Physical & Digital EST: The Future of Home Video Discussion Thread

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Better in Blu

Game of Thrones in 4K UHD is amazing. One of the best AV on disc

I guess I need to start watching Game Of Thrones now that I have it on 4K. I have not seen any episodes beyond season 3 and that was way back when it originally aired on HBO. Essentially, it will be like watching the series for the first time.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Physical vs digital is simply fidelity vs economy

In some cases absolutely but that is not necessarily true.

if we forget movies for a minute look at console games physical or digital it is the exact same "fidelity", for me in that case it is purely about ownership, sooner or later re-DL the game you bought is impossible.

Some people will end up paying more to buy a digital copy instead of a physical copy (now it could be ignorance, but it can be something else as well)

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Better in Blu

Game of Thrones in 4K UHD is amazing. One of the best AV on disc

We have been enjoying the the complete series on UHD BD. I do hate the stacked disc cases, Vilya said the steel book version was not stacked. I will do more research the next time I purchase a box set. The worst I have ever encountered is The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection, I cutup those paper slips and placed the disc in blank cases.

I've had two disc freezes with GoT while playing in a Sony UBP-X1000, placed the disc in my Oppo UDP-203 and it played without issues.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

[Show spoiler]In some cases absolutely but that is not necessarily true.

if we forget movies for a minute look at console games physical or digital it is the exact same "fidelity", for me in that case it is purely about ownership, sooner or later re-DL the game you bought is impossible.

Some people will end up paying more to buy a digital copy instead of a physical copy (now it could be ignorance, but it can be something else as well)

Some, if not many, movies see a digital release well ahead of a physical one and that is one reason why someone might pay more for a digital copy than for a physical disc. During that period of digital exclusivity, a digital title can be as expensive as any disc on release day, but you get to see the movie now and that alone could make paying the higher price worthwhile.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

We have been enjoying the the complete series on UHD BD. I do hate the stacked disc cases, Vilya said the steel book version was not stacked. I will do more research the next time I purchase a box set. The worst I have ever encountered is The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection, I cutup those paper slips and placed the disc in blank cases.

I've had two disc freezes with GoT while playing in a Sony UBP-X1000, placed the disc in my Oppo UDP-203 and it played without issues.

Unfortunately, my statement was only mostly true. The discs are stacked for season 8 only; six discs on two hubs. The 3 blu-ray special feature discs are on one hub and the three 4K discs are on the other one.

I refuse to buy the Alfred Hitchcock set because of the horrible way that the discs are packaged. I will either import the U.K. digipack set or I will wait for individual releases of each title in the set.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Some, if not many, movies see a digital release well ahead of a physical one and that is one reason why someone might pay more for a digital copy than for a physical disc. During that period of digital exclusivity, a digital title can be as expensive as any disc on release day, but you get to see the movie now and that alone could make paying the higher price worthwhile.

that is an other possible reason. When I was talking of the digital copy being more expensive, I was assuming both were available. I was thinking more of the scenario where X is available from digital provider for 20$ and some store has the physical with digital copy for 15$.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

that is an other possible reason. When I was talking of the digital copy being more expensive, I was assuming both were available. I was thinking more of the scenario where X is available from digital provider for 20$ and some store has the physical with digital copy for 15$.

Discs and digital both go on sale like with everything else.

Tenet UHD is on sale for $9.99 at Vudu right now while the 4K disc combo pack is currently $29.99 at Best Buy. While the Vudu price will go back up it may be a long time, if ever, for the 4K disc to drop that low in price.

Cloverfield is currently $9.96 on 4K disc while it is $16.99 at Vudu for the UHD version. Of these two examples, Tenet is still considered a recent release while Cloverfield is old enough to be thought of as a catalog title.

Of all the things that we debate about digital and disc, for many people price alone is the deciding factor as to which format they will buy.

[stonesfan129]

One thing I have not seen mentioned much about the digital vs physical stuff is control over the content. If you have a disc, you can pretty much watch it as many times as you want to provided you have a working player and playable disc. The digital copies state that you don't own anything, so content can be removed at any time for any reason without warning. That's never happened to anything I have bought directly in Vudu or iTunes, doesn't mean it couldn't. But isn't that more like an 'indefinite rental' rather than a 'purchase'?

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

Building a new business takes time. And of course money - it's an investment in the future. The payoff isn't immediate. But once it comes, it's a tidal wave of profit, as long as the business plan is sound. And we do know that it is - no question.

Losses can be dealt with in two ways: "rob Peter to pay Paul" or borrow the money to cover the losses, knowing that it's short term only.

before I reply I want to make a couple of things clear


1)I believe subscription streaming in general and for Disney in particular can be viable and profitable. It is just that the nearly 0.5B it lost last quarter is a lot of money and I can't help but wonder what movie(s) could have been done with that if given to one of the studios. To put into perspective the movie with the largest budget ever was Marvels endgame and that had a budget of 0.4B

2) I don't think it will ever be a tidal wave of profit (it should be obbvious why when I respond) but it does not matter all it needs to do is brake even for it to be a good idea.

Movies cost a lot to make. Distribution of the content is where the income comes from.

a) If Joe takes his family to watch a film in theatres and spends 60$ on tickets a good chunk of that goes to the studio

b) If Joe buys a copy of the film to watch with his family for 15$ (not important if it is physical or digital) a good chunk of that goes to the studio
(not as much$ as A)

c) if Joe rents the film for 2$ (either rental charge or he watched 5 films in his 10$ subscription fee) the studio makes less then B but it is still just as import as A and B because the average Joe will watch a lot more films using c and every cent is jsust as important to the studio to make upo the money they spendt on the film.

