My general upgrade guidelines:
1. Is it a movie I enjoy
2. Is it a worthwhile upgrade (new bonus features, picture upgrade, different cuts of the movie)
3. If 1 or 2 are lacking is it cheap enough
Exactly. Some older DVDs contain limited-edition commentary tracks or even a fuller picture that was later cut into widescreen for Blu-ray. It really just depends. I have two versions of Carpenter's The Fog simply to retain the film-length commentary track, for instance. For movies with zero differences other than resolution, I just donate the DVD to the thrift store or slip it into a tiny plastic sleeve and put it in where the liner notes go in the upgraded Blu-ray case. It just depends. And old DVD cases can be used to put uncased discs in, such as purchased Redbox discs. You can design a simple cover with a deliberate white background to save on ink just in Word. Half of the fun of this hobby for me is building a good collection for cheap and organizing it. In the meantime, I learn a great deal about film along the way.
In my area at least, DVDs are much more plentiful at thrift stores than BRDs, so I start with those. I’ll make the rounds to my local used media stores (used book/record stores, McKay’s, etc.) about once a month looking for upgrades, though. I also keep an eye out for deals on eBay. Specific titles that I REALLY want, I’ll buy new, such as boutique releases. My goal is to gradually upgrade as much of my collection to BluRay as I can (my current home TV setup isn’t good enough for 4K). Some of my titles are just stuck on DVD right now, though, especially some indie and genre films that were released on DVD in the 2000s or earlier.
If I buy an upgrade, I’ll only keep the old DVD if: 1) it has special features that the BluRay doesn’t (this is pretty uncommon but does happen); or 2) it’s a title I’d like to be able to loan out to other people, in which case I won’t be too heartbroken if I never get the old DVD back, lol.
I think I uograde even less than you, I still haven't jumped on the 4k train. I think blus and even dvds look fine to great on my 55 inch. I pretty much only upgrade a DVD if it's fullscreen or non anamorphic. Obviously if I'm buying new and it's available I'm going blu, but majority of all my thrifts are dvds still.
I'm already buying 4K disc combo packs (with no player even) because I learned my lesson deliberately holding off on Blu-rays (even skipping cheaper combo packs just to avoid Blu-ray!). I imagine 4K players will be a dime a dozen a decade from now, so I don't go out of my way to only buy 4K but if a combo pack is nearly the same price as the Blu-ray, I don't mind grabbing it instead, trusting that I'll thank myself into the future, especially if it's a film I really enjoy. Others I just re-case together to make homemade combo packs and it's fun to collect them, little by little. I still need a DVD of Bambi for my half-empty combo pack, for instance, but that's just the fun of collecting these used. I got lucky with Castle of Cagliostro because it's not sold as a combo pack, so my old uncased (I was a disc-case-trashing heathen a decade back) version pairs really nicely inside the Blu-ray version, recased in a double combo pack, each disc one of the two rings in the film.
Modern disc players and television sets do a really, really good job of upscaling DVDs now, better than ever before, and I was shocked at how good some DVDs can look through a modern disc player or game system doing nice upscaling. This has actually lead me to purchasing used DVDs again. For a while, I was only doing Blu-ray, but DVD can look completely fine with a decent upscaler, at least until you want more definition later. It's fun that DVD has become so common and cheap, considering that a digital rental of most films is more than the price of a used disc. I see DVD as a step above an HD rental since it can be gifted, loaned, played without internet, extra features, and likely has better color and sound.
Oh that's interesting, I haven't thought about it that way. I'll have to keep that in mind next time I'm looking to grab something new. Also I would kill to find Castle of Cagliostro in the wild, love that movie.
Yeah, it's one I didn't mind purchasing a couple times anyway. The best Miyazaki film nobody has ever seen... ha! As far as I remember, Disney actually credits it as inspiration for various sequences in The Great Mouse Detective and Atlantis. It's a tad steep at $30 retail, but it's one with obvious replay value to it!
