Thoughts on physical media and digital/streaming services

[Froggy0705]

So question for those who have a good sized physical collection. With all these services these days and these digital copy services. Digital copies i have them but I barely use them....vudu, movies anywhere....like they are convenience don't get me wrong but with watching my physical collection, hulu, netflix, disney plus, paramount plus and with all that geez lol to me there is not point in having a digital collection especially if I rarely use vudu, movies anywhere. Also with hulu, paramount plus and disney plus, netflix they have over half of what I've got on digital anyways. Bottom line is I just don't see the point in having them if your a physical collector and have these streaming services as well to last you a lifetime lol. Just thought I would get that out there. Thoughts anybody? On how you guys go about it and what is enough or more than enough?

[CatBus]

There's another thread here on the same thing, more or less. The percentages vary -- some people are all-physical, some are all-digital/streaming, and most are somewhere in-between.

Myself (not a big collection at all... yet), I use streaming the way I used to use physical rentals. To try a movie out, see if it's any good. If it's good and has re-watch value, I'll buy it on disc. Otherwise I won't. In that way, the two types of media distribution don't really compete with each other. Yeah, sometimes I'll stream a movie a second time -- and sometimes I'll buy a movie with every intention of watching it and never do. But most of the time, physical is for films I want to see more than once, and streaming is for films I'm not even sure I want to see once.

[alchav21]

Digital or Physical that question is up to every individual, there are Pros and Cons on each side. I'm all Digital now because IMO and setup I don't see a difference, but you have to decide for yourself. With Disc you need a good Display and Player with room to grow your Collection. Digital also a good Display with Solid ISP 50+Mbps. The main thing is to try them both and see which one works best for you.

[Vilya]

Subscribing to streaming services and having a library of discs gives you access to a very wide selection of content. It is really no different than having a cable TV subscription and a disc collection.

Except that streaming is a far better value than cable TV even when using multiple services... and it has few to no commercials depending upon your choices. If you need to ditch something, ditch cable TV. I did 8 years ago and I do not miss it one teeny bit.

And yeah, there is already a long established thread for this type of discussion.

[slimjean]

Having a 10 dollar add-on to my Amazon service is not going to kill my digital library that I don't even care about anyway.

Man discs rule so much. They surround me like a warm blanket.

[unberechenbar]

I don't use digital. Physical all the way for me.

[Better in Blu]

I have several streaming services which I use for original programming which does not always become available on physical media.

[Anthony P]

I tnink there are valid reasons why people might not want to build a (physical) collection (way more expensive) and there are valid reasons why people will have a collection and stream (content not available on physical media right now. But personally I don't subscribe to any streaming service, given the choice I will always rather watch one of the physical copies I bought over something streaming and since there is not enough time in a month to watch all the movies I buy I will never find the time to watch something on streaming so it would be a waste of money for me.

[Deadend45]

Streaming is going to have more and more commercials, thats going to happen for sure.

[murphywmm]

My brother thinks I’m crazy for plodding along with discs, but then he’s always complaining about certain movies not being available or being removed from streaming services. Meanwhile, I have them all on disk and can watch them anytime I want.

[russweiss1]

As a film fan why would you limit yourself? Go to the theater, stream films, and buy physical copies.

[slimjean]

In most cases what I have on digital reflects my taste. I figure if I ever sell my collection, it will at least be what I like vs what a stream source allows.

On the other hand, I have redeemed stuff I didn't like on blind buys that I regret. I will try to avoid that in the future. I hinestly wish to delete those from my collection! Is there a way to do that?

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by russweiss1

As a film fan why would you limit yourself? Go to the theater, stream films, and buy physical copies.

I always find this a bit 0of an odd argument to make. Do you subscribe to cable and all the specialty stations? do you have satellite for international content, do you subscribe to all the streaming services? how about international streaming services? do you buy all the films when they come out on physical media? do you go see every film in theatres? why do you limit yourself

Mostly time but money as well means everyone limits themselves in one way or an other.

for me it is simple as a film fan physical media at home gives me the best presentation possible so I will spend my time that way when I want to watch a film. If I want to enjoy a night out (or can't wait) then I will go to the theatre to watch it.