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Has your buying/ viewing/ collecting habits changed over the years?

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  • #16
    I got thru lulls were I don't buy many dvds or blus. Then will go hit up this one pawn shop outside town and load up. Locally it appears everybody is dumping their collections. So I can find stuff I want for a buck or less.

    Which leads to the issue I mentioned in the other thread. Too much stuff not enough room. But have found a solution. GOnna end up moving a chunk of my comics/dvds/books out to the guest house in the backyard. It has a/c and is half empty now that dad has sold off a few of his wood working machines.

    Hell that is part of the reason I started setting up a table at the indie shows I hit up. I had 500+ wrestling dvds and rarely watched any of them. So for the first 2 years the dvds on the table we all from my collection. I'm happy they are making me some money and going to someone that will watch them.

    Scott please stick around. I love reading your posts. And hell Gary that sucks about your health. I hope that recent storm didn't hit yall too hard.

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    • #17
      Originally posted by Scott View Post
      It was GREAT!I can't believe some of the stuff that was lining store shelves back then. Truly an abundance of wealth.
      Yeah, I remember getting so many Anchor Bay and BU discs at Best Buy. Argento, Fulci, etc. I am amazed I actually bought IRREVERSIBLE there.
      I don't go to church. Kneeling bags my nylons.

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      • #18
        My buying habits have changed in as much as I don't have to buy movies anymore. :cuckoo:
        Rock! Shock! Pop!

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        • #19
          Originally posted by Ian Jane View Post
          My buying habits have changed in as much as I don't have to buy movies anymore. :cuckoo:
          That was me.
          Ŗǭƈḱ!Ꞩẖȫçꞣ!Ƥӧꝕ!

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          • #20
            I have become much more selective in my purchases, and in the last year I've been steadily chipping away at my huge backlog of unwatched movies and selling off the stuff that doesn't make a big impact on me. Plus I have been rewatching lesser titles in my collection, and getting rid of anything I don't feel the need to ever rewatch again. Pruning feels good and I have started doing it to all of my physical media.

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            • #21
              Scott, you better fucking not fucking go anywhere. :D

              My buying/viewing/collecting habits have changed a lot. Thanks to stuff like the Criterion Channel, I really only buy things that I really feel that I need, or (because I have more disposable income these days) I'm picking up things that I just want to see that I don't have the option to outside of physical media. But I'm not a "Ooooo, I need that 200 dollar boxset" anymore. I'd love to have that excitement for film that I had in the past, though. Instead, I'm more into kicking the shit out of my home theatre to make the movies I love have more impact.

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              • #22
                Oh... I chime in here and there, and this thread caught my attention. Andrew hit one thing on the head right there, in that I go through, "Lulls". I'll be into one thing, neglect other interests, etc. I have collections of things I like to spend time with - Books, movies, outside stuff, etc. Each day there are so many hours, and sometimes those hours get put to other use. Lately, I have been getting more into watching some film. Sometimes, if I only have a certain chunk of time, or just want something on in the background, I'll throw some antenna station on a television, usually Comet, or I'll go to a public domain streaming "channel", and have some random episodes play. if I want to REALLY sit down and watch something, that's when the DVD, Blu-ray, etc play a part.

                Early on, I was REALLY into recording stuff off of cable, onto VHS. I had parents who did that with the Beta machine, and I used that a bit, also, but when I really got into it, Beta was dead, and VHS was it. Also traded some tapes, and I liked picking up random tapes for sale. I recall, being able to walk into a supermarket, and they would have a stand of used video rental VHS tapes for sale. All sorts of shit, and not all that, 'Picked through". I could also go into K-Mart, and get stuff like, "Life Force" and "The Stuff. I recall buying those 2 pretty well. The Stuff had awesome cover art. Life Force I recall, because it was a Video Treasures (Anchor Bay, before they were AB) release, and in LP mode.... Also, video store out of business sales, when I could get movies $5 each, 3 for $10, sometimes at the end 5 for $10... I had a decent VHS collection, not much of it remains, though I still held onto a few of them. So, most of my VHS purchases were used.

