Physical Media... like tears in rain?

darthed1981 · October 2023

Hi All,

I've come to a conclusion - I've got too much physical media, much too much.

I've got a Blu Ray collection that takes up a large sideboard and a bookshelf in the living room that barely moves.
For some reason I started buying CDs again
I recently built up a large collection of Vinyl.

Mrs Ed is understandably vexed. In addition I have DVD box sets in a suitcase in the loft that I have kept "just in case" that need to probably go...

I need to take the plunge and (apart from the vinyl) really, seriously cull the herd. The Blu Rays need to be the top target really.

Anyone else reached crisis point... physical media, guitars and regular sized 3-bed semi I've no intention of leaving full of kids and a Dog - something has got to give!

Also... the following has become abundantly clear...

1. Bandcamp returns more money directly to the artist than physical media, and is more environmentally friendly.
2. Vinyl prices currently are taking the piss more than a very efficient sewerage system.
3. A Blu Ray costs more than a 4K HDR stream version, and they are quite inconvenient.
4. DVDs look like you've smeared vaseline on your telly these days.

Anyone got opinions?

I'm keeping my copy of Blade Runner, BTW.

Sporky · October 2023

I watched CDs glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.

victorludorum · October 2023

What about when those old films you've got get banned because they're racist/sexist/transphobic/homophobic, etc, etc. If you haven't ripped them, how will you watch them then?

I'm just trying to stoke your 'just in case' paranoia here of course ;-)

darthed1981 · October 2023

victorludorum said:

What about when those old films you've got get banned because they're racist/sexist/transphobic/homophobic, etc,

Most footage of my Dad drunk is digitised at this point.

Sassafras · October 2023

I've got wall to wall DVDs and I still keep buying the bloody things. Soon won't be able to move for plastic boxes.

digitalscream · October 2023

All my physical media was ripped and then stored in my dad's garage years ago - haven't bought a CD/DVD/etc in 15 years....in fact, I haven't had a machine with an optical drive since about 2008 either, not even a working CD player. All stored on my server and backed up externally (since the originals have probably long-since perished, and exist only to prove I have the right to the digital copies, should I need it).

TTony · October 2023

"A suitcase full of DVDs in the loft"

Be careful where you dispose of those.

darthed1981 · October 2023

TTony said:

"A suitcase full of DVDs in the loft"

Be careful where you dispose of those.

It's only with Debbie Does Dallas 7 that the series really peaked...

DrCornelius · October 2023

I've started buying the odd greatest hits CD for the camper van - I quite like the feeling of choosing a CD from a limited collection rather than the overwhelming option paralysis of my Spotify collection

darthed1981 · October 2023

Sassafras said:

I've got wall to wall DVDs and I still keep buying the bloody things. Soon won't be able to move for plastic boxes.

Are you married?

Not taking the mick genuinely curious - if I moved in that direction my wife would divorce me for sure - she already says she feels surrounded by all my shit!

WezV · October 2023

victorludorum said:

What about when those old films you've got get banned because they're racist/sexist/transphobic/homophobic, etc, etc. If you haven't ripped them, how will you watch them then?

I'm just trying to stoke your 'just in case' paranoia here of course ;-)

This is my wife's reason for keeping everything. It's a very real concern as stuff either gets edited or removed totally. Sometimes its problematic content, sometimes just licensing decisions.

I'm generally against them making changes to shows, but my favorite editing of problematic episodes comes from South Park. Obviously the show is full of problematic content, but they handled this one pretty well.

There was a Black character originally called Token Black. In the 25th series they did an episode where we learn his name is actually Tolkien, and everyone but one character (and the audience) knew this all along. They corrected the subtitles on every previous episode at the same time. If you went to check old episodes you would find it was Tolkien all along, your rascist mind just misheard it.

RaymondLin · October 2023

I have over 300 DVDs and probably about 50 HD-DVD and 25 Bluray. The HD-DVD i bought when they lost the media fight and shops were chucking those away for peanuts, like £2 or something so I haven't lost much money, cheaper than renting from Blockbusters at the time. The Bluray I still dabble if I see a film that I absolutely love, which is why I only have so few, I get perhaps 1 to 2 a year, and 5 of those were free with the Bluray player that i bought (which I have since given away to a friend).

