Do you watch the DVDs and Blu-rays you buy?

So much to watch, so little time.

What are the chances you'll actually watch a DVD/Blu-ray more than once or twice?

I know a lot of folks who never watch most of the discs they buy. They've already seen the film when it was in theaters, and enjoyed it, so they buy it. Sure, little kiddies can watch a flick over and over again, but if you're over 12 it's a rare film that bears repeated viewing.

Box sets are even worse. OK, it's one thing to buy a three-disc box like Law & Order - The Second Year, but who's gonna watch all 33 DVDs in The Sopranos - The Complete Series, or the 32 discs in Seinfeld - The Complete Series? These shows are still on TV virtually every night for free, but I'd bet HBO is raking in tons of loot with the Sopranos box, it retails for $400 (and around $260 online)! I wonder how much they'll charge for the complete Blu-ray box.

I guess people buy these things to prove their love. They're physical keepsakes of their memories, and maybe the boxes look good on the shelf. Oh, and this time of year they make great gifts.

Gifts are one thing, but the question is, why do we continue to buy these things, why not just rent 'em? I'm the audio guy, so I'd like to point out the money you would save not buying discs would add up, and you could invest that dough in better speakers and/or electronics. Something you would actually use on a daily basis.

CDs on the other hand are repeatable pleasures. When I buy something new that I like, such as the Paul McCartney/Fireman Electric Arguments CD, it stays in heavy rotation, with 10 or more plays within two to three weeks. After that, I'll probably slow down, but I'm still playing Beatles LPs and CDs I bought decades ago on a regular basis.

I watch concert DVDs and Blu-rays over and over again, so it's not like I have something against the formats.

Maybe I'm missing something here, please tell me why you buy movie or TV show DVDs or Blu-rays.

[chrisfrary]

I guess I watch it once or twice but I tend to "find" it a couple weeks or months later where I repeat the cycle.

[Harlan879]

Yeah, I'm with you, Steve. I've got maybe a dozen DVDs that I've picked up over the years, usually bargain-bin 3/$10 specials, or gifts (like the new Godfather boxed set). This said, when all 5 seasons of The Wire become available as a box set, I may very well be plunking down that week's worth of rent to own it! And yes, to prove my love for the series. On the other hand, it's almost certain that we'll watch the whole series again at least once in the next 5 years. Cheaper than Netflixing it again? No, but at least the disks won't be scratched.

[mihal1]

For me I believe I invest in tons of DVDs and Blu-Ray (even HD-DVD, ha) because I grew up loving movies, but my parents income didn't support my theater-going on a regular basis. Then when VHS came out, and all my friends had one and watched movies all the time, my family couldn't afford one for many years, and I felt like I was missing out. Now as an adult with disposable income, I suppose I'm still trying to make up for the years I didn't have the opportunity to enjoy this form of entertainment. I also rationalize my buying by hoping my children will enjoy the movies with me as they grow up, though they're so spoiled with access to movies at an early age, they may never develop the desire to watch with their old man. Who knows. I do have probably 40-50 movies out of 1100 or so that I've not watched since the purchase, but I like to have the movies "on hand" so when I do want to watch it, it's there... instant gratification if you will... unlike my childhood.

[jakebala]

I have to say that I buy wayyyyy too many DVD's. Most of the time I will watch the DVD the day or two after I buy it and mattering how much I liked it on the second or third watching makes a difference on how many more times I watch it.

For example I've bought some bad movies, such as Stealth and watched it 2-3 times on DVD mostly because I had some friends who wanted to watch it too. But since it is just sitting in the collection. But at the same time when I bought Beerfest (love how funny it is) I think I watched it a dozen times in the first 2 weeks and nowadays since I have seen the movie maybe 30 times I don't watch it really.

Conversely it's the same for audio. When I buy a CD it sits in my car for repeated listening and then it will just sit in the collection. Audio is different too tho, it strikes differently in our minds and also songs only last 3-5 minutes instead of 2 hours. I could sit down and listen to 2-3 songs and then go on my day, taking it as a break. But a movie is like a half night affair.

