Have you ever just reached a point in your Blu-ray collecting where you wonder, "What's left"? - Page 2

I had a similar revelation recently, between DVD, HD DVD and BD I have pretty much every thing I want in catalog titles. At this point there are only a handful of catalog titles that I consider must haves.So I'm down to those few catalogs along with the occasional new release. I traded a DVD in at Best Buy recently and I couldn't find any BD that I wanted that I didn't already own.

I have a review and thumbnails here: The Devils (1971).

Word is that Warner hates this title so much they will never allow a Blu-ray.

-Bill

Word is that Warner hates this title so much they will never allow a Blu-ray.

...and with good reason. The Devils and The Music Lovers were Russell at his peak of "let's just see how hideous we can make everything."

There are still some things I would like to see make it to Blu-ray, but it's clear not everything is going to get released. I expect virtually everything to show up on digital streaming at some point.

I think, sadly, the latter will happen. There will literally be 100's of thousands of titles that will disappear and never be seen again in any form due to there not being a large enough market for them.

The worst part is, that's a situation that's perfect for a company like Netflix to deal with by arranging a bulk license with the studios to stream content that isn't available on DVD or BD - and never will be due to a low chance of enough sales to cover the cost. I'm sure most of the studios are at least in the process of creating digital scans of their archives to preserve them, even if they never release the stuff.

By at least making a streaming deal, we'd have a legal place to view it, even if we can't "own" it. Right now, there's no place to legally view a huge number of movies made before 1980.

I think the problem is, the studios would rather have it sit in the vault forever rather than get a smaller amount from Netflix to stream it.

Putney Swope! Didn't even know it was on DVD, silly me. Paid to see this in the theater when current, one of the movie highlights of my young life.

Choose Me
Trouble in Mind
Searching For Bobby Fischer
Zero Effect
The Day of the Jackal (original)
Boys On The Side
Heaven Can Wait
The Hospital
Local Hero
They Might Be Giants
The Singing Detective (BBC)
The Friends Of Eddie Coyle
All That Jazz
The Grass Is Greener
Until The End Of The World!!! (have it on 4 hour German DVD - require the hacked up original domestic 2:45 release on BD - yes, the hack job is better.)
Buckaroo Bonzai
Resurrection (Ellen Burstyn)

I haven't checked in awhile, so hopefully some smart guy will tell me a few of those are out.

I know there are plenty of things not yet released on Blu-ray, so I don't think about running out of choices to buy. Besides the others already posted, here are some I would buy the first day:

Them!
Splash
Ghostbusters 2
Rollercoaster
Earthquake
Jaws 2

And, one that is not even on DVD, much less Blu-ray:

Wavelength (1983)

Not to mention plenty of TV shows that were made on film, and music "videos" that are also on film. No, I don't think they will run out of available content any time soon.

Lionsgate could even speed up their "Terminator 2" re-releases to a monthly schedule and it would keep them busy.

Not just movies: there are TV shows that either never made it even to VHS or are out of print (eg Tinseltown), which would be ideal candidates for a streaming type of system.

I would be much happier allowing DVD and VHS ownership to expire in favour of streaming, if the studios guaranteed all material available would be continuously and readily accessible to the public. One of the main reasons for having my own private collection is fear that the material will go OOP at some point or become very difficult to obtain. Video libraries have virtually died and are no longer a realistic option for getting access to that material. I will still want to collect Bluray as there is no equivalent quality access mechanism available at this time: when the likes of Hulu are able to stream a Bluray m2ts in its entirety, then maybe I will change my mind.

No doubt.

I can't tell you the number of TV shows and movies I've had to search out through "other means" to view them - and it's not all obscure stuff, either.

Right now, as far as I know, there's no legal legal means to view the final episode (or anything after the second season, for that matter) of St. Elsewhere to see what all the fuss is about over the ending. Every news article about best and worst series endings always cites that one and yo can't actually watch what led up to it.

The show appears now and then on some retro TV channels, but you have to have a lot of luck (and access to the channel) to catch it from the beginning.

The Netflix model would also be great for orphaned TV series on DVD. Perhaps maybe being able to stream it would build up demand for it...

