OT: TV on DVD

[QuikSand]

I realize this is all the rage these days, and I know that a number of you have posted here that you're into all this... so, I think I've got the right audience for this question.

What gives with buying TV shows on DVD?

When Mrs Q and I first got our DVD player, we fell into the littel trap of "having something around to play on it" - and we picked up maybe a dozen or two movies (mostly through some silly bargain thet Columbia House offered once, 5 movies for $25, no commitment). Along the way, we also bought a couple TV show collections - two seasons of The Sopranos, two seasons of The Simpsons, and David Attenburough's The Life of Birds.

Thus far, maybe two years later, I think we have watched 3 or 4 episodes of the Birds, and maybe one or two of The Simpsons. I can't help but look back at the $200 or so that we invested in this stuff and wonder... under what circumstances are we ever going to feel that we have spent that money wisely?

I knwo I'm in the minority on this, to some degree. I have the same reservation about buying movies... more than 2.3 of those we have purchased, we have yet to watch. Maybe we will watch them all some day, but I rather doubt we'd watch many of them 3-4 times -- enough to merit the cost of a typical purchase price (as compared to a rental). I still question the logic even of these.

But TV? I struggle to think of a time when I'm likely to sit down and say... "Hey, I've got an hour to kill.... I think I'll watch some episode of The Simpsons from 1992." Trust me, I love all three of the TV shows that we own this way... but this just isn't something that ever comes to mind for me as a viable entertainment option.


So, my bottom line question is this: For those of you who talk about buying any number of TV shows on DVD... do you actually watch them? Does it matter whether you have seen the show before? Or is this, honestly, just having too much money sitting around and no better idea what to do with it in $20 installments?

[rkmsuf]

The only one I'm considering is Curb Your Enthusiam since I don't have the pay channel. Seinfeld is on every night anyway and to this point I've probably seen all of them at least twice.

Beyond that I can't think of another show I'd get...

[JHandley]

I bought SportsNight when it came out on DVD and I've gotten my 60 bucks out of it. It's never going to be re-run and I absolutely loved the show.

I don't ever watch it on TV, but I do like watching it on my PC.

[k0ruptr]

I only buy the shows that I really was/am interested in, and that I know im gonna watch more then a few times. I won't buy the simpsons, there are enough reruns on tv if I ever get the urge.

But TV? I struggle to think of a time when I'm likely to sit down and say... "Hey, I've got an hour to kill.... I think I'll watch some episode of The Simpsons from 1992." Trust me, I love all three of the TV shows that we own this way... but this just isn't something that ever comes to mind for me as a viable entertainment option.


I totally see this in myself as well. thats why when I do buy, its stuff I'm gonna watch, not stuff I think im gnna watch.

oh yea and im a sucker for buying shows that I havent seen before. lol

[Ksyrup]

I've only recently started buying things like this, but the couple of I have bought (Family Guy, and just bought the Kids in the Hall), I have watched. I'm a huge Simpsons fan, but I haven't bought any of those because I don't think they've got the "replayability" of shows that I can't otherwise watch, simply because it has been syndicated into the ground. I guess Family Guy is on Cartoon Network, but I've never watched it.

I'm interested in getting certain shows on DVD that aren't being run anymore. I think there was a recent thread about shows we would want, and I think most of us were looking for shows that were canceled and didn't get into syndication, or were (are) shown in very limited quantities on some obscure cable network. For instance, I'm interested in having Duckman on DVD, as well as the rest of the Kids in the Hall seasons. Those have value to me because of their scarcity, and I'll watch them over and over.

[sabotai]

Do I watch them? Yes. Does it matter that I've seen them? No.

I must have watched The Family Guy from start to finish at least a half dozen times. The same for Sports Night.

But my "watching" habits are different than others. For one, I barely sleep, so I have much more time than the average person. :) And two, my TV is literally right next to my computer. When I'm at my computer, 90% of the time my TV is on. Most of the time I can't find something to good to put on the TV, so I throw in a DVD.

Having TV shows that I have watched before are great for this, because I don't have to be watching the TV in order to "see" it (because I know what it looks like). So I'll be sitting here readin FOFC, playing FOF or some other text sim, doing some programming. And at the same time, I'll be watching TV (in my mind).

