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

[Groot]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Of course not, but can I presume you won't be complaining when the next GOTG is exclusive to Verizon or a Chris Hemsworth starring blockbuster is exclusive to Sprint/T-Mobile?

Considering I already pay for:

HBO
Showtime
STARZ
PS Vue
YouTube Red
Directv
NFL Sunday Ticket
NBA Gamepass
Hulu
Netflix
Prime
Acorn TV
Britbox

What do you think?

I’ll buy into Disney’s streaming service, I’d hop on another if it had content I wanted. I don’t care.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

Steeldeel, I said popular titles. I don't know anybody who is running out to buy those titles. The only exclusive I'm upset about is The Wonder Years which is only available on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Yes you can buy the DVD set, but how do Netflix and Amazon Prime have HD streaming of that series? Besides, the bootlegs are better because they have the original music.

Annihilation IS quite popular. IMO, your argument doesn't make sense. What does it matter if it's popular or not, thousands of indies are not popular but I happen to love them and own them on Bluray. The popular titles will be next.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Groot

Considering I already pay for:

HBO
Showtime
STARZ
PS Vue
YouTube Red
Directv
NFL Sunday Ticket
NBA Gamepass
Hulu
Netflix
Prime
Acorn TV
Britbox

What do you think?

I’ll buy into Disney’s streaming service, I’d hop on another if it had content I wanted. I don’t care.

Yes but at the moment you aren't restricted by your cellphone company. With these mergers, you will be. Are you going to take out a contract with two or three companies for broadband AND cellphone?

[Groot]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Yes but at the moment you aren't restricted by your cellphone company. With these mergers, you will be. Are you going to take out a contract with two or three companies for broadband AND cellphone?

Already do. I have AT&T, Spectrum and Verizon. I also have a Sprint MiFi box and a T-Mobile external hotspot.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Groot

Already do. I have AT&T, Spectrum and Verizon. I also have a Sprint MiFi box and a T-Mobile external hotspot.

Must be costing you a fortune, no? That's not viable for most people.

[Groot]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Must be costing you a fortune, no?

Few hundred dollars a month, but I have multiple devices and need it to make money so I write it off at the end of the year.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Groot

Few hundred dollars a month, but I have multiple devices and need it to make money so I write it off at the end of the year.

Ah right. Very unique situation then.

[Groot]

The point remains that me or anyone else buying digital doesn’t have an obligation to buy media in a certain format because it’s allegedly not beneficial to that other party.

[Vilya]

I have never liked the "all one thing or all another" approach, just because I don't want my "thing" to be on the wrong side of that line of thought. There is plenty of room in the market for disc enthusiasts, digital, and subscription streaming.

I will continue to experiment with streaming content as it is a way for me to watch movies and episodic shows that I am not sure I want to buy. I will never purchase a stand alone digital copy for the many reasons I have already related, but I am not adverse to renting a movie. I guarantee you that any title I watch in this manner that I wind up liking will be purchased on disc and added to my collection. I can actually use streaming as a research tool.

Members Dustin44 and flyry have peeked my curiosity about Vudu. I may play with it next. Watching a one time rental is similar to watching a movie one time at the theater. Renting is also more convenient than dragging myself to the theater, economical, and there's the comfort of watching at home. All of this assumes my internet will allow it.

Annhilation 4K UHD is on disc as a Best Buy exclusive until Oct. 29, 2018. You could import it or wait for its wide release after that date. The blu-ray edition is available everywhere here in the U.S. I import titles routinely; don't let yourself be limited to domestic releases.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I have never liked the "all one thing or all another" approach, just because I don't want my "thing" to be on the wrong side of that line of thought. There is plenty of room in the market for disc enthusiasts, digital, and subscription streaming.

I will continue to experiment with streaming content as it is a way for me to watch movies and episodic shows that I am not sure I want to buy. I will never purchase a stand alone digital copy for the many reasons I have already related, but I am not adverse to renting a movie. I guarantee you that any title I watch in this manner that I wind up liking will be purchased on disc and added to my collection. I can actually use streaming as a research tool.

Members Dustin44 and flyry have peeked my curiosity about Vudu. I may play with it next. Watching a one time rental is similar to watching a movie one time at the theater. Renting is also more convenient than dragging myself to the theater, economical, and there's the comfort of watching at home. All of this assumes my internet will allow it.

Annhilation 4K UHD is on disc as a Best Buy exclusive until Oct. 29, 2018. You could import it or wait for its wide release after that date. The blu-ray edition is available everywhere here in the U.S. I import titles routinely; don't let yourself be limited to domestic releases.

The thing is, people want their cake and eat it. If you love watching films on disc in the best quality, it is detrimental to the cause to buy digital. You guys will learn that soon enough.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Something I have been warning about since I joined in 2011.

And how has that been working out? Is the sky any closer to the ground than it was seven years ago?

People have been predicting gloom and doom for BR generally and have declared the catalog market dead more times than I can remember and not only are both still going strong, catalog seems to be thriving.

Even Warner, who wouldn't license anything to anybody, has cracked open their vaults to various labels.

Oh, and TVs are bigger and better and cheaper than they were seven years ago too.

So there's that.

Originally Posted by Steedeel

The thing is, people want their cake and eat it. If you love watching films on disc in the best quality, it is detrimental to the cause to buy digital.

Indeed we do. Consumers want it all. We want wide selections of awesome products at low prices and we want it all yesterday. And suppliers want to fulfill as many of those desires as they can. Not out of the goodness of their hearts, of course. They do it because they want our money.