                When DVD started out, it was a BIG DEAL. I recall the displays in Best Buy that had a chair, nice upholstered one, and some surround sound set up, and the big movie on that demo was Twister. A good choice for demonstrating the sound and video capabilities of this new format. I never got into LD, as it was out of my price range, and none of my family had it. Family went from Beta, to VHS, and then DVD. Well, it was more ME that went to DVD. 90s I was all about film. I did not get a DVD player, I actually had a DVD-Rom first, since when i got a new desktop, it was included. I recall the first DVDs I got were Army of Darkness and Reservoir Dogs. They were gifts. 96 or so it was a bit of a tease, having just the computer to play them on, and nothing really easy like an HDMI out to pipe that to a TV. I am so happy things are easier now with outputting a computer to a television.

                The first really super-duper DVD player I had was that Circuit City Apex-whatever-it-was. I forget the model number, and I'm not going to look it up and just keep typing. That thing had regionless. I had been waiting for that. The first non-Region 1 DVD I had was, "The Beyond". I forget, but I am pretty sure I had firmware loaded into my DVD-Rom at that point to make it regionless. I am guessing that Apex was 1998 or 1999, could have been 2000.

                During Anchor Bay's earlier years, i had overlooked some of their releases, since I associated them with Video Treasures and their LP speed releases. However, after they released the 2-VHS set of Dawn of the Dead, Director's Cut (Look at the back of the box on that one, stamped with both the Video Treasures and Anchor Bay logos), I warmed up to them. For a while, I just had this thing against Anchor Bay due to buying sometimes what I thought were SP tapes of films under the Video Treasures label, only upon opening them, finding them in LP. Yeah, I know, i could have felt the weight of the tape, but LP was in-between EP and SP, so the weight was not always as noticeable as feeling out an EP tape and SP tape.

                So, after that, LOTS of DVD purchasing, all types. Lots of good sales but also I spent a lot of money on DVD. Around 2005, I had to move beyond my txt or doc file that had inventory, and I got a nice little program for the computer to keep track of inventory. i still recall those almost 2 days entering all that stuff into the movie catalog. People spouted all this stuff, about whatever those online things were, DVD Spot, Aficianado, etc, to catalog online, and show off the collection, however, I wanted to catalog my stuff to make it easier to locate certain films by certain actors, directors, genres, years, whether I owned it or not, etc. The time I did that in 2005, let me load that catalog up.... 678 individual film titles. Keep in mind, this may have included a few of those multi-movie packs with 20 movies, 10 movies, 5 movies, 50 movies, whatever. I always entered into the catalog the title of the film, and also whether it was a part of a set. Meticulous, and still am with that catalog. It's a nice program, and let me keep better tabs on stuff, and also graph things. I can look at each months additions represented, and I recall the lulls in purchasing.

                I was pretty steady purchasing stuff 05-07, some months buying nearly nothing, some buying stuff... during that crash of 2008, a label or 2 went under, and I recall scraping up lots of discontinued DVDs from these companies REALLY cheap. I felt a bit for the companies, but, damn did I get some good deals! Looking at 2009 and 2010, I bought quite a bit less after buying all that stuff from Dead labels, overstock, whatever. Also, Blu-ray and HD-DVD stuff was going on.... So, I didn't want to buy something that may get an HD release, soon. I went into Blu-ray soon enough, got a player, and my purchases picked up in the middle of 2011 until the middle of 2014. After that, I was acquiring things at a much slower pace for a number of years. mid 2014 until mid 2019 I bought DVD and Blu-ray, but at a much slower pace, much slower than 05, 06, etc. That wasn't too long ago, and I feel that was due to having most of what I wanted, and also not being able to get certain deals anymore, and having a lot of stuff to watch, anyway. I did pick back up buying titles at a faster pace in mid-2019, certain titles going OOP helped fuel that, but nowhere near as much as seeing some of the stuff getting dumped at Dollar Tree. There is some really good stuff that gets dumped there on Blu-ray and DVD. Not always stuff I'd have sought out anyway, and sometimes that is a good thing, as I end up watching some pretty nice movies! I recall that during 2012 +/- with the $3 titles at Big Lots. I'd have to really look into it, but I think it's safe to say, 3/4 of the titles I have purchased mid-2019 to now mid-2021 has been Dollar Tree stuff, lol.