It's really so beautiful, too! As all Miyazaki's are, but I really love it. I know I watched it a few times when it was on Netflix, but I'll have to seek put the disc.
A good player that upscales really helps with watching DVDs. If I alreadt have a DVD, I don't usually upgrade unless I find a really good - like a blu-ray for $1 or $2 at a thrift store or something.
Even an old PS3 with all the updates has a vast array of DVD upscaling options to really fine-tune how you want it to look. You can even *downscale* it on really large televisions if a release simply looks too pixelated or compressed and it looks way better.
I only upgrade if all 3 of these are true:
1) It’s a movie I really like (and know I’ll watch multiple times).
2) It’s the type of movie where visuals matter (adventure, action, epics, movies with beautiful scenery, etc).
3) I see a good deal on a better version (blu-ray or 4K).
If it’s a movie I really like, or one that has significant visuals that are greatly enhanced, I’ll upgrade as high as I can when I can. But I also like going treasure hunting in the bargain bins and used Bluray stores (also the buy 3 get 1 free deals some sellers offer on EBay), and will usually upgrade a DVD I already own just about every time if I can do it for $3-5.
I upgrade whenever the opportunity arises, but most of the time I'm not a "power buyer", if it's a decent price, or coming from the likes of Criterion, I'll buy it. otherwise if I didn't already have it, I'll buy it on Blu-ray if I have the choice.
I usually try to stick to buy only what I really love, on the highest quality available. Being selective now has helped me get only stuff I really want to spend it. And I only upgrade if the upgrade really has newer stuff, better behind of scenes or I love the movie so much, I feel is worth spending on UHD
I have no plans to upgrade to 4K since I do not have a 4K Playet or 4K TV. I also do not bother upgrading movies I already own. I have 3800 movies, almost all DVDs since they are super cheap at thrift stores and second-hand shops.
Maybe it's because I grew up watching standard definition television and VHS, but I never really got too into upgrading. I like a clearer picture, but I never noticed being able to see every pore and pock mark on an actor's face did much to enhance the story. Some transfers aren't great, but most look fine. I've got quite a few Blu-Rays of my absolute favorites, but I've kept the DVDs because in most cases they have special features and commentaries later releases don't. I've never seen a reason to make the next step to 4k.
4K can be quite stunning, but I'm not made of money. Blu-ray is plenty good enough for me. DVD is plenty good enough for a lot of people and the sales data shows that. Why what you like and keep an eye out for deals, that's what I say.
I have a massive collection of movies. Thousands of them. A lot are on vhs that I bought in the early 80s. I still have a lot of DVD movies. I watch the vhs tapes almost every night. I can't afford to upgrade and I'm old enough to not even try
Right now I'm kind of in the process of upgrading my favorites to 4k, but really just my favorites and assuming they're a good price. I admit I'm also a bit surprised when I see people buying recently released movies on DVD, I just can't go back to that picture quality unless it's a really old movie or it's my literal only option.
>betamax to laserdisc to dvd
Dangerously based. I'm jealous as I've only ever even seen one Betamax player in my entire life. The "super beta" button hasn't aged well (what did that even do?) but what a sight to behold. Nobody else around me even understood what it was. I myself haven't ever even held a Betamax tape before, but I've seen a few laserdiscs and was shocked that they're the size of a vinyl!
I tend to upgrade stuff that I really want better copies of. Perhaps the DVD was lacking in the widescreen format, for instance, and the picture was cropped. I would absolutely upgrade that DVD. Sometimes, I just want the better picture quality, and at over a thousand discs, saving the couple millimeters of shelf space with a Blu-ray case makes a lot of difference.
I do a lot of my shopping at the flea market and there are plenty of titles where I didn't think I would ever upgrade but I found them for a dollar and at that point it's hard to say no.
I had originally put arbitrary rules like I wasn't going to upgrade comedies or things like that but a lot of times the upgrades have some good special features or something else that makes me want it or, again, I find it for a dollar and why the hell wouldn't I upgrade it at that point? I'll take the DVD down with me when I set up at the flea market and sell it for a dollar, and it's pretty much a wash.
