mike7162

The real problem in my case, is that I don't get to revisit the films that I really love, that are nearly a part of me - all so that I can justify watching this vast backlog that I've accumulated.

big e

My collection, no. Now, my backlog I did begin to get overwhelmed by a few years ago. Eventually, I forced myself through it (which I think caused me to become semi-burned out on movies for a time) and knocked it down to 0 in March 2013. Since then, I've made it a point to never amass an unmanageable backlog and to only buy movies I know I will watch again. The latter rule is pretty easy to follow since a good portion of what I watch nowadays I don't feel a need to revisit, let alone own. This isn't just applying to modern movies, mind you; the same judgment applies to television as well as silent/classic/American New Wave films.

mcnabb

This was a big problem for me when I was collecting DVD's, as I had hundreds and hundreds of movies that never got watched.

I learned my lesson when I bought a BluRay player, as I picked out the 40-50 movies to buy that I truly loved, and it has worked for me.

E Unit

Thing about my collecting habits is that they change from time to time. I actually buy a little more now, especially movies/shows that come with UV codes. I tend to spread the love with my family by letting them use my Vudu account, so at least 6 family members take advantage of movies I buy. Some movies are for my wife, some for the kids, and most for myself. I split them in piles based on what I'm in the mood for. And I actually don't have that much a back log at the moment. A few Criterions that I enjoy slowly burning through because I watch everything on them, and the other piles consist of mainly TV shows and some various catalog titles.

I do like to revisit old stuff randomly as well. That's why I bought them, right? To watch them again.

mndtrp

Same here. I'm looking forward to showing my son those movies I love, because otherwise I probably won't ever get back to them.

BambooLounge

I've been scaling down my purchasing a bit over the past 3 years. When I got into the hobby (DVDs), things were at the saturation point (a couple of years pre-High Def) where I could get movies for $7 or so and then Criterions were more. I also reviewed DVDs for a while as well for another site.

So, my collection grew at a pretty rapid pace during my last two years of college and then I kept it growing into HD-DVD/Blu-ray. My big thing was (and to an extent still is) finding directors whose films I enjoy and filling out their filmography. It worked out for directors I love, like Martin Scorsese or Federico Fellini, but then there are some directors, where I had to stop myself and say, "Yeah, Sidney Lumet has made some great films, but you don't need to own all of them."

Also, I tried to stop buying discs because of price. I still buy some stuff just b/c it's so cheap, but it's less of a money thing (even though, those $5-10 discs add up) and more of a space thing. Also, I no longer buy TV shows unless I know it's a show I'll want to revisit. Otherwise, I'm content to use HBO Go or Netflix for that.

As for choice paralysis...it happens some times, but I tend to create boxes for my g/f and I based on what either one of us is in the mood to watch and it makes narrowing down a film easier. Also, having a g/f or friends who aren't that into movies, makes it really easy to revisit stuff.

Shannon Nutt

My dilemma is that by the time I get done reviewing movies I'm assigned (for another IB website), I don't have time to watch the titles I own/want to watch. So the pile of unopened titles gets bigger and bigger.

rexinnih

I have over 900 and look at it that even if I watch one a day, that can be almost 3 years between viewings. This time around, I'm taking a more critical look at my collection and weeding out a lot of my impulse "because they were cheap" buys.

PhantomStranger

It does get difficult fitting in the longer films. I find it very hard to find time for any film running nearly three hours. Shorter films are easier to fit in dead time.

DJariya

I get mostly overwhelmed by the amount of entertainment options there are.

Anyone who complains that they have nothing to watch is lying unless they live in the country with an SDTV, no internet and a VCR.

I mean, you have home video, cable/satellite, on demand, DVDs and BDs that many of you own & rent, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Itunes, TV shows on network and cable airing in the Fall, Winter, Spring and even Summer. I mean there are thousands of hours available now yearly. Along with going to the movies during peak seasons like Summer. I know most here simply can't keep up with all these options, movies and shows etc.

