Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

My collection's been growing a lot lately, so I got to thinking about how often I watch the different movies. With DVD Profiler, I of course know what titles I have, but there's just something different about actually seeing the dvds. Is your collection so big that you sometimes forget what movies and tv shows you have ? How often do you watch certain titles ?

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I have an average-sized collection for this place (~2,000 DVDs/ Blu-rays), but I only own movies that I know I will want to revisit. In addition, given the pressure from stores and other content providers to move away from hard media to cloud-distributed files, I view my plastic discs as insurance against the loss of access to movies.

For example, Paramount stopped selling catalog titles a couple of years ago. I would be SOL if I wanted to watch, say, When Worlds Collide, if I didn't already own the DVD. It's not available on Netflix or Hulu, and if I wanted to buy it new, copies are going for $35 and up at Amazon. With my collection, I can watch a favorite film any time I like without worrying that it could vanish, as titles at Netflix and other online sources do.

So, no, my collection is not too huge. I keep track of what I own with a spreadsheet on my phone (I love Dropbox!) so I'm in no danger of rebuying what I already own.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

Yes, Yes, and Yes...driving my wife CRAZY!

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I very seldom forget what I've got...although I did accidentally buy a second copy of United 93 once. Other than that, I've never bought a title twice without having a reason to do so.

As to how often I watch certain titles, it depends on the title. I'm trying not to rewatch anything lately, as I've got far, far too many DVDs that I've never watched the first time. So I'm trying to watch things I've never watched before. Admittedly, I'm trying to watch things that I don't think that I'll like (that have ended up in my collection mainly due to being incredibly cheap...past history shows that I'll buy most anything for a buck or two), and if it turns out that I do indeed dislike them, I get rid of them. This process could help me in whittling down my collection to a more manageable 2,500 titles or so, but I still can't stop buying. It's decidedly a sickness.

However, the one hard and fast resolution that I have this year regarding DVDs and Blu-rays is that I'm cutting myself off at $75 per month on buying 'em. Last year, I averaged around $200 per month on DVD and Blu-ray purchases. This year, I'm trying to cut it back to one TV season per month and one higher-priced Blu-ray (Criterion, new Disney animated title, etc.) per month. Whatever's left out of the $75 after is marked for cheap impulse buys.

But to get back to your original question, yes--my collection's too damned big.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

No, I own 309 at the moment. It feels like a big collection to me, but it's not that amazing compared to a lot of the users on here.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

My wife says "Yes!!!". I say "No!!!". I don't trust "cloud" services to provide what I want when I want it at a "reasonable" price. I'd rather own what I like. I've done it all my life with books, music, and movies. I do a fair share of impulse/blind-buy purchasing due to low prices but the vast majority of my collection consists of titles I'd watch again if I didn't have so much unopened stuff to get through first. :)

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

Nah, I've only got ~2,000 DVDs. So far in 2012, I haven't bought a whole lot. My impulse buying has ceased since 2010 when my local Hollywood Video/Movie Gallery/Blockbuster stores went out of business. Now I plan to spend time watching all of them rather than spending money on a lot of new stuff.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I only have 18 Cabinets to hold my modest collection! :D

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Yes. It's strange because I actually look at my collection and get mad at myself for having so many, but I keep buying. I only do Blu-ray these days, but still have a ton of DVDs and I'm foolishly re-buying unwatched (and watched) DVDs on Blu-ray. I know I will never be able to watch everything I own. Is there a support group?

