Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[BuckNaked2k]

Retail is a science. Any national chain can tell you their sales per square foot. There is a reason media sections have shrunk, even in what could be considered its natural home, Best Buy.

[42041]

Originally Posted by BuckNaked2k

Retail is a science. Any national chain can tell you their sales per square foot. There is a reason media sections have shrunk, even in what could be considered its natural home, Best Buy.

My nearby Best Buy used to have a rack with a bunch of Criterion blu-rays when I was last there 2-3 years ago. I doubt they still do. You really have to be deluded to think this market would be flourishing if Wally-World was selling Breathless.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by BuckNaked2k

Retail is a science. Any national chain can tell you their sales per square foot. There is a reason media sections have shrunk, even in what could be considered its natural home, Best Buy.

As far as Best Buy is concerned the reason is pretty obvious: incompetent leaders. The fact that someone up the ladder at Best Buy assumed that they could prosper by dedicating 35% of their floor space to phones and phone gadgets has to tell you a lot.

Best Buy's entire attitude towards the consumer(s) needs to be reevaluated because it is beyond obvious now that at some point someone, or a group of people, in the company assumed that they had become way too big to make the type of mistakes that destroy giants.

They have to trim the fat and rethink their attitude/business strategies. And then come back to play with the rest of the big boys.

Pro-B

[rdodolak]

It's no surprise that Wal-mart hardly carries any Blu-rays. Just looking at the segment of consumers that they cater too says it all. I certainly don't shop there.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by darkknightman

I don't have any data or bandwidth caps. People always assume that streaming technology is going to stagnate and never improve. This is just not the case with any technology. Netflix can already stream in 4K. Digital is going to surpass physical consumption. It's already happening. I am not necessarily for or against it, it is just a fact. The movie aisles in brick and mortars are empty. There are dump bins filled with discs that no one are really buying. Walmart, a major retailer is scaling back on blu rays and dvds. Why? Because sales are declining. Discs may never truly die, but they are becoming less and less relevant. Studios want people to switch to digital. It's the reason that for the last several years, every blu ray comes with a digital copy. It's the reason that movies are being released earlier then the physical copy. It's just a reality. I know collector's hate it and very irrational and angry about it. But it's a simple truth.

It's not about streaming technology improving. It's about greedy ISPs imposing monthly data caps and then either charging per gigabyte after that, or doubling the monthly bill like Comcast is doing now. ISPs want to impose data caps because they see it as a way to boost their profits due to overage charges. It has nothing to do with actual technical limitations. This is a fact. You don't have data caps. That's awesome. I don't either. But the majority of the big ISPs in this country do impose data caps, and some are considering it that don't currently. If you've been following the tech news, the FCC has been very vocal lately against crooked business practices by ISPs, so hopefully they will step in at some point and put their foot down. They have already gotten involved in a lot of Comcast's activities lately. Netflix can stream in 4k, but what good is that to the millions that have data caps that get eaten up quickly by all the other things they do online?

Originally Posted by Icemouth

I'd pay that in a second...go look up how much Canadian ISP's charge for slower, with caps...

From what I understand about Canadian ISPs, it's not a pretty situation up there, and that's a shame. But the point is, even though $70 is better than your situation, it's still almost double what people here pay if they keep the data cap in place.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by 42041

Wal-mart doesn't care about you. Sorry. They care about the aggregate consumer who spends $500 billion annually at their stores, and I think they have a pretty good handle on what people are buying. If catalog titles were selling like gangbusters, they would stock them. And if Wal-Mart for some reason decides to not service this important market segment, someone else would step up and be making all the catalog blu-ray money - but clearly, no one (in the brick and mortar world) is doing that, because there's little money to be made. How freakin' hard is this to understand?

Whatever. They should care more about me. I buy more bloody movies than anybody else I know. Period. Me and others in this forum are the ones keeping the disc format alive. Not the Wal-mart stragglers who buy value discs at the front checkout with their groceries. If they want to sell discs, they should be concerned with what I and others who collect discs want. Do they want to sell a $5 DVD to a straggler that wanders by while shopping for diapers, or do they want to sell me an $18 blu-ray, that I went there specifically to buy, hoping they would carry it?

[Strapped4Cash]

Originally Posted by AnamorphicWidescreen

That being said, I can't believe that people would bother to burn a VHS print onto a DVD?! WTF?! The PQ difference between the two formats is extremely significant, obviously more so than the difference between DVD & Blu. Plus, there's the whole pan & scan vs. widescreen issue. Some people will just settle for anything...

I hate it and rarely do it, but when you really like stuff that's not yet available on DVD, let alone BD, and will probably never be seen again (right issues, really obscure, tv series that were quickly cancelled or just not that popular, etc.) then what other option is there?

