What compelling reasons keep me shelling out good money for something that was available for (mostly) free at one time?
Farscape, Stargate SG-1 and Firefly all have season sets available on DVD
Why TV on DVD makes sense
Unless you share the obsession, you might thing it’s crazy to spend anywhere from $35 to $125 for a single season of a television series—especially if that TV series is still showing episodes on easily accessible channels. I even used to be one of those people…until I found Stargate SG-1…Smallville…Star Trek Voyager…Stargate Atlantis…Star Trek Enterprise…The Dead Zone…and too many other series to count. My growing collection of series DVD sets attests to the fact that I have officially stepped over the line and become a television-crazed fanatic. What compelling reasons keep me shelling out good money for something that was available for (mostly) free at one time?
- Commercial Free TV
- Seriously. No commercials. The ability to watch television commercial free is enough reason all by itself. However, there are others…
- Portability
- TV on DVD means I get to watch what I want when I want. I’ll never be subject to a television station’s programming whims again.
- Unaired episodes
- I get to watch television series that might never play in syndication. The powers that be oftentimes kill a good show well before it deserves to be canceled. Look at Firefly. Flash Forward. Jake 2.0. Threshold. The Dresden Files. Invasion. Surface. Jericho. More, more, more…. DVD gives me a chance to watch episodes that often don’t even make it on the air.
- Extras & Bonus Materials
- DVDs usually come with extras, such as audio commentary on the episodes, interviews with cast and crew, featurettes and more. I actually kind of like these things sometimes and they certainly don’t usually show up on television—unless it’s a Scifi Channel series.
- Premium TV Shows
- I get to watch television shows that aired on premium channels without having to subscribe.
Although I love the digital age, and watch downloaded television programming quite often, I still prefer to own the DVDs when they’re available. Otherwise, I have to burn my digital files to DVD for posterity because my hard-drive just isn’t big enough to keep them all, nor is my DVR. So, yeah, call me crazy, but TV on DVD is perfect for me.