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

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by moviegeek1992

True but not all torrents are illegal such as software updates etc. I also mentioned them in relation to OOP content. But it doesn't have to be torrents, many people are able to find obscure gems uploaded to YouTube also. The point is that as long as people share their rare copies nothing as popular as Star Wars is truly unavailable.

Also if someone who collects physical now was to attempt to buy these rarer editions they would cost a lot of money and for some that's akin to them not being available at all. So it's only a pro for physical media if one has personally acquired these items themselves over the years.

OOP titles are still covered by copyright and that does not make them free for the taking, especially in the eyes of the copyright holders and, most likely, this website.

On this subject, remembering the first, and second, rules of Fight Club is your best course.

[Show spoiler]"The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: You DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB!"

[Fiffy]

Originally Posted by PCFan

What about those people the redeemed a code that came with the 4k disc? What about those people that bought a movie directly through iTunes when the movie was advertised as 4k at the time of purchase?

What about them? It's a glitch that affects some people and is almost certainly temporary. You're acting as if all 4K movies are deliberately being downgraded.

[moviegeek1992]

Originally Posted by Vilya

OOP titles are still covered by copyright and that does not make them free for the taking, especially in the eyes of the copyright holders or, most likely, this website.

On this subject, remembering the first, and second, rules of Fight Club is your best course.

[Show spoiler]"The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: You DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB!"

See, you're still talking about mainstream Hollywood cinema. There's tons of movies outside of America or even American films outside the studio system with rights in limbo and others where the companies that produced them no longer exist. Sure copyright covers them but like I said there's no legal alternative with certain films and I firmly believe it's imperative to keep these films alive any way possible because Hollywood would love nothing more than if these fringe cinema movies were discarded and forgotten about. Just look at how many titles never made the jump from VHS to DVD.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by moviegeek1992

See, you're still talking about mainstream Hollywood cinema. There's tons of movies outside of America or even American films outside the studio system with rights in limbo and others where the companies that produced them no longer exist. Sure copyright covers them but like I said there's no legal alternative with certain films and I firmly believe it's imperative to keep these films alive any way possible because Hollywood would love nothing more than if these fringe cinema movies were discarded and forgotten about. Just look at how many titles never made the jump from VHS to DVD.

I am all for film preservation and for people discovering lesser known titles. I think you will find that most foreign films are, in fact, copyrighted. It is not a practice unique to Hollywood. Accessing, copying, and distributing copyrighted content illegally remains illegal no matter the purity of the motivation behind doing it.

I have also observed that this website takes a dim view of accessing copyrighted materials, domestic or foreign, in any method that the copyright holders would disapprove of and that is my only reason for offering this caution. I like reading your posts, but promoting, even discussing, home remedies for acquiring OOP titles will possibly get you into trouble with this website.

Time now to resume my George Romero Zombie movie marathon; Land Of The Dead is up next.

[Vor4]

Originally Posted by PCFan

What about those people the redeemed a code that came with the 4k disc? What about those people that bought a movie directly through iTunes when the movie was advertised as 4k at the time of purchase?

Have you considered that some people redeem 4K movie codes incorrectly, or the movie file in iTunes is getting upgraded.

I think that you really want to go back to physical media, but you’re not sure. Probably you’re thinking about these issues when look at physical media online or at Best Buy:
1. The disc might be scratched.
2. The disc is unreadable.
3. The case has a broken disc holder.
4. You’ll probably feel embarrassed to buy physical media these days.
5. If a disc does not work, I exchanged 4 times and my return privileges will be on suspension at Best Buy or Amazon
6. I only can get 50 cents back when I sell it.
7. The Blu-ray player has noisy drive.

[Vilya]

Get a scratched disc? exchange it. The scratched discs that I have received are usually the fault of inadequate packaging by the seller combined with the gorillas at UPS mauling it. It is not the fault of the medium itself.

Unreadable disc? I have not had that happen very often across any of the formats I have collected since the laserdisc era; it happens, but it has been a rare occurrence for me. Same solution, though: exchange it. Many studios will send you a replacement even after any warranty period has expired. Contact them in that event.

