Putting my collection on hold

[Phil92]

Hey guys,

I'm sure most of you are familiar with me around here. I'm happy to say that as of today, Tuesday 8th April, I've finally hit the 500 Blu-ray mark (if you count the 4 pre-orders) - almost 6 years after I first started my collection in December 2008 with The Dark Knight. That works out about 100 Blu-rays per year.

However, I'm gonna have to call it quits there for a while. I appear to have become a bit of hoarder with a few duplicate titles (not the same edition) and some sealed movies I've had for years now. My unlimited Cineworld card also pretty much guarantees I'll never have to blind buy again - which used to be a huge problem for me.

Of course I'll still be around here all the time, but I'm just gonna cool it on the purchases until I've actually sorted through what I already own.

Just wanted to share my mini achievement.

- Phil

[Dickieduvet]

Wish I had your will power

Grabbed 2 out shopping today and ordered 6 more online, Seriously think I need to speak to somebody!!!!!

[mrpants]

Funny you should post this, I too am slowing down, for two reasons.

1) spending too much money in difficult financial times (for me personally), this is the main reason

2) reassessing what films I actually like/love, and whether I need to own them on blu-ray

The first point is obvious, we all need to tighten the purse strings a little sometimes, but it leads to the second point which has really got me thinking the past week or so.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm not actually the big film fan that I thought I was when I initially started collecting blu-rays. Pretty big thing to admit for someone who has over 600 films on blu ray. Some of it is to do with time, but a lot is to do with preference.

Take for example the film, Closer. The film about relationships from 2004. I hate this film, I loathe it's cynical take on love and companionship, with it's vile amoral characters I hope I never have to deal with in real life. I have watched it once, I will probably never watch it again. Yet there it sits on my shelf, along with absolute 'must owns' like the Star Wars and Terminator films. Why do I own it? Because I appreciate it as a piece of cinema. I can still appreciate a well made product and hate everything about it. I bought it for this reason, but now it's a reason I will no longer use to buy blu-rays. It's the reason I won't be buying any of the recent sexually explicit films, such as The Wolf Of Wall Street and Nymphomaniac, I would have bought them in the past as I appreciate they are well made films, but because I don't love them (or even like them), they are off my wishlist. That's not to say I won't ever watch films like this, on tv for example, but I'm not spending money to watch them in HD.

tl;dr version - I'm only buying films I love from now on.

Sadly I am still going to have to keep Superman 4 - The Quest For Peace, as it came with the boxset

[Andy2992]

This is funny because as of next month I am going to stop buying blu rays and just go completely digital through Netflix, iTunes, and other means and just buy the ones I really want.

Reasons for this are:

1. I have ran out of space. Seriously. I am cramming them in drawers, cupboards, boxes, stacking them on the floor and it is not good so this the primary reason.

2. Money has become tight and £15 for a film I will watch once and will then sit on a shelf gathering dust is not a good investment and this is what is happening a lot and it is just a waste.

3. Just don't have the time to actually sit and watch them any more. Was great in high school and college and had plenty of time but now I work two jobs and partake in other activities which fill my day.

4. I've kind of just lost interest to be honest. Used to be really in to films and collecting them as hard copies but this no longer thrills me since I am just wasting my money since Blu ray will also go the way of the DVD before long and mean I'll have to upgrade everything again to things such as 3D, 4K, Holographic etc becomes the standard thing and this bothers me.

So yeah you are definitely not the only one. I want to complete my Disney, Pixar and Studio Ghibli collection but that's about it.

[levcore]

This is true of me too. I got my blu ray player at the end of 2010 and have amassed so many blus, almost 700. Definitely time to slow down a bit.

[robgmun]

I only slowing down because I am 30 titles away from completing my back catalogue wants. After that I'll be just getting new releases of which I average 12-15 per year

350 films so far

[darry]

I have about 50 and even that is unwieldily. I've settled on my own particular favourite niche to stop myself from buying too much product.

[JimDiGriz]

I said it before but here goes again...

Just get the blu-rays you want. Sell off any you'll never watch again. Having said that, I never thought Id get to the 250 mark and I can easily see myself getting to 300 now but not too much more...hopefully!

Quality control!

[sukraj]

I own 146 blu's so I have a long way to go before I slow down guys.

[Patient-X]

I've been told by 'she who must be obeyed' that the dining room looks more like an old Blockbuster. I may have to slow down myself soon or risk losing my 'valuables' one night

[CinemaScope]

Yep, there comes a time when a collection gets out of hand & sort of owns you. It's so easy to get into the habit of buying Blu-rays, putting them on the shelf, & not getting around to watching them, or even not wanting to watch them! I've been a film fan since the late 50's, so I'm not going to change now, but I hardly buy any new films. Fifties & sixties movies are what I like. I have been buying quite a few Blu-rays in the past year, mostly because they've been so cheap. There's the Amazon two for £10, that seems to have finished, now it's three for £17, & I've bought a lot of secondhand Blu's from Amazon Marketplace for £3-£4 delivered, pocket money these days. Now I'm just buying catalogue films that I love, & that's about three every two months. I do have some Blu's I haven't viewed yet, plus a full-up TV planner, & a pile of books I need to get around to reading. I need to REALLY love a movie to pay Twilight Time prices.

