It’s sensible for businesses to shift from physical media sales. Per CNBC’s calculations, DVD sales fell over 86 percent between 2008 and 2019. Research from the Motion Picture Association in 2021 found that physical media represented 8 percent of the home/mobile entertainment market in the US, falling behind digital (80 percent) and theatrical (12 percent).
But as physical media gets less lucrative and the shuttering of businesses makes optical discs harder to find, the streaming services that largely replaced them are getting aggravating and unreliable. And with the streaming industry becoming more competitive and profit-hungry than ever, you never know if the movie/show that most attracted you to a streaming service will still be available when you finally get a chance to sit down and watch. Even paid-for online libraries that were marketed as available “forever” have been ripped away from customers.
When someone buys or rents a DVD, they know exactly what content they’re paying for and for how long they’ll have it (assuming they take care of the physical media). They can also watch the content if the Internet goes out and be certain that they’re getting uncompressed 4K resolution. DVD viewers are also less likely to be bombarded with ads whenever they pause and can get around an ad-riddled smart TV home screen (nothing’s perfect; some DVDs have unskippable commercials).
I mean…I just bought Batman the animated series on DVD. Whole series too. I never got to watch it as a kid, but I hear it holds up even for adults.
I also bought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles DVD which has the first 3 movies from the 90s. The stupid Micheal Bay reboot from the 2010s, and also a movie called “Batman vs TMNT”. Which sounded bizzare enough for me to buy.
Now I just need time to watch these things.
I just downloaded them, saved my wallet and the environment.
Check out Gargoyles too, that shit rules
The dulcet tones of j. frakes is enough reasonto watch gargoyles rawr. Still mad at demora. Gargoyles is good.
May not be the same type of stuff, but I’ve seen comple box sets of shows like Courage the Cowardly Dog, Edd Ed N Eddy, and a few other shows for roughly around $30 a set at my local Walmart. It’s absolutely beautiful to see physical media box sets at a reasonable price crushes streaming prices.
a Concidence I"m sure…
🎶Yarr Harr, Fiddle Dee Dee🎶🏴
No ads when you pause, but holy hell, we’ve been getting DVDs from the library, and sometimes it’s a good ten minutes of crap before the movie actually starts.
Hilariously VLC will happily skip the “unskippable” ads on DVDs
i try to put in the disc, hit play, and just walk away so i miss all the garbage and the paragraphs warning me about prison time. kinda kills the mood
I still have that habit even when don’t need to lol
I usually don’t even turn on the TV until the teeny display on the player is showing “MENU”. Achieves the same thing without requiring me to get up.
You wouldn’t download a car
I would absolutely download a car 😆
Free and instantaneous creation of a useful asset? Sign me up
That’s a big part of why I have a 3D printer.
I just need a bigger 3d printer.
Do you know where I can go right to the movie and not see all that stuff about the FBI?
On all the movies I download.
Just rip it and skip it!
If you don’t want to wait for it to rip, you can play it in VLC. It will let you skip anything you want to.
VLC! Itll let you do anything for only free 99
Anything??? 😈
Any. Thing
You can do anything at https://zombo.com/
On a specific DVD I skipped straight to beginning of movie and had playback errors, I had to skip to menu and start movie from there.
And lots of that crap is anti piracy propaganda. Stuff, that actual pirates never see.
Ironic
Most of the DVDs I’ve played can skip the previews with chapter selection, but daaang the blu-rays locked that up. Can’t skip anything at all!
I guess I’ve just been spoiled on Criterion Collection as that’s the only Blu-ray media I buy these days, because there’s nothing before the menu besides maybe a splash screen with the Criterion logo.
If you keep an eye on prices on Amazon, these versions are not as pricey as they used to be.
Press stop, then stop again, then play on your remote. That’s a fairly universal way to skip straight to the movie.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The end of Redbox marks another death knell for the DVD industry at a time when volatile streaming services are making physical media appealing again.
