Yakuza Bengoshi

You still haven't gotten her to sit down and watch Potty Snails: Potty Adventure?

wildman1037

A Few Reasons

1. Love the "escape" that a good movie can provide.

2. It's great having a variety of different movies, which could suit any possible mood I'm in.

3. Like to share some of my best movies with friends & relatives.

4. Just took my family to the movies this past Saturday. Spent $47 on 4 tickets, 2 small frozen cokes, 1 large pop, and a box of skittles!

Ethan VanSciver

I just really enjoy them. Ever since DVD, watching old classic movies has become so much easier and more enjoyable. DVD makes these pictures look like they were made yesterday, and the bonus features contextualize everything and make it a really wonderful experience.

And collecting them, trying to acquire a vast library of the best of television and film makes me happy.

slop101

because I'm easily distracted by shiny things.

Kurt D

Sadly, we've all seen that one many, many times ...

In terms of 'saving for a rainy day,' for instance, I still haven't seen all cuts of Dawn Of The Dead from the ultimate edition, and I got that for a birthday four years ago ...

kaze0

It's easier to rationalize spending money on something to have to watch if I ever want to see it, than it is to spend $6 on a movie rental and have to go find it when I want to watch it.

TheMovieman

To fill an emptiness I have in my soul...

Actually, this is one reason for me.

darkhawk

I also collected vhs tapes that was nominated for Oscars and Golden Globes to compare for myself to see which was better. Started selling off vhs tapes and buying dvds. Have a complete list of everything that's been nominated. Example: Missing Oscar Movies, Missing GG Movies, Oscar Documentries, Oscar Foreign Films, GG Foreign Films, Oscar Animated Shorts, GG TV Movies or Mini-series and TV Shows. Just added Oscar Live Shorts. I'm a fanatic about these kind of movies

MR Round

Yep

Trevor

Could probably write a dissertation on "why I collect", but here's a quick answer to mainly just tag this thread for reading.

I've been a collector all of my life. Started with comic books, but have dabbled in various other things, and, for the past ten years, have focused mainly on DVDs.

I have some form of OCD or hoarding behavior (not as bad as seen on Oprah or other shows) and doubt I'll ever change.

Collecting DVDs feeds that need in me, satisfies my need for nostalgia and ties to my past, and entertains my family and friends with a blockbuster-like library.

Plus I really enjoy movies, and watch slightly more than one per day on average.

jjcool

Best answer with the fewest words.
I agree with this answer.

LickTheABCs

because chicks dig big DVD collections.

The Bus

I collect them in hopes that they will fill the empty, joyless husk that is my heart.

drmar35mm

I've collected stuff since I was a kid. Comic books. Regular books. LPs (by the mid-80s I had close to 10k, mostly classical). Still cameras. Guitars. CDs. VHS tapes. It was only natural to get into DVDs, with their superior visual and audio quality. I suppose I could get by with Blockbuster and Netflix, but I just like to own the films and TV shows that entertain or satisfy me in a certain way; things that I want to see again and again. I like to know I can look at them whenever I want, for whatever mood I'm in. I'm guessing I have over a thousand disks now, both films and TV shows. And I'm still in an acquisitive phase, constantly looking for items that I need to grow my collection (but only at the right prices. I rarely buy things at full price.) One of the factors that makes watching them all--and hunting for good deals--a very satisfying hobby is the fact my wife and I have similar tastes and usually enjoy our DVDs together. No plans yet to move on to BluRay. It'll have to wait until I get an HD TV, and that will be a while. My ol' Panasonic CRT is holding up fine and I'm quite happy with it.

JimRochester

I have kind of an obsessive compulsive personality. I start something and don't stop halfway. When Istarted collecting, there was no rental market to speak of. Netflix had started but was still something of a novelty. There weren't even that many titles out, so it got to be a habit of getting movies every Tuesday. Back then companies like 800.com and reel.com were willing to lose money making purchases $10 - $15. There were also ways to get tricky which lowered it even more. It depends on how many addresses and email adresses you wanted to have.

Now I'm uncollecting. I'm dumping them by the dozen to half.com and dvdplanet. Why have 8 or 10 I'll never watch when I can trade them for 1 Bluray I will?

lancer02

For the love of movies. Just to see what is new and what is out there. Sometimes you find movies that are outstanding that has never been heard of. That is why movies are great.

movie diva

I collect movies not DVDs, the reason that I collect movies is because that is the stuff dreams are made of, and I can watch what I want when I want.

mzupeman2

I have an addictive personality when it comes to tangible items, and not alcohol or drugs fortunately, lol. As you, when I was a kid I collected things like comics and even movies on VHS. I like to be a completist, and when I start getting something, I want all of it.

As I got older, my habit for buying movies never went away. As I got older, films sort of became a nostalgic trip through time. Watching a movie I loved way back when is reminiscent of the times when I used to watch it as a kid. Also, movies are a fantastic escape from the daily grind, and I don't think anyone can deny that!

