Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[bigdavehopes]

This threads has been quite an interesting read.

For me i'll never stop buying physical media. I'm 23 years old now. I think one thing that could be stopping those that are younger than me buying physical media is that they are not getting a taste for it when they are young.

For example, my love of media came from when my grandad would take me around the carboot sales and give me a few pound to buy some VHS tapes I wanted. From there my obsession grew.

I don't think the younger generation is having that due to coming straight into the streaming side of things from a young age.

I don't see a need to abandon physical media or streaming. I use them both together and it works it great for me. Netflix, amazon prime (free next day delivery too ) as well as my large collection of physical media.

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by bigdavehopes

This threads has been quite an interesting read.

For me i'll never stop buying physical media. I'm 23 years old now. I think one thing that could be stopping those that are younger than me buying physical media is that they are not getting a taste for it when they are young.

For example, my love of media came from when my grandad would take me around the carboot sales and give me a few pound to buy some VHS tapes I wanted. From there my obsession grew.

I don't think the younger generation is having that due to coming straight into the streaming side of things from a young age.

I don't see a need to abandon physical media or streaming. I use them both together and it works it great for me. Netflix, amazon prime (free next day delivery too ) as well as my large collection of physical media.

Wait..you're 23 and you're talking about the "younger generation"??

[koover]

Originally Posted by rickah88

Wait..you're 23 and you're talking about the "younger generation"??

I can see that. If He was maybe 8/9 maybe 10 years old and grandad was throwing money at him to buy film, yeah, I can see that he's not like the rest of the younger generation. I'm sure he's talking about young kids growing up today and going straight into streaming. Our 12 year old loves movies but will never buy them if she had the means, she streams and would rather have a new tablet. Plus she'll get the entire library when I'm gone. What she does with them then? It's anyone's guess.

I believe once the current generation of "kids" get older and the middle to senior type age group leaves this earth, that's when we'll see a real decline.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by bigdavehopes

This threads has been quite an interesting read.

For me i'll never stop buying physical media. I'm 23 years old now. I think one thing that could be stopping those that are younger than me buying physical media is that they are not getting a taste for it when they are young.

For example, my love of media came from when my grandad would take me around the carboot sales and give me a few pound to buy some VHS tapes I wanted. From there my obsession grew.

I don't think the younger generation is having that due to coming straight into the streaming side of things from a young age.

I don't see a need to abandon physical media or streaming. I use them both together and it works it great for me. Netflix, amazon prime (free next day delivery too ) as well as my large collection of physical media.

Bingo! This is what I've been saying all along. Why does it have to be one or the other? They can co-exist. Streaming is a great substitute for old-school renting, since there are no Blockbuster Video stores or mom-and-pop rental stores any more. For movies you know you will want to watch over and over again, or for special edition releases like many of the Arrow, Blue Underground, Synapse etc. titles for instance that come with exclusive bonus features or newer/better scans, then we've got physical media for that.

Why do people/companies always try to make it a one-or-the-other proposition?

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Bingo! This is what I've been saying all along. Why does it have to be one or the other? They can co-exist. Streaming is a great substitute for old-school renting, since there are no Blockbuster Video stores or mom-and-pop rental stores any more. For movies you know you will want to watch over and over again, or for special edition releases like many of the Arrow, Blue Underground, Synapse etc. titles for instance that come with exclusive bonus features or newer/better scans, then we've got physical media for that.

Why do people/companies always try to make it a one-or-the-other proposition?

Cause that's how market forces are pushing things. It's a feedback loop with the fewer people that buy DVDs, the fewer are sold in stores, and then the fewer are made by studios, and then the fewer are available for those few people that were still buying them to buy, forcing demand even lower, etcetcetc. They're also chopping disc drives off of standard computers and laptops these days, making the technology feel even more outdated to mainstream consumers. And obviously the huge trend towards tablets and phones leaves no room for physical media for those that now rely on them to watch movies instead of home theaters.

I don't think the kids are spending that much less on entertainment these days. Movie tickets cost more than ever, rentals are still wildly popular (redbox, instant video, netflix streaming) and I don't think kids 15 years ago were spending more money on DVDs than they're now spending on smart phone-related bills, plus now the internet is powerful enough to give them what they want in terms of movies when it sure wasn't back in 2000 unless you were a supernerd with access to a T1 connection, a pirate community, and a computer that could handle DIVX codecs. These costs are just usually absorbed by their parents! If parents billed them for internet based on what percentage of the bandwidth they used and made them pay for their own cell phone data plan they'd probably be right in line

[mzupeman]

Getting rid of my physical media collection is not going to enter my mind. Ever. Only time I let go of something is if I have grown to dislike it, or if it was a blind buy I didn't like. Otherwise, I'm holding on to my Blu-ray collection for as long as I can find players that will allow me to enjoy them.

