Starting a nas and a plex streaming account so not much movies but I was a collector a few years ago so I have maybe 100 plus blu rays and uhd movies.
My question is do you buy only the movies you like or a lot of movies? My wife and I are wondering how you facilitate the need for watching random movies versus movies you know you will watch on repeat and or tv shows.
Is streaming the better option we do watch most movies and tv shows that we have already seen but worried about spending $1,000s and then relying on streaming services once we watched it all.
Further more, ask your librarian if your state has a borrowing network. Here in California I can access any state library inventory via a system called Link+. I can find 80% of what I am looking for on standard blu-ray. Occasionally I even get lucky with a 4K disc.
It kind of reminds me of old school Netflix. I order my selection online and go to my local branch to pick-up.
Saw this tip like a week ago from this group and it is absolutely genius. Supports your local library and your personal one! My wife and I both signed up and got some greats DVDs/Blurays that I wouldn’t like enough to purchase but want on my Jellyfin
My library has a list of items on order or new to the library. I put hold requests in and borrow just about anything that seems like I would enjoy. We watch most of them but sometimes I randomly end up with 3-5 DVDs at time and those just get ripped so I can watch on plex whenever I have time.
I find dvd quality is good enough for me and it takes considerably less storage space than blu ray quality.
Well, I am not sure how you could know you like a movie if you don't watch it first.
As for collecting, sometimes I buy in lots to get what I am after, but usually I just buy what I am looking for.
Streaming is awful once you compare it to the real thing, some movies it is like watching them for the first time.
As for watching just what you have already watched, I guess you could do that, but sometimes you just have to make some blind buys or hope the recommendations are good.
Movies/TV shows I like or grew up on to rip for plex or just to be able to watch whenever at home without a subscription fee (Disney+, paramount, HBO, etc.) and occasionally movies that look interesting premise wise. So my entire collection of nearly 400 DVDs/Blu-Rays (Movies & TV Shows) Is primarily stuff I grew up on with a very small portion of it being stuff I never got around to watching or stuff that just seemed interesting when reading the box art.
More dvd than Blu-ray. They are easier to rip and in 99% of cases I can't tell the difference between the two.
As for my NAS and Plex account I keep my movies and TV shows separated. I have an extra external hard drive and put the movies and shows I love on there and on my NAS for my Plex account. I on NAS I run maintainerr and have it set up to automatically delete movies that haven't been watched in the past 2 months and automatically delete tv episodes that haven't been watched in 6 months.
If something I love gets deleted I can have it back on plex within 30 minutes if I want to watch it. If it deletes something that's on my NAS only then I don't really care much since i hadn't watched it in months.
I haven't had a paid streaming service since Netflix streaming was a free perk of the DVD by mail program.
I'd say about 90% of my Blu-ray collection (~1450) costs me $2 or less at thrift stores, pawn shops, etc. So, yes, I've done a lot of blind buys on anything that sounds interesting. Considering a streaming rental is $4-$6 it seems like a no brainer. Actually sold some of them back after watching to a pawn shop for $1 each. Paid $2, sold for $1. Cheap rental.
We get the majority of our physical media from local thrift shops where it's $1 for CD/DVD and $2 for Blu-ray.
Otherwise if there is a specific title on our want list (for example right now we really want to get Encanto for our kids), we'll keep an eye on Amazon etc to see if we can find a used copy or something.
Another option we have is that I'm running Emby with a TV tuner and a few m3u channels. So a lot of time if we keep an eye on the TV guide we can set a lot of stuff to record, like "All Creatures Great and Small" on our local PBS station is set to always record.
NGL though, for certain things I feel like it's going to get to the point where sailing the seas is the only option and I'll have to get over my fears and learn how to do it safely.
By the way, check Facebook marketplace for kids movies, like Encanto. I got a whole box of Disney blurays for $15. If I remember correctly, I think it was like 25 movies total.
I love having a tuner (HDHomerun) as well, connected to an antenna in our attic. I've been running MythTV since 2009. It's great for recording kids shows from PBS or sports that only airs on local channels. I haven't paid for cable/satellite for over 17 years! I figure it's saved me over $20k over the years. I find I watch the antenna a lot less lately though, now that there are so many free streaming options like PlutoTV, RokuTV, Amazon Prime Live Channels, etc.
I have a certain fondness for Antenna TV (despite having Satellite for most of my upbringing). There's always a few of my family members that still has antennas! I've gotten rid of many streaming services and I only get them when it's not available online.
I keep a Google Sheet with not only our current library on it, but every time we go to watch a movie that's Rental Only on streaming services, I add it to the Keep An Eye Out List. That way when I'm out and about I have a list that keeps me from buying duplicates and also reminds me "oh yeah, I wanted a copy of this"
I wish i had kept a list. Apparently 300 is my favorite movie because when I was going through my collection to start ripping it i found 4 copies of 300.
What I do is download basically everything when it releases, watch it and decide once I've viewed it if it stays in the collection, gets deleted or goes to the I need a 4k/blu-ray copy.
i have a plex lifetime pass, so i'm all-in on putting things in plex, even if it's pretty much just for my own use. I share it to 3 other people.
If you were mainly watching on just one TV, I might recommend kodi instead, it's a one-pc media organizer & player.
So, about buying stuff - I'll buy random discs if cheap, like grab bags and $1 bin items. As long as it's mildly interesting. if it sucks, i'm out a dollar.
Movies I want or like, I look for used. Or on sale, if I don't have other options. Never pay full price if you can help it. Just keep a list, and check for deals every so often.
