Corihor1

In conjuction with the "Toys" thread and the current Bonus thread now available on the DVD Bargains page I am interested to see how everyone feels about the aspect of the Bonus Disc and or special packaging.

There was a time in my collecting when I was a sucker for anything that was Bonus Disc. I would pay 5.00 more for a DVD even if it just included a 5 Song CD Sampler as the "Bonus". I would go to CC and BB every Tuesday morning just to make sure that was able to get the "prize" and usually I had to because those items sold out within a day of opening. This also included any freebies that any store had to offer. If I ever missed a week I was on Ebay or the Trade Forums making sure that I got whatever was given out or sold.

Now years later I find that I am really not as fervent as I once was. Granted I was at Walmart instantly to but Hot Fuzz and went straight to Best Buy to get the 300 Helmet and Popeye Tin. But I still find that my desire for anything Bonus or Special has diminished somewhat. Perhaps it is because the stores realized that we as collectors were suckers and have flooded the market with too many options. Or maybe it is due to the advent of Blu-Ray or HD-DVD and having to decided between the "Bonus" or having the film in HD, which I still find myself deciding on occasion. I am still on the fence about the Lenticular cover of Disturbia vs. the HD of Disturbia as I still have a very large weakness for anything Lenticular or Steelbook.

What do you all think?

rfduncan

The only bonus I found worthwhile was the BB disc that came with S2 of South Park, the original 28 minute version of "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe". That was SWEEEEEEEEET.

Every other bonus has been more of a "boGus" IMHO.

darkside

One thing I'm learning quickly is DVDs have little value to me anymore. I will take the HD version now (if available and applicable) with fewer extras over anything on DVD. Doesn't matter if its in a steelbook or has a toy. If it has an HD version then that is the version I'm buying.

The experience of watching it wins out over any packaging. In some cases like Hot Fuzz the HD version ended up even having a lot more content than the standard DVD release anyway.

gimmepilotwings

HD everytime.

The Bus

Well, HD wins no contest. I can't go back. I've bought a single regular DVD in the past year: Borat. I didn't want to wait and I liked how the packaging for the release was put together. And it wasn't a movie that would immensely benefit from a BD release.

My needs for a DVD to be "special" are very low: excellent picture quality & OAR, excellent sound and/or original track for older releases, and the trailer. More than that I don't need, and honestly I could care less about 9-minute "Behind the Mask" EPKs that get advertised as "special features" by the home video wings of studios. It's a promotional movie sent to HBO and other places. It's almost never revelatory.

But, I will, do, and have paid extra for more content. I jumped on the Jarhead HD DVD when I saw it had all the same extras of the hard-to-find limited edition. I only hope the releases of Panic Room, United 93, Munich, and War of the Worlds follow suit.

Will I rebuy any of my HD titles once a new version comes out that's packed with new features? I doubt it.

Corihor1

You know I consider the South Park Bonus one of the highlights in the History of Bonuses, including some of the first run of Lenticular covers.

I watch Ebay all the time and use the completed items search a lot just to monitor rare DVDs.

South Park used to fetch insane prices as a sealed set and for the Bonus Disc alone. Much the same as the LOST bonus Discs.

Now though it seems like even Ebay's value for these items is diminishing. Some of the South Park DVDs have sold for as little as 4 or 5 bucks and some not at all.

It even seems that there are some sellers out there who specifically sell these bonus or free items from the past, but I really wonder how succesful it is for them from a Speculative purpose.

Heck I even found a seller who currently sells a lot of the free promo DVDs from the past, but I just don't see any worth in that.

Darth Maher

I used to go ga-ga over bonus material in general, but I have to really like the movie and the bonus features have to be at least decent for me to upgrade. As for packaging, if there is cool packaging and it doesn't cost much more, Ill go that route.

As for HD, if I had a player, I would most likely go with that as an option... unless a Special Edition has been rumored or announced.

Bandit03

I feel the same way as the OP. I used to go to BB every tuesday morning just to make sure I got the freebie that came with the DVD, but now I rarely do that. For example, I would have been all over the 300 helmet a couple years ago but now I didnt even bother with it. Nowadays I'd much rather spend the extra money on the HD version.

rmick

Back in high school, I used to have time to watch all the bonus features of a DVD, all commentaries included.

