Why we collect DVD's - the Definitive List of Reasons
 

Intrigued by today's "When will you stop collecting DVD's" thread, I did a search for a thread on "Why do you collect DVD's" (in the first place) and found this thread: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=502794, which had an informative discussion on the topic.

Inspired by those threads, I thought it would be interesting to try to get collective input on a definitive list of all of the myriad reasons, from the profound to the practical, why we collect DVD's. So, if you have a moment, let's give this a whirl with the following guidelines:

On each day that this thread continues, feel free to post one, and only one, reason (it doesn't have to be the reason most important to you) why you personally collect DVD's, but do not repeat a reason previously posted.

While we all, no doubt, have more than one reason for collecting DVD's, it will be interesting to see the input of many on those reasons rather than just having one or a few members try to sum up all possible reasons and have folks nod or shake their head. Also, requiring folks who have many reasons for collecting DVD's to only post one reason per day will help ensure we get a collective voice on this list.

If you post a reason, please do so in bold, for easy browsing reference. Finally, if you would like to post a parenthetical explanation for why the reason you gave is important to you, please do so.

So, let's get the list going and see how many ways we complete this sentence: "I collect DVD's because ____________."

1. It allows me to easily introduce my children to movies/t.v. shows that I grew up loving.

(Free time with my kids is, unfortunately, an unpredictable treasure, and my collection is ready and waiting when those times arise and everyone is also in the mood to watch a movie or t.v. show. Seeing my kids become enchanted with movies that enchanted me when I was their age is a true joy.)

2. I want to be able to watch some stuff blow up any time I want.

4. I hate the work of having to return a rental.

(heck even doing the netflix mailer is more work then I like)

5. It is a pretty inexpensive hobby compared to some.

6. I love movies!...

and I am addicted to collecting the movies i love and having them at my disposal any freggin time i want. and i love the cases and i love looking at the cases with the movies i love. and i love talking about the movies i love or am interested in. and...

7. if I feel like watching "Green For Danger", the original "House of Wax" and "The Empire Strikes Back" back to back to back starting at 3:17am on a random Tuesday morning, I can.

i love the freedom of having an accessable library at my fingertips

wait,

i change my answer to what scott said :P

8. Unlike VHS, my DVD player will not eat my DVD and the DVD will not go bad (hopefully).

I am going to ignore the rules and elaborate a bit, as I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Sorry.

All of my life, I've been a collector. From comics, to stamps, to coins, to beer bottle caps, to baseball cards, back to comics, to MST3K tapes, to DVDs; with several missing and many concurrently. Collecting is built into me, an obsession that I'll never be able to abandon, even if I wanted to quit.

I wasn't even close to a movie buff until DVDs came out. I liked movies and TV a lot, but I was more into reading and my other hobbies. I didn't go to the movies nearly as often as even the average person. I never saw Godfather, The Goonies, and dozens of other classics for example. Also, the non-permanency of VHS kept me from buying too many of them. Once I started buying DVDs something just clicked, and I became more of a movie fan.

Many reasons, but here I'll give one that hasn't been mentioned so far.

10 - I like having a hobby that is very universal and easy to share with others. Comics and other collectible type hobbies tend to be very specialized, with many people refusing to give them credit or a fair try, but movies are universal (and paramount).

I agree completely. I've always been the same way, primarily about horror movies but it's also branched into comics and video games. It's hard trying to explain why we are like that because for someone that doesn't have that collector mentality. When I tell people I have about 1600 dvds, they always aske me "Well, why don't you just rent them?" I always respond with "Don't you wish I could just do that?" lol It's the way I'm wired and I don't think it'll ever change.

I'll add my own oddball reason since the others are already pretty good.

11. I like being able to look at all the cases and artwork when I want.

(Seriously, sometimes I'll just spend some random time going through my dvds, looking at the cover, reading the back, checking out the features, etc. When I was a kid and every single grocery store had a pretty good rental section, I would tell my parents or grandparents that I'll be at the video section and to come get me when they were done. I've spent many hours growing up and hanging out in the horror section and checking out all of the boxes. I would try to imagine what the movies were like and what happens and all that since I could never rent all the ones I wanted. With all my horror dvds, I guess I still have the habit of doing that same thing but it's with my own personal movies. Crazy, I know. lol)

12. I like knowing that even if a film is long out of print, I still have a copy of it just in case I ever want to see it again.

I enjoy seeing the deleted scenes/unused ideas behind a film, to see what the rejected concepts were, and why they didn't work in the context of the movie.

Because it's not available on VHS, or anywhere else.

ONLY ON DVD!

15. It's better than smoking or doing drugs.

Because TV SUCKS!

For the love of movies!

19. they are great to snort coke off of!

20. so you can watch it again!

21. Immediate access to the source material for reference purposes.

22. Because I wasn't breast fed as a child. Some sort of substitute.

23. Because movies from the satellite or cable look terrible on my 8' wide screen.

Later

Swarty

24. When new people see our house for the first time, the tour often begins and ends with the DVD collection. People always want to talk about your movies.


And usually it's the sight of Clue that gets them most excited.

How about this thread? sounds similar (but not entirely) to this:

DVD Collector "Facts"