It's not a perfect system. Interactions between suppliers and consumers aren't always pretty and every individual consumer isn't guaranteed to get everything he or she wants when he or she wants it at a price he or she is willing to pay but for all it's shortcomings, it beats the alternatives.

Originally Posted by Steedeel

You guys will learn that soon enough.

How soon? We're at what? Seven years and counting?

Do you have a ballpark on how many more years will pass before we're all kicking ourselves for not taking your predictions more seriously?

[octagon]

Originally Posted by brap hawg

I don't agree with paid digital distribution so why would I give them money for it? If they are going to sell their media then the only way I am willing to pay is for a physical copy. If I were to give them money for digital, that would be a vote against physical.
They are insulting them self and their own work if they don't think their work is worth getting a physical release so I have no sympathy.

Cool.

Originally Posted by brap hawg

They aren't entitled to my money just because I viewed their content.

Well now that's kind of up to them what with it being their content and all.

In the words of the immortal Rocky Balboa, if you wanna dance you gotta pay the band.

Originally Posted by brap hawg

Also, thanks for proving my point about digital distribution creating brainwashed corporate drones.

Only we can do that to our pledges - YouTube

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Groot

The point remains that me or anyone else buying digital doesn’t have an obligation to buy media in a certain format because it’s allegedly not beneficial to that other party.

But surely you want classic films to receive great restorations and for content to remain available to veryone? As film lovers, don’t we owe it to each other to preserve that?

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by octagon

And how has that been working out? Is the sky any closer to the ground than it was seven years ago?

People have been predicting gloom and doom for BR generally and have declared the catalog market dead more times than I can remember and not only are both still going strong, catalog seems to be thriving.

Even Warner, who wouldn't license anything to anybody, has cracked open their vaults to various labels.

Oh, and TVs are bigger and better and cheaper than they were seven years ago too.

So there's that.



Indeed we do. Consumers want it all. We want wide selections of awesome products at low prices and we want it all yesterday. And suppliers want to fulfill as many of those desires as they can. Not out of the goodness of their hearts, of course. They do it because they want our money.

It's not a perfect system. Interactions between suppliers and consumers aren't always pretty and every individual consumer isn't guaranteed to get everything he or she wants when he or she wants it at a price he or she is willing to pay but for all it's shortcomings, it beats the alternatives.



How soon? We're at what? Seven years and counting?

Do you have a ballpark on how many more years will pass before we're all kicking ourselves for not taking your predictions more seriously?

Don’t you see what I’d happening with AT&T, Comcast, Disney, Sky, Verizon, etc..? You honestly don’t see where this is heading?

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

But surely you want classic films to receive great restorations and for content to remain available to veryone? As film lovers, don’t we owe it to each other to preserve that?

No, we don't owe it to each other. I'm not obligated to support your hobbies and you're not obligated to support mine. People who just want to watch a movie and don't particularly care about bit-rates or audio codecs are under no obligation whatsoever to support the products I like.

It's one thing to say 'hey, look at the bigger picture, if you fill your prescriptions at a grocery chain neighborhood pharmacies are going to have a tougher time staying in business'. That's a fairly defensible position.

But 'okay, I'm fine with that' is also a fairly defensible response.

If 'the sheeple' are fine with streaming then they're fine with streaming. That's their call. And if other people making their own choices negatively impacts me ten or twenty years down the road then, well, it sucks to be me.

That's just part of the marketplace. It's not always going to cut my way.

Whattayagonnado.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by octagon

No, we don't owe it to each other. I'm not obligated to support your hobbies and you're not obligated to support mine. People who just want to watch a movie and don't particularly care about bit-rates or audio codecs are under no obligation whatsoever to support the products I like.

It's one thing to say 'hey, look at the bigger picture, if you fill your prescriptions at a grocery chain neighborhood pharmacies are going to have a tougher time staying in business'. That's a fairly defensible position.

But 'okay, I'm fine with that' is also a fairly defensible response.

If 'the sheeple' are fine with streaming then they're fine with streaming. That's their call. And if other people making their own choices negatively impacts me ten or twenty years down the road then, well, it sucks to be me.

That's just part of the marketplace. It's not always going to cut my way.

Whattayagonnado.

Yes, but this site is full of self confessed movies fans, this is not the general public. It’s peoole who LOVE film, it’s inexcusable to support digital knowing how things are going to be split up\divided etc..

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Yes, but this site is full of self confessed movies fans, this is not the general public. It’s peoole who LOVE film, it’s in xcusable to support digital knowing how things are going to be split up\divided etc..

Well, fortunately for those people, spending their own money the way they want to spend it instead of spending it the way you think they should spend it requires no excuse.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by octagon

Well, fortunately for those people, spending their own money the way they want to spend it instead of spending it the way you think they should spend it requires no excuse.

Fair enough, but I would presume people who have a hobby of film collecting would want to spend their money On films? Crazy concept I know!

[Groot]

Did Vudu, Movies Anywhere, iTunes....suddenly become free?

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

The thing is, people want their cake and eat it. If you love watching films on disc in the best quality, it is detrimental to the cause to buy digital. You guys will learn that soon enough.

I do not and will not buy digital movies or TV shows. I am willing to rent movies via an online provider like Vudu. If I like what I rent, then I will buy it on disc.

I have championed what I like about discs repeatedly, but that does not mean I want digital and streaming to disappear. All of these have their place and other people are free to make their own choices. Many choose to do "all of the above."

My ability to purchase content on disc will remain because there are still enough of us who buy them exclusively and there are also plenty of those who buy them occasionally.