But on Wednesday, Judge Thomas M. Horan of the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved a conversion to chapter 7, signaling the liquidation of business, per Deadline.
Redbox’s remaining 24,000 kiosks will close, and 1,000 workers will be laid off (severance and back pay eligibility are under review, and a bankruptcy trustee will investigate if trust funds intended for employees were misappropriated).
In April, Target confirmed that it will only sell DVDs in stores during “key times,” like the winter holiday season or the release of a newer movie to DVD.
But as physical media gets less lucrative and the shuttering of businesses makes optical discs harder to find, the streaming services that largely replaced them are getting aggravating and unreliable.
Still, places that offer DVDs have gotten significantly rarer recently, and relying solely on an increasingly cable-like streaming industry for home entertainment is a scary proposition.
The original article contains 768 words, the summary contains 175 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
DVDs, appealing? Have you watched them lately?
Yep. I’ve recently been collecting Criterion Collection blu-rays (and 4k BR in the case of Citizen Kane. Which was incredible btw. First time seeing it too) for some of my favorite films plus classics I haven’t seen yet. If you keep an eye out for sales you can get some really great stuff for under $20. Sometimes under $15.
The picture quality is second to none, the bonus features are always amazing and actually worth checking out, and I own them outright forever.
Edit: oh, you meant like actual old school regular DVDs… Fuck that
I tried to watch a DVD lately (as in past few years). Holy. Yeah. Not as I remembered. It’s not even 720p. Looks like manure on my 65" 4K OLED. 💩 And the audio. I had to stop.
I think it was Band Of Brothers? Had to download a 1080p boxset at least. Then it was consumable.
It’s one of those things were people have gotten used to 1080p or better and they remember DVD being pretty good, but when they go back, yeeesh. I remember thinking that about VHS vs DVD. Got used to DVD, remembered VHS being just fine, put a VHS on, oh boy.
The trap closes.
When corpos close the door, I pirate a window
Aye, looks like that’s where we be heading, maytee.
Why would I want dvds when I can own digital media?
I’ve started buying DVDs and Blu-ray again after years of not doing so because there have been multiple instances of me purchasing a movie on some streaming platform and then it no longer being available. Also, there have been even more instances where it’s less expensive to buy the physical product and then rip it than it is to buy the digital copy.
We’ll since they are killing Blu Ray you better hope your hardware lasts forever.
They’re not killing Blu-Ray. They’re killing consumer writeable Blu-Rays. Tell me you only read headlines without telling me you only read headlines.
And even only SONY is stopping production, other manufactures aren’t.
No they’re not.
Physical media cannot be altered afterwards. That’s a thing Disney likes to do, for example.
Plus maximum video and audio quality. Some people don’t watch movies on phones or laptops, you know.
Nobody is altering the movie file on my computer except me.
Digital rips likewise can be lossless, so there’s no quality differences.
All of that can be achieved with digital media.
Rip your own DVDs and you can have both, with redundancy
Or store them on a portable hdd and have redundancy without hoarding shiny plastic discs.
I store the discs because while ripping is of questional legallity by having the discs I have the morals right.
I find this to be an odd choice. No one is coming to your home to check. You KNOW you paid for the media. I’d throw the disks I know I would never use out, or sell them.
Nobody today is not coming to my house. However the world has not always changed in ways I like. If the media companies want to make an example of somebody they might randomly pick me. If I have physical media they will not be able to convince the general public I’m a dishonest thief and so even though I might be legally in the wrong for ripping DVDs they will stay away: they are going to look for someone who they can make look like a dishonest thief in the court of public opinion. They are not looking to take me to court and win whatever damaged they are owned from my activity (it will cost them about 100 times as much $$$ in lawyers fees - they would probably win but it isn’t worth it), what they would be looking for is to make an example in the news about how much someone loses and if I have physical media they instead look like jerks for enforcing a law on something that the generally public wouldn’t even call a crime.