I continue to collect because I love movies, I can appreciate them on so many levels, and as been said, it's easier to justify buying a movie on DVD or Blu, than it is spending $10 per ticket for the wife and I to see a film in the theaters. When it comes to DVD, it's cheaper to buy and own than go see it once in an obnoxious environment. And TV on DVD is a no brainer, all my fav TV shows I can own in full, and watch them over and over forever!

Rad14

I've always just loved movies!

I remember when I was a kid and we all sat around the 19" B&W box (showing my age here!), and we watched great movies of the past. You saw them once, then had to wait maybe a couple of years until you saw them again! Same thing at the cinema! There were no Blockbusters nor Netflix. Hell, what computers there were, filled a room!!

Imagine my glee then when VHS arrived, and finally a way to rent a movie out as often as you liked, or better still, I could now buy my own copy to watch when I wanted to!

Heaven.

PopcornBandit

I honestly can't answer this question. I have no idea why I collect DVD's/Blu-rays. I just do.

LickTheABCs

Yeah, but what would you do when the dinosaurs ran off with your antenna?

BrandonJF

Right now, I've got over 2500 titles (428 of which are Blu-Ray, with about 40 HD-DVDs left to dump - down from over 100 I took a huge hit on and never watched). Why?

That's a good question. I am just starting to really try and slow down. The sad thing about a DVD collection is that it is, for the most part, worthless. Could I even get $5000 for my 2500 titles? Not sure. If I could, I doubt it would be much more. Of course, what I paid is well beyond that.

But, as I run out of space to put them, I am almost forced to be more choosy. Especially since the backlog of discs I have never watched is enormous, if not the bulk of my collection.

Up until now, the rule is "if I remotely liked it or find it relevant in some way", it goes on my shelf. Almost any tv show I ever watched? On the shelf.

There are titles that I never watch, yet have gone through multiple iterations via double-dips, triple-dips, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray... I've bought some James Bond movies FOUR times now across three different formats and watched them a total of zero times. Crazy.

For me, it is a compulsion and, at the point where I stop getting something I would feel it invalidates everything I have bought beforehand. Like, if I am "collecting" seasons of a tv show, then I stop, what good is everything I have on my shelf? The completist mentality takes over and instead of having 5 seasons of E.R. I will never watch, I end up with 10 and counting.

Right now, if I did nothing else except watch my DVD/Blu-Ray collection, I would run out of life before I am done.

I am just now coming to terms with not getting everything on street date and instead of having the "I'll maybe watch that one day" philosophy, I am taking the "I'll maybe buy that one day" philosophy. Especially after watching some of these sales that occurred during the holidays... I am so far behind, I might as well wait for price drops.

One thing that is helping me is the Amazon wish list. Instead of ordering everything, I ordered what I really think I'll watch and throw anything else on the wish list. It makes me feel like I have done SOMETHING and that seems to work. It's like the wish list is another "shelf". If I ever want to watch anything on it, it's just a two day wait and it's here.

Trevor

Great post BrandonJF, I could write some of the exact same statements unfortunately.

Last April I started a plan to actually start watching my collection instead of spending all of my time buying, shopping, and organizing them.

I have a calendar devoted to the "task", and try to average one unwatched purchased DVD per day, along with two TV seasons and 3 episodes of MST3K per month. That works out to about 2.5 hours of viewing per day. Lots of days are zero time of course, then some marathon days.

If I keep to that schedule and don't buy another thing, it will be almost 5 years to get thru my unwatched DVDs.

Some argue it is silly to own that much and not rent. But since I average maybe $4 per movie, renting isn't that much cheaper, if at all. Plus it helps my friends and family knowing they have Blockbuster-lite always open.

I realize that it is my OCD/hoarding/collecting/nostalgia making me buy a lot of these titles, but it's either DVDs or crack.

smurr05

To have a library of films that I think are great or purely just enjoy, and to be able to watch one when I am in the mood for that particular film. I do also like the advent of TV on dvd as I have discovered many new shows that I have come to enjoy, (ie The Wire, Six Feet Under, The West Wing among others), as well as getting some older stuff that I grew up with. Nothing like a great film for escapism in these hectic times!

GenPion

I collect movies and television shows primarily because I am a fan of art, of the medium, and it is a driving force in my life emotionally and spiritually. There is nothing better to me than owning a library of films that I can cherish and share with others. This is without even mentioning the sheer entertainment value of great cinema. There are so many reasons to collect DVD's.

Unfortunately, I also seem to have obtained a collector's mentality since I was very young. It is border-line dangerous to collect as much as I do. I have over 1,000 DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray titles combined. That is too many. I know this, and yet it pains me to think of shortening my collection. Yet I fear I may need to soon in order to help myself pay for ultimately more important things.