With a career that has spanned more than 20 years, R.E.M. marks the end of an era in its career with the release of “In View.”

The DVD catalogues 16 of the band’s videos from its time with Warner Bros., starting with the album “Green” and ending with their newest video, “Bad Day,” made exclusively for the companion greatest hits album, “In Time.”

At the start of the band’s career, R.E.M. hated making music videos, refusing to lip sync or even appear in some of the first videos. “Stand” and “Orange Crush,” both from the pre-breakthrough album “Green,” reflect the band’s distaste for the medium and are the weakest videos offered in the collection.

R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck mentions in the liner notes for “In Time” that the band’s career can be divided at one particular song: “Losing My Religion.” This is the song and the video that made R.E.M. the world’s biggest band in the early ’90s.

On numerous countdowns, “Losing My Religion” is cited as being one of the best music videos ever made. It is also the first video on which lead singer Michael Stipe lip synchs. The “Losing My Religion” video stands head and shoulders above every other video on the collection. The imagery is breathtaking.

Other high points include “Everybody Hurts” and “Imitation of Life.” The videos capture both songs perfectly, the former for its intensity and beauty and the latter for its use of innovative cinematic techniques.

The songs included from the album “Up” consist of “Electrolite,” “Daysleeper” and “At My Most Beautiful” — a stunning video and one of the best found on the collection.

Only one video each from “New Adventures in Hi Fi” and “Out of Time” are included in the collection: “E-Bow Letter” and “Losing My Religion,” respectively. One would wish they would have included “Shiny Happy People” or “Half a World Away” from “Out of Time” on the DVD.

The vast majority of videos are culled from arguably R.E.M.’s best album, “Automatic for the People,” including “Everybody Hurts,” “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight,” “Nightswimming” and “Man on the Moon.”

Besides the main offering of 16 videos, the DVD also includes a plethora of great features. There are two ways of watching the music videos — one can just watch all 16 straight through or watch all sixteen videos with commentary from various band members. This is a great feature. Not only are the commentaries insightful, they also help to remind why the members of R.E.M. got as big as they did — they are very humble musicians.

Also found within the DVD are the bonus features, which are the most exciting part of the DVD. R.E.M. decided to include six rare videos: “Tounge,” “How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us,” “Bittersweet Me,” “I’ll Take the Rain,” “Lotus” and “New Test Leper,” and three live performances of classic songs. The live videos give a rare glimpse into the most important aspect of R.E.M.’s career— their live shows. It is from these performances that we see the band in its most pure state.

This is a very strong video collection in the sense that the members of R.E.M. don’t just give a set of videos and skimp on the rest. They give their thoughts on their videos, footage of live concerts and rare videos that even diehard fans will love. There are some classic videos that are M.I.A., but that is expected with any greatest hits collection. “In View” is an excellent gateway into an American music staple.