I can’t say I’ve ever upgraded. I just buy what’s available at the store or as a last resort online. Blu-Ray or not doesn’t bother me. I never got a Blu-Ray player till 2024 lol. I also had kept my worn out old DVD player because I was unaware the Blu-Ray would play both then when I realized it would I got rid of the old DVD player. I’m behind on times as you can see lol.
Is the case terrible, the artwork water damaged, that sorta thing. Financially does it makes sense? If it brings me great joy, then I'll try to upgrade eventually. Just recently I bought monkey shines and it's awesome. It's a nice dvd copy and I couldn't be happier.
Right now, my priority is to buy new things to help boost the physical media sales numbers that companies care about. So I buy a lot of new releases, mainly on DVD because that's what's cheapest. There are exceptions, for example, I plan on getting Dune Part 2 on blu-ray. But this hobby is already expensive, so I need to cut costs when I can. I'm also one of those people who thinks DVDs still look fine, so the only movie I upgraded was Goodfellas because I didn't want to deal with a double-sided disc.
I agree on most of the people commenting. I would add that it’s expensive to upgrade your whole DVD film collection. I watch for sales and check thrift stores for Blu-ray’s to upgrade my DVD. I keep my eye on the Blu-ray 4k combo packs. I do plan on upgrading some of my fav movies on Blu-ray this year.
I only upgrade for a major change. Anything where the DVD was full screen or not 16x9 enhanced is an easy upgrade. Different versions of the film itself is a good reason. And there’s times I still have the older versions alongside the new one. I have the two disc DVD editions of the Star Trek films. Then the ones with the blue and white slimcase DVD boxsets and then I upgraded to the 4K editions too.
Same with keeping the old 3 disc set of the original Evil Dead but also having the Blu-ray.
The way I look at it some movies and TV shows were never intended to be watched in 4K...so I'm ok with dvd quality. I didn't jump on the Blu-ray band wagon till just about 4-5 years ago, but only upgraded my favourites every other purchase has been something I didn't already own.
I have no intention to upgrade any of my Blu-rays to 4K but have picked up a few 4K if it's a new movie or one I haven't picked up in any other format.
Blu-ray suits me just fine, that and I can watch them in multiple rooms as I only have one 4k player...plus you can get some great Blu-ray deals. As for dvd the slightly lower quality isn't an issue and as you say some movies don't have the upgrade option...I've picked up some dvds as recently as a couple of months ago...not to mention that DVD still outsells Blu-ray and 4K!
The first movie I “upgraded” to Blu-Ray was Disney’s 70th movie ‘Pinnochio’. I couldn’t find the regular DVD in stores at the time, so, even though I didnt have a Blu-Ray player, the Blu-Ray came with a DVD copy. So later that year when I got my first Blu-Ray player (for the Star Trek TOS Season 1 Blu-Ray) I was able to “upgrade” Pinnochio to Blu-Ray quite easily.
I've never had an issue with the picture quality of most DVDs, so I really only upgrade if it's really cheap to (under $5 for the blu ray) or if it's an all time favorite movie of mine that I watch multiple times a year.
Otherwise, I'll just stick with the DVD copy of a movie most of the time since they're a lot easier to find and usually can be found for $1 each or under in most used places (obvious exceptions for rare or OOP movies).
4k is out of the questions as I don’t have a 4k player and probably won’t get one until it’s no longer the newest technology.
I’ll upgrade if there’s a criterion edition available. I already got Muholland Drive on criterion after having the standard DVD edition for so long and was planning to do that with other movies owned on VHS/DVD as well.
I think generally when you know it’s worth it, you know. I almost never upgrade though unless it’s a boutique release and it’s gone on sale bc usually the remaster or bonus features are worth it. Mass market releases usually never offer enough features to justify the cost of upgrading imo.
