Is 19 pound too much for a dvd

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

You young 'uns don't know you're born!

[Paul@TheOverlook]

Originally Posted by Stephen@Cult Labs

You young 'uns don't know you're born!

My thoughts exactly. Can you imagine attempting to explain the concept of parting with in excess of £100 for a (then) new release Criterion LaserDisc back in the 1990s?

Most I ever paid for a single film? £225 for the Japanese "Perfect Collection" LD of Dawn of the Dead when it came out in mid 1995. I was a student working part time back then too!

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Paul@Lovelockandload

My thoughts exactly. Can you imagine attempting to explain the concept of parting with in excess of £100 for a (then) new release Criterion LaserDisc back in the 1990s?

Most I ever paid for a single film? £225 for the Japanese "Perfect Collection" LD of Dawn of the Dead when it came out in mid 1995. I was a student working part time back then too!

Yep, used to pay silly money at Tower Records in Glasgow in the 90's for US laserdiscs they had. And as I've said before, dvds used to be £20, barebones affairs, so I have no problem with still spending that.

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Paul@Lovelockandload

Can you imagine attempting to explain the concept of parting with in excess of £100 for a (then) new release Criterion LaserDisc back in the 1990s?

Most I ever paid for a single film? £225 for the Japanese "Perfect Collection" LD of Dawn of the Dead when it came out in mid 1995. I was a student working part time back then too!

Originally Posted by Stephen@Cult Labs

Yep, used to pay silly money at Tower Records in Glasgow in the 90's for US laserdiscs they had. And as I've said before, dvds used to be £20, barebones affairs, so I have no problem with still spending that.

Fools, both of you

More money than sense!

[Paul@TheOverlook]

Originally Posted by Stephen@Cult Labs

Yep, used to pay silly money at Tower Records in Glasgow in the 90's for US laserdiscs they had. And as I've said before, dvds used to be £20, barebones affairs, so I have no problem with still spending that.

A lot of import DVDs were nearer the £25 mark in 1998 when I made the switch and even at that price were £10-15 cheaper than the LaserDiscs that I'd been buying from the same suppliers (LVS and Laser Enterprises), so seemed like a right bargain, especially given the fact that a lot of films were being issued with commentaries and featurettes.

To all those bemoaning the price of discs, the other thing that should be considered is how little the cost of a film has actually risen since the early days of sell-thru VHS. I started collecting original VHS tapes in 1987 (I was 12) and most retail tapes set you back at £9.99 from Woolies or the like. If you're after buying a brand new chart release on DVD these days you're talking £10-12, so the rate of inflation in 25 years is negligible. Even chart Blu-ray comes in at around the £15.00 mark.

Originally Posted by suziginajackson

Fools, both of you

More money than sense!

Not really - I was a full-time student and part-time worker. I'd save up to get my LaserDiscs or do a bit of wheeling and dealing to get the money together to buy them. Back at the time of LaserDisc it was the only way you could get hold of widescreen copies of most classics, a way of circumventing the BBFC's then-draconian approach to censorship or sometimes seeing new films up to a year before they were released in UK cinemas.

I can guarantee that most of the LaserDisc owners probably bought exactly the same films that I went after in the first year of having my machine - Exorcist, Clockwork Orange, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the US cut of The Shining, the full uncut version of Salem's Lot, etc.

[Gojirosan]

The most I ever paid was £60 for a Laserdisc of Suspiria.

I usually spent £30 or less on Laserdiscs (even US imports). I had to sell a bass guitar to buy the US LD of The Streetfighter for £30.

The world of £100 Laserdiscs was a foreign one to me.

[Paul@TheOverlook]

The Image Entertainment SUSPIRIA? I had (and still own) that - it was an absolute revelation seeing it in widescreen at the time.

[Gojirosan]

Originally Posted by Paul@Lovelockandload

The Image Entertainment SUSPIRIA? I had (and still own) that - it was an absolute revelation seeing it in widescreen at the time.

That's the one.

I still watch it sometimes! It was my most prized possession for many years. The audio quality remained the reference for home releases of Suspiria till the BD came out. Sweet, uncompressed PCM...

[Paul@TheOverlook]

Nouveaux used the LD as the source for the first DVD that it put out back in 1999!

I won't part with mine because it was a present from my parents one Christmas and I got it signed by Argento when I met him at the NFT in 1996.

[damek]

While I certainly think it's too much to pay for a DVD, it definitely does not have to be a bad investment. i.e. The 'market value' might go up even more.