I wake up every day, go to work, do my normal errands and I never for 1 second worry about having nothing to watch.

morriscroy

What I meant with a quote of "nothing to watch", was not watching any of my dvds/blurays.

(Sorry if I wasn't clear on this point).

In practice, I end up watching foxnews, bbcnews or cnn all day (both at home and at work), instead of watching any of my dvds/blurays.

stvn1974

Just sold a bunch of BD/DVD TV sets at fye and got the Sopranos at Best Buy with the cash. The Sopranos is something I will watch over and over. Most of those TV shows I watched when they aired, bought the season when it was released but never watched it. Some were 10 years old. I just have a small collection now of 25 favorite films and top 10 TV shows.

rocket1312

That's my problem as well. More and more I find myself choosing what to watch based on run time. Even if I do put in something that's only 80-100 minutes, the odds of me finishing it in fewer than 3 sittings are pretty slim. Thanks to my advancing age and my 8 month old child, I just can't stay awake anymore.

morriscroy

Even worse is planning periods for long running tv shows which are highly serialized, such as something like the original Dallas or Dynasty.

Every time I say to myself that I want to plan some time to watch a 25+ episode season of Dallas or Dynasty, in the end I keep on pushing it to "tomorrow" or "next week". (Like kicking the can repeatedly).

OldBoy

i couldn't believe i actually pulled the trigger on seeing a new movie. saw Guardians of the Galaxy in 3D (blown away again), but i hope this breaks the streak of not being able to watch anything that isn't Netflix or whatever. God, i hope so...

Shagrath

I don't have a problem with a huge backlog, and see it as an accomplishment when I can get through a chunk of it (even when I do keep adding to it). DVDProfiler says I'm at 791 unwatched (with 433 of those being blu-ray). I count something as unwatched if I haven't seen it in that format. So if I saw something on DVD or Netflix and upgraded to blu, it's in the "unwatched" pile.

I look at it as never being without something new to watch. I have slowed down somewhat in my purchasing habits, although I've also sped up with my Criterion purchasing.

davidh777

Seems like there are two different issues being addressed here:

1. Do you have so much shit you're paralyzed and incapable of choosing something to watch? (I think this was the point of the OP.)

or

2. Do you have too much shit?

I think a lot of us would fall into this second category. And there are times when I can't find the RIGHT thing to watch. But I never get too overwhelmed to pick anything. I just make a choice and move on.

Shagrath

My wife has the problem of not being able to pick something. She'll come into the library and look at the walls of films for 5+ minutes, and then just go back to the living room and watch something on Netflix instead. For me, I pretty much let my computer tell me what to watch. I filter DVDProfiler to unwatched and just have it pick something. If I'm really not feeling it, I'll spin the wheel again.

OldBoy

how does DVDProfiler tell you about unwatched?

Shagrath

You can set up user accounts and if you right-click a movie, there's a "Watched By" option.

Of course, I didn't know this for the longest time, so I made a custom Tag for Unwatched, and one for Completed (watched all features). Every time I watch a movie, I go and uncheck that box.

OldBoy

i'll try that. thanks.

morriscroy

(Change the word "shit", to something which sounded less ambiguous).

I am definitely in the first category.

Other than a few dvd/blurays from The Asylum, I don't have too many titles which I would consider total "garbage". (I like watching various Asylum titles for the "it's so bad, that it's good" type of guilty pleasure).

JANK

My backlog is legendary. Years.

PhantomStranger

Most psychologists believe that too much choice in retail environments actually overwhelms most shoppers, shorting out their normal decision-making process. Many get frustrated by too many choices and give up completely from making a decision right there.

Paul_SD

Yup. It's bad business to offer customers too many choices. McDonalds is in the process now of jettisoning a lot of their menu because sales have been in a down spiral for a while. I don't know how much that will stop the bleeding, but anyone who works in a service environment realizes quick what a mistake it is to give customers a full slate of choices.

For some reason the talk of choice paralysis always reminds me of the phenomenon of forced marriages under Pol Pot.