Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[TravisTylerBlack]

Originally Posted by eiknarf

I was just telling my wife, if it wasn’t for streaming we/I would never have seen 50 of the last 100 movies I’ve/we’ve watched! Especially because we dig independent films!
Best Buy, Target and Walmart would not carry or stock the fifty or so I’m talking about. As a matter of fact half of said fifty titles probably don’t even have a physical release if we wanted to buy em.

So we have to ask ourselves: are we a fan of movies/storytelling, or are we fans of an inanimate object, such as a physical disk that has one purpose, and that purpose is to hold the form of entertainment that we say we love??

So what is it?
Do you love movies, or do you love discs?

For most people here the answer is both. We enjoy having physical copies of the movies we love for a multitude of reasons, including (but not limited to) the fact that it allows us permanent, internet-free access without the need to engage with any type of streaming service.

Indie films in particular tend to come and go from streaming services with alarming regularity. Much as I adore discovering lesser-hyped gems on Mubi, Netflix, Criterion Channel or wherever all of those platforms tend to rotate their programming like clockwork.

Physical media used to represent a defacto second chance for specifically those types of films to enjoy some sort of afterlife. Goodness knows I discovered my share of delightful obscurities over the years when browsing the aisles of Best Buy’s (formerly) immense media section. Better times.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by Chad Rouch

Yes, it is. It will come a lot faster than a lot of us on this forum want to believe it will. It's just the next evolution though. Just like way back when the only way to watch uncut, full-length movies at home was on HBO. And then it was VHS. Laserdiscs tried to be a thing but they never went mainstream. Then DVD/Blu-ray upped the ante with regard to quality and electronics manufacturers were able to sell us increasingly sophisticated equipment.

Streaming is just the next natural progression. And its quality will improve. It already has over the last 10 years. It started with just SD streams and now can go full 4k with HDR and Atmos. Lossless audio will eventually come just like it finally came to the online music providers like Spotify and iTunes.

And then it will move on to the next natural evolution. Progress in inevitable and it should always be embraced, not feared.

Streaming is more likely to get worse rather than better. People keep forgetting the ISP's data caps in the US are very restrictive for most people. So dropping bitrate/serving lower-quality streams helps with that. YouTube as an example streams extremely low-bitrate/highly compressed videos. They've actually been re-encoding most/all of their catalog of old videos from ages ago over the past several years, so the bitrate it serves now is actually less than the same exact videos it streamed many years ago. There's a lot of discussion about that on Reddit and I've seen it first-hand myself. Same videos, much less bit rate now than years ago, and they look far, far worse than they did previously. Even their new videos are horribly over-compressed.

Sure they stream 4k too now, but everything is miserably over-compressed. Their 1080p streams have laughably low bitrates.

Taking our ownership away from us by dropping physical media so the only way to see our favorite films/shows is through their streaming networks is not something to be embraced.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by eiknarf

I was just telling my wife, if it wasn’t for streaming we/I would never have seen 50 of the last 100 movies I’ve/we’ve watched! Especially because we dig independent films!
Best Buy, Target and Walmart would not carry or stock the fifty or so I’m talking about. As a matter of fact half of said fifty titles probably don’t even have a physical release if we wanted to buy em.

So we have to ask ourselves: are we a fan of movies/storytelling, or are we fans of an inanimate object, such as a physical disk that has one purpose, and that purpose is to hold the form of entertainment that we say we love??

So what is it?
Do you love movies, or do you love discs?


.

Streaming is ok for rentals. It replaces going to the video store. It does not replacing buying films. Those who want to own the films they love most will not be happy relying on streaming services that often shuffle titles and rights around and regularly drop content for new stuff. The discs on my shelves are mine and I can watch all my favorite shows and films many years from now because they are in my living room. Streaming will never replace that. Streaming has it's place - seeing a movie you've never seen before for disposable entertainment. But physical media guarantees you own a copy for years to come without worrying about it vanishing in the night.