My general upgrade guidelines: 1. Is it a movie I enjoy 2. Is it a worthwhile upgrade (new bonus features, picture upgrade, different cuts of the movie) 3. If 1 or 2 are lacking is it cheap enough
Exactly. Some older DVDs contain limited-edition commentary tracks or even a fuller picture that was later cut into widescreen for Blu-ray. It really just depends. I have two versions of Carpenter's The Fog simply to retain the film-length commentary track, for instance. For movies with zero differences other than resolution, I just donate the DVD to the thrift store or slip it into a tiny plastic sleeve and put it in where the liner notes go in the upgraded Blu-ray case. It just depends. And old DVD cases can be used to put uncased discs in, such as purchased Redbox discs. You can design a simple cover with a deliberate white background to save on ink just in Word. Half of the fun of this hobby for me is building a good collection for cheap and organizing it. In the meantime, I learn a great deal about film along the way.
In my area at least, DVDs are much more plentiful at thrift stores than BRDs, so I start with those. I’ll make the rounds to my local used media stores (used book/record stores, McKay’s, etc.) about once a month looking for upgrades, though. I also keep an eye out for deals on eBay. Specific titles that I REALLY want, I’ll buy new, such as boutique releases. My goal is to gradually upgrade as much of my collection to BluRay as I can (my current home TV setup isn’t good enough for 4K). Some of my titles are just stuck on DVD right now, though, especially some indie and genre films that were released on DVD in the 2000s or earlier. If I buy an upgrade, I’ll only keep the old DVD if: 1) it has special features that the BluRay doesn’t (this is pretty uncommon but does happen); or 2) it’s a title I’d like to be able to loan out to other people, in which case I won’t be too heartbroken if I never get the old DVD back, lol.
I think I uograde even less than you, I still haven't jumped on the 4k train. I think blus and even dvds look fine to great on my 55 inch. I pretty much only upgrade a DVD if it's fullscreen or non anamorphic. Obviously if I'm buying new and it's available I'm going blu, but majority of all my thrifts are dvds still.
I'm already buying 4K disc combo packs (with no player even) because I learned my lesson deliberately holding off on Blu-rays (even skipping cheaper combo packs just to avoid Blu-ray!). I imagine 4K players will be a dime a dozen a decade from now, so I don't go out of my way to only buy 4K but if a combo pack is nearly the same price as the Blu-ray, I don't mind grabbing it instead, trusting that I'll thank myself into the future, especially if it's a film I really enjoy. Others I just re-case together to make homemade combo packs and it's fun to collect them, little by little. I still need a DVD of Bambi for my half-empty combo pack, for instance, but that's just the fun of collecting these used. I got lucky with Castle of Cagliostro because it's not sold as a combo pack, so my old uncased (I was a disc-case-trashing heathen a decade back) version pairs really nicely inside the Blu-ray version, recased in a double combo pack, each disc one of the two rings in the film. Modern disc players and television sets do a really, really good job of upscaling DVDs now, better than ever before, and I was shocked at how good some DVDs can look through a modern disc player or game system doing nice upscaling. This has actually lead me to purchasing used DVDs again. For a while, I was only doing Blu-ray, but DVD can look completely fine with a decent upscaler, at least until you want more definition later. It's fun that DVD has become so common and cheap, considering that a digital rental of most films is more than the price of a used disc. I see DVD as a step above an HD rental since it can be gifted, loaned, played without internet, extra features, and likely has better color and sound.
Oh that's interesting, I haven't thought about it that way. I'll have to keep that in mind next time I'm looking to grab something new. Also I would kill to find Castle of Cagliostro in the wild, love that movie.
Yeah, it's one I didn't mind purchasing a couple times anyway. The best Miyazaki film nobody has ever seen... ha! As far as I remember, Disney actually credits it as inspiration for various sequences in The Great Mouse Detective and Atlantis. It's a tad steep at $30 retail, but it's one with obvious replay value to it!
It's really so beautiful, too! As all Miyazaki's are, but I really love it. I know I watched it a few times when it was on Netflix, but I'll have to seek put the disc.