This obviously doesn't work for movies or TV shows I have not seen before...and thus it's usually preferable to have a movie or TV show DVD that I have seen before. (Yes, I can watch something over and over and over again and still find it entertaining)

[Blade]

I have bought a few TV shows on DVD now... The Sopranos, Family Guy, Angel...

I will also be buying The Shield, Buffy, and probably a few more.

I actually do watch them quite often, and I think I will watch them a lot in the future, especially the shows that won't have reruns being shown after the show is off the air.

[Franklinnoble]

Gotta agree with you, QS. Everything worth watching appears in syndication at some point. If I really want to see it, I'll find out when it's being broadcast.

I have a ton of DVD movies. I bought many of them when I first got the player, and had the disposable income to make the purchases. Nowadays, I only buy the ones that I know I'll want to watch more than once, or that my kids will watch more than once (I think my teenaged son has watched the "Matrix," "Lord of the Rings," and "Star Wars" DVD's we have about 100 times).

Otherwise, I'm a regular customer at Hollywood video, and all I do is rent.

Hey, quick... somebody go start a "DVD's Worth Owning and Watching Repeatedly" draft... ;)

[QuikSand]

All very sensible... I guess I am the outlier in that I just don't sit in front of the TV very much.

I was thinking about asking for The Prisoner on DVD as a gift, but I just couldn't reconcile asking for someone to lay out that much money (at least $60) for something that I'd almost certainly watch one time, and then use to gather dust.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Some of us aren't home when reruns are being shown.

Maybe I liked the show well enough to have a nice archive of it. As of now I only have 2 sets both incomplete of X-Files and Oz.

No commericials, some nice extras. Better than a tape. I can find 40-ish minutes to watch an episode if I want to whenever I want to.

[Ksyrup]

All very sensible... I guess I am the outlier in that I just don't sit in front of the TV very much.

I was thinking about asking for The Prisoner on DVD as a gift, but I just couldn't reconcile asking for someone to lay out that much money (at least $60) for something that I'd almost certainly watch one time, and then use to gather dust.I understand where you are coming from. We were moving furniture out of the 3rd bedroom a couple of nights ago to make room for the new baby furniture, and the number of VHS tapes we own is astounding. 99% of them haven't seen the light of day since we put them in the exact spot from which we just removed them.

I will say that the one category of VHS/DVDs that have been worth the money, are the ones we bought for our daughter. She seems to be the only one in our family who makes these kinds of purchases cost-effective.

[Neuqua]

I actually to make good use of the DVDs I have (Family Guy, Simpsons.)

Sometimes when I know I have an hour or more free at night, I'll pop one of them in while I do my usual surfing on the internet.

I've watched the Family Guy DVD atleast twice through and while I haven't really seen all the episodes of the Simpsons just yet, I guess I consider it more of a keepsake for the inevitable day of its cancellng.

[BishopMVP]

I bought SportsNight when it came out on DVD and I've gotten my 60 bucks out of it. It's never going to be re-run and I absolutely loved the show.
I've seen SportsNight re-runs on Comedy Central before. Don't remember the exact time, and it real late night, but I have seen it.

Overall I agree with Quik here, I don't buy a lot of DVDs and so I only have DVDs that I actually enjoyed watching, but overall, I don't think I've watched a single one more than 2-3 times. Considering $20 is about the cost of 5 rentals, I just don't think the added convenience is worth the extra money. I don't understand why doesn't get as much notice when talking about Napster/KaZaA like file-sharing programs. I feel most CDs are overpriced, but they are cheaper than DVDs and I'll probably spend more time using a CD than watching a movie. Now that more people, especially college kids, are getting very high-speed connections, I think this is headed to a big showdown soon.

[Fidatelo]

I'm with Quik on this one. I've been extremely tempted to buy many of the different TV-show DVD's, but 2 things have so far kept me from dusting off the wallet:
1) The points Quik mentions; and
2) The price

Point 2 is the one that usually gets me. $50+ for 1 season of a show? That is an astronomical amount of money if you ask me. If the price was more similar to that of a movie ($25) I'd be might buy the odd one. But even though I understand that a single season of a TV show is a lot more content than a movie, I also know that I already paid for those episodes when they originally aired (by watching commercials during them or just by paying my monthly cable bill).

[sterlingice]

Do I watch them? Yes. Does it matter that I've seen them? No.

I must have watched The Family Guy from start to finish at least a half dozen times. The same for Sports Night.