[deatheats]

Not to mention that having a physical release helps movie makers guarantee their release will be available in the future. Of these 50 or so independent films how many will be available to stream 5, 10, or 20 years from now? Given the average life span of content on streaming I’d imagine very few.

If, however, the movie receives a physical release, the filmmaker can be assured their work will remain available (even if only in a used market) for future generations.

[Bobafett345]

Originally Posted by eiknarf

So what is it?
Do you love movies, or do you love discs?

I love the smell of false dichotomy in the morning

-Team Captain Kilgore in a universe where "Fallacy Now" was made as a gripping debate team movie.

So before we get to the more pressing problems of why physical media is king, let's address the really low hanging fruit: you never have to worry about ti being gated behind a paywall, switched to a service you don't have, and so on. "Shelf" is the one service that will be there 24/7/365 and doesn't even need an internet connection!

Everyone loves streaming, everyone LOVES their favorite series, new find, etc right up to the point someone decides that a certain episode, character, scene, or what have you is offensive and is pulled from the catalog. Doesn't even have to be some horrific offender from the bygone days before we found enlightenment. More modern stuff gets that treatment too.

Then suddenly that physical media starts looking a whole lot nicer, because the only way someone gets that, is someone coming and taking from your shelf. Which is a lot harder to do than removing a digital entry from a streaming service.

Which also explains why there's a push to digitize everything.

P.S. Did the topic really get dumped here?

[t-mel]

Originally Posted by eiknarf

So what is it?
Do you love movies, or do you love discs?


.

I don't think this question is well stated. People buy discs because they like films. Discs are the only way to truly own a film, are (if 4k or Blu Ray) higher quality than alternatives, and often have a lot of bonus features. Streaming has no guarantees.

[Bobafett345]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Streaming is ok for rentals. It replaces going to the video store.

One aside that I didn't touch on previously in my blockbuster/kodak analogy: I truly miss the video store. It's an experience, along with many others that people who grew up after they were gone will never get to know.

Meeting fellow movie friends in person, finding new movies (and friends) to watch movies together, even chatting it up with the guy or gal behind the counter when it wasn't too busy about movies with was truly an experience that can't quite be replicated online.

[plissken99]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Streaming is ok for rentals. It replaces going to the video store. It does not replacing buying films. Those who want to own the films they love most will not be happy relying on streaming services that often shuffle titles and rights around and regularly drop content for new stuff. The discs on my shelves are mine and I can watch all my favorite shows and films many years from now because they are in my living room. Streaming will never replace that. Streaming has it's place - seeing a movie you've never seen before for disposable entertainment. But physical media guarantees you own a copy for years to come without worrying about it vanishing in the night.

The video store also forced you still stand and pick something, rather than passing out in your underwear while scrolling through the same shit.

[MarkosC]

Originally Posted by t-mel

This is wishful thinking if you ask me. What is the incentive to improve the quality when people already say they don't care and it costs more to do so? And lossless music isn't really a good comparison considering how much smaller the required bandwidth is. The streamers (e.g. Disney and Warner) are already putting 4k in the more expensive tiers.

Also, streaming does nothing for preservation. Look at the availability of older films on the streamers. They are almost non-existent. They are heavily biased towards newer things. Streaming prioritises the popular and therefore the new, and anything else is superfluous. That's going to continue. You will see way more lost media.



I don't think this is a good idea. First you don't need to go beyond 4k really. Discs are very cheap to manufacture so it will be a long time before a card will be cheaper. But most importantly discs are simply more reliable than cards.

You weren't responding to me in the first paragraph, but yeah I'd rather have a download or somesuch versus lossless streaming.

You were in the second paragraph - thanks. A quick googling seems to say that lo and behold discs are the most reliable and cost effective archival material. Maybe I'm just too biased about all the "scratched disc" complaints.

[MileHigh AI]

Best Buy CEO has now targeted Taylor Swift & Beyonce for Best Buy's problems.........I'm sure that will go over well with the Swifties & The Beehive.

