Josh-da-man

While I like the idea of having an extensive library of films and television programming, I have a lot of stuff gathering dust. I have a ton of DVDs I haven't watched in fifteen or more years, so before I buy anything, I really have to ask myself if I really need to add something to my library, or if it's something I'll only watch once and end up sitting untouched on the shelf for the rest of my life like "Being John Malkovich" or "Run Lola Run."

Really, it comes down to a matter of time. I work 40 a week, I have a girlfriend who I do stuff with, and I have other time intensive interests like reading books and comics, and listening to music.

Alan Smithee

Daylight was the very first movie I bought on DVD, though partly because it was part of a limited selection the store I bought my first player at had for sale. It was amazing to see all the contents of a laserdisc deluxe set fit on one disc you didn't even have to flip over- sound mix is still great too. Of course I bought the HD-DVD later though I haven't watched it yet. It was actually going to be the first movie I watched on my first HDTV, but stuff happened and I never got around to it.

As those who read my posts regularly know by now, I routinely get swept up in buying, then burn out a bit and then the cycle repeats itself. Last time I went nuts was the recent Dollar Tree re-stock, and even then I was more discriminate than I would've been just a few years ago.

hanshotfirst1138

Money and especially space. Maybe I'll move out of parents' house before I die.

EinCB

This.

And that.

I've seen a lot of decent and great films. Only the great films will be on my shelves. The great films have high replay value for me. Also, I've blind bought some "classic" films that I didn't like so I've gotten more selective of movies I want to buy.

I want to become less materialistic, too. I love watching great movies, but there are more important things to do, too.

BuckNaked2k

Mostly a space consideration for me, and I have most of the catalog titles I want.

I'm really not too keen on what's released into theaters anymore, and what I do want to see I stream on my fire stick with the Kodi app.

JimRochester

Back in the day, I was in the minority because I wasn't an extras aficionado. So many people were upset with a release if it didn't have every second of film ever filmed and every version of every featurette. For me, whatever it had it had. I would check them out once and then forget them. I probably only checked out a half dozen commentaries total. Fast forward to this decade and I prefer physical media because I still like to check out extras especially any documentaries associated with an actual event. Now so many have completely given up on that. I know that a lot of stuff is available on youtube but I guess having it all on one menu is easier.

I still prefer the physical media but I know that's eventually going to be as niche a product as LD was back in the day. One day the family video will close and all I'll have is the library.

mattysemo247

I'm going to be cutting back significantly this year. We haven't really been re-watching a lot of the collection we have today. Mainly just the kid stuff and Disney movies. But most of the time we'll watch something once and then put it on the shelf. Looking at my list it looks like we bought a little over 100 movies last year, so I want to cut that in half this year if not more. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the BF craze when shit is so cheap, but it's not worth taking up space if we are just going to watch it once. We've been streaming a lot more and use the library for all of the new movies that come out. Not sure exactly what I'm going to do with my currently collection now, I might box up some of it or put some discs on eBay, but either way I would like to see it condensed.

Ringmaster

I'm limiting myself to 2 purchases this year (Arrival and Phantasm Collection) and that's it! My unwatched pile is stacked so high that I want to go through it. I want to economise and expand the space I have for other things.

Maxflier

I have cut WAYYY back on buying movies. Partly because I don't have the disposable income anymore and also partly because I have come to realize how much of a hindrance it is having to store all these damn movies.

TGM

I "collect" UV (Vudu) codes now. The convenience is paramount.

milo bloom

I've got most of what I want. And I don't see as much "good stuff" in the used DVD and thrift stores like I used to. I think all the places like Goodwill and Savers take the goods stuff and sell it on eBay, which is more money for them, but it gives me less reason to visit the store. In the Chicago suburbs area I've seen two Savers locations close down in the past year or so.

And I'm still waiting for the titles that I got into DVD for: way back in 1997, I said I wouldn't start buying until either Star Wars or Star Trek was released. When they started doing Trek, I figured Wars wouldn't be far behind. I've picked up all the SE stuff and Clone Wars in the meantime, but 20 g*dd*m years later we're still waiting for the original theatrical versions of the OT. Simply unbelievable.

morriscroy

Over the past 6+ months or so, I came to the realization that being on an ocd treadmill, the subjects/objects of interest were largely interchangeable to me. Going further back in time over the decades, my ocd didn't really differentiate what the subjects/objects of interest were, and in the end the distinction was irrelevant.

