30 years your tastes and priorities may change as well. When I was 17 years old I had amassed a collection of about 300 VHS tapes and worried about tape degradation but fast-forward to today - who cares? They were soon replaced by DVDs with anamorphic widescreen and could be bought for $2 at a pawn shop or $5 for a Blu-ray.
Old 07-21-13, 01:36 PM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Originally Posted by cjdilworth1213
I have a collection of over 1000 dvds (about a hundred of those are discs for tv series) and I love collecting and organizing them.
Originally Posted by orangerunner
I can understand the OP's concern in that, if you like physical media, DVD and Blu-ray will most likely be the end of the line.
DVD and Blu-ray may well be the end of physical media, although I wouldn't count them out just yet. These days, MP3 audio files are the preferred way for most people to get their music, but that certainly hasn't stopped the record companies from releasing CDs and, in a growing number of cases, new pressings of vinyl LPs for those who prefer physical media. My gut instinct is that the movie studios will do the same, as long as there are those Luddites among us who like physical media.

Even if, fifty years into the future, one still has a big collection of DVDs and Blu-rays but no player for them and/or the discs themselves have succumbed to the ravages of time, those discs could still be organized, displayed, and collected. It's like my vinyl collection--if I want to listen to, say, Roxy Music, I put in a CD, but I still collect and display the LPs for their cover art.
Old 07-21-13, 02:00 PM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Originally Posted by rbrown498
Even if, fifty years into the future, one still has a big collection of DVDs and Blu-rays but no player for them and/or the discs themselves have succumbed to the ravages of time, those discs could still be organized, displayed, and collected. It's like my vinyl collection--if I want to listen to, say, Roxy Music, I put in a CD, but I still collect and display the LPs for their cover art.

This is also very true. Even now, how often do you "use" your collection or actually watch each title? 99.99% of the time they sit on your shelf. Even if the discs themselves fail or become unplayable they can still be a collection with good memories.

I have a 35mm theatrical print that I have never watched and probably never will. But for me it's a cool, unique collectible.
Old 07-23-13, 04:46 PM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

But I don't want to have a shelf full of rotting media. I didn't buy dvds to have a collection (necessarily) I bought them so that I could match whatever I want whenever I want.
Old 07-23-13, 04:52 PM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

The good news is that you're not going to live forever. The bad news is that all your DVD's will likely still play long after you're gone.

Everything is temporary. Don't waste time worrying about what-ifs.
Old 07-23-13, 05:17 PM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Originally Posted by Ash Ketchum
Of course, I'm at an age and with a health history where anything can happen, so my big worry is what my poor daughter will have to go through in trying to get rid of all my tapes, DVDs and books should I suddenly become incapacitated...or worse. It's time to stop acquiring new stuff--or just get Netflix for that. Or something.


I've had the same kind of thoughts. I'd hate to stick someone with getting rid of my stuff so I keep thinking about at least paring it down. It's not easy, but I do give myself a little bit of credit for cutting down my buying habits. A few things I've bought in digital (almost all TV series on sale) but I'm just taking a harder look at what I really need vs. what I want--fewer blind-buy theatricals, etc. It's only a drop in the bucket, but it's something.
Old 07-23-13, 06:12 PM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Originally Posted by cjdilworth1213
But I don't want to have a shelf full of rotting media. I didn't buy dvds to have a collection (necessarily) I bought them so that I could match whatever I want whenever I want.
You know, CJ, part of me really empathizes with your fear of your DVD collection going tits-up...but the other 98% of me is thinking, "What are you--a three-year-old?" There are some facts about life that you, as a human, have to face: you're going to die sooner or later, meat is something before it shows up in the grocery store, you always run out of coffee on the mornings that you need it most, and everything except rock eventually rots.

Even if your collection were to remain in pristine condition forever, there WILL be something down the road that will make it seem less desirable in the future. I feel pretty sure that, in the 1940s, many people were satisfied with their 78s and felt that surely there could never be anything that sounded better than them. They were wrong. As good as DVDs and Blu-rays look now, when you get them blown up on an 8K screen like you'll have in 10-15 years, they're not going to look as good as something that stores info in a native 8K format. I was perfectly happy with VHS, until I saw a laserdisc in action, which I thought was the final (as in ultimate) format...and then DVDs came along.

