Introduction
When I moved to Seattle nearly a decade ago, I moved in to a friend’s house. During the move, I decided to leave behind my DVD collection to a friend just because I was squeezing everything I had into the back of an SUV and the DVD collection’s value per square feet didn’t make the cut. Thus, I left behind hundreds of movies. This was also the time I realized that owning physical media was financially stupid. Yes, I said it. Sorry if that hit home, but it is. You need to get over it.
Stop owning physical media
Let’s say you loved the movie “Armageddon.” You most likely bought it on VHS when it came out. Then when the DVD came out, you probably bought it on DVD since the picture quality was better. Then of course you bought it on BluRay because you wanted to see the asteroid in 1080p. In about a year, you’re gonna want to own it in BluRay 4K (yes that’s a new format.) The total cost for that movie (assuming $15 per format = $60.)
That’s pretty expensive. Sure you can say how much you loooove the movie and have seen it 20 times and it’s all worth it. Hey, I’m with you. But how many movies have you seen 20+ times to make it worth it? These days, BluRay movies are about $15-$20 and an HD rental runs $4. Unless you plan on watching the movie 4+ times, you’re better off just renting it. This excludes Redbox prices and/or those $.99 rentals that Amazon will have on promo. My point is – STOP BUYING PHYSICAL MEDIA! As great as “The Revenant” is, you’re probably not gonna watch it 4+ times. You THINK you will, but you won’t.
Conclusion
With new media formats coming out every decade, just stop wasting your money on physical media. You know what’s coming after BluRay 4K -> virtual reality editions. I have a hunch in 5-10 years, you’ll be watching all of your movies in VR, where you are immersed in the movie. At that point, you’ll just trash all of your 2D movies.
Can’t agree with this. I buy more and more physical media than previously since many digital versions are more expensive to buy legally than DVD/BluRay and some movies you don’t even might find on a internet services. Also if I buy those digital versions I need to download files on my computer since I don’t want to lose possibility to watch purchased movie if iTunes/whatever have licensing ended with movie company.
For example, check https://danhon.com/2013/02/13/dont-trust-itunes-movies-in-the-cloud/ to see things what can go wrong with digital media which is not stored on your own hard disks. And in the end, if I have to download and backup those files to make sure I can watch those videos later, what’s the point? Too much hassle to make all those downloads and backups versus just go to shop, but DVD/Bluray and just store it.
Also streaming services does not help here either since I watch lots of (even B class) vampire movies which are just not that popular to ever appear on the Netflix etc. Another one is that they might not be there next time I login to watch it again and/or first time. Content just comes and goes and there is no any kind of guarantee that I can watch them later.
In current time where we are living I have no trust that those movies are not removed from catalogs if actor/director/musician are doing anything scandalous on their lives. I don’t want censorship to movies because of that and that’s why I just buy physical media since it cannot be removed later from my shelf unlike it is easy to just remove it from streaming service catalogues.
Oh and of course I can rent those movies/cd’s to others if I want. Or sell them.
Streaming services are mostly good and fun if you watch mostly popular stuff, but if you watch more stranger films and/or artistic films then many times you are out of luck. It just makes movies only a form of entertainment but easily makes bad for movies as an artform since streaming services propably not want to pay licenses to artistic movies which movie fans might appreciate but bigger audience does not. In that sense it is a bad for culture if only blockbuster movies which makes money can survive and appear on streaming services.
Movie, yes. CDs, no–because the sampling rate for digital versions is so terrible. Buy a CD, burn lossless. Resell the CD if you want.
you can also join some google plus communities and find online stores that will sell you the “digital copy code” for $3-$10 and you can “own” the digital rights to watch/download anytime in certain providers like iTunes, Vudu, MoviesAnywhere, and GooglePlay Movies. most titles port across all these providers so you can give friends/family access as well.Theaters have gotten expensive for a family of 4 and this is how my kids view the latest and greatest movies. like someone else said, if you have kids they’ll get watched over and over.
I didn’t spend a fortune either since the older titles (pre 2006) were purchased for $1 each through a program that would previously allow you to convert physical DVD’s (or ISO files found online) to Ultraviolet Digital Copy.
+10000000000. Books and CDs/DVDs. Get the digital versions. This is why I don’t need a big house. Getting a lot of these unnecessary low-frequency use crap –> need to get big house –> need to maintain big house –> $$$
Agree in principle, but we have children, and tend to watch every movie approximately a billion times. Or maybe 30 on the lower end. Physical ones work on laptops and in the car.
Okay, I’ll get you a pass on that one.
When I was growing up there was a family friend that legitimately owned every single DVD possible.. no joke. Back then they were $20 a piece. I can’t even imagine their financial situation.
Eh. Got to disagree with such a broad statement. There are a lot of VERY hard to find online movies and old TV shows that are available only on DVD. Classic westerns, old B&W cult films, Most B&W movies, in fact are hard to find on streaming services.
As far as bigger hits from recent years, or stuff on Hulu, Netflix, Amazion, fine, but those get shuffled on or off at a whim or because of rights problems. Sometime The streaming services just do not see enough people watching rarer films and off they go instead of playing fees.
Just throwing it all in for consideration.
I think you’re showing your age here Carl. 😉
Yes, I agree that we may never see “Dirty Hairy” in 4K, but really, how often are you watching Clint again?
Except for the LOTR trilogy Extended Cut. Otherwise agree 😛
oh man, they must have moved 5 diff sets of LOTR Trilogy. I’m sure the 4K is coming with even more ‘unseen footage.’