Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[murphywmm]

Originally Posted by Jake2104

What's a good option if you like a film but don't want to spend $30 to own it (my countries prices are outrageous) Renting where I am is ridiculous they want about $12 for a new release 1 night rental and $8 for a weekly film (usually been out longer than 8 months).

Where do you live?

[rickah88]

Yeah, no...I don't worry about things that are out of my control. Just enjoy the things that are in my control.

[blonde_devil]

To be honest, I am surprised they are still doing disc based media. Why not release them on flash drives? To me, that is the next logical media to start releasing movie in. Plus you could use something similar to old take cases to package it - much smaller so easy for us to stack at home

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by rickah88

Yeah, no...I don't worry about things that are out of my control. Just enjoy the things that are in my control.

Well, there you go. Maybe I will mellow with age.

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by WorkShed

So painful to watch!

Circuit City - DIVX Training Video - YouTube

$4.50 for a 2-day viewing. Some Blu-ray titles I can get for $5

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

A pre-loaded flash drive is much more expensive to manufacture on a per-unit basis than a pressed disc.

The original MacBook Air came with a reinstallation thumb drive. It was thinner than a normal one, non-rewritable, and disaposible.

Thumb drives are more expensive, but depending on how they are manufactured I don't think they have to be "much" more expensive.

[gates70]

Originally Posted by blonde_devil

To be honest, I am surprised they are still doing disc based media. Why not release them on flash drives? To me, that is the next logical media to start releasing movie in. Plus you could use something similar to old take cases to package it - much smaller so easy for us to stack at home

But what will people do without their beloved slipcovers ?

[Steedeel]

I will stick with my discs thanks!

[Yojimbo68]

My close friends are all spread out now throughout the US and when I discovered I could share digital files of movies with them legally via VUDU, I decided it was time to dust off some ultraviolet codes. I've never redeemed any digital code until early this week.

Redeeming a UV code is pretty easy. I found out through trial and error that depending on where you redeem your code can yield different results. Redeeming Green Lantern through Flixster, for example, gets you a bonus animated Green Lantern movie. If you redeem it though any other source like the Ultraviolet site or Vudu, you'll only get the 2011 feature. It pays to do a little research if you think a title might yield some bonus features too. Redeeming a code at a certain site might get you more bang for your buck. I also discovered that Disney does it's own thing. No Ultraviolet codes. So sadly I can't share movies like The Avengers or Tron with my friends. The mouse plays hardball! But you can redeem the Disney stuff and have it show up on VUDU for your own personal viewing.

So how's the quality? I gotta say it's surprisingly good for streaming. Nothing will probably ever be better than a hard copy but color me impressed on VUDU's HDX streaming. The sound is not half bad either. I also tried to stream on Flixster but was not as impressed. That site seems a bit buggy to me. I'll be sticking with VUDU as far as streaming movies goes.

I also tried VUDU"s "Disc to Digital" program and redeemed 10 titles for 10 bucks. This I had mixed results with. Batman Begins and Enter the Dragon are not presented in the correct aspect ratio. However, The Ten Commandments and North By Northwest looked great! So If you use this program, make sure your film is in the proper aspect ratio and in HD before you buy!

In the end these digital copies are not going to replace my hard copy Blu-ray's. But streaming is a pretty cool supplement to the Blu-ray experience. For example, I was able to watch The Dark Knight Rises in a constant widescreen aspect ratio. While I prefer the IMAX shifting version, it's still neat to see the film in an alternative version in HD.

[blonde_devil]

Originally Posted by gates70

But what will people do without their beloved slipcovers ?

very tiny slipcovers!

I don't know MichaelB - a flash or memory card may be more expensive but it certainly could make things easier. I mean, you can pick up a 32 GB flash drive or memory card for under $10 now if you look, certainly it costs a lot less than that if you are buying as many as they will. It would cut into their profits a bit but you also need less packaging then, etc which would help. Of course, it would pretty much kill off the steelbook/digibook side of their business. I am sure it is strictly profit related but it just seems funny to me that they haven't figured out a way to use them and make money too.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by blonde_devil

very tiny slipcovers!

I don't know MichaelB - a flash or memory card may be more expensive but it certainly could make things easier. I mean, you can pick up a 32 GB flash drive or memory card for under $10 now if you look, certainly it costs a lot less than that if you are buying as many as they will. It would cut into their profits a bit but you also need less packaging then, etc which would help. Of course, it would pretty much kill off the steelbook/digibook side of their business. I am sure it is strictly profit related but it just seems funny to me that they haven't figured out a way to use them and make money too.

