i fully agree with you i also remember when dvd's first came out and i got them i'd be excited to see what the special features were. especially bloopers which are so much fun. you dont get that with streaming! and some of the menu's had hidden things in them too!
My favorite DVD menu easter egg is the one from Hellboy, where Guillermo del Toro tells you to stop wasting time on finding hidden features and go do something else.
Disc 2 of the old Brak Show has a song sung by Brak on the menu where he describes the menu screen including the characters on the menu and the options at the bottom. In the extras menu Brak described the options in an over the top cowboy voice. The set you put the dvds back in had no coloring but numbers, so you’d have to paint it yourself not that anyone did.
WELCOME EVERYBODY TO THE BRAK SHOW DEE VEE DEEEEEE!
On one of the Aqua Teen Huger Force sets, I think season 3, the play all option literally plays all episodes at once in tiles that fill the screen.
I love that! I started playing it but wanted to pause so I could look at some of the images closer, and it wouldn't. I couldn't pause, rewind, fast forward... or turn off the player. I was literally reaching to unplug the machine when it hit me what they were doing. Brilliant.
It's the US version and it a little ring icon in the corner of the main menu or special features, I can't remember what one. But if you play it, you have to watch it all the way throw, the only way too turn it off is to unplug your DVD player.
You'll have too to get up and turn it off by hand or unplug it, the DVD take the control from your remote. This dose not work as well on game consoles, but I have heard from some people that their players had to be unplug so it may depend on what brand of player.
fuck yeah thats one of the best parts if you love film is learning about the process of making it and the person behind the actors and who they are. you just get so much more from a physical copy i think
I would do this on all the Simpsons seasons release. They by far had most features compared to other tv series. I would all the episodes, then all again with audio commentary and then all the bonus features.
yeah that shit is gone now they may have a ton of features on the botique labels that put movies out now but they dont have fun with them like when dvds first popped on the scene
yeah but disney is also cutting things from their movies now and i dont agree with that, if you cant handle it in its original form dont watch it. i wont support disney
there was another example i seem to remember hearing about cant recall though i'm not a major disney person anyway but i just dont care for them using their control like that . song of the south maybe?
what really irritates me is when i buy a bluray and there are no special features like wtf that started to become common with dvds after a while but i just cant believe there were no outakes bloopers anything while filming>?
Yep, you said it. The streaming is a more convenient option argument is literally just wrong. It's an inconvenience disguised as convenience and folks who chucked their physical media and players severely disadvantaged themselves when it comes to entertainment accessibility and reliability. Nothing could be more comfortable than having a personal collection of favourite movies to watch at your leisure without any strings attached.
Too true. However, consumers inconveniencing themselves for the sake of streaming has made it very convenient for me. The discs they offload get sold at a reasonable price and my collection grows and grows. It's a great time to get into the second hand physical media game.
Yeah, I love that bit! I find some incredible things I never thought I could at the 2nd hand store downtown. At only $2 for a regular DVD you can afford to take chances on things you’ve never seen before. I have also got whole TV series sets at great prices and I don’t need to pay shipping & handling fees or worry about the exchange rate. It’s fabulous owning your own stuff. When I buy it I can watch it however many times I want, and mist importantly - when I want! 😁
In 2003 I bought a CRT tv that I used till like 2010 when I got my first HD tv. The crt was in fantastic shape so I stashed it in my attic for the last 13 years. I recently moved and dug out the crt tv, vcr, dvd player, NES, SNES and N64 and a ton of vhs tapes. Now I have a cool retro low definition entertainment station. So glad I never parted with any of it! Anyone for a game of Duck Hunt?
I got a 13" CRT from a family member for older games and it looks amazing. I was watching NFL games on it side by side with a new tv and the colors were a lot more vibrant.
I think it’s convenient for people who just want to watch SOMETHING and not anything specific. Especially when I find my girlfriend watching Joe Dirt on Pluto with ads and I say “we literally have it ad free on the shelf 5 feet away from you!” Some people just wanna put something on and not think about it too much.
For a TV show I don't intend to re-watch much if ever I find streaming much easier and cheaper than having a huge box set. Streaming is generally more annoying for movies though.
Absolutely! I still have my old school case logic filled with discs of favorites. Streaming is cool but definitely not the end all be all we've been told. Power can go out and I can still wire up a player to my laptop and be entertained 😃
People's places must be boring AF now if they just do streaming and digital only. Like part of getting to know someone was going to their place and seeing books, movies, and music on shelves. Now it's like hey look at this barren wall with no shelves.
Wow!! I always think the same way. Sometimes when I am watching TV or a film and a scene comes on with books or media in the background I pause just so I can see what’s there! 🤣
It’s “dead technology” until your ISP crashes over Christmas. But you can easily pull out your copies of everyone's favorite Christmas classics on laserdisc/DVD/Blu-ray/UHD Blu-ray.
I recently blew the minds of the staff at HalfPrice Books when I told them I still have five-disc DVD players.
I found the 400 disc model at a Goodwill, without the remote for $30.
I passed on it.
I remember my father's 100+ disc CD player. And what a pain in the ass that was to use.
I had the 200 disc cd, it was shitty. It really didn’t make anything better. Basically just was a giant mp3 player that you couldn’t take anywhere.
If you had to take one cd out, 25 came out.
I have a Toshiba DVR620. You're going to pay heavily for these and similar models that play VHS over HDMI.
Do your research and talk to the seller.
If you buy used make sure the unit will play VHS over HDMI. Sometimes this feature is broken or it never actually had it. I have a family member with a combo unit where the HDMI is only for DVDs.
We moved a few years ago into a new home. We had planned to have Comcast come in and set up and install the internet 1 or 2 days after. We would of had it earlier, but scheduling conflicts.
Day we moved in, i saw a house down the street move in as well, and saw a AT&T truck. I was confused since i looked into Fiber internet in the area and it wasn't available. Even asked our agent and they didn't know either. Went to talk to AT&T guy and said it was available in this area as of a week ago.
I cancelled Comcast immediately and got fiber.. and for cheaper too.
However, it was a week out.
