I've been collecting since 98. I have about 5000 DVDs. I'm trying to get rid of as many as I can. There's a lot of movies I hadn't watched or seen, now I'm trying watch those movies and I've found many of them I'll never watch again so they are going into the sell pile. I'm compulsive and obsessive, hence the large number. But I've also found that it's easier and cheaper to buy a DVD than to go see a movie at the cinema, it just kind of got away from me. I don't think in all my ten years of buying DVDs I've paid anything close to retail for a disc. Lots of store closings, sales, used discs, etc.

I also have about 1,000 laser discs and I had about 5000 VHS tapes, which I converted to DVD-R (took me about three years) and am slowly throwing away all the VHS tapes (we have a limit of how many trash cans we can put out a week, so I was trying to fill one can a week).

I assume those are home-recorded VHS tapes, and that you've already donated the commercial ones to a charity-run thrift store, right? If not, great way to get a small write-off on your taxes, help a charity, and put the tapes in the hands of somebody that might want them rather than straight into the landfill.

^I'm in a similar situation as Lastdaysofrain. I trashed all of my VHS tapes a few years ago, most were recorded off cable in EP mode and unwatchable. I never got into LD. I'm around the 6000 mark on DVDs, and still buying, mostly during sales and used. Amazingly there are still several thousand titles on my wish list. I recently got satellite, and am aghast at how many non-DVD titles are being shown on the likes of TCM, FMC, and MGMHD. I'm beginning to wonder if titles are being withheld from DVD specifically to keep some "exclusive" content available for those and other channels. Anyway, I've probably got over 50 titles scheduled to record in November alone, none of which are on DVD.

I get really mad when I upgrade a DVD to BD (or HD) only to have the quality be lackluster. ie. Caddyshack and Total Recall.

I haven't purchased any S-DVD's since I went HD/BD June of 07

There is an aspect of collecting as a hobby. If that's your thing you can aways rationalize the money. It's your money so spend it as you will. At least you are getting a tangible item vs. blowing $5 a day on a Starbucks coffee. My uncle is really into music not so much movies. He collects albums, CDs and Music DVDs. He'll buy an entire CD boxset just because it has a live version of a song he doesn't have. Uncle; download the thing for 99¢. Nope he's a completist.

This sounds ridiculous to me. You should look into a service like Netflix. Save yourself a lot of time and money. Try it out and let us know how it goes.

Thanks for your opinion. If you had read my post you would have seen why renting is not for me.

Very interesting post. It was just a few days ago that I realized how major a role DVDs has become in my life...too major, perhaps.

I started collecting back in December '99, when I got my first DVD player, which I still have btw. I remember when the only thing that mattered was getting movies that you really love, regardless of features or casing. In nine years, I've seen how much that has changed, especially for me. Steelbook packaging, unrated double-dips, and so much more has kind of diluted that love of movies for me.

But to go back to the quality vs. quantitiy discussion, I couldn't agree more. Rather than focus on what else I need to get, I'm trying to focus on what I do have. As a rule, I only buy a few DVDs at a time, watch them, and buy more. I think the worst I was ever backed up was in fall '06, when I had maybe 10 or 15 DVDs that I hadn't watched. Now I just have to watch Indy 4, Incredible Hulk, and Casino Royale (all 3-discs), before I move on.

It's good to focus just on well-made movies that you really love; something about that attitude, for me, anyway, maintains the excitement of owning a movie. But that's not to judge anyone else. If you can afford to pick up whatever 20 DVDs you want every Tuesday and watch and enjoy them whenever, more power to you.

Personally, I would buy more, but with things being the way they are, that's just possible. So for now, I'm just going to enjoy what I have.

My DVD collecting is closely linked to a lifetime long love of movies. From childhood, movies had been a passion for me. But my DVD collection is only a part of it. I go to the theater, I rent constantly, I watch TV, I PVR, I borrow from the library. I devour all of it. I watch a movie a night, at least. On the weekend 2-3 easy if I'm home. My first shot a the Horror Challenge this year, I topped 100 horror movies quite easily (most of which I didn't own, btw).

Like many here, I feel a strong pull to amass a large collection, and personally feel I own too many DVDs (over 500 currently). But I've used some rules for myself that have worked well.

Blind Buying -- Except for a recent spurt of Big Lots sprees, I've largely bought movies I had come back to again and again. Blind Buys are rare. I own exactly 14 blind buys, either from box sets or $3 or less from Big Lots and there's not many of those.

Budget -- I do not spend more than one paycheck (~$1600) a year on this habit of mine -- this includes DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-ray movies AS WELL AS players and games and game consoles. If I need more money, I sell stuff on eBay/Craigslist.

Bargains -- When I do buy a movie, it is a killer bargain.

-beebs

Thanks for that. I've slowed way down in buying (mostly just Netflix for me) but I'm not really willing to just throw away (or sell for a dollar) my duplicates or wants I don't want to watch anymore. This may be a good way to at least get rid of 100 or so.