In addition to production costs, optical media is still a lot more reliable than magnetic or solid-state media for long-term storage. I'm not at all averse to moving to some sort of non-optical storage down the road but I don't think the tech is quite there yet.

[BuckNaked2k]

Originally Posted by jake2104

what's a good option if you like a film but don't want to spend $30 to own it (my countries prices are outrageous) renting where i am is ridiculous they want about $12 for a new release 1 night rental and $8 for a weekly film (usually been out longer than 8 months).

Originally Posted by murphywmm

where do you live?

2007

[eiknarf]

Originally Posted by BuckNaked2k

2007

Haaaaaaaaa

[FlipperWasIrish]

Originally Posted by Jake2104

Do you guys think blu rays are still worth buying today in this day in age with 4K blu Ray, streaming and downloads are the corner? I'm in the process of reevaluating my stance on buying any more blus

Yes, until I upgrade my equipment it's the best option.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by blonde_devil

To be honest, I am surprised they are still doing disc based media. Why not release them on flash drives? To me, that is the next logical media to start releasing movie in. Plus you could use something similar to old take cases to package it - much smaller so easy for us to stack at home

Flash drives would be a bad idea. Flash media can fail. I've had several USB flash drives fail on me, and I don't even use that many. Read Newegg and Amazon and you'l find tons of people with faulty flash drives. It is not a reliable storage method.

Plus, how would you store it? Where would you put it? The artwork would be the size of a stamp.

[42041]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Flash drives would be a bad idea. Flash media can fail. I've had several USB flash drives fail on me, and I don't even use that many. Read Newegg and Amazon and you'l find tons of people with faulty flash drives. It is not a reliable storage method.

Plus, how would you store it? Where would you put it? The artwork would be the size of a stamp.

Unless there's some reason it should be rewritable, such a format would probably not be flash but mask ROM (like old video game cartridges) which, if the fabrication process isn't faulty, should have an indefinite lifespan. Of course, any sufficiently complicated electronic thing is likely to have more potential failure points than a plastic/metal sandwich that's read out optically.

[Steedeel]

We are talking about future ideas that could im pact our movies (physically or digital) I wonder if feature films themselves could become shorter format. 20-30 minute movies as the norm. With attention spans of the younger gen getting worse and the obsession with mobile media, it wouldn't surprise me.

[KRW1]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

We are talking about future ideas that could im pact our movies (physically or digital) I wonder if feature films themselves could become shorter format. 20-30 minute movies as the norm. With attention spans of the younger gen getting worse and the obsession with mobile media, it wouldn't surprise me.

On the contrary, films seem to be getting longer and longer, and the people you write off as the 'younger generation with their short attention spans' think nothing of sitting down and watching whole series of something like House of Cards in one sitting. The younger people where I work have all seen the new Netflix shows the first weekend they go up. It's the codgers like me who cant cope with that! They laugh at me for watching them weekly.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by KRW1

On the contrary, films seem to be getting longer and longer, and the people you write off as the 'younger generation with their short attention spans' think nothing of sitting down and watching whole series of something like House of Cards in one sitting. The younger people where I work have all seen the new Netflix shows the first weekend they go up. It's the codgers like me who cant cope with that! They laugh at me for watching them weekly.

This claim also overlooks the fact that long-form television (both mini-series and serial show with season-long story arcs) are more popular than ever. Things like ER or NYPD Blue had ongoing storylines but individual episodes tended to be more or less self-contained. True serials were relatively uncommon.

It's also ironic that many of the people raising this attention span concern are themselves from the so-called MTV generation whose attention spans pundits believed were sure to be ravaged by the short duration and rapid editing of music videos.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by octagon

This claim also overlooks the fact that long-form television (both mini-series and serial show with season-long story arcs) are more popular than ever. Things like ER or NYPD Blue had ongoing storylines but individual episodes tended to be more or less self-contained. True serials were relatively uncommon.

It's also ironic that many of the people raising this attention span concern are themselves from the so-called MTV generation whose attention spans pundits believed were sure to be ravaged by the short duration and rapid editing of music videos.

Short form video is on the rise. It is seen as a growth industry and will be very prominent in several years.