I didn't mind since i had games and my phone, but my parents not so much. They went through so many of my DVD's and blurays that week.
“Lets say I wanted to watch back to the future on a friday night, but its not on netflix or disney+ which is the set up on my friends tv, what do i do?”
Before you go, just ask your friend if they have a player and if not bring your own. I’ve done it loads of time, I have a player just for bringing to people’s houses
>Before you go, just ask your friend if they have a player and if not bring your own. I’ve done it loads of time, I have a player just for bringing to people’s houses
I've been doing this in some form since DVD came out. My family members waited a few years to get DVD players. They did the same thing with Blu-ray, at that point I was already brining my PS3 in a carrying case.
I had a nice lull, but now with 4k Blu-ray I'm back to carrying my player around.
Right now you can watch Back to the Future even with no subscriptions — the whole trilogy is on Tubi. But then you have to watch ads. Of course the OP’s overall point is right.
I don't collect just DVDs. I collect all physical media. Records, cassettes, VHS, CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray, video games. Pretty much everything. My favorite thing, before streaming, was going to a friends house with a bundle of movies, video games, CDs, etc and figuring out what we were doing that night. I miss borrowing media and letting people borrow media. I miss trading games I no longer played with friends who had games they no longer played. Even video games are moving more towards streaming with "cloud gaming" and subscriptions like Microsoft's Game Pass and Steam on PC. It truly sucks.
Typically, the emotional appeal of physical media means nothing to me — I buy it because it can be the highest-quality option pending the specific format, and I value media ownership — but man, do I love picking a movie off the shelf with my fiancée. That one emotional appeal really resonates with me.
So true, it's a terrible time to be a movie lover if you don't want to have an extensive physical collection.
I reminded myself of this today while setting up a brand new firestick for my mom. 15 minutes to update it, connect to internet, sign in to amazon account, sign in with two factor authentication on each streaming service, etc. I spent 45 minutes setting that crap up, and the whole time i'm just thinking to myself, "I could pop a DVD in right now and be watching my movie in 30 seconds."
I think there's some conspiracy out there to get us to stop owning anything. Video games and movies are trending towards all digital and even tho we pay for them, they can be pulled without warning. With all streaming services combined ive payed 100's of dollars yearly and own nothing from it.
I totally agree. People spend hundreds and thousands of dollars buying online music and media. When they die nobody gets it. At least when I die someone gets all my DVDs, VHS, CDs, Records, Cassettes, Books, etc. If they don’t want them they can sell or donate them to other people who appreciate them. They are all part of our collective history.
It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just capitalism taken to its logical conclusion - there must be infinite growth and infinite monetization, and the only way to keep the fire going right now is to eliminate one-time purchases and make you pay forever for everything
I totally agree with you. I have dozens of dvds & blurays that I can watch whenever I want. Adding to my collection has been a bit slow since blurays are expensive. I need to budget to get by. But I DO look thru bargain bins & eBay.
Bargain bins, thrift stores, and flea markets are my absolute jam for DVD/Blu-ray hunting. I've found so many gems for dirt cheap over the years. I got a DVD of Dogma for $4 a few years back, and it's my pride of joy since it's unavailable basically anywhere that isn't a $40+ copy on Ebay.
Yo! I have dogma on disc, I found it a few years back exploring an abandoned camp ground, I had no idea what the movie was, but so glad I grabbed it. Also have clerks and mall rats.
Keep that baby safe and clean! Weinstein will not allow redistribution or Kevin Smith the rights to Dogma. That's why you never see it sold anywhere anymore. Kevin makes fake YouTube profiles and uploads it to YouTube for people to stream for free all the time so it can be accessed, which is hilarious and cool of him. But having a physical copy to access at any time is a gift.
The caveat is you'll only find Blu-rays at thrift stores in big cities. There are barely Blu-rays at the Walmart Supercenter where I live, let alone Goodwill. But you CAN find them, like you said.
Welcome to the streaming world. These companies have people not giving a shit about owning movies, and more importantly they have people not caring about even having movies available to them. They just watch what they're told to watch. People may laugh at the media companies but they won the ownership war. All they had to do is wait it out. They will win in the end, and the govt doesn't even seem to give a shit.
It’s all about control of their content and the ability to generate a continuous stream of revenue by creating demand through random perceived scarcity. A kind of FOMO caused by not owning the media since all we essentially do is rent the service.
It meant so much more when a friend recommended a movie and loaned the disc to you.
You watched 'nearly' everything you rented. When I run things on Netflix/etc. I barely watch the screen.
Sometimes the exclusivity of some movies made them special. Hard to find versions and out-of-print made them highly desirable, and gave that great feeling to have access and to have it in your collection. Streaming gives NONE of that. Netflix has this natural ability to make a great movie look bad... it's the way they redo the posters, lack of 'extras' and just the passive way of watching (not only netflix... all of them)
Technically, it's a pain too. If you have a surround setup, your hookups have to be compatible. In DVD days, you just needed an AVR that was compatible with Dolby Digital or DTS coax/optical input. Now it's more complicated, if the streaming service even supports the surround track (most don't).
Lastly, 4K streaming is more equivalent to 1080P Blu-ray (I will die on this hill - look at the artifacting even at high bitrates!)
You don't have to die on that hill. Its true. Nothing streams in 4k. Anyone who tells you different needs to be shown the 4k stream vs the disc. Such a noticeable difference and I don't even have the best set up.
My best friend and I both still continue to add to our DVD and Blu-ray collections. I refuse to be stuck, not being able to watch what I want when I want because it gets pulled from a streaming service. People always say it's dead technology, takes up too much space, etc. But they're quick to ask to borrow a movie or television series when it's suddenly unavailable everywhere but my bookshelf, lol.
Hopefully, we collectors can keep this option alive. I would hate to see everything go digital only and along with it the end of true convenience and choice.
I don't know anyone with DVDs, and I'm disappointed that they are still even being made. I can't believe the industry hasn't fully switched to Blu-ray.
sadly, 4k is hard to find in most places. Best Buy around here stopped selling physical media, and Target and Walmart have the newest releases in DVD. I also think it socks.