If you throw away perfectly fine physical copies, you are just contributing to the ever-increasing plastic waste poisoning our ecosystems, and if you sell them then your digital copies are now illegal. Just put them in a disc binder and stick 'em in a closet for fuck sake!
you are just contributing to the ever-increasing plastic waste poisoning our ecosystems
so are you. they’re all going to end up in a landfill one way or another.
Just put them in a disc binder and stick 'em in a closet for fuck sake!
you mean throw the plastic case away?
I don’t get the point of having them then. No one will check, they’re just filling space…
If you’re going to sell the disks, just pirate instead, it’s the same in a legal sense (you have something you don’t have a legal claim to).
If you’re worried about space, get a disk binder or something. Disks aren’t that big, cases are, so ditch the case and keep the disk. I keep the disks too, but I have a ton of storage space.
extras, commentaries, it’s nice seeing your favorite films on a shelf
I really don’t understand why they don’t include this stuff on streaming services.
Because the discs will safely store that data for decades longer than any of your hard drives will likely work.
Because the current trend is to ensure the consumer owns less and less and just pays monthly for access rights.
No, the current trend is piracy.
The current user trend may be piracy, the current corporate trend is You don’t own anything, pay a subscription.
At first I was cool with buying digital copies of movies from streaming services, when they first offered them. Until my neighbor apparently got his account suspended and had absolutely no access to all the digital copies of movies he had bought. I then realized… it’s true, we’re entering an age of, “you will own NOTHING and be happy”.
So I rather support pirates.
Yo ho!
dvds aren’t dying; the media companies who own the rights to dvds and blurays are killing them
what’s the difference?
malicious intent
nothing; just gotta point out that media companies are doing everything they can to stop us from owning our own media.
I have a 4k BluRay player I picked up for cheap. But I only have like 2 movies for it.
Does it do 3D?
You know what it might. But I need the glasses for my TV.
I thought those players only worked on special 3D TVs? I’ve never tried the feature because my TVs are always the cheap ones.
Yeah it does require a tv with that feature. Mine supports it but I’ve never thought to try it because it needs glasses. (and probably won’t because they are expensive last I checked)
Yarr harr harr
🏴☠️ Yo-ho! 🫡
yall paying for movies?
Some people pay in order to be able to anonymously download movies. (Totally not me though, as that’s illegal.)
I have no issues paying for movies, as long as they’re actually mine. I have major issues with paying for a limited license to stream a movie, until the streaming service decides to end their contract and the streaming rights get clawed back without a refund. If purchasing isn’t owning, then piracy isn’t theft.
I will buy 4k blue rays of movies I like but if that isn’t available, eat ass and get fucked I’ll steal your shit and you get nothing.
You had me at eat ass
I recently got the Twister 4K steelbook. It’s my favorite movie.
nope
Yup, but only physical media, not streaming services or anything with online DRM. If I can’t play their media offline legally, I’ll find other ways of getting that data to work offline.
It’s sensible for businesses to shift from physical media sales.
Sensible to who?
The MBAs whose sole purpose on earth it is to inflate margins over and over and over again
*whom
😝
Physical is practically dead.
One by one I’ve seen pretty much any shop that specialises in physical media go bust. Virgin Megastores, HMV, Blockbuster, Game. The media section in my local supermarkets have gone from several aisles of games and movies, down to a single rack of recent releases. Even in gaming, I’ve had my disc PS5 for two years now, and the only thing I’ve put in it was Top Gun on 4K disc. The other games (BG3, Talos Principle 2) I purchased weren’t even available on disc.
Consumers don’t want it in large numbers, so they stop making it.
I’ve had my disc PS5 for two years now, and the only thing I’ve put in it was Top Gun on 4K disc
You are really missing out then, because if you know where to look (like psprices.com) you will often find sales on only physical copies at Amazon, Best Buy or GameStop.