But my "watching" habits are different than others. For one, I barely sleep, so I have much more time than the average person. :) And two, my TV is literally right next to my computer. When I'm at my computer, 90% of the time my TV is on. Most of the time I can't find something to good to put on the TV, so I throw in a DVD.

Having TV shows that I have watched before are great for this, because I don't have to be watching the TV in order to "see" it (because I know what it looks like). So I'll be sitting here readin FOFC, playing FOF or some other text sim, doing some programming. And at the same time, I'll be watching TV (in my mind).

This obviously doesn't work for movies or TV shows I have not seen before...and thus it's usually preferable to have a movie or TV show DVD that I have seen before. (Yes, I can watch something over and over and over again and still find it entertaining)
I've got the Sports Night DVDs and am glad I did.

Also, I completely echo this- weird sleep schedule, always have the tv on with stuff I've probably seen before, tho, not always watching it (why I'm scarily good at picking out voice actors- "hey, that's the guy who was a minor character in this other show!"). I think this has a lot to do with why I like shows that are good on multiple watchings (the Simpsons are the poster child for this- on occassion I'll still see something I've missed in my previous 5 watchings).

SI

[Honolulu_Blue]

Things are a bit different for me, living in Belgium and all. Most American TV shows are shown here a year or so after their run in the US and even when they are I have no idea what day or time they are on and sometimes they are dubbed into French. So I have bought a couple of seasons of shows that I have never seen before. The two best examples are the first and second seasons of "24." I watched them both once all the way through (living in Belgium it's also easy not to hear about spoilers) and enjoyed it immensely. Some of the best DVD purcahses I've made.

I also bought the first four seasons of "Buffy." I have watched all four, even though I had seen every ep during the initial run.

I also have 4 out of the 7 seasons of Star Trek the Next Generation. I have watched almost all of the episodes of those, even though I had seen most during the initial run and in syndication at least two or more times.

Same with seasons two and three of the Simpsons.

I even have four seasons of "Sex and the City" because my Lady H_B loves it.

It's like comfort food sometimes.

Again, this must all be tempered by the fact that I only get a handful of channels I can watch over here. They aren't bad, but they are limited and aren't great (BBC1 and BBC2 are obssessed with shows about fixing up houses and apartments. They are like a thousand of these shows on the BBC. It's insane.) If I was in the states with digital cable and all of it's 500 channel glory, I dunno if I would watch as much TV DVD. As it stands now, though, I have watched many more hours of TV shows on my DVD player than I have of proper movies.

All in all, I think complete seasons of TV shows are really the best thing to buy for a DVD player. I am much more likely to watch an episode of Star Trek or Buffy when I come home from work or while eating dinner than a full length film.

[moriarty]

Echoing the Sports Night selection (although would it have killed them to include any extras?).

I bought other TV DVD's thinking 10 years down the line, I'd love to go back and watch them w/ my kids and they'll love them and discover something new. Of course the reality is that in 10 years the DVD/DVD player will be obsolete and my kids will think they're the lamest thing they've ever seen.

[Easy Mac]

I actually feel like DVD's are underpriced. I'd rather pick up a 2 year old Donnie Darko for $10 than a 2 year old Nelly CD for $15. The thing is, DVD prices actually change depending on how long they've been released, CD's always stay the same.

That being said, while there are Simpsons re-runs every day, they only re-run the last 2 or 3 seasons, so I'm SOL about the first 10. I never see Sports Night on anymore, and I'd rather have copies of the Family GUy than wait until 11:30 to watch it. I tend to like being able to basically watch a tv show whenever I want.

I think as TiVo becomes more accepted, the whole TV on DVD thing may go away, but until its more mainstream, I will keep buying the shows I enjoy.

And the problem with downloading movies/tv is that it takes forever because of the large file sizes. People download music b/c its there in like 1 minute, while it can take 30 minutes on a very good day (hours on most days) to watch a low-quality version of a movie. Until quality matches speed, downloading movies will be a niche.

And I think I spend almost as much, if not longer, with a movie than a CD.

[Easy Mac]

I'm with Quik on this one. I've been extremely tempted to buy many of the different TV-show DVD's, but 2 things have so far kept me from dusting off the wallet:
1) The points Quik mentions; and
2) The price

Point 2 is the one that usually gets me. $50+ for 1 season of a show? That is an astronomical amount of money if you ask me. If the price was more similar to that of a movie ($25) I'd be might buy the odd one. But even though I understand that a single season of a TV show is a lot more content than a movie, I also know that I already paid for those episodes when they originally aired (by watching commercials during them or just by paying my monthly cable bill).
A) what movies are you buying that are $25? I've never paid more than $20 for a movie.

