My DVD buying stratagy

[Lex]

Usually, in the course of a week, I'll need something from Walmart, Target or such. The last 2 weeks, I was at Target or WM for something other than a DVD.

I opted to buy opening week films with what look like excellent ratings. Besides, week one savings is almost justified on any film receiving rave reviews. (like 15.87 at WM)

If I can buy a film for 15 bucks or so, while I happen to be at a store, whether target, wm, bb, cc, etc... then first off, I've saved that special trip for it, which as we know, special trips are more expensive than they used to be regardless of what we drive. I've also saved the 5 bucks over what it would be if I bought in week 2-20 at least (usually 19.99). Then if it's a good film, may stay more expensive longer. I've saved the cost of a rental (and the fuel getting to a rental store), what 5 bucks+?. So, I saved at least 9.00-10.00 buying the film, not counting fuel savings for a possible special trip to rent a DVD locally while I happened to be there.

Then if you do hear that it is a bad film before opening it, keep the receipt, you've probably got 30 days to decide to keep it anyway.

Now, if it's a marginal film or a film I know will be short lived as a hit or may never achieve hit status, first off, I am much less likely to buy it now than before. (My Standards are stronger now, as I don't need movies just to expand a library now which is already over 400 films strong) If I do at some point decide to give it a chance, it may be at "bin pricing" of 10.00 or less later on down the line.

Lastly, if I don't really go to theaters much, I've saved the initial ticket price, so the movie is then basically FREE, lol.

That's my stratagy, and I am sticking to it.

[csuzor]

Interesting... what about renting them and ripping a copy? much cheaper!

I don't do it, of course, that is why I can post that comment here. But I bet there will be others who read this, and do it, but can't admit that in a public forum! There is no dvd you can't copy with some cheap $40 software I won't name.

[Kevin P]

I don't condone illegal copying, especially on a public internet forum.

As for my strategy, it's changed over the years. Early on I bought lots of DVDs, back during the dot-com boom when deals were rampant, and I was building my collection. Now that I'm in a position where I have to start all over again (after losing my collection in a fire), I realize that 80% of my collection consisted of movies that we watched only once. So my new strategy is to only buy movies we really like, ones we can watch over again. For new releases, unless it's a must-have, we'll rent or watch in the theater first. That way we minimize our investment in "watched-only-once" discs.

[Nick M]

I look at previews of newly released films in theaters and give them a rating...

1. Must See! I'll pay the $4.75 for a ticket.
2. Maybe. I wait until it's released and pay $3.00 for a rental.
3. What the $%#&? Have no desire to see it.

If I enjoy the film in theaters enough, I'll purchase it.
If I rent the film and enjoy it enough, I'll purchase it.
If I hate the film in the theater/renting, I come here and b*tch! :lol:

No copies! :nono:

[Lex]

In a position of I guess you could say prominance in the forum scene, as an A/V cable manufacturer, and generally as a somewhat widely known person of reputation around the net, I consider myself a leader, not a follower. I take a stand against illegal pirating and vote for reasonable rights protection of the film and music industry. I encourage all of my friends and supporters to do the same. I would justify backup copies for security sake of not loosing a valuable film or CD. I also support the right to make a Car or Office duplicate of CDs I own the original of. Sort of an original vault concept, convenience location for playback concept as well. After all, I would only be playing 1 at a time.

A vault stratagy which in the case of Kevin, would have meant maybe he wouldn't have lost all his films that he purchased, I believe we do have that right.

But to rent and rip, no, that's abuse of copyright and I don't support it at all. Nor do I support the rip everything you own and sell your collection stratagy that I know some people have done. I believe the only time copying is justified is if both the copy and original are in your posession, or the original was lost or stolen.

By the same token, I do not support the rights of the RIAA to invade the personal computers/accounts of individuals and exercise their power of size over the little person that innocently enough has violated some copyright law either without knowledge, or with limited consequences. That does not mean that I think anyone starting a free music or movie download service for thousands should not be stopped.