There's certain niceties about digital media, though. Because there's very little overhead involved, you're far more likely to find films that haven't been on Blu-ray yet, or in fact may NEVER find their way to Blu. That's the upside. And hey, you never know, purchasing a title like that digitally might be the 'kickstarter' it needs in order to show the studio there's interest for it.

Anyway, I'm not entirely sure that the film and television industry is in trouble just because of physical media, and it's trajectory towards being phased out, in the long run, in favor of digital. They're adapting. We're seeing how all the time. Netflix has been providing their own content... shows that people genuinely enjoy and will keep subscribing to the service for. Hell, Netflix even has exclusive movies... some damn good ones, too, such as Hush. They calculate that bringing more and more exclusive content may net them more subscriptions... they'll pay a studio handsomely for rights to things, and in return they hopefully make a profit off subscribers. And, speaking of Hush, I asked the director if we can expect a Blu-ray release, and he said there was nothing in the works since it's exclusive to Netflix. That hurts physical media, but I'm sure it worked out just fine for the studio and for Netflix.

It's 2016. Content providers are finding ways to tap into digital, ways that actually benefit them. We may not like it as fans of physical media, but let's not pretend that means these industries will collapse.

[PenguinMaster]

Originally Posted by mzupeman

There's certain niceties about digital media, though. Because there's very little overhead involved, you're far more likely to find films that haven't been on Blu-ray yet, or in fact may NEVER find their way to Blu. That's the upside. And hey, you never know, purchasing a title like that digitally might be the 'kickstarter' it needs in order to show the studio there's interest for it.

If someone buys a title in digital form because it isn't available in physical form then they are far less likely to buy it if it ever is released in physical form because they already "own" it. This leads to low sales which leads to future similar titles not getting released in physical form at all.

You may think of it as an upside that you can buy titles that aren't available on Blu-ray as digital versions. But more support for digital media means less titles on physical media.

Originally Posted by mzupeman

It's 2016. Content providers are finding ways to tap into digital, ways that actually benefit them. We may not like it as fans of physical media, but let's not pretend that means these industries will collapse.

I've never thought that digital media will collapse the industry. It will just prevent preservation. In the future if everything goes to digital it'll be likely that we won't be able to watch many catalog titles. If the studios have full control over everything we are able to watch they'll have no incentive to provide a large variety of older less popular titles. With physical media they are competing with the used market... every movie ever sold on DVD or Blu-ray is still available from someone. When a physical title goes out of print it just means it isn't available from the studio, it's still available from someone. When a digital title gets delisted it is completely gone.

[BaronVH]

It will be a long time before the quality of streaming reaches that of physical media. Further, the ability to get a disk, put it in the machine, and play it is just too damn convenient. I purchase only movies I know I will watch multiple times, but I do occasionally blind buy. Also, I am a huge audio nut, and no download or stream has ever come close in this category. It also amazes me how limited the streaming services are. It is clear the studios want streaming the only way to access films, and I hope this is not the case. I can recall back in the days of the format war that Microsoft backed the other side, and some thought so HD media would die and they could control a segment of the streaming market. And, while I am older than some (40's), at least the millennials are bringing back vinyl, so the future is not the bleak.

[knight17]

Originally Posted by BaronVH

It will be a long time before the quality of streaming reaches that of physical media. Further, the ability to get a disk, put it in the machine, and play it is just too damn convenient. I purchase only movies I know I will watch multiple times, but I do occasionally blind buy. Also, I am a huge audio nut, and no download or stream has ever come close in this category. It also amazes me how limited the streaming services are. It is clear the studios want streaming the only way to access films, and I hope this is not the case. I can recall back in the days of the format war that Microsoft backed the other side, and some thought so HD media would die and they could control a segment of the streaming market. And, while I am older than some (40's), at least the millennials are bringing back vinyl, so the future is not the bleak.

The truth sometimes can be bitter and while you have said it will be a long time, I would say it will never happen as server capacity and bandwidth will render 30-40gb copies of movies being stored on any server. Almost all of the HD stuff will reach a maximum threshold value of around 10GB - 15GB but no more.

Physical media will always continue to exist as eventually bandwidth will also turn out to be a premium. Caps are not being placed on a wide scale now but it can happen in the future if demand increases and this would be one of many reasons for the continued availability of physical media.

I for one will stick to my physical discs. There is something about physically owning them, its hard to explain it to people who aren't fans of collecting stuff.

[Kamelot121]

Originally Posted by knight17

I for one will stick to my physical discs. There is something about physically owning them, its hard to explain it to people who aren't fans of collecting stuff.

