For me, it's a mix of internet/on demand, and realizing that I don't rewatch the movies I own all that much. After I bought dancer in the dark, I realized, I love this movie, but I can't imagine when I want to watch it again. Now I buy comedy shows, b/c it works for background/repeated group viewings.

I dont watch that many movies and the new ones suck. I dont even have netflix. I thought about it just to get some foreign flicks that arent available in stores but otherwise nothing is calling to me.

Where's the choice for "DVD's cost too much/more than they used to, and I'm pissed off about it"?

For me it's this:

1) DVD prices have gone up. Practically everything in Brick-and-Mortar stores comes out at $20-$25 now. Even movies that sucked. "New Releases" were more around $15 a few years ago. Even for a good movie, I debate paying more than about $12 nowadays.

2) I see the HD future...and though I'm not buying any of it yet, I'd rather not build my SD library when I'll likely be thinking about replacing it before too long.

I was holding off on buying movies since HD and Blu Ray became a reality. Now that ive gotten an HD player, I don't freely buy HD movies because that format may wind up dying and I dont want to get stuck with the media. I have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of Netlfix HD rentals and the HD player ($98 - the $66 I sold my DVD player for) works real well at upconversion too.

I am looking to add a Blu Ray player as well, but am holding off until I can get one with free movies for under $250.

I just don't want to buy regular DVDs anymore - Im spoiled.

Lots of movies released recently suck. Because they suck so much, I'm going to just use my surplus of movies that span over a few decades to keep me happy for a number of years. Nowadays I wait for maybe one or two movies a year, if that for a new release. Beyond that I may copy someone else's just to avoid the risk of paying for something I might not like.

@EQC: I noticed that too. Lots of new releases are almost $30 or more, and now lots of flicks require that you pay the top dollar to get something as simple as the making of the film extras. Circuit City sells DVD's for $14.99, but that release goes up the week after.

Quite simply, DVD looks like shit. It doesn't matter if you are stealing, buying or renting...nobody can defend a format that makes you wonder if you forgot to wear your contacts.

@johnnyabnormal:

Man, I still remember my first DVD drive. It was built into a PC, and incredibly expensive. I watched Sphere and my jaw DROPPED at the clarity. It was simply amazing. I went out and bought as many as I could.

But I haven't bought any since! Why? Because screw buying something I can download for free.

I'm buying more DVDs now then before thanks in large part to BluRay and the offerings of Sony Pictures Classics, and $14.99 bestbuy deals and previously viewed DVDs for $9.99. Then again, I love movies, and it's hard to love movies on the laptop vs in the home theater.

1) I had a personal cut-off level of $25 for a dvd, the studios have passed that
2) zip.ca (the canadian version of netflix)
3) $20M paycheques for hollywood actors are ridiculous
4) HD vs Blue Ray. C'mon Sony, didn't you learn from Beta? I don't care which format is technically better, but stop acting like a spoiled child and muddying the format waters (same goes for the HD DVD camp)
5) DRM. I want to watch what I want, when I want and on what I want and don't have to pay for the same content over and over.
6) The ridiculous number of ads and 'previews' that come on a new release now. Please, stop trying to sell me something through ads when I've paid hard-earned money for your media. I should be given a break from that. Trust me, I know that 'I am Legend' and Transformers 2 is coming out from the other ad space you're invading.

i would like to see the stats on blank dvds. I download from usenet and burn to dvd. Ethical? no. Cheap? yes

I'm switching to a HTPC soon so i won't even need the blank dvds eventually

We have been buying used ones lately... averaging about $4 a movie. At that price, who would want to waste time downloading them???

Waiting a month after they are released in the stores is not a problem. There are plenty of movies we've haven't seen yet :-)

For me it's really all 4, but there are definitely movies that I am not buying until the HD format war ends.

Once I watch the ten million movies in my Netflix queue, I'll think about paying way too much to buy something so I have it on hand in the unlikely event I want to watch it more than once.

That is, now that I have already bought Star Wars (IV through VI only) and the Godfather trilogy.

I can only pick one?

Just got a Netflix account and I love it. Seriously, I think it has nothing to do with the movie industry. I think it's cause the economy is just in the crapper. Gas is going to be +$4.00 in about a year. I think we've already hit "Peak Oil", new DVD's are actually competing with canned goods and assault rifles for my spending cash. And no, I'm not a log cabin living unibomber type, I live in so-cal ...I can just read the writing on the wall.