I've been collecting DVDs since 1999, our shelf and rack are about full. Total count is 387 with space for exactly 12 more DVDs - after that, don't know what I'll do.

It does look a bit over done when I step back and look at it all, with so many that have not been watched yet! I'll weed some out now and then and sell them off but not for alot of money.

So... Thank you rfduncan for posting the info about operationdvd.net - I never knew about this, I'll gladly skip the few bucks I would get from selling them and will mail any excess discs we no longer want to this group instead.

Me too. I gave a lot to my father because he doesn't care about extras, anamorphic transfers, or 5.1 sound. He just want to watch the movie. But I just went through and grabbed a handful that he'll just have to do without. I too will be sending at least a few to these guys.

i been a member of netflix and rent them and watch them and if i like them i will buy them, or if the movies good i buy them anyway, like if its 5 bux ill buy it and watch it

I did this a while ago as well. Bought my first laptop and paid off a few debts with the money I made. I was close to a thousand DVD's...now I'm at 340 according to Delicious Library.

= J

I'm pretty much in the same boat too.

I have been collecting since 1998, and at one time, I have collected over 2000 DVDs.(and I still have some DVDs that I bought over a year ago that I didn't watch yet)
I did sell several of my DVDs and now have around 1200. Unfortuately I sold lot of my OOP DVDs because those are the only ones that sells at decent amount and I'm left with lot of DVDs that I could do without.(but I would still rather keep it than to sell it for just around $3)

Now I have stopped buying DVDs all together and just renting.

I am slowly buying the Blu-ray. But, I have learned my lesson and only buying and upgrading my most favorite movies only.(and I never blind-buy anymore)

I share the same approach but my DVD collection is also part of my library. I definitely have more books than I could read in a lifetime. Although I'll reread several books again, I don't intend to read others cover to cover; I may need a passage for a reference or I may skim a title. Likewise, I'll watch several movies again but I'll keep most others simply to look up an individual scene or image or score.

I've collected DVDs only relatively recently and it's all the fault of DVDTalk's bargains forum. I originally started with a couple hundred DVDs comprising a canonical compendium of film. Now, I have over 2000 DVDs.

My library's short on Criterion releases, however, because I was always too stingy to collect them all until they were released in high-def. I also skipped many mainstream releases because of the same expectation. Blu-Ray sales and HD-DVD clearances have become common enough that I have at least 150 high-def titles. Nevertheless, I'm a sucker for a DVD if it has store-exclusive bonus discs. Or if a great sale comes along: 2- or 3-disc DVDs for under $10 are nice as are cheezy single-disc movies for $4. Otherwise, I rent new releases because I expect them to be $4 someday.

Unfortunately, my taste in film seems horrible because I have around 500 DVDs from Big Lots. Then again, a quarter of those are classic films.

I'm addicted to recording classic movies that aren't out on DVD. I have to use a database to keep track of what I've recorded, mainly from TCM. Some movies haven't been aired more than once in the three years I've been obsessive about making my own archive. TCM repeats other movies enough that I've made a dent in watching my recordings.

The turning point for me, I think, was when I recently realized that movies and DVDs had actually started to become a source of stress for me, when obviously the opposite should be true. I DVR a dozen or so movies every week (mainly from TCM), am on a 3-at-a-time Netflix plan, and have countless purchased DVDs that are begging to be watched, some for the first time, most that just haven't been watched in many years. The number of choices I have has increasingly made the movies and TV shows I watch feel like something I have to "get through." Of course, this has turned into a Sisyphean task, because on those rare occasions when I manage to clear out the DVR, there are another dozen movies waiting to be recorded the next week, and just as soon as I send back my Netflix, they send some new movies right back to me. I can never really catch up. Thankfully, I have yet to develop the same complex with music and books, though that's probably only because my obsession lately with trimming the movies-to-watch list has pushed nearly everything else to the side.

I still enjoy the stuff I do watch, but not nearly as much as I used to. More specific to the topic of DVDs, I remember back around 2000 when I bought my first ones and how special it was to own a few of my favorite movies. I rewatched them frequently and devoured every bonus feature. Now, I feel such a compulsive need to get through my to-watch list that as soon as the end credits begin, I'm thinking about what I need to put on next. It depresses me when I scan through my DVD shelves and realize just how many movies there are that I really love, yet haven't watched in 5+ years.

I'll be taking a break from Netflix for a while once my current billing period is up, because it's rendered my DVD collection pretty pointless. There's only so much time to spend watching DVDs every week, and once I've plowed through the Netflix and some DVR'd stuff, my DVD collection just continues to gather dust. So, I guess the real issue and pre-New Year's resolution for me is to get back to a point where I can just relax and enjoy movies without feeling any pressure.

I doubt I've hit 1,000 at any point. "Quality vs. quantity" is a difficult argument for me since I only purchase things I like (or, in the case of the $2/$3 Big Lots titles, things I think I'll like), but I have been selling off some of my "higher ticket" items like OOP sets, and TV season sets I no longer have time for.

