Netflix Turns Focus Back to Disc

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by vargo

I don't disagree. If there is a revenue stream they will take it, however small.

I am getting a streaming fan vibe here. Is that accurate?

[vargo]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

I am getting a streaming fan vibe here. Is that accurate?

No, im a movie fan.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by vargo

No, im a movie fan.

Same but I'm also a quality fan.

[vargo]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Same but I'm also a quality fan.

As am I. But preferences are irrelevant in a discussion about facts and figures.

You can say that physical media currently offers the best in-home a/v experience... and at the same time you can say that physical media is on the decline. The statements are not mutually exclusive.

When your favourite sports team loses, do you pretend in your head that they won?

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by vargo

As am I. But preferences are irrelevant in a discussion about facts and figures.

You can say that physical media currently offers the best in-home a/v experience... and at the same time you can say that physical media is on the decline. The statements are not mutually exclusive.

When your favourite sports team loses, do you pretend in your head that they won?

No, I am very used to my team losing!

Bluray will be fine in terms of still buying them in a few years. That's all I truly care about.

[Cevolution]

I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that when another option is introduced (and more companies start offering the service), that's it's going to eat into the revenue of preexisting options, it's simply basic economics. If 1000 people shop at a supermarket, that has had 4 brands of ice cream available, but the supermarket decides to start stocking and selling a fifth brand, then obviously sales figures of the other 4 brands are going to decline. Arguing about such things, and trying to use this as a point that physical media is some how dying is moronic. Sure, streaming has and is continuing to take a decent chunk of the market (the convenience of having a large selection of content available at the click of a button for a reasonable price, certainly is popular amongst a percentage of average consumers), however this is to be expected, but the growth will start to slow down at some point, as many people will have chosen their preferred option.

This is the only thing I am going to say on the matter, so if anyone quotes my post I will not respond and involve myself in such meaningless spastic arguments. It's evident the few particular members always at the centre of these discussions think they are highly intelligent, but in fact are all stupid for even bothering to discuss it IMO, they just waste their time going around in circles. This thread always seems to get resurrected by the same bunch members every couple of months, rehashing over the same nonsense, with nothing new to add, clearly these individuals have nothing better to do with their time. Quite frankly, this thread should remain buried until someone actually presents something worthy of discussing and debating (based on true facts, not half truths and biased opinions), and if it gets bumped again by one of the same group of individuals before such a time, where they are doing nothing but trolling the forum, then they should be suspended instantly. I think it's obvious by the responses in this thread over the last 24 hours, that members have had enough of the BS, and only tolerate it because sometimes it offers a good laugh.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Folks should keep a few things in mind when seeing all the pro-streaming, Blu-ray doom and gloom post:

• Many were/are HD DVD fan boys/girls so they have this urge to post negative comments about physical media because they need to feel like a winner.
• Streaming is a competitor for MVPD's, not physical disc.
• The xxx millions of Netflix global subs looks like a lot but compared to the almost 1 billion pay TV subs they are just a drop in the bucket. IIRC, HBO has ≈ 125 million subs.
• Physical disc (DVD) sales were in decline before most everyone had even heard the term "streaming".
• The trend for a while now is renting instead of purchasing.
• The physical disc is in/approaching saturation and there is VERY little new content being released.
• Streaming gets a lot of media coverage but a huge % of viewing still remains network programing.
• It is just a post in a thread in a forum. In most cases we know little about the posters credentials and most will not provide any info about themselves.

[Tok]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Folks should keep a few things in mind when seeing all the pro-streaming, Blu-ray doom and gloom post:

• Many were/are HD DVD fan boys/girls so they have this urge to post negative comments about physical media because they need to feel like a winner.
  
• Streaming is a competitor for MVPD's, not physical disc.
  
• The xxx millions of Netflix global subs looks like a lot but compared to the almost 1 billion pay TV subs they are just a drop in the bucket. IIRC, HBO has ≈ 125 million subs.
  
• Physical disc (DVD) sales were in decline before most everyone had even heard the term "streaming".
  
• The trend for a while now is renting instead of purchasing.
  
• The physical disc is in/approaching saturation and there is VERY little new content being released.
  
• Streaming gets a lot of media coverage but a huge % of viewing still remains network programing.
  
• It is just a post in a thread in a forum. In most cases we know little about the posters credentials and most will not provide any info about themselves.
  

Well said!

The other thing is that economy and employment status of many is far different today than in DVD's glory days.

Also before DVD, most consumers were renters over purchasers. With the current economy we are just witnessing the pendulum swing back towards the rental market which includes low cost options such as Redbox and low cost subscriptions to Netflix.

[slick1ru2]

Originally Posted by rickah88

*ahem* Frozen, physical disc sales record *ahem*
Blah blah blah...I've heard the death of physical media for a few formats now, yet there it is, chugging away. Of course streaming is growing, like any new toy people are having fun with it.
Talk to me in 20 years, and lets see what's what.