I wholeheartedly support stopping international pirating via manufacturing.

Doug

[Nick M]

I agree 100% Lex! :T

[Shane Martin]

My dvd buying strategy has evolved to this now:

Must have: I see it in the theater then buy on dvd if I liked it.
Marginal titles: Rent first via netflix. Net flix totally destroys the Lex strategy as it costs you far less and no travel time or special trips. If I like and can see myself rewatching this a bunch, I buy. Otherwise I pass.

HD DVD/Blu Ray has put a significant hold on my purchasing. Only the "can't miss" titles do I buy for sure now. Otherwise I can wait. I have patience.

[George Bellefontaine]

I've really slowed down in my buying. I have so many dvds now that I'll probably kick the bucket before I can rewatch everyone more than once or twice. So I end up buying classic stuff from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and the occasional new release like Batman Begins and that sort of thing. It really has to be a new release that I will want to watch more than once.

[csuzor]

OK, glad to see no one is copying illegally. I have made a backup copy of some discs I bought for the children to watch, and they can use (and abuse) those copies. There is no menu, no preview, no audio selection, no copyright notice, just put the disk in and watch the movie. When they destroy the disc, I just make another copy for them, the originals are safely stored. (they're only 1.5y and 3.5y old, and they are not gentle with the discs!)

For other movies, I rent them online, $20/m gives me 4 movies at a time, and as soon as I send them back I get more (thus potentially 12 or more movies a month). When I rent the same movie out a 2nd time, my wife says, "Didn't we already see this movie? I'm not watching it again!". So renting is the best and cheapest way for us.

[Shane Martin]

OK, glad to see no one is copying illegally

Plenty are, just noone will admit it on a public forum. It's a very comman practice that I see at Blockbuster/Best Buy while I'm out shopping. It boggles the mind to hear "Honey should we buy this or just rent and copy it?"

I know of quite a fwe people who do this unfortunately and it really infuriates me.

[Chris D]

I don't do any ripping.

I've really slowed down on my DVD buying. 2 reasons:

1. I already own SO many movies, like George said, I probably won't have much opportunity to watch each one multiple times.
2. With high-def discs around the corner, unless a movie is really old (and probably won't benefit much from a HD transfer) or I REALLY like the movie and have to have it now, I'll wait for the HD version.

[Kevin D]

I haven't started a new strategy yet.. But here's something I've found to be really nice. (in the end)

1) Buy a whole bunch of DVDs, some you like, some you don't, some because they are $3.50.
2) Pay someone to come work on the outside of your house.
3) Find that the same day the above people arrived, someone has broken in and stolen every DVD you own.
4) Get the insurance check
5) Have a spending spree buying exactly the movies you want, pretty much reguardless of price.

Thankfully we had DVD profiler. The police that came out didn't want to believe the number of items stolen until I produced a very detailed list. Printed the same list out for insurance with prices that they could be purchased from Amazon for. Then we went through and actually marked the movies we would actually want again.

Kevin D.

[Lex]

That sucks Kevin. I'd be sunk, I have profiler on some, but I'd be sunk.

[dyazdani]

I've also slowed down my buying. I've figured out that if I took all the money I've spent on DVDs, most of which I never watch, I'd be able to buy some nice peice of audio gear.

I do subscribe to NetFlix, and that suits us pretty well. I watch the movies I know I'll only see once and save my money for those I really want. Only DVD I've purchased recently has been Star Wars III.

Another problem is that my DVD storage rack is basically full

[Chris D]

Easy solution. Just buy a new rack.

... and upgrade the ones you already have

... and while you're at the store, pick up some new DVD's to fill the empty space in the new racks

... and then pick up a new DVD player to better play your new DVD's

... and then get a new TV to go with the new player to watch things bigger and better

... and then upgrade your speakers because you need better sound to go with the better picture

... and then buy a new processor to better power the speakers and produce the latest surround sound modes

... and so on

[saurabh]

I goto the Theater for really good ones and buy DVD later.