Getting a broken plastic case happens mostly with movies I have had shipped to me due to the same causes that result in getting a scratched disc. Exchange it or replace the case yourself.

I have never been embarrassed by my purchases. Why would I care what others think about my buying movies, or anything else for that matter? I don't need anyone's approval to conduct my life as I see fit and you shouldn't, either. No one should be that insecure!

I have never had my right to return items (they are not privileges) suspended or revoked by anyone. My returns have been for valid reasons and I am not, and will not be, afraid to return defective or damaged merchandise. Don't like how a seller treats you? Find another seller; you are not there to please them. It is the seller who must please the customer if they want repeat business.

I never buy movies with the intent to resell them. Any duplicates are donated or given away. It's a hobby, not an investment.

I buy decent hardware and I have never had a noisy blu-ray player. I use an Oppo 203 and an Oppo 93 and they are awesome whisper quiet players, but even my PS3 is reasonably quiet. The LG blu-ray burner in my computer runs quietly. The dvd portion of my ancient laserdisc player, Pioneer DVL-909, is quiet, too, as is my old Pioneer portable player.

There are some disadvantages to physical discs, certainly, but only the first three points have any measure of merit and two of those are primarily related to how they were shipped and handled in transit. The last four points are just ridiculous.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by Vor4

4. You’ll probably feel embarrassed to buy physical media these days.

What kind of stupid-ass logic is that?

[neoz]

Friendly reminder.

Don't threadcrap. In other words don't go into a thread about golfing and post "golf sucks" etc. It's unconstructive and it insults people who like golf.

If you can't contribute anything positive to the thread don't respond at all

Lets try to be civil to each other. Some of us don't like digital, some of us don't like physical. Do not use this thread just to bash each other. If you are you are going to do is threadcrap then please don't bother posting.

[Vor4]

Originally Posted by Vor4

4. You’ll probably feel embarrassed to buy physical media these days.

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

What kind of stupid-ass logic is that?

Some people might feel embarrassed when buying physical media, if they had a huge physical media collection before and sold it all to go into digital media and now have a huge digital media collection. This what I call physical media sellers remorse. Also if the cashier at the retailer tells the customer out loud that nobody buys physical media these days and promotes digital media. Finally, if Amazon.com puts a note in the shipping box with the physical media and promotes their Amazon streaming video and music service.

I know this is going too far, but it could happen.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Vor4

This what I call physical media sellers remorse. Also if the cashier at the retailer tells the customer out loud that nobody buys physical media these days and promotes digital media. Finally, if Amazon.com puts a note in the shipping box with the physical media and promotes their Amazon streaming video and music service.

I know this is going too far, but it could happen.

I think you mean buyer's remorse.

I have never had a cashier tell me any such thing and if they did I would respond that I am not a "nobody" and that disc sales data proves them to be wrong. I would also advise that giving unwanted opinions about what people are buying are not welcome and could lead to complaints about them as an employee. Smart cashiers do not criticize their customer's purchases.

And again, I do not need the approval of cashiers and other customers to validate my decisions. I am secure enough to make my own choices.

I order from Amazon regularly, almost weekly even, and I have not noticed any such promotion material. It would not be a cause of embarrassment if it were included, anyway.

There is absolutely no reason to be embarrassed by pursuing this hobby, however you choose to do so.

[veritas]

Originally Posted by Vor4

Some people might feel embarrassed when buying physical media, if they had a huge physical media collection before and sold it all to go into digital media and now have a huge digital media collection. This what I call physical media sellers remorse. Also if the cashier at the retailer tells the customer out loud that nobody buys physical media these days and promotes digital media. Finally, if Amazon.com puts a note in the shipping box with the physical media and promotes their Amazon streaming video and music service.

I know this is going too far, but it could happen.

I have seen digital buyers remorse because its rather hard to get rid bad choices from ones collection. If something is free on digital I actually have to ask myself would this product have negative utility because of the difficulty of getting rid of it. If a physical products free then I can donate, remove or sell A movie from my collection but its a rather large hassle to get rid of digital media in ones collection (almost all icloud accounts still have u2 stuck in their purchase history because it was given to them for free).