I’m talking like significant sales. Like AAA games less than a year old (that still costs $60 on PSN) for $15.99 kind of sales.
I cannot tell you how many PS4 and PS5 games I’ve gotten, and which, for 40%+ off. Too many to count. I’ve saved hundreds if not over a thousand dollars doing this.
Really? Because used media stores are booming all over the place. Stores that sell new and used records alongside CDs, Movies, and video games seem to be in every mid size town I pass through.
The smaller towns like mine feel the effects first. It’ll trickle up.
Game went that way, eventually being taken over by the used section, and now all we have left locally is CEX, which is used only. Most of the prices are about the same as buying new from Amazon. Anything really cheap is often the same stuff in subscription services.
Game still exists, but it’s tucked away at the back of Sports Direct shops in out of town shopping centres, and their main products appear to be plushies and funko pops.
It is dying, and I’m not convinced it can be saved at this point. Who has a CD player any more? DVD players have gone from a £30 box that everyone had to something stuffed in the attic and the apps are built into the TV. A 4K BR player is still £150+ even for a cheap one. You don’t even get Dolby Vision at that price point. I don’t expect the next generation of consoles to have disc drives at all.
Physical media is on life support, and it won’t be long before they pull the plug completely.
When I think small town, I’m thinking a couple hundred people. I’ve never seen such stores there. Medium is a few thousand. They usually have one.
The nice thing is that there are millions of discs and players still out there. For anyone who prefers physical media and avoids streaming (this guy!) there is no shortage. Prices could stand to come down. But even if they do quit making them, there are lifetimes worth of vintage media, and newer isn’t always better.
I’m talking a town of 35,000-40,000 people. There is not a single dedicated new physical media shop here. The most we have is the rack in the supermarkets. It all went online to Amazon, etc, and now it doesn’t look like it has long there either.
And while that old media will last a decent while, it doesn’t last forever. The discs degrade, and fairly soon compared to CDs. Like 25 years or so.
And if nobody is making discs any more, the drives won’t be far behind. It’s full of moving parts, so stock up on them. It happened to floppy discs, it’ll happen to optical discs too.
I didn’t say new store, I said vintage. If you don’t have one, I’d be surprised. There’s gonna be one somewheres nearby.
As for aging media, you’re right about that. Best make sure we reform copyright law soon. They don’t deserve to gatekeep the entire world’s cultural history.
For all the reality of “streaming rights are a shitshow”, what percentage of the population do you think is willing to buy physical movies?
Because I don’t think it’s all that high.
Someone go make Steam for videos and I’ll pay for media again. My stipulations are:
- Once I buy it, it’s mine forever (otherwise piracy is better)
- The file is high quality, DRM free, and in a selection of standard formats (otherwise piracy is better)
- I can redownload it from the service at any time (otherwise piracy is better)
- I can get everything I want to watch (otherwise piracy is better)
Steam satisfies only your third point, though. Otherwise, no. You don’t actually own your Steam library, Steam itself is DRM, and it doesn’t have everything.
I know. I changed the terms. Pray I don’t change them further.
Pay so I don’t change them further.
FTFY
More like
Pay so I can change them further.
Steam isn’t DRM free, though. Most games use Steamworks DRM.
I know, I modified it to make more sense for video.
Steamworks DRM is not a requirement though.
Yeah I don’t think DRM-free is really a requirement for most people.
So then we have iTunes. The only one it does not cover is the permanent ownership. Companies have yanked stuff from iTunes libraries before.
See also https://us.7digital.com/; there are a number of places you can buy and download CD-quality music files. I believe iTunes actually lets you download music you buy as normal audio files as well.
ITunes sells videos as well, which I believe they were referring to.
That’s why you download it. Luckily iTunes m4a files are high quality and unlocked so I can instantly play them in anything, even my Synology apps.
Video isn’t the same though. That’s all still encrypted.