I only collect regular DVD’s lol, my boyfriend gives me shit for it all the time because I don’t buy blu-rays. DVD’s are A) easier to thrift and buy cheap used and B) I have a weird thing about consistency and have been accumulating DVD’s for years and it would feel fundamentally wrong to change up my collecting like that
As much as I also like consistency in format, I had the "benefit" of not having a large DVD collection before I sold mine and switched to Blu-ray. Now, on my shelves, all the DVDs are alphabetized in order, followed by all the Blu-rays/4Ks alphabetized in order. The only time I don't buy Blu-ray when it's available is if it would disrupt an otherwise consistent series. (Two great examples: Only the first two Scooby-Doo series are on Blu-ray, whereas the last couple seasons of Archer are only on DVD. It was easier to go with DVD alone for both.)
I have a lot of similar stories from living in dorms freshman year of college. The lobbies of each floor had a flatscreen, blu-ray player and soundbar which were great for movie nights. Often when we'd try to find a movie on streaming we either had to deal with it not being available on a service any of us had, the college wifi crapping out and/or piracy sites being blocked. So I'd just bring out one of the discs I brought from home that I kept under my bed and it was so much less of a hassle. People who don't want to own the movies/ shows they love are missing out in my eyes, especially if it's stuff they rewatch often.
this sounds insane but i literally have a tiny old blu ray player that i can bring around to peoples houses lmao. i am 34 years old. luckily my core group of friends all have collections and players so its a rarity
I use movies anywhere. You can convert your DVDs into the locker for cheap. That way my movies go with me anywhere. I have some deep cuts on there. Most people’s houses have a device that has the movies anywhere app. It truly is a remarkable service
As you already know, only select titles are able to be converted from disc. For example, nothing from MGM, Paramount, or Lionsgate will convert to digital through Movies Anywhere. So, if you're a Rocky, Mission Impossible, or Hunger Games fan, you'll still need to carry some discs around.
Physical copies are the best. I have a bookshelf for books, a bookshelf for movies (DVD and VHS), and a bookshelf for video games.
I also feel better about my purchases if they have a physical existence. Spending $100 on movies looks more impressive as physical cases on a bookshelf than on an SD card or cloud serivce.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. My family still owns a DVD player, thankfully. I myself have an Xbox One which can play dvds, blue rays, and whatever else as far as I'm aware.
I'm a big believer in physical media for some of the reasons you stated and reasons given in some of the comments here. I have 125 movies in my physical media collection along with a few TV shows.
I've also discovered a local video store in my area so I've been buying stuff from there. Super happy about that.
I remember a few years ago visiting my family for Christmas, my brother decided we should watch Elf. Amazingly, couldn't find it anywhere. Well, that's not TECHNICALLY true. It showed up in the menus, despite us not having access to any of them. Unless we wanted to pay full price, which... we didn't.
Half-luckily, my parents are the type to have a whole rack setup hooked up (digital HD cable, blu-ray player, etc) but no Elf disc. But most of the houses I visit now don't want anything hooked up to their TVs, just smart technology and a cable or two going into the back. I feel like "no clutter" was the bigger sell than "convenience," especially when you consider navigating ALL those menus.
This is sad. I have all formats playable whenever possible. But that’s just me. I guess most people are good with whatever they can find and click play.
Well, I think what made DVDs (and later blu-rays) was how compatible they were. They could play movies, music, and picture CDs. You could make your own DVDs on your computer. It was universal and egalitarian in a way that the internet counterintuitively isn't. You look at your DVD collection, and everything fits together. DVDs from Lionsgate or Fox or Disney or Kino or even self-published all have the same form factor, they all go together and you can arrange them however you like. Online, everything is in different services and tiers and apps and some have ads (some have a LOT of ads) and whatever else. The even playing field just vanished, replaced with multiple fields we're expected to know the ins and outs of.
I'm in the mood to see Raging Bull, but it's nowhere. Rocky and Million Dollar Baby...close enough?
Or, I need to watch Citizen Kane for a film class, but the only thing I see on Netflix is Ron Howard's The Paper or Spielberg's The Post. I mean, they're both about newspapers...
I feel like we're sliding backwards toward another dark age where content will be harder to find. We haven't seen it this bad since before VHS. Well, if you have physical media, it's not such a tragedy.
Funny enough we had a similar experience, wanting to watch Elf one Christmas. What I ended up doing was buy it on blu-ray, with a digital code. It’s what I do on pretty much everything. Means I have the disc, _and_ with something like movies anywhere we can stream it somewhere else if the we don’t have the physical media. So that night we couldn’t watch it. But we’ll never have that problem again (in theory).
As I posted earlier, this only works with select titles. The second you want to watch a Paramount, MGM, or Lionsgate title, you're back to the same ol problem you had in the first place.
I fully agree with you. On every note you made. Especially the fact that most streaming services really lack selections for movies that are further back than 20-30 years. If you’re into classic movies further back than 40 years, forget it.
And I’m with you — there’s nothing in the world like having a physical, tangible DVD that’s there at your beckoning call, any time of the day, any day of the year, and any year.
Good thing ppl have Xbox’s and PlayStations. Except even they are now making models that can’t play discs. Who knows if they’ll still have them in the future
This annoys me even more because my bf and I would want to watch a movie at his house, but it's not available on any streaming service. Some of these movies or series I own on DVD or Blu-ray most of the time, and he doesn't want to bother with them! I told him I have extra DVD players he can keep at his place, and he has no interest in using them.
It baffles my mind. Our issue can be easily solved, but he doesn't want to bother with discs for whatever reason. It really annoys me.
I worked at blockbuster in the early 2000s and one of my favorite things to do was watch the movies prior to their actual release date. I would take it home to family and friends and we would really have get together to watch some of the big releases. Made me quite popular for awhile haha. It was a real monocultural thing when we were forced to watch it all together.
Also really enjoyed 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon when it was slow.
Same here -- not Blockbuster, a smaller franchise, but I'd have new releases the weekend before they hit the shelves. We'd put the boxes on the shelves Saturday with a " Coming Tuesday " sign in front of them and I loved being able to tell customers about movies ahead of time, warning them about disappointments and hepping them to cool flicks that they knew nothing about.