B) WIth a show like 24, you're getting 24 1 hour episodes, or 24 hours worth of show. You can get season 2 for $50. that $2.08 an hour. A new DVD is about $15 when released (then $20 in week 2). Average movie is about 2 hours or so. Thats $7.50 an hour. I think the seasons are a better deal (even if you include LOTR EE's, you're still paying about $6 an hour.)

[Fidatelo]

Now that more people, especially college kids, are getting very high-speed connections, I think this is headed to a big showdown soon.

I would agree, except that until the 'hackers' come up with a standard way of encoding them all (a la mp3) it is still difficult to view them. I've downloaded a handful of movies, and it seems I never have the correct codecs to watch them. I've even downloaded gigantic "Codec Packs" that have codecs for presumably every format and still have trouble watching some. Plus, even once I get one going, some of them have parts in the movie where the picture will all the sudden stop, but sound continues. Then I have to stop the movie, reload it, and scroll to the 1 second after the stoppage occurred, where I can then resume. Kind of kills the movie sometimes if it happens too often.

Of course, I might just be inept.

[sterlingice]

I actually feel like DVD's are underpriced. I'd rather pick up a 2 year old Donnie Darko for $10 than a 2 year old Nelly CD for $15. The thing is, DVD prices actually change depending on how long they've been released, CD's always stay the same.
I get what you're saying but try buying seasons of more of a niche show like, say, The X-Files or Star Trek: $100+ a season. Even something more mainstream like CSI runs $70+ for a season. You get a lot of hours of entertainment, but I'm guessing you've seen it before if you're going to throw down $70+ for it.

Then again, I refuse to pay more than $10 for a movie on DVD, too. The only exception I have to that is the two LotR special uber-dork editions because I really don't mind paying that extra cash for those special features. Speaking of which, to the comment on the Sports Night DVDs about no features. I'd rather pay my $40 for the entire show and get no special features than have to pay $60 for special features I'll only watch once or twice.

SI

[Easy Mac]

Even so, $100 for a tv show averages to a little over $4 an hour. a $10 DVD is about $5 an hour. Its basically a wash, and chances are I buy a DVD I've already watched before (except for Shrek... damn that thing sucks.)

[sterlingice]

I would agree, except that until the 'hackers' come up with a standard way of encoding them all (a la mp3) it is still difficult to view them. I've downloaded a handful of movies, and it seems I never have the correct codecs to watch them. I've even downloaded gigantic "Codec Packs" that have codecs for presumably every format and still have trouble watching some. Plus, even once I get one going, some of them have parts in the movie where the picture will all the sudden stop, but sound continues. Then I have to stop the movie, reload it, and scroll to the 1 second after the stoppage occurred, where I can then resume. Kind of kills the movie sometimes if it happens too often.

Of course, I might just be inept. Not that I endorse this kind of thing but they are heading towards a pair of formats (DivX, Xvid) at the moment and probably one will win out. Granted, you have a few different containers out there (ogm, mkv) but those are just little wrappers for things like subtitles and alternate audio tracks.

I suppose there are still mpeg encoders out there for some stuff but people are quickly realizing "why encode at 400 megs for an hour when 200 megs will do the same for just as good of quality". As soon as AVI-enabled DVD players reach the mainstream (there are a couple of them out now and a Divx-certified program just created in the past few months), I think this becomes a big battlefield.

SI

[Fidatelo]

A) what movies are you buying that are $25? I've never paid more than $20 for a movie.

B) WIth a show like 24, you're getting 24 1 hour episodes, or 24 hours worth of show. You can get season 2 for $50. that $2.08 an hour. A new DVD is about $15 when released (then $20 in week 2). Average movie is about 2 hours or so. Thats $7.50 an hour. I think the seasons are a better deal (even if you include LOTR EE's, you're still paying about $6 an hour.)

A) I'm from Canada eh? The average price for a new DVD here is around $27

B) I know what you're saying. I guess I just feel that TV time as a medium is not as valuable as that of a movie. Which if you consider production costs is certainly true. Consider also my point about paying for TV once already, and that is where I am coming from.