                During the years, I have had to ditch cases for most of the Blu-ray and DVD, and it takes up MUCH less space, that way. I save the artwork, but unless it's a special case, I just trash the case. I used to have things on shelves, then I ended up with shelves not contained to within a single room. When it got to that point, I knew I was going to have to use another storage system. I went to one method of filing, and it worked OK, but not the greatest, and then I went to a different filing system that works out better.

                So, I am choosy in what I buy, and I do even buy some 4K titles, but not that much of them. Blu-ray is pretty nice. I have not felt the need to upgrade everything. i heard some people say that is why they never got into DVD, since they had a crap-load of LD. Then i heard people say the same about Blu-ray, and now 4K. I am not against 4K, and enjoy it, but the prices are a bit out there, still on 4K. Prices are coming down, but there is also a lack of titles out there on 4K I feel I need right now, or want to upgrade from Blu-ray. Certain ones, I'd love to see, such as Demolition Man, 4K!

                Well, this is long, but I'll throw a bit more in there. Early on, I used to buy almost anything a label put out, but then it got too costly, to many companies, and I also found later prices would drop. So, stuff I could wait on, I'd just wait, and get it a bit cheaper. I do miss browsing stuff at stores. I recall Saturday Matinee with VHS Tapes (And ogling the LD there), Best Buy early on, FYE, Suncoast, Borders Books was wild. I enjoyed browsing Borders Books, they had a huge selection almost until they closed their doors... Nowadays, browsing Dollar Trees is similar, and at $1 a go, I buy lots of random shit. Sometimes good shit, sometimes bad shit, but hey, I am only losing $1 if it sucks. For example, i recently picked up, "The Domestics" on Blu-ray there. I wouldn't say it sucked, but, it was a bit below OK, very predictable. It was only $1, though, so, i can't complain. 4/10, it could have been better.

                Oh, another big dump of titles was when a large Video Rental place closed in 2014, and they sold all their DVDs for $1 each, and Blu-rays for $2 each. I bought a lot of stuff there, since each title was only $1-$2. Got some good ones there, and also some doo-doo, but hey, it was fun buying at that OOB sale, from one of the last remaining rental stores in the area... I still buy titles - DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K, but at a slower pace due to many reasons, however, if I can get movies for $1-$2, then I tend to take a lot more chances on stuff new to me. Resale value usually isn't much for those titles, so they tend to get filed away, and kept.

                Past number of years, I haven't been watching as much, other hobbies, etc taking up time, but, I have been getting more into the watching movies thing, again.

                I also like having media of my own, and not relying on, "Streaming Purchases" since one never knows when a place may go out of business, or when certain folks in control may decide, something is no longer, "Appropriate", and then remove access to something. I've seen a number of these things go on the past few years, where streaming services will memory hole certain things. Having hardcopies is nice. It's a similar frame of thought, as to why I never chose to catalog my movies on one of those online services, as who knew when they'd go belly up? A few did, and people lost their catalogs. I kept my catalog on my own shit.

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                • #23
                  A lot of this thread rings true for me. Started with LD in the late 80's (before I even had a player!) to today, where I buy very little, and it's almost all films released more than 20 years ago. Anything recent I either rent or stream once available. I'd much rather spend the cash on upgraded display/audio to improve viewing of things I already have.

                  The most fun memories for me are finding AMAZING things in traditional stores, like _Ichi the Killer_ or _Visitor Q_ in Best Buy.

                  But Goddamn do I have too many movies that I've upgraded through every damn format: TRON, Phantom of the Paradise, NoTLD, DoTD, Phantasm ... I have all of those on practically every format (minus VCD / Beta). And it wasn't necessarily to be a completist! It was organic as I had money or new releases on better formats happened.