DVDs - 3,261
BDs - 1,371

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/dvd-talk/57...l#post11056932

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

Yes,my collection IS way to damn big. I have at the moment 2,410 DVDs/Blu-Rays,and sadly 1,019 of those I haven't watched. Yet I STILL continue to Blind/Impulse Buy all the damn time. For instance on Tuesday I am buying 5 Blu-Rays,3 of which are Blind Buys(Drive,In Time,The Thing). And my stupidity really knows no bounds when it comes to certain Blind Buys,like some TV Shows that I have bought all the seasons-so far of and havent seen a single episode of(Desperate Housewives,Entourage,How I Met Your Mother,among MANY others)!!!!!! And the worst part of HIMYM is I bought Season 1 on release day when it came with a Bonus Disc at Circuit City,and have the other 5 seasons that followed,yet haven't watched a single episode. And even tho I have 1,019 unwatched DVDs/Blu-Rays(technically alot more since there are ALOT of TV seasons involved) I still find myself rewatching stuff at LEAST 85% of the time. Plus I have 3 rooms FILLED with discs,and worse part is I dont have the majority of my discs in any kind of arrangement,which is absolute hell sometimes when I wanna watch something and have to go searching for it. The only specific catergories I have are my Blu-Ray & Wrestling collections. Sorry for the boring rant LOL.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I rewatch very few. A lot of my content is TV on dvd and making it through those once is an effort.
But I usually buy cheap enough that it's not worth trading/selling them, and like has been said, the 5-20$ I spent is worth the 'peace of mind' that I'll be able to watch it in the future whenever I want to. There are some titles that I think, "OK, I will *never* want to watch/rewatch that" so I do sell trade or give it away, but while my collection is large (by my standards), it's not so large that getting rid of a couple titles will make that big a difference in space, and it's large enough that giving them away won't make too much a difference in time to view.
The only things I've forgotten are some TV series, having season X and needing season Y, or vice versa. I go through spates where I won't buy a title for months, then I'll buy a bunch (Christmas season last year was probably one of the bigger periods in some time.)
That said, I don't have anywhere the collection of some of the frea - er, aficionados here. *My* collection's just right, *yours* is too big ;)

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

Kind of, just because of the room it takes, and the fact that with 2183 dvds/blu rays it would take me a bit over 254 days to watch them all (assuming I just watched them all day with no sleep, no eating, no breaks of any kind).

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

Well, probably. I'm at 4000+ right now and yes, there's a fair chunk I haven't watched yet. I do try to watch new stuff, but I like revisiting stuff I've already watched too. Sure I've got the equivalent of a very healthy house down payment on my walls and in storage containers, but I think of them as the library. If I want to watch something it's there and I don't have to worry about access or cost (beyond what I paid to get it in the first place). Besides I ain't getting any younger and someday I may not be able to afford whatever is being charged for media. As long as I've got a roof over my head and can afford electricity and have a working dvd/blu-ray player (blu-ray is less future proof I think) I'll have something to watch, even if it may be oldish.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

At 589, part of me doesn't think my collection is too large, but the other part of me didn't think I'd ever own this many. I've pretty much stopped buying for now, my computer repair business has been slow as snail shit lately and I had to pull my head down out of the clouds. Now we can catch up on the DVDs that I haven't marked as watched yet in DVD Profiler (we've watched them, just not recently enough to mark as watched). But I still have 2½ shelves left to fill on my 2nd 6-shelf bookcase, so I'm not done yet, just done for now. -kd5-

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

1) Yes. I have, on occasion, re-bought specific anime TV volumes that I thought I was missing but wasn't. Not that often, given the scope of my collection, but it has happened.

2) I would like to re-watch most of what I have, but who has the time? I still have hundreds of titles I need to watch for the first time! There are some films that I go back to regularly (once every few years), but they represent a very small fraction of my total collection. If I had the time, of course, I'd do that more often.

If I retired tomorrow (and I wish I could), I've got enough stuff to watch--on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray--to last me the rest of my life...and then some.

And, yes, I prefer owning physical media to relying on some amorphous "cloud."

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I pay to own content not to lease it. As such I didn't rent movies until those video rental machines came along - it was actually cheaper to buy them previewed than rent new if I just waited a few months. I also don't have cable (getting about a dozen stations OTA).

