In the last ten years of being a fan of film I’ve amassed a collection of DVDs and Blu Rays that is just shy of the 400 mark. Until I joined Twitter I thought that was a lot but some of my followers have quite frankly put that to shame, some with collections numbering in the thousands. But instead of that spurring me on to increase my collection it’s made me question why I should bother.

With the arrival of Netflix in the UK, digital video recorders getting cheaper and bigger by the week and the ability to watch films on more or less anything with a screen, I ask the question, do I really need so many DVDs?

First off, let me point out that I said DVDs and not Blu Rays, which quite frankly I can’t get enough of; who ever decided to number the Sony Picture Classics collection was an absolute genius and is the bane of my wallet. No friends, I’m aiming squarely at the Digital Versatile Disc, which up until now has been a loyal servant to my movie viewing requirements but is now just taking up space on the shelf.

As my Blu Ray collection and cash flow has increased the likelihood of me watching a DVD has dropped; I genuinely can’t remember the last time I picked a DVD off my shelf and slipped it into the PlayStation. I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a HD snob as I wrote an article on that subject a few months ago, but my disdain for my DVD collection is bordering on the point of wanting to give it away.

This has nothing to do with the quality or even value of my collection, which ranges from a Region 1 American Psycho signed by Bret Easton Ellis to an ex-rental copy of The Matrix Revolutions, I just feel that at the minute it’s job is to just sit there looking pretty, waiting for me to slowly replace each title worthy enough with the Blu Ray equivalent; there’s hardly a dud in my relatively young Blu collection and I can’t see DVDs like The Last Boyscout and Factotum getting upgraded.

I think the problem is that as I’m getting older I’m craving films that I haven’t seen before and my Sky+ box, Netflix and Lovefilm accounts are all helping me feed that craving whilst my DVD collection represents the exact opposite of what I am trying to achieve. Since getting the Sky+ box I’ve watched an almighty amount of 80s action shite I’d have never bothered to watch before, stuff that I’d have never dreamt of buying on DVD. And why, in my current predicament, would I want to pull anything off the shelf when I can watch The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension on Netflix in HD seconds after being recommended it?

All of this is purely hypothetical as I’m never going to get rid of my DVD collection. I might have just been talking the big talk but the fact is that I’ve moved huge boxes of DVDs to five different flats in six years and I can guarantee as soon as I get rid of them I’ll be called upon to watch The Happiness of The Katakuris. I suppose I’ll just have to save them for the world’s biggest rainy day.