I, too, feel that regular DVD is "good enough". Until someone practically GIVES me a large w/s TV, I'm not even considering hi-def. Ridiculous.

most people have cut down on thier dvd buying and hi-def has little to do with it. why spend money on dvds your only going to watch once,have little resale value and just will collect dust when you can rent from netflick or comcast ondemand? how many times does one really watch these so called blockbusters? most people just see it once and move on to the next movie.

I have even moved away from the foolish phrase of "dvd collector"...no, we are nothing more than dvd BUYERS who have a "collection of movies."

Why?

A collector doesnt spend $14-$20 on a movie and then can only sell it for less - FAR LESS than what they paid just 3 measely days before. Real collecting, imo, involves an APPRECIATION of a good/item, not a DEPRECIATION which results from a UNIT that is MASS PRODUCED and doesnt even live up to their self imposed labels such as "SPECIAL EDITION" "LIMITED EDITION" etc.

I have definitely slowed down at 500 + b/c I'm reaching shelf-space capacity and I am reluctant to put more money into a format that I know I will begin to replace with HD or BluRay...eventually.

With all of the titles showing up at Big Lots for $2.00, nope. I have, however, sworn off future TV-on-DVD purchases unless it's something with high replay value, primarily sitcoms like The Office.

Sadly, this is where I am.

It's even more of sickness when you consider purchasing certain titles at a premium due to their limited availability or packaging!! For instance I just imported a 3 disc (1 = OST CD) SE of Il Mare from Korea. I could have opted for the Hong Kong release for half the cost or less. Sometimes I reflect and find the whole thing somewhat ridiculous in the grand scheme of things .. but I soon get over it.

But on-topic, the short answer to the OP is no.

There's a few reasons for this:

1) Availability. With an interest in foreign films and importing, I'm always looking around the Internet for new and better editions, releases or films that I might not otherwise get to see around town if it weren't for the Internet. And when I place that most recent order, I'm like a kid again anxiously awaiting for that package to arrive.

2) Interest in film, period. Even though I have most of what I know of collected, there is always new stuff coming out .. or I find a gap in my collection that I've forgot about completing. So, it's a never-ending pursuit.

3) Access. If I liked a film once, 95% of the time I'll enjoy it again. In my "library" it will remain for another day.

**edit** .. and lastly, High Def is currently not a part of the equation.

It's been almost a yr since I stopped buying DVD's (with the exception of two simpsons seasons and 24 season 5) I'll get Venture Bros in a few wks as well.

I widdled my collection down from 400-ish to about about 350. It's been a fun ride but I plan to switch over to one of the hi-def formats later this yr.

I haven't actually saved money since I'm getting so many CD's though...

I Netflix almost everything now'a'days, unless it is a TV show, I still buy those, but that is all.. Bought into the HD craze, own eight of those and Netflixin those also, only due to price.

I've bought all of four DVD titles this year. MST3K sets 7 & 9, Simpsons season 8, and Rocky Balboa. No netflix, but I've got a friend who's just about as fiendish for DVDs now as I was three years ago. So that's nice.

I spent my first five years building a core collection and spending tons of cash to do it;now that I'm close to where I want to be, I'm down to about 4 dvds a month, and plan to be much more discriminating when the hi-def format war finally ends.

Also, Netflix has seriously saved my bank account.

LOL, pretty much my feelings exactly. I don't rent or buy used, so I go on my gut feeling when buying discs as they're pretty much 90% blind buys. The worst part of it all is, in a few months, seeing the disc unopened on my shelf which I paid full price for and then seeing it's now half-price to get it new. I have gotten better though in holding off on some "lesser" preorders until the price drop in a few months.

I've given Hollywood more then enough money. I haven't bought a DVD in months and at some point I'm going to unload all the garbage I've bought over the years. If I could do it over again I wouldn't have started collecting them in the first place.

No, have not slowed down! In fact, with the recent developments in the UK and Studio Canal having an excellent distrib I am very excited about the future. In addition, foreign distirbs have stepped up big time and nowadays are performing amazing restorations on classic films (the Italian market being a bonanza).
I am however very, very selective!

This is a great time to be a film-lover!!

Pro-B

all kinds of people have all kinds of past experience with formats. i've been through the old VHS days and experienced brief-and-slight dalliances with buying new films on a regular basis. in the end, one format goes, another enters.

trick is this : don't focus on the format, focus on the films.

i say this because you're tentatively close to learning that for yourself, yet you show signs of possibly going on to do the same with HD-DVD / Blu-Ray as you did with DVD - buy things you want to watch as they come out - and you'll end up in this place again once HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are coming to the end of their lifetime.

when DVD began to come around, i decided that (as a UK resident) that my choices with regards my particular interests were fairly limited - but, in America and other countries, the choice was huge - the formats price and cost of importing were far cheaper than any prior format, and so it was a clear policy decision :

"buy what you want to see, which you wouldn't otherwise get to see..."

this way, whatever format I am currently buying doesn't remain the focus, the films do. i won't rebuy what i've bought, because i got to see it. i won't get stuck in an eternal fight to build myself the ultimate library at my disposal, because i've set (admitedly large, potentially) boundaries and definitions to what i want to buy. it's a case of knowing what you want, in broad terms, before it comes along, then being adaptable to things that appear of interest when you first catch glimpse of them. not formats : that's not the key to wise buying. admitedly, i'm luck, because my areas of interest with regards films not released in the UK have been very well served in the days of DVD - been regularly buying for about 8 or 9 years, and i have something like 450 films, which i regularly do slight culls on and which i also manage by researching the things of interest before reacting to 'opening weekend feaver'.