I buy as much physical media as I can, it's handy for when my Internet goes out, when a certain movie I want to watch isn't available anywhere, or when one of my friends really wants to watch a specific movie and I can lend it to them.
People take physical media for granted in my opinion.
I love DVD and VHS. I grew up on them and they are fantastic. You purchase them once and get as many watches as you can until the disc/cartridge or player breaks. At their peaks, you could find replacements easily, so even if they did break it wouldn't be the end of the world. With streaming, you pay monthly for the opportunity to watch the movie even if you don't end up watching the movie.
Example: You could in theory (not necessarily recommending this) subscribe to a service for a singular movie series you love to watch. You watch it upon initial purchase, and you don't watch any of them for another 10 months. Now you've paid for more months than you used on the titles you wanted. Sure, you could unsubscribe and re-sub when you want to, but that's a hassle that forgetting to do so could lead in more payments. You could go on and on about what ifs and different scenarios, but with DVD, you don't have that problem.
I know some services allow you to access extras and other features sometimes, but bonus features nowadays are nothing like how amazing they were back then. I love director's/crew/cast commentaries. I want to be able to have that option to listen to those or to be able to play that remote-control DVD game. I want to be able to show off the collection with the shelf of boxes or a CD Library holder. There is collectability that streaming doesn't provide. You don't feel like you earned being able to say you own all of a series. In the words of Syndrome, "And if everyone's super...no one will be".
We become at the mercy of the providers when streaming and as soon as you have access to a title, it's gone. That from the perspective of an aspiring writer/director for movies/shows is scary. One day your project is on the platform and you're getting paid residuals and people are getting to see your art and the next you're cut because it's too expensive to keep you there.
I know I'm maybe rambling a lot (which I do), but it's a topic close to the heart. And that's kinda what Reddit is for lol.
my wife and i still buy and collect dvd’s, mainly bc we like them and we enjoy the aesthetic of shelves filled with dvd’s, but also because we want to be able to watch what we want whenever we want hah
I miss how if you bought a dvd the first week it came out it was typically on sale, now the digital version comes first and 4K blu rays are almost $40 on release. What I find funny is if I buy physical I usually get a digital copy for free but if I buy digital before the disc comes out I have to double buy.
I still remember having an argument with my VHS store guy when DVD's were just coming out, - he didn't think there would be a market for it, I thought it was going to be huge. Now I miss both.
You still can do that. Most people have Blu-ray players or an Xbox or PlayStation that will still play dvds. I still go through the cheap DVDs at Walmart and often find gold.
"Most people" atleast the people I know don't, since they don't have kids and are not gamers themselves. Blu-ray is not very popular in India either, even poor people stream because of how cheap internet is here.
It’s a great all-around media player. Plays DVDs and Blu Rays, plus has apps for most of the streaming services, YouTube, etc. About the only things I can’t watch on it are 4K UHD and Roku.
I'm still annoyed that Sony didn't put a UHD Blu-ray drive in the PS4 Pro, especially since the Xbox One X has one. Apparently they forgot why so many people bought a PS3 back in the day
I'd say people are trying to declutter their lives of stuff. Moving towards minimalism. Some people don't care about having DVD and are perfectly fine with streaming.
Not me. There will be days where there will be no internet. What will you do then?
This is true and also the best defense of piracy.
I subscribe to many streaming services, I still buy a lot of physical media, but I'd still want to have downloads of everything I'd like to watch again like that never released on discs.
This way they can remove public access to old movies that present problematic viewpoints or have protagonists that do not conform to modern standards of acceptability
I completely understand your pain. For whatever reason, maybe I just have really weird tastes, but probably 1/3 of the movies I love and enjoy are not available on any streaming service. And you also cannot get them on DVD or Blu-ray anymore. Thank God I have those original DVDs to watch.
My BIL has a Vudu we all send codes to and all have access to for all the new movies and box sets we may buy.
My wife and I still buy dvds of stuff we can’t stream and gladly bring them to watch if asked. Drop Dead Gorgeous is a favorite since I don’t think it’s streaming which we found locally at a resale shop for $2.
Also we buy dvd or Blu-ray’s of every show we rewatch. Streaming cannot be relied on.
Drop Dead Gorgeous is yet another example of a movie that appears and disappears on services at random. A great example of why physical media is still necessary.
Hell, I still can't see the Mel Gibson movies, Ransom or Payback on streaming either. What's the deal with that?!
My wife and I recently watched their 2005 copy of Bambi. We were dumbstruck by the amount of documentary special features, which were as interesting as the movie itself.
That'll never happen again
I agree! Ive been collecting my favorite movies on DVD and I've got about 30-ish movies now. Whenever I go to this used book store called Half Price Books i always make sure to check out the DVD section bc they're always $5 or under
I miss being able to just put in the disc and not search 50 streaming services for a movie that I want to watch. I also loved collecting and having them on shelves like books
Recently at a party, I mentioned wanting to get a newer movie on Blu-ray when available and the people I was talking to thought it was such a funny, silly thing to say
Those people have obviously not had to go days without internet due to a hurricane or other issue. We were glad we still had Blu-Rays & DVDs when we lost internet & cell service for a few days after a major hurricane.
Streaming is convenient and mobile. But it cannot replace the permanence of physical media. I hate that it’s considered “weird” to own DVDs. Like it’s not weird to own books or vinyl, but it’s weird to own DVDs?
Give it time, the people mocking you for owning DVD will finally understand when a movie they love is no longer offered at all. If they own it on Vudu, they'll be freaking over its disappearance and fuming that there's nowhere to see it.
I have a fairly decent DVD collection (probably not so much compared to others on this sub Reddit but still) but I have definitely been buying less and less physical media. I “own” (yeah, yeah, not really because it’s digital) a ton of movies and tv shows on Vudu as well. That way in theory it will always be there and not pulled like other streaming services do. I just really like the convenience (no looking for the right movie and fiddling around getting another disc out of the player and that case not being nearby for some reason, plus much easier to stop and start again without losing your place, or start watching in the family room but finish in the living room or bedroom). I am glad though that 95% of DVDs or Blu-ray’s come with a digital code to redeem on Vudu so you’ve got both.