It'd be hilarious if both Taylor's and Beyonce's teams release the physical copies of their concert movies to everywhere but Best Buy and of course give Target (Taylor) and Walmart (Beyonce) exclusive versions.

[emailking]

I'd buy a physical copy of the T. Swift movie.

[soaptrail]

Originally Posted by MileHigh AI

Best Buy CEO has now targeted Taylor Swift & Beyonce for Best Buy's problems.........I'm sure that will go over well with the Swifties & The Beehive.

It'd be hilarious if both Taylor's and Beyonce's teams release the physical copies of their concert movies to everywhere but Best Buy and of course give Target (Taylor) and Walmart (Beyonce) exclusive versions.

I don't follow, how are they responsible?

[CyberAthlete]

Just went to my local Target. One measly shelf left for movies and that too was 2/3rd empty. I think Target is not far behind from announcing their exit from films. They may bring in new releases for CDs, Vinyl, Blu-Ray and 4k, but that's the extent to which they'll carry physical media. RIP

[PeterTHX]

I think the paucity of selection on Blu-rays/4Ks this past holiday weekend is a big indicator the best times are behind us.

[eiknarf]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

I think the paucity of selection on Blu-rays/4Ks this past holiday weekend is a big indicator the best times are behind us.

I mean, if games are phasing out physical, why the hell wouldn’t movies?

I understand that games require patches and updates that are done via download, so there might be some benefit to going digital there… but, it still sucks

Here’s Nolan on being pro-physical

https://www.youtube.com/supported_br...tube.com/watch

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by eiknarf

I mean, if games are phasing out physical, why the hell wouldn’t movies?

There's no quality difference between a game on disc and the downloaded version.

There *IS* a quality difference for movies.

[C.C. 95]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

I think the paucity of selection on Blu-rays/4Ks this past holiday weekend is a big indicator the best times are behind us.

DVD/blu ray/4K UHD will finish out the year around 26K titles.
That's more than ever in the history of physical media.

*At its peak- physical media sales were 16K per year.
It dipped when streaming came into play.
During the pandemic it went back up to 16K
Last year it was at 22K.
The first 5 months of this year did 13K, on track for over 26K.

Physical media is simply moving out of retail spaces and existing mostly in online stores. People are conflating this evolution to "physical media is dying"- when the sales numbers show the opposite to be true.

*DVDandBlurayReleaseReport.com

[eiknarf]

Originally Posted by C.C. 95

DVD/blu ray/4K UHD will finish out the year around 26K titles.
That's more than ever in the history of physical media.

*At its peak- physical media sales were 16K per year.
It dipped when streaming came into play.
During the pandemic it went back up to 16K
Last year it was at 22K.
The first 5 months of this year did 13K, on track for over 26K.

Physical media is simply moving out of retail spaces and existing mostly in online stores. People are conflating this evolution to "physical media is dying"- when the sales numbers show the opposite to be true.

*DVDandBlurayReleaseReport.com

Oh that’s pretty interesting

So physical collectors are just buying them from Amazon and e-tailors

[deatheats]

Since seeing those physical media sales charts I’ve always wondered who they are collecting data from. Are they pulling data from shops like Diabolik & Orbit, and/or boutiques like Kino, Criterion, VS, etc? Or are they only relying on major retailers like Amazon & Best Buy?

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by C.C. 95

DVD/blu ray/4K UHD will finish out the year around 26K titles.
That's more than ever in the history of physical media.

[Show spoiler]*At its peak- physical media sales were 16K per year.
It dipped when streaming came into play.
During the pandemic it went back up to 16K
Last year it was at 22K.
The first 5 months of this year did 13K, on track for over 26K.

Physical media is simply moving out of retail spaces and existing mostly in online stores. People are conflating this evolution to "physical media is dying"- when the sales numbers show the opposite to be true.

*DVDandBlurayReleaseReport.com

And good luck trying to find that 26K in titles at Costco, Walmart, Target, and soon Best Buy.