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If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

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If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Old 03-10-16, 10:07 AM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Actually, re-shelving and re-ordering them is a great way to see what you have. Perhaps find some gems you realized you thought you never have. I did that a while back and pulled out a ton of old blu's.

One thing I really like about my physical collection are the tons of Criterion's and foreign titles. I've been pulling those out a few at a time and have been enjoying those. So while steaming may be the most convenient alternative, there is still pretty good value in the physical media, especially those that will never be available for streaming. In particular, the extras.
Old 03-10-16, 10:24 AM
  #52  
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Originally Posted by bunkaroo
It's the same with music. I have albums in my iTunes I've ripped from CD's I bought 20 years ago. My tastes have of course evolved, but every now and then I'll listen to something I haven't heard in 5-10 years and enjoy it. And I don't have to go to a streaming service to find it (if they even have it). It's all right there in my collection.
For me, music is an entirely different beast.

I'll stream music just to check it out and see if I like it... and if I like it enough, I'll buy it - but it's not the way I'll listen to music. I want the best audio quality I can get - so when I'm listening, it's either from CD/SACD or 320kbps mp3 or uncompressed FLAC/DSD... but I'll buy the physical format.

I have no issue having a huge music collection - because it's something that gets revisited more often simply because if I'm not listening to a whole album, I've got it on shuffle (for my rips) - so I can be jumping around from so many different albums. I obviously don't do that with movies - I don't sit and watch a scene from one movie and jump to another... it's a straight 1.5hr-3hr. time investment. That means with an even moderate collection, I can go years without re-watching a movie... because it takes a lot of time, and also because there are always new movies I plan to watch as well.
Old 03-10-16, 05:47 PM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

I'd be fine if physical media went away - less shit to buy!

But it won't go away, not completely. There will always be "collectors" that crave physical media. And while there may be less and less physical media, there will be more, nicer "special editions" catering to that market nice of collectors that want something to hold and keep in a "library" on their shelves.
Old 03-10-16, 06:27 PM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Speaking as someone who has lots of books that are out of print, I like being able to own physical media.

I'm sure the content-owning companies would prefer that the consumer pay a fee for each time their content is viewed, sort of the way movies were before VHS. We had to buy a theater ticket or we had to watch television commercials. I think that they will try to minimize or eliminate physical media as part of that campaign.
Old 03-10-16, 07:37 PM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

I'm really surprised at the no in the poll. I'm loving this Vudu thing!
Old 03-10-16, 08:28 PM
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Originally Posted by TomOpus
You made it a chore. No order?? Quite frankly, that's insane. I have 1500 and you better believe there's order.
My friends both have their collections alphabetized. I would too if my bedroom wasn't so small and the setup wasn't so clumsy had two different shelves on either side behind my huge HDTV and one in the closet. But maybe one day...
Old 03-11-16, 12:41 AM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

I'm really surprised at the no in the poll. I'm loving this Vudu thing!
So you'd not only be OK with physical media going away, but also with Wal-Mart controlling its 'replacement'?

Admittedly Vudu's quality is usually very good for what it is, but even full-bars HDX still shows noticeable compression artifacts.
Old 03-11-16, 09:09 AM
  #58  
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Originally Posted by inri222
No, I want to own a physical copy.
Old 03-11-16, 09:41 AM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

We use and love streaming for a lot of things (generally TV shows) but I simply don't trust the studios to keep everything available. There's simply too much legal nonsense that's affected too many titles over the years. Once it gets onto disc, I've got it, no matter who gets a bug up their butt about something years down the road and tries to pull it from the streaming service.
Old 03-11-16, 09:43 AM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Originally Posted by Alan Smithee
So you'd not only be OK with physical media going away, but also with Wal-Mart controlling its 'replacement'?

Admittedly Vudu's quality is usually very good for what it is, but even full-bars HDX still shows noticeable compression artifacts.
What do you mean about Walmart?
Old 03-11-16, 09:52 AM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Walmart owns Vudu.
Old 03-11-16, 09:52 AM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Originally Posted by OldBoy
What do you mean about Walmart?
Walmart owns Vudu.

Edit - wow, word-for-word jinx!
Old 03-11-16, 09:55 AM
  #63  
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

So what's the big deal if Walmart owns the digital media consortium that is Vudu. It's just another big company owning another company?
Old 03-11-16, 10:28 AM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Originally Posted by Shannon Nutt
I hate to break it to you, but physical media IS going away. We're about 10 years out from its total demise.
They said that about CD 10 years ago and it's still about half of all music sales.