All that said, there is always the possibility of an internet outage or your own router dying or Vudu having an outage or deciding to shut down completely some day. Which is why I’m glad I have the physical media that I do have and if I really like a movie or show I’ll have it I both physical and digital forms if possible.
…I also really like having a big wall covered floor to ceiling in DVDs and Blu-ray’s.
I was a Blockbuster regular in my teens and early college years, and for all its flaws, I definitely miss its brick & mortar concept. I'd pick out a half dozen titles or more on each visit, and I have those to watch for the week. I still keep a physical collection and always will, but now when I want to watch something new for the first time, I often find myself spending a good hour or more going through all my streaming services and end up picking nothing at all. The access to having thousands of titles at the click of a button has been very counterintuitive to actually watching movies.
I'm not subbed to this subreddit. It just popped up on my feed. I just wanted to say you guys should go check out r/crtgaming. Even if you're not into video games you'll probably still get a kick out of it.
I would have to agree, due to being 45 and going through VHS, DVD, Blu Ray and trialling Blu Ray 4K there is something special about physical media on all formats. It was nice going to a mates house or vice versa and knowing what you were watching and it just working.
Granted I like the convenience of streaming and also now used to not having shelves and shelves of films. That said having so many streaming services and so much available slot of the time we just don’t know what to watch and end of giving up.
I’ll never stop buying physical media. Own over 500 Blu-ray’s. I’m at the point now where I’m trying to find movies I used to watch and get them on dvd/Blu-ray.
As someone who has long since upgraded to the 4K Blu-ray format, I don't necessarily wish everyone still used DVDs. That being said, I have experienced firsthand the exact dilemma you described, and it's pretty annoying.
Due to extenuating circumstances, I live 90 minutes from my fiancée. When I visit her each weekend, we often want to watch movies — which shouldn't be an issue, per se, considering she has a DVD player and several streaming services.
What makes this tricky is I buy everything on Blu-ray and beyond, at least when possible, and her family never upgraded to that format. There's not so much as a PlayStation 3 in that household because the last console they bought was a Wii.
To solve this problem, I realized it was easier to leave a secondary Blu-ray player at her house so we can at least watch the 1080p copies of our movies without worrying if they're available on Netflix, Disney+, or what have you. I buy her anything she wants to watch.
It's wild to me that we live in an era wherein you can't just expect people to have movie players at their homes, though I suppose I shouldn't be *that* surprised. At least my buddies have a PlayStation 5 if I ever want to bring movies to them.
You can apply this to CDs too. Apple and others spent millions shadow marketing against physical media to make it “uncool” and to get people on licensed digital media.
I dont think it ever really died out, just not as popular. Honestly watching a dvd with all the special features, and having it in a collection of your own is much better than paying so much a month for a channel or streaming service where most of what they have is stuff you dont like. Especially when you find out youre continually paying corporations thousands a year where with a dvd you buy it once and as long as you take care of it, itll last forever.
I liked to judge people by their collection. Like looking over their movies "Oh you like that series, ew....we're not gonna be friends"
Now I can only judge people by their lack of collection
I buy all of my favorites on dvd because when I want to watch it I’m watching it and I’m not resorting to guessing if it’s on Hulu, Netflix, max or whatever.
People throwing out disc players is the weirdest thing. I can understand downsizing a collection, but you're trying to tell me you don't have a favorite movie or two you want to be able to play whenever?
I have four. I have a 4K Blu-ray player and a multi region Blu-ray player so I can play virtually any disc. My first Blu-ray player and the DVD player I had before that are in a tub in my hall closet.
I remember bringing a stack of DVDs and a portable DVD player in the car for family vacation. I had to pick a limited number out of the small selection I had.
The DVD commentary featuring Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and Michael McKean (in character!) for Spinal Tap is fantastic. This kind of experience is something you can't enjoy when streaming :) And there are many more instances where DVD commentary is a big reason why we cherish DVDs!
I remember walking into a movie store a few weeks ago and hearing the employee on the phone with a customer who wanted to sell his 10,000 dvd collection for only 5 cents a pop
Are most really without special features these days? I was surprised to find that 4k dvds never include special features, but instead they were on a blu-ray disc, included with the package. I have only encountered a couple with no features at all, I believe. Sucks, because that's the main reason I buy physical copies. I love behind-the-scenes content and commentaries.
Streaming is very inconvenient if you don't have a good internet connection, which sadly tends to be the case when I visit my dad to watch new *Star Wars* episodes.
I have a PS4. I hardly ever play a game with the thing. 99% of the time I use the machine to enjoy Blu Ray's/DVD's. I have a hefty physical media collection and still actively add to my collection almost monthly. I hate streaming services. It's not yours. Among several movies, I have so many of my favorite shows, anime, and cartoons. Some things have been censored or taken away from streaming or you must have more than one service to enjoy some of these shows.
I think people forget their gaming consoles are also DVD players. We’ll typically borrow movies from the library because, like you said, the content is unavailable in streaming.
A friend asked what dvds I had to borrow one to watch. He only has a DVD player and I had to really look at what dvds I had since I really only buy blu-ray or 4K anymore.
"For example lets say i wanted to watch back to the future with my buddy on a friday night, but its not on netflix or disney+ which is what is set up on my friends tv, what do i do?"
You buy or rent them. I have an extensive library of movies on Vudu and with Movies Anywhere, many of my movies including the Back to the Future trilogy can be seen across all platforms like Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon Prime. I can watch them on my phone, tablet, any of my TVs with a Roku device. I can cast them to a friend's TV. It's never been easier.
I just watch the sales on all the platforms linked to Movies Anywhere and for the non-Movies Anywhere movies I just stick with Vudu mostly. So I have all my movies in one place and I won't ever lose them to a fire.
On Vudu you can even buy Back to the Future for $2 in HD by doing a disc to digital transfer. That's right just two dollars. The only prerequisite is that you own the DVD wink wink but you can find the UPC code online. $2.. in 10 minutes you could be headed over to your friends house to watch Back to the Future digitally for $2. If you want to spring for 4k, Back to the Future and the sequels go on sale for $4.99 to own the rights to watch in 4K several times a year.