You are talking one title, not all titles. That's called a statistical outlier. People bought that title on disc for their car back seat players, I even have one.

And I am talking the demise of BD at Netflix and how Redbox is having to turn to streaming and renting video games which puts one of the last rental options on notice due to falling movie rentals. Gamefly is going to have a go at movie rentals. We'll see how that goes.

[slick1ru2]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Folks should keep a few things in mind when seeing all the pro-streaming, Blu-ray doom and gloom post:

• Many were/are HD DVD fan boys/girls so they have this urge to post negative comments about physical media because they need to feel like a winner.
• Streaming is a competitor for MVPD's, not physical disc.
• The xxx millions of Netflix global subs looks like a lot but compared to the almost 1 billion pay TV subs they are just a drop in the bucket. IIRC, HBO has ≈ 125 million subs.
• Physical disc (DVD) sales were in decline before most everyone had even heard the term "streaming".
• The trend for a while now is renting instead of purchasing.
• The physical disc is in/approaching saturation and there is VERY little new content being released.
• Streaming gets a lot of media coverage but a huge % of viewing still remains network programing.
• It is just a post in a thread in a forum. In most cases we know little about the posters credentials and most will not provide any info about themselves.

Your HD-DVD remark is contrite. I doubt anyone feels that way. We are talking media sizes basically. Who cares? The larger capacity won which is great. And you don't get the fact that RENTING physical media is in DECLINE. Renting of streaming media is on the rise. Lack of new content? New releases are coming out just like they always did along with past titles. Also, for the FIRST TIME EVER, last year pay tv sub numbers shrank. It's never happened before. But why are you comparing apples to oranges. We are talking ownership and rental of movies and tv shows, not broadcasting.

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by slick1ru2

You are talking one title, not all titles. That's called a statistical outlier. People bought that title on disc for their car back seat players, I even have one.

And I am talking the demise of BD at Netflix and how Redbox is having to turn to streaming and renting video games which puts one of the last rental options on notice due to falling movie rentals. Gamefly is going to have a go at movie rentals. We'll see how that goes.

It's a downward trend, not a demise. The disc rental business is quite profitable for Netflix. You'll be blabbering away for the next couple years about "the demise of disc rental", in the meanwhile I'll be enjoying my 3disc out plan! Plain & simple.

As a streamie, you should be more concerned about all the studios getting in the streaming game and crossing out Netflix as a middle man. Goodbye $8/month unlimited. LOL!

[slick1ru2]

Originally Posted by vargo

As am I. But preferences are irrelevant in a discussion about facts and figures.

You can say that physical media currently offers the best in-home a/v experience... and at the same time you can say that physical media is on the decline. The statements are not mutually exclusive.

When your favourite sports team loses, do you pretend in your head that they won?

I had this discussion before. His huge fear is that physical media will disappear entirely, which I doubt. If BD disappears it's because something else technologically better has replaced it. He also doesn't get that the difference with BD and streaming is only bandwidth. That with high enough bandwidth, like this fiber optic 1gbps coming into some areas you could stream BD quality content or even higher bit rate. I am not adverse to having BD quality movies on a media server either. And Netflix has started to include disc extras so that's you can still get the total disc experience too. To me, streaming is more convenient. Media server in the house, and cloud to mobile devices. Not having to store physical media, I have 4 towers and a rack with movies and still have stacks of movies all over the place. But this is down the road. I do see it becoming a viable option though.

[KrugStillo]

Us, collector's, have kept physical media around for this long so I think it will continue. Maybe not on the higher profile scale we are used to but it isn't going anywhere permanently for quite some time. When all the "Joe" and "Mary" customers have all switched to streaming and can't find the movies they want to watch cause this company doesn't like that company and so forth, what will they do? They will go out and buy the movie on DVD or Blu-ray so they can watch it (if they care but then that's a whole different argument). Hence, there will always be some sort of demand for it. I have Netflix streaming instead of cable now and I'm happy with it. I still buy all the movies I want to own because even at the top quality streaming can't match a stable physical disc. I can't count how many times movies adjust quality while I am watching them (and I have a high speed connection). That's annoying and don't even get me on the Netflix 5.1 topic. They have the suckiest 5.1 surround I've ever heard, levels are all over the place (and my system is calibrated). I just watch everything in standard pro logic surround cause it sounds better. I and others will go out and buy the $50 special edition on Blu-ray and for that reason alone they'll still keep making them.

[slick1ru2]

Originally Posted by rickah88

It's a downward trend, not a demise. The disc rental business is quite profitable for Netflix. You'll be blabbering away for the next couple years about "the demise of disc rental", in the meanwhile I'll be enjoying my 3disc out plan! Plain & simple.

As a streamie, you should be more concerned about all the studios getting in the streaming game and crossing out Netflix as a middle man. Goodbye $8/month unlimited. LOL!