Also, I like owning things. What happens if I want to watch a movie or TV show later, it's just sitting in my collection. A movie like Pulp Fiction is worth its weight in gold. TV shows are a little different because sometimes you're just in the mood to watch again and sometimes not. A show like Lost or Sopranos or Heroes is hard to watch on DVD but a show like Entourage you can watch an episode every night and go through the seasons all the time. I think I have seen every Entourage ep about 5-6 times.

It changes from person to person though, I know people who will watch the movie once in theaters and if they liked it they will rent it once and that's it forever for that movie. I personally love watching TV and Movies and am working on my home theater (I have a good receiver, front 2 speakers, and center) and thoroughly enjoy watching movies I love all the time as well as songs that I have an emotional attachment to. And I hope that in 20 years down the road I can show my kids a show like Lost and get enjoyment out of that show again. Or maybe Pulp Fiction and rediscover the joy and excitement of those shows and movies the same as I will with my love for the Beatles.

[longklaw]

I buy them with the intention of watching them, but I hardly ever get around to it. That's mostly because on the rare occasion that I buy a DVD, it's usually something I've already seen so there's no hurry to buy it. When I watch something it's usually a rental that I haven't seen or didn't want enough to buy.

[bigmc6000]

Yep, exact same situation here. I've got about 150 DVDs and there's only a handful that I've ever watched more than once or twice. Big waste of money huh?

[minimalist]

What you?re missing the film lover factor. I watch most of the films I?ve bought a dozen times or so (some many times more).

And while rental is great for trying something it?s not a long term, permanent solution. Just because a movie is available this week at a download service or from Netflix does not mean it will always be there when you feel like watching it. Licensing deals change with the wind and when discs go out of print Netflix and Blockbuster yank them from circulation. How?d you like to be told you couldn?t listen to your favorite Miles Davis album the next time you?re in the mood because Rhapsody or Zune marketplace no longer has the rights to carry it? I feel the same about certain films.

I buy DVD?s (and now Blu-rays) of my absolute favorites. We don?t have cable TV in our household because we only watch 3 or so shows on a regular basis and they are all available through other channels. The 60-80 dollars a month we save by skipping 300 channels of garbage more than pays for a DVD or Blu-ray, a Netflix plan, and spur of the moment rental or two from Apple TV of Xbox Live. And then I?ve got Netflix and Hulu streaming to my TV for anything else for free.

In my mind if anything?s a waste of money it?s a cable subscription. At least with discs you have something to show for your money.

[CliffK2]

I gotta disagree with you on the a cable subscriptoin being garbage. There is so much on televisoin that is good, both in SD and HD. On HBO you have Entourage, Weeds, and you used ot have Sopranos. Same on Showtime. ON the big networks you have so many good quality shows, such as Heroes, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Starter Wife, etc. Don't forget PBS, and the NAtional Geographic Chhannnel and Discover. The above just barely scratches the surface.

As Sturgeon said, "90% of everything is junk," But that means there is 10% that is not junk, and that is a lot of stuff. Hence why I disagree with your statement. Now if you had stopped at your statement that you only liked three shows, then I would have had no arguement with you.

Note: I don't work for a cable company. :)

[bigmc6000]

like CliffK2 said - 90% might be junk but when there's thousands of hours of shows on every week 10% is still a lot of good stuff...

My DVR is set to record like 18 things (I think some of that was Olympics) but if all the shows I like are new I get probably 15-20 hrs of stuff a week.

[ghostofitpast]

My guess is that our household is about as non-representative a data point as you can get; but I will give it to you anyway. Most of the DVDs in our collection involve either opera or a few selective television series. The grounds for selecting the television series has to do with our interest in the overall narrative flow of the entire package. The best example is BABYLON 5, whose entire narrative (if we are to believe the background) was conceived prior to the commencement of any production. My wife and I saw most of this on television, once in Singapore and once in Palo Alto. Watching the whole thing is a bit like reading WAR AND PEACE. The content is so rich that there are always more narrative elements to discover.

The same goes for the work of David Simon. We were in Singapore for most of the HOMICIDE series, so we liked getting the DVDs to follow the whole story as it unfolded. We have not yet bought the DVDs for THE CORNER but will probably do so. Our next big "project" is a "close reading" of THE WIRE, meaning following all five seasons WITHOUT the pauses for production and broadcast scheduling. The only problem with following Simon's narrative is following it at a time when all of his predicted chickens are coming home to root.