As for the concept of buying a copy of a movie and then having perpetual access to upgrades...you said:

"I just wish that once I bought a movie, I was entitled to a copy of that film on every new media phase that comes and goes, I hate that in 20ish years I'll have to replace all my favorite films on a new medium. I wish ownership of a film was permanent."

Again, it sounds like the three-year-old in you coming out. I don't know it for a fact, but I think, from reading the posts in this and other fora, that most people are MORE than happy to upgrade to a better copy of a movie or TV show if they truly love it. And to get totally pedantic for a moment, you don't actually OWN a movie when you buy it. You may own a hunk of plastic, but what you've really bought is the license to show what's on that hunk of plastic in your home without charging admission. Ownership of THAT PARTICULAR COPY of a movie IS permanent, but, as a consumer, that's all that you're entitled to.

Let's look at it one more way, before the horse I'm beating starts to smell up the place--let's say that, 20 years ago, YOU made a movie that became fairly popular. Let's pretend that it sold 20,000 copies on VHS at $20 each. Let's also say that you promised every person who bought it that they could have a copy of it on whatever new medium came out in the future--all they had to do was ask for it. So, DVDs come along, and you suddenly have 20,000 people wanting a free DVD from you. You spent your portion of the profits from VHS sales LONG ago--what are you gonna do now? You come up with a plan--you'll make a new movie and take the proceeds from that to give all these people their free copy of your older movie! Unfortunately, your new movie tanks and you only sell 5,000 copies of it, so you've still got to get new copies of your old movie out to people for free. And of course, you've still got to have money left over for rent and food and inconsequential stuff like that. Now, replace "you" in the scenario with any movie studio, and hopefully you can see what a stupid idea, from a business standpoint, it would be to grant free media upgrades.

I swear, CJ, this hasn't been meant as an attack--I'm just trying to help you see that your viewpoint on this topic is childish and untenable. Friends?
Old 07-23-13, 06:33 PM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

In the past year I've noted that several discs have gone bad in my collection that is less than 20 years old. I started the thread "Planet Earth Defective Discs, how to get replaced". That was #1, then a defective disc in the "Six Feet Under - The Complete Series" - easily and happily replaced by HBO, TWO of the Harry Potter series stopped playing 1/2 way through and were replaced for free. Then, just the other night "The Hunt for Red October" froze, so now I have to start trying to find out to get that one replaced too. It's such a pain to get them replaced. The studios should make it much easier to get replacements.

HBO has the best disc replacement policy I've yet found!

rbrown stop beating the OP to death. Do you realize that it's you who have made 5 of the 18 posts to this thread. Move on please!
Old 07-23-13, 08:28 PM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Originally Posted by danwiz
rbrown stop beating the OP to death. Do you realize that it's you who have made 5 of the 18 posts to this thread. Move on please!
I'm sorry, Danwiz. I didn't realize there was a post cap per member per thread and that I had gone over it for this one.

My bad.
Old 07-24-13, 02:40 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

My thinking at this point is that with the way data storage devices are constantly increasing in capacity and decreasing in cost, it might become practical in a few years to start backing stuff up in a major way. I've been reading how some people have used Vudu/Flixster to convert much of their collection to digital but for folks with very large collections that's some serious money. And you still have to worry about how long those services will last, licensing issues, etc.

I'm not too worried about this now since you can rebuy most titles easily and cheaply if a few discs go bad. However, if physical media goes bye bye and significant problems with digital services arise, it might start making more sense to look at ways to preserve one's collection.
Old 07-24-13, 09:30 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Originally Posted by rbrown498
You know, CJ, part of me really empathizes with your fear of your DVD collection going tits-up...but the other 98% of me is thinking, "What are you--a three-year-old?" There are some facts about life that you, as a human, have to face: you're going to die sooner or later, meat is something before it shows up in the grocery store, you always run out of coffee on the mornings that you need it most, and everything except rock eventually rots.

Even if your collection were to remain in pristine condition forever, there WILL be something down the road that will make it seem less desirable in the future. I feel pretty sure that, in the 1940s, many people were satisfied with their 78s and felt that surely there could never be anything that sounded better than them. They were wrong. As good as DVDs and Blu-rays look now, when you get them blown up on an 8K screen like you'll have in 10-15 years, they're not going to look as good as something that stores info in a native 8K format. I was perfectly happy with VHS, until I saw a laserdisc in action, which I thought was the final (as in ultimate) format...and then DVDs came along.