Now that I'm working, I can hardly do that, let alone get to the bonus disc. Unless it's something special, I can most of the time live without a bonus disc, unless it's like all the special features like was the case with Hot Fuzz.

Johnny Zhivago

Depends on the content of the second disc and I rarely care too much about packaging...

As for HD... I think I'm still a few years away from jumping in the pool.

tofferman

I rarely get too excited over bonus discs and special packaging. The Popeye tin, Oldboy tin, Superman tin, a few Steelbooks, Munich and United 93 are exceptions.

Part of my "conundrum" is that I do not allow the rest of the family to even touch my HD discs since they are careless and those discs are very sensitive to damage. That forces me to consider every HD release or its SD rerelease. Therefore, every SD rerelease has to have a very compelling reason for me to double dip at this point...and since the family can only use the SD discs, a double dip, regardless of the bonus content, is even harder to justify than ever before.

islandclaws

If a bonus is worth worthwhile and easy for me to obtain, why fight it? I'll go out of my way sometimes to get one that I really want, like the Hot Fuzz bonus disc or a Target exclusive Saw III 2-disc edition. I do agree that studios are taking these exclusives a bit too far sometimes just to milk the collecting consumer.

tylergfoster

If the bonuses on a bonus disc run more than 20-25m then I would consider it worthwhile as long as it is directly related to the film. I don't care much about, like, the bonus disc that came with Saw I that was trailers for Devil's Rejects/High Tension and the like. And I will jump on discs that contain features from other regions (Hot Fuzz) or features from the BR (Saw III), because getting a BluRay player is far in the future and importing is costly.

Jah-Wren Ryel

I've seen Borat in HD and believe me, you don't want to. Too much of all the wrong kinds of manliness on display in that movie - doesn't matter if you are straight or gay. I pity the people who saw it in the theater on the 12-foot-plus tall screens. Damn good thing they never released an IMAX version.

basaro

No bonuses for me, it's mostly just fluff and not worth all the extra dough. I'll stick to paying less than $5 per title and continue to remain satisfied with that.

Brian Shannon

Too many variables to give a definite answer.

It depends on the content and quality of the bonus materials to me.

lotsofdvds

The alternate version of Anchorman is my most prized possession, DVD wise.

darkside

This is probably mine as well. I also have the South Park pilot disc, HD DVD episode and the Season one Commentary CDs. Most of the time like with the Star Wars Bonus disc at Wal-Mart the bonuses end up being very underwhelming.

nateman

If their is a choice between the 1-disc edition of the movie & a 2-disc "Special Edition", I will always pick up the the "Special Edition" over the bare-bones DVD. Most of the time the second disc turns out to be a bunch of worthless material but (especially the WB) I'm a sucker.

If for instance like a couple of weeks ago when I got the Zodiac (WS) DVD & for a bonus disc included the first two episodes of Dexter for only $2.00 more then thats definitely worth "The Value".

I'd rather have a bonus disc which has a preview of a TV show or a 15 minute preview of a movie or something, rather then a "2-disc Special Edition" that has basically f**k all on the second disc. Like I said Warner Brothers (WB) is the king of the 2nd disc of their "Special Editions" having nothing of value.

John S.

I don't give a damn about extras or special packaging. I rarely (if ever) watch them with the exception of my wrestling collection, which actually have good extras.

crazyrabbits

If there's a movie out that I enjoy, and the features are good, I'll buy the more packed edition. That said, I have bought a fair number of DVD's that I haven't gotten around to seeing the special features on. I really like the deleted scenes on DVD's.

Imail724

I like bonus discs and special packaging, but when it comes to toys or replica helmets, could care less.

Eve Brown

I never really cared for exclusive bonus things. I would rather wait for the dvd price drops. At first it was about $10 nowadays about $5 like recent CC or BB $3.99 sales. Sometimes its movies I have seen and want to pick up other times its blind buys. The whole releasing a 1 disc and 2 disc is lame. Its often not worth it when I don't watch much extras except delated scences or alt. endings. Athough I did watch all the extras on my Bourne 2 disc, times that I do are few and far between.