Collecting and Watching

[Member-496106]

I notice that I spend a lot of time looking at potential Blu-rays to buy, and sometimes it seems like I spend more time doing that than actually watching something. Subsequently, I end up with a bit of a backlog. I am wondering if you guys spend more time watching movies or more time looking for the next Blu-ray to collect. Is it better to collect now and enjoy later? Or, is it better to try to thoroughly watch and enjoy releases before looking for the next thing.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by PhysicalMediaNut

I notice that I spend a lot of time looking at potential Blu-rays to buy, and sometimes it seems like I spend more time doing that than actually watching something. Subsequently, I end up with a bit of a backlog. I am wondering if you guys spend more time watching movies or more time looking for the next Blu-ray to collect. Is it better to collect now and enjoy later? Or, is it better to try to thoroughly watch and enjoy releases before looking for the next thing.

I spend more time tending to my children nowadays than watching, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Jay H.]

Originally Posted by PhysicalMediaNut

I notice that I spend a lot of time looking at potential Blu-rays to buy, and sometimes it seems like I spend more time doing that than actually watching something. Subsequently, I end up with a bit of a backlog. I am wondering if you guys spend more time watching movies or more time looking for the next Blu-ray to collect. Is it better to collect now and enjoy later? Or, is it better to try to thoroughly watch and enjoy releases before looking for the next thing.

I never understood the whole "I own it but I never watched it" way of thinking. If I like a movie enough to buy it I find the time to watch it. Not everybody is the same way, of course.

[Mister_Kidd]

I watch 4-5 movies a week, but I do spend a lot of free time derping around this forum. I'd say its about 50-50. I will say I'm 100% more interested in watching films than collecting them.

[dylrichard02]

Originally Posted by PhysicalMediaNut

I notice that I spend a lot of time looking at potential Blu-rays to buy, and sometimes it seems like I spend more time doing that than actually watching something. Subsequently, I end up with a bit of a backlog. I am wondering if you guys spend more time watching movies or more time looking for the next Blu-ray to collect. Is it better to collect now and enjoy later? Or, is it better to try to thoroughly watch and enjoy releases before looking for the next thing.

I work a job right now where I sit at a desk and wait for work to come my way, so sometimes I end up killing time by sitting and looking. As such, most of my time spent at home in between my temp desk job and odd jobs I pick up, I watch a lot at home from my collection. I find myself thinking about getting collector's editions because I love special features and documentaries, unfortunately I find myself not spending enough time with those, rather just getting another movie and watching it. Although I do watch special features before I do rewatches!

This month I am at 38 or 39 movies I've logged on my letterboxd, so I guess I spend a considerable amount of time watching my collection.

I rarely stream anything though! I collect and then watch as I want to from my collection. If I am really unsure about a movie and it's available free, I'll stream it.

[happydood]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

I spend more time tending to my children nowadays than watching, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Me too and me too. But sometimes I pine for a single day alone with a stack of horror movies I haven't gotten to yet.

[starsteam]

I have movies from 2016 that are still unwatched. I try to slow down on buying but still always seem to occasional acquire another stack. I generally watch at least one thing every day on most days.

It's mainly TV shows that are slowing me down though. I spent the last four summers watching Star Trek, I could have watched hundreds of movies instead.

I actually just started watching a Flash Gordon series I bought exactly five years ago.

[Phibes]

Collecting and watching may be two different, separate sides of the old blu-ray coin

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by happydood

Me too and me too. But sometimes I pine for a single day alone with a stack of horror movies I haven't gotten to yet.

I'm lucky to get 30 minutes.

[dvining]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

I'm lucky to get 30 minutes.

Do your kids not have a bedtime at least 2 hours earlier than yours?

Mine do. The 7 year old is in bed by 8 and the 1.5 year old is in bed by 7:30.

[dylrichard02]

To everyone who's a parent here, it's interesting to hear you talk about it from your prospective. I am in college and I still live at home, I collect the blu-rays and my Dad watches with me! As your kids get older they'll be able to watch more mature (and immature) films and will probably watch them with you in some cases.

Most of my favorite filmmakers are those I was introduced to by my father actually. I discovered some of the newer filmmakers and some of the older filmmakers on my own, but any that worked between 1967-1997, I probably found because of my father.