Originally Posted by Vilya

There is absolutely no reason to be embarrassed by pursuing this hobby, however you choose to do so.

Idk some people like some weird stuff I could see people having a benefit from having a front room collection and having a private collection. At least with physical you can reorganize your collection and put stuff behind the beads but you cant really do that later in life with a digital collection.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by veritas

Idk some people like some weird stuff I could see people having a benefit from having a front room collection and having a private collection. At least with physical you can reorganize your collection and put stuff behind the beads but you cant really do that later in life with a digital collection.

I remember the "behind the beads" section at the old rental stores, but I doubt you will find such titles as those at your local Best Buy or Wal-mart. The internet likely serves that demographic quite well.

At home, all of my titles are arranged A to Z within their format; I have not segregated any of my titles. I can understand that some people may have a private section, but wanting your privacy does not automatically equate to being embarrassed, either. Maybe a person does not want to explain certain movies to their grandmother or their grandkids when they come visiting?

I made peace with who I am a long time ago. My virtues, my faults, and my idiosyncrasies all are part of who I am. My hobbies don't embarrass me, sometimes my actions have, but never my movie collection.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by veritas

I have seen digital buyers remorse because its rather hard to get rid bad choices from ones collection. If something is free on digital I actually have to ask myself would this product have negative utility because of the difficulty of getting rid of it. If a physical products free then I can donate, remove or sell A movie from my collection but its a rather large hassle to get rid of digital media in ones collection (almost all icloud accounts still have u2 stuck in their purchase history because it was given to them for free).

That inadvertently happened to me.

Even though I'm very much pro-physical, I have redeemed digital copies that have come with my discs.

When Movies Anywhere expanded to being more than just Disney, I went to set up an account, link it with Vudu, Disney, etc.

Apparently by linking these things up, there was an offer for 4 free digital movies that were automatically added. Most of them I don't mind being there, but one in particular I REALLY want to be rid of, and it won't go away!

So if the plan with that promo was to make people more likely to embrace digital, it has the opposite effect on me. It was just one more negative aspect of it.

[moviegeek1992]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

That inadvertently happened to me.

Even though I'm very much pro-physical, I have redeemed digital copies that have come with my discs.

When Movies Anywhere expanded to being more than just Disney, I went to set up an account, link it with Vudu, Disney, etc.

Apparently by linking these things up, there was an offer for 4 free digital movies that were automatically added. Most of them I don't mind being there, but one in particular I REALLY want to be rid of, and it won't go away!

So if the plan with that promo was to make people more likely to embrace digital, it has the opposite effect on me. It was just one more negative aspect of it.

People have asked Google in particular to introduce an option to hide their purchases, as unlike iTunes etc Google don't even let people hide their purchased digital content. Amazon is still the best for this as one can delete anything that they buy

[moviegeek1992]

I have a noisy blu-ray player which is a Toshiba. Unfortunately the Oppo players are too expensive so I've never bothered with them. Noisy players can be annoying, especially at night which is when I watch a large majority of films.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by moviegeek1992

I have a noisy blu-ray player which is a Toshiba. Unfortunately the Oppo players are too expensive so I've never bothered with them. Noisy players can be annoying, especially at night which is when I watch a large majority of films.

Oppos are top top machines. Worth every penny.

[whipnet]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

Most of them I don't mind being there, but one in particular I REALLY want to be rid of, and it won't go away!

Can I gander a guess? The "Ghostbusters" femake?

*

[moviegeek1992]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Oppos are top top machines. Worth every penny.

I'm sure they are, but I just can't justify that huge an expense.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by moviegeek1992

I'm sure they are, but I just can't justify that huge an expense.

If you can't justify it, try rationalizing it. Next best thing.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by moviegeek1992

I'm sure they are, but I just can't justify that huge an expense.

You get what you pay for. Besides, you can pick up a PS4 for £250. Very reliable disc players. Quiet in my experience also.