The DVDs are where it hurts, it looks really low res now on a 4k TV, and I bought most of these films on release day, imported lots from America too. I used to really collect them and must have spent a few thousands of pounds on them and now they are worth about £50 total. The spine of the boxes also have been damaged by UV and been de-coloured, some of them more than others.

TTony · October 2023

darthed1981 said:

Anyone else reached crisis point... physical media, guitars and regular sized 3-bed semi I've no intention of leaving full of kids and a Dog - something has got to give!

Hmmmmm.

How many kids have you got, and how much space does each take up?

(Be warned, they tend to take up more space as they get older, not just because they grow bigger).

How many pairs of socks or jeans does one person really need? How many mugs or plates? How many of those pesky kids?

It's rarely about need and generally about want. And then you look at the reasons behind the want, because those are many and varied - different for each of us.

It's only really a problem if the effect of the want hits a constraint - funds, storage space, social acceptability, whatever - and whether you then decide to try to stop the wanting or try to relax the constraint.

If you're going to reuse that space in the loft (conversion for the kids perhaps?) then you might need to clear it out. If not, then make use of the handy storage space.

Philly_Q · October 2023

I've said it many times on these kinds of threads, but streaming services are only scratching the surface of film history. My DVDs and Blu-rays are going nowhere, although I don't buy anywhere near as many as I used to.

At some point I will go through the films I've got seven or eight copies of, and only keep the best versions.

I'm never going to "rip" anything because there's far too much.

darthed1981 · October 2023

Philly_Q said:

I've said it many times on these kinds of threads, but streaming services are only scratching the surface of film history. My DVDs and Blu-rays are going nowhere, although I don't buy anywhere near as many as I used to.

At some point I will go through the films I've got seven or eight copies of, and only keep the best versions.

I'm never going to "rip" anything because there's far too much.

This is of course absolutely true - the studios keep the licenses close and expensive and the streaming services want content that generates watches. The movie industry never took the pasting from illegal downloading the music industry did, so there is no "movie Spotify".

The licensing problem is still massive and affects physical media as well, one disagreement can lead to physical media withdrawn from sale.

Philly_Q · October 2023

darthed1981 said:
The licensing problem is still massive and affects physical media as well, one disagreement can lead to physical media withdrawn from sale.

True, and also limited editions are becoming much more of a thing than they used to be. If I don't pre-order or buy straight away on release, they very quickly become unavailable.

Almost like those limited-run Gibsons which all end up on Reverb at double the recommended price before the general public have even seen one.

darthed1981 · October 2023

The plimsoll mark for physical media for me must be the movie "The Grey".

It's quite good, I watched it once years ago - survival horror, Liam Neeson, Wolves. Wolves are cool.

Do I keep the film, and get rid of any I like LESS, or does it go...?

Also of course, there are the worthy films...

Two Hitchcock box sets, a Kubrick box set... am I ever going to watch Clockwork Orange again? Brilliant, yes, nice? Definitely not, it was a hard watch when I was a cynical teen, it's probably worse now, I wouldn't know because not watched it in 20 years!

theatreanchor · October 2023

Excellent call on keeping Blade Runner. It’s a fabulous 4K restoration. I watch my 4K films more often than my blu rays. But I also watch some DVDs that don’t appear on streaming sites! The thing about physical media is that it’s your own curation. You’re not subject to an algorithm or some company agreement with a studio. You watch what you want to watch (or listen to) when you want. There’s nothing wrong with physical media - you just need to curate your own collection well. Manicure and prune as time goes by. Some of my collection is now comprised of things that simply cannot be bought any more. For that reason alone, I keep it.

darthed1981 · October 2023

theatreanchor said:

Excellent call on keeping Blade Runner. It’s a fabulous 4K restoration. I watch my 4K films more often than my blu rays. But I also watch some DVDs that don’t appear on streaming sites! The thing about physical media is that it’s your own curation. You’re not subject to an algorithm or some company agreement with a studio. You watch what you want to watch (or listen to) when you want. There’s nothing wrong with physical media - you just need to curate your own collection well. Manicure and prune as time goes by. Some of my collection is now comprised of things that simply cannot be bought any more. For that reason alone, I keep it.

