Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[314carpenter]

Originally Posted by Nightman04

Awesome! Thanks for the info. I will definitely be emailing them.

Can't hurt to try because these emails go,
Directly to spam folder, but maybe some of the emails will get through. Still doubt anyone opens them. Delete.
If CS can't be bothered to respond to advanced directives and inquiries, why would execs with nothing more than shareholders holding them accountable for their actions?

[WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW]

Originally Posted by drb999

If true that sucks ass. Physical media is dying.

physical stores

[314carpenter]

Ralph Tribbey, founder and publisher of The DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, has been tracking the number of annual releases on disc since the inception of the DVD format.

-"while he says he’s never seen as many disc releases — both DVD and Blu-ray Disc — as he’s seeing this year, there’s a hitch: The vast majority of them aren’t coming from the studios, but, rather, from ... (bootleggers)."
-"in one recent week bootleggers released no fewer than 90 theatrical catalog titles."
-“The studios have checked out,”
-“I think they’ve made a financial decision,”
-"content owners don’t think it’s worth the effort and money to combat the disc pirates."
-"studios have sharply cut back on mining their catalogs"


https://www.mediaplaynews.com/wheres-the-love/

[WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW]

Originally Posted by 1924

This is actually surprising. While the Best Buy near me shrank their physical media section they expanded it a bit recently and even started selling discs from boutique labels like Arrow and Shout Factory

While my local store did downsize since covid and did get rid of the front entranceway giant kiosks of discs, they do still have a few kiosks towards the back movie section and about five full length shelves filled both sides and ends. They have a lot of UHD, almost as many as blu-rays. They pretty much dumped the DVD section. OTOH, my local Target has one tiny kiosk of discs now. They have more titles of vinyl now than of UHD! A joke.

Man I just hate online destroying everything real. There was something nicer about going out into stores, seeing products, other people, renting movies from a store, getting a nice surprise if someone came home with a rental, etc. online shopping and streaming just kill all of that. I know one area mall is still packed, but the local one, which used to be hanging on better than most, has not yet recoved from covid shock on top of Amazon. It's a shame. Just gonna be all plugged into VR sets 24-7 sitting in a pod soon. And although everyone says they love the convenience of online and streaming, nobody actually seems happier and everyone seems to value every movie and product less and less.

[WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW]

Originally Posted by turb0time

Pandering to Wall Street. Which, ultimately will also be a self fulfilling prophecy as it will position themselves for extinction. Literal destruction of retail companies by hedge funds. Would not be surprised if the CEO has ties... RIP Best Buy

Yeah the stupid Motley Fool has been pushing the killing off of movie theaters too. All they ever go on about is streaming, streaming, streaming and bash physical media and even movie theaters to bits. Funny how so many own stock in streaming. Bunch of phony shills, been a long time since they were honest brokers for the little man. And what have the studios gotten? All the main studios lose net money on streaming and make vastly less now on physical. They have lost billions listening to Wall Street.

Originally Posted by meremortal

I realize the writing has been on the wall for a while. There are just too many options now and the average perception for a while has been that physical media is dated and a waste of space and money. The most common reaction I get when I mention any physical media other than vinyl is probably laughter. It seems like everyone's moved on and would rather just stream. Plenty of people also never grew up collecting physical media.

It didn't help that the studios actively fought to make physical media appear to be dated and a joke. I mean look they refer to downloads and streaming as "OUT ON DIGITAL" and "COMING FIRST TO DIGITAL". They make blu-rays and UHDs sound like some after thought ancient analog whatever. Never mind that the discs are every freaking bit as digital as the downloads and streams, only more true to the original sources. But they kept being foolishly greedy and trying to kill off physical and where have they gotten? They made zillions more profit when it was all video rental stores and physical media sales. They have lost the vast bulk of that profit and replaced it with net losses from streaming and not even close net profit from downloads. This is why I refuse to play their games and refer to downloads as "digital". The discs are digital too! Better digital! The average person, of any gen, doesn't even know this any more and Gen Z especially. They, and younger Millennials, it seems by huge margins actually think downloads and streaming are the best, most modern digital quality and that discs are lower quality junk for clueless boomers (as they refer to all older Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, Silent Gen, Greatest Gen.... who can't work a computer, never mind that computers can actually be used for top quality playback of physical media and that some that set that stuff up probably know a lot more about computers than they do. But it is not their fault! The studios drummed this into them for years now!