Companies see that as a mistake. They want you on a subscription for life that they can arbitrarily change at any time.
Profits not increasing enough for this quarter? Better cut content, increase prices, increase the number of ads.
Profits increased amazingly this quarter? Better cut content, increase prices, increase the number of ads.
Profits down? Better cut content, increase prices, increase the number of ads, and start adding extra paywalls to some content
They want you to own nothing. Oh you unsubscribed? Sorry even the content you paid extra to unlock was only available while your subscription continued, you will need to start your subscription again and then pay to unlock the content again.
A show isn’t popular enough? Better write it off, pull it from all distribution so you can claim it as a tax write off
I wouldn’t even mind the subscription if all the content was there reliably, and I only needed one.
I subscribe to a music service, because all the music is there and it’s easier than swiping it.
If I had to subscribe to four different ones to get access to all the artists I listen to, then I’d still be pirating that.
Yarrrrrrrr
Yarrrrrr indeed
FYI Steam had videos a few years ago, new purchases are discontinued but one can still playback their existing library.
I honestly don’t mind copy protections, I just don’t like online DRM. If the service is good enough, I’ll look past that particular portion.
DRM = copy protection
Not necessarily. DVDs and Blurays have copy protections, but they don’t require access to any servers. Online DRM sucks because if your internet goes out, their servers are having troubles, or they just shut down the servers for whatever reason, you cannot use your media.
So I’m mostly fine with offline copy protections (someone will crack it eventually), I’m not okay with DRM that requires online access.
I won’t. “Copy protection” is much more about restricting and potentially even removing your access to something you’ve paid for than it is about preventing copying. I am not willing to buy something that can be revoked when alternatives are available.
Offline copy protection, like the copy protection in DVDs and Bluray, can’t be revoked, they’re literally designed to be static. It’s really not an issue since, given time, it’ll be cracked (and both are, I literally just finished ripping my collection). I’m fine with that form of copy protection, I’m not fine with online-only DRM because that’s totally revokable.
Disagree. In order to keep those keys secure they can’t publish them, so they’ll have to license some sort of decryption chip. That just pushes the price up as some manufacturer ends up taking a cut from every player sale.
Also means you can’t do what you want with it. You probably can’t play it on an open source device. Etc etc.
Sure, I’d need specific hardware to access the media, but after I rip it, I can access it anywhere. The benefit to me of something like a Bluray isn’t the disk itself, but being able to legally buy media and rip it to a digital format at home. That’s a legally gray area since breaking copy protection measures is technically a copyright violation, but there’s also legal protection for backing up media for personal use, so it’s a bit of a gray area.
Given that there are no other legal or mostly legal alternatives, I’m satisfied with that as an option. Media companies rarely, if ever, go after people who rip media for personal use (probably because it’s not worth their time and it’s a legal gray area), so I’m okay with that status quo. If there were a legal option to get DRM-free media for offline use, I’d totally go for that. I tried that with streaming services, but the apps I used (Netflix and Disney+) failed when I actually needed them (my downloaded files “expired” on a trip when I didn’t have internet access), so that’s not going to work for me.
If this legally gray area goes away and I can’t easily rip media into a DRM-free format for personal use, I’ll go back to the alternatives I used when I couldn’t afford physical media and Netfilx wasn’t yet a thing.
I buy physical dvds. Sometimes I’m all that high when I buy them.
For the businesses.
Yes, the costs to actually make and distribute a physical disc are relatively low on a unit basis, but the cost of distributing a digital copy online make physical media look astronomical.
Even outside of cost, the level of control they can exert is vastly higher than any physical media.
Being able to prevent someone from reselling the movie or game they bought is very appealing to rights holders.
And customers. Almost everyone prefers to consume media in a simple way and that is streaming. Almost no one will go back to physical media. If streaming becomes absolutely unbearable, people would turn to digital downloads.
sensible for businesses
Says so right in your quote
Shout out to !homevideo@feddit.uk