People who come into my home have said "wow you have a lot of DVDs" often in a snarky way but when I tell them I've done the math and on a monthly basis I spend 1/2 of what the industry says the average person spends on cable they usually get that awkward look on their face since, of course, they're part of the group paying double what I do for cable with nothing in return.

Also, aside from pre-viewed purchases that I treated as a cheaper than new release rental I didn't have to return (Insomnia) I only buy stuff with high replay value (mostly TV on DVD). I'm actually in the middle of King of Queens for the third time since Sony put out the complete series value package a few months ago.

With so little good stuff I'm into on cable these days, yet again, it's proven to be cheaper to just get complete season/series sets of stuff I want.

I have been toying with trashing all the packaging and putting everything in those big Case Logic binders to save on space.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I think so: after several recent purges, I still have (according to DVDAf) 1056 titles (1771 actual discs). There were just too many titles I blind bought because everybody on the forums were talking them up, or I would go into Gamestop back when they used to sell DVDs and they would have their "buy 2, get four free" sales, and load up on stuff that I wouldn't have bought otherwise but because it was on sale, that somehow made it "okay". No more of that, now I use my iPhone and call up my wishlist online and if it's not there, I don't get it.


I started this. A few years back I found a bunch of Good Eats DVDs cheap, and grabbed about a dozen or so. I recently took all those and all my M*A*S*H discs and put them in a binder. I plan to do the same for my Star Trek TOS (the original single disc volumes) and I'd like to do that Battlestar Galactica book like Bill Hunt did on the thedigitalbits a few years ago.

Also did this a while back for some of our childrens DVDs, like Thomas and Curious George. Those were sucking up a lot of space.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I could see the kids not caring but for yourself have you missed the packaging?

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't but haven't done so yet since after it's done it's kinda done.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

Not for the kids stuff nor my other stuff.

The things like Good Eats and M*A*S*H have fairly generic packaging, and M*A*S*H especially took up so much space because we had the original extra-wide 3 disc cases.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I don't think I have enough DVDs/Blus (1323 titles as of now). My ex thought I did, but then would say something like, "I can't believe you don't own 'The Sound of Music', you need that". I wouldn't walk into someone's home and tell them they have too many books, CDs/records, clothes, games, cigars, coins, bottles of wine, Hummel figurines (okay, maybe Hummel figurines :)) etc. Buy what makes you happy and I love movies and owning a movie makes me happy. If I had a bad day or am feeling down, I can watch a good movie and it will snap me right outta it. And the last couple years I've gotten very smart about buying movies cheap (thanks mainly to this site), so I spend less on movies a month than my friends spend on going out drinking. And I couldn't dare tell them they spend too much on that!

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

Thanks for the FYI. I'm going to give it a shot with a % of my stuff over the next couple weeks and keep packaging over that time. If I find I don't regret it I'll convert everything over to Case Logic and just chuck the packaging.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

It's weird. People are getting to the point they think they can make whatever comment on your life to you that's on their mind yet they're shocked if someone does it to them.

I try to cut people like that out of my life.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

:thumbsup: -kd5-

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

:lol: Pretty much the same here but add hunting and fishing. Every time my wife complains I remind her I do *neither* of those very expensive hobbies and spend far less on books/music/movies than those guys spend on supplies alone.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

A bit too large, which happened in part because of those $1.50 dvd at the pawn shops, some where blind buys because they were the same cost as renting. One of the issue with even so-so films is that many are worthless and I use the hanging file cases so they take up little room and think I might as well keep them because there is little reason to give it away unless I dislike the film of course.

I still would like to refine my collection a bit, with seasons of shows, all these movies, plus life and new programing and films what are the odds of watching a so-so film again? Slim I imagine.

I have upgraded a few films from dvd to blu-ray and hang on to the dvd just in case because there is little reason to give it away because it most likely has no value.

One issue I have with any item that is designed to be used is when does it stop, slow down? 1,000-5,000, 10,000? My current mind set does not care for the idea of just having more and more to no end, something like art goes on a wall and services its purpose, movies, books etc.. are designed to be used and I personally do not want so many to where that purpose cannot be fulfilled any longer.