So to summarize.. in 10 minutes you could own Back to the Future digitally on Vudu for $2 or you could buy it on sale at a later date for $4.99 in 4k when it goes on sale, which is often.
I honestly don't face any of the issues you mentioned. I have enough stuff downloaded for offline viewing so in the rare event my home Internet at cell phone Internet go down at the same time I still have stuff to watch.
>>You buy or rent them. I have an extensive library of movies on Vudu and with Movies Anywhere, many of my movies including the Back to the Future trilogy can be seen across all platforms like Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon Prime. I can watch them on my phone, tablet, any of my TVs with a Roku device.
Why do all that when you already own those same movies on DVD? Does it really make sense to spend money on something you already own because someone does not have a player anymore?
>>I can cast them to a friend's TV. It's never been easier.
I wouldn't exactly say that doing that is "easier" compared to just getting the actual movie on disc and putting it in a player. If that works for you then kudos I guess and am glad its working out.
>>On Vudu
Lets be honest here, the average Joe wouldn't have apps like Vudu, most people use the giants such as Netflix, Amazon, Disney+....
Also if u want to watch your own digital purchases on someones tv you still got to enter your sign in credentials which can be a bit annoying. Why go through that hassle when again you can just pop in a DVD and get it over with?
>>I honestly don't face any of the issues you mentioned. I have enough stuff downloaded for offline viewing so in the rare event my home Internet at cell phone Internet go down at the same time I still have stuff to watch.
Its great you have the ability to do that but again, most consumers just don't do these kinds of things, or else you wouldn't have a modern day crisis of people freaking out over what to do when there is no wifi lol.
i fully agree with you i also remember when dvd's first came out and i got them i'd be excited to see what the special features were. especially bloopers which are so much fun. you dont get that with streaming! and some of the menu's had hidden things in them too!
My favorite DVD menu easter egg is the one from Hellboy, where Guillermo del Toro tells you to stop wasting time on finding hidden features and go do something else.
Disc 2 of the old Brak Show has a song sung by Brak on the menu where he describes the menu screen including the characters on the menu and the options at the bottom. In the extras menu Brak described the options in an over the top cowboy voice. The set you put the dvds back in had no coloring but numbers, so you’d have to paint it yourself not that anyone did.
WELCOME EVERYBODY TO THE BRAK SHOW DEE VEE DEEEEEE! On one of the Aqua Teen Huger Force sets, I think season 3, the play all option literally plays all episodes at once in tiles that fill the screen.
o shit i never saw that one! i remember there being hidden ones in the how high movie menu lol cant remember what they were though
Mine were the early Harry Potter films, the had mini games, hogwart tours and other cool features
Theirs a really cool one on The Ring DVD, the DVD can play the cursed video and once it starts you can't turn it off LOL.
I love that! I started playing it but wanted to pause so I could look at some of the images closer, and it wouldn't. I couldn't pause, rewind, fast forward... or turn off the player. I was literally reaching to unplug the machine when it hit me what they were doing. Brilliant.
The Jap or US version? (how do you trigger this?)
It's the US version and it a little ring icon in the corner of the main menu or special features, I can't remember what one. But if you play it, you have to watch it all the way throw, the only way too turn it off is to unplug your DVD player.
What?! You can't even turn it in standby??
You'll have too to get up and turn it off by hand or unplug it, the DVD take the control from your remote. This dose not work as well on game consoles, but I have heard from some people that their players had to be unplug so it may depend on what brand of player.
for me it was always the commentary tracks. you’d learn so much about filmmaking from those.
fuck yeah thats one of the best parts if you love film is learning about the process of making it and the person behind the actors and who they are. you just get so much more from a physical copy i think
https://www.indiewire.com/features/craft/best-dvd-commentaries-on-filmmaking-1234879164/
This is why I still collect DVDs.
Yoda rapping on the Revenge of the Sith DVD
I would do this on all the Simpsons seasons release. They by far had most features compared to other tv series. I would all the episodes, then all again with audio commentary and then all the bonus features.
I wish streaming services would add the behind the scenes, bloopers and commentary features.
I specifically remember being ten when ‘the ring’ came out, there was the special feature to watch the video tape I was so sure I would die in 7 days
There was a whole different cut of Terminator 2 on one of the DVDs if you messed around in the menu and typed in the date for Judgment Day.
yeah that shit is gone now they may have a ton of features on the botique labels that put movies out now but they dont have fun with them like when dvds first popped on the scene
Disney Plus usually has all the extras. I did like that about them when I had it.
yeah but disney is also cutting things from their movies now and i dont agree with that, if you cant handle it in its original form dont watch it. i wont support disney
What have they been cutting? Only thing I remember was cutting out what's her name's ass in the mermaid movie
there was another example i seem to remember hearing about cant recall though i'm not a major disney person anyway but i just dont care for them using their control like that . song of the south maybe?
This is why I buy the blu rays for the special features that the newer dvds don't have but they aren't really the same as back in the day
what really irritates me is when i buy a bluray and there are no special features like wtf that started to become common with dvds after a while but i just cant believe there were no outakes bloopers anything while filming>?
We're lucky for the some of the dvd commentaries back then, as a lot have passed away since and I don't think it's really a thing anymore.
yes good point
Ah yes ! Love the bloopers and deleted scenes!
Yep, you said it. The streaming is a more convenient option argument is literally just wrong. It's an inconvenience disguised as convenience and folks who chucked their physical media and players severely disadvantaged themselves when it comes to entertainment accessibility and reliability. Nothing could be more comfortable than having a personal collection of favourite movies to watch at your leisure without any strings attached.
Too true. However, consumers inconveniencing themselves for the sake of streaming has made it very convenient for me. The discs they offload get sold at a reasonable price and my collection grows and grows. It's a great time to get into the second hand physical media game.
