Why DVDs and Blu-rays remain essential in the age of streaming (article)

[The Great Owl]

Why DVDs and Blu-rays remain essential in the age of streaming

Feel free to move this thread to another section if needed. I figured that I'd brighten everyone's day, though.

[ElectricPeterTork]

For me, it always comes down to the third point in the article.

The companies won't be repossessing my discs or altering the content on them any more than they already have. With streaming, when, say, CBS gets a wild hair up their ass and decides to pull everything from Netflix or Amazon to lock it away behind their own pay wall, you have two choices... pay for their service in addition to what you already pay for or never access it again.

But I've already paid for my discs, I own them, and that's that.

[NegaScott128]

Pretty much why I still use Blu-Rays. They look better, they sound better, they have more features, and they're mine forever.

[Member-167298]

Originally Posted by NegaScott128

Pretty much why I still use Blu-Rays. They look better, they sound better, they have more features, and they're mine forever.

[philip74]

I love how the article talks about uncompressed sound, yet most of these millennials today watch movies on a laptop or Iphone

[meremortal]

Originally Posted by philip74

I love how the article talks about uncompressed sound, yet most of these millennials today watch movies on a laptop or Iphone

I wouldn't doubt that only a small percentage of people utilize the DTS-HD/LPCM tracks. Most folks I know have a modern 1080p or 4k HDTV but the vast majority of everyone I've ever known just uses the internal tv speakers for sound. Next in popularity would be a fairly discrete soundbar that fits below the tv with little effort or fuss. And a further few might have a basic HTIB configuration. But I've only known a very small handful of folks ever who use a dedicated 5.1/7.1+ setup with decent bookshelf or tower speakers, center, surrounds, a sub, and a receiver/amp.

[ElectricPeterTork]

Originally Posted by philip74

I love how the article talks about uncompressed sound, yet most of these millennials today watch movies on a laptop or Iphone

I've always found that funny... we're in an age where a literal home theater has never been cheaper, and everyone seems to want to watch on screens less than 15 inches.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by philip74

I love how the article talks about uncompressed sound, yet most of these millennials today watch movies on a laptop or Iphone

The whole streaming thing and the concept of watching movies on a cell phone has always been a millennial thing. Much of the advertising and targeting is geared towards millennials, and it's not just movies. Just like with advertisers targeting youth with their ads (completely bypassing 35+ year old PAYING adult consumers), today's marketing geniuses only target millennials. You see it everywhere, from clothing to food to even real estate, you name it. It's like people older than 35 don't exist lol. I sincerely believe there are far more people older than 35 actually spending money on things like music and movies than 18-34-year-olds, and it's the advertising world's loss, really.

I've ALWAYS thought streaming was a pedestrian thing, something useful for the sector who doesn't buy everything and wants to try before purchase. And as pedestrian platform one can never really expect excellence or quality - just a way to catch something you would never want to own a physical copy of. Today's film industry fits that model well (for the most part).

[erixon20]

Originally Posted by ElectricPeterTork

I've always found that funny... we're in an age where a literal home theater has never been cheaper, and everyone seems to want to watch on screens less than 15 inches.

Because some people don't know how good they can have things.

[kiwiphile]

I have a 5.1 system, without the sub-base, and stream, on my desktop, only trailers or clips to help decide if I want to purchase the disc. I only purchase BD now, unless the title is only on DVD. I only use a mobile device when traveling and then mostly reserved for emergency calls. Yes, I am an old fart - 79, and cannot see why someone would watch a full movie on a small mobile device.

[Rich1631]

Lol, I'm guilty of watching some stuff on my iPhone

[2M8O]

The only worthwhile article I've read on Vox in a long time. Great points all around. Of course it's preaching to the choir on this particular forum.

Sounds better
Looks better
Own it forever
More features

I like that simple list as a reference for explaining this to people who just don't understand why I have blu-rays on my shelf.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by NegaScott128

Pretty much why I still use Blu-Rays. They look better, they sound better, they have more features, and they're mine forever.

Yep. I occasionally like a nice packaging thing, but mostly I collect for these reasons. If digital could give me the quality of BD with no server check required then I would go digital, but it never will, so I never will.

We're a minority, but we have enough purchase power to keep discs going for a long while I think.

[master gandhi]

I have a 9.7" iPad that I watch TV shows on at work during my lunch break. I don't really watch many movies on it because I don't find myself in very many situations where I have time for a movie and I'm not at home with my TV.

I've also been messing around with the DIRECTV NOW app on my iPhone, and stream live TV over data while driving (hands-free, of course). It passes the time, but it seems overpriced ($35/month) for something I mostly use while driving. I plan to cancel it.

I don't have a problem with the quality of streaming in general. In fact, the DIRECTV NOW app on my Apple TV is probably the worst looking of the bunch, even compared to Hulu. iTunes, Netflix, HBO GO, etc. all look pretty good. I don't ever really feel the need/desire to grab one of my discs off the shelf, and instead I stream virtually everything.