How can people buy DVD's & Blu's that aren't yet released and don't exist?

Originally Posted by cine74

Where are all those people who couldn't wait to get their first VCRs when home video started to take off? Millions of people enthusiastically shelled out big bucks to buy their own copies of their favorite films after they purchased a VCR (and then DVD player). Have those people completely lost interest? I don't get it. Are there really so few of us out there who care enough to still buy movies?

- Some lost interest.
- Some moved to digital.
- Some couldn't afford non-necessities when the recession came.
- Some realized that they could live without most/all of the movies and shows as their libraries took up an increasingly larger amount of space and rewatching enough to justify the purchase became tougher.
- Some saw how far the prices have fallen and so think it worthless to keep buying.
- Some are dissatisfied to furious at the idea of needing to upgrade their collections from one format to the next every 7-10 years (Most people then wanted libraries that would last their lifetimes and their kids' and maybe their grandchildren's too and compared them to things like books and records that you could keep for decades and never ever ever want to have to rebuy).

[42041]

Originally Posted by Strapped4Cash

- Some lost interest.

At some point when trying to sell off a bunch of DVD I would never watch again, I realized that I don't care to own (most) movies. I suspect many people had similar realizations after they lived with their dust-gathering home video collection for a while.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

It's no surprise that Wal-mart hardly carries any Blu-rays. Just looking at the segment of consumers that they cater too says it all. I certainly don't shop there.

I think that's an unfair assumption to make. I know it's fun to tease the average "wal-mart shopper", but those same people also shop at CVS, Target, the malls, etc. - it's just a store. I shop at Walmart and Target for groceries because the prices at my local big-chain grocery stores are insane. I find frozen foods for example at Wal-mart that are literally $1-$3 cheaper than my grocery store for the same exact item. And that's one item - now add up the savings when I'm buying a week's worth of groceries.

People in general are ignorant about technology and especially home theatre, blu-rays, etc. - it's not just Wal-mart shoppers.

[Yojimbo68]

Originally Posted by mar3o

I think that's an unfair assumption to make. I know it's fun to tease the average "wal-mart shopper", but those same people also shop at CVS, Target, the malls, etc. - it's just a store. I shop at Walmart and Target for groceries because the prices at my local big-chain grocery stores are insane. I find frozen foods for example at Wal-mart that are literally $1-$3 cheaper than my grocery store for the same exact item. And that's one item - now add up the savings when I'm buying a week's worth of groceries.

People in general are ignorant about technology and especially home theatre, blu-rays, etc. - it's not just Wal-mart shoppers.

But man they do know they're good prices on Hungry Man dinners!

[42041]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Whatever. They should care more about me. I buy more bloody movies than anybody else I know. Period. Me and others in this forum are the ones keeping the disc format alive. Not the Wal-mart stragglers who buy value discs at the front checkout with their groceries. If they want to sell discs, they should be concerned with what I and others who collect discs want. Do they want to sell a $5 DVD to a straggler that wanders by while shopping for diapers, or do they want to sell me an $18 blu-ray, that I went there specifically to buy, hoping they would carry it?

Ok, but so what? Maybe they should, but economic forces driving capitalism don't care about how things should be, or what's the best format, or what's fair, what's good, what's sustainable, what's moral, etc. The only thing that matters is how people spend their money. And the system is very good at figuring out what people want to spend money on - if there is money to be made, someone will be making it. I think Jurassic World is utterly mediocre, but could my opinion on the third highest grossing film of all time be any more irrelevant? And I'd love to still get my Netflix mailers of the latest Criterion discs but it's futile trying to swim against the economic currents.

[Ray Jackson]

I just hope that the blu-ray format is still viable for at least another ten years or so.

I've invested too much money over the last three years alone to be able to make the switch again to something else.

...and I've sold all my UV codes.

[Icemouth]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Whatever. They should care more about me. I buy more bloody movies than anybody else I know. Period. Me and others in this forum are the ones keeping the disc format alive. Not the Wal-mart stragglers who buy value discs at the front checkout with their groceries. If they want to sell discs, they should be concerned with what I and others who collect discs want. Do they want to sell a $5 DVD to a straggler that wanders by while shopping for diapers, or do they want to sell me an $18 blu-ray, that I went there specifically to buy, hoping they would carry it?

Probably the person who was there buying a bunch of other stuff and decided to also buy a $5 movie, instead of the person who went in solely for the $18 movie? Was this a serious post? Like you said, you buy more movies than anyone you know. What do you think is more common, you walking in for your $18 movie or a bunch of "stragglers" grabbing a $5 movie, because it's $5? (Spoilers: the one the giant mega corporation banking on making money goes with).

