If I could afford to collect I would, everything I buy now is stuff I know I am going to watch over and over again, I can't wait to graduate college, I am going to waste so much money on DVDs, or whatever the next big format is

So far the only thing I am really "collecting" are the animated Disney Treasures. I say collect because I seem to be buying them more for the historical appreciation than actually enjoyment watching them. I hope to never see another short of Disney characters dancing to music ever again.

The rest of my DVDs are movies I like to watch. I have thought about creating a library of all the films that I have seen in the theater and like plus a lot of classics and foreign blind buys, but the list would be never ending and I could see myself easily owning over a thousand DVDs. I really would be collecting to "catch them all" at that point.

I buy DVDs to watch them, then sell them so I have money to build my collection because I CAN'T HELP MYSELF!. I sell the unopened movies that will bring a profit to BUY MORE. I sell what I have to from my OOP previewed dvds that I find at bargain prices and I keep the ones that won't bring a big profit but I NEVER buy one I'm not willing to stick in my collection for eternity. Many wind up there when the price drops on the ones I have for sale. Walmart, Borders, K-Mart, Suncoast, all carry OOP DVDs but you have to research a lot to figure out what's really rare and valuable and sought after. For example, picked up a sealed copy of The Great Waldo Pepper at K-mart this week for 4.99 and sold it for 35.99. Will buy a used one now for my collection from the profits. Found two copies of Split Second for $20 each today (including shipping) and will sell them for $50 each then use the profit to buy a used one for my collection.

I buy dvds to watch them in every case. I see things like the E.T. gift set, but there's no way i'd buy it (considering the movie scared the crap out of me whan i was little) just for the fact that it is collectable/OOP. I double dipped on LOTR, as did many other people, but I still frequently watch both editions. Also, I do like to complete director sets (Kevin Smith, Wes Anderson, PT Anderson), and in many cases, it's ends up that I love every movie anyways. I buy for the movie, not the value.

Plus, i'm entering college in a few weeks, I'm jobless, and I'm broke because i spend too much on DVDs.

Only for watching. I don't like the idea of spending money on something I don't like, that I could very probably just as easily get stuck with. Look at all the people who bought Fight Club SE and are now kicking themselves for not selling/trading it sooner.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm trading a Fight Club SE in DVD Exchange.

For me it's about watching. I only buy movies I've enjoyed and have only one blind buy (Animatrix, my modem just isn't fast enough to have viewed them online). I'm a broke grad student so spending $$$ on something I'm not sure about really isn't an option.

I only buy what I like to watch repeatedly. If that involves collectibles like the LOTR box sets, fine with me. I have been buying DVD's sine they were first released and I have yet to break 100 discs.

I've watched every movie I have. However the collector in me comes out when new versions of movies are released.

Some examples... Halloween, Exorcist, Evil Dead trilogy, Romero's Dead series, etc...

I buy a movie for the movie.

I do have a friend though that holds true to the "collectable" term. He buys 2 copies of every single Criterion DVD and other "Special" DVD and never opens 1 copy. He puts them into some sort of safe he has. He did this with toys since I met him in 83 and later LDs.

I'm definitely a watcher, not a "collector"... but I understand the collector's impulse! I'm very willing to get "blind buys", but for every DVD that gets bought and then watched, the question is "Will we watch it again?" If the answer is "yes," we keep it, if "no," then not.

I also try to be realistic about the answer to "will I ever want to watch this again?" For just about any film that I liked at all, there's a part of me that says "Sure... sometime." But then I look at my library of DVDs and see lots and lots of other movies that I would choose to watch ahead of that DVD, and I consider the *actual* likelihood that I'll ever watch it again. Often the answer is "I'm glad I watched it, but I won't watch it again," so I don't keep it.

I'm also willing to re-evaluate DVDs, and pull them out of the collection later on if I realize that they're not keepers, either because I watched it again and changed my mind, or because it's been sitting there without interesting me, and I realized that it's not going to get watched again. I just pulled A Man for All Seasons (liked it, but not enough to watch again) and there are a dozen more pending a decision of keep/no keep.

I would **much** rather have a 300-DVD collection (about what I have now) with each and every DVD being one that I definitely want to watch again sometime, than a 1,000+ collection with lots of third-rank movies. I've been an avid collector of other things in the past (including Magic, which I still play actively) and I've found that collecting-for-its-own sake saps me of mental energy, since the collection requires time and effort to maintain, as well as space to store it. I love having DVDs to watch whenever I feel like it, and I find that having a "lean" collection gives me the most satisfaction. It's growing, but slowly - not out of control.

I'm a collector but I'm also a film buff. If I buy a movie it's because I want to have easy access to it in case I suddenly get the urge to watch it. I also do a lot of blind buys. I've gotten burned too often by the "theater experience" so if a movie comes along that I'm interested in I usually wait for the DVD release. I haven't rented a movie in years. If I'm interested enough to want to see a film I'll add it to my collection. Then once a year of so I'll "thin the herd" and sell off the one I don't like. That money goes toward buying more DVDs. I'm proud of my collection and look at it as money well spent.

Thats me also. I will also only upgrade if there is a new transfer or sound. I'm all about the movie. I could usually care less about special features even. That being said I do take care of them and display them. And I would call myself a dvd collector, but I would probably be better described as a movie collector.

Exactly. That's my raison d'etre for my DVD, CD and book collections, in a nutshell: "What if I want to have it one day at 3:38 A.M.?"

Both. But of course, I only collect movie I liked. Sometimes I get blind buys but that's after I'm sure that the movie I'm getting is an above average movie.

Since I love movies and couldn't care less when a particular
tv show is on , DVD represents a consumer product that both
satisfies watching movies I love, anytime and presented
in a stellar medium.

So, I buy DVD to be entertained when I feel like being entertained.

The Astronaut's Wife is in my collection as well sadly. I think it was one I may not have seen before I bought it and it was one of the $5.88 movies at Walmart or Target I bet. Anyway, for the most part I collect to watch the movies, but I've let my collection grow too big. My girlfriend likes to buy movies all the time and I get suckered into buying things instead of renting sometimes. Ideally I might have about half as many as I do (I have like 70). I'd lose most of my comedies.
-Jack

I haven't watched a lot of DVDs I've bought so I guess it is about collecting them. I have bought many blind but usually on a recommendation. But for $5.50 to $7.50 a piece (thanks CH)which is less than the price if a matinee where I live I can afford not to like something and give it to a friend who does.

How do you figure $5.50 to $7.50 apiece for a DVD from CH?

Read the CH FAQ.

Browse the clubs forum. It's all explained there. The membership I just completed got me 9 dvds for $61.25 or ~$6.80 per DVD. If you want to call to try to get different deals on your enrollments you can make it less. $6.80 per disc takes no effort at all.

If will not watch the DVD many times over the next few years I will not buy it.

agreed.