As for the concept of buying a copy of a movie and then having perpetual access to upgrades...you said:

"I just wish that once I bought a movie, I was entitled to a copy of that film on every new media phase that comes and goes, I hate that in 20ish years I'll have to replace all my favorite films on a new medium. I wish ownership of a film was permanent."

Again, it sounds like the three-year-old in you coming out. I don't know it for a fact, but I think, from reading the posts in this and other fora, that most people are MORE than happy to upgrade to a better copy of a movie or TV show if they truly love it. And to get totally pedantic for a moment, you don't actually OWN a movie when you buy it. You may own a hunk of plastic, but what you've really bought is the license to show what's on that hunk of plastic in your home without charging admission. Ownership of THAT PARTICULAR COPY of a movie IS permanent, but, as a consumer, that's all that you're entitled to.

Let's look at it one more way, before the horse I'm beating starts to smell up the place--let's say that, 20 years ago, YOU made a movie that became fairly popular. Let's pretend that it sold 20,000 copies on VHS at $20 each. Let's also say that you promised every person who bought it that they could have a copy of it on whatever new medium came out in the future--all they had to do was ask for it. So, DVDs come along, and you suddenly have 20,000 people wanting a free DVD from you. You spent your portion of the profits from VHS sales LONG ago--what are you gonna do now? You come up with a plan--you'll make a new movie and take the proceeds from that to give all these people their free copy of your older movie! Unfortunately, your new movie tanks and you only sell 5,000 copies of it, so you've still got to get new copies of your old movie out to people for free. And of course, you've still got to have money left over for rent and food and inconsequential stuff like that. Now, replace "you" in the scenario with any movie studio, and hopefully you can see what a stupid idea, from a business standpoint, it would be to grant free media upgrades.

I swear, CJ, this hasn't been meant as an attack--I'm just trying to help you see that your viewpoint on this topic is childish and untenable. Friends?
My relationship with common sense varies depending on the topic, but it's good to be exposed to it once in a while. I sincerely hope the OP takes your post in the helpful spirit in which it was clearly meant. Thank you.
Old 07-25-13, 04:40 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Oh i did take it in the best spirit possible, i promise. I can be stubborn at times. I have noticed that many of you appear to be somewhat older than i am, and maybe that is what gives you peace of mind in your collections eventual demise. You see, I am 20. I won't keel over anytime soon (hopefully), and I have been collecting DVDs since I was 10. So if DVD shelf life isn't very long, I will be around when half my collection stops working. As for my comment (and your responses) to the notion of being provided with upgrades as they become available, I don't mean that when bluray was created I wanted the studios to send me new copies of my films. All I am saying is that if I buy 10 individual seasons of a TV show at $30 a pop, I wish there was an alternative to just "rebuying" them someday. Especially when you apply that to an entire collection of tv series and films. These digital services like Ultraviolet are limited to streaming your films to you from the cloud and I would never invest in that because if I pay for a film I want to know that I can use it anywhere I want, connection or not. Before anyone jumps me for saying that, it isn't whining to want to own what I buy. I could do this by simply ripping everything to digital files, but that would take me years (maybe worth it I guess).
I hope that eventually there will be an easier way to rip DVDs that will take just a few seconds a disc. Then i would have no problem copying my collection.
Old 07-25-13, 07:54 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Originally Posted by Ash Ketchum
My relationship with common sense varies depending on the topic, but it's good to be exposed to it once in a while. I sincerely hope the OP takes your post in the helpful spirit in which it was clearly meant. Thank you.
Thanks for the support, Ash. I hope that I don't anger others by making another post in this thread, but here goes.