Rent out DVD for the ones I am not sure and buy the DVD if I find them good enough for a collection.

BTW, any kind of copying(thats any) is violation of the law as you can read here

[audioqueso]

Interesting... what about renting them and ripping a copy? much cheaper!

I don't do it, of course, that is why I can post that comment here. But I bet there will be others who read this, and do it, but can't admit that in a public forum! There is no dvd you can't copy with some cheap $40 software I won't name.

And so you have your nice B&W speakers to basically play MP3s, huh? :rofl:

WHY!????!!!!!! lol jk

I won't let a copy DVD touch my system. I hate inferior quality.

[Chris D]

Same here. I tried ripping a CD to my computer, once, and have never listened to an MP3 since.

[Foxman]

The only ripping I do is with music and thats to my music server so, it is essentially a library back up. I do not, have never had the desire and do not condone piracy of any kind.

I have slowed down, but then again so has my income so they might be related. I generaly only go to movies as a reward to our children for good grades or special events, so that limits the type of movies we see. Narnia for example will likely be a theater visit. There have been exceptions to this like the Matrix series and LOTR series, but clearly those are few and far between. I am pushing 400 DVD's and still get the main interests on release day like Cinderella man, but the ones that I am not as familier with that might be interesting are the ones I am not buying now. There has been some recent examples especially TV series that have been released like the season 5 &6 of Seinfeld and season one of that James Garner Series (Can't think of the name of it). March of the Penguins and Skeleton Key are a couple recent releases that I would have bought a year ago, but today are only a rental or wait until I can buy them used. You get the point though and it sounds like many of us are in the same boat.

[mitch57]

Tell me more about this DVD profiler please.

[Shane Martin]

I won't let a copy DVD touch my system. I hate inferior quality.

The quality(sound and picture) are the same.

[Foxman]

Tell me more about this DVD profiler please.

It's a free download and a great way to track your DVD purchases. They have updated it a couple times since I first downloaded it requiring me to update mine which was easy to do. I think you can subscribe and probably get more benefits, but I would imagine that it would be overkill for the average collection like mine.

There are a couple choices for software like this, Guzzlefish is one a lot of people use because it also can track music and video games was well. I use it for my Hi Rez music, but my Dual Disk isnt recognized which kind of defeats the benefit of tracking my hi rez since so much of it is going that route.

Here is a link for DVD Profiler: LINK

[Chris D]

I'll have to check it out. Currently, I just inventory my media collection with an Excel file.

[dyazdani]

I don't track mine at all...I have to look through them before I go to the store just to make sure I don't buy any repeats, lol.

[David Meek]

Anyone I hear talking about copying DVDs gets "the lecture". It probably won't change their habits, but it makes me feel better.

I'm just buying the must-haves now. Like Shane, the upcoming hi-def DVD environment (whatever the format) has me basically on hold. Also, being on an island, I don't have easy access to a BestBuy or Wallyworld so all my purchases are now online.

I've been using DVDTracker to catalog my DVDs for years now. For some time, I've been toying with switching to DVDProfiler as I like some of its features, but just haven't gotten around to it.

[ht_addict]

My stratedgy is to wait for ColumbiaHouse to email me with a Buy 1 reg price, take 2 at 50% off or 2 for $25. Also take an extra 15% off whole order. Usually have a 3-4 times a year so I pre-order everything coming out.

[Burke Strickland]

When I was "building my collection", starting before DVD was officially a commercial product available everywhere, I bought just about every movie I had any interest in that came out on DVD. If a DVD significantly improved the presentation over a laser disc that I already had, and I really like the movie, I'd buy it. (That was not a foregone conclusion in the early days of DVD.) If it was a movie I thought I might want to watch someday, I bought it. If it was a movie others were talking about a lot and it had a few great "demo" scenes, I bought it.

