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Possibly dumb question: movie libraries

W

wombat888

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 10, 2008
541
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I understand why people want big digital music libraries, doesn't need explanation, I also have one and use it every day via iPod and Apple TV.

I understand why people would want a few movies of special value to them on a digital device such as an Apple TV to watch any time.

But I don't understand why anybody would want a large library of movies - whether digital or hardcopy sitting on a shelf. What do you do with your 40th favorite movie? Do you actually ever watch it more than, say, 3 times? Is it worth the cost (on disc) or hassle (digital) to you?

If you watch a movie several times a year, that's one thing, but for everything else, wouldn't you be better off renting it if the mood ever strikes you to watch it or if you have a visitor you want to watch it?

An underlying assumption is that people are paying for their movie libraries - if that's not the case, then nevermind.
 
wombat888 said:
I understand why people want big digital music libraries, doesn't need explanation, I also have one and use it every day via iPod and Apple TV.

I understand why people would want a few movies of special value to them on a digital device such as an Apple TV to watch any time.

But I don't understand why anybody would want a large library of movies - whether digital or hardcopy sitting on a shelf. What do you do with your 40th favorite movie? Do you actually ever watch it more than, say, 3 times? Is it worth the cost (on disc) or hassle (digital) to you?

If you watch a movie several times a year, that's one thing, but for everything else, wouldn't you be better off renting it if the mood ever strikes you to watch it or if you have a visitor you want to watch it?

An underlying assumption is that people are paying for their movie libraries - if that's not the case, then nevermind.
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I have ~50 DVD's. But yeah I have watched almost all of them more than 3 times. I generally only buy a movie if I like it enough that knowing the ending doesn't matter...like I wouldn't get tired of it after 3 times. Or some indie films that are a little obscure and can't be easily rented.

If netflix on demand/amazon on demand had existed back when I started the collection, I might have just gotten a subscription and streamed whatever when I wanted it, but the selection is somewhat limited.

Now I'm not really sure what to do, and I got a PS3 last year so I have blu-ray capability now. Can't decide if it's better to start a blu-ray collection, get the netflix disc for the PS3, or get an Apple TV.
 
Thanks for the response - I actually own quite a few movies, but mostly because I bought them back in the era where renting movies was mostly done in person at Blockbuster with late fees, and I was really bad at returning them on time. So I decided at some point that I'd come out cheaper buying movies in many cases than paying late fees. I also have a PS3 for Blu-Ray, and because of that, bought a few Blu-Ray movies, but all in all, I'd say I've bought fewer than half a dozen movies in the last year. I doubt I'll buy more than two or three movies in the next year.
 
There Are many reasons.

If you like foreign films that you can't find where you live.

Educational films for your children you want to have on hand.

If you are like me where your mother tongue is different from your wife's and you live in a third country with a different language. You may want original language plus a few translations.
 
How is it any different than a huge music library?

Yea, maybe I haven't watched Super Troopers in 2 years but what if I want to watch it right now? The disk is at my parents house and I have a 2tb external harddrive. I also wouldn't really consider it a "hassle" to convert from physical media.

If you've got the extra harddrive space, why not?
 
It's all about accessability. It's the option of having the ability of watching something when you want to. This is why I have nearly 400 movies in my itunes movie library which I can, on a whim, stream and watch in my bedroom from my Apple TV.
 
I guess to me, it's different primarily in the cost/benefit comparison. Adding an album to iTunes takes a few minutes at the most, if you're ripping it from CD ... or seconds to load it already ripped. And then it becomes part of a music collection that can be shuffled etc to keep the background of your life fresh or to explore new musical obsessions. Movies seem to me to require more attention to enjoy. Putting movies on shuffle play doesn't make much sense except as a novelty one or two times. Ripping a movie to a good digital format can take many minutes or even longer depending on your hardware. Storing a movie requires approx 20 times as much space as storing one music album. And if you have 100 movies at a cost of $10/movie on average (which is low), that's $1,000 ... you can rent a lot of movies for that price, and you'll get a way better selection than 100 if you rent.

I guess it depends on usage patterns ... thanks for responses
 
Wombat,

I'm assuming you don't have kids.

First, they WILL watch the same move 5 times in one day.
Second, when they handle the DVD it looks like someone made a PB&J on it.
Third, ripping a disc that the kids can access is much easier than either constantly putting it in the DVD player for them or constantly cleaning the DVD after they handle it themselves.
 
Ultimately it is only possibly a dumb question in that it is up to the individual preference of the user. I do not understand why questions like this are posted. The ability to have a large movie library exists. If it is not your desire then do not do it. If so you can. I guess I just don't get the OP's question.

To me its kinda like when people ask why they should buy devices like the AppleTV. If you can not see your own reason then I would submit you should not buy one. Strange to me when people ask perfect strangers to tell them why they should do something. Otoh, just my .02. :)

For my part its a no brainer for most reasons outlined above. Kids being probably the biggest deterrents to optical media only to the next in line ... laziness ... most people that have a large dvd collection have it to be able to access their content as they wish. Having it on tap inside the AppleTV menu is just one step futher than having boxes and boxes of physical dvd's that you have to go get and put in the dvd player. Both a means to the same end. One is argueably easier. However whatever scratches your itch.
 
My asking the question does not infringe anyone's right to do it. Jeez.

The reason I ask is that unless I'm missing something ... I think a lot of people do it because they're packrats or assume big digital libraries are good due to habits carried over from music that don't apply in the same ways to movies. Okay, sure, kids may watch a movie five times in one day. But do they watch 500 different movies each five times? Or demand the nuanced difference of kid movie #423 vs kid movie #82 in your collection?