                  Last, this place is about a lot more than movies. Ian's Crazy Guy, peoples health / life challenges, marriages, etc. Been lurking with a lot of y'all for 20+ years. Here's to many more, kvetching and celebrating this lunatic hobby we love.

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                  • #24
                    Originally posted by null View Post
                    Last, this place is about a lot more than movies. Ian's Crazy Guy, peoples health / life challenges, marriages, etc. Been lurking with a lot of y'all for 20+ years. Here's to many more, kvetching and celebrating this lunatic hobby we love.
                    Amen!!
                    Rock! Shock! Pop!

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                    • #25
                      Originally posted by null View Post
                      But Goddamn do I have too many movies that I've upgraded through every damn format: TRON, Phantom of the Paradise, NoTLD, DoTD, Phantasm ... I have all of those on practically every format (minus VCD / Beta). And it wasn't necessarily to be a completist! It was organic as I had money or new releases on better formats happened.
                      One thing I do is once I've upgraded a title, I get rid of the lesser edition. I really don't like having the same title on multiple formats, unless there's something unique about it. For example, I've held on to the original MGM DVD of ROTLD because it's the only edition that has the option to watch it unmatted. Otherwise, I hate doubles.
                      Why would anybody watch a scum show like Videodrome? Why did you watch it, Max?

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                      • #26
                        Originally posted by Matt H. View Post
                        One thing I do is once I've upgraded a title, I get rid of the lesser edition. I really don't like having the same title on multiple formats, unless there's something unique about it. For example, I've held on to the original MGM DVD of ROTLD because it's the only edition that has the option to watch it unmatted. Otherwise, I hate doubles.
                        I (mostly) do too, but the ones I listed are forever keepers for me. Hell, I have CED's for Phantasm, TRON, and DoTD, and haven't had a working player for over 20 years.

                        And you'll pry my betamax copy of Videodrome out of my cold, dead hands.

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                        • #27
                          Originally posted by null View Post
                          And you'll pry my betamax copy of Videodrome out of my cold, dead hands.
                          Rad.
                          Why would anybody watch a scum show like Videodrome? Why did you watch it, Max?

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                          • #28
                            Interesting to hear how people have adapted and changed throughout the years. Thankfully I didn't get into debt but I can see how easily that can happen as it can become like an addiction if you throw a lot of time and effort into building a collection.

                            I watch quite a lot of people on YouTube showing what they buy out and about (even US vloggers going to thrift stores and Dollar Tree etc) which I think got me into the buying bug again (albeit at a much more low cost than when I was buying new). Not sure what it is - guess it's part retail therapy, part hoarding, part hobby and part distraction from othrr things I should probably be doing...

                            And Andrew don't worry I haven't a clue what I'm buying most of the time either! I buy the R1/ German discs up on the basis that I'd have to import that in and I won't be able to do that for 33 pence... even if it's utter shit (which most of the Madsen and Roberts stuff is) I can't leave it on the shelf... Unfortunately I can't trade Import DVDs in so I I can't find a buyer of Z Grade junk on eBay I try to donate them back again :D

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                            • #29
                              Ditto for me on most of what you guys are saying. Like Scott I haven't upgraded to Blu-ray yet. Hell, my TV set is over 25 years old! I wish I had a widescreen TV, especially now that I bought "Deep Blood" on DVD. It seems Severin thinks everyone in America has a widescreen TV so they mastered / formatted this fullscreen movie as a "fullscreen for widescreen TV monitors" format. What that means is the movie is windowboxed, but the picture is small, and dead center on my TV. Yes, I suppose I can use zoom, but that means the word 'zoom' will be in the top right of my screen for the duration of the movie. So I need to get one of those fancy new widescreen TVs just to watch this fullscreen movie in its proper format! There are people on YouTube that upload fullscreen movies in the same way, and I frickin' hate that!