On the opera side, we use our FLEDERMAUS DVD for a home version of an operatic New Year's tradition. Beyond that, we usually take our operas on the road; so we do not have to depend on local sources when we travel. There is no substitute for live performance; but, when you are in a hotel room in a small town, it is nice to have an alternative to junk television.

Finally, the DVDs that take much of my time came from the Japanese Deamlife Corporation. They are two DVDs of films of great conductors, mostly from the Forties. The quality is not always the best, but the content is invaluable.

My guess is that none of these examples are representative. Still, I live in a major city where, as I write this, the Public Television channel is broadcasting reruns of its pledge breaks. What the hell am I SUPPOSED to watch in a situation like that?

[Rick Cavaretti]

I never knew that about B5. And now that you mention it, yes, there are similarities to War and Peace.

[gourser]

actually, the creators of B5 have publicly stated that The Lord of the Rings was their main inspiration for the show. As a Tolkien fan, I can easily see the influence.

[purpleLightning]

Yes, I only buy those movies I think I would want to watch again. Not necessarily right away, months later perhaps. It's a long-term strategy. But I don't buy movies simply because I liked them the first time in the theater. Plenty of movies I enjoyed watching but probably wouldn't sit through again and those are the movies I don't buy on disc.

So, yes, I watch the movies I buy on disc, because that's why I buy them. Not everyone is simply buying to consume.

[zizzybaloobah]

Lately, I've become a big fan of Redbox - $1 is a hard bargain to beat if you have just enough interest in a movie to watch it, but not enough interest to invest in buying the disk.

When I do buy the physical media (boxed set or not), I will enjoy it in its entirety, then sell it used on Amazon.com.

[ikramerica--2008]

I used to buy a lot of DVDs, but found the more I owned, the less often I could watch any of them. So I wised up and stopped buying DVDs unless they are both on sale and something I would watch at least 3 times and want on hand. Target, for example, has DVDs on sale for $9.99 and $5.99. At this point, it's the only time I'll buy them. Netflix does make buying DVDs less important, which is probably why DVD sales are declining.

Sorry, I don't agree with you about the declining DVD sales. DVD's have already topped out in sales and did so several years ago. The fact that Blu-Ray and HD DVD offered something much better on the horizon also contributed to the decline. But I think the main reason for the decline is studios double and triple dipping the same title. Really, do they really think that I such a fan of The Shawshank Redemption that I'm going to buy the original edition, the deluxe edition, and then the ultimate edition?? Gimme a break...

[cmstratton]

You know, I tend to impulse buy DVDs. If I'm browsing around BestBuy and I see a movie I heard about but haven't seen yet, I'll buy it. I'll usually watch it once - although there's a lot of DVDs I still haven't watched yet - but then won't watch it much again unless it was REALLY good.

[hackley01]

I have a handful of DVDs I watch over and over again. What happens more often than not is a friend will come over and want to watch a movie - they pull something out of the collection and it is like watching it for the first time (most of the time I haven't seen the movie in so long I forget what happens). I watched 1:19 of Red Dragon before I realized I had seen the movie before. I know, weird.

[Stormspace]

Three reasons I'd buy the DVD. First, if I didn't get to see it in the Theater the first time and I wanted to see it. The second reason is if it's a movie where I felt I missed something the first time around, or it's something I like to watch again in a few years. And last if it's something I love like The Lord of the Rings trilogy where it has a longer running time with deleted content.

[DigitalFrog]

For a family with 4 kids, it's far more economical to buy the CDs of the movies than to go to the over-priced theatres with their even more expensive concessions (isn't the use of concessions at a movie theatre an oxymoron - I see more take than give there....). We pick a few of the must-see movies to see on the big screen, and wait for the others to come out on DVD. It's espeically nice now that they hit the DVD market much sooner than they used to.

[niklum]

I usually only buy movies that I know will be watched frequently. I do have some that have only been viewed a few times. If I don't enjoy any DVDs I buy, I donate them to the library so someone else with different taste can get them for free. I must admit, though, that most of my video library consists of kid movies with the rare classic that I'll watch over and over.