I've never understood buying movies anyways. I have a 150 Blu Rays, some still in wrappers and many I bought to have in a library that I have never yet watched. I'd say 40% of my Blu Rays are still unwatched in my house. I ended taking many to our summer home in hopes that friends or people we rent to watch them!

I'll agree that it loses its point if you never watch them, but I do watch the stuff I collect.

Sure, before Netflix, I bought a lot more movies than I bother to now, but certain titles are must-haves for me. I also have several that are out of print and not available via streaming, which means I can still watch them when I want despite that.

The problem is, streaming and renting movies is great as long as the discs don't go out of print or the studios don't decide to have some sort of hissy fit with the streaming services (or get greedy with them) and end up puling the content.

I just like the idea that I will have a copy of my favorite movies no matter what as long as I have a player for them.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to cut way back on my buying. I've been fairly successful so far. Between having two kids in school and in sports, it doesn't leave a lot of time during the week or even weekend really to watch a bunch of two hour movies. I find that I have about an hour each weekday evening to watch something, which lends it self better to TV viewing. On the weekend, I might get one or two movies in tops. With over 1,000 BDs and many of those unwatched, I plan to be really selective about my purchases this year.

As far as 4K goes, I know that a lot of you are very excited about it, but I just can't muster the enthusiasm to replace all my equipment and titles again. I couldn't do it for 3D, and I probably won't do it for 4K either. I guess I'm not in the demographic any longer. :cry:

The problem isn't buying movies.

The problem is that some people clearly aren't suited to buying movies.

Buying movies and having them sit around unopened is bizarre behaviour. Folks who do that should obviously not be buying movies. I completey understand buying movies. I absolutely don't understand buying movies and leaving unwatched in their unopened packages.

Generally, I watch a movie on the same day I buy it. If I get a few movies in one day, it might take a week. Yesterday, I bought DEADLY BLESSING. Last night I watched it. Today I bought BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL and I'll watch it tonight.

There's a million hobbies out there and not everyone is suited to being a movie/home video buff. No shame in that. People buying movies that they don't watch may be more inclined for some other pursuit. I've "never understood" buying comic books but people do it by the millions. The fact that I don't understand it just means that it's not for me.

for catalog releases, I dont have much left but they seem to take forever:

-Star Wars OOT
-The Abyss (good lord, am I getting pissed off about this )
-Munich
-Spirited Away
-Princess Mononoke
-Hoop Dreams
-ROTLA individual
-Terminator 3 1080p (i guess I could rent the 1080i and give it a spin to see if its worthwhile)

-I suppose if VH1 ever releases a blu ray of I Love the 80's I'll jump on that!! bwaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaahahahahahahahahaaha

Terminator is finally coming out as remastered and it looks like Schindler's List is also coming out. I wouldn't mind double dipping for Kindom of Heaven if it came out with all the documentaries, but not sure if that will happen. If I pull the trigger and just get the 4 disc dvd, it'll be the first DVD I purchased in over 4 years :P

my collection isnt nearly as prolific as a lot of people. but it serves its purpose

as for 4k, dunno. I have always been interested in whats coming out for home theater ever since I got a laserdisc player. but I am not sure if 4k is gonna be the great leap that DVD and blu ray was. Unless you have a projector screen (which a lot of people on this forum do but i dont), I dont think 4k will really matter as much. Kind of like how 3d home viewing does not really interest me. its that whole diminishing returns thing, I guess.
Edited by huskie2000 - 2/3/13 at 11:27am

I sort of agree, but when DVD was in its heyday, I was buying a lot of movies on release week, but it might take me months to get around to watching some of them.

It wasn't so much I was buying stuff because I wanted to watch it right then as I was taking advantage of week 1 discounts in order to own a copy I could watch whenever it suited me. Now that I have Netflix and BD titles generally don't have that first week discount, I'm buying less.

Now, I'm only buying movies I really enjoy, usually when they go on sale. The result is, I still have titles here and there that go unwatched for extended periods, but there are far fewer of those.