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by Icemouth

Probably the person who was there buying a bunch of other stuff and decided to also buy a $5 movie, instead of the person who went in solely for the $18 movie? Was this a serious post? Like you said, you buy more movies than anyone you know. What do you think is more common, you walking in for your $18 movie or a bunch of "stragglers" grabbing a $5 movie, because it's $5? (Spoilers: the one the giant mega corporation banking on making money goes with).

Geez. I also do a lot of other shopping there too, just like the $5 DVD customers. I buy food, odds and ends, bathroom/kitchen supplies, and whatever else I need when I'm there. If they sold a good selection of blu-rays, they would sell me groceries, odds and ends, and the $18 blu-ray. Why not sell both formats so that people who like DVDs can buy them and people who like blu-rays can buy them? By only selling the DVD, they are cutting out a percentage of profits. Some customers would buy the blu-ray.

The movie studios have been putting out movies & tv shows on this format for over 8 years and yet Walmarts and other retailers refuse to adapt and accept the format. If blu-ray didn't sell, studios wouldn't still be supporting the format. Obviously many smaller companies see there is a market for catalog titles, otherwise we wouldn't have Arrow, Synapse, Shout, Twilight Time, and many others. Just maybe the retailers don't always make the best decisions. Or do you think corporations never make poor business decisions? They can do all the market research they want, but corporations frequently screw up big time costing millions. We read about it all the time.

[mredman]

Physical media isnt going anywhere. Its a billion dollar business around the World. Studios can charge way more for a Blu-Ray then a freaking code also. And there will always be people that actually wanna feel Like they get something for the Money they spent on things they Buy instead of a code or cloud that can go poof!

[42041]

Originally Posted by mar3o

The movie studios have been putting out movies & tv shows on this format for over 8 years and yet Walmarts and other retailers refuse to adapt and accept the format. If blu-ray didn't sell, studios wouldn't still be supporting the format. Obviously many smaller companies see there is a market for catalog titles, otherwise we wouldn't have Arrow, Synapse, Shout, Twilight Time, and many others. Just maybe the retailers don't always make the best decisions. Or do you think corporations never make poor business decisions? They can do all the market research they want, but corporations frequently screw up big time costing millions. We read about it all the time.

Do you seriously believe the nonsense you're typing? If a brick and mortar retailer devoted shelf space to all the niche products that might sell several thousand units worldwide (and there are many, many niches... you could probably fill up a Best Buy with photography gear alone), they'd need a store the size of a small town, and the overhead to go with it. That kind of thing is going online and it's staying there. Businesses do not always make great decisions but considering they actually have sales data at their disposal, I'm betting they know how to stock their store better than some guy on the internet. Again: if Wal-Mart (or insert your favorite B&M retailer) is making the wrong decision financially, why is no one eating their lunch?

[JasonHensley]

Walmarts seem to vary widely from store to store when it comes to movie selection. I have 4 Walmarts within 30 miles from me and they all seem to offer a very different selection of titles. What I find most intriguing is that, in my area, the 5$ DVD bins stay consistently full while a 5$ bluray selection that pops up from time to time will be sold out within a week. My Target has become one of the best places around, aside from FYE, as far as bluray selection. It has a great selection of 5$, 7.50$, and 10$ blurays. It also has some great bundle features.

As far as people going digital only, can someone explain the appeal of it? I understand the appeal of Netflix, but, paying near retail price for a digital download I'll never understand. I generally buy movies I truly like and actually like owning a product I pay money for. Having my 500+ movie collection sitting on a hard drive and being dependent on an Internet connection will never appeal to me.

[42041]

Originally Posted by JasonHensley

Having my 500+ movie collection sitting on a hard drive and being dependent on an Internet connection will never appeal to me.

Having a 500+ movie collection gathering dust in my apartment doesn't appeal to me either. I don't like any existing online video services much, but I've been buying all my video games on Steam the last few years and don't give physical discs a moment's thought anymore. What's the worst case scenario? They'll go bust and I'll have to pay $5 again to repurchase some 5 year old game I want to play?

[JasonHensley]

Originally Posted by 42041

Having a 500+ movie collection gathering dust in my apartment doesn't appeal to me either. I don't like any existing online video services much, but I've been buying all my video games on Steam the last few years and don't give physical discs a moment's thought anymore.

I guess some people don't mind spending the money they work for on material possessions they have little or no control over.

[42041]

Originally Posted by JasonHensley

I guess some people don't mind spending the money they work for on material possessions they have little or no control over.

I don't think hoarding material possessions is a particularly healthy state of being. The thing is, I get my money's worth out of what I pay for. Having something on a shelf does not fulfill me, and I don't re-watch 95% of movies more than once every few years. So to me, movie ownership makes little sense (except the handful of movies I do get regular hankerings to see again and again). If you do, collect away.