OldBoy

I mean what goes into your decision making? Is it funds? Space? Other?

i guess for me: I’ll buy special editions with good extras that won’t ever be digital, but I’d honestly just like digital better. I wish I could stop both, bc they really don’t do anything for me beyond some moments of pleasure, but it’s like eh, they take up so much space and I just ain’t got no more. I’m getting rid of all my dvds. All. Just out with trash. Yes trash. No on anything else. Just out and done.

MR Round

I buy disc releases because I like to be able to hold what I pay for, otherwise it just doesn't feel like i truly own it to me. I have the space and the time to display my collection and watch it so that's apart of it too. If i had a small house I think i wouldn't buy as much. I have Netflix and I watch their shows but I buy them on disc when they are available. For me its the convenience of going to the shelf and having whatever I want to watch. I used to get the big fancy editions with the little trinkets and whatnot but now I just get the version with the longest cut of the film and I'm happy with that. I still buy dvds when I get them cheap and I have vhs tapes still of things not on disc.

kefrank

My reasons are simple:

• Discs offer the least compression/highest quality
• Discs don't depend on an internet connection to play
• Most discs come with a digital copy and cost less than the digital-only purchase would be
• I have plenty of space
• I like collecting tangible things

I will likely never buy a digital-only movie, unless/until there's no other choice.

Mike86

I just like to own physical objects. I like to have something tangible to hold onto, display, and use when I want to.

There’s also just elements to collecting that I find more fun even though a lot of it is for simple reasons. I like going out to the store and browsing for what I want versus just loading up a streaming service and picking something to watch. It’s just a more satisfying experience I guess. Can’t really explain it but it’s an enjoyable thing to do for me.

Also I like knowing that I own a disc and am able to watch it whenever I want, whereas with streaming some content isn’t always available for one reason or another.

DJariya

I'll buy digital if:

1. It's a movie I like and has replay value
2. Price is much cheaper than a physical copy
3. Has identical extras as the physical copy
4. The top picture quality is 4K UHD and it's the same price as the HD version

But, I don't want to get into the habit of now changing how to accumulate content and start "collecting" digital movies like physical media. Sure, it's a digital locker and doesn't take any space, but $5 here, $7 here, $10 here, $15, will add up even if it's a sale and then you'll have spent hundreds of dollars "collecting" digital movies that you have no time to watch.

orangerunner

My little experience with digital was the Ultra-Violet codes which I used Flixster to host them for me. After loading about 20 or so codes, Flixster Canada went out of business and shortly thereafter Ultra-Violet disappeared.

I understand the codes are now being hosted by some other company but I really don't care anymore. The model is so far unreliable, unstable and I don't have the inclination to chase-around my digital library continually being hosted by online start-up tech sensations that fizzle-out and vanish in three years.

Toddarino

I’ve only purchased one movie digitally and that was because the only disc available is dvd.
I like the idea of holding what I buy. Plus I feel they can yank digital purchases when rights expire or things like that. As long as I have a player, I can watch what I want no internet required.

Why So Blu?

I do both. I Iike the 2-4 weeks digital exclusive window. By the time it hits disc weeks later, I've probably already watched the digital UHD that I bought and I can move on with the next film. Then, if I really need the physical disc, I'll buy it used from Redbox or Amazon for a few dollars.

I have tapered off buying physical media overall ever since Alan's hoarder thread was started years ago in OTTER. At this point, it's about saving money and having lots of space for myself.

asianxcore

This is one of the biggest reasons I buy physical.

Of the few times I've purchased films Digitally, they have been Independent Horror Films with no physical release planned.

I still stream, as well as rent films Digitally for the Film Studies class I teach (when needed) but mostly buy physical.

tonyc3742

I have grown to love the convenience of digital, but definitely have anxiety over losing access to the content I've leased.
I will buy digital over disk if it's really cheap (comparatively); otherwise I try to buy a disk + digital so I have the best of both worlds. I'll pay a little more for having that official disk backup.
I don't really care about most extras that much anymore.
So, why physical:
- The tangibility and (relative) permanence vs digital
- Availability of some content that's not on digital
- Legal and working "backup" for the digital version

Adam Tyner

It’s important to me to have the highest quality presentation available, plus I’m cursed with a compulsion to collect. Physical scratches both of those itches.

