Do You Go Out to the Movies or Wait for the DVD? 154
SpecialAgentXXX asks "After I see a movie, I usually end up buying the DVD to see the deleted and behind-the-scenes bonus material. So I not only pay for $20 the DVD, but also $24 for a pair of tickets, $8 for parking, and $12 for popcorn & drinks. But now that I have a home theater system, I've mostly stopped going to the movies and just wait half a year for the DVD. The only exception is watching a movie in DLP or the IMAX Experience like Harry Potter since those are better qualities than a DVD. Are more people doing this? The cost of going to the movies is now more than double that of a DVD!"
Re:Depends a lot (Score:2, Informative)
the DVD issue is relevant, up here in Canada we have relatively cheap DVDs (tickets are from $8-13 and a DVD generally costs about $20-26 and about $50-60 for the high end ones like Criterion) so i often do prefer to own my favourites on DVD and also to rent new releases that I don't think i would want to own (rentals run about $3-5)
** all prices above are in CAD
YMMV (Score:1, Informative)
For non-US folks, DVD imports are the way to go... (Score:4, Informative)
Add to this the free international postage many Region 1 DVD sites have (I used DVD Soon [dvdsoon.com] on this occasion) and it's a total no-brainer - Region 1 DVDs are the way to go for UK folks.
cheat the MPAA ... legally! (Score:4, Informative)
I don't rent movies. I don't do pay per views. I wait. I am patient. I wait for Blockbuster to finish quenching the surge of demand for a new movie, and then I buy it when it hits the "Pre-Viewed" rack. Even then I wait until they run the "2 for $20" sale. That's when I stock up. I walk out once or twice a month with an armload of DVD's.
Sooner or later I'll purge the collection and recoup some of those costs via eBay. For now, though, it's kinda cool knowing that I legally own over 400 DVD's and not a cent of my money has gone to the MPAA.