[Abe Sargent]

My spending habts are easy to figure out:

If its cheap, and I like it, then I'll buy it (I can get the first season of The West Wing, 22 episodes, for $30 - that's a good deal by any imagination)

If I've never seen it and I want to, I buy it (I just bought season 1 of Jeremiah because I don't get Showtime)

If it is a story line show where you need to see each episode in a row in order to get full enjoyment out of it, I'll buy it (Babylon 5 being the obvious example from my life right now)


Plus, compared to movie DVDs, you get a lot more bang for your buck for a TV DVD series. For example, I watch very DVD witin a few days of its arrival. I get 44 minutes times 22 episodes (a typical season) for 60, 70 or 80 dollars. I get a two hour movie for 10, 12 or 15 bucks.

For a typical season, I get 13.8 minutes per dollar (at $70 per season estimate)
For a typical movie, I get 10 minutes per dollar (assuming a two hour movie at $12)

The cheapest I can get a movie DVD for is $8. The cheapest I can get a season worth of DVDs for is around 30 dollars (The West Wing). So, the cheapest I can expect is:

Movie - 15 minutes/dollar
TV Show - 32.3 minutes/dollar

Some movie DVDs are pretty expensive and you can't find them in discount bins. I have some exotic and specific tastes, and a lot of the movies that I enjoy are independant films and the like. Sometimes, after checking ten locations, the best I can get for a movie is $22. Some seasons on DVD are the same, and the best that I can expect is $110. Worst case scenario is:

Movie - 5.45 minutes/dollar
Show - 8.8 minutes/dollar

Point is that buying shows is a very cost effective way of owning DVDs. And there are no commercials, as well :)


-Anxiety

[albionmoonlight]

Actually, I watch TV shows (Simpsons and Family Guy) on DVD more than movies. I find myself with 1 hr. to relax in front of the TV more often than 2 hrs for a movie. And I can have on a Family Guy while I am partially distracted (playing with dog, etc.). For movies, I tend to want a little more focus on what I am watching.

[Buzzbee]

I've just skimmed, so I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but I think Blockbuster has a deal where you can trade in a couple of DVD's for a new DVD. I don't know the specifics, but it might be worth looking into if you have DVD's (TV or otherwise) that you know you'll never watch. If I weren't too lazy, I'd go to Blockbuster's site and see if I could find something on the promotion. But, alas, I'm too lazy.

[Calis]

I've watched first season of The Office DVD probably 15-20 times since I've got it. I'll just let the sucker run while I'm on the PC or doing something else. It's nice to have easy access to the whole thing, but I can understand how folks would think buying TV shows on DVD a bit silly. There are some obscure ones though that warrant purchasing.

Also watched The Family Guy DVD's who knows how many times.

[lcjjdnh]

I own six sets of TV shows on DVD and would say I probably watch them more than movies. I own both the Family Guy DVDs and have watched every episode at least once. Also, a lot of times I'll have friends over and rather than flip a movie on, we'll put the Family Guy set on and just let it play continously throughout the night. I also own both the Futurama sets and although I haven't watched all of the episodes I have watched a lot with the director's commentary so they were worth it. I own the Sports Night DVD which is nice since I had seen a lot of episodes but never really sat down every week to watch it. This set gave me the oportunity to do so. Last I recently recieved Curb Your Enthusiasm as a gift but haven't really watched any episodes yet because I watched most of them on HBO OnDemand. But now that Comcast has removed the old episodes for the new ones, they'll probably get some play soon.

On the other hand, there are very few movies which I have watched more than once on my collection and most of the double viewings have been once w/ commentary, once w/o. And there are at least 10 movies that I haven't even watched since buying them on DVD.

So in general, I personally get a lot more use out of TV DVDs than my movies ones.

[Honolulu Blue]

This is HB #2 here.

I recently got a DVD player and only have two TV-related DVDs - The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror selection, and The Ben Stiller Show. I've watched the fomer but not the latter. But I'm sure I'll get to it sometime.

I don't watch much TV (besides sports), so there are few programs that I'd actually bother paying to watch. I've mentioned in another thread the one show I'd like to see on DVD (Grosse Pointe), and I can't think of any others right now that are worth my time or money.

This, of course, is just my opinion and worth what you paid for it.

[Honolulu_Blue]

This is HB #2 here.

I recently got a DVD player and only have two TV-related DVDs - The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror selection, and The Ben Stiller Show. I've watched the fomer but not the latter. But I'm sure I'll get to it sometime.

