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

[cheez avenger]

Originally Posted by Vilya

It is amazing what you can find out by doing a quick online search.

This Studio Canal import 4K disc is available from Amazon UK for $24.09 (plus about $10.75 shipping) at the moment. That is very reasonable for a 4K disc import.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Convers...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

It starts at $34.95 on ebay (with free shipping) if importing is too slow for you.

Deep Discount has it for $36.49:

https://www.deepdiscount.com/convers.../9305000084229

You are not going to buy very many 4K discs, especially imports, for anything close to $4.99. You have never told us what you consider to be a "reasonable" price for a 4K disc, either.

It is a classic movie that is easily worth its asking price on 4K disc.

Yeah, I bought that edition from OrbitDVD a couple of weeks ago for $29.99. I bundled it with an order of 3 to get the free shipping.

https://www.orbitdvd.com/products/th...k&_ss=e&_v=1.0

[cheez avenger]

My Lionsgate Limited order with the Den of Thieves 2-pack and Third Man 4K discs arrived yesterday heavily secured in a nice sturdy box and plenty of bubble wrap. I was super impressed at how secure it was packaged.

Fired up the first Den of Thieves film and it was outstanding. Gonna watch the 4K disc of the sequel later today.

[Vilya]

On a very rare occasion I will pay full price for a digital copy of a movie, in this case $24.99. I love this movie, so I bought it right now:



I will buy it again when it comes out on 4K disc later this year.

[gotmule]

Originally Posted by Vilya

On to more pressing matters:

[Show spoiler]I have my third surgical procedure in just 30 days scheduled for Tuesday, March 4th. I will be leaving for St. Louis tomorrow, March 3rd, as check-in for surgery is usually 6:30 AM. The earliest I can return home will be on March 5th.

It was great news that my prostate biopsy was benign, but I still need surgery to remove part of my prostate as it is partially blocking my bladder and causing damage to it.

I am having a procedure called a Greenlight Laser Prostatectomy done where a cystoscopy probe with a green laser attachment is routed through the urethra to the prostate where the laser can be used by the surgeon to core away the prostate thereby restoring bladder function. The green laser vaporizes the prostate tissue and cauterizes much of the bleeding at the same time.

There are many potential side effects from the common & painful to the rare & life threatening. The potential benefits typically last 5+ years.

I will be under general anesthesia for this procedure. There is a 50% chance of my being hospitalized afterwards. Recovery takes 4-6 weeks.

Here is a 90 second animated video of the procedure:

GreenLight Laser Therapy Animation - YouTube

The Brits have written the best article on the procedure with the potential side effects and the odds of them occurring listed in this article on pages 4-5:

https://www.baus.org.uk/_userfiles/p...Greenlight.pdf

The Brits are so squeamish and polite; they prefer to call the urethra a "water pipe" in this article- as if it carries water.

As always, my heart condition is a factor in all of this making any procedure riskier for me. I am a fragile little thing.

While we all get to enjoy red lasers to read our DVDs and blue lasers to read our blu-rays, I get a green laser to disintegrate my enlarged prostate. That's three lasers to your two; does that mean I win?

Wish me luck. The aftermath is going to be painful and the recovery slow.

Hopefully you and water pipe have a speedier recovery than what is possible. Safe travels tomorrow

[veritas]

So how much do you think people are willing to pay for streaming? It doesn't seem like streaming is ever going to be profitable enough to make up for physical and theater sales and streaming is kind of killing both of them.

[bhampton]

You only pay more for streaming


long live the video rental store...

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2025/0...stinas-corner/

[Misioon_Odisea]

Originally Posted by Vilya

On a very rare occasion I will pay full price for a digital copy of a movie, in this case $24.99. I love this movie, so I bought it right now:

I will buy it again when it comes out on 4K disc later this year.

Wonderful, isn't it? Welcome to the exciting and magnificent world of European Animation, there's an incredible amount of gems like it waiting to be discovered all across the continent. Feel free to ask me anything about them anytime, I'll be your guide.

Wishing you success for today, and tomorrow, and always. Here's hoping everything goes well at all times, I'll be thinking about you.

[crutzulee]

Figured today was as good a time as any to finally get around to watching this...sigh....

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by crutzulee

Figured today was as good a time as any to finally get around to watching this...sigh

From movie or procrastination?

From the trailer it looks like a title that I may add to the library.

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by veritas

So how much do you think people are willing to pay for streaming? It doesn't seem like streaming is ever going to be profitable enough to make up for physical and theater sales and streaming is kind of killing both of them.

In 2013 US streaming and physical media revenues were both about $7 billion.

In 2024 US streaming was over $57 billion and physical sales were under $1 billion.

So it's easy to see what most people prefer--even if I prefer the superior picture and audio quality of 4K disks, plus other benefits. Netflix had a worldwide profit of almost $8.7 billion in 2024.

With $57 billion, and steadily increasing, other companies can surely figure out how to be profitable off streaming as well. Especially after they consolidate, as they doubtless will.

[crutzulee]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

From movie or procrastination?

From the trailer it looks like a title that I may add to the library.

I'm sure most of us here have a pile of movies that were must haves on 4K that get pushed on down the line as newer titles come out...

At least they no longer sit up on a shelf still in the cellophane.. now they get ripped to the server and slowly get pushed down he posterwall of RECENTLY ADDED ....

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by sherlockjr

In 2013 US streaming and physical media revenues were both about $7 billion.