At the same time, I feel almost trapped by the enormity of my movie collection right now (somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 titles?), which is so large that I have it divided across 3 different places upstairs. We’ve talked about floor-to-ceiling built-ins, but I’m expecting the cost to be pretty staggering, even if we were to halve the size of my library. There is part of me that just wants to get rid of all of it and just eliminate the problem altogether.

And as it becomes more and more common for movies I’m interested in to be 1080p SDR on disc and 4K/HDR/Atmos digitally, I can see myself gravitating more towards the latter for some new releases.

Toddarino

I built my own floor to ceiling shelves for my collection at my old house. When I moved, I disassembled it and set it up again. The stain is different and I had to modify it, but it’s really fairly easy and inexpensive.

stvn1974

I live out in the middle of nowhere and my internet speed is terrible plus I still have a data cap so physical only for me.

PhantomStranger

I only buy digital when there is absolutely no hope I can get it on physical media in HD quality.

E Unit

A lot of these reasons. Plus, I like the cool collector's edition stuff every once in a blue moon. And currently, I have ample space for my collection. I do tend to get lax on picking up something physical though if I buy the digital first due to a sale or something. And some movies I'll just shell out for digital only and have no desire to pick up the physical version. Joker is a prime example.

rw2516

I'm so physical that I'll record streamed stuff to DVD-R, make a cover, then add it to my collection. If it gets a physical release I'll buy it then toss the ones I recorded in the trash. I do it with network and cable shows also as insurance in case there is no physical release.

Shannon Nutt

Space is my main reason for getting digital at this point. That, plus the fact that most physical releases no longer have the wealth of bonus materials they used to...or, if they do, those bonus materials are also included with the digital version. Most my physical media purchases these days are for special editions of older movies on 4K and/or films on 4K I really love. I've almost all but stopped buying Blu-ray, with a few exceptions (but only if something is clearly never getting a 4K release - one such example is last year's What We Leave Behind DS9 documentary).

Toddarino

If I had the knowledge and capability to do this, I’d be able to ditch Directv. I have a bunch of stuff saved on my dvr that aren’t available anywhere like the Muppets abc tv show.

mwbmis

Kind of where I'm at these days. My space issue came to a head last summer, and I purged out around a thousand movies that I had digital copies of. I've continued to try to convert some things since then. These days I'm only buying new 4K physical releases on select movies that I "have to own" and the occasional boutique label catalog Blu-ray purchase. To that end, I've stopped buying Blu-ray releases for new films entirely.

Michael Corvin

I'm not sold on streaming quality and title availability is annoying. First, disc quality always seems to look nicer than its streaming counterpart.

Second, let's say I want to watch Swingers...now it's off to hunt to see if it's on Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, Amazon, Apple, etc. only to find out it's not available period, or on a service I don't have (HBO, Showtime, etc) Too fuckin' annoying. In a physical media world, I walk over to the shelf and grab the disc and watch my movie in probably less time than it takes to hunt down where to stream. And yes, this is a complaint for "rental libraries" and not digital purchases. I'm still not sold on $20-$30 digital purchases. $5-$10 is doable (which is what I'll drop on music) but I want something tangible for my money and space isn't too much of an issue so, physical it is.

Plus, all of this. Movies aren't like CDs where you download a file and have it to reload onto whatever device you want. TVs don't come with hard drives built in to build your library. You are 100% at the mercy of a company hosting something I purchased and reliant on them never changing licenses, servers going down or simply going out of business. Seems like a super unreliable way to purchase something.

davidlynchfan

I’ve only stream a few movies via youtube in my lifetime. I’ve never downloaded a digital copy and watched the movie in it’s entirety ever. I have nothing against those services - i just don’t want to pay anything for it. Physical media or die with me ( or watch em free off youtube, of course).

kd5

I only buy physical copies of the movies and TV shows I want in my collection, I've never cared about digital/streaming. In that way I own the movies and TV shows I truly enjoy watching, I can hold the packaging in my hands, check out the contents, watch it whenever I want to, how ever many times I want to, I'll never have to worry about whether they'll go out of print or become unavailable to stream, and I can show a little pride in my collection. My only concern is running out of bookcase storage. I already have 4 bookcases full, don't really want to make it 5 (even if 5 is my favorite number... )

dex14

Or just use an aggregate like JustWatch to find where it's streaming.

Hazel Motes

It's what I believe L Ron Hubbard wants me to do.

story

"Digital" does not a stocking stuffer make.