I don't watch much TV (besides sports), so there are few programs that I'd actually bother paying to watch. I've mentioned in another thread the one show I'd like to see on DVD (Grosse Pointe), and I can't think of any others right now that are worth my time or money.

This, of course, is just my opinion and worth what you paid for it.

I just realized that the Bulletin Board version 3 format, where the names are all underlined, totally eliminates the underscore. Even I'm getting confused now. Time to change formats...

[Karim]

When Mrs Q and I first got our DVD player, we fell into the littel trap of "having something around to play on it" - and we picked up maybe a dozen or two movies (mostly through some silly bargain thet Columbia House offered once, 5 movies for $25, no commitment). Along the way, we also bought a couple TV show collections - two seasons of The Sopranos, two seasons of The Simpsons, and David Attenburough's The Life of Birds.
We're around 750 DVDs, including TV shows. We're really into home theatre and movies, so $250 on movies is a much better value to us than $250 on a night out or a weekend ski trip.

So, my bottom line question is this: For those of you who talk about buying any number of TV shows on DVD... do you actually watch them? Does it matter whether you have seen the show before? Or is this, honestly, just having too much money sitting around and no better idea what to do with it in $20 installments?
We actually do watch them, not immediately, but when there's a mutually convenient time. It doesn't matter at all if any one of us has seen the show before. About having too much money.... no.

[Buccaneer]

QS, I have a similar attitude. We have over 100 DVDs in our collection but none of them are from traditional TV shows. I just don't see any point in spending any money on the First Season of Something. The only exception is the $125 I spent on the entire PBS series, Connections I. They never played that series again after the early-mid 1980s and this was my only change of revisiting my favorite series of all time. I could make an exception for Band of Brothers but I view that more of a movie mini-series (like Lonesome Dove) instead of TV on DVD (esp. since I never had HBO and never will). As far as any special TV series or episodes, we still have VHS and can buy blank tapes. That's much better than spending good money on TV on DVD.

[Easy Mac]

Isn't that illegal? How is that different from downloading music?

[kcchief19]

I have a number of TV series on DVD sets, I will most certainly buy others when they come out if I enjoy them. I certainly will not buy a TV series set that I only casually enjoy. I have to really like it. I probably have more TV DVDs than movie DVDs.

In my case, I think it's purely a matter of personal taste. As a youth, before my family had a VCR I would use an audio cassette recorder to tape my favorite shows to listen to later. Even today, I'm rather put in a tape of a movie or TV show than listen to the radio on a long drive. I took my laptop and listened to my Battlestar Galactica DVDs on a recent drive to Wichita.

I also have wireless headphones and love to throw in a DVD to listen to a show or movie while I'm mowing the yard, working out, cooking dinner or doing work on the computer. That's just how I use my free time or multitask.

I have listened or watched to every episode of every show I have on multiple occassions, although I must admit that The Simpsons DVDs with all the commentaries has been something I haven't been able to tackle yet.

As for the cost, it's not a case of too much money laying around but a simple decision on allocation of resources -- my better half collects glass-blown ornaments, I collect DVDs. A co-worker at the office likes to take ski trips. Somebody else collects teddy bears. Somebody else goes to see 3 movies per week. I go to see about six movies a year in the theater.

Being an audio/video-phile, the value of DVD is also important to me for two main reasons: first, the quality of DVD and restored shows is incredible and far superior than that found on broadcast reruns or VHS copies; and second, syndication has so mangled some older shows that you are missing a good part of the show.

The latest cycle of syndication of Seinfeld is a good example. For the latest syndication cycle, they increased the commercial allotment again, which mean they had to edit out a few more seconds. The result might not be noticeable to some, but for those who appreciate the "artistry" of some shows, editing out lines and mangling transitions is harsh. The Simpsons in syndication have also been mangled pretty well. I'm a big fan of the old Perry Mason series, and close to 10 minutes have been edited out of those shows over the years to increase commercial time. Perry's other secretary, Gertie, was a bit character on the original show -- yet they have now edited out virtually every reference to her in the current version airing on Hallmark. I'd pay a handsome fee to have that entire series uncut.

I certainly understand why some people have no appeal to the genre of TV on DVD. But then again, I love football, and I can't imagine why anybody would want to spend upwards of $200 for two tickets to go see the Chiefs at Arrowhead. It's just a matter of taste.