[thewerepuppygrr]

I've definitely showed down on steelbooks since a lot of the new ones are pretty boring-looking, but I'm still working on my back-catalogue and still buying new films, so I don't think that will change. I'm certainly not going digital any time soon.

[Buddy Ackerman]

I've slowed down on getting brand-new releases unless it's a film I absolutely love (Gravity) or if there's a reason to get it straight away that I may lose out on later on (for example, slipcases or steelbooks - I'm not hugely fussed about either to be honest, though I like a good steelbook, but if they're part of a set - e.g. the Marvel films for slips, catching Fire for the steelbook - then I'll bite).

The good thing I find about waiting for most titles to go cheap is that I lose temptation after a while because it's always going to be there and the buzz/hype of the initial release fades away. There are still films from a couple of years ago that I want to own that I loved at the cinema (Looper and Beasts of the Southern Wild, for instance) but I know that I'll always be able to find a cheap copy and so the impetus of having to own it at any given point isn't there.

At my DVD height I had over 1,000 and there are still plenty there I haven't watched. I have over 500 blu-rays now and it's likely that some of them will meet the same fate so not cramming the shelves with extra discs isn't that big of a loss. I have a library to keep me occupied for a good while.

[Brother_Dobby]

Congratulations on your achievement! I'm nowhere close to you yet, but then I've not been collecting as long as you have. (I didn't start until 2011.) I've got just under 250 titles in my collection including pre-orders.

Yeah, I don't really have any more titles that I want to get right now aside from a few coming to cinemas soon, so I'm definitely going to start slowing down now. Got a few other things to start paying for coming up.

[IscariotJ]

Originally Posted by Andy2992

This is funny because as of next month I am going to stop buying blu rays and just go completely digital through Netflix, iTunes, and other means and just buy the ones I really want.

Reasons for this are:

1. I have ran out of space. Seriously. I am cramming them in drawers, cupboards, boxes, stacking them on the floor and it is not good so this the primary reason.

2. Money has become tight and £15 for a film I will watch once and will then sit on a shelf gathering dust is not a good investment and this is what is happening a lot and it is just a waste.

3. Just don't have the time to actually sit and watch them any more. Was great in high school and college and had plenty of time but now I work two jobs and partake in other activities which fill my day.

4. I've kind of just lost interest to be honest. Used to be really in to films and collecting them as hard copies but this no longer thrills me since I am just wasting my money since Blu ray will also go the way of the DVD before long and mean I'll have to upgrade everything again to things such as 3D, 4K, Holographic etc becomes the standard thing and this bothers me.

So yeah you are definitely not the only one. I want to complete my Disney, Pixar and Studio Ghibli collection but that's about it.

I did this a while ago for pretty much the same reasons, and found that I began to enjoy movies that bit more knowing that I was sitting down to watch something that I really wanted to watch, rather than something I had to, just because I'd bought it....

[JimDiGriz]

Originally Posted by IscariotJ

I did this a while ago for pretty much the same reasons, and found that I began to enjoy movies that bit more knowing that I was sitting down to watch something that I really wanted to watch, rather than something I had to, just because I'd bought it....

The answer here is dont buy anything you dont want to watch!

Buying digital? Not a chance - Id rather wait until they come on TV! Ive always got too much to watch and rewatch anyway so Im never in any rush to watch anything particular. I dont bother with Netflix etc as Im sure I wouldnt even use it that much - I get a couple of rental blu's a month and that suits the amount of viewing time just right along with buying blu's, rewatching blu's and stuff recorded on the PVR's.

[levcore]

I cannot fathom for the life of me why anyone would buy a movie they didn't want to watch. I mean seriously, people actually do that?

[Pecker]

I'm in a similar position.

Of my Top 100 films, 85 are out on Blu-ray Disc (or announced).

Most of the films which are favourites from outside my Top 100 I already have, too.

By definition, the releases I'm waiting for have slowed to a trickle (not so many targets to hit), so my buying has slowed.

There is a slight knock-on effect of me having a bit more brass to spare, so I'm more likely to pick up a disc even if it's not a favourite, but only if the price is right. And even then, those sort of releases are drying up.

No worries. I have a backlog of films I've bought but not watched.

Steve W

[Buddy Ackerman]

Originally Posted by levcore

I cannot fathom for the life of me why anyone would buy a movie they didn't want to watch. I mean seriously, people actually do that?

Might I direct you to the Steelbook forum..?

[Dickieduvet]

Same goes for the slipcover lovers