Is everything too expensive?

[levcore]

new 4K UHD releases in the UK are regularly and mostly £25 on release day, and stay that way for a while (until they go into a 2 for £30 at HMV for example). Even when 3D blu ray had its brief boom about 10 years back, new releases were seldom that expensive and it seemed they were mostly a maximum of £20 and sometimes even £15.

New releases blu rays can be more realistically priced but then if there's been a 4K release, i really don't want to get the normal blu ray. Yet sometimes charging £10-£15 more for the 4K seems absurd, especially if studios want consumers to adopt 4K UHD.

Then you have collector editions from labels like Arrow etc. and their new releases can be over £30 for a 4K (that doesn't include a blu ray) and in many instances around £25 just for a blu ray. I appreciate these companies have costs that must be covered but these prices seem to be going up and up.

As streaming takes over and physical media dwindles, these prices will only make the situation worse. I'd struggle to justify spending £30 on a catalogue title, no matter how much i might want it.

I have also have to add in that so many releases don't get put out in the UK so i have to import from various countries and of course, these days importing is even more expensive. I recall when i could order US blu rays from Amazon marketplace for less than £10 delivered but those days are long gone.

I used to buy everything day one but in recent years i've been waiting longer and longer to purchase certain things, biding my time for a price drop. Many fancy releases from labels like Arrow i haven't even picked up due to the excessive pricing for a load of tat that i don't need (just the disc in a case please).

So is everything too expensive now and do you find you are being more selective with your purchases?

[Marv Inc.]

Collecting(as it has now become) for sure has gotten really expensive. The 20% VAT on US imports is a right pain and has really slowed down my importing to a snails pace.

Home releases also, pretty much all the independent labels now come out with a limited release for the first run so you either pay top dollar to get the film on release or to avoid missing out on the swag or you wait 6/8 months for the standard release.

I used to buy at least one title a week now I can go 2-3 weeks without buying anything. If I see something in a sale I want i usually jump on it.

[Foggy]

A lot of the label’s have now pivoted towards uber oversized bulky digipacks, brimming with all sorts of goodies that I’m mostly uninterested in. I’m all about the film and on disc content so if it’s something I want I’ll buy it, but when you’re peddling a film like Swallow for £30 just for taking up extra space on my shelf I’m gonna think twice.

It hasn’t effected me too much, as with these big boxes and UHD’s it’s mainly been an onslaught of re-releases and reissuing. It’s felt like new exciting releases have begun drying up outside of a couple a year now. And now they’ve begun really digging into obscurity with the price hike on normal releases, it’s started to become less warranted to take a punt on more obscure titles now.

EDIT: I should add, a lot of more independent distributors moving away from physical distribution has probably saved me money as well, after all most will wind up moving on streamers within enough time for the same experience where as I would have bought a physical copy for the same amount they’re charging to rent online.

[88mph]

What’s also annoying are when standard releases come a lot later after the initial LE. And in the case of Arrow even then the standard is overpriced. There’s loads of Arrows I want to buy but I’m not paying £25 for a 4K which doesn’t even include a BD. Heck I’m not even going to pay £20. Looks like I’ll need to wait a couple of years for a nice sale. Shame really.

[the13thman]

I've taken a decision not to buy any 4K edition that doesn't come with a Blu-ray. And not only that, but I won't buy the standalone Blu-ray either. Equally, I won't touch any box set that doesn't have proper holders for the discs. Card sleeves and book-style packaging are absolute no-nos.

At this stage in my life I already have far more films in my collection than I will realistically have time to rewatch and I don't have infinite funds so I can't upgrade everything and buy new releases too.

What is killing me are limited editions that come with an extra disc, if I want one of those it's always a gamble to wait for a sale.

[justwannaboogie]

Luckily I've developed a severe allergy to tat, spine numbers and limited editions, which is saving me money and shelf space in the process.

[drush9999]

I'll wait for the standard edition in a lot of cases, but the trick that's pulled by many labels is you don't know if there will be...
And yeah collecting is more expensive now, and they risk pricing potential customers out, so their loss ultimately.

[Ste7en]

Yeah, things are getting expensive and I'm getting more selective (despite just double-dipping for WW84, but it was a steelbook including a BD, 3D BD and UHD - 15 quid Amazon.fr).

Thankfully, there often seems to be multi-buy offers on the go. But when they overlap, yikes!

[CinemaScope]

Originally Posted by justwannaboogie

Luckily I've developed a severe allergy to tat, spine numbers and limited editions, which is saving me money and shelf space in the process.

Oh, I love a bit of tat, but I'm not bothered about all the other stuff. I don't think it's too expensive now, VHS & DVD was more expensive back in the day. £15 for a new film on the release date doesn't seem too bad to me, of course releases from the boutique labels are more expensive, but that's the price we pay for liking something non-mainstream (thinking about it, I haven't bought anything from any of our boutique labels since 2020, they just haven't released anything I fancy). I do miss just paying just £15 for a Warner Archive import, it's more like £23 now, just as well that I don't buy many of them. I decided that I won't pay more than £15 for a UHD release, I nearly bought Spartacus last week when Amazon had it for £14, but I left it too late & it shot back up to £20, I can wait, it'll come down again.