Originally Posted by cjdilworth1213
Oh i did take it in the best spirit possible, i promise. I can be stubborn at times. I have noticed that many of you appear to be somewhat older than i am, and maybe that is what gives you peace of mind in your collections eventual demise. You see, I am 20. I won't keel over anytime soon (hopefully), and I have been collecting DVDs since I was 10. So if DVD shelf life isn't very long, I will be around when half my collection stops working. As for my comment (and your responses) to the notion of being provided with upgrades as they become available, I don't mean that when bluray was created I wanted the studios to send me new copies of my films. All I am saying is that if I buy 10 individual seasons of a TV show at $30 a pop, I wish there was an alternative to just "rebuying" them someday. Especially when you apply that to an entire collection of tv series and films. These digital services like Ultraviolet are limited to streaming your films to you from the cloud and I would never invest in that because if I pay for a film I want to know that I can use it anywhere I want, connection or not. Before anyone jumps me for saying that, it isn't whining to want to own what I buy. I could do this by simply ripping everything to digital files, but that would take me years (maybe worth it I guess).
I hope that eventually there will be an easier way to rip DVDs that will take just a few seconds a disc. Then i would have no problem copying my collection.
First, CJ, yes, I'm 50, and maybe my age has something to do with my acceptance of the possibility of my collection failing, but there's also my personal philosophy that it's just STUFF. Sure, I love my collection, and I add to it on an almost daily basis, but it's only a chunk of who I am. Some people seem to allow their hobbies and collections of stuff to define them. Yeah, I'm known as a movie nut among my friends and co-workers, but I do have other interests.

Back when VHS was the rage, there was always the thought in the back of my mind that there could be some sort of massive cosmic electromagnetic event that would wipe out all my tapes all at once. Of course it never happened, but it was still a concern of mine. So I get where you're coming from, but I've discovered as I've gotten older that worrying about stuff that I have no control over is a fruitless endeavor. If something's gonna happen, it's gonna happen, and you just pick up and move on as best you can.

As for backing up DVDs to a portable hard drive, when I started buying Warner Archive MOD DVD-Rs, I figured that I DID want to back those up, as I'd heard that they had a much greater probability of failing than regular pressed DVDs. So I bought a 500 GB portable hard drive and backed up all of the MOD discs that I own, and when I buy new ones now I back those DVDs up as soon as I get them. If you tackle the task in a systematic way, it's really not as onerous as it sounds. Most DVDs take, at a maximum, around 15 minutes to rip to the hard drive, but a lot of them rip in under 5 minutes. I'll start a DVD backup on the computer, then watch something on TV or make a phone call and check back on it in a few minutes. Done! So I start the next one. Like I said, if you approach it systematically and back up 5-10 discs a day plus any new ones that you acquire, you can get it done with zero stress in only a few months. I saw a 3TB drive online for around $100--you could buy it, work on filling it up, and buy another when it's full. One of those would probably hold close to half of your collection.

Just remember--you've got your discs now, and no one's gonna take them away tomorrow. Your backup project doesn't have to be accomplished overnight. Start with the discs you're most worried about, then move on to the others. If you keep at it diligently, you could have your collection totally backed up by the end of the year.

Hope some of this helps.
Old 07-25-13, 11:01 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Originally Posted by rbrown498
I swear, CJ, this hasn't been meant as an attack--I'm just trying to help you see that your viewpoint on this topic is childish and untenable. Friends?
Originally Posted by Ash Ketchum
My relationship with common sense varies depending on the topic, but it's good to be exposed to it once in a while. I sincerely hope the OP takes your post in the helpful spirit in which it was clearly meant. Thank you.
RB's post may have been helpful, but it was also derogatory and uncalled for. Mentioning that the OP's comments were of the mentality of a 3-year old at least TWICE in his "helpful insights" hardly qualifies him as one whose primary goal was to be neighborly.
Old 07-25-13, 11:10 AM
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Re: So concerned with longevity of my collection

Originally Posted by That'sAllFolks
RB's post may have been helpful, but it was also derogatory and uncalled for. Mentioning that the OP's comments were of the mentality of a 3-year old at least TWICE in his "helpful insights" hardly qualifies him as one whose primary goal was to be neighborly.
I didn't catch those insults in his posts so I went back and looked.

Here's how he worded it:

You know, CJ, part of me really empathizes with your fear of your DVD collection going tits-up...but the other 98% of me is thinking, "What are you--a three-year-old?" There are some facts about life that you, as a human, have to face
...

As for the concept of buying a copy of a movie and then having perpetual access to upgrades...you said:

"I just wish that once I bought a movie, I was entitled to a copy of that film on every new media phase that comes and goes, I hate that in 20ish years I'll have to replace all my favorite films on a new medium. I wish ownership of a film was permanent."

Again, it sounds like the three-year-old in you coming out.
Not quite what you said he said. He's using a perfectly reasonable analogy. I would have said "five-year-old" myself, but who knows? Three-year-olds may be guilty now of the kinds of attitudes I associate with my five-year-old self. A self that comes out in a startling manner when I'm under certain kinds of social stress.

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