Wannabe

You actually wouldn't necessarily need to store the films on your hard drive - you would just store the permission to watch them at will.

In regards to video on demand, imagine you could watch any film (including the extras) on demand for $2 bucks per 7 days of viewing. Why would you feel the need to "own" it? How often do you watch the same film?

chipmac

Who's to say you would even own it even with DRM. If they take a queue from the recent digital music download services such as Napster you won't own anything other than a temporary file. If it's a subscription based service you'll only "own" it as long as you continue to subscribe to the service. If the service goes under or you decide not to renew then those files are no longer playable. Now if it's set up like iTunes music store where you can download it and burn it to a disc or move it from storage device to storage device because you physically own it and don't need to keep paying for it five years later that wouldn't be bad.

Sanitarium

Some movies I watch weekly because I like them. Owning it and being able to watch it when and how I want is important to me. Things like DRM annoy me to no end. It's basically like someone telling you when and how you can watch a movie.

Filmmaker

Holy shit, are you for real?

Sex Fiend

Hmm...it does seem if you are a bit confused about what community you are among here. I would say 99% of the participants in this forum are DVD "collectors" and would almost always choose to 'own' a movie, rather than to just 'lease' use of it.

You seem to be missing one salient point about collecting: the issue is not how often one may actually choose to view a film, but that one has the option to choose to view it whenever they desire, and the right to exercise that choice is virtually fail safe (more or less). The inherent problems with "soft" storage of content, or even on-demand delivery via some data transfer paradigm, are such that there will likely never be a satisfactory substitute for having the tangible medium in one's possession (at least in the near future).

I shouldn't really need to list all of the potential problems with VOD or hard drive storage that make those methods disadvantageous as we currently understand them. But if you have ever dealt with cable or satellite outages, or had a hard disk drive go bad, resulting in loss of unrecoverable (or difficult to recover) data, you would have a serious distrust of investing any serious money in such methods of accessing or accumulating a film collection.

On the other hand, if you are simply interested in some streamlined method of "renting" films, with no real sense of dependability (or control) whether the content you desire will always be accessible whenever or however often you want it, then what you are suggesting is probably quite acceptable and even desirable.

Wannabe

Absolutely. There are very few films I've seen more than five times. Typically, I'll only watch a film a couple of times. How often do you watch the same film?

Gil Jawetz

This is a site devoted to movies and DVD. The answer to this question will vary wildly. There are some movies that I've watched so many times I wouldn't be able to count.

Filmmaker

I refer you to Sex Fiend's memo.

Wannabe

There's no confusion at all on my part. The whole point of the thread was to mention that the concept of "ownership" can be illusory. A lot of members on this board care more about the package than the content. My point is that when the technology is available to watch any film whenever you want for a low cost, the concept of "ownership" gets thrown out the window.

You don't know how the process will work when the technology is ironed out. The process, as I described, hasn't even been developed in manner that the consumer will accept. It's very easy to focus on the negatives of an imaginary technology.

And don't worry, Hollywood still loves the fact that people continue to purchase, rather than rent or pay per view. They'll keep selling us shiny discs as long as we continue to buy them - it's highly profitable.

Wannabe

Fixed.

gutwrencher

Jesus...am I having a nightmare?

I dunno...lets see and guess:

Raging Bull-25+?
The Third Man-20+?
Alien-50+?
The Other-40+? (and it's not even on dvd yet)
Planet of the Apes-50+?
Sunset Blvd.-50+?

C'mon...this could go on all day. an older adult who not only enjoys but studies films and directors will viddey many films multiple times...period.

A library is what it is.

Wannabe

Don't you have over 1500 titles? Sounds like you could do away with the other 1495. Wish I had that much time.

gutwrencher

nope...almost 1,900.

You have no clue what having a library is all about. Many people are in your boat. Thats fine.

Filmmaker

I think it's very presumptuous of you to make this claim, but I will validate that collectors, such as myself, find the packaging to be inherently married to the content. They make a greater whole together than if either element is dropped; the packaging comments upon and informs the content within. It's part of what makes owning an original DVD so very much more appealing than a DVD-R rip of it. In this sense, there is more to the concept of ownership for DVD collectors than simply the film itself; ergo, it has not been thrown out the window by any means.

OldBoy

yes, but with "VOD" you don't get the extras, the nice packaging, and the physicality. i would never download to a PC bc who wants to watch a movie on your PC and no i am not hooking up to my tv.

I would never give up my material DVD possessions.

OldBoy

what?? what the hell good is a package with nothing of substance in them?

that statement is just plain dumb!

gutwrencher

Me either. I'm spending an extra 2k on a special coffin...one that has 500 inner side-pockets which will hold my 500 most essential dvds. These are coming with me. My real problem I guess will be when I arise from the tomb....and forgot the dvd player. May have to re-think this.

OldBoy

ahhh, gut...you're kidding right?

speedyray

America is full of consumers, on demand does not feed this need. What if the connection is out (bad weather)? Do you really want to trust Comcast (insert your provider) with having your movies available. Not in my lifetime, will we see your predicted future. Just cause the ability to do something is there, does not mean it will be accepted. It may replace rental stores, but rental stores are not being hurt that bad by what is available now.

slop101

It's not even about watching the whole film - Sometimes I enjoy watching just certain scenes from certain films. I don't have to watch the whole film over and over in order to own it. I'd say that I've spun most of my dvds more than 5 times each, just to watch parts. This is my favorite thing about dvd: complete and utter freedom in how I choose to watch it.

gutwrencher

Hell no. This guy, Mr. Romero, told me how it's gonna be.

BigDan

What you're describing is simply moving the video rental business onto an on-demand system. There's nothing wrong with that, and I assume there would be a sizeable market for such a thing at some point, but that's a completely separate issue to ownership.

What you describe would be akin to iTunes requiring another $1 for each additional week in which you wanted to hear a song beyond the first week.

I could envision liking such a system but as a replacement for renting movies not as a replacement for buying them. To replace ownership, I need to have free access to the movie whenever I want it for no additional charge, and even then, it might not be able to replace the simplicity and efficiency of the physical disc.

When Netflix gets around to offering this kind of service, I'd take a look at it as a replacement for Netflix, but that's far different than replacing purchasing DVDs.

Fok

I'd definately still cherish my DVDs, to me its like having an IPOD, but I'd still want the CDs.

eXcentris

When technology becomes available, I'll just keep my DVD's and get a holographic girlfriend.

Wannabe

Delicatessen is available on streaming Netflix now. There's no need to own the film - just add it to your instant queue and watch.