And when people just click around and dial up any whatever on streaming it has less importance and magic to them, becomes less of an event than going to the theater or to a rental store or buying a disc. So their product becomes more of a whatever.

Originally Posted by mar3o

Streaming in 4k can look pretty decent on a 55" TV if it's a good stream. Not nearly as good as physical media but a good 4k stream will please the vast majority of casual viewers. Heck even 1080p streams please most casual viewers.

Still not great though and the audio is worse as well. AND on OLEDS the streams and downloads are usually vicious when it comes to the nasty near black chroma overshoot flashing, plus that near black detail is often just reduced to large blobs and rectangles of junk.

And it disappears all the time or gets censored or changed.

[jak]

It was inevitable but I’m still surprised about halting online sales. It just comes down to profitability. This will have a ripple effect for sure.

[WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW]

how come this post is in the steelbook collection galleries section and not the regular steelbook section or honestly, much better still the general blu-ray/UHD sections?
what does this post even have to do with collection galleries? who even checks that sub-section of steelbooks? how is best buy a collection gallery photo?? huh?

BB said they are dropping ALL physical media from stores (and online, although the latter I care less about since online often meant crushed packages and at this point why not just use any other online store, there is no longer a physical, real world experience so who cares who it from)?

[King O.A.]

It’s a bit sentimental for me because I started collecting in 2016-2017. Best Buy was the place for me every Tuesday morning.

[Bitofacraic]

Looks like Variety are reporting this as well :/

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by meremortal

Losing Best Buy both in-store and online is a huge deal. I'd imagine Wal Mart is taking notice as well. It really caught me off guard even when the warehouse stores like Costco stopped selling physical media several years back. In-store quantity has greatly been dwindling down over the last decade to the point where it's generally not even worth going aside from new releases. But losing a major retailer is huge. I can't imagine the major studios are jumping with joy and we need them. Even one major studio backing out could be a domino effect where they all bow out. I don't think the industry could survive just from Amazon and studios selling direct. We need those optics.

I realize the writing has been on the wall for a while. There are just too many options now and the average perception for a while has been that physical media is dated and a waste of space and money. The most common reaction I get when I mention any physical media other than vinyl is probably laughter. It seems like everyone's moved on and would rather just stream. Plenty of people also never grew up collecting physical media. And in reality I don't blame them. One can still have access to tons of movies and tv shows for the entire family for under $20 per month.

If idiots laugh when you tell them you have a hobby collecting films, you need to find new friends. Everyone has hobbies, and I bet you could laugh at some of the things they spend their money on, too. I hear people say this and I'll never understand it. There's absolutely nothing wrong with having high standards and enjoying extras and wanting the best experience from your entertainment system. People are just morons. Who cares if they laugh?

You can also laugh at them when they cry later that their favorite show or movie is removed from their favorite steaming platform even though they "bought" it or "owned" it, and can no longer watch it. Or you can laugh that they hit their ISP's max monthly data limit thanks to streaming and have to wait for the new month to use the internet again.

[salz4life]

Originally Posted by Pip: The Movie Fan

If this is true and it goes through, Best Buy has lost itself a customer.

Yeah, Steelbooks were the only thing I was buying from Best Buy.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by 314carpenter

Ralph Tribbey, founder and publisher of The DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, has been tracking the number of annual releases on disc since the inception of the DVD format.

-"while he says he’s never seen as many disc releases — both DVD and Blu-ray Disc — as he’s seeing this year, there’s a hitch: The vast majority of them aren’t coming from the studios, but, rather, from ... (bootleggers)."
-"in one recent week bootleggers released no fewer than 90 theatrical catalog titles."
-“The studios have checked out,”
-“I think they’ve made a financial decision,”
-"content owners don’t think it’s worth the effort and money to combat the disc pirates."
-"studios have sharply cut back on mining their catalogs"


https://www.mediaplaynews.com/wheres-the-love/

I don't buy it. It says on the one hand studios have checked out and they stopped mining their catalogs for releases, but then goes on to complain about "bootlegs". Who buys bootleg discs other than in India or China or maybe Russia? Maybe if major studios bothered to not ignore their vast catalog of films, they'd discover what the boutique labels already know - there's money to be made with catalog titles.