(If one is familiar with advanced mathematics lingo, different ocd treadmills are "isomorphic" to one another as far as my ocd mentality was concerned).

Recently I ended up burning out on TWO different ocd treadmills which were completely unrelated to one another. One was dvd/bluray. (The other treadmill will remain unstated, which I was on during mid-June 2016 to late-December 2016. It was during this same time period that I didn't buy any dvds/blurays).

So far the only semi-effective way I can jump off a particular ocd treadmill, is from utter burnout which is complete and final. Other methods have so far been completely ineffective.

slop101

My dvd/bluray buying/collecting has been slowly (now almost completely) taken over by my vinyl buying/collecting. Thankfully, I don't spend nearly as much coin on vinyl as I did at the height of my dvd/bluray buying, also, they don't take up as much space, also, they're way cooler looking.

orangerunner

My collection is ever-growing because everyone seems to be tossing out their collection. Picking-up used Blu-rays for $2-$3 is fairly standard now.

In a logical sense, I have way more titles than I'll probably watch (or should watch) but I have the space and even if they gather dust, I just enjoy them as collectible items on my shelf.

That's one thing about renting/streaming, there's no visual reminder of how much money you spent. With physical media, you have a constant reminder sitting on your shelf. At least with physical media, it is something that can be resold at one point, even if you only get your $1-$3 back on each title.

islandclaws

I don't know how many titles I actually buy per year, but thanks to being a reviewer I get sent all the releases from the only two companies I truly care about - Scream Factory and Arrow. So that has cut down on my purchasing significantly. It saves me hundreds per year.

milo bloom

See, I keep thinking that should be happening around me, but a lot of the used DVD stores and places like Half Price Books are trying to stabilize the prices by increasing them.. Which makes sense on their side of things, but it keeps pushing them above my "impulse buy" level.

Though, they'll often have the main section of normally priced stuff, but then a clearance section for the $1-$3 titles, but those are true shovelware discs that nobody wants.

Timber

1. Space
2. Money
3. I needed to get myself out of the collector mentality (downsize)

JimRochester

I just dropped off about a dozen titles for a donation to the library. Several were DVD's still in the shrink wrap from God knows when. I did pick up a couple today because I have RZ dollars and not much to spend it on.

I picked up the Bourne Trilogy on BR because I can get rid of 3 HD DVD discs and cases for the one BR case to save space.

I also bought the Jack Reacher 2 UHD, BR combo. I wanted to get a combo platter so I could do an A/B comparison of UHD compared to up-converted Blu

davidlynchfan

I especially love it when it goes Out of Print. Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, It's like I hit the jackpot. For me, it's Physical Media or absolutely nothing. I would never stream or watch anything on the clouds.

bruceames

Haven't had time to watch movies the last month as I find other hobbies. As a result my unwatched pile remains huge. Absolutely no incentive to buy anything unless it's something I absolutely must watch now (maybe 2 titles a year). So sick of buying and seeing the resale value dwindle to near zero. There are plenty of OOP titles and as I enjoy owning them as much as the next guy, I tend to give priority for movies I think may attain that status.

Nick Danger

I believe that I could count the movies that we bought in 2016 on one hand.

We only watch one or two movies a week because of my work schedule, and one of those is from Netflix. The rest just sit there. We have about 600 DVDs and fifteen BDs. I look at all those DVDs and I regret having bought so many of them.

Alan Smithee

The Bourne Identity is to HD-DVD what the Combat cartridge was to Atari- you probably can't GIVE it away!

big e

The Atari Combat or Sears Combat?

morriscroy

(Going back further in time).

The same could be said of stuff like:

- Titanic movie on VHS (James Cameron version)
- the first Tiffany record/cd (with "I Think We're Alone Now")
- New Kids On The Block records/casettes/cds
- Backstreet Boys cds
- N'Sync cds
- Debbie Gibson records/casettes/cds
- "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack on vinyl/cassette/8track
- etc ...

JimRochester

On half.com they are running about 75¢. I threw mine in the garbage. Not sure if they are even selling at that price.

I never worried about upgrading my HD DVD to Blu. I picked up a couple here and there but didn't mind having the second format.