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

if Blu-rays, UHD 4K's, if all that were to go away and it was strictly digital media. stream UHD, 3D, HD, all of it streamed.

would you do alright with that?


now that i have started my Vudu collection, and the more and more i realize how dependent on physical media i still am, the more and more i feel i would be totally ok with the ability to stream any quality i wanted and have the minimal extras that some digital releases come with. because of the ease and simplicity of having it all there for me on the tv or iPhone...

Re: Would you be ok if physical media went away completely?
 

I'm not sure whether to answer 'yes' or 'no' because I would be okay with it only as long as certain conditions are met. For example, I would need downloadable files that would not need to "phone home" to verify with a server. I would also need the availability of files of Blu-ray compression quality, even it they required interminably long downloads. And I would need pricing that was comparable in light of the additional purchases required for long-term digital file storage costs.

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

You didn't mention the download option. But I think it would be a yes for me. Blu-ray will be last physical media format I'll be splurging on and I want to simplify my life with less stuff as I get older.

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

I hate to break it to you, but physical media IS going away. We're about 10 years out from its total demise.

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

Nope, I've never been comfortable enough to purchase a licence to something without physically owning it when it comes to media. Same thing with games, it's impossible to sell or trade a digital purchase that is then tied to your account. So if a day comes when it's all digital, I'll just steam all the new stuff through Netflix or Amazon or whatever and not buy anything.

Don't get me wrong, I'm OK with it to answer your question (again, all of this is just a hobby in one way or another anyways), but I won't continue to support it in the way I do now. It will also suck because we get all of our new releases at the library first, then if we like the movie, we wait for a good sale on the blu ray. So we would miss out on a lot of the stuff we see for free now that we wouldn't see otherwise.

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

Digital "ownership" is not real ownership. The studios are merely selling you a license to view their movie until they feel like pulling it. Can you pass your VUDU collection on to a family member after you pass away? Of course not.

While physical media likely will go away in the United States within the next two decades, it will remain viable for several decades in other parts of the world. Physical media lovers, prepare to start importing.

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

The rights issues are my sticking point. I wouldn't want to sit down at Christmas to find that It's a Wonderful Life had been pulled, either by some corporate beancounter who wanted to close the window because all movies have the same length window, or by bad data entry that set the end year as 2016 instead of 3016.

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

Eh, give or take never. I won't go 100%.

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

No, I want to own a physical copy.

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

I wouldn't like it, but I'd survive.

I'll stream things through Netflix, etc, but I would NEVER buy movies/music through digital downloads. Never. If I can't own a physical copy, then my purchases would stop altogether.

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

No and I don't have to worry be cause it won't be going away.


:lol: no it isn't. It is all about the revenue that is still generated by it. It may decrease but physical media generates millions. There is nothing to make up those millions. IT won't go anywhere. You can want to believe that but there is nothing at this point that will make up those revenue streams. EVEN if they decrease.

Deal with it.

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

So you'd rather not own than own a digital copy? And yes, I know it's not technically ownership but it still seems better than not being able to watch a favorite movie at all, say, if Amazon pulled it from Prime but still had it available to buy.

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

Also, wasn't it someone from this forum that lost all of their Amazon digital purchases when their account was closed due to too many returns or price adjustments or something? Even if I'm not personally worried about something like that, even knowing that is possible doesn't sit right with me.

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

Yep, I remember that story. I have some purchases on Xbox, but if Microsoft decides to pull the plug, what options do I have? Downloading every movie and TV episode to my 360 or Windows 10 PC? That always made people nervous about Comixology before they got bought out by deep pockets.

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

I triple dog dare Physical Media to go away. Go, Go on, go away... Go away right this second, I ain't scared..cuz it isn't. But I'd be fine if it did. I would still have my large ass collection to fall on, right? and I'll just watch whatever on YouTube.

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

I agree with Coral... If physical media isn't offered I will quit purchasing movies.

This is going to be the toughest problem for the film industry, since I'm one of the last generations that actually believes in purchasing content... The streaming generation doesn't.

fitprod

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

Yep, I'm not going to pay to "own" a digital download.
There are a lot of streaming services now and there will be a lot more in the future - so if it's a movie I love and want to watch again - I'll find it on one of the streaming services. So I won't be denied watching a favourite movie... I'll just be denying myself the ownership of it.

I'll just wind up saving money.

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

I would also be done with purchasing movies in absence of a physical medium to buy them on.

Perhaps years from now when you can download the exact equivalent of Blu-ray quality or better (audio and video) for a film without your ISP looking to smack your ass for chewing so much bandwidth, I'd be open to buying digital.

That said, if you can still find functional laserdisc players today, I don't think it will be a problem finding Blu-ray players 20-30 years from now to watch my quaint Blu-ray's. And by that time, I'll be dead or won't give a shit anyway.

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

I will never download anything. I would just buy old releases for my collection.


I will be fucked on seeing new movies though.

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

I don't know if physical media will ever go away in our lifetime. Look at vinyl. It's not just the used record stores but new stuff is being released. And now I read where cassettes are making a small comeback.

I'd kind of have to be. It's not like they'd keep it around just to please me :D.

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

That wasn't really my question, though. I was asking if you would hypothetically refuse to purchase if you couldn't watch it at all because it wasn't available for rent or stream, though that wasn't totally clear from my Prime example.

Now if you put "streaming service" in quotes, then that would make total sense. ;)

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

The Americans is now all digital for S2 and S3, exclusive to Amazon I think, and it is not available on Blu-ray. First season was.

So, I'm watching it on my friend's Amazon Prime membership account (I'm still hesitating going Prime but looks like I will) and the quality is for shit. It's pixelated, slow loading. Contrast that with the Netflix account on the same machine and tv and I get clear movies.

Now, ok, there are a variety of reasons, and Amazon may not be the reason for the shitty looking episodes...the 5 fucking nights I've been watching it. Ok, I can agree on that possibility.

But still, I did not get the program in HD as described, and if I had the chance, I would have bought the seasons on Blu-ray already, enjoying my show in glorious HD.

So yeah, digital still sucks. It's unreliable, always will be. Whoever thinks it won't be, is fooling themselves.

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

I've already dropped legacy media. I'm all digital now.

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

Due to the inevitability of streaming only, in 2009 I started acquiring HD copies of the top 1k classic films I wanted to own. I'm done, give or take some future upgrades to better versions. But the key is I don't need to fight with Hollywood any more.

I knew that physical media was not going to last, but I refuse to pay over and over to see the same content (streaming). Others aren't as fortunate.

The issue is this: Most money comes from customers with a psychological need to watch whatever is (new, popular). Hollywood loves to squeeze folks like this and constantly tries to get more money from them. They don't care about owning anything, and they are screwed.

Conveniently, Hollywood hasn't tempted me to buy anything recently released, and the trend doesn't seem to be slowing. I'm happy, and I always have something cool to watch in the collection.