Agreed, I love having a physical collection and showing it off to people.... I will never go down the streaming route.

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by I KEEL YOU

The only digital media I have is the one I'm forced to have, most notably my many games I've downloaded from Xbox Live Arcade over the last decade, the arcade games from my youth and I still play those downloaded Xbox Live Arcade games. MANY of the ones I've downloaded over the years aren't available to be downloaded again - which is another reason I don't trust digital media. And now I'm scared what will happen if my Xbox 360 dies. I've saved them on multiple USB keys, so hopefully they'll still work. Luckily many of those old school arcade games aren't huge in size so I could fit a lot of them.

I can't imagine how much it would suck if movies became like this as well.

On the flip side many of the Xbox Arcade games wouldn't have existed at all without digital. Even this gen there are so many games that come out digital only because that is what these small 10 person development teams can afford. Releasing a disc version isn't cheap.

[philip74]

Originally Posted by mredman

He isnt right at all. Hell everything he said is just ridiculous. There is PLENTY hell MOST of us that watches the movies and tv shows they buy on Blu-Ray more times than one time. So what if you got a movie that you dont watch as often as others. So ****ing what that doesnt make me or others stop collecting stuff we like.

I was referring to this part if his comments!

"We will all be dead and gone before "they" stop making physical media. Then when we do die our grandkids or whoever will just sell all of our stuff for drug money or shit they want or if it's outdated and no one wants to buy our old junk (as they will see it) then they will just haul our entire lifes collections to the landfill and it will be gone and forgotten forever. Then they will all die and the cycle will repeat itself. Just how it is."

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

I love to buy psychical when I know I like the movie. My blind buying days are done and buying a movie that I'll watch once is done. I use digital to rent all the movies i want to see only once. I found over the years blind buying was considerably more wasteful with my money. I actually like having a smaller tighter collection of discs.

[rickah88]

I just love these doom & gloom physical media threads. Comedy gold!








<-------only number that matters to me, and it's always ticking up!

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by knight17

The truth sometimes can be bitter and while you have said it will be a long time, I would say it will never happen as server capacity and bandwidth will render 30-40gb copies of movies being stored on any server. Almost all of the HD stuff will reach a maximum threshold value of around 10GB - 15GB but no more.

Physical media will always continue to exist as eventually bandwidth will also turn out to be a premium. Caps are not being placed on a wide scale now but it can happen in the future if demand increases and this would be one of many reasons for the continued availability of physical media.

I for one will stick to my physical discs. There is something about physically owning them, its hard to explain it to people who aren't fans of collecting stuff.

Yeah, if rigid bandwidth caps got implemented by most ISPs that made Netflix cost as much (or more) than renting I think there might be a minor resurgence of physical media. It's definitely possible considering how many reports there are of Netflix taking up insane amounts of bandwidth.

[MrHT]

When I see Best Buy's BD/DVD sections getting slimmer, it scares me about the future of physical media. I admit, I got into streaming last Fall and like it very much. But I still can never give up physical media because there are certain movies and TV shows I would like to keep; especially ones that I grew up watching.

[gates70]

I'm dying too, as is everyone else, but it won't be for a long time. This is such a tired subject. Discs aren't going anywhere soon.

[GeoffOliver]

I enjoy streaming, especially for TV shows, but I still buy plenty of discs, and I even still subscribe to Netflix's disc-rental service. That's one of the very few ways you can rent almost any movie you could want. I don't care that I have to wait a few days.

Discs aren't going anywhere though. At worst, they're just becoming more collector-oriented.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by BaronVH

It will be a long time before the quality of streaming reaches that of physical media. Further, the ability to get a disk, put it in the machine, and play it is just too damn convenient. I purchase only movies I know I will watch multiple times, but I do occasionally blind buy. Also, I am a huge audio nut, and no download or stream has ever come close in this category. It also amazes me how limited the streaming services are. It is clear the studios want streaming the only way to access films, and I hope this is not the case. I can recall back in the days of the format war that Microsoft backed the other side, and some thought so HD media would die and they could control a segment of the streaming market. And, while I am older than some (40's), at least the millennials are bringing back vinyl, so the future is not the bleak.

Not true. There are already Internet services designed, using current cables, that can download an HD movie in 3-4 seconds. The technology is already there. Also, streaming 4K with the new h.265 codec can look as good as a disc.

And I'm glad getting a physical disc, physically putting it in a machine is more convenient than just flipping on the remote and streaming a movie.

[cakefactory]

I will admit to watching some things on netflix when I own the discs, just because if I'm binging on a show, having to switch the disc every 4 episodes is more annoying than Netflix just automatically playing them!