If Disney plays their cards right they can leverage Disney + (i.e. Amazon/Netflix/Vudu....) if you want my film pay more$ because I am just as happy getting those views from Disney+

-----

now to reply to your post

generally speaking you are absolutely right, but I am not sure you are right in this instance.

I am a small business owner. several years back I decide to buy a building to house it. Obviously the cost of the building was a lot higher then the revenue in any given quarter and I had taken out a 5 year loan to help me pay for it. Now the loan payments where not enough to put me in the red but they did squeeze the profits more then the rent for those 5 years.

But is that the case with Disney streaming? Unless I missed something they did not build their own data centers (which would be a capital outlay) they are using AWS to do the streaming. and so a continuing operational cost (like my rent).

And yes I am sure some of the expenses went to original programming (like WandaVision...) that maybe they own, but that is not what put them in the red, such programing would not eliminate (nor should they want to) the need to lease programming from other (Disney) studios and it will need to be ongoing (people on occasion might watch the same episode again but you would need o make new episodes of new shows.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Physical vs digital is simply fidelity vs economy

Originally Posted by Anthony P

In some cases absolutely but that is not necessarily true.

Originally Posted by Vilya

Discs and digital both go on sale like with everything else.

Tenet UHD is on sale for $9.99 at Vudu right now while the 4K disc combo pack is currently $29.99 at Best Buy. While the Vudu price will go back up it may be a long time, if ever, for the 4K disc to drop that low in price.

Cloverfield is currently $9.96 on 4K disc while it is $16.99 at Vudu for the UHD version. Of these two examples, Tenet is still considered a recent release while Cloverfield is old enough to be thought of as a catalog title.

Of all the things that we debate about digital and disc, for many people price alone is the deciding factor as to which format they will buy.

agree like I said in some cases that is true, it is an economic choice, especially when comparing owning a physical media vs subscription streaming. And if you want to say it is that way for most cases I am sure you are right but "some" is easier to prove then "most" and if you prove "most" you also prove "some".

the reality is even if digital is not cheaper then physical (like your example of Cloverfield) some people will still pick digital and even if physical is not higher quality (like my video game example) some people will pick physical.

I don't see as that simple.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I refuse to buy the Alfred Hitchcock set because of the horrible way that the discs are packaged. I will either import the U.K. digipack set or I will wait for individual releases of each title in the set.

I hear ya. I try to keep a collection of new (Viva) cases on hand. I placed two disc in one case and the other two in another case and created simple inserts. One below, the other is the same except for titles and Alfred facing left.

[Show spoiler]

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Discs and digital both go on sale like with everything else.

Tenet UHD is on sale for $9.99 at Vudu right now while the 4K disc combo pack is currently $29.99 at Best Buy. While the Vudu price will go back up it may be a long time, if ever, for the 4K disc to drop that low in price.

Cloverfield is currently $9.96 on 4K disc while it is $16.99 at Vudu for the UHD version. Of these two examples, Tenet is still considered a recent release while Cloverfield is old enough to be thought of as a catalog title.

Of all the things that we debate about digital and disc, for many people price alone is the deciding factor as to which format they will buy.

The 4K disc of Tenet is immense!

[sapiendut]

Anybody willing to do a swap of their Cloverfield 4K with my new/sealed DTS demo 2020 UHD disc?

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

The 4K disc of Tenet is immense!

I am not convinced that it is worth my risking $9.99 on the 4K digital copy yet alone $29.99 for the 4K disc; I have heard too many negative things about this movie to buy it with any confidence.

I have heard that it looks great, sounds loud, but with unintelligible dialog requiring the use of subtitles if you want to follow what is being said, and that the story itself is a convoluted and near incomprehensible mess of Nolan indulging himself to the point of excess.

I don't know if it is as bad as all that, but my feeling is that I should wait and see it for free somehow before considering a purchase at any price.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I am not convinced that it is worth my risking $9.99 on the 4K digital copy yet alone $29.99 for the 4K disc; I have heard too many negative things about this movie to buy it with any confidence.

I have heard that it looks great, sounds loud, but with unintelligible dialog requiring the use of subtitles if you want to follow what is being said, and that the story itself is a convoluted and near incomprehensible mess of Nolan indulging himself to the point of excess.

I don't know if it is as bad as all that, but my feeling is that I should wait and see it for free somehow before considering a purchase at any price.

But........It’s Nolan!

It’s pure cinema to me. I loved it.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

But........It’s Nolan!

But...I don't care!

Glad you loved it, but I am not finding that reaction very often. Not enough overall love for me to blind buy it.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

But...I don't care!

Glad you loved it, but I am not finding that reaction very often. Not enough overall love for me to blind buy it.

I only blind buy, I’m hardcore!

You are starting to sound like that digital lot mate!

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

I only blind buy, I’m hardcore!

I blind buy often, but not at $29.99 when also combined with a lot of viewer complaints. Muffled dialog in a difficult plot seems like a recipe for a headache to me. I can get aggravated for free, thank you very much.

The criticism of this movie has nothing to do with the formats upon which it is offered.

[cheez avenger]

My Vinegar Syndrome package arrived today. I was expecting a large box, but t was a medium sized one. Those guys at VS do know how to pack everything securely and efficiently.

Also, filed my taxes last week and already got my refund, so may hurry up and buy those pesky subwoofers this coming week!

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

But........It’s Nolan!

It’s pure cinema to me. I loved it.

Have the three Nolan Batman movies because of the cast and Hans Zimmer. I detest movies that change aspect, tells me someone thinks that's cute. IMO, Nolan is one of those that tries to make the camera and lens part of the movie.

Watched some of the extras from Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection and someone commented that Hitchcock never looked thru the camera viewfinder. A sure footed director that knew his crew and talent and how to get his desired results. Off box.