Do you keep buying DVDs?

[KindGrind]

I've been accumulating a substancial collection of DVDs over the years, and as soon as blu-ray was crowned king of the HD war, I started buying my favorite movies in that format when the timing/price was right. Long story short, yesterday I saw a used copy of Delicatessen in my video rental store and decided to add it to my collection. At less than 5$, when it's a movie I like, feel like watching again or heard great things about, I rarely pass it up. Most of the time, the movies that end up in these bins are movies that weren't rented much; the one I bought yesterday was pristine, and it's not the first one I buy there.

I guess I'm wondering if I'm alone still buying DVDs. I own about 40 Blu-ray discs, and buy some when I see a good deal or get the chance to own a movie I love and will watch countless times. In the same bin I saw a used blu-ray copy of An Education going for 10$, and a used DVD copy for 3$. Is the blu-ray worth the extra 7$ to you? What is your rule of thumb? Voilà.

Edit: Fixed choices.

[rancor]

I havent updated yet. I just don't care about the picture upgrade from DVD to Bluray. DVD is fine for me at the moment. This re-buying my media every few years just isn't cool to me because many movies that I had on VHS I bought again on DVD. I refuse to do this again to upgrade to bluray, and for the most part I hate 99% of new movies.

Exclusively DVD for me at the moment. Which isn't a choice on your poll.

Edit: Excellent. It's now a choice. Voted!

[CMoon]

Netflix has substantially cut down on my movie purchasing habits. When I do buy something it's mostly blu ray.

[Davey]

Netflix has substantially cut down on my movie purchasing habits.

I never bought a lot of DVDs in the first place, but yeah, with Netflix it's very unlikely that I ever will again. I bought a Blu-Ray player last December but don't own any Blu-Ray discs; I just rent them.

[gct]

It has been a while since I bought (or even watched) a movie. Movies I watch tend to be Asian films, and somehow Blu-ray editions were not available for the last couple (in fact all) of foreign movies I bought. The only western Blu-rays I bought have been Pixar films (and these tend to come as Blu-ray+DVD+digital copy all in one package these days), but if there are other interesting western releases, I would definitely choose Blu-ray over DVD

[brentsg]

I buy Blu-rays for content worth owning, if available. But I also use Netflix and AppleTV/iTunes.. and grab the occasional DVD if there's no Blu or if it's "watch once" stuff.

I should add, those Blu-ray+DVD+digital copy packages are great if you have kids. The packed-in DVD is cool and saves me having to make one for in the car.

[Specineff]

You should add the option for rentals. That's where most of DVD/BR revenue comes from anyway.

[KindGrind]

True about the dvd/blu-ray combo packages being great for kids.

Most Blu-rays I own are animated features (mostly Miyazaki/Disney) and do have both the DVD and BRD versions. I try to convince myself I get them for the kids... Instead of having them watch things like Dora, and Tractor Tom, why not watch Ponyo? Pinocchio? Which reminds me, Beauty and the Beast is getting a HD release next week, after being out of print for years. I haven't anticipated a dvd release this much in a long time.... I mean, the kids will love it

It seems I buy less and less media discs though, apart from the random 3$ DVD deal. Haven't bought a single BRD in the summer. Apart from the aforementioned Disney masterpiece I don't foresee any other BD purchase before next spring.

[null1024]

Still buy just DVDs if I buy [no Blu-Ray player, no HDTV, no point when I still have my 30 inch tube and barely use it].

[ROBOTRON]

I only buy Blu-Rays for TOP NOTCH movies...DVDs otherwise.

[Slump]

I still only buy DVD's at the moment but most of what I watch is downloaded unscrupulously When I purchase a blu-ray burner for my comp. maybe I'll upgrade lol, at the moment I see no reason to. On a side note, my brother has a blu-ray player and purchases blu-ray movies exclusively and is just me or is most of the extra features crammed into the extra space just annoying. I can't remember which movie it was I was watching the other day at his place but navigating to the "play movie" button was like navigating a damn start bar...

