Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

Like all media markets, there is a bottoming out period. Not sure if we've hit it with DVD yet as it usually occurs once the replacement tech is firmly in place. Regardless, after this bottoming out, the used market actually picks up steam. Particularly once folks start to see just how many titles are going to be left off the replacement tech.

That being said, I have what I have because I want it and not because of what I think I can get for it.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

There's some odd out-of-print titles that hold their value well on the market but I think the money isn't really the case directly.

I think most people eventually just want the technology to level off to a point where they're happy and confident with what they bought instead of feeling their purchases are second-rate after a few years.

For me, I'm happy with DVD. The improvements of Blu-ray are not enough to compel me to re-purchase what I already have unless it's replacing a non-anamorphic DVD of a title I really liked or has several additional extras.

With audio, I think the technology has leveled off, quality-wise. The CDs I bought 20 years ago haven't been replaced by a superior-sounding commercial format with the exception of some re-mastering of certain titles.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

Well, I sort of had this feeling when Blu-Ray & the new defunct Hi-Def were introduced.

I was fairly resistant to moving to Blu-Ray, and only did it about six months ago. But, do I think the move was worth it? Heck yes. Putting in the BR of "Blade Runner" was enough for my jaw to hit the floor. But, then again, I can see how some people don't really want to invest the money.

I think why BR works in my particular case is that I have certainly not gone out and bought title after title. I've only "replaced" perhaps less than two dozen of my favorite films. That's it. Of course, I buy new stuff that I have not owned before as well in BR.

I was an still am a big fan of SACD/DVD-Audio, but mostly because of the addition of surround sound. Modern CD's have gone way, way down in quality due to the "loudness wars". I tend to look for older cd's that aren't as heavily compressed.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

:thumbsup:

I'm a huge audio fan, and you are right about original master CDs. The Pink Floyd CBS discs are a good example of superior sounding, early release CDs. The Wall first release, Columbia CK36185/C2K36183, is preferred over MFSL for quality, and blows away the sound quality for all subsequent digital remasters.

This also is my biggest complaint with streaming. I value sound over picture with my movie watching. You'll be lucky if you get 5.1 from streaming, and I doubt we'll get lossless over streaming anytime in the near future. Those files are simply massive.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

The way it works right now with services like Vudu and Amazon, you're entitled to watch the movie from their servers any time (and those who prefer this method say that frees them from shelf space and having to sort through discs)- BUT, as I pointed out before, there's always the possibility of a title being taken offline for any reason as has happened with Vudu's adult movies. Even if you got a refund or credit, that just doesn't sit well with me. Plus most likely your 'purchased' movies are only for your registered devices, so no bringing them to friends' houses and the like. That was a big objection to the DIVX disc format (where you could upgrade some discs to unlimited play for a one-time cost, but only for your players.)

Bottom line- it's just a bad idea.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

I don't have any of the early "Wall" releases. I do have the 35DP-4 of "Wish You Were Here", though. :)

I think what that gets down to is how long it will be until fiber to the home becomes prevalent, and how fast IP providers are willing to go with John Q. Public. Is any of that going to happen soon? No, but eventually.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

I wholeheartedly agree with what you said, and certainly I think you make a point as to the availability of a title. But I think this gets down to whether or not if you purchase a title, if it will remain yours to download whenever you want, and won't go away.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

When I first started this thread, I had hundreds of DVD and no children. Now that I have kids, my collector's mentality has evaporated. Shelves full of DVDs seem like a pain in the ass to me now. I've sold off most of my DVDs and the ones I kept were transferred to slim cases, and are in a plastic bin in the garage. If I cared enough, I'd transfer them to a hard drive, but it's not really worth the effort.

I just bought a Blu-Ray player that plays 3D content, but even with recent price drops for BD discs, for me, there's little need to own. I'll probably buy a few discs that the kids like and some concert BDs to show off my system, but I will not be collecting to collect. (Yes, I'm talking to you, Criterion Spine collectors.)

Once you become a collector, it feels like your stuff begins to own you. I don't want to go there again.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

Hmm, I see where you're coming from but for me it's a little different. I too had a kid since this thread began, and my wife and I have tried to embrace the ideals of simplicity living. One thing I've mentioned before in threads like this is how I regret buying so many DVDs that I only had a passing interest in, mainly from reading reviews or comments on forums such as this.

Now we've started trimming down our collection and we hardly buy anymore, especially since getting Netflix. I'm still keeping a lot of DVDs but I'm trying to narrow down the focus considerably. Some things I'm never getting rid of like Star Wars and Star Trek, and more recently Doctor Who. Even with Trek and Who being on Netflix, there's still too many instances where they've taken something out of circulation for whatever reason.

I certainly don't feel the need to collect things like Criterion spines. After all these years I still have less than a dozen Criterions and most were purchased on the strength of the title.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

:up:

Not only has getting rid of stuff felt good, I don't even recall what it was that I got rid of, and it makes the remaining smaller collection more streamlined and specific to my tastes.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

Yes, that's what I'd like to get at.

I recently visited the home of one of my wife's friends, and I was talking to her husband in his office/mancave. He had one wall covered with his boardgame collection (like those long, involved board games). A bookshelf full of his RPG books and a good sized bookshelf of his DVDs. The DVD collection was mostly scifi, and it was very streamlined. All of Babylon 5, a good chunk of Star Trek, a few things like The Matrix boxset. Basically someone could look at the titles and not see anything way out of place.