I am not a collector, I simply want films in their best quality possible, cases are not the best method too me nor are huge box sets that take up too much space.

We all have opinions about everything, some people may think I have too many movies (around 450 plus a few television programs) and it is a lot even too me, with life, new programs, new movies etc... what are the odds of rewatching some of the lesser titles, so I am going to be taking a close look at it.

Now for being about to afford something, it is very possible that person buying hundreds of films can do so easier then another buying a couple movies a month, just depends on how much free money everyone has.

We may not be as blunt to say it directly to someones face because it is not any of our business (unless they are whining about having no money while they keep blowing it on stuff) what people do with their money.

We can think people have too many clothes, books, nick nacks, movies etc... however appears it is not too much for them as long as it is not hoarder level. I think four thousand movies is beyond pointless (me to) it is near impossible to watch (which is the purpose) that many films ever again, even if you had nothing new to watch. I have not even see half that many films in the last nine years. However it appears that to others it is far from pointless, they choice to have major library of films which is cool in its own right.

I do not care to spend too much, I like to save money thus buying anything when it first comes out is not likely to happen.

You can think it though.

You only say something the second they talk about not having any money.

Strongly agree, unless it is a rental type watch I want to own my favorite films is the best quality, never going to trust "cloud" services for films I want to own.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

Yes! I have around 1,300 titles total.

I re-watch as much as I can, but between social life, work and classes, I don't get as much movie watching time as my collection might give off.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I had an ex say something to me once, but she smoked like a pack a day, so I did the old, "Hi, leg warehouse? Yeah, my girlfriend needs something to stand on."

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I think mine is sized just about right. I'm at the point where I have the majority of what I want and am either waiting for the few I don't have to be released or a good deal on the few I'm missing that are older.

I'm a big believer in that while having digital copies and whatnot may be convenient, having the hard copy in my hand is a lot more reliable. For one, if the movie goes out of print or unavailable, I still have it to watch. Two, I don't have to rebuy unless I really, really want to double dip. Three, by having a hard copy, I always have access to it. While internet is pretty reliable, in the last month, I've had two outages because of the company that have lasted at least a day. While I couldn't access online, I still had access to my dvds. And no, I don't live in the boonies.

I get a lot of people who think I had too many, but I just point out that that is what I collect, I don't pay full price for any of them and they spend just as much, if not more, on other stuff.

I have a lot of people that just assume I have everything and get surprised when I say I don't.

I do have a lot that I haven't watched, though a great majority of them I've seen, just not on DVD. I've been catching up this winter on a lot of them, but still have a big unwatched pile; mainly tv. But the nice thing is, I'm never without something new to watch! I do rewatch a lot as well. While I try to watch the unwatched pile, if I'm in a mood to watch a favorite I will. I find that if I'm in the mood to rewatch something, I'd better otherwise I won't watch anything as it's too hard to pick out something I'm not in the mood for.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I don't think its too huge. I think that's where a collection would be too large. If you have to put some in storage.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I've bought the same thing by mistake a couple times, especially with TV season sets if they have a good amount of seasons already out there like Simpsons or South Park. I can't remember what all the covers look like and if I'm at the store and run across a good sale, I'll pick it up just in case.

I've only done it with one movie, Pete's Dragon.

I also have some things that I'm not sure if I've seen or not and the only way I can tell is by keeping my movie db updated.