My question isn't why you'd ever rip a movie. I ripped a movie last night. My question is why people who put a lot of value on having hundreds of movies find that useful or enjoyable. If I want access to hundreds of movies, I pay Netflix $8/month or check the iTunes rentals. Neither requires much time, storage or monetary investment.

And the reason I bring it up is that it's a recurring issue people discuss regarding the Apple TV and media libraries, which I find a bit confusing each time, so figured I'd ask here rather than sidetracking other threads.

In case any of this is unclear: you can do what you want with your time, money, life. Okay, do you feel better?
 
While my primary reason in ripping movies is kids (for all the reasons mentioned above), I'd also add that it's handy to have them easily available for portable use. If I'm going out of town I can throw a couple on my phone or pad without having to rip them ahead of time. Yes, I could also rent from iTunes but the selection still seems too limited. Also, it's nice having them ripped so I can use StreamToMe to view them on mobile devices at home when the kids are hogging the TV.

Despite all this, however, I've been increasingly moving towards renting instead of owning. It's just too much crap to own, as a recent move made painfully clear. The stuff I do have is mostly from a decade or more ago and I'm slowly adapting to non-ownership. No doubt my kids will feel owning physical media is alien.

But I think the folks with truly massive libraries (and I've known folks with literally thousands of movies) are getting value out of the collection itself beyond actually watching the media. For example, it can just feel nice to have the entire season of some show, even though you haven't watched it in years and even if you did it would take a 60 hour investment. Emotional warm fuzzies, being the authority on a genre, making up for hard times, expressing support/love/connection for a character, actor, director... whatever. It's okay to want any of that stuff, though it might be a good idea to step back every once and awhile to make sure having a huge movie is really getting you what you want.
 
For people using Netflix streaming, how is the quality on that? It's not gonna be real HD, right? Just upscaled 720p? Or no, it really is in good quality HD?
 
shinji said:
For people using Netflix streaming, how is the quality on that? It's not gonna be real HD, right? Just upscaled 720p? Or no, it really is in good quality HD?
Click to expand...

Yeah these threads I don't get them, why should we own anyone a reason for what we do. THese threads are common know in the Ipad section from people that do not have a use in one, and despite the thread starters reasons they do come off as condescending "You're Crazy for Doing "X" Threads. But I'll bite. WHen DVD was new I was buying alot of movies I thought it was cheaper than going to see alot of movies and in a way thats still true, you can buy the DVD/BLu for what it costs two people to see a movie, nevermind the concessions. But in all those years of collecting, you're right you will not watch alot of movies more than a few times. Now I stick with just buying favorites alot of which are genre films. Mostly I buy TV shows because to me they have a much higher re-watch value, but I've gone to digitzing alot of shows for my Apple TV, handhelds and new Ipad. My shelf space is Limited now and I have'nt really caught Blu Ray fever, I only buy a few films and if I own it on DVD I rarely Upgrade.
 
wombat888 said:
The reason I ask is that unless I'm missing something ...
Click to expand...

I think it's a good question. I have an :apple:TV, and I have a bunch of movies in my library, and there are many that I've ripped but never sat down to watch. I think it is a hoarding instinct thing. I think the same thing happens with some people and DVDs -- they buy up all their favorite movies, but seldom watch them. I think that what people want is the comfort of availability -- they like knowing that they have something and can enjoy it at any time, even if they never actually do.
 
Wow, some people are so damn uptight. I don't mind threads asking "why" because after reading them, I'm often convinced one way or another.

If someone starts a thread entitled "Why buy an Apple TV?", then I can read through it and see the benefits and shortfalls of owning one.

In this case, I used to buy movies all the time on DVD but realized that I didn't really watch them a whole lot. Then I moved and left them all at my brother's house. I have digital copies of the ones I really love, and I guess the rest were a waste of money. It's nice to have them on hand, but I just don't watch movies that much these days.

MUSIC on the other hand, you can never have too much of. I might not have listened to that old Muddy Waters cd in the last year, but I might be in the mood for it today. Always nice to have access to your whole album collection at your fingertips.
 
For me, I've about 600 movies and about 40-50 complete TV shows on hard disk. My setup includes about 5TB of storage. Yes, some of it is pack ratting, but for the most part, it's because I love movies. The girlfriend and I watch one most days, and most of my collection has been watched more than once.

I would love to use netflix, but here in Canada we live in the stone ages. We don't have an equivalent service of any quality. And I still don't have a Mac myself, so iTunes rentals are no good. I don't know if anyone else here encounters it, but on both my laptops and my desktops, Quicktime/Itunes video always tears about 1/3rd down the stream. I go through all the troubleshooting to no avail. So I actually have to break and convert Fairplay files I buy from the store to watch them properly. Not convenient.
 
pMad said:
[Kids] WILL watch the same move 5 times in one day.
Click to expand...
Only if you let them. When I was a kid we weren't allowed to spend all day drooling in front of the TV and if we tried we'd get kicked out of the living room with instructions to play a game that required using our brains and/or burning calories.
 
I think some people want others to tell them what to think. Sad. You have many options ... why ask a bunch of strangers to tell you what to do when its a matter of personal choice ? Do what you *want* to do. Done end of story.
 
daxomni said:
Yeah, it's sad that you can't follow your own advice.
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Um, and what "advice" might that be ? I am just saying that if someone wants a huge video library and another person doesn't ... what does that have to do with anything ? Its like most things personal preference. Do what you wish.
 
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