[Peregrine]

I really try not to buy many DVDs at all these days, though I will buy a TV boxed set occasionally. The Simpsons, which I have watched a good bit, Babylon 5, one of my favorite TV shows ever, etc. But honestly, if it's not one of my favorite shows ever, I just rent the boxed sets disc by disc from Netflix, saves me a ton of money. Going through Six Feet Under season 1 right now that way.

[Taur]

It is all about the marathon baby. Actually thanks to netflix.com and now walmart.com my dvd collection sucks. And, my bank account has never looked better.

I am currently with walmart.com using their 3 dvd out plan. I use 2 of the DVDs for movies and 1 DVD for TV series. I am currently watching the first year of Green Acres. Just takes a little list tracking to keep my TV series and movie DVDs seperate.

With new DVDs at $20.00 and it looks like TV series can run into the three figure range the Wal~Mart $18 and change monthly bill sure looks good to me.

[Anthony]

i'm not a big TV guy, so obviously buying TV series on DVD doesn't fly. but i do have some DVD's still in the wrapper - namely my Teen Wolf/Teen Wolf2 combo DVD and my Back To The Future Trilogy. Teen Wolf and Back To The Future are in my top 20 of all time favorite movies, those are what you call "buying a DVD just to have in your collection".

for some movies that i've seen countless times from the days of VHS or broadcast on tv, i don't have the need to see them currently. also, many of the movies i like are grand war movies (Gladiator, Braveheart, We Were Soldiers, The Patriot, even the LOTR series.etc), so you're talking about 2.5 to roughly 3 hours of viewing time per movie. i can only sit down and watch the same 3 hour movie so many times a year. some have got more mileage than others, but based on the kind of movies i like they don't lend to repeat monthly viewing.

if i average watching every movie in a rotation of about once every 3 or 4 years then over the course of time i'll have received a return on my investments. of all the DVD's i have, 4 stand out as receiving more than 4 viewings - Ocean's Eleven, The Matrix, The Fast and The Furious and Gladiator.

when you think about it - what else are you going to use your DVD player for? you might as well have a collection. you don't buy a cd player and rent the music. just so happens that this medium of entetainment is on the expensive side, but you still have to have even a modest collection. i've never heard of someone who buy's a DVD player just to rent movie's on it. i also rather use my leisure money on something that lasts rather than pissing it away on booze as i would when i was only several years younger.

[Peregrine]

when you think about it - what else are you going to use your DVD player for? you might as well have a collection. you don't buy a cd player and rent the music.

It was not very long ago that everyone had a VHS player and yes, this is what most people did. Hollywood figuring out that people would actually buy movies is a pretty recent thing. I bought my DVD player to be able to watch movies on DVD, it's just a lot cheaper to rent them.

[3ric]

I'm in the process of converting my wife from aimlessy switching channels on the TV or falling asleep to a Discovery Channel documentary to actively make a choice in watching something good on DVD. So far, I've only succeeded in making her watch the first season of "NYPD Blue" and enjoy it. In the meantime, my boxed sets of "X-files", "Twin Peaks"and "24" sit and collect dust... :(

It's a slow process but hopefully she'll see the light.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Um, I like, buy videos because it's cheaper for me than renting. I always forget to bring the damn video back in time, and then when I go to rent a new video they say something like "You owe $23 in late fees for "Teletubbies Do Dallas," and I'm like, "Dude, I can buy five copies of Teletubbies Do Dallas for $23, why should I pay you five times it's value just to watch the thing once?" And they go, "You owe $23 in late fees." And I go, "Ok", because I've heard, like, there are people that get thrown in jail for like, ever because they don't bring their videos back, and I'm like, whoa, I don't want to go to jail forever over Tinky Winky and La La. So I just pay the $23. And then I think, this is dumb. Why don't I just buy a copy of the next video that I want to watch for, like, $7, and then I'll be saving money, you know? But there's always a catch, you know, and when I go over to the video rack they'll have some "Buy 2, get 1 free" deal, and I'm like, whoa, now I gotta get three. Well, of course I find four that I want, and then I think, well, I'll just find two more now and I'll be all set. So I go home with six videos, two of which I'd never watch even if I you glued my eyeballs to the tv. And like, I get home, and by now I've wasted so much time picking out the six videos that I'm like, tired, and my wife has started watching some tv show or started reading a book, and we're like, let's just watch the movie tomorrow then, ok? Well, we get busy doing stuff like living and shit and the videos just sit there for a few months, until we clean the house and put them in a box and take them downstairs, which is pretty much like tossing them in a black hole, because the box goes downstairs, and our downstairs is, well, a black hole. A few months later we get an silly idea to watch a video again and then we go through the whole process all over again, because neither one of us can remember what box we put the videos in downstairs, and it's just faster to go to the video store and buy a new one. Even if we do finally sit down in front of a video, that's pretty much a cue for our baby to wake up and cry for an hour, which pretty much means that one of us stares at a pause screen for an hour and wonders how bad that is for the tape while the other one goes and takes care of the baby. Um, that's all I have to say. Bye.