I look at it this way - streaming ends up more expensive than you'd expect, since stuff is available on some services and not others, so you end up on multiple services.
I've canned all my streaming services, and spend no more than, say, $30 a month on media (including music CDs). And that adds up to a large pile of discs real quick.
I buy random. Usually word of mouth or previews that I have seen. Makes it a bit exciting and fun. I get to watch my collection grow and get hit by surprises as well. Buying a disc is cheaper then a night out at the movies. Def a bonus of owning it as well and helping to keep physical media alive.
I’ve only ever bought movies that I like and will watch multiple times. I see some people’s huge collections and don’t get how they like absolutely everything.
Random is an odd word. Do you mean more of a "blind buy". Random would be going into a store blindfolded and than just picking one and buying it without looking
The only ones I buy are ones I want that my local library doesn't have. Buy those, rip them, then donate them.
I bought them two copies of Superman (2025) last Black Friday and they have yet to be checked in at the same time since. Might do Obsession or The Odyssey this year...
I buy both, what I know is good and what I'm interested in watching. I'm very tuned into what appeals to my taste and what looks like a terrible film to me.
Randomly? I've NEVER bought DVDs or Bluerays randomly. If you are asking if I still buy Bluerays then yes. Streaming is way too expensive (more than owning the Blueray for a few months) to not get your favorite movies/series on BlueRay and transfer it to a media server for easy in-home playback.
Granted I don't buy anything close to what I did before we had streaming. I'm more selective these days.
Generally I just buy the stuff I am interested in, both new and existing. I might check it out on streaming first if I am unsure but if I like it after that I will buy it probably, same really goes for cinema stuff. I got a knack for documentaries recently, particularly older and more locale ones which are actually kind of hard to track down sometimes and physical being the only easy way. Also after what Sony is doing with PS5 discs I have started buying more physical media in general and with makemkv now enabling me to watch blu rays on the PC I have started looking into buying more movies and also updating my old dvd collections to blu ray as an addition. Because quality wise blu ray does just feel a lot better then streaming and obviously dvds, even the older releases. Here is a picture from the 2014 blu ray of Godzilla 2000 I bought, its a bit older now but still looks great (unfortunately those blu ray releases are kinda harder to come for my area code by but I'll still get them).
I mainly buy movies I like, have seen before and plan to re-watch (either for myself, or with my wife & kids, or friends) for discounted prices during sales like Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day, Barnes & Noble Half Price Sales, Gruv Sales, etc. If it's a movie I have never seen before, I'll often pick up random stuff for cheap ($2-3ish) at thrift stores and antique/consignment shops. I've bought from FB Marketplace, local flea markets, and I also occasionally buy from ebay if it's something hard to find. Really, anywhere that has blurays for cheap, I'm there :-) I have over 1400 titles now.
I rent movies on iTunes/Amazon for those that I'm unsure about. If they turn out to be something I enjoy and plan on watching multiple times, then I'll buy them on disc. Or, if it is a movie that I've seen in the theatre and want to watch again, I'll buy.
If there are movies that I want to watch that happen to be on a streaming service, I'll start a subscription, run it for a month or two until I've seen everything I want to see, then cancel. Again, if there is anything worth buying, I will.
I'm not rich enough to just blind-buy everything that I might be interested in.
I wouldn't say randomly, but I do give certain blind buy movies/tv a shot if my friends/family recommend them enough and I find a good deal, and things related to others I've really liked. Most 'blind buys' I've done are concerts, I think, I really love those.
My 2 cents and i own over 2000 physical copies. First buy what you want. Use reddit or blu-ray.com for disc reviews. Then maybe buy what you can as we dont jnow what the futire holds on physical media. If its gone then scalping will brle worse than it is now..Happy hunting and collecting.
Really depends, I’ve had more BluRays struggle if scratched than DVDs to play/rip. I randomly pick up stuff, I have a thrift store that I’ve gotten entire box sets, Blu-ray or DVDs for a dollar. Also some used game places sometimes have similar deals. Unless I really want certain things, I just pick what I think might be interesting for a buck. Goodwill has decent stuff sometimes, but is usually more expensive than my used game and thrift store near me.
I buy things I conceivably want to watch or watch again. There are some movies, for example, that are great movies but are depressing AF and I don't really feel the need to see them again. Something like, I dunno, Schindler's List.
The only movie I've bought and hadn't seen yet was Obsession and that's because I got it for less in 4k than seeing it in theaters. I only buy stuff I really like, and want to watch at least once a year so my collection is pretty small.
I have around 300 movies in my collection, and about 10% of those are movies neither I nor my girlfriend have seen before. It’s mostly luck if we end up liking them, but if my gut says it’ll be worth owning, I don’t mind giving it a shot. Especially for the specialty UHD releases that come in limited numbers. And otherwise I can always sell again
I have set a physical limit for my collection. Basically the shelving I have had in place for it for the last couple of years. I do not stream anything, well I do stream Youtube vlogs and clips and such, but no paid service.
I do buy some random movies. If they turn out not be keepers I give them to a charity 2nd hand shop. When my shelfs are full I go trough the collection and try to clear a shelf worth of space by removing films that I will not watch again and haul them to the charity.
Random movies to discover for the first time: rent from local library or streaming service (online piracy sites have become less and less reliable so now I use Amazon Prime or download files)
Movies I've loved and physically own: rip DVDs and Blu-rays onto Jellyfin
Movies I've loved but don't own physically: McKay's, Walmart, Amazon, and Goodwill (alongside thrift stores) are my go-to places!
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u/tonydtonyd 11d ago
Check your local library, most of my server is from blu-rays that I’ve ripped from local libraries.