I found out a long time ago that the reason that not all Dr Who's are available is because the broadcaster, the BBC in this case, treated the tape as a reusable resource and so would copy over episodes. So, unless someone copied it via their VHS player, certain shows and episodes are lost forever.
Then there's youtube. I wanted to watch "Lathe of Heaven" that someone recorded off of PBS with their VHS recorder and uploaded it to youtube.
One more thing, as a little kid, I was born in '59, we could buy super 8 movie segments, such as a short segment from Planet of the Apes. BTW, I put all of my DVDs in those DVD loose leaf pages and hold them together with loose-leaf rings and all CDs are in sleeves so they take up a lot less room. Whatever paperwork came with them is stored with them.
My best friend’s 13 year old kid has become fascinated with collecting movies after I showed him the MyMovies5 app I have on my phone. He seems determined to build a bigger collection. Good thing I have a 30 year head start.
I spent 15 years living very nomadically, and once laptops stopped having CD drives that could play a DVD, I donated my meager (but lovingly curated!) collection. As my life becomes less nomadic, are there good choices for a compact player that can be plugged into the projector I have?
I'm going to date myself here, but as much as I love movies, by enthusiasm for collecting them was dampened by my family collecting Laserdiscs as a child. The laser rot phenomenon was real, and the degree of degradation I noticed in my most-watched movies did dampen my enthusiasm to ever really invest in a collection. The degree of change in physical media made me hesitant to collect anything too. VHS and Laserdisc were childhood staples, we got a DVD player when I was about 12. For a while it seemed like the ability to play DVD's was ubiquitous; players were cheap and you could also use a laptop or game consul. Then came Blu-ray. And then the ubiquity of CD drives really began to drop. For someone who is not an expert, that's a dizzying evolution in a span of 10-15 years.
I wouldn’t own a physical media player today if Sonny hadn’t convinced me via Bulwark pods over the years … so I demand his tech support (or at least a hint in the right direction) … why is it that standard DVDs and UHDs both look fine on my setup (Samsung Q80 & Panasonic UB420), but Blu-rays generally don’t and often have over saturated/washed out/etc difficult to watch portions?
As far as what hard copy movies to buy, at least for classic films that I'd never heard of, I started with Roger Ebert's book of the 100 greatest films and have built my library from there (plus, of course, movies I just like no matter what anyone says). I also keep my eye out for Criterion titles, which expose me to other movies I don't already know.
I've amassed a large collection of DVDs over the years. When they first came out, it was such a thrill to have my own personal copy of my favorite movies and TV shows. I rarely watch them anymore, because it's just easier to stream. No getting up and changing discs. But I still kept them. It's nice when I want to see a certain movie at a certain time (like after an actor dies or at Christmas.) Streaming always lets you find SOMETHING to watch, but a DVD lets you watch the specific thing you want to watch without a hassle. The last one I bought was "Spiderman: Far from Home," because at the time it wasn't expected to be on Disney+.
I've never been interested in amassing a physical colleciton of movies, but I have been trying to slowly work my way through my Letterboxd Watchlist - I just hit a Random Number Generator and then assign myself that movie to watch the next time I have a chance.
It's pretty stuunning how often I'll encounter an assigned title that is not available to stream/electronically rent anywhere. In those situations, I've had the most success in using...the Public Library*. I've been stunned how many movies are (Still) available at the libraries in my county and online card catalogues makes it easy to locate these.
*The exception is NC-17 movies. I was SOL when the number generator assigned The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and her Lover (not available to stream). That one is apparently too spicy for free public consumption.
Great show. My 51yr old wife and I at 58yrs are keen collectors, our preference is DVD’s, High Def is not for us. We don’t stream on principle we prefer to own.
We purchase thru JB Hi-Fi an Australian discount retail chain that aims to carry 10,000 titles across all categories. I pick up my European movies here, distributors like Palace and Madman.
Umbrella Entertainment is a local Melbourne operation offering a good range of Ozploitation.
But the most fun is going away on road trips around the state and hitting thrift stores rescuing old gems for a $1. We clean & repackage them back to new. It’s a great hobby and a fun way to travel the state. Total unique DVD’s is 10,000+.
Great episode. I love physical DVDs, especially when I can take the classical performances issued on them to get artists’ autographs. I will never forget those encounters. I am however still looking for a way to sell the one signed by Valery Giegiev and donate the proceeds to charities supporting Ukraine.
Thanks for doing an episode on this topic. The limitations of streaming drive me crazy. Lately, I've been wanting to rewatch Robert Altman's Short Cuts. It's nowhere to be found to stream, rent, or buy....wtf. For years, I can't understand why in the age of Trump that no streamer will allow "Bob Roberts" to air even though it's the perfect reflection of our current times. As a history teacher I amassed a big DVD collection of movies & documentaries, but playing them has become very difficult; streaming is very unreliable. My laptop in the class has no audio jack to connect to the receiver, so when the bluetooth signal gets interrupted, I have to restart the computer to get the audio to work. Guess I'm dating myself but I like old school technology.
I found out a long time ago that the reason that not all Dr Who's are available is because the broadcaster, the BBC in this case, treated the tape as a reusable resource and so would copy over episodes. So, unless someone copied it via their VHS player, certain shows and episodes are lost forever.