[Peregrine]

Wow, we'd all been wondering which thread it would be that would finally cause GB to snap, guess it was this one. Whoda thunkit? :) :)

[sterlingice]

Isn't that illegal? How is that different from downloading music?
This is all I really want to say about this since I'm really tired of this argument all of the non-sequitors people try to use to justify mp3s:

Courts ruled this legal 20 years ago (Jan, 1984) because if it was broadcast on tv, you were essentially paying for it by watching the commercials. Also, the quality on video tapes was far inferior to the original. Plus, it's highly unlikely you are distributing video tapes- that's where the illegal elements come in. However, it still was/is illegal to, say, rent a movie and then copy it. If you were distributing mix tapes from the radio, no one is going to go after you, but you're not talking about that with mp3s. Those are much more analagous to the video copying.

An article in Newsweek (January 30, 1984 p57-8) explains it: Justice Paul Stevens wrote that home taping falls within the traditional "Fair Use" Exception of copyright restrictions.

Studies, he said, demonstrated that most taping was done for "Time-Shifting" recording a program for viewing at a more convenient time. Such taping, he argued, has "no demonstrable effect upon the value of copyrighted work."

However, he drew the line at selling home made tapes. "If the Betamax were used to make copies for a commercial or profit making purpose," declared Stevens, "Such use would be presumptively unfair". This states that time-shifting is "Fair Use" only if the tapes are for personal use and not to make a profit.

This is from the alt.video.tape-trading FAQ, FYI. Also, they readily admit that the trading of tapes is quasi-legal at best. And if the trading of something approved in a court of law is quasi-legal, well, then the trading of mp3s of CDs you don't own has to be highly illegal.


SI

[sterlingice]

Wow, we'd all been wondering which thread it would be that would finally cause GB to snap, guess it was this one. Whoda thunkit? :) :)
Yeah, I had "hard drive eats X-Com save file and dynasty" in the "GB goes insane" pool. ;)

SI

[Bonegavel]

The only "TV" shows I have on DVD are Mony Python's Flying Circus (entire set) and Firefly. Both of which are no longer on tv (MPFC is occasionally, but I think you get my point). When I find something I enjoy, I have no problems watching it numerous times. Each time I view these shows, I find something different, or I watch it from a different perspective and get something new out of it. Again, that is for shows I enjoy, not every show. Good tv (so rare these days) gives you exactly what I said above: you can watch it over and over and find something new each time.

As far as justifying movie purchases, I no longer go the theatre. By the time it is all said and done, you spend far more than the price of a DVD when going to the theatre with a family. Besides, you can loan/trade with others and entertain extended period guests with a nice library of choices for them to watch for hours while you are at work.

Also, the "permanence" of DVDs is very attractive. I've had a VHS player as long as I can remember and have, maybe, 4 or 5 movies that I bought on VHS. On DVD, which is under a year old, I have in excess of 20 titles in my collection. Not a lot by some standards around here, but for somebody that doesn't have Pay Channels and thinks 99% of all material produced is crap, and has a wife that screams and yells about credit card bills, that is a lot.

[Flame Eater]

Firefly - Good pick. I loved the show, and very disappointed it didn't make it.

I picked up the DVD for Christmas (gift card).

[cthomer5000]

First, I waited until DVD player prices came down. I bought mine for 60 bucks about a year ago. I only buy (or request) DVD's that I am extremely interested in. If I don't consider it amongs my favorite movies or shows, there is no point in buying it.

The Family Guy DVD's have certainly been worth the purchase to me, as has the first season of The Office (particularly since I don't get BBC).

I only own about 5 movies, and I would conisder them all among my all-time favorites.

I think most people just buy far too much of everything, not just DVD's.