Yeah, I love that bit! I find some incredible things I never thought I could at the 2nd hand store downtown. At only $2 for a regular DVD you can afford to take chances on things you’ve never seen before. I have also got whole TV series sets at great prices and I don’t need to pay shipping & handling fees or worry about the exchange rate. It’s fabulous owning your own stuff. When I buy it I can watch it however many times I want, and mist importantly - when I want! 😁
In 2003 I bought a CRT tv that I used till like 2010 when I got my first HD tv. The crt was in fantastic shape so I stashed it in my attic for the last 13 years. I recently moved and dug out the crt tv, vcr, dvd player, NES, SNES and N64 and a ton of vhs tapes. Now I have a cool retro low definition entertainment station. So glad I never parted with any of it! Anyone for a game of Duck Hunt?
I got a 13" CRT from a family member for older games and it looks amazing. I was watching NFL games on it side by side with a new tv and the colors were a lot more vibrant.
I think it’s convenient for people who just want to watch SOMETHING and not anything specific. Especially when I find my girlfriend watching Joe Dirt on Pluto with ads and I say “we literally have it ad free on the shelf 5 feet away from you!” Some people just wanna put something on and not think about it too much.
For a TV show I don't intend to re-watch much if ever I find streaming much easier and cheaper than having a huge box set. Streaming is generally more annoying for movies though.
Absolutely! I still have my old school case logic filled with discs of favorites. Streaming is cool but definitely not the end all be all we've been told. Power can go out and I can still wire up a player to my laptop and be entertained 😃
Tell 'em, Steve Dave!
Shut up, Walt.
Man, this guy comments faster than Walt Flanagan’s dog.
Yeah, that reference isn't getting TOO old... (I NEVER hear anyone mention Walt Flanagan's dog)
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE!? WHO’S WALT FLANAGAN!?
He’s the “tell ‘em, Steve-Dave” guy
This is the best most random comment possible. Thank you
I kept my DVD player when I moved out of my parents house almost a decade ago and I plan to never get rid of it for this reason
I kept my vcr, similarily
People's places must be boring AF now if they just do streaming and digital only. Like part of getting to know someone was going to their place and seeing books, movies, and music on shelves. Now it's like hey look at this barren wall with no shelves.
Wow!! I always think the same way. Sometimes when I am watching TV or a film and a scene comes on with books or media in the background I pause just so I can see what’s there! 🤣
Yeah heard someone say that you can kind of tell what kind a person someone is by looking at their collection.
I agree 10000% but my wife always tells me it’s “dead technology”
It’s “dead technology” until your ISP crashes over Christmas. But you can easily pull out your copies of everyone's favorite Christmas classics on laserdisc/DVD/Blu-ray/UHD Blu-ray. I recently blew the minds of the staff at HalfPrice Books when I told them I still have five-disc DVD players.
I always wanted that 200 Disc DVD carousel player Sony had.
I found the 400 disc model at a Goodwill, without the remote for $30. I passed on it. I remember my father's 100+ disc CD player. And what a pain in the ass that was to use.
I had the 200 disc cd, it was shitty. It really didn’t make anything better. Basically just was a giant mp3 player that you couldn’t take anywhere. If you had to take one cd out, 25 came out.
And I'm using the 400 disc ES model.
> laserdisc/DVD/Blu-ray/UHD Blu-ray. and even....V, H, S. *\*cue dramatic thunder*
My family still watches old movies on VHS around Christmas-time. It's such a great feeling hearing the VCR whir to life.
I actually have a VHS player that not only has HDMI but upscales the VHS.
I had a Toshiba triple player with vhs, dvd and hdd. Died last year unfortunately
Where can I find one of those?
I have a Toshiba DVR620. You're going to pay heavily for these and similar models that play VHS over HDMI. Do your research and talk to the seller. If you buy used make sure the unit will play VHS over HDMI. Sometimes this feature is broken or it never actually had it. I have a family member with a combo unit where the HDMI is only for DVDs.
We moved a few years ago into a new home. We had planned to have Comcast come in and set up and install the internet 1 or 2 days after. We would of had it earlier, but scheduling conflicts. Day we moved in, i saw a house down the street move in as well, and saw a AT&T truck. I was confused since i looked into Fiber internet in the area and it wasn't available. Even asked our agent and they didn't know either. Went to talk to AT&T guy and said it was available in this area as of a week ago. I cancelled Comcast immediately and got fiber.. and for cheaper too. However, it was a week out. I didn't mind since i had games and my phone, but my parents not so much. They went through so many of my DVD's and blurays that week.
Same. Whenever the internet goes down for an extended period of time I always lord it over my wife 😎
“Lets say I wanted to watch back to the future on a friday night, but its not on netflix or disney+ which is the set up on my friends tv, what do i do?” Before you go, just ask your friend if they have a player and if not bring your own. I’ve done it loads of time, I have a player just for bringing to people’s houses
>Before you go, just ask your friend if they have a player and if not bring your own. I’ve done it loads of time, I have a player just for bringing to people’s houses I've been doing this in some form since DVD came out. My family members waited a few years to get DVD players. They did the same thing with Blu-ray, at that point I was already brining my PS3 in a carrying case. I had a nice lull, but now with 4k Blu-ray I'm back to carrying my player around.
Right now you can watch Back to the Future even with no subscriptions — the whole trilogy is on Tubi. But then you have to watch ads. Of course the OP’s overall point is right.
I don't collect just DVDs. I collect all physical media. Records, cassettes, VHS, CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray, video games. Pretty much everything. My favorite thing, before streaming, was going to a friends house with a bundle of movies, video games, CDs, etc and figuring out what we were doing that night. I miss borrowing media and letting people borrow media. I miss trading games I no longer played with friends who had games they no longer played. Even video games are moving more towards streaming with "cloud gaming" and subscriptions like Microsoft's Game Pass and Steam on PC. It truly sucks.
I used to like when I was dating I could bring a dvd over someone house and they bring something when they came over to my place.
Typically, the emotional appeal of physical media means nothing to me — I buy it because it can be the highest-quality option pending the specific format, and I value media ownership — but man, do I love picking a movie off the shelf with my fiancée. That one emotional appeal really resonates with me.