How about stop obsessing over fighting pirates since you'll never win on that front, and instead focus on putting out a good product that your paying customers will want to purchase?

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW

While my local store did downsize since covid and did get rid of the front entranceway giant kiosks of discs, they do still have a few kiosks towards the back movie section and about five full length shelves filled both sides and ends. They have a lot of UHD, almost as many as blu-rays. They pretty much dumped the DVD section. OTOH, my local Target has one tiny kiosk of discs now. They have more titles of vinyl now than of UHD! A joke.

Man I just hate online destroying everything real. There was something nicer about going out into stores, seeing products, other people, renting movies from a store, getting a nice surprise if someone came home with a rental, etc. online shopping and streaming just kill all of that. I know one area mall is still packed, but the local one, which used to be hanging on better than most, has not yet recoved from covid shock on top of Amazon. It's a shame. Just gonna be all plugged into VR sets 24-7 sitting in a pod soon. And although everyone says they love the convenience of online and streaming, nobody actually seems happier and everyone seems to value every movie and product less and less.

I HATE ordering online, and I buy most everything these days online sadly, from gifts to supplies and everything in-between. Everything arrives mangled and I'm always on the phone or in email trying to get some problem resolved either with a payment screw-up or delivery screw-up. And half my stuff has dents and nicks and crunches, when my stuff used to look pristine when I could buy things in stores. I hate the way things are these days. And customer service is unbelievably bad these days.

[SCottle]

People really need to stop taking Digital Bits seriously. They've gotten so much wrong in just the past few months alone it's not even funny.

And the owner is a complete ass.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by SCottle

People really need to stop taking Digital Bits seriously. They've gotten so much wrong in just the past few months alone it's not even funny.

And the owner is a complete ass.

This is all over the internet. Pretty sure it's happening.

[MattBowers2020]

And yet still Best Buy has NOT announced that they are removing all physical media from their stores and website. Regardless, even if they do physical media IS NOT dying. I don't care how many "Chicken Littles" scream it from the top of their lungs.

[joshsquash729]

Would be such a shame if true, but I have no difficulty believing it. Every location near me has had a small movie section for well over a year now- one, maybe 2 shelves if I'm lucky. Last week I went into a couple and they were even breaking down their video game sections to one or two shelves as well. I really miss the days of going in and seeing a swath of movies and just spending time checking them all out. That's how I discovered some of my favorite movies.

Don't get me wrong, I love Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Target (even if the latter 2 have also heavily reduced their physical media section), but there was just something about going to Best Buy, surrounded solely by technology and media, and just taking it all in. Blockbuster and Best Buy were some of my favorite stores as a kid. I'll happily support whoever takes over the exclusives from them- with the odd exception here and there, I almost never have any issues with getting movies or steelbooks from other retailers, but I'll certainly miss checking them out too.

It's so silly that they're even taking them off the website too. Everyone buys and owns movies. Even if more and more people are moving to digital, there's still plenty of people who will stick to physical, whether out of preference or necessity. It feels like they're just throwing away money, which is why I'm hoping there was some miscommunication or something, but it's feeling less and less likely.

With more and more platforms raising streaming prices and pulling digital movies from libraries, I think it's more important than ever to own physical media, but I'm just one voice among the masses.

[danny24]

It just means Amazon and Wal-Mart will likely get all these exclusives now. If they stop selling physical media entirely they will become like an hhgregg to me. Just stop by once or twice a year if I need something like a TV or an appliance.

[metsfan1545d]

hardly ever buy anything from best buy as is unless its black friday sales which are meh lately

[SteelMe]

Amazon will take over. No more having to order multiple copies because 1 usually gets damaged. No more having to return damaged or scratched cases multiple times per month. It is blatantly clear what will happen to Best Buy.