DVDs! How many "repeats?"

[Rock Dog]

Is anyone else finding themselves being repeatedly stung by the "new edition" bug?

I must have had to repurchase 10 DVDs by now, because they've been re-released in a bigger, better, special, ultimate, collector's, director's edition.

It seems like my timing is getting worse to. I waited and waited on a favorite film of mine, and about 3 months ago I finally bought it.

Today I see a commercial for The Right Stuff, Special Edition. Now with yada, yada, yada. :x

This is really starting to get on my nerves...




-Thomas-

The easiest way to find something lost around the house, is to buy a replacement.

Hey You! Make sure you stop by the HTguide Off-Topic section. It's FUN!!!

[Danbry39]

Yup, I own The Right Stuff too.

I guess it wouldn't be so aggravating if there weren't so many great films, some of the greatest of all time, still never having been released.




Keith

[David Meek]

Absolutely. My best friend has a good start on a DVD collection, primarily through my re-purchases (he has all the originals). At best guess, out of almost 400 titles, I've re-bought 21 as they've come out with better picture-quality releases. This trend has slowed greatly with HD-DVD on the horizon, but there will be a few, like Black Hawk Down because of the supplemental interviews with some of the actual team and the included documentary on the actual event.




David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[George Bellefontaine]

I've only repeated a couple of dvds because the originals weren't anamorphic. I usually don't bother with the SEs. I do, however, replace a lot of laserdiscs with dvd as the titles become available.




My Homepage!

[Burke Strickland]

The original release of Amadeus was a flipper, so I bought a second copy for my DVD jukebox so I wouldn’t have to handle a disc to see both sides. I also bought a copy to give as a gift, and more recently bought the Director’s Cut which is an interesting curiosity, but which doesn’t have the subtlety or forward momentum of the theatrical cut. The extended / added scenes restate too obviously what was hinted at before more effectively in the original. In a couple of cases, the added scenes come off more like a Saturday Night Live parody of the characters than as a cohesive part of the movie.

Seven titles I’ve bought as gifts and then decided I wanted a copy for myself:

All the President's Men
American Beauty
Bells Of St Mary’s
Gone With The Wind
Singing In The Rain
Tony Bennett Unplugged
Wizard of Oz

Two favorites, The Rock and Spartacus were originally released in crappy non-anamorphic versions that were subsequently upstaged by stunning Criterion editions which are now in my collection. (The original discs got traded for the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings theatrical cut.)

Speaking of Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings, I also have the Extended Edition, which I prefer to the version I saw twice in commercial theaters. Apocalypse Now was a fine DVD in its initial release, but has been upstaged by the Redux release which is also in my collection. Likewise with Terminator 2 which is also represented by the “Ultimate Edition”. (As much as I enjoy the film, I will NOT be getting the “Extreme” edition.)

To check out the DTS soundtracks, I have repurchased:

Jurassic Park
Men In Black (MIB)
Saving Private Ryan

The only one of those where I think the DTS soundtrack is clearly more effective than the Dolby Digital 5.1 track is MIB. I’m glad that more movies are coming to DVD with both format soundtracks on the same disc. I am no longer buying any “repeats” just to get DTS.

One movie that came out in a non-anamorphic version that, for some reason Criterion overlooked, :>) is Porky’s. However it was finally re-released in an anamorphic edition and also included Porky’s II on the flip side.

Since I bought both the original and the improved Kubrick Collection sets, I ended up with duplicates of all these movies:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Barry Lyndon
A Clockwork Orange
Dr. Strangelove (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)
Eyes Wide Shut
Full Metal Jacket
Lolita
The Shining

Actually I had bought 2001 in its original crappy non-anamorphic release, which was duplicated in the first set but which was replaced by a properly rendered anamorphic transfer in the second set. I had also bought a “stand-alone” copy of “Eyes Wide Shut” which was excluded from the first set. I have given away all the copies from the earlier set as well as the “stand alone” copies.

And finally, there is The Fifth Element which, had it been a tape, would have been worn out by the time I got around to adding the Super Bit edition to my collection. :>) I have both in my DVD jukebox to facilitate comparison demos.

That’s 26 duplicated movie titles (19 if you remove the gift purchases) for a total of 56 DVDs (42 sans gift DVD titles). That’s enough. :>)

Burke

[Dean McManis]

I have a "Dupes & Duds" drawer with about 35 DVDs that I either shouldn't have bought, or ones that I've replaced with newer HD-mastered, 16:9 enhanced versions that SHOULD have been released that way initially.

I recently bought the Tom Clancy box set, which added three more DVDs to the D&D drawer, but I'm getting pretty picky about the DVDs that I'm rebuying lately. And if I haven't watched a DVD in a year, and there's a new edition out now, chances are that I won't be rebuying it.

-Dean,

[Chris D]

Yyyyuuuuuuppp.... Me too. I've got about 10 DVD's in a stack that I've bought upgrade repeats of, including Jerry Maguire, Air Force One, Starship Troopers (may have to do this AGAIN) Super Speedway, Usual Suspects, etc.

Unless it's one of my favorite movies that I want more information on, I generally do NOT buy special editions for new extra features. I ususally only buy for better sound and/or video quality upgrades.




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[Lex]

Geesh Burke, that's quite an analysis. I was just going to say, yeah, I have some repurchased dupes. In fact, I thought i posted to this thread once, yet it's not here, hmm. Maybe I wrote it, and forgot to press submit.

I've rebought Terminator Two, Fifth Element, Sleepless in Seattle, and several others. At least 10-15 anyway.

I agree, it does get old rebuying.

Lex