[xris]

Yes, I still buy DVDs. Mostly used, there are a few places in town that I check frequently, you can find good stuff some times. I love Blockbusters 3-5 for $20 deal. I also buy copies that show up in corner stores, and I have a really great backroom dealer that I go to every week. I do make it a point to buy new DVDs when it is something that I really like, and would like them to get money to continue making movies. I don't download anything though. I do have a decent amount of DVDs, I have put around half into a CD book, and recycled the cases to save space. I'm skipping the whole blue-ray thing, I know that they are cheaper to manufacture than DVDs, but they charge more. And, why do they sell DVD blue-ray combo packs?
I grew up watching VHS, so DVD is a good enough jump in quality for me.

[SuperGrafx]

Lately I've just been renting discs through RedBox or downloading from the Xbox/Zune Marketplace.
I don't need any additional clutter...I rarely watch a movie more than once, so renting/streaming/downloading is just fine by me.

[brokenhalo]

I only buy Blu-Rays for TOP NOTCH movies...DVDs otherwise.

same here. as far as upgrading from dvd to bluray, i've rebought a few films here and there. most cases it was because the dvd transfer was lackluster to begin with, or i feel that the jump to bluray would really benefit a particular film.

[Ex-Cyber]

I only buy Blu-ray for stuff that has a lot of visual appeal and detail. Otherwise, there's really nothing to justify the premium over DVD. The only film I've re-purchased on Blu-ray is Army of Darkness, and that was an upgrade from VHS; I don't think I would have bothered if I had already owned the DVD.

[maxlords]

I only buy Blu-Rays now. However, there are a few seasons of shows that don't come out on Blu-Ray....sometimes I buy those on DVD...but not often.

[neorichieb1971]

I think I am the blu ray king on this forum. With over 200 blu rays in my collection and over 25% of those are steelbooks and special editions (You don't get many in the USA).

I don't buy DVD's at all and got rid of each one I had whilst the blu versions were being released.

Blu ray is only worth it for larger screens and those that enjoy 5.1 in high resolution audio. Its not really an advantage to have blu ray on a 32" 16:9 and thats why a lot of people don't see the extra $7 as worthwhile. Put that same blu ray on a 100" projector and a proper 5.1/7.1 surround system and the difference suddenly becomes night and day and the $7 makes the world of difference.

[maxlords]

I'm at almost 50 Blu-Rays now (counting boxed sets as 1). I've got a 40" 1080P Samsung LCD and it makes a HUGE difference. I could give a crap about the audio to be honest....I just use the TV's audio (can't run 5.1 in my house). And the prices on Blu-Rays are dropping like a STONE. Picking up up here for $5-10 for ones with good transfers. And now half of em are coming with the DVD in the package too.

But I haven't dumped my DVDs, as I only have the one Blu-Ray player and that's not always the room I watch stuff in

[agustusx]

I stopped buying DVD's when I bought my first HDTV in 2002. I had recently converted to DVD from VHS, and was really frustrated that half my DVD's looked like crap on an HDTV. Lets not talk about VHS... HD discs weren't out yet, but I knew that DVD wasn't gonna cut it anymore. For a while they tried selling SA-CD's too(super audio cd), so I got really worried about what platforms would win out in general.

I got scared to invest in stuff, so now I just don't. I don't do the apple store stuff, so thank the Gods for netflix. It's to the point now that even if I got a PS3 I would probably not purchase Blu-ray Movies.

[KindGrind]

I did sell pretty much all my criterion DVDs (100+) when I started buying blu-rays, mostly because I couldn't afford keeping such expensive things and I felt reissues could affect the collectability of the stuff. I thought it would be a good idea to keep only the movies I genuinely like. Looking back, it's a good thing I sold my copies of Salo, The Killer et all before they tanked... Remember Salo was fetching 500$+ in its heyday.

I don't mind upgrading from DVD to BRD if the tranfer is amazing and the price is right. A great example of this is Blade Runner... the BRD is leaps and bounds ahead of any previous releases, I mean really. And when I saw it part of a post Christmas sale at 10$, well. When I upgrade I tend to make bundles and give them away to friends at their birthday or something. It's no use trying to sell the things or ebay or otherwise. Shipping is a killer. Last DVD bundle I gave a friend included Princess Bride, Blade Runner, There Will Be Blood, The Godfather trilogy, Let the Right One In, Batman Begins and Chungking Express. Who wouldn't be happy to receive these, especially if they don't care about the bump in picture quality?

