The DVD Revival Thread (DVD, Blu-Ray, Laserdisc, VHS, etc)

[Camel]

[Captain Kelsten]

We had over 3000 DVDs at one point, and they took up three bookshelves in our spare room. When we decided to try for a child, we got rid of a load and took all the others out of the boxes and put them into two massive CD wallets. We kept any collectors editions or funky boxes. 
 

Nowadays I buy everything digitally or we stream and we don’t even have a dvd/bluray player in the living room. 

[Marlew]

In China, I loved going round the dodgy black market DVD stores and getting back home with an armful of DVD5s and DVD9s, as well as the ubiquitous VCDs. Where I lived, winters were bitterly cold and long and so I have really fond memories of getting a load of spicy food in and watching loads of movies with my girlfriend or with a crate of beer. Come Springtime, I'd emerge from my cocoon and get out into the city, barely touching a DVD until the sweltering oppression of summer came along and the pattern would repeat. It was an education, to be honest, and many of my most enduring, meaningful movie memories come from that time. I was introduced to Kurosawa, Wong Kar Wai, John Woo, Jackie Chan, Truffaut, Godard, Fassbinder, Tsui Hark, Pasolini, Stephen Chow, Kieślowski, Jet Li, anime full stop, Satoshi Kon, Ghibli, Otomo, as well as comedies like Mr Show, Seinfeld (!), Wonder Showzen plus the likes of The Wire, Lost and so on. I had literally thousands and then after several years I gave away binbags full to my friends and came back home.

 

Soon after, I got back into gaming and stopped watching movies and TV on my own. Then streaming services blew up, I met my wife, we both have a similar taste in comedy so would spend our time watching Partridge, US Office, Arrested Development, Delocated, Kath and Kim and so on, but we have quite different taste in movies, despite some overlap. She broadly likes thrillers, horror, crime stuff and I tend to like arty farty or Asian cinema, generally. Watching a film became a popcorn lowest common denominator 'neither of us has any objections' kinda thing. I missed watching movies and movies as a primarily visual medium, rather than something fairly mindless with a few tinnies. There's nothing wrong with that and I sometimes enjoy it, but I missed what else films can be.

 

Anyway, fast forward to just before lockdown and I got myself an OLED telly (zzzzz...) and started streaming some UHD stuff. I was pretty blown away and sat through a couple of films on my own for the first time in years. Fast forward a bit further and I did my wrist in playing too much Mushihimesama Futari on stick, so I started watching a bit more. Ffwd, got a couple of BD discs after reading that physical quality was better than streaming. Damn. That's right. Started looking for more and revisited my old faves. Wow, can't get them all over here, though. Need to import. Player mismatch. Hmm. Got a region free Panny UB820. Fucking hell. Yesssss. Sack off gaming almost completely. Wow. Criterion do some great stuff. Sword of Doom. Tampopo. The New World. Godzilla Showa boxset. Zatoichi boxset! Eureka Masters of Cinema! Drunken Master. Kwaidan. A Touch Of Zen. Damn. Berserk steelbook. Whisper of the Heart. Millennium Actress. Ghost In The Shell 4K! Fuck I need to build some shelves.

 

OK. OK. OK. I've gone a bit mad but I've also restored the tip top 5% highlights of my old Chinese pirate collection in the best quality available and I'm loving watching films more than I have done in well over a decade. Better, my wife and I have started taking turns and making time to put away phones and watch something together. I've seen and enjoyed some really good stuff she likes (Handmaid's Tale, Tarantino, The Omen) and she's enjoyed some stuff I've put on (Police Story, Cinema Paradiso, Picnic At Hanging Rock, Rear Window) and it's been great. Restrictions and repetition have gradually chipped away at the simple enjoyment of being at home, work has been absolutely crushing, and scrolling purposelessly through streaming services does little to shake off the fine dust of malaise. Choosing something from the shelf and giving it my full attention has been an absolute pleasure, in contrast. One day, it will be my empire of dirt, I know that. The process of collection in itself means nothing to me, but it has made me better value my own time and to give films their due attention. I haven't done that in a long time. It's been a genuine highlight of a torrid year, and one which continues to excite me. 

 

Yi Yi and Mr. Vampire will be delivered by 3pm!

[Nifta]

Over Xmas I unboxed my old dvd collection that we haven't looked at since we moved here six years ago. Loving going through some old classics and, surprisingly, finding it much easier to choose something to watch than we do on streaming services. And the upscaled DVDs look better on our TV than I expected then to!

[Hanzo the Razor]

On 31/12/2020 at 13:35, Marlew said:

In China, I loved going round the dodgy black market DVD stores and getting back home with an armful of DVD5s and DVD9s, as well as the ubiquitous VCDs. Where I lived, winters were bitterly cold and long and so I have really fond memories of getting a load of spicy food in and watching loads of movies with my girlfriend or with a crate of beer.

 

Who was the better shag?

[Vimster]

I'm struggling to think who exactly would purchase this: https://networkonair.com/coming-soon/3467-eurotrash

All 16 series of Eurotrash plus specials. It was a fun show, roughly coincided with my 20s, definitely better when Jean Paul Gaultier was on it (first four series). It's the sort of show I might watch a random episode of on Youtube if I was really bored, but not exactly pumped to pay £69 for. Are there that many Lolo Ferrari fans out there?

[Festoon]

4 hours ago, Vimster said:

I'm struggling to think who exactly would purchase this: https://networkonair.com/coming-soon/3467-eurotrash

All 16 series of Eurotrash plus specials. It was a fun show, roughly coincided with my 20s, definitely better when Jean Paul Gaultier was on it (first four series). It's the sort of show I might watch a random episode of on Youtube if I was really bored, but not exactly pumped to pay £69 for. Are there that many Lolo Ferrari fans out there?

 

Sixteen! No way!

[Vimster]

16 minutes ago, Festoon said:

 

Sixteen! No way!

Yeah couldn't believe it went on that long.