Oh good point - I won't get rid of all of it - 50% tops.

theatreanchor · October 2023

darthed1981 said:

theatreanchor said:

Excellent call on keeping Blade Runner. It’s a fabulous 4K restoration. I watch my 4K films more often than my blu rays. But I also watch some DVDs that don’t appear on streaming sites! The thing about physical media is that it’s your own curation. You’re not subject to an algorithm or some company agreement with a studio. You watch what you want to watch (or listen to) when you want. There’s nothing wrong with physical media - you just need to curate your own collection well. Manicure and prune as time goes by. Some of my collection is now comprised of things that simply cannot be bought any more. For that reason alone, I keep it.

Oh good point - I won't get rid of all of it - 50% tops.

That’s a fair call. I stopped buying this year, mostly because there really hasn’t been anything that I desperately wanted to own, but also because the prices are absolutely taking the piss.

Philly_Q · October 2023

I've now got lots of films on 4K UHD, but I've still only got a 1080p TV. I figure I'll have to replace it eventually...

Sassafras · October 2023

darthed1981 said:

Sassafras said:

I've got wall to wall DVDs and I still keep buying the bloody things. Soon won't be able to move for plastic boxes.

Are you married?

Not taking the mick genuinely curious - if I moved in that direction my wife would divorce me for sure - she already says she feels surrounded by all my shit!

Not any more - fortunately.

Philly_Q · October 2023

darthed1981 said:

.. am I ever going to watch Clockwork Orange again? Brilliant, yes, nice? Definitely not, it was a hard watch when I was a cynical teen, it's probably worse now, I wouldn't know because not watched it in 20 years!

Watch it, it's fucking brilliant. There are a couple of disturbing scenes, but there's a wonderful dark humour underlying the whole thing.

theatreanchor · October 2023

Philly_Q said:

I've now got lots of films on 4K UHD, but I've still only got a 1080p TV. I figure I'll have to replace it eventually...

Yes you must, otherwise you’re not reaping the 4K benefits!

beed84 · October 2023

Seneca said, "how superfluous a man’s possessions are when he would be a picture of misery if you forced him to start counting up single-handed how much he possessed". My advice would be to aim for a modest collection: keep your absolute favourites and discard the rest. Like @theatreanchor said, it's being selective in what you own.

LionAquaLooper · October 2023

Keep the ones you can't find for free on streaming services. That's what I did.

Philly_Q · October 2023

LionAquaLooper said:

Keep the ones you can't find for free on streaming services. That's what I did.

They may not always be there on the streaming services, though. They have a habit of "disappearing" things without warning. Like South American police death squads.

monquixote · October 2023

I didn't have enough room for my media and the prices on music magpie etc were frankly insulting so I gave my entire physical media collection away.

CavemanGrogg · October 2023

victorludorum said:

What about when those old films you've got get banned because they're racist/sexist/transphobic/homophobic, etc, etc. If you haven't ripped them, how will you watch them then?

I'm just trying to stoke your 'just in case' paranoia here of course ;-)

You say that in jest. Somebody my cousin is mates with, family, so not just the person my cousin is mates with, also his father and grandfather, all collect movies and TV series. I can't remember if it was this person's father or grandfather, they both worked for the BBC, is partly the reason why today we can watch the ''bloody'' version of the movie the Dirty Dozen, and not be stuck with the ''ruddy'' version. Due to censorship laws at the time the word 'bloody'' was substituted for ''ruddy'' for the UK, as in instead of the phrase ''those bloody Germans'' it was changed to ''those ruddy Germans'' - it's an old WWII film, and of course the original master of the uncensored version was lost/destroyed, and it's only because of collectors that the original uncensored version is still available today. There is actually a huge list of films and TV series that the master recording where either lost, destroyed, and even over written, that companies like MGM, 20th Century Fox, ITV/Granada, Disney, even the BBC are desperate to find and make available again, like a number of episodes from Dad's Army.

Philly_Q · October 2023

beed84 said:

Seneca said, "how superfluous a man’s possessions are when he would be a picture of misery if you forced him to start counting up single-handed how much he possessed". My advice would be to aim for a modest collection: keep your absolute favourites and discard the rest. Like @theatreanchor said, it's being selective in what you own.

What did he know though, eh? They hadn't even invented VHS or Betamax in his day.

darthed1981 · October 2023

Thanks All,

Mrs Ed just surprised me with a copy of Sir Pat Stew's new biography - so really the least I can do is clear out the movies I'll never watch again!

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Physical Media... like tears in rain?

Comments