                              But as far as my collecting stuff goes, I am still a DVD buyer. And I sometimes double dip and buy a movie a second time. Usually this is for the special features on the new version, rather than a better print. Oh yeah, I'm also a cheapskate downloader as well. I download all kinds of movies, TV series, anime and music videos from any website that has videos. I also buy books, manga, collected editions of old comics and lots of CDs as well. I LOVE MUSIC!! I spend more time listening to music and watching music videos and fan videos of live performances on YouTube than I do watching movies these days. My music of choice these days is Japanese and Korean idols (girl singers). On occasion I listen to what I used to (rock and pop from the 1970s and 1980s, mostly).

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                              • #30
                                Originally posted by Richard C View Post
                                Interesting to hear how people have adapted and changed throughout the years. Thankfully I didn't get into debt but I can see how easily that can happen as it can become like an addiction if you throw a lot of time and effort into building a collection.

                                I watch quite a lot of people on YouTube showing what they buy out and about (even US vloggers going to thrift stores and Dollar Tree etc) which I think got me into the buying bug again (albeit at a much more low cost than when I was buying new). Not sure what it is - guess it's part retail therapy, part hoarding, part hobby and part distraction from other things I should probably be doing...

                                And Andrew don't worry I haven't a clue what I'm buying most of the time either! I buy the R1/ German discs up on the basis that I'd have to import that in and I won't be able to do that for 33 pence... even if it's utter shit (which most of the Madsen and Roberts stuff is) I can't leave it on the shelf... Unfortunately I can't trade Import DVDs in so I I can't find a buyer of Z Grade junk on eBay I try to donate them back again :D

                                Dollar Tree ain't bad, the past few years in US. I have found all sorts of shit there - Small releases, and also larger ones. Another place I look at when they get stock, is Hamilton Books. When things are not too pricey, I will take more chances buying random stuff. It's a lot easier for me to drop $1-$5 on a title I have never heard of, than to drop $20-$30. Back in the early 00s or so I used to do that more often, sometimes buying pretty much anything a label put out, but I am guessing around 2008-2010 I curbed that, a bit.

                                I still buy things that can be a bit pricey. I bought Alleycat from VS, their new Blu-ray, because that movie is a fun time, hahahaha. When I saw they had a Blu-ray of that, my mind went, "AWWWWWW, SHIT! They got Alleycat on Blu-ray!". Had that Blu-ray been $50, I'd have passed, though. I do wonder about all this extra cardboard slipcover crap places put on their releases. Slipcovers started as a way to create another barrier to people opening up the case at the store, and sliding the disc out, and stealing it. From there, it became some collector's shit. For me, it's extra paper crap.

                                Also, looking at the stats from this cataloguing program, and my prior post in this thread, it does seem to biggest splurges I did with buying DVD (and later, Blu-ray) were at the start, 1997 or so until 2008 I was buying DVDs pretty steady, with some little splurges here and there, such as when DeepDiscount had their, "Big" sale, but I do also recall other little sales they had, where I added a lot of titles. They once had some Anchor Bay DVD sale, where 100s of Anchor Bay DVD titles were Buy-1-Get-1-Free. Titles were as cheap as $6. I bought a lot from that sale. I take a lot more chances when I can get stuff for below a certain price. I spent quite a bit at that AB DVD sale, and got a lot of titles. I recall buying Warning Sign during that sale, one I had heard about, but for some reason never seen. it's an alright movie, and I recently grabbed the Blu-ray of it this year.

                                Migrating from documents, to the cataloging program in 2005 was a great thing I did back then. I've been using this thing for 16 years. Once I got to 678 titles in the middle of 2005, I had to find another way to catalog what I owned. Before DVD, all i catalogued were my pre-recorded VHS tapes, and some of my recorded-from-TV stuff.

