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

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

This, I'm afraid, is going to kill it off in the mass market. When you have new releases coming out for $38 for a Blu-ray or $45 for a 4K; the vast majority of people are not going to pay that. I know I certainly am not. And if I have to wait a few weeks until it's $5 on Vudu, so be it.

Can you link where these prices are, I import from the U.S quite often and I haven’t seen those prices outside of boutique labels.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Can you link where these prices are, I import from the U.S quite often and I haven’t seen those prices outside of boutique labels.

Many of his recent posts complain about the price of a specific title, such as when he was unhappy with the price for the Panic Room 4K steelbook:

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

Stuff like this is making it harder and harder to be a based physical media enjoyer.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Panic...lu-ray/211017/

$45 for a 23-year-old movie that wasn't even received that well... And no separate Blu-ray or DVD release either.

With minimal research I was quickly able to find a much better price:

Originally Posted by Vilya

is available for $29.99 at Sony's ebay store:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/31620316694...Z63C2TCQXGV7CQ

It didn't even take me five minutes to find a better price.

I took that offer myself; my copy should be here soon. They are currently out of stock, so anyone still interested should check back later.

Pre-orders are often listed at full MSRP until close to their release date; this is nothing new. Obviously, limited editions in collectible packaging will command a higher price as do some titles released by boutique labels, but even the boutique labels have sales events.

I get emails from many of these boutique labels when these sales happen, but you need to sign up for their newsletters if you want such notifications or at least keep on eye on this website for news of these sales events.

If you can wait a few weeks for a digital copy to drop to $5 at Vudu, then you should be able to wait for a sale price on the disc edition, too. If you are expecting the disc edition to drop to $5, you will likely be disappointed. Great deals do happen, though; even Criterion releases are 50% off a few times a year.

Finding the best price requires a little research effort and sometimes a little patience, but you can almost always beat MSRP prices.

The superior quality and genuine ownership of physical media will cost more than the convenience and economy of ephemeral digital copies. It always has. We each have to decide which we value more: the best presentation or the lowest price.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by alchav21

So by your Graphs, Disc Users have less than 10% of the Video Market. That's why only two Major Player Manufactures, and limited Disc Releases with rising Disc Costs. Physical Ownership is going to have some problems, I guess you guys know that!

It always humors me how much you obsess about the cost of things that you do not buy, and have no intention of buying, while at the same time ignoring the price increases of subscription streaming services. Internet service prices are rising, too.

Your streaming-only preference is not immune from price increases, so how about we each concern ourselves with the costs of what we actually spend our money on?

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Many of his recent posts complain about the price of a specific title, such as when he was unhappy with the price for the Panic Room 4K steelbook:



With minimal research I was quickly able to find a much better price:



I took that offer myself; my copy should be here soon. They are currently out of stock, so anyone still interested should check back later.

Pre-orders are often listed at full MSRP until close to their release date; this is nothing new. Obviously, limited editions in collectible packaging will command a higher price as do some titles released by boutique labels, but even the boutique labels have sales events.

I get emails from many of these boutique labels when these sales happen, but you need to sign up for their newsletters if you want such notifications or at least keep on eye on this website for news of these sales events.

If you can wait a few weeks for a digital copy to drop to $5 at Vudu, then you should be able to wait for a sale price on the disc edition, too. If you are expecting the disc edition to drop to $5, you will likely be disappointed. Great deals do happen, though; even Criterion releases are 50% off a few times a year.

Finding the best price requires a little research effort and sometimes a little patience, but you can almost always beat MSRP prices.

The superior quality and genuine ownership of physical media will cost more than the convenience and economy of ephemeral digital copies. It always has. We each have to decide which we value more: the best presentation or the lowest price.

Got that a panic Room UHD (Steelbook) for £29.99 and it includes a Blu, worth every penny.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Got that a panic Room UHD (Steelbook) for £29.99 and it includes a Blu, worth every penny.

Here in the U.S. it also includes the digital code that you put to such good use. I'm surprised that you did not import it.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Here in the U.S. it also includes the digital code that you put to such good use. I'm surprised that you did not import it.

I’m ok, I have the three tier, extra soft luxury stuff!

[Wendell R. Breland]

Wicked (2024) UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray & digital - Amazon & Walmart $28.13
Wicked (2024) EST - $19.99
Wicked (2024) to rent streaming - not available
Wicked (2024) to rent UHD BD - about $3.85 via GameFly

Venom: The Last Dance (2024) UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray & digital - Amazon & Walmart $26.99
Venom: The Last Dance (2024) EST - $19.99
Venom: The Last Dance (2024) to rent streaming - $5.99
Venom: The Last Dance (2024) to rent UHD BD - about $3.85 via GameFly

The Blu-ray versions can be played while traveling I40 in the Pigeon River Gorge, try that via streaming!!!

[Lord-Oakbeard]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

This, I'm afraid, is going to kill it off in the mass market. When you have new releases coming out for $38 for a Blu-ray or $45 for a 4K; the vast majority of people are not going to pay that. I know I certainly am not. And if I have to wait a few weeks until it's $5 on Vudu, so be it.

Where exactly are those prices from? If some folk are paying that they would be better off shopping around. There are much cheaper options even before price offers and sales.

