The Collection So Far…
If there is one thing I am “allowed to horde” I decided it would be Blu-rays. I began my collection in high school and at the time of posting this I have just under 250 with some of them being repeats for special features. I have made a few rules to only collection movies by:
Being the highest quality (4K if available)
Attempt to be “neutral” when buying a version (no steel books or special editions)
Only buy movies that are of quality
As simple as these rules are they have proven to be a challenge. The first rule has been more difficult to follow with the rise of “AI” upscaling technology. Meaning, instead of studios taking the time to rescan the original film reel and color correct it to be a proper 4K release. Instead, they take a much lazier, “cost effective” method by reusing their Blu-Ray copies (which were scanned in 1080p) and upscaling them to 4K creating new imperfections such as people looking like plastic and eliminating film grain completely. A notable offender is Terminator (1984) by James Cameron.
The other rule of “being neutral” is that often times studios make their 4K releases the “definitive” release and thus will make their only offering a special edition. This has resulted in me now owning four steel books (Andor: Season 1 and Paul Verhoeven’s sci-fi “trilogy”) when I would’ve purchased more “stand version”. This rule has been tough when it comes to movies and shows I genuinely love, but I have that rule in place to keep my spending low (for more boxsets) and to attempt to have to have a “neutral” approach. There are movies I have I personally dislike, but recognize for their artistic merit and popularity (Stand By Me is a good example) and to buy the special collector set would make those stand out more.
Another personal challenge has been to buy the Criterion Collection version or digibooks (mediabooks). Unlike steel books, blu-rays produced by Criterion are relatively “low profile” in comparison and often reinforce the rule about “only buy movies that are quality”. Yet, like my avoidance to “special editions” these still act as their own “special edition” by handpicked titles under a distributor whose whole focus in on the best of the best movies. Meanwhile, my small collection of digibooks are straightforward - they’re cute and often cheap. I love having a shelf full of these little guys I can pull from and gaze into their pages about the development of that movie. If they were more common I might’ve made a rule to only collect these. However, they seemed to have been more of a fad in the 2000s as I only find them for DVD and Blu-ray releases of that time. To my knowledge, there isn’t a digibook released during the 4K era and that is a shame. Especially when I take these titles and rip them into a Plex server, having physical releases I simply “pluck and play” doesn’t happen as often.
Where do I stand today? I have plenty of episodes from certain shows I still need to fully edit and upload into my Plex server. As I focus to attempt to pay off loans and stabilize my life my film and show collecting has decreased in the past year. Given I am not expecting to have kids for a couple years my collection is overly dominate with titles that interest me and aren’t exactly suitable for all audiences. As much as I am willing to go out and buy animated classics (I have a couple in my collection now in fact) I have been actively avoiding that to pursue movies I haven’t seen that I heard is good instead. With this website live and now a new active project, I do plan to make at least written reviews on here and on Plex alongside entertaining the idea of making post/videos about my journey creating a Plex server. If that interest you feel free to reach out or check for a future post about it later!
