Does anyone still buy and collect DVDs?

Since I collect a lot of unusual 16mm, it gets converted to dvd. In the future I suppose I could get it on zip drives & load it onto a hard drive. Until then, I like things I can hold in my hands.

 

Odd, I have a collection of peoples old soundless amateur films of San Francisco during the 1939-40 World's Fair (and in the 1940s in general and from the air) on DVD-R, also a couple of New York World's fair 1939-40 footage. I find I get a lot out of them! I'm sure some must be 16mm as it is very detailed.

 

I still feel Special having it.

 

I still have about 50/70 dvd titles I want, but there still to turn up. Always great when you find a title your been searching for ages.

 

I've bought a few DVD's in the last several months, but only because they did not issue the movie on blu ray and will most likely never do so. Otherwise I buy only blu rays and I'm rapidly reaching the point I have all I want on blu ray, which is a fairly large collection.

I gave a friend of mine about 50 DVD's last time he came over as I had replaced all those movies with blu ray editions. He does not have a blu ray player and most likely never will, so I funnel my obsolete to me DVD's to him and he's thrilled. All is good.

 

That sounds very similar to my experience in as much as I've watched most of my DVD's once only and NEVER bothered with any of the 'extra' bonus contents. I have a few still sealed but my manic purchasing stopped about 2005 and my buying frenzy was switched back to music again! In the last couple of years it's been a 50/50 split between Blu-ray films and music on both vinyl and CD. It's been an expensive time! I've had to put a stop to buying films as I now have quite a lot of unopened BD's, with quite a lot of upgrades from DVD, still waiting to be watched. There's just not enough time in anyone's lifetime to fully appreciate all that's out there; we need to be far more rigorously selective and perhaps minimalist in our approach to these things. Or at least I do anyway!

When I see a giant box set with hardback book(s) and multiple (sometimes dozens of) discs, hours upon hours of bonus content, including every scrap of the item's evolution carefully catalogued and archived for posterity, I often wonder who in the world will ever have the time to read, watch, listen and to fully absorb / appreciate all that stuff. We're living in the time of entertainment overload.

 

Sadly I pass on books these days.
Too heavy to carry, if it's something exceptional..then yeah.

 

These days I only buy DVDs of classic TV series that are not available on BD.

 

I've been buying some really cheap horror movies on dvd lately. From $1 to $3.

 

They've been giving away DVDs with newspapers in England for years, I wonder if that makes the physical item seem more common/disposable/cheap? I remember when video casettes in the '80s had retail prices of $30-40 each with maybe two hours of program on them and wondering who paid this. You'd think more people replacing all those tapes with DVDs would have balked at switching for a third time to Blu-ray.

 

That's pretty cool of you to do that...

 

So much of what I like is television, and not necessarily new TV series, either. So it's DVD for me. Honestly, I don't even have a BD player. I would like to have a BD drive for my computer, but it isn't a burning desire.

The fact that our library has a fantastic DVD collection and a so-so BD collection means the DVD will keep me entertained for quite some time. And they sell $2 DVDs in the back, either old library selections or donations. Picked up some Criterions for $1 or $2.

 

I love to watch classic movies whilst smoking a pipe. It's just a tradition I've developed, and it adds to the whole experience. Of course, I have to do this outside on our deck, so I lug out our 19 in. flat screen and a cheap DVD player, and for about 7 months out of the year, when the weather is warm enough I watch classic movies on DVD. Some I get from the library, but many I purchase. I'm fan of particular genres, like Warner Bros. gangster movies with Bogie and Cagney, so I've purchased a bunch of them off Amazon. I also love classic Westerns, and John Ford movies. I've bought close to 50 DVDs in the last 2-3 years, all because of my happy little ritual of enjoying a pipe while I watch.

 

John Ford westerns, peace pipe heap good.

 

Hahahahah, that's great, I love it! Sounds like something I'd do!

 

From my experience AVOID at all costs a blu ray drive in a computer.

I had one in my expensive HP laptop and far too many blu rays would not play.

 

It has been a bit painful $$$ wise going from VHS to DVD to blu ray.

But blu ray is the end for me, no matter what comes next I'm not getting in, between my average old age vision and the outstanding quality of blu rays, they will suffice until I die.

I feel I've got my viewing money's worth out of each format anyhow.

I had built up a fairy large VHS collection, but fortunately I did not get in on the front end when they were that expensive. Early on when they were too expensive we used to just rent a player and a few movies for a Friday/Saturday once every other month or so, one for me, one for the wife and one or two for the kids.

When prices finally went down and selection up I got in, most of my VHS were $9 to $14 max and at that point almost all were also hi-fi stereo, so I did not have to suffer with the old mono lo-fi ones at all. I only bought one VHS player, a near top line Sony with flying erase head, hi fi stereo and even had recording vol adjustments on it. Still have that player.

And although I did not relish replacing VHS when DVD gained traction I did it.

I never felt too bad as I had watched each tape most likely 4 or 5 times and I ended up giving all of them to the Easter Seals folks.

Then came blu ray, I did buy in a bit too early as a good deal of what I bought is now available cheaper, but again, I had watched the DVD's probably 5 times or so each, so I felt I got my money's worth out of them. Again, I've given over 50 to my friend, a big box to Easter Seals and I still have 2 full laundry baskets of DVD's to give away.

Now I have seen that some DVD's I have are now gone "rare" and are worth some money so I may have to sort out those and sell them while their prices are firm.

But at least I can rest knowing I'm not getting on anymore format bandwagons.

I have too may vinyl albums to buy!!

 

That sounds about right

I recently bought the whole AbFab dvd set. Maybe we should wait until a series is out of production.

 

I've burned 100s of DVDs from the Prelinger Archives. Such immortal titles as: About Bananas; Health: Your Posture; Joan Avoids a Cold; Dating Do's & Don't's; Drug Abuse: The Chemical Tomb; Duck Farming; Are You Ready to Go Steady?; Teenage Drinking and Driving; The Communist Menace; The Truth About Marihuana; Dangerous Stranger ... tons of great stuff from the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. All FREE!

 

I've got a 20 DVD box set

 

I found out I have a few like that too, a Badfinger doc and a Fleetwood Mac collection of clips, but I want to keep them too much. I still have maybe a dozen commercial VHS tapes nobody has put on DVD yet, or like the original 'Filth And The Fury' Pistols thing they changed them.

 

The X-Files on DVD was maybe my worst investment ever but for the most part I've collected the weird and obscure and if it's OOP (or Criterion) someone out there wants it. If a BR arrives or I just don't need to watch something again to ebay it goes. Just got the news that Malibu High is going hi-def but I'm sure some collector has heard how funny and amazing this movie is and will buy my DVD for $10. We've all seen the wacky prices for OOP items on Amazon or Ebay. Someone was peddling the Warner Archive DVD of the 1983 TV movie Special Bulletin for $350 so I put mine up for the reasonable / shocking price of $100 and it went right away. I enjoy viciously undercutting my competitors but I feel a little bit bad because anything over $30 for a DVD is just silly. I just got $30 for When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth / Moon Zero Two so check your collections.
If you've never seen Special Bulletin it's a one of a kind viewing experience. No spoilers!

 

That is disappointing to hear. I hardly watch any video/TV/movie except on a computer. Still, the drives are not that expensive, so likely someday I will get one and keep my expectations low.

 

It's not the drive but the software that ends up being the issue. Total PITA.

 

Buy and listen to, yes, but mostly for in the car or for at home with things I can't find or afford on vinyl. But collecting, no.