Then there's youtube. I wanted to watch "Lathe of Heaven" that someone recorded off of PBS with their VHS recorder and uploaded it to youtube.
One more thing, as a little kid, I was born in '59, we could buy super 8 movie segments, such as a short segment from Planet of the Apes. BTW, I put all of my DVDs in those DVD loose leaf pages and hold them together with loose-leaf rings and all CDs are in sleeves so they take up a lot less room. Whatever paperwork came with them is stored with them.
My best friend’s 13 year old kid has become fascinated with collecting movies after I showed him the MyMovies5 app I have on my phone. He seems determined to build a bigger collection. Good thing I have a 30 year head start.
I spent 15 years living very nomadically, and once laptops stopped having CD drives that could play a DVD, I donated my meager (but lovingly curated!) collection. As my life becomes less nomadic, are there good choices for a compact player that can be plugged into the projector I have?
I'm going to date myself here, but as much as I love movies, by enthusiasm for collecting them was dampened by my family collecting Laserdiscs as a child. The laser rot phenomenon was real, and the degree of degradation I noticed in my most-watched movies did dampen my enthusiasm to ever really invest in a collection. The degree of change in physical media made me hesitant to collect anything too. VHS and Laserdisc were childhood staples, we got a DVD player when I was about 12. For a while it seemed like the ability to play DVD's was ubiquitous; players were cheap and you could also use a laptop or game consul. Then came Blu-ray. And then the ubiquity of CD drives really began to drop. For someone who is not an expert, that's a dizzying evolution in a span of 10-15 years.
A friend of mine takes this one camping for movie nights. He seems relatively happy with it. Hope this helps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFvXDX0XLsI
I don't have a great suggestion for portable players, unfortunately.
I wouldn’t own a physical media player today if Sonny hadn’t convinced me via Bulwark pods over the years … so I demand his tech support (or at least a hint in the right direction) … why is it that standard DVDs and UHDs both look fine on my setup (Samsung Q80 & Panasonic UB420), but Blu-rays generally don’t and often have over saturated/washed out/etc difficult to watch portions?
Tease us with the screenshot and then don't provide the video?!?!
As far as what hard copy movies to buy, at least for classic films that I'd never heard of, I started with Roger Ebert's book of the 100 greatest films and have built my library from there (plus, of course, movies I just like no matter what anyone says). I also keep my eye out for Criterion titles, which expose me to other movies I don't already know.
I've amassed a large collection of DVDs over the years. When they first came out, it was such a thrill to have my own personal copy of my favorite movies and TV shows. I rarely watch them anymore, because it's just easier to stream. No getting up and changing discs. But I still kept them. It's nice when I want to see a certain movie at a certain time (like after an actor dies or at Christmas.) Streaming always lets you find SOMETHING to watch, but a DVD lets you watch the specific thing you want to watch without a hassle. The last one I bought was "Spiderman: Far from Home," because at the time it wasn't expected to be on Disney+.
Great discussion.
I've never been interested in amassing a physical colleciton of movies, but I have been trying to slowly work my way through my Letterboxd Watchlist - I just hit a Random Number Generator and then assign myself that movie to watch the next time I have a chance.
It's pretty stuunning how often I'll encounter an assigned title that is not available to stream/electronically rent anywhere. In those situations, I've had the most success in using...the Public Library*. I've been stunned how many movies are (Still) available at the libraries in my county and online card catalogues makes it easy to locate these.
*The exception is NC-17 movies. I was SOL when the number generator assigned The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and her Lover (not available to stream). That one is apparently too spicy for free public consumption.
I don’t care about the dvd as much as I want to own my own media now. Everything is streamed which is just renting
Really enjoyed this episode.
Glad to see the young people buying the dvds...
Great show. My 51yr old wife and I at 58yrs are keen collectors, our preference is DVD’s, High Def is not for us. We don’t stream on principle we prefer to own.
We purchase thru JB Hi-Fi an Australian discount retail chain that aims to carry 10,000 titles across all categories. I pick up my European movies here, distributors like Palace and Madman.
Umbrella Entertainment is a local Melbourne operation offering a good range of Ozploitation.
But the most fun is going away on road trips around the state and hitting thrift stores rescuing old gems for a $1. We clean & repackage them back to new. It’s a great hobby and a fun way to travel the state. Total unique DVD’s is 10,000+.
Oh yeah, Umbrella is great.
Great episode. I love physical DVDs, especially when I can take the classical performances issued on them to get artists’ autographs. I will never forget those encounters. I am however still looking for a way to sell the one signed by Valery Giegiev and donate the proceeds to charities supporting Ukraine.
Thanks for doing an episode on this topic. The limitations of streaming drive me crazy. Lately, I've been wanting to rewatch Robert Altman's Short Cuts. It's nowhere to be found to stream, rent, or buy....wtf. For years, I can't understand why in the age of Trump that no streamer will allow "Bob Roberts" to air even though it's the perfect reflection of our current times. As a history teacher I amassed a big DVD collection of movies & documentaries, but playing them has become very difficult; streaming is very unreliable. My laptop in the class has no audio jack to connect to the receiver, so when the bluetooth signal gets interrupted, I have to restart the computer to get the audio to work. Guess I'm dating myself but I like old school technology.