I find wrestling to be extremely re-watchable.

Reading the title the first thing that popped in my head was Wrestling. Entertainment masked as a sport doesn't compute since competition for belts and titles that are predetermined isn't very logical.

Scripts and their outcomes are predetermined in all entertainment movies and television. Why watch any of it?

I hate wrestling, just don't think your argument makes any sense.

I feel the same about all those frauds who make movies involving baseball, football, basketball, hockey, boxing, etc... Turns out they already know who is going to win BEFORE they even start filming! What a sham.

You conveniently left out an important part of the sentence when I said entertainment masked as a sport. I was referring to entertainment presented as a sport is illogical because sports are supposed to be competitive and not fixed.

I have a feeling I better clarify my point more. Pro wrestling is presented as a real sport even though everyone knows it isn't. There is no real competition going on like other real sports. Take the sport aspect out of it and all you have is a predetermined outcome that has to be looked at as entertainment instead of a sport. Personally, I like something that is real to be real unless I'm watching it as a fictional movie or the like. Would the reality TV show Survivor be entertaining if the survivor was picked before the season started? You might not know it until the end but the fact the competition wasn't really one makes everything you just watched pointless. Wouldn't be reality just like wrestling isn't even though it is presented in the same manner.

I'm sure many will argue Survivor isn't entertaining to begin with.

You got me there. Cripes man, everyone knows that.

I'm a big wrestling fan but I usually only collect the career retrospective dvds and the other documentaries.

We're talking about wrestling. What does sports have to do with anything?

And are you sure that Survivor is not completely rigged?

Criterion completionists, don't get me wrong, Criterion puts out a lot of quality movies, but it is different than owning all movies with a certain actor or owning all Disney animated titles which were made by Disney, the only actual running theme to Criterion is the label on the side.

Golden Girls series

It was just the first reality show that popped in my head but there is the possibility anything can be rigged that has competition. I would like to think our society has a little decency left.

I have over a thousand movies now, but I got that way by not buying things on release day -- I read the bargain forum and wait for good deals. For $25 I can get four or five movies, which means if I rewatch half of them just once, it's cheaper than Netflix.

As another 1000+ DVD collection owner, let me say there may be all kinds of good reasons to own a large collection, but saving money isn't typically one of them. You've "invested" at least 6 or 7 grand in your collection including storage minimum, right? That same investment in a CD earning 5% would throw off enough interest to pay for a Netflix subscription, pay taxes on the interest, and leave you with the money in the principal. Sure inflation will cut into the value of the money in a CD over time if you don't reinvest the interest, but not as quick as the DVD collection will depreciate.

I don't see a problem really with huge collections, if that person is happy with it. Of course, my opinion is obviously biased because I am approaching 700, but people with large collections probably have the belief and desire to watch every one of their dvd's. I know I have a large pile of yet to be viewed dvd's, but I have every intention of watching them. My collection also consists of titles that are more for my wife and children than for me, and I actually leave the room sometimes if they throw in a movie I don't care to watch.

Yakuza, that is a very interesting example you give with the investment comparison, because I often look at my collection and tell myself if I would not have bought all these and instead invested it, I would have a nice chunk of change. My thought then changes to, "No you wouldn't, you would have just spent the money on other stuff." I agree that having a large collection doesn't leave much room for arguing "I'm saving money by buying them on sale." I think Sean simply meant that his collection has grown drastically because of how he buys them, as in not on release day. I personally don't see my dvd's as an "investment" but rather a hobby I enjoy. It is true that it is a cool feeling when you find out you have a dvd that becomes oop, htf, or is limited and now commands more money than when it was new, but I know that the vast majority of dvd's in my collection will not fall into this category.

Oh, and as far as the original topic, I never had an interest in collecting all the Criterion dvd's, but I can understand why someone would want to, bragging rights mainly. I'm not a huge foreign film person, and it seems that alot of the Criterion films would bore me. I have held out though for some movies that have a Criterion release only because I'd rather have the Criterion version over the original if reviews recommend the Criterion one as the best version or transfer of the film. Shoot, I only had one Criterion in my collection until just recently when I picked up The Rock CC off these boards. I've seen them on the shelves for years, but I couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a movie, even if I knew I'd like it. I am also curious to see what happens with the Criterion series when Blu-Ray DVD's become more mainstream. It seems like Criterion should go ahead and make the move to hd, but if they don't, it is going to be hard to argue they have better picture quality over an hd version of the same movie. My guess would be the movies would lose their appeal to many, and along with it their collectibility and value. They may still have a market, but it probably won't be anything like it is now.

