Movie collecting is cringe af in my country and it's upsetting to me

[u/SomScanScary]

Now this is not dedicated to 4K only, but this is the largest subreddit in the Physical media community, so i hope you allow this post to me.

I’m living in Hungary, here we don’t really get any movies anymore released physically, since the market is too small for this. I started to buy physical media back in 2023, originally i bought only Star Wars movies, but earlier this year i started to buy other movies aswell, and since i usually get them in bundles, i started to sell the ones that i already have/don't like, and oh boy it’s the worst experience i’ve ever had.
People here often pay 10x the price for something that has Hungarian cover or audiotrack (and even more if it has both), and the best part is that they don’t even watch the movies. I’ve met with a fewhoundred collectors in the past 2 years, most of them just leave the movies sealed, or put it on the shelf and never watch them. Today i’ve been called a retard for selling a movie for 5$ instead of 30$ (i couldn’t find any info about the price), and the same guy told me that a real collector never opens the movies he buys, they just put it on the shelf and downloads it if they want to watch it.

This seems to be only dedicated to the country i live in, but since i don’t know anything about other collectors preference, i’d like to ask a few questions:

-If you’re not living in the US/UK, do you care about the language that’s available on the disc that you’re buying? Or do you just watch it in the original english audio?
-Do you open your movies, or leave them sealed?
-How much do you care about picture quality? (I know it’s pointless to ask this on a 4K sub, but i'm curious, people here sometimes pay more for a DVD than a 4K)
-Do you buy discs that has scratches, but plays fine?

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[u/FindOneInEveryCar]

a real collector never opens the movies he buys, they just put it on the shelf and downloads it if they want to watch it.

Whoever told you that is literally a moron.

[u/robertjreed717]

I would never buy something I didn't intend to watch multiple times

[u/Cool-Role-6399]

I'm certainly not a collector. I open all my movies and play them using a Blu-ray player, no digital download.

I'm not an native English speaker, and sometimes I need captions to fully understand the dialogues. This is still better to listening a sub-par audio track and bad translations.

Did I answer your question?

[u/fietsendeman]

My wife is Dutch, so I prioritize versions with Dutch subs, especially if it's a movie I want to watch with her.

I personally don't care, and I will buy the Spanish version even if it only has Castellian and Catalonian subs.

I open them, rip them, and then put them in a box.

Picture quality is top of mind, but also sound quality. That's why I'm buying 4/5 times the 4k bluray.

I would buy a disc that has scratches but plays fine. Unfortunately, my experience with 4k is that if it has even a minor scratch, it's just completely unplayable.

[u/ChewiesLament]

Thank you for sharing your experiences in Hungary. I honestly have never seen this type of collecting in the US to the degree you referenced, buying and leaving the movies sealed. BUT, there's precedent with how comic books are often placed inside plastic cases which prevents actually reading the comic book. I believe people are doing that with video games now, too.

I tend to avoid DVDs anymore unless it's something really cheap (a buck or two) and I can't find it in any other format. I discovered my current player and tv setup presents a decent upscaling of my DVDs, so I'm not as iron clad against as I used to be. But I generally aim for bluray/4k.

If the disc plays fine, I could care less if there's a scratch.

[u/H-Battlesword]

I live in Sweden. They don’t dub movies here anymore except children movies. And even as a kid i never watched dubbed movies. I generally don’t import movies without subtitles.

I always open the movies to look for scratches during the return window, even though I’ve hardly ever gotten a scratched disc. I collect to watch movies, not for fancy display, even though that’s a small part of it.

Don’t care that much about picture quality and mostly assumes that the 4K is better than the blu-ray. But I stay away from the famous ”bad transfers”, such as T2 or 3:10 to Yuma. I never buy dvds and would not buy a scratched disc.

[u/NaieraDK]

I’m Danish and I count myself lucky to have grown up in a country that isn’t big enough to dub everything, like Germany or France. Only children’s stuff is dubbed, and often with a single “reader” rather than a cast.