Now I've got things that just the wife likes and things for the little one, but there's still just too much "other" stuff that I'm still working on getting rid of.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

I submit that the best evidence for keeping a collection of physical DVDs is what happened to the Paramount catalog. Two years ago, Paramount got out of the DVD business and took their back catalog with titles like L'il Abner, Seconds, The Naked Jungle, and Detective Story, out of print. Today, those titles are simply . . . gone. Netflix doesn't have them . . . Hulu doesn't have them . . . you can't buy or rent them. . . and "illegal" downloads are usually 2nd- or 3rd-generation rips that look like a digitized monkey's ass. The general public has no interest in movies produced more than 5 minutes ago, so those older films will never be re-released on Blu-Ray. If you didn't buy those movies when you had the chance, they will be forever out of your reach.

That's why I'm happy I own a large collection with obscure movies that were lucky to briefly see the light of day in the golden age of DVD.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

Of course, if there's something obscure there's a chance it will go out of print. Buy it if you love it and want to rewatch it. However there's no need to ever keep a DVD of Jerry Maguire.

BTW, in the case of your examples, L'il Abner, Seconds, and The Naked Jungle are available for instant download on Amazon - albeit they're priced between $6 and $10. Detective Story is still available for sale on DVD for under $10 new.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

After what Amazon pulled with yanking 1984 off the Kindle, I wouldn't trust them with my money for a download that they could delete at any time, since you have to use their proprietary software to play downloads.

Good news that Detective Story can be bought new online, but the other titles, as well as many others, are still unavailable physically (unless you want to pay ~$50 to a 3rd-party vendor), barring a miracle at Big Lots or Ross.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

I think I have all but L'il Abner on VHS, taped off broadcast TV or cable somewhere along the line. Better than not having them at all.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

I used to have this attitude, and god knows I have the 3000+ discs to show for it. Funny thing though, I still only pull my core movies off the shelf at regular intervals. The rest? Well, it's lucky if I've seen them once, let alone twice and I've had these discs for years. I guess someday 15 years from now I might get a bug up my butt to see one of these things, and by god I'll be prepared, but what a crap ton of money wasted.

My point is, regardless of how rare the disc is, it doesn't mean crap if you don't actually watch it.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

Funny thing. I have gone cold turkey from buying new stuff (with RARE exceptions- mainly for my daughter) and am quickly going through my unwatched pile.

As I file these away in my binders, I look at the other movies I have in my collection and frequently go "wow! I forgot I had THAT!! Cool!" and then will watch it.

Granted, there is a price to be paid for that experience. But I don't consider any $ wasted. Even if i were to rent every single movie I have, I honestly felt I would have spent MORE money. And, like a previous poster, a large % of my collection is pre-1950's films. I do not download, netflix, hulu, etc. Perhaps one day I will get into that technology. But one of my joys is the special features with these old films.

For example, I haven't gone through all the commentaries from my WB sets. I DO listen to these occassionally. Will I be able to do that from these download technologies?

Watching some of the old shorts that are supplments to old films are a real treasure to me. Will downloading/netflix'ng give me those features, too?

Once a year or two, I go through my collection, pick out those that I KNOW I will never see again, and donate them to friends and the local library. I still have about 1300.. A lot are box sets and TV seasons that yes, we do watch over again.

Would I do things differently starting over again? probably would be a little more selective and eliminated all impulse buying at big lots and BBV sales. 99% of the movies I give away come from those purchases.

But I have enjoyed 90% of the movies I have bought, and am currently re-enjoying them with my daughter as she is getting old enough to appreciate these.

No regrets here.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

http://electronics.shop.ebay.com/8-T...=p3286.c0.m282


If I can still buy an 8-track player (not that I want to), I have no doubt I'll still be able to buy DVD players for at least the next few years. -kd5-

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

I look at it this way. Collecting and burning stuff of tv not released is the best guarantee to be able to watch anything, at any time, for the rest of your life.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

Wow, I hope I never feel like that. That's depressing...:sad: -kd5-

maybe, studies vary
 

Except that DVD-Rs only last a few years.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

Here's a more depressing thought: You are going to die and all of the stuff you collect, including your Steelbook sets, lenticular slipcases, and your limited edition of "Dude, Where's my Car?" will eventually end up in a landfill or recycling facility. Only you care about your shit and almost no one is impressed by the way you've organized your DVDs on a shelf. Then again, perhaps I've assumed too much?

I used to fantasize about how blown away people would be when they saw my collection. The actual result was that no one cared and my wife was annoyed by the sight of the DVDs, which, in her mind, represented a substantial amount of money spent.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

Your first problem is trying to/wanting to impress other people. I buy things because I work hard and I want them, I don't buy things to impress others, I don't give a shit what others buy with their money and I don't expect them to give a shit about what I buy.

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

While I live and breathe, I will do what makes me happy. I'm sorry you feel the way you do, I think they make a pill for that. -kd5-

Re: DVDs, Materialism, & the Concept of Ownership
 

Of course, he is right about the part where you're going to die and all your important crap will be thrown away.