I learned over time that having a few great demo scenes does not necessarily make a title a good addition to the collection. (You could ask how many times I've watched "Lost in Space" all the way through -- answer: "zip".) I have also learned over time that if you do have a real interest in owning the movie on DVD, if you want the convenience of having it on hand when you get the urge to watch it, you'd better buy it when you see it. This is particularly true with older catalog titles, since titles often go out of print and reissues are not always forthcoming. However, if a title is reissued later, it usually looks and sounds better and is less expensive as well.

Now, nearly a thousand discs later (I have never rented a DVD), I am limiting purchases to new movies and oldies but goodies that I know I'll want to watch multiple times that I do not have on laser disc. Again, if an older movie is one I particularly like, I'll snap it up when it is available on DVD since it may quickly disappear from the catalog.

On the other hand, if I miss opening week pricing on a new movie, it is worth waiting six months or more to buy it because the prices will inevitably drop BELOW opening week discounts later on. In many cases, a better edition (such as Superbit) will pop up later as well. In the case of Lord of the Rings, I knew the Extended Editions were coming but bought the theatrical cut anyway. There are others I am not quite as interested in that I don't mind taking more of a "wait and see" approach.

Burke

[Clive]

No ripping here either! I have always maintained a stratergy. Read the reviews here first, rent if the need be, if it is a movie I'd like to COLLECT it gets purchased.

My purchases has slown down but I have a lot that I'd like to get maybe even cheaper now that I've waited.

[Chris D]

I had a bunch of coupons for "Madagascar" and went into Best Buy tonight. As I was walking around, I just thought, "you know, I don't need yet ANOTHER DVD right now, and this one will probably be cheaper in 4 months than it is now, even with the coupons."

I actually ended up just walking out empty-handed.

[Lex]

This has turned out to be an interesting topic. Glad I posted it originally. I'm always curious to see people's ideas, and how others think. Short of a few classics, I really have not gone back and watched to much that is older in my collection in a very long time. I can't explain what has changed in this area, other than being more busy than I once was, and being a more passive TV watcher for sit-coms to watch a bit, then do something else, etc...

So, while I have no desire to sell my collection, I have no desire to add DVDs just for the sake of adding DVDs. I'd anticipate I'm now approached the no more than adding 25 a year area in new releases at the most. I might pick up a few bin priced movies, and that's about all I have time for.

I do plan to work my way through my collection's highlights someday, in the not to distant future. I hope it will be a fun walk down memory lane.

Doug

[George Bellefontaine]

I had a bunch of coupons for "Madagascar" and went into Best Buy tonight. As I was walking around, I just thought, "you know, I don't need yet ANOTHER DVD right now, and this one will probably be cheaper in 4 months than it is now, even with the coupons."

I actually ended up just walking out empty-handed.

Congrats, Chris for getting that monkey off your back :lol: . It took me several tries before I finally learned to walk away from a purchase. Those covers look so doggone tempting, and suddenly some part of your brain is making you reach for your Visa card.

[Shane Martin]

George,
Netflix REALLY HELPS. I realized I own way too many 1 shot deal movies that I am alot more careful about what I purchase.

[George Bellefontaine]

I own way too many 1 shot deal movies

Know what you mean, Shane. One of these days I'm going to clean out some of those impulse buys of years back. We don't have Netflix in Canada but the local Blockbuster and a few other outlets offer plenty of variety in rentals. I find now that if something I rent really excites me to the point I'd want to see it again, I then wait for it to come available as Previously Viewed.

[PewterTA]

My problem is that there are so many that I want to see, that often buying them is more effecient than going to the theater (which I detest) or renting them. It's almost to the point that you might as well buy them. Plus I buy most of my DVDs during the release week (through reading reviews) and most of them at Best Buy with the rewards zone. I get close to $10-$15 a month from the rewards zone from movies and other purchases. Then half the time as well I'll get the newly released movies for 12.99/10.99 with the rewards zone. Works out well.

There are a lot that I might not watch a second time...but I might on the other hand. It's also fun to be able to just look through the collection with a group of people and have a good variety of choices at hand. Plus during the winter months (like now), I always tend to go back and watch things over again, a lot of stuff that I didn't think I would!