[AmishParadise]

Tell me. Have you read every book at your public library? Have you watched every stream offered by a given streaming provider? Catch my drift? I don't think in terms of building a collection when purchasing Blu-ray's. I'm building a library, a library with no strings attached, no Internet connection required, no monthly subscription fee, no lack of control over content availability and so forth. The more titles in my library I have yet to watch the better. And the library isn't just for me. It's for friends and family as well so.

[happydood]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

I'm lucky to get 30 minutes.

Same. I get 30 mins in after I put em down then I'm out like a light.

[DukeTogo84]

Yeah, I can't own a film and not have watched it, as it would drive me insane. I usually try to find a way to watch a new release as quickly as possible.

[Cremildo]

I have a backlog of over 150 movies. I dislike getting a long-awaited movie then immediately watching it only to archive it along with my relatively sizable collection.

[geekjosh]

Originally Posted by AmishParadise

Tell me. Have you read every book at your public library? Have you watched every stream offered by a given streaming provider? Catch my drift? I don't think in terms of building a collection when purchasing Blu-ray's. I'm building a library, a library with no strings attached, no Internet connection required, no monthly subscription fee, no lack of control over content availability and so forth. The more titles in my library I have yet to watch the better. And the library isn't just for me. It's for friends and family as well so.

I like this way of thinking.

When I retire I'll have a large badass library and all the time in the world to relax while watching it.

...that said I do mostly watch films as so as I get them. But maybe I'll take this approach from time to time!

[joonskeezle]

I have a lot of stuff I haven't watched yet, but I still watch plenty. My shopping/browsing time (and some of my foruming time) tends to be during the day when I can't really sit down to watch a movie or a show.

There are still those odd occasions where I'll spend a good hour or more just window shopping, so to speak, and at the end of that I'm like "what the **** am I doing" but that rarely eats into time I would otherwise spend watching something.

As for the "buy now watch later" mindset....there's something called FOMO ("Fear of Missing Out"). It can mean different things depending on the context, but with blu ray movies it often means one thing: If I don't buy this movie or this TV show now, it will invariably and suddenly go out of print tomorrow and by next week copies will cost $200. Obviously an exaggeration, and that sort of thing doesn't happen often, but it happens just often enough that this paranoid mindset feels slightly justified.

So yeah, I'll buy something that I know I probably won't watch immediately if I think there's a chance it'll randomly go out of print.

Another common situation is this: I'll buy something because I absolutely want to watch it as soon as possible, and my mindset is that as soon as it arrives, I'll watch it that night. Then in the time it takes to arrive at my door (usually just a couple days), I'll have moved on and will want to watch something else and that movie will get chucked on the pile. This is the one aspect of my movie buying habit that I know is a problem.

In general, for me it's enough to know I will 100% eventually watch something to justify getting it if I can; I'm less concerned about exactly when I will watch any given thing. Whether I buy it now or I buy it later, the money is spent, and in most cases it will be cheaper to get it now than later.

One mindset I have absolutely abandoned is the notion of buying TV show seasons as they come out, thinking "I need to show my support so they keep releasing these on blu ray." That **** is more or less over. Now, with few exceptions, I don't touch a TV show on blu ray until the whole thing is over and it's all been released on blu ray.

Looking at you Shameless, and The Deuce.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by AmishParadise

Tell me. Have you read every book at your public library? Have you watched every stream offered by a given streaming provider? Catch my drift? I don't think in terms of building a collection when purchasing Blu-ray's. I'm building a library, a library with no strings attached, no Internet connection required, no monthly subscription fee, no lack of control over content availability and so forth. The more titles in my library I have yet to watch the better. And the library isn't just for me. It's for friends and family as well so.

Yep, that’s a good point. Even without internet I can watch my entire collection either from a hard drive or disc.

[Moe UK]

Watch movies you buy? Is that what you are supposed to do? I certainly buy at a much faster rate then I can watch. My backlog is massive.

[unberechenbar]

I only started collecting a few months ago so I've been able to keep up with watching everything I own. There could be a backlog one day but I don't see it going into the double digits (although I do have 5 movies on the way). I only watch at night and not on consecutive days so I'm limited in how many movies I can watch each week.