JimRochester

I haven't even gone digital yet and I buy in a year what I used to buy in a week.

Yesterday on one of the morning radio shows, the guys from Super Troopers were being interviewed about filming Super Troopers II. He said ST1 made all it's money on DVD. People don't buy DVD's any more. My immediate thought was what the hell is he talking about? Then I remembered, I don't buy them any more either.

orangerunner

I always want physical media to still be available but I worry that as volume of production goes down, the price will go up.

Stores will no longer stock them and they will only be available through the internet (ironic huh?).

For me, I like physical media for the packaging, the disc artwork and I like the idea of opening up the case and popping a disc into the DVD player. I guess it's similar to a projectionist feeding film through the sprockets of a projector...just with less headache.

Even if they cease production, there is enough product on the used market to sustain it for many years.

OldBoy

i'm so addicted to Vudu now, that i could care less that i am rebuying digital copies of stuff i have on blu or dvd...

xfilekr

I live in the boonies and don't have access to reliable internet to be able to stream, but I have been redeeming all my digital copies and have a good sized library.
Somewhat unrelated, I've been into DVD since '98 and blu since '08 and pretty much have a room filled with them. I definitely inherited some collecting/hoarding tendencies from my parents and have been trying to work on it. I sat down a few weeks ago with my DVDProfiler list and made a list of all the duplicates, movies/shows I had on dvd that I upgraded to blu. Over 150 titles duplicated. Every few days I've been pulling a few from the shelf into a garage sale box....slow progress, but progress!

OldBoy

i wish i had that urge to do that...

xfilekr

It might sound goofy, but the hardest part was making the list and getting started. I keep my dvds organized by studio- so I started with the studio with the least duplicates and went from there. I've pulled 55 titles and have about 80 more to go. (I have kept a few that the blu is missing bonus features.)
I think I had originally convinced myself to keep the duplicates because none of my family/friends are into blu, so I kept them thinking if they wanted to borrow them- but I can count on one hand how many times I've lent movies out in the past 12 months. Time to purge! (This is part of a larger 'physical possessions are just stuff' movement I've been on lately...)

nodeerforamonth

Digital copy would have to be a fraction of the price of the physical for me to be ok with going digital. I'm not paying $15-$20 for a digital copy when I can get it on physical media for the same price.

And digital copy would have to be downloadable, not streaming. I'm not paying $15 for a streaming movie and be at their mercy when they take it off their servers.

OldBoy

downloadable to what, you know how much space that would take up?

nodeerforamonth

500 MB to about 1 GB (or more, depending on quality)

Which is why I prefer physical. Like I said, digital would only be worth it for a fraction of the cost.

mndtrp

It wouldn't be blu-ray quality at that size.

coyoteblue

HD quality is roughly 4 Gigs.

rocket1312

You can get a 5tb hard drive for about $125 at this point. Two years from now it will probably be 10tb for that price. Storage is not an issue.

Ranger

I remember all the outrage when Netflix tried to phase out its disc rental service to "Qwikster" SIX years ago.....

There's gotta be a point when Netflix says, "Fuck it, we want out of the disc rental business, get over it."

latweek

Will Napster co-founder Sean Parker's Screening Room disrupt the film industry?

He is pitching Hollywood on an unorthodox home-video service called Screening Room that would give users access to films the day that they're released in theaters for $50 each. If Parker succeeds, it could open a vast new revenue stream for him and change how entertainment is consumed in the home.

See LATimes article for details (can't post link).

E Unit

Been talked about for a while now. Though not sure what that has to do with physical media going away.

latweek

Sure, hopefully this will help. I don't have any interest in debating my personal preferences, I am just passing on some information about industry delivery channels that compete with physical media.

Not sure if you read the article, as it was long, but the information provided some details about the direction studios are exploring to deliver a first run movie experience via streaming. If consumers pay $50 (we'll see) for that experience would be a landmark achievement for streaming.

At any rate, the correlation is that first-run movies at home further entrench the streaming model. The expansion into premium areas like first-run, UHD, and other critical consumer experiences that were previously difficult to deliver via streaming, and thus raises its mainstream visibility and value.

E Unit

Yeah, but new releases will still have a home release at some point. Still doesn't have any direct correlation to the discussion here - if physical media went away. Kind of see your point though. But as been mentioned here and on other threads, as long as studios continue to make money on home video (i.e. DVD, Blu, UHD), it won't stop. The day they make no money on physical format, then you'll see it end. Streaming is taking away from physical, but it's hasn't stopped it in its tracks. Maybe in time. Or maybe not.

latweek

That's all I'm saying. Many conversations here are "absolute" in nature, meaning we cannot totally travel to the future and confirm without any doubt that something has indeed "happened" or "not happened". If that is the litmus test, discussion is pointless.

In the meantime, let's continue to stay open minded, since the topic is speculative in nature: "IF Physical Media Went Away"...we just don't know the future....

E Unit

Ha, sure. Be sure to stay open minded as well...

Alan Smithee

There's VERY few movies that I would pay $50 to buy, I sure as hell won't pay that much to rent something, even if it's a brand-new movie.

slop101

I agree, but the idea is to get 5 or 10 people to come over and watch it together, which would be cheaper than everyone going to a movie theater. Family films would do well with that model. Smaller indie films, not as much.

Either way, I can wait a couple months for the blu-ray, or even cheaper streaming.

PhantomStranger

I think it's mostly targeting the very richest consumers with lavish home theaters that don't feel like fighting the crowds on opening weekend.

Most box office revenue these days is driven by teenagers, which aren't the market for this kind of early movie home service.

orangerunner

I agree this format will work well for older viewers who do not wish to fight the crowds. The Baby-Boomers are a large market who may not wish to go to the theatre.

I think a good formula for this idea, which has a lot of support as well as opposition, would be to have "blackout" areas.

An example would be if a film is playing in a theatre within 20 miles of the set-top box you would not be able to access that particular film, which would encourage people to just go to the theatre.

This would give full access to those in the outlying areas who would not otherwise get in their cars and travel a long distance to go see a movie.

For indie films in limited release it would allow a much larger audience while not reducing the number of potential viewers who are within the 20 mile radius of the theatre.

If you live in the middle of a city like New York or Los Angeles, I guess there wouldn't be any point in buying a box because virtually every major film would be playing within 20 miles.

Logistically, I guess the set-top box would be linked to GPS as to its location.

Then again, the whole idea is ripe for piracy. Anything that can be shown on a screen at home can be easily pirated but that is another topic altogether.

Jay G.

I could live without physical media if video went DRM free. I could handle backing up stuff on my own, and while streaming is convenient as an option, I don't entirely trust any business agency to keep access to my content available forever.

I've largely switched to digital downloads for music, since it's all DRM-free. I can usually still also stream and redownload from the service I bought it from, but I also have a local copy if that service ever dies.

big e

I don't think your blackout idea would fly. That would pretty much force the people who bought these boxes to go to the theater to see the movie, which would nullify the whole point of these boxes. Unless the person waited until after the movie's run was over, but at that point, you may as well wait until the home video release.