[Dickieduvet]

I've cut my collecting down massively over the last few years, especially since my move to UHD. Gone are the days when the postie would be feeding discs through the letterbox on a daily basis.

The cost of importing has also been a factor, back to Laserdisc prices for a new US 4K release. I didn't have 3 kids and a mortgage back when I was buying those beauties though.

Far more selective now and no more blind buying either. With the cost of everything else rocketing I'm down to 3 or 4 purchases a month now.

[AndyB1973]

I hardly buy anything now, simple fact is I can’t afford it with everything going up and having a family.

I see the posts here showing what members here buy and I really wish I had their income!

[filmlover22]

for me in the US, my biggest $ increase that I have seen is from Eureka. I use to be able to get most MoC for $15-18 USD. Now they are going for about $25 USD for one movie. Definitely has affected my buying habits.

In general, though, even putting the 4K releases aside, I am seeing more and more LE/Special editions that are very expensive, and some of them look very interesting. As others have noted, sometimes there are standard editions that come out later (not sure when), but sometimes never at all.

Plus, there are just so many great releases from so many companies each month that it is difficult to keep up with all of these. Being region free also makes the matter more challenging as I can get these from both US and UK sources.

Net Yes, I am finding this hobby more expensive than in the past and no longer financially able to get everything on my want list. I have to live with the fact that many of my wanted titles will go OOP by the time I will be able to purchase them.

[Terminator3001]

Originally Posted by Ste7en

Yeah, things are getting expensive and I'm getting more selective (despite just double-dipping for WW84, but it was a steelbook including a BD, 3D BD and UHD - 15 quid Amazon.fr).

Thankfully, there often seems to be multi-buy offers on the go. But when they overlap, yikes!

Fair play for openly admitting that you own 2 copies of Wonder Women 1984.

[RossyG]

When Criterion puts a disc in a flimsy digipack and ups the sale price by £8, I just write it off as another release I won’t be getting.

[Ben_UK]

I don't think its a surprise that the UK gets ripped off compared to other countries for almost everything, which includes physical media. I think one of the few things we don't get ripped for is painkillers. I had to buy a bottle of ibuprofen pills in New York because I had injured my foot due to miles of walking and it cost me about 8 quid, over here its about 40p.

Buying blu rays out there in the US was cheaper, not by a lot, but it was cheaper. I guess the currency exchange is not what it was.

[dallywhitty]

I've definitely become more selective recently and don't always go for the big tat-laten sets. I'm picky about importing, too, as I hate dropping £30 on a US disc only for a better edition to come along in the UK.

I've also accepted that I don't need to upgrade every single title to 4K.

[locomotive]

A week ago a closed my account on arrow
Just for the prices and not shipping all together getting hit twice by customs no way.
I don't like the stories i hear about amazon but at least they include the taxes so i don't get hit by the customs that are even higher.
Same for diabolikdvd only thing they have are the movies the are bringing out themselves so those i buy but no extra movie with it anymore.
But their shipping costs pfff like 35 till 50 dollars and no tax included had 2 same orders compared for pricing same price except the other had the tax included like how.

But yeah here in our country physical is down the drain.

[levcore]

Originally Posted by 88mph

What’s also annoying are when standard releases come a lot later after the initial LE. And in the case of Arrow even then the standard is overpriced. There’s loads of Arrows I want to buy but I’m not paying £25 for a 4K which doesn’t even include a BD. Heck I’m not even going to pay £20. Looks like I’ll need to wait a couple of years for a nice sale. Shame really.

I agree with this, i still haven't picked up the standard Arrow blu ray release of Tremors (a movie i love) due to IMO it being too expensive. I daren't even consider the 4K for what they are charging for it.

[Murray Futterman]

Blu-rays are an increasingly niche market, so the labels can't sell enough stock to be able to sell stuff as cheaply like they used to do. If collectors want physical media to continue, they'll have to pay for it because they're the only ones who want it. If that means limited editions plus tat followed by a (slightly) cheaper basic reissue, that's fine with me and I'll just get the titles I really want in the limited versions, other things can wait.

[levcore]

Originally Posted by Murray Futterman

Blu-rays are an increasingly niche market, so the labels can't sell enough stock to be able to sell stuff as cheaply like they used to do. If collectors want physical media to continue, they'll have to pay for it because they're the only ones who want it. If that means limited editions plus tat followed by a (slightly) cheaper basic reissue, that's fine with me and I'll just get the titles I really want in the limited versions, other things can wait.

i feel it's a bit of a catch 22. I do consider myself to be a fairly serious buyer of physical media, with over 2000 Blu Rays etc and i used to buy EVERYTHING but these days i'm buying less and less. So they're even pricing "serious collectors" (i hate using that term!) out with their prices.