One of my friends is trying to create a veritable DVD library (albeit largely through burning, but that's another matter) but I only buy movies I think I'll rewatch. Or, if the DVD is cheap enough, I'll buy a title I'm marginally interested in as opposed to renting it for about the same price. I bought seasons 1 and 2 of The Office (US) but not season 3 because I didn't like it, and I won't buy The Simpsons past season 9 or 10, so I'm ruthless even with TV shows I like. I have a lot of DVDs on my shelves and on my wish list, but I don't collect any particular kind of DVD, which is probably more dangerous because it never ends

But it's not just saving money. It's saving TIME. I can go to my collection, and get a movie in a few minutes. That's still quicker than Netflix. Yep, even quicker than a download. It's also convenience. Not sure what kind of a price you can put on that. Maybe priceless. And what if I change my mind? I can't do that with Netflix. Once the movie is ordered...it's coming to my mailbox, whether I changed my interest for that weekend or not. With a collection in my home, it's as easily as putting the movie back on the shelf and choosing something else if I change my mind or want a different theme to watch. One second I might want James Bond, and then a few minutes later, I might want to watch Ghost In The Shell.

Depending on the types of collections owned, some of us could make a pretty good profit. The trick is, don't buy your movies at retail. Buy them at such a good price, you can easily sell them to break even or even make a profit.

So, for the serious and wise collector, who doesn't just purchase on impulse at retail prices and doesn't have a majority of DVDs which have an extremely low resale value, and who values time and convenience, I'd say owning a large collection easily "pays" for itself.

Wrestling DVDs are just like Crime shows on DVD to me. Once the fight is over and I know who won I wouldn’t want to watch the match again. And once I know who the killer is I wouldn’t want to watch that episode again.

I see things pretty much the same way you do. I was just addressing Sean's comment regarding Netflix, not about the value of waiting for bargains.



I don't disagree with the general thrust of your comment. The convenience of having your favorite movies at hand is definitely one of the best reasons for having a DVD collection.

DVDs can sometimes be a good investment. I've definitely had some great resales: picking up OOP CC Hitchcock boxsets and then selling the titles individually for significant profit a year later, buying lots of closeout anime on eBay and selling and trading them in to SecondSpin and DVDPlanet, getting OOP Disney tins through the club and reselling them, culling my collection of OOP titles and selling them on Amazon Marketplace and Half.com, etc, etc. Look at my eBay feedback and you'll see it's mostly DVD sales, though most of them are to simply get rid of things I no longer want not to turn a profit. Still, on the whole, having a large amount of money tied up in a DVD collection isn't the smartest thing to do from an investment perspective.

I still love owning the DVDs, but I really don't try to convince myself it's a smart money move.

Good comments, similar to the reasons why I buy and never rent.

I have perhaps 2000 DVDs, and average probably less than $10 per title thanks to this forum. The average is about $5 per title for movies, but I own almost as many TV sets as movies.

I love the convenience of being able to watch what I want to watch exactly when I want to watch it. I've done Netflix, but it is not economical for me. I can't plan ahead when I'll have the time or be in the mood to watch a certain film. I might rent title x today, but when it arrives in two or more days, I have neither the time nor the inclination to watch it. I sometimes go weeks or even a month without watching a single DVD, but then might have a week where I watch 20 or more films. I'd end up paying my monthly Netflix fee and only getting a few movies out of it. I'd rather own 3 films for $14.50 than rent 3 for $17.

In the criterion completist vein, I never understood the mad quest to obtain a copy of Salo simply because it was out of print. Given the graphic nature of the movie, many of these completists stated right here on this message board that they had no intention of actually watching it. Filling in the gaps of a collection is one thing, but spending several hundred dollars on something (and running the risk of spending those hundreds on a bootleg) for something that you find disturbing is pretty strange behavior, if you ask me.

I never understood the appeal of most anime series.
I enjoy very many of the anime films I've seen. I absolutely love Akira, Nausicaa, Princess Mononoke, etc. But the only series I ever really enjoyed was Neon Genesis Evangelion. Although, I have never seen Cowboy Bebop.

I never think about that. People taste in movies are not the same. Some people collect stamps, other pens, lighters and so on and on. I never say to my friend "why the f++k you bought that sh++." His money, his taste. It is the same to my. I buy movies for me, not for other people to enjoy

I'm not sure if anyone addressed this when referring to wrestling DVDs, but the big appeal for me is that, as a fan, there's really no other way to see these events and/or matches outside of home video. Movies are on network television, cable, pay TV, and you a lot of movies almost whenever you want. But once a ppv is done airing, or RAW or SmackDown go off the air, there's a very strong chance that you will never see those matches on TV again. So for me, it's just a chance to get something that is difficult to watch at my leisure.

I don't understand why someone would buy certain TV series on dvd. I mean who comes home from a hard days work and thinks " I think I will watch episode 14 of season 4 of The Fresh Prince or Full House?" To each their own I guess.

Oh yeah, definitely "reality" tv .... I don't see the thrill at all in watching that stuff much less owning it