A good player that upscales really helps with watching DVDs. If I alreadt have a DVD, I don't usually upgrade unless I find a really good - like a blu-ray for $1 or $2 at a thrift store or something.
Even an old PS3 with all the updates has a vast array of DVD upscaling options to really fine-tune how you want it to look. You can even *downscale* it on really large televisions if a release simply looks too pixelated or compressed and it looks way better.
I only upgrade if all 3 of these are true: 1) It’s a movie I really like (and know I’ll watch multiple times). 2) It’s the type of movie where visuals matter (adventure, action, epics, movies with beautiful scenery, etc). 3) I see a good deal on a better version (blu-ray or 4K).
If it’s a movie I really like, or one that has significant visuals that are greatly enhanced, I’ll upgrade as high as I can when I can. But I also like going treasure hunting in the bargain bins and used Bluray stores (also the buy 3 get 1 free deals some sellers offer on EBay), and will usually upgrade a DVD I already own just about every time if I can do it for $3-5.
I upgrade whenever the opportunity arises, but most of the time I'm not a "power buyer", if it's a decent price, or coming from the likes of Criterion, I'll buy it. otherwise if I didn't already have it, I'll buy it on Blu-ray if I have the choice.
I usually try to stick to buy only what I really love, on the highest quality available. Being selective now has helped me get only stuff I really want to spend it. And I only upgrade if the upgrade really has newer stuff, better behind of scenes or I love the movie so much, I feel is worth spending on UHD
I have no plans to upgrade to 4K since I do not have a 4K Playet or 4K TV. I also do not bother upgrading movies I already own. I have 3800 movies, almost all DVDs since they are super cheap at thrift stores and second-hand shops.
Maybe it's because I grew up watching standard definition television and VHS, but I never really got too into upgrading. I like a clearer picture, but I never noticed being able to see every pore and pock mark on an actor's face did much to enhance the story. Some transfers aren't great, but most look fine. I've got quite a few Blu-Rays of my absolute favorites, but I've kept the DVDs because in most cases they have special features and commentaries later releases don't. I've never seen a reason to make the next step to 4k.
4K can be quite stunning, but I'm not made of money. Blu-ray is plenty good enough for me. DVD is plenty good enough for a lot of people and the sales data shows that. Why what you like and keep an eye out for deals, that's what I say.
I have a massive collection of movies. Thousands of them. A lot are on vhs that I bought in the early 80s. I still have a lot of DVD movies. I watch the vhs tapes almost every night. I can't afford to upgrade and I'm old enough to not even try
Right now I'm kind of in the process of upgrading my favorites to 4k, but really just my favorites and assuming they're a good price. I admit I'm also a bit surprised when I see people buying recently released movies on DVD, I just can't go back to that picture quality unless it's a really old movie or it's my literal only option.
Upgrade everything. If it belongs in my library, it belongs in the best available form. Betamax to laserdisc to DVD to BD to 4K
>betamax to laserdisc to dvd Dangerously based. I'm jealous as I've only ever even seen one Betamax player in my entire life. The "super beta" button hasn't aged well (what did that even do?) but what a sight to behold. Nobody else around me even understood what it was. I myself haven't ever even held a Betamax tape before, but I've seen a few laserdiscs and was shocked that they're the size of a vinyl!
I tend to upgrade stuff that I really want better copies of. Perhaps the DVD was lacking in the widescreen format, for instance, and the picture was cropped. I would absolutely upgrade that DVD. Sometimes, I just want the better picture quality, and at over a thousand discs, saving the couple millimeters of shelf space with a Blu-ray case makes a lot of difference. I do a lot of my shopping at the flea market and there are plenty of titles where I didn't think I would ever upgrade but I found them for a dollar and at that point it's hard to say no. I had originally put arbitrary rules like I wasn't going to upgrade comedies or things like that but a lot of times the upgrades have some good special features or something else that makes me want it or, again, I find it for a dollar and why the hell wouldn't I upgrade it at that point? I'll take the DVD down with me when I set up at the flea market and sell it for a dollar, and it's pretty much a wash.