Slowed down considerably, but only because I have most of what I want.

Also, I've totally stopped double dipping.

I have stopped buying at full price pretty much altogether unless it is an absolute must have. Everything drops in price incredibly fast now so all it takes is a little bit of patience.

Add me to the quitter list. I stopped about 3 years ago after realizing that I was watching my Netflix rentals every week, but my purchased discs (maybe 500) were usually gathering dust. I sold most of them off in a few stages. Now I've gotten rid of all but the essentials.

I definitely understand the need to compulsively collect, but for me, renting is a far better financial decision. For ~$50 a month I have the 8 at a time Netflix plan. I can't always keep up with that many, but I like the idea of always having a few "new" discs sitting around. I like to keep up with all of the CC, Kino, other art film labels as well as the big studio releases. In order for me to see everything of interest that'd be released during an average month, I'd end up spending hundreds of dollars on things that I'll probably only care to see once and would lose money (and more importantly, TIME) reselling. A lot of the stuff I end up renting wouldn't be stocked at local stores and if it were, it'd probably be close to list price, so I'd rather just let Netflix ship it out.

It's also nice to never have to worry about transfer/audio visual quality before renting something. I hated having to research all of that stuff before buying. Now, if a DVD arrives and it looks or sounds terrible, I can make the decision about whether I care to sit through it or just send it back. Usually if I've made the choice to have it shipped out, I'm interested enough to sit through it- even if it is Facets. It's comforting to know that I can see their obscure Czech releases without fretting over the straight from a worn out VHS tape transfers being hard to re-sell or even re-watch.

The way I see it, now I have the best of both worlds. I can still SEE everything I want, but I can put my money toward other things + avoid cluttering the place with things I'll rarely use. I do buy the occasional disc, but they are usually music titles that won't be available to rent or will probably be out of print quickly.

I'm not in my coffin....so I guess I'm still buyin'.

I don't stop buying dvds because I don't stop buying movies. Same for HD-DVD. I said years ago on this forum that my library would take CONSTANT tweeking...and that means there are always needed films to add. Maintaining a library for personal use is a hard and never-ending job.

And don't give me that well, you can't watch everything so why..... I've heard all that bullshit before....so save yer breath.

Re-sale value means nothing to some.

Face it...most people are casual film lovers. You seem to be a prime example. You share the mindset of all Joe6packs.

Someone asked me last week....You have 4 kayaks and 2 canoes....why do you need to buy more? Because we do what we have to do to remain happy. Plus..they, just like a film, each provide a different service.

Screw everyone else.:D

I do this too. I also have a huge backlog of DVDs to watch, so it works out quite well.

I was thinking the samething gutwrencher. I'm thinking a lot of people in this thread got into DVD collecting because they wanted to collect something.

I've cut back my purchases as well. Now I'm pretty much down to superhero films (and even that has slowed, do I really need Elektra?) and cartoons. A few years back I would have bought Children of Men the first day it hit stores. Now I realize I probably won't watch it repeatedly, and just add it to Netflix.

....Must...Buy....More....Dvds.......Sales...Bargains......Discount Codes....

Yep I am done buying DVD's at this point (other than waiting for Magnum P.I. Season 7 and 8 and Cheers seasons 9,10 and 11 if they ever see the light of day)

Thought about getting the new Bonds but the HD releases will be out by the end of next year I bet...so that would be a big waste.

Currently I am.....

Just waiting on the format war to end or a combo player (which I think would be the solution to this mess as they can both co exist)

I tracked my DVD buying since I started with DVD's in 2000:
2000 - 49 Titles
2001 - 67 Titles
2002 - 97 Titles
2003 - 72 Titles
2004 - 64 Titles
2005 - 59 Titles
2006 - 43 Titles
2007 - 3 Titles so far

As you can see the apex was 2002 and numbers have declined each year since. There are a number of reasons for this:
1. Funds - not unlimited as much as I would like
2. Have most of the titles I would like
3. Space - with 450+ secure space and not so secure space is limited
4. HD Consideration - although I haven't committed to either format, once
the winner and pricing comes down, it's viable
5. Plenty to watch - a considerable unwatched pile to go through
6. Wife factor - not exactly a fan of my collection and the verbal
abuse "money could be better spent" is starting to wear on me
7. Constant Double/Triple dipping of titles - this endless re-issuing of titles
just makes me want to wait longer until purchase
8. Huge Price cuts 2-6 months after initial release - when I think about it, I
could have saved hundreds if not thousands of dollars just by waiting

I won't say I've quit buying DVD's but slowed down considerably.

I have only bought 1 DVD in 2007 so far, and I don't even check the weekly ads any more. I think it has as much to do with the fact that I just moved to a new city, started a new job, and don't really have the time I had in college just a few months ago, as well as that I have almost 280 movies, so I've always got something to watch. Once I get settled down over the next few months I imagine I'll get back in the habit, but won't be buying anywhere near as many as I used to.