Including VHS, DVD, blu-ray, I'm over 13,000 titles. I never got rid of any until about a month ago when I started selling off anything I've upgraded, either to a better DVD edition or from DVD to blu-ray. It's surprised me how much has just been adding up over the years and even though I still have a sizable stack I'm trying to get rid of, I've still manage to get around $1,100 from selling some of it at Amazon this month.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

Not compared to people around here. :lol:

3,000 titles? Meh. A drop in the bucket considering I've been collecting since 1998.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

Yeah, I started in 1999, so while I know I have a lot compared to the average person, I feel like I have to remind people that I didn't amass my collection overnight. It's essentially about 386/year, which now that I break it down to ~32/month, now it seems like a lot again. Oh well. :-/

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I started in early 2005 (finally at a price point I was comfortable with) and I am not sure I want to know how much I have spent over the last few years. However, we also spend money on internet, cable, phone etc... and those are just services that we cannot keep.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I obtained my first DVDs as Christmas Gifts in 2002. I didn't really begin collecting until October of 2006. Looking back I sometimes find it hard to believe I've gone as far as I have, but I did! :D

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

For the available space, yes, it's too huge. I'm almost at the 2,000 title mark. Mentally, I can imagine the worthiness and wonderfulness of each one in my collection. They all have a place. I've been collecting stuff all my life: action figures, video games, books, magazines - which don't mean as much to me anymore; so maybe I'll get rid of them to make room for more DVDs and Blus.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

Yes. Even though I sold off 1500 DVDs/Blu-rays and was down to 1000, I've been going back to my old ways lately and buying everything I even remotely want. But after working hard 40 hours a week and not having anything else to spend money on, I'm okay with it.

We are currently looking at houses to buy, I've sold my shelving and everything is in rubbermaid tubs in the bedroom - sadly as of late I haven't had much time to watch anything, so I basically buy blu-rays/dvds and just pack them away, stupid, yes - but oh well.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

ditto

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

Not if the deal is good. I have many DVDs I haven't watched and most of them I don't regret buying because I bought when the sale was there. Some I have even sold because the DVD became OOP and there are few movies that are worth $50 to me, especially if they were initially a blind buy.


Someone who has more than me? I have 6730 in my DVD Profiler, but that counts discs and not titles --- but the "owned" part is out-of-date by about 2 years. I have over 5000 in my DVD Proflier "ordered", but that also includes stuff I bought, but sold -- and again not titles, but discs. I'm just starting to upgrade my VHS collection in a separate DB in DVD Profile, which is pretty small, and only includes Disney stuff and stuff that has never been released to DVD or is OOP and expensive.


I average at least a title a day, sometimes more. It's amazing, that as many titles that I have, I can find some $1 DVD at the pawn shop that looks to be pretty good. I'm constantly upgrading my collection, but I don't get rid of most of my DVDs, even when I upgrade to BD. I like having both formats and don't want to get rid of any special features that might be specific to DVD.

I usually don't forget what I have bought, but I sold much of my collection about 8-10 years ago. I sometimes can't remember if I still have something I bought long ago or not. Recently I found Supergirl LE in storage, a title I thought I had sold off many years ago, and was looking to re-buy.



There used to be a thread where people posted how many discs/titles they had and even 7-8 years ago, some had collections that exceeded 10,000. I looked for it once, but couldn't find it.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

I've been trying to get DVD AF updated so I could have at least part of my collection online. I started it years ago and only sporadically update it, so right now I only show 2847 titles. It's fine for DVDs and BR but I still have a bunch of horror, sci-fi, and exploitation stuff that isn't out on anything other than DVD.

At my peak, for at least a couple years, I was picking up 500 movies every 3 months. It was a pretty constant rate. At most, I'd be off by a week but other than that it was like clockwork. That was a couple of years ago and I'm almost positive I'm not at that rate anymore.

I used to keep DVDs I upgraded for the special features, but I have enough actual movies I still need to watch and for the most part, I stopped caring about what's put on a special features anymore. If it was something like a documentary or another movie, I'll keep it but it's mostly promo material or deleted scenes that don't seem to be as great as what they used to be.

Re: Is Your Collection Too Huge ?
 

There's a thread on here that talks about different services available to catalog movie collections. If you have many obscure formats, you may want to consider using Excel or Google Spreadsheet to make a list - it may be hard to do with over 1,000 titles but it'll be rewarding in the end for statistic purposes (keeping track of how many titles, etc.)