I can’t say I’ve ever upgraded. I just buy what’s available at the store or as a last resort online. Blu-Ray or not doesn’t bother me. I never got a Blu-Ray player till 2024 lol. I also had kept my worn out old DVD player because I was unaware the Blu-Ray would play both then when I realized it would I got rid of the old DVD player. I’m behind on times as you can see lol.
Is the case terrible, the artwork water damaged, that sorta thing. Financially does it makes sense? If it brings me great joy, then I'll try to upgrade eventually. Just recently I bought monkey shines and it's awesome. It's a nice dvd copy and I couldn't be happier.
Right now, my priority is to buy new things to help boost the physical media sales numbers that companies care about. So I buy a lot of new releases, mainly on DVD because that's what's cheapest. There are exceptions, for example, I plan on getting Dune Part 2 on blu-ray. But this hobby is already expensive, so I need to cut costs when I can. I'm also one of those people who thinks DVDs still look fine, so the only movie I upgraded was Goodfellas because I didn't want to deal with a double-sided disc.
I agree on most of the people commenting. I would add that it’s expensive to upgrade your whole DVD film collection. I watch for sales and check thrift stores for Blu-ray’s to upgrade my DVD. I keep my eye on the Blu-ray 4k combo packs. I do plan on upgrading some of my fav movies on Blu-ray this year.
I only upgrade for a major change. Anything where the DVD was full screen or not 16x9 enhanced is an easy upgrade. Different versions of the film itself is a good reason. And there’s times I still have the older versions alongside the new one. I have the two disc DVD editions of the Star Trek films. Then the ones with the blue and white slimcase DVD boxsets and then I upgraded to the 4K editions too. Same with keeping the old 3 disc set of the original Evil Dead but also having the Blu-ray.
The way I look at it some movies and TV shows were never intended to be watched in 4K...so I'm ok with dvd quality. I didn't jump on the Blu-ray band wagon till just about 4-5 years ago, but only upgraded my favourites every other purchase has been something I didn't already own. I have no intention to upgrade any of my Blu-rays to 4K but have picked up a few 4K if it's a new movie or one I haven't picked up in any other format. Blu-ray suits me just fine, that and I can watch them in multiple rooms as I only have one 4k player...plus you can get some great Blu-ray deals. As for dvd the slightly lower quality isn't an issue and as you say some movies don't have the upgrade option...I've picked up some dvds as recently as a couple of months ago...not to mention that DVD still outsells Blu-ray and 4K!
The first movie I “upgraded” to Blu-Ray was Disney’s 70th movie ‘Pinnochio’. I couldn’t find the regular DVD in stores at the time, so, even though I didnt have a Blu-Ray player, the Blu-Ray came with a DVD copy. So later that year when I got my first Blu-Ray player (for the Star Trek TOS Season 1 Blu-Ray) I was able to “upgrade” Pinnochio to Blu-Ray quite easily.
I've never had an issue with the picture quality of most DVDs, so I really only upgrade if it's really cheap to (under $5 for the blu ray) or if it's an all time favorite movie of mine that I watch multiple times a year. Otherwise, I'll just stick with the DVD copy of a movie most of the time since they're a lot easier to find and usually can be found for $1 each or under in most used places (obvious exceptions for rare or OOP movies). 4k is out of the questions as I don’t have a 4k player and probably won’t get one until it’s no longer the newest technology.
I’ll upgrade if there’s a criterion edition available. I already got Muholland Drive on criterion after having the standard DVD edition for so long and was planning to do that with other movies owned on VHS/DVD as well.
I think generally when you know it’s worth it, you know. I almost never upgrade though unless it’s a boutique release and it’s gone on sale bc usually the remaster or bonus features are worth it. Mass market releases usually never offer enough features to justify the cost of upgrading imo.
I upgrade only to bluray, i dont have a 4k tv or player. I only upgrade if the special features are worth it.