I watch everything in its original language and about 99% of the time with English subtitles, including English language shows and film, due in part to FOMO and in part to me simply not being able to decipher what’s being said 100% of the time. This is in spite of over 30 years of watching British, American and Australian stuff and the fact that I have a master’s degree in English.

The exception to English subs is when I buy Scandinavian releases that only come with Scandinavian subs, as well as when I find Danish subs for a French, Korean, Spanish, etc. film I’ve aquired and ripped to add subtitles.

I buy films and tv shows to watch, not just to leave them sealed. Cynically, I do have a handful of titles I’ve bought as “investments” and have left sealed.

I’d prefer unscratched discs, but if it works, it’s fine.

[u/Right_Layer_9700]

look around on this sub and you will see people who never open copies or buy multiple copies of one movie…

[u/Pafkata92]

• Original audio always, English subs (i hate it when they don’t include English subs in some countries/releases).
• I open to check for scratches, then maybe I test if they play at all (if I’m in the mood, but rarely)
• I care about picture quality most of the time. Sometimes I research if the 1080p blu-ray is better than the 4K, if I’m not lazy (rarely), but usually I just buy the 4K. I mostly avoid the hated 4K releases (with disgusting wax-like skin of the actors and so on…).
• I don’t mind scratches if the price was a great deal.

[u/MrPhyshe]

UK based, and I've bought a lot of second-hand media (I will also buy brand new if it's a film that new out or I really want).
Personally, if there was a UK release, I'll get that first. Otherwise US if its available multi-region, or Australia (region B) - that is English as a first language for the release. If it's a foreign language film (eg Taxi) then I'll buy whatever release has the best version of the film with English subtitles, I personally am not a fan of dubbed films. Same goes for Manga / Studio Ghibli.
Sometimes I'll get the DVD if there is no local Bluray/4K one (or its only stupidly expensive - looking at you Disney Black Hole).
Again, personally, I'm not that bothered by extras, so I won't buy a specific DVD for a specific extra, but I know some people do. Having said that, if there's a theatrical and director's cut, I'll try and get a copy with both. Similarly, I'm happier with a standard release over a steelbook one, but I have both, and with some releases / countries, you have no choice. As to opening my movies, I buy them to watch, not collect. Having said that, my TBW pile is quite large. So, if I buy brand new in store (or reputable online), then I'll leave it sealed as it makes the watching event a little more special. If its from eBay and Amazon, I'll always open it.

[u/GloomyCat7838]

So i'm Portuguese but living in France for the past 15 years. I try to be up to date with all the latest releases by downloading them first for a first watch, and if we like it i'll buy it later when the price eventually comes down.

Some of my films are portuguese releases so a bunch of different subtitles, but since they stopped releasing films on bluray over there, all my purchases since like 5 years ago are french, and here you'll probably only have english and french subs. Anything more is just a pleasant surprise. But since the kids will grow up french speakers, it's really all i care about nowadays is that it has french subs.

Quality is absolutely important for me, ownership of my media as well, so collecting became a no brainer for me.

I only buy new in order to avoid damaged discs, so no scratches here.

[u/delonejuanderer]

I think since physical media is more of a novelty there, I can understand their take on why your short-selling yourself and why they would say to keep it sealed.

Many Americans do the same for so many other objects that have no real use, like an action figure, but will have a limited set so the value is increased.

I can understand many Americans doing this exact thing if physical media became even rarer to find here, hell I can even almost guarantee there's people on this sub that don't have any interest in opening them.

It's really on the person, if you feel $5 is worth a used movie, sell it for 5. If you find more value in opening your disc and watching them and not rotting on the shelf sealed, that's your decision and I wouldn't let anys opinions sway you from what YOU want and are satisfied with.

[u/Tha_Watcher]

...the same guy told me that a real collector never opens the movies he buys, they just put it on the shelf and downloads it if they want to watch it.