[emphatic]

I've kinda given up on buying DVDs. Not yet bought a bluray player (I use a HTPC) but watch rips of my DVDs (I've ripped all of them now). There are some classics that just didn't get the proper treatment for the DVD format. Spies Like Us is one of my favorite comedies from the 80's and the only DVD release available is in 4:3, but the bluray release is in 16:9 meaning it should have been available in this AR format on DVD as well. So I won't be buying the DVD even if it's cheap. If only DVDs could be 24fps...

Chungking Express

One of my favorite movies! I have the QT release on his Rolling Thunder label.

[KindGrind]

Chungking Express is one of the most rewatchable movies ever, and also one of my favorites. First Criterion blu-ray I bought... An amazing release. Couldn't wait to replace the horrible cover with QT's mug on it..

[neorichieb1971]

I'm at almost 50 Blu-Rays now (counting boxed sets as 1). I've got a 40" 1080P Samsung LCD and it makes a HUGE difference. I could give a crap about the audio to be honest....I just use the TV's audio (can't run 5.1 in my house). And the prices on Blu-Rays are dropping like a STONE. Picking up up here for $5-10 for ones with good transfers. And now half of em are coming with the DVD in the package too.

But I haven't dumped my DVDs, as I only have the one Blu-Ray player and that's not always the room I watch stuff in

Cheap tip of the day. Maximize your experience by using the headphone socket on your TV. Connect some cheap logitech 2.1 PC speakers and rock your world. It makes a HUGE difference. In the UK you can pick the speakers up for £30. I picked up some in the USA for $40 ish way back. Its not 5.1, but honestly you won't regret it, its fantastic.

[maxlords]

Cheap tip of the day. Maximize your experience by using the headphone socket on your TV. Connect some cheap logitech 2.1 PC speakers and rock your world. It makes a HUGE difference. In the UK you can pick the speakers up for £30. I picked up some in the USA for $40 ish way back. Its not 5.1, but honestly you won't regret it, its fantastic.

Well, I have a receiver with some really high quality 2.1 speakers hooked up....just never bother to use em. Sound quality on the TV is good enough for me most of the time. TY though!

[KindGrind]

Using eaarphones makes a world of difference when playing video games, too. I used mine for Heavy Rain and it was such an amazing bump in sound quality over my usual setup (i.e., no speakers at all besides the TV).

[Ed Oscuro]

From what I hear, Blu-Ray discs have so much useless shit on them, and they're not cheaper in most cases. But the low resolution of DVDs doesn't agree with me.

Do I keep buying DVDs...no, I do watch other people's though (sometimes, through the Internet!).

[Leader Bee]

I'm not fussed for the majority of new movies and the films I like were filmed before the arrival of HD and as such were not filmed in a HD format. I can't understand for the life of me why some people will fall into this trap of "Oh but it looks better on Blu-Ray" when the source material was never filmed in High Definition to begin with.

As such, i'll continue to buy films on DVD until they start making good films again.

[Lordstar]

I intend to make the leap to blu soon. My first purchase will be a combined DVD+BR pack of the rerelease of fantasia and 2000. I dont own a BR player but I figure its only a matter of time that i cave in and get a PS3.

[MX7]

I can't tell the difference between Blu Ray and DVD. I teach film studies, so I don't consider myself a luddite. I just really don't care. Even if I did, there are about three films that I want to get that have been released on Blu Ray only. I think all of them are released by Eureka video (http://eurekavideo.co.uk/moc-series/). So I might end up getting one if things keep on going this way.

[undamned]

What is your rule of thumb?

It has to make the DVD look weak by comparison. This is why I sold my Blu-ray of The Last Samurai, a movie that I thoroughly enjoy. It's essentially a DVD transfer. Glad I got my money back when most discs were going for $30+

For those who really want to only own Blu-rays that justify themselves, doing netflix for a while would be a great way of determining which those are. There is an insane disparity of quality between Blu-ray movies. The worst I've seen would probably be March of the Penguins vs Pirates of the Caribbean. Holy cow.
-ud