They have 7 million disc rental customers and have lost 2 million a year the past 3 years in a row. At some point the purchasing of new content and mailing envelopes, postage and the cost of owning and manning their remaining distribution centers will cost more than the revenue generated. Streaming net income surpassed disc sub income awhile back. If you know anything about business, the end of Netflix disc subs is in sight. As for the price, you seem to forget that the streaming division is growing by leaps and bounds which means they are replacing revenue being lost from losing disc subs.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by slick1ru2

I had this discussion before. His huge fear is that physical media will disappear entirely, which I doubt. If BD disappears it's because something else technologically better has replaced it. He also doesn't get that the difference with BD and streaming is only bandwidth. That with high enough bandwidth, like this fiber optic 1gbps coming into some areas you could stream BD quality content or even higher bit rate. I am not adverse to having BD quality movies on a media server either. And Netflix has started to include disc extras so that's you can still get the total disc experience too. To me, streaming is more convenient. Media server in the house, and cloud to mobile devices. Not having to store physical media, I have 4 towers and a rack with movies and still have stacks of movies all over the place. But this is down the road. I do see it becoming a viable option though.

I do realise that it's only bandwidth Slick. I just don't think that quality will be a priority to be honest. Look how long UV is taking with the CFF downloads. Streaming seems to be the focus and I don't like that one little bit. Connections can suffer and other problems can occur. I would need a download option for hopefully better quality. As I said before, I don't trust these services.
As for the convenience factor, that Is not a huge deal. How hard is it to pop a bluray in a PS4? I admit, it is also convenient to use Netflix and I will admit the quality is very decent considering the bit rates (especially new content) but more often than not, I just find myself flicking from one thing to the next, which is a very different experience to movie night with the high quality of a bluray etc..
Maybe, in time, I can adjust to the lesser quality when watching movies. At that point though, my projector would be useless. I may just do the large tv thing. On thing is for certain though, if bluray does die out I won't be buying my films, I will rent.

[bruceames]

The decline of physical media has been fairly constant over the last 6 years or so. Well before streaming came along, and even before the Great Recession. It's been brought about by simple market saturation, as people realized that they have been overbuying and have cut back.

[slick1ru2]

Originally Posted by rickah88

It's a downward trend, not a demise. The disc rental business is quite profitable for Netflix. You'll be blabbering away for the next couple years about "the demise of disc rental", in the meanwhile I'll be enjoying my 3disc out plan! Plain & simple.

As a streamie, you should be more concerned about all the studios getting in the streaming game and crossing out Netflix as a middle man. Goodbye $8/month unlimited. LOL!

I'm not comcerned. I just stopped paying $145/month to Dish. And do you mean studios like Sony with their FREE streaming service Crackle, or Warner Bros and their niche Instant Archive which I mentioned and was laughed at as appealing to hardly anyone? If Disney will sign with Dish, and Paramount/Lionsgate/MGM (Epix) along with Weinstein, I'm not too worried about studios starting their own services. Studios seem to be very cost conscious. I don't see too many being tolerant of the amount of losses they'd incur starting up an all encompassing library that can compete with Netflix.

You are sounding like one of the above referenced jealous HD-DVD groupies just wishing ill will on something you don't like.

[slick1ru2]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

I do realise that it's only bandwidth Slick. I just don't think that quality will be a priority to be honest. Look how long UV is taking with the CFF downloads. Streaming seems to be the focus and I don't like that one little bit. Connections can suffer and other problems can occur. I would need a download option for hopefully better quality. As I said before, I don't trust these services.
As for the convenience factor, that Is not a huge deal. How hard is it to pop a bluray in a PS4? I admit, it is also convenient to use Netflix and I will admit the quality is very decent considering the bit rates (especially new content) but more often than not, I just find myself flicking from one thing to the next, which is a very different experience to movie night with the high quality of a bluray etc..
Maybe, in time, I can adjust to the lesser quality when watching movies. At that point though, my projector would be useless. I may just do the large tv thing. On thing is for certain though, if bluray does die out I won't be buying my films, I will rent.

By the time you adjust H.265 will be the standard and quality will be much less of a concern.

[Tok]

Originally Posted by slick1ru2

You are talking one title, not all titles. That's called a statistical outlier. People bought that title on disc for their car back seat players, I even have one.

And I am talking the demise of BD at Netflix and how Redbox is having to turn to streaming and renting video games which puts one of the last rental options on notice due to falling movie rentals. Gamefly is going to have a go at movie rentals. We'll see how that goes.

You act as if everything is available through the cloud. Not everything is and not to mention how the titles that are available are in a state of flux.

Again why didn't we see a huge PR about the Frozen cloud sales with its two week lead. It's more than an outlier. For fan favorites, most consumers still want a physical copy. For much of the dreck being released in can see where most consumers view it as throwaway content. The vast majority of NF streaming content are D-list throwaway movies.

[slick1ru2]

At the current rate of decline in customers, Netflix disc subs will cease by 2017. At some point it won't be cost effective anymore.