[bhampton]

I'm happy to be hosting a movie tonight.

[stonesfan129]

Originally Posted by Lord-Oakbeard

Where exactly are those prices from? If some folk are paying that they would be better off shopping around. There are much cheaper options even before price offers and sales.

I am generally seeing these prices for Amazon pre-orders.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Vilya

It always humors me how much you obsess about the cost of things that you do not buy, and have no intention of buying, while at the same time ignoring the price increases of subscription streaming services. Internet service prices are rising, too.

Your streaming-only preference is not immune from price increases, so how about we each concern ourselves with the costs of what we actually spend our money on?

Vilya I Love You but we all have to prioritize where we spend our money. Since I don't buy Discs I have more to spend on Streaming Providers and IPTV where there is 90% of the Video Market. The Streaming Providers I use are Amazon Prime, Netflix, AppleTV+, Hulu, VuduFandango, and YouTube. You're right their cost have gone up too, but having 90% of the Video Market I can watch just about anything!

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Vilya I Love You but we all have to prioritize where we spend our money. Since I don't buy Discs I have more to spend on Streaming Providers and IPTV where there is 90% of the Video Market. The Streaming Providers I use are Amazon Prime, Netflix, AppleTV+, Hulu, VuduFandango, and YouTube. You're right their cost have gone up too, but having 90% of the Video Market I can watch just about anything!

When prioritizing that spending, why do you obsess about the cost of things that you do not buy, have no plans to buy, and have not bought in over a decade? Most people only prioritize their actual spending. Who budgets for things that they have no desire to buy in the first place?

Streaming, which includes IPTV by definition, does not comprise 90% of the video market if by that you mean the percentage of people viewing that platform.

The amount of content available to watch on a platform is not the same thing as a platform's video market share. The best selection of video content comes from the usage of multiple platforms, which is why most of us here do exactly that, i.e.: a mix of physical media, streaming, TV, etc. Even with using multiple platforms, no one has access to 90% of all movies and TV shows made. Having access to a lot of varied content is nice, but so is enjoying that content at its very best and more often than not that means using physical media.

Wendell posted this earlier as a link, but here it is in plain sight:

Nielsen Viewing By Platform Chart January 2025.jpg

https://www.nielsen.com/data-center/the-gauge/

Streaming's "viewing by platform" share is only 42.6%, and that is nowhere near 90%.

Here's a second source citing the first source (Nielsen):

Streaming Usage US as of June 2024.jpg

You really should provide a source when you post statistics, but that is difficult to do when you just make stuff up, isn't it?

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

I am generally seeing these prices for Amazon pre-orders.

Widen your view to encompass more retailers if price is so important to you. Amazon is far from being the only game in town.

Even when Amazon has a good price, it is usually just them price matching some other retailer that offered the better price in the first place. I prefer to reward the price leader with my business and not the price matcher.

Initial pre-order prices are rarely, if ever, the same as release day prices. Pre-order prices often start at full MSRP, but as release day nears those prices pretty much always drop. You can always cancel a pre-order if the price remains too high for you as release day nears.

[cheez avenger]

Watched the Arrow Video 4K of Cruising - great 4K disc presentation!

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by cheez avenger

Watched the Arrow Video 4K of Cruising - great 4K disc presentation!

Isn't the surround audio option screwed up on this edition, namely swapped surround channels? I have the older Arrow blu-ray and I am hesitant to buy the 4K for this reason.

[cheez avenger]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Isn't the surround audio option screwed up on this edition, namely swapped surround channels? I have the older Arrow blu-ray and I am hesitant to buy the 4K for this reason.

I don't believe so. Or at least I haven't heard about that. To be honest, I actually watched the restored 1.0 mono soundtrack -- first time it's ever been offered. I did not sample the 2.0 and 5.1 options, though.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by cheez avenger

I don't believe so. Or at least I haven't heard about that. To be honest, I actually watched the restored 1.0 mono soundtrack -- first time it's ever been offered. I did not sample the 2.0 and 5.1 options, though.

I was referring to this post in the 4K thread for Cruising:

Originally Posted by DonaldMcDonald

Seems like front and back left/right channels are swapped on the 5.1 mix, compared to all previous discs.

The 5.1 mix sounds very poor anyway (both here and on the previous disc), by far the worst of all the available options. Mono is the best, even stereo is better. Maybe the 5.1 was just a derivative of the stereo.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Vilya I Love You but we all have to prioritize where we spend our money. Since I don't buy Discs I have more to spend on Streaming Providers and IPTV where there is 90% of the Video Market. The Streaming Providers I use are Amazon Prime, Netflix, AppleTV+, Hulu, VuduFandango, and YouTube. You're right their cost have gone up too, but having 90% of the Video Market I can watch just about anything!

The one upside to your method is when you visit someone with lossless audio it's going to seem like magic.

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by bhampton

The one upside to your method is when you visit someone with lossless audio it's going to seem like magic.

Even with my meager little Dolby Atmos sound bar my discs sound 1000 times better than anything I've ever heard on streaming.

[bhampton]

I purchased a ATMOS sound bar for one of my kids. You don't need the highest quality setup to appreciate a higher quality source.

Even with headphones, if they support it, lossless audio is noticeable and appreciated by anyone who pays attention.