I generally won't buy a series unless it's much-loved and I know I'll watch the shows again and again. Doctor Who is an example. However, since getting a DVR, I like to record off TV and watch only those episodes or movies that I enjoy. I can erase the rest and don't have to worry about the physical storage space.

[ice82]

I only purchase DVDs or Blu-Rays that I want to keep and watch time and time again. Although I don't get the time to watch them as much as I'd like to, I think I generally get my money's worth out of my modest collection.

[Blacksheep1982]

When I first got a DVD player I decided I would only buy really good movies that I loved and would watch more then once, no more crappy movies like when I was buying cassettes. So, I stuck with that. And when TV shows started to come out on DVD, I did the same thing, only shows I love, but then I added a new catch to that, only shows I love that are no longer going to be on TV.

For example, Seinfeld is my all time favorite show, and I did buy the first three seasons on DVD. Then I realized that I didn't really need the rest yet, as the show is on like 5 times a day for free.

Many of the movies I have are ones that just bring me pure joy in watching, or send me into introspection, no matter how many times I see them, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Solaris, The Fountain etc. I love films, but the ones I buy need to be really special, and if they are, I will buy them as I do watch them at least once per year, sometimes more.

[er3s]

I can honestly say that most of the discs I've bought, I only have them to watch if I'm bored. Most of them are unopened (I know). TV Series are different. Many series' I watch frequently. Usually as background noise, etc. I don't have cable, so it's either static, the radio (CBC is awesome), or DVDs.

There are some TV series with serial story lines which I can't understand why you'd buy them after you learned the mystery, or shows like Survivor, it doesn't make sense. And their are shows like the Simpson's where there isn't really a serial story line so buying them on DVD doesn't make sense.

As for renting, that is tough to justify. Most box sets are rented in the 7 Day model and most rental places have like the 1, 5, and 9 disc, but the other are out. So it's hard if you enjoy curling up and watching like 5 hours of <insert show name here>.

I'm sure I wouldn't buy the same series on Blu-ray if it came out. Yes, it's HD, but if the DVDs and Blu-ray discs both has the same aspect ratio, what's the point?

[newunder]

Hello! I'm a movie buff. At 66 years old I have seen some good ones and some not-so-good ones. I totally appreciate a 'well-made' movie. I started a collection through 'pre-viewed' movie purchases. Sometimes I really luck up on some greaties. Retirement and bad memory gives me lots of time to watch my favorites repeatedly(sci-fi). I haven't been in a movie house in years. I also like good sound(used to buy Stereo Review mag.) I'm trying to put together a 'not-top-of-the line' sound system with discrete? channels. It would be mostly to control loudness of such things as commercials and sub-sounds. Would appreciate any tips.

[Big_Mook]

Definitely. There are always the classics that you can watch over and over. Shawshank Redemption, Mississippi Burning and Unforgiven come to mind right away. Even though these have been shown numerous times on TV, even on basic cable channels, they are better uncut and commercial-free.

That said, I've seen the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series so many times now, I really don't care to watch them anymore, but one day they will be pulled out to watch with my kids, who are still too young right now to appreciate and understand the plots, or the content is still a little too scary for them.

Speaking of the kids, they watch movies over and over, so they have a large collection just for them, and those get watched enough that the cost was definitely worth it for the enjoyment they get out of them.

With a few exceptions like those above, I would watch anything in my collection right this minute. That's why I bought them in the first place. Watching a well-made film is a lot like reading a really good book. With each viewing, you discover more about the story and characters and it becomes a richer experience.

As an example, I've had BladeRunner in my collection for years. Recently my wife got me the BladeRunner Complete Collector's Edition on Blu-Ray for my birthday ($24.95 from Amazon), which contains the US theatrical release, the final cut, the workprint, and at least a couple other versions. So far, I've watched the final cut 3 times, the US theatrical cut twice, and the workprint once. It's one of those films that bears watching many times to pick up on all the little things Ridley Scott put into it that aren't apparent until you've seen it many times. Also, the extra features are great.

I'm a fan of film, film-making and DVD/Blu-Ray lets me indulge in something that interests me. The notion that people who buy DVDs don't ever watch them is strange to me. Those folks would definitely be better off renting.