Or Your Mom. Priceless

I'm only buying BDs, but even then I'm only buying them when they are under $20.

In the beginning I built up my collection: Blade Runner, Alien, Star Wars... you know, the classics.

But now my shelves are nearly full and I'm only buying new movies that I'm pretty certain I'll want to watch several more times.

The whole Blu-Ray, HD DVD format war is a bit of a non issue, to be perfectly honest. Until I can pick up used discs at Blockbuster for $10.00 (which is how I buy most of my DVDs) I'm not going to even worry about the format war. Dropping $29.00 on a next-gen DVD is ludicrous, IMHO.

I only buy stuff I really, really want to keep. Even my roommates have stopped buying stuff 'just 'cause they saw it at Costco' (fiiinally-we've got stuff we've never watched and never will).
I'll also probably never watch more than a few eps of ST:Enterprise, but I am a completist when I do buy something.
If I could find a decent deal on Farscape and BSG, I'll probably buy those in the future, plus some classic and long well regarded movies.

Or how about I just have my PC hooked to a large TV and use media center...that coupled with a few choice websites allows me to avoid buying a lot of movies, especially because it allows me unlimited content without the regret of "why did I pay money to watch [insert bad movie]"

@Ph30nix: that said...I do plan on buying an HD player and then I will have a reason to buy discs...just not DVDs

I never bought them except special movies when they came out. I own maybe 15, never bought the Videos either. I have enough crap in the house, and it winds up clutter any way.

Why not add an option that says something like "I've moved on to HD(Blu-ray or HD DVD)"?

I agree much with the sentiments already expressed, but one additional thought...

...a lot of the movies that I always wanted to buy and were waiting for (Indiana Jones movies, LOTR, Godfather, Star Wars, etc.) are already released. So now, there's nothing but new movies (bad) and the few DVD special editions that haven't already been released that we're getting.

So for me, it's a combination of everything:
1) High def costs more than regular def, so there's a lot more thought required before buying.
2) A lot of these first run high def DVD releases you just KNOW are going to be re-released in two years as the REAL edition. (OK, guys, here's the REAL Goodfellas Super Special Mobster edition! $39 bucks, please.)
3) High def releases are still experimental and subject to defects. i.e. the bad blu-ray transfers of the Fifth Element that is being re-released.

Bottom line: We've already got the great films + Bad new films + Netflix + Bit Torrent = It's over, movie studios.

The same reason cd sales have dropped off - why buy what you can get for free?

Sure, it's stealing, blah blah.

If the tv/movie industry can't turn a profit, then it'll go out of business because of its own lack of initiative and imagination about the utilization of new media distribution methods. Either way, no big loss.

Where's the choice for pirating HD movies until the BD vs HDDVD battle is over?

You need a new player!@johnnyabnormal:

Very easy answer for me...

I stopped buying DVDs because better formats are out. Unfortunately, there are 2 "standards" and I'm not going to roll the dice and end up with the betamax version.

Since DVD quality is less than the next gen alternatives, I'm not buying old tech. Since the next gen techs are in a format war, I'm buying neither of those.

I say F**K them all for making 2 retarded formats. Let them suffer, I'll have none please!

where's the all of the above radio button?

i voted for your mom just now.

Buying DVDs outright seems so last decade. With Netflix, MOD, hi-definition discs, and, uhm, teh internets, why buy?

While *some* of the extra content on DVDs are interesting, its not nearly enough to spend actual money on. Sorry, but I don't feel bad for the movie industry. If the movie execs can regularly hold open bar, red carpet, $1000/plate dinner parties at no cost to the attendees, for a celebration du jour, while refusing to innovate and evolve their business plans to suit future projected technologies, then they must not care much about their long-term prospects. Not my problem in the least. Evolution will be served one way or another.

Netflix.

And for anything I can't get through netflix (such as new seasons of Doctor Who on BBC) I download.

I don't buy DVDs unless it's a movie I really like and one that has replay value. Otherwise, it's Netflix mail rentals that consume the majority of my DVD-viewing habits.

I also have an HD-DVD player, yet I don't own any HD-DVD movies. I'm not going to buy any, either, until one of the two HD formats is clearly the winner. Hopefully, it's HD-DVD because I don't want to buy another $100+ DVD player. That's just rediculous.