Netflix is for stuff I want to watch when it arrives. BD is for stuff I want to watch at some point, but am buying now based on price.

I thought that streaming content does not have Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD.

One of the reasons I buy BluRay disks is for the HD audio. What's the point of having sophisticated sound processors and high end speakers if you can't get the full audio experience when streaming?

Amen

Already available in Japan, which is Region A: www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B006U9QS2O/
I haven't picked it up yet but I assume it's the same transfer as the German BD.

Thanks for the heads up. $42 before shipping... ouch. I'll keep an eye on it.

In the booklet that is included in The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of (a CD boxed set of old ultra-rarities on 78RPM, Robert Crumb cover), the writer addresses the observation that people who collect records generally do not ever listen to all of them. It's the collector bug. OCD. Mental illness.

I am a part of all this. I do not allow myself to watch Antiques Roadshow because I know it would only tempt me to collect other stuff. I have loads of vinyl. I have loads of DVDs, and somewhat lesser numbers of BDs.

Now if you collect antiques or art or photographs you can appreciate them for however long you choose and then move on. If you collect old 78s all you spend per side is maybe three minutes. With records or CDs you can select and listen to a track, and I suppose you can just pop in a DVD and watch a favorite scene.

But record albums as a total work, or optical media of films, require a chunk of time. How many chunks of time do people really have in their lives? I am retired, and have more time than most, but I don't have enough time to visit and re-visit all I have, especially if I watch television, and some of the best dramaitic works these days are on television and not in the date-entertainment business that movies have become. In fact, what I can rationalize buying these days are TV series, because I like to watch them once a week, which wouldn't really work for Netflix.

So whadaya gonna do?

I have hundreds of movies that I've purchased on both DVD and BD. many of the films I have on DVD will likely never see an HD iteration so I keep them and enjoy many of them enough to watch multiple times. When I sit down to watch something I can be in any mood which makes having a collection a wonderful thing.I don't know any other way that I could get the pleasure I do from films,documentaries etc than to have it at my fingertips as I do.

I sometimes buy half a dozen movies and watch all of them on a long weekend or maybe only one or two then later the others as my mood dictates. I have maybe 15 movies that I've not watched with hundreds I have and many several times.

Having a collection makes times when we have family staying very flexible if we want to watch a movie. I just go to the shelves pick a pile any of which I'd enjoy and pass them around to the guests to get a consensus.

I don't collect to collect but to have the films available to watch.

Art
Edited by Art Sonneborn - 2/4/13 at 10:49am

I would love to see even a regular DVD release of a series of Eddie Cantor films made by the Samual Goldwyn Studio in the '30s, including one of my top 5 favorite films, "Roman Scandals" (1933). Truly funny stuff. They were out on VHS, even laserdisc, but nothing since. Shamefully, Goldwyn's classic '39 "Wuthering Heights" has been out of print, domestically, for over 10 years. No Blu-ray ever. And I see releases of crap films all the time, wondering where the market is.

Fixed.

Yeah, when the Indiana Jones series came out, that was the last of the really big must-have catalog movies for me. A few TV shows that originally aired in HD still aren't out, which is a bit puzzling. I suppose they're waiting on 24 to cross-promote it with the 24 movie that's supposedly going to be made someday. Alias is more puzzling though. You'd think that would be a no-brainer to release on Blu-ray, especially with JJ Abrams being so high profile these days.

I'm not going to quit until I reach my goal of having every best picture winner and nominee on blu ray.

So far there are hundreds not yet available yet.

Same here, even have few titles on D-VHS D-Theater that is not on BD so I keep the D-VHS machine. There are many titles that have soundtracks that I really enjoy and makes repeat viewing a treat in the same way as listening to a good music disc over and over. Have quite a few science programs from PBS that I have watched many times because they have some much content it takes several passes to take it all in.

These people are here to help.

Can't imagine whatever spurred you to purchase the latter as a blind buy of all things (unless you have an insatiable fanaticism for any and all vampire flicks). I knew that was nothing more than a rental (and even that was more than I would've liked to pay to see it).

Vudu HDX has Dolby Digital Plus, the transparency of which is pretty high up in the echelons.