I think the same will happen with physical movies, sales will continue to decline to a certain point and will bottom out well above "total demise". Probably 25 to 50% of sales, IMO. Collectors want something to collect and the quality will always be better too.
Old 03-11-16, 10:34 AM
  #65  
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Originally Posted by OldBoy
So what's the big deal if Walmart owns the digital media consortium that is Vudu. It's just another big company owning another company?
What do you mean by digital media consortium? Are you thinking of Ultraviolet?
Old 03-11-16, 10:47 AM
  #66  
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

I would build a mighty digital collection if that happened. Keep in mind that boutique labels don't even offer digital copies of their films. Criterion has their own Hulu channel but that's it. Arrow, Eureka, Blue Underground, etc., do not. They'll definitely be around for a while. Even with UHD arriving - there's no danger of physical home media going anywhere.
Old 03-11-16, 04:14 PM
  #67  
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Originally Posted by OldBoy
So what's the big deal if Walmart owns the digital media consortium that is Vudu. It's just another big company owning another company?
It's not just any company, it's Walmart. They're not just a "retail giant", there are issues with the company that folks like myself have with them.

We have a VUDU/Ultraviolet account, but only so I can use the codes I'm already paying for with my Blurays. We don't make a point of buying anything through them.
Old 03-11-16, 05:12 PM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Originally Posted by milo bloom
It's not just any company, it's Walmart. They're not just a "retail giant", there are issues with the company that folks like myself have with them.

We have a VUDU/Ultraviolet account, but only so I can use the codes I'm already paying for with my Blurays. We don't make a point of buying anything through them.
oh, ok. i'll stop immediately!
Spoiler:
ok, i can't, i'm actually quite hooked!
Old 03-12-16, 09:03 AM
  #69  
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Physical media is actually going away as we speak. Seems like there's more and more blu/dvd going out of print these days, with no new release on the horizon, than ever before.
Old 03-12-16, 11:30 AM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Originally Posted by Why So Blu?
Keep in mind that boutique labels don't even offer digital copies of their films .........- there's no danger of physical home media going anywhere.
I would predict that yes, the model above could continue to occupy a niche similar to vinyl today. It will be a "collector's" experience for true die hard fans.

However, they can't drive the format, infrastructure, and overall customer decisions moving forward, and I imagine one day a video disc player will be as rare as a record player is today. It will no longer be the dominant model, as forward progress eats everything in its path.

Ease of use for customers, and cost reduction in the delivery for producers make streaming a bulldozer. A fan, I am not.

Different story, but my point is progress disrupts in negative ways, so it isn't always good for all customers. The corporate overlords cater to the larger masses and reduce options. with the advent of IP-based telephony (VOIP, SIP, etc), many people (my family included), simply cannot use their damn fax machine anymore because the copper lines got pulled in favor of fiber, and they don't want to maintain those costs anymore. Thanks FIOS, for deciding I didn't "need" to fax anymore without any warning or choice!

Last edited by latweek; 03-12-16 at 11:36 AM.
Old 03-12-16, 12:13 PM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

What about moving Flixster movies to Vudu? Not possible, either? I also have a couple movies at the Paramount and UNiversal sites I'd like to move to Vudu, too.
Old 03-12-16, 04:51 PM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Originally Posted by slop101
Physical media is actually going away as we speak. Seems like there's more and more blu/dvd going out of print these days, with no new release on the horizon, than ever before.
Realistically, there are thousands and thousands of DVDs that have been released. There's not enough shelf space in stores to display even a slim fraction of them, and nobody wants to bother reprinting and warehousing titles that might sell ten copies a year through Amazon.
Old 03-12-16, 05:00 PM
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

Originally Posted by latweek
I would predict that yes, the model above could continue to occupy a niche similar to vinyl today. It will be a "collector's" experience for true die hard fans.

However, they can't drive the format, infrastructure, and overall customer decisions moving forward, and I imagine one day a video disc player will be as rare as a record player is today. It will no longer be the dominant model, as forward progress eats everything in its path.

Ease of use for customers, and cost reduction in the delivery for producers make streaming a bulldozer. A fan, I am not.

Different story, but my point is progress disrupts in negative ways, so it isn't always good for all customers. The corporate overlords cater to the larger masses and reduce options. with the advent of IP-based telephony (VOIP, SIP, etc), many people (my family included), simply cannot use their damn fax machine anymore because the copper lines got pulled in favor of fiber, and they don't want to maintain those costs anymore. Thanks FIOS, for deciding I didn't "need" to fax anymore without any warning or choice!


You're right about them not being able to drive the market. They'll be the last to go.
Old 03-13-16, 07:35 AM
  #74  
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

I'm still old school when it comes to media, I prefer the physical disc. How can I open a digital download at Christmas?

I just got a free HBO for a promotion from Time Warner. Haven't had it in years and now I know why. I know they have some good original programming but most of their movies are ancient. Even HBO OnDemand sucked. At some point I'll have to catch up with this century and start streaming some content but haven't yet. I still stop by Family Video on Friday afternoons and pick up a couple BR for the weekend.
Old 03-13-16, 10:33 AM
  #75  
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Re: If physical media went away completely, would you be ok?

I don't rewatch a whole lot of movies these days, so I would probably be ok. Every once in a while, I'll want to watch something that I don't own, so I watch something else instead. No biggie.

I do buy most of my music digitally these days, rarely getting an actual cd. Bandcamp's multiple formats for the same price is awesome.

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