                                So, looking over my buying habits over the years, it seems when I make big splurges, I tend to sit back for a while, and not buy a whole lot. the crash of 2008 or so, when some labels went under I bought a shitload. Also, with HD-DVD and Blu-ray out, I slowed my purchasing down anyway, since I would not want to buy a DVD of something that may have a Blu-ray/HD-DVD release at the same time, or soon down the road. Around that time, was when HD-DVD lost out, so that made things a bit easier, as I had a feeling there would only be a single one of those HD disc formats out there. 2010-2011 was a slow time for purchasing, but I did buy a lot more mid-2011 until mid 2014. I see some smaller label stuff, Blu-rays, Big Lots $3 stuff... Slowed down more, again, after buying a lot from that OOB sale from the Video Rental store... I still bought things from mid-2014-mid-2019, just much slower... It still looks as though I bought at least 1 DVD or Blu-ray a month, but with the exceptions being November and December for those years, I most often bought between 1-10 movies a month during those years.

                                Dollar Tree has been lots of fun, for me. I don't mind paying a certain price for certain films, but for films I do not know much about, I'd rent them. Now, when I can have a movie for $1 or so, such as I did at Big Lots, Video Store OOB sales, and Dollar Tree, I can take a lot more chances on things. I may look a bit odd leaving a Dollar Tree with 10 or more titles, to some folks, I've had comments, but, shit... I can take a bunch of chances on some stuff for $10, or spend $20 on some other single film and take a chance if I can't rent it...

                                Dollar Tree has brought back some of the fun I used to have with retail stores during DVDs peak time, where I would browse shelves. Granted, the selection is more limited, but the prices are much cheaper! Also, it helps that it's not only, "Junk" ending up for sale. Hamilton Books has some good dumps once a month, also. Big Lots, not so much anymore. There was actually an issue with Big Lots years back, where Warner Brothers paid a company to destroy a lot of DVD titles, and instead the company sold them to Big Lots, lol. For a short while once could find DVD sets of each Tales from the Crypt season, there! Warner Brothers was not happy about that...

                                Not to repeat myself too much, considering my first post in this thread covered a lot, but I wanted to send my mind more on a trip down memory lane, and look into a bit more, while sharing in this thread. I still buy stuff, but, thinking about it, I have most of what I want. Also, I am not too keen to drop $20 on some unknown title. Once a title is around $10, or less, I am much more likely to upgrade from DVD, or just take a chance, or grab it if it were something I had been sitting on the fence about. I am enjoying this ride with Dollar Tree for the past few years. it's all excess, unsold stock, and as there are less and less of DVD and Blu-ray out there, I am sure this glut of titles that appears there will slow down in the near future, so much as I at one point enjoyed going to video store OOB sales for VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, I will enjoy this ride while it lasts.

                                I am not too keen on, "Cloud" stuff, so I see myself sticking with physical media. I have space for it in the way I have it set up, and I have a nice cataloguing system. I am OK with streaming certain things, but I prefer a subscription type of thing, not paying to own a certain title on a server somewhere. If that wants to get thrown in free with a DVD or Blu-ray purchase, that is fine, but I won't go out of my way to own something stored someplace else, where I have to log-in to access it. If companies want to move that way, I hope some look into offering downloads. The way things have shifted over the years, and seeing films, episodes of shows get edited, or removed, while it doesn't happen all that often, it's still off-putting to me.

                                It's a fun ride, buying movies, watching them, and this trip looking at some graphs as to when I made splurges, and also slowed down with purchases... I don't see myself stopping with acquiring films, or, "Upgrading" them to 4K or Blu-ray, however I do see slowing down again when the access to really cheap stuff I want, or want to take a chance on, depletes. I've not only bought cheap films I want to take a chance on, it's at other times been titles I had been on the fence about. I also still import here and there, though not as much as in the past, as many titles also get a US release around the same time, or are already around, though there are still those stubborn titles that have had Blu-ray releases overseas, and not yet in the US, and every so often, for certain titles, I import.

                                I enjoy film, and go through lulls here in there, with viewing, and acquiring, however it still remains an interest of mine.
                                Dick Ringeisen
                                Senior Member
                                Last edited by Dick Ringeisen; 06-23-2021, 02:03 AM.

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