I guess it's nice to have the discs around just in case, though. It can't hurt.

[cynatnite]

I prefer physical media for most of the stated reasons, but most of all I want to immerse myself in the cinematic experience as much as I'm able. I get so much out of it. That's not possible with streaming.

If our budget was bigger, I'd buy far more movies than I do now.

[Keymaster]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Why DVDs and Blu-rays remain essential in the age of streaming

Feel free to move this thread to another section if needed. I figured that I'd brighten everyone's day, though.

Good read.

I do have nostalgic memories of walking into FRYS and walking out with stacks of classic movies. When I collected DVD's I had to count "down" to 10 films per outing.

Nowadays, I can't seem to find a single decent movie in stores that I don't already own on blu ray, especially if the film was made prior to 1990. I was shocked, for instance, to find the recent Phantasm release on the shelf at Walmart.

Movie Stop was the last retailer in the Atlanta area (as I'm sure you know Owl) that sold Criterion, Scream, Blue Underground and Kino Lorber releases. All of their stores, as far as I'm aware, are now closed and out of business.

Online purchases probably constitute 90 percent of my orders now. The other 10 percent are B&N Criterion Sale purchases or hitting up the Walmart bargain bin on occasion.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Keymaster

Movie Stop was the last retailer in the Atlanta area (as I'm sure you know Owl) that sold Criterion, Scream, Blue Underground and Kino Lorber releases. All of their stores, as far as I'm aware, are now closed and out of business.

Yes, I miss the days of being able to walk into Movie Stop and purchase a new Scream, Arrow, Blue Underground, Criterion, or Kino Lorber Blu-ray. I live just a couple of miles from the old Kennesaw, GA location.

There's a Best Buy down the street from my place, but I own more Blu-rays than they have for sale (half-jokingly tone of voice). Especially now that they've slashed their inventory even more. As you said, all of the movies there are ones that I either already own or have no interest in owning, although it is refreshing to see an occasional Scream Factory new release there.

[cynatnite]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Yes, I miss the days of being able to walk into Movie Stop and purchase a new Scream, Arrow, Blue Underground, Criterion, or Kino Lorber Blu-ray. I live just a couple of miles from the old Kennesaw, GA location.

There's a Best Buy down the street from my place, but I own more Blu-rays than they have for sale (half-jokingly tone of voice). Especially now that they've slashed their inventory even more. As you said, all of the movies there are ones that I either already own or have no interest in owning, although it is refreshing to see an occasional Scream Factory new release there.

There is a used bookstore in our area which buys, sells and trades DVD and blu rays. It's mostly DVD's and their stuff is way overpriced. We have an FYE aside from Best Buy. How it stays in business is beyond me considering our local mall is dying.

These days, if I don't buy from Best Buy I get it online.

[veritas]

Originally Posted by cynatnite

There is a used bookstore in our area which buys, sells and trades DVD and blu rays. It's mostly DVD's and their stuff is way overpriced. We have an FYE aside from Best Buy. How it stays in business is beyond me considering our local mall is dying.

These days, if I don't buy from Best Buy I get it online.

I have a used bookstore that sells some used blu rays at great prices but their book prices are sometimes a bit over priced for a used book.

I have a used movie store that also sells used books at great prices but charges more for a used bd then other stores would sell the bd for new.

Its always weird to go to a movie store to buy books and a book store to buy movies in the same trip but thats how it works out

[bigshot]

I'm interested how these articles always make it a contest between streaming and blu-rays. That is like saying that CDs are better than the radio. One isn't better than the other. They're two different things. Radio and streaming are super convenient and curated for you. CDs and blu-rays are controllable and focused by you. Not the same at all.

However the third option that is never mentioned is the best of both worlds... media servers. With a media server like Plex, you can stream your collection to yourself anywhere in the world over the internet. It's curated and annotated into menu screens with synopsis, credits, images, even theme songs to TV shows that play over the menu- all scraped from the internet. That's better than squinting to read the tiny print on a back cover or booklet. You own your library and can custom tailor your collection by focusing on whatever interests you. There's no need for shelving cluttering up the walls, or turning your head at a right angle to read the spines on the shelf, because the computer retrieves the material for you- no searching. You never end up with empty cases for misplaced disks or damaged packaging. And there's never any incompatibility between formats, because a computer based system can be updated with new player software. It's not dependent on the hardware. All you need is a simple computer like a Mac Mini and some network attached storage. You can use a disk array that protects you against hard disk crashes, and set up your Mac to automatically back up your array to a redundant one in the cloud for double safety. If your house burns down, your blu-ray collection is lost forever, but your media in the cloud is still intact and safe.

I'm convinced that in the future, homes will be built with data storage and networking all built into the walls, the same way we run water, power and gas to homes today. Everyone will have their own self maintaining internet connected data hub in the center of their house, and it will serve all of the family's games, movies, photos and music to their mobile devices, TV sets and stereos whether they're at home, in the car or out in the world. When that happens, the only purpose for physical media will be as a source to convert to files for the server, just like CDs have pretty much become already.