In 2024 US streaming was over $57 billion and physical sales were under $1 billion.

So it's easy to see what most people prefer--even if I prefer the superior picture and audio quality of 4K disks, plus other benefits. Netflix had a worldwide profit of almost $8.7 billion in 2024.

With $57 billion, and steadily increasing, other companies can surely figure out how to be profitable off streaming as well. Especially after they consolidate, as they doubtless will.

Streaming's revenue for 2024 was $52.19627 billion, not $57 billion. Physical media revenue was $959.59 million, just barely under $1 billion.



https://www.degonline.org/portfolio_...inment-report/

I just wanted the $ figures for both to be stated accurately.

Also, the desire to purchase and own something is entirely different than the wish to simply rent something and move on to the next thing. These are different mindsets altogether. Purchases have become less popular whether they be physical or digital.

That's my last comment for awhile. I am leaving for St. Louis in 50 minutes.

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Streaming's revenue for 2024 was $52.19627 billion, not $57 billion. Physical media revenue was $959.59 million, just barely under $1 billion.

I saw a different source that said it was $57 billion in 2024. I could try to dig that up again, but it really doesn't matter.

Using the figures from this source, physical media is now less than 1/52nd of the revenue of streaming. When you get to those sorts of numbers 1/52nd or 1/57th it's all the same to media executives. They care about maximizing revenue, and the revenue that's declining over 20% every year is not where the money is. It's the one that's increasing by billions every year.

Remember, only 11 years ago streaming and physical were equal in revenue. Now one of them is 52 times more than the other.

I completely agree, physical media is superior in many ways--aside from costing more and taking up more space. However, the public has voted with their dollars. And their dollars are 52 - 1 going towards streaming. For 52 times more people convenience and lower cost trump superior image and audio quality and owning something that won't disappear.

It's too bad, but physical has been declining about 20% a year for at least 5-6 years--it hasn't stabilized, it just keeps declining.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by sherlockjr

I saw a different source that said it was $57 billion in 2024. I could try to dig that up again, but it really doesn't matter.

Using the figures from this source, physical media is now less than 1/52nd of the revenue of streaming. When you get to those sorts of numbers 1/52nd or 1/57th it's all the same to media executives. They care about maximizing revenue, and the revenue that's declining over 20% every year is not where the money is. It's the one that's increasing by billions every year.

Remember, only 11 years ago streaming and physical were equal in revenue. Now one of them is 52 times more than the other.

I completely agree, physical media is superior in many ways--aside from costing more and taking up more space. However, the public has voted with their dollars. And their dollars are 52 - 1 going towards streaming. For 52 times more people convenience and lower cost trump superior image and audio quality and owning something that won't disappear.

It's too bad, but physical has been declining about 20% a year for at least 5-6 years--it hasn't stabilized, it just keeps declining.

There were far fewer theatrical releases last year, so it was always going to be a rough year. Digital sell through is also declining.

[veritas]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Streaming's revenue for 2024 was $52.19627 billion, not $57 billion. Physical media revenue was $959.59 million, just barely under $1 billion.



https://www.degonline.org/portfolio_...inment-report/

I just wanted the $ figures for both to be stated accurately.

Also, the desire to purchase and own something is entirely different than the wish to simply rent something and move on to the next thing. These are different mindsets altogether. Purchases have become less popular whether they be physical or digital.

That's my last comment for awhile. I am leaving for St. Louis in 50 minutes.

What are the numbers for cable in 2013 vs 2024?

[bhampton]

Looking forward to seeing Flow. Hopefully, I will be able to wait for the UHD BD release.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

The problem with good build quality is devices last a long time. I have these UHD Blu-ray players: Oppo UDP-203 ● Sony UBP-X1000 ● Sony UBP-X800 ● Sony UBP-X800. Also have Sony BDP-S6700 Blu-ray player. I have no intension of replacing any of these players because they still work fine. My Pioneer CLD-900 LD/CD player was 19 years old and was still going strong when it was donated.

I have exactly the same Sony players too, except for the S6700 and the Oppo. I know there are one or two threads where people have posted about issues with the Sony's, but I have to say in all honesty, I have never had any problems whatsoever with any of my Sony Blu-ray machines (including the earlier DVD players) in all the years I've had them, and trust me, they are practically being used constantly as I'm sure yours are too. I've heard many good things about Panasonics and Pioneers too, however I have never owned any.

[Wendell R. Breland]

A few posters here have a real problem about the fact that content ownership revenue was, is and likely to remain a very small % of TV revenue. What exactly do you not understand about that fact?

For the umpteenth time link here.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by CV19

I know there are one or two threads where people have posted about issues with the Sony's, but I have to say in all honesty, I have never had any problems whatsoever with any of my Sony Blu-ray machines (including the earlier DVD players) in all the years I've had them, and trust me, they are practically being used constantly as I'm sure yours are too.

At one time the players were used almost ever single day but about 3 years ago I started copying all my disc to NAS drives and using media players for playback. It is sort of like looking at and selecting a title via a digital locker. A good media players has lots more options in customization, title selection, sort, collections, etc. than any streaming device I own.

From a quality standpoint there is little difference between disc play and file play from my NAS. The MediaTek (Oppo & Sony) devices displays resolution test graphics slightly better than my Realtek (Zidoo) devices and even better than AMLogic devices (Dune, R_volution, Zidoo, others).

[bhampton]

I am so glad I have a home theater and a treadmill. I would like to never leave the house again.