Movies mostly suck now (music mostly sucks now too). The industry screwed up by coming out with two competing, incompatible still-born replacements for DVD and has nothing but contempt for consumers anyway. The hell with them all. I look forward to its well-deserved demise.

High definition streaming video on demand for about a buck. That would interest me, if they provided access to old movies (since no one makes good ones anymore).

why don't people go to the cinema that often? why don't they play dvds or audio cds anymore? there's a simple answer: prices went up, and people one day realized that they don't want to get ripped off by this industry anymore. lower the prices, and I would go to the cinema more often or buy a dvd.

For me there are two factors. First (and most importantly), almost every time I buy a DVD, a cooler, fancier, "special-er" edition comes out a few months later. If the studios would stop being such greedy little bastards and just release one edition of each movie (or release the "standard" and "special" editions at the same time), I'd be far more likely to purchase their DVDs.

Second, I'm waiting for a clear winner in the HD format war.

I blame the slow spiraling death of the middle class.

The movie studios had to change their strategy back in the '40s when Walt Disney stopped them from showing commercials before their shows. They did just fine.

Now they seem to have too many rejects from the RIAA working for them that believe it is their divine right to become filthy rich.

Here is a clue: Stop paying $20 million for an actor... pay the money for better scripts. A good script will always pay off, an actor might just go crazy on you. (Tom Cruise, Linsey Lohan, etc.)

I still buy DVDs, I just don't buy them new the moment they come out. I wait for them to show up as "previously viewed" at Blockbuster or other rental places and pick them up for a fraction of the cost.

@w00zzy: Nah, I'd need a tiny little screen.

@Bodypainter: You forgot to mention all the assholes you have to deal with at the theaters.

@humperdinck: That Alternative Minimum Theater tax is killing me too.

why buy a shitty movie these days when you can just pirate a shitty movie? I will go out and buy the good ones, but i'm not going to pay for rubbish

I also suspect that there are fewer people watching TV, cable or sat. Why? What the internet has shown us is that it is possible to watch whatever the hell you want, when the hell you want it. Problem is, the broadcast industry doesn't want to get rid of TV ads. Hell, look at the whole NFL Network vs cable thing, the only reason they made the stupid NFL Network is for TV ads.

So the broadcast industry is slow to adapt, because they don't want to throw away all that revenue and come up with a new system. While the writers on the other hand, know that they have to make a stand if they're going to eat 10 to 20 years into the future. Why? Its because the new media, namely the internet is absolutely going to take over whenever some network exec isn't such a cowardly bastard to not try a new thing. Anyway, yeah, there is absolutely no reason with today's technology that consumers can't get a product and watch it whenever they want to cheaply, efficiently, and still make a profit. I mean geeze, give the people what they want to watch when they want to watch it. Granted, not having 300 channels of nothing to annoy the hell out of people and generally crap on the TV is probably not best for the human race but its certainly possible and doable.

Well, maybe not the internet per-say, I'm not entirely sure the internet could handle that much of a load. o.o Then again maybe it could. The point is, some kind of system where people can watch what they want, when they want it with minimum ads or none is doable.

There is only so much time in a day!

I used to buy and collect DVDs, but now I have 3 TiVos full of stuff I want to watch (and always recording more), Podcasts that I listen to daily, Video Games that I want to finish, and the friggin' Internet that always there constantly connected and calling my name.

Also, why buy when you can just drop it in your rental queue and have it in a day or so. It just does not make sense anymore to buy anything other than the ones you REALLY love and want to collect.

In other related news: Board Games don't sell like they used to, kids don't play outside as much, SUV sales are down, etc.

By the way, that really only goes for repeats, and taped shows but you get the point.

I recently sold most of my DVD's, thousands $$$ worth to get back few bucks... I kept mostly rare movies, or videos that wont improve much if released on HD-DVD/Blu-Ray.
I just don't enjoy them as much, HD content looks so much better, been waiting for it.
I would buy again movies on a HD format, and once in a while I do buy something in HD-DVD, but mostly I avoid that and wither rent HD-DVD's trough netflix or just watch HD content on satellite.

Case in study: I decided to keep the star wars movies on DVD, and HBO just showed the entire 2 trilogies on HDTV. Why bother watching DVD at all then.