Ah, kindred spirits with whom I can commiserate!
My story:
Movies have always been my addiction. VHS, LD, theatrically... not to mention the posters, books, toys, collectibles, merchandise...
I was working as the manager of a Suncoast Motion Picture Company when DVD first arrived in 1997, so not only did I have my DVD player from Day One, but I spent every day converting customer after customer to the format (I shudder to think how many conversations I had to have about the advantages of WS vs the horrors of P&S), and I gave pretty much every member of my family their first players. DVD was my new drug of choice, and I was a user AND a pusher.

My collection has grown and grown over the years, to where it's now at about 700 commercial discs, plus a couple hundred more recorded. I worry sometimes about the amount of money I spend on my hobby, but I figure there are worse addictions - I don't smoke, don't really drink, no drugs, don't gamble... My addiction is no more expensive than others, and less destructive.

I've often considered paring down my collection, and I've already bought and sold off or given away more than I care to count over the years. I may not watch everything I own very often, but like a previous post mentioned, I like having them available whenever I have the urge to watch it. I have, however, altered my buying habits considerably. I do far more free library rentals, and I'm far more selective about which titles I feel I need to own. I buy the majority of my movies previously viewed - by waiting just a couple weeks I can get anything for under $10 - I only buy new if I want an SE or specific edition that rental store won't get/sell. (It also helps that pretty much everything I want is already out, so I'm only waiting for new titles to make their way to DVD.)
At least for the time being, I've chosen not to enter the world of Blu-Ray. I don't even have an HDTV to fully reflect its advantages, and to be quite honest, standard DVD is good enough for me. Maybe someday if I strike it rich, but for now I'm content.

Bottom Line: With a family and different job now, I don't have the time or expendable income I had 10 years ago, and so my priorities have changed. But my love of movies will always be one of my defining characteristics, and I'm content with that. I definitely have an addiction, but I've learned to balance it and keep it reasonable. Thank you all for providing a place to share my hobby and get additional perspectives on all things DVD.

p.s. - wow, that previous entry of mine felt like some kind of confessional.

Have our forums turned into some sort of 12-step program?

About 2 months ago I had a sort of breakdown and sold a good chunk of my CDs and DVDs. I went by the thrift store after work one day and grabbed some boxes, got home, and went to town on my collections. I pretty much went through everything title by title and decided if it was really worth owning or not. I threw everything that I didn't feel was absolutley essential in one way or another into one of the boxes. I took them to a CD Warehouse and they went through and bought just about all the discs I brought them.

My collection went from somewhere around 400 titles to about 130.

Now I find it easier when I am deciding on whether to buy something or not. If the title is something I would have gotten rid of in my intial DVD dump then I don't buy it. I find it makes things easier because I'm more picky now about what I buy. I've only bought about 6 new DVDs since the big haul. I'm quite proud of myself.

Went through my collection just the other week and weeded out 20-25 discs I just know I'll never bother with again and shouldn't have bothered with in the first place. The thing that annoys me however is whilst several of those DVDs where indeed reasonably cheap they still represented at least £50 worth of my money. How much did I make off al of them.... a meagre £11. Still rather have the extra cash for a night out, Cinema or just buying lunch thanh having alot of stinky and unwatchable movies clutter up my living space that extra bit. Looking at my collection there are still titles I know I should part with but I just can't.......unless I detested the disc in question then it's unlikely I'll sell it on are donate it to charity. Looking now I'd say I have roughly 400-500 titles taking in both movies and TV shows and with additions like Hellboy 2 and The Dark knight inevitable at the months end I just don't know what I'am going to do....you can't reduce if you keep adding.

There will always be things I want to hang on to just for the "collection". For the longest time Friends was one of my wife's favorite shows, so every birthday and Christmas I would get her a season boxset. She rarely watches them and I even catch her watching them in syndication and not on DVD. But I doubt we'll ever get rid of them. But how many movies do I need to have on hand "in case someone wants to see this at the next holiday get together"?

I bought my first DVD player in June of '99. I have somewhere around 1,200 DVDs. I've really curbed my buying habit enormously these last couple of years. I jumped the gun on HD-DVD and when that failed I decided to approach Blu Ray cautiously. I've also decided that I won't upgrade titles on Blu-Ray, expect for maybe a handful of my favorites. I still buy the occasional DVD but I absolutely refuse to pay more than $20 for a new release, so Blu Ray new releases are out for me until the price comes down. Plus I like being able to play the movie on multiple players where I just have a PS3 for Blu Ray. Maybe someday, when it really catches on and prices come down, I'll start collecting for it. But part of me suspects it's the new laserdisc -- a big catalog of movies to choose from, but still very expensive.

Another reason for slowing down is I'm running out of room. We built shelves in our theater but they're almost completely full at this point. You guys with collections of 4,000 to 6,000 amaze me.

I hate to think how much I've spent on this hobby over the years, including home theater items.