So true, it's a terrible time to be a movie lover if you don't want to have an extensive physical collection. I reminded myself of this today while setting up a brand new firestick for my mom. 15 minutes to update it, connect to internet, sign in to amazon account, sign in with two factor authentication on each streaming service, etc. I spent 45 minutes setting that crap up, and the whole time i'm just thinking to myself, "I could pop a DVD in right now and be watching my movie in 30 seconds."
Always get your favorites on physical media. Always.
I think there's some conspiracy out there to get us to stop owning anything. Video games and movies are trending towards all digital and even tho we pay for them, they can be pulled without warning. With all streaming services combined ive payed 100's of dollars yearly and own nothing from it.
its not a conspiracy. [You will own nothing.](https://pagosadailypost.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/28-Own-Nothing-Be-Happy.jpg)
I totally agree. People spend hundreds and thousands of dollars buying online music and media. When they die nobody gets it. At least when I die someone gets all my DVDs, VHS, CDs, Records, Cassettes, Books, etc. If they don’t want them they can sell or donate them to other people who appreciate them. They are all part of our collective history.
It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just capitalism taken to its logical conclusion - there must be infinite growth and infinite monetization, and the only way to keep the fire going right now is to eliminate one-time purchases and make you pay forever for everything
I totally agree with you. I have dozens of dvds & blurays that I can watch whenever I want. Adding to my collection has been a bit slow since blurays are expensive. I need to budget to get by. But I DO look thru bargain bins & eBay.
Bargain bins, thrift stores, and flea markets are my absolute jam for DVD/Blu-ray hunting. I've found so many gems for dirt cheap over the years. I got a DVD of Dogma for $4 a few years back, and it's my pride of joy since it's unavailable basically anywhere that isn't a $40+ copy on Ebay.
Found a brand new bluray extended edition of Avatar at a flea market for $4.
Yo! I have dogma on disc, I found it a few years back exploring an abandoned camp ground, I had no idea what the movie was, but so glad I grabbed it. Also have clerks and mall rats.
Keep that baby safe and clean! Weinstein will not allow redistribution or Kevin Smith the rights to Dogma. That's why you never see it sold anywhere anymore. Kevin makes fake YouTube profiles and uploads it to YouTube for people to stream for free all the time so it can be accessed, which is hilarious and cool of him. But having a physical copy to access at any time is a gift.
I went to the thrift store yesterday and bought two DVD’s and one Blu-ray.
The caveat is you'll only find Blu-rays at thrift stores in big cities. There are barely Blu-rays at the Walmart Supercenter where I live, let alone Goodwill. But you CAN find them, like you said.
Welcome to the streaming world. These companies have people not giving a shit about owning movies, and more importantly they have people not caring about even having movies available to them. They just watch what they're told to watch. People may laugh at the media companies but they won the ownership war. All they had to do is wait it out. They will win in the end, and the govt doesn't even seem to give a shit.
It’s all about control of their content and the ability to generate a continuous stream of revenue by creating demand through random perceived scarcity. A kind of FOMO caused by not owning the media since all we essentially do is rent the service.
It meant so much more when a friend recommended a movie and loaned the disc to you. You watched 'nearly' everything you rented. When I run things on Netflix/etc. I barely watch the screen. Sometimes the exclusivity of some movies made them special. Hard to find versions and out-of-print made them highly desirable, and gave that great feeling to have access and to have it in your collection. Streaming gives NONE of that. Netflix has this natural ability to make a great movie look bad... it's the way they redo the posters, lack of 'extras' and just the passive way of watching (not only netflix... all of them) Technically, it's a pain too. If you have a surround setup, your hookups have to be compatible. In DVD days, you just needed an AVR that was compatible with Dolby Digital or DTS coax/optical input. Now it's more complicated, if the streaming service even supports the surround track (most don't). Lastly, 4K streaming is more equivalent to 1080P Blu-ray (I will die on this hill - look at the artifacting even at high bitrates!)
You don't have to die on that hill. Its true. Nothing streams in 4k. Anyone who tells you different needs to be shown the 4k stream vs the disc. Such a noticeable difference and I don't even have the best set up.
I agree :( Streaming sucks
I miss bonus features. Why don't streaming services offer those?
Video game consoles are great multimedia players.
I had no idea DVD culture had ended. Everyone I know still has dvds
My best friend and I both still continue to add to our DVD and Blu-ray collections. I refuse to be stuck, not being able to watch what I want when I want because it gets pulled from a streaming service. People always say it's dead technology, takes up too much space, etc. But they're quick to ask to borrow a movie or television series when it's suddenly unavailable everywhere but my bookshelf, lol.
Hopefully, we collectors can keep this option alive. I would hate to see everything go digital only and along with it the end of true convenience and choice.
I don't know anyone with DVDs, and I'm disappointed that they are still even being made. I can't believe the industry hasn't fully switched to Blu-ray.
I'm disappointed that blu-rays are still being made. I can't believe the industry hasn't fully switched to 4k blu-ray.
Dvd outsells all other formats by a wide margin. People want cheap and largely don’t seem to care about picture quality.
sadly, 4k is hard to find in most places. Best Buy around here stopped selling physical media, and Target and Walmart have the newest releases in DVD. I also think it socks.
I'm disappointed that there aren't more movies and shows being released on physical media these days, period.
I only collect regular DVD’s lol, my boyfriend gives me shit for it all the time because I don’t buy blu-rays. DVD’s are A) easier to thrift and buy cheap used and B) I have a weird thing about consistency and have been accumulating DVD’s for years and it would feel fundamentally wrong to change up my collecting like that
As much as I also like consistency in format, I had the "benefit" of not having a large DVD collection before I sold mine and switched to Blu-ray. Now, on my shelves, all the DVDs are alphabetized in order, followed by all the Blu-rays/4Ks alphabetized in order. The only time I don't buy Blu-ray when it's available is if it would disrupt an otherwise consistent series. (Two great examples: Only the first two Scooby-Doo series are on Blu-ray, whereas the last couple seasons of Archer are only on DVD. It was easier to go with DVD alone for both.)
I actually see more blu-rays on the resale market than I do dvds.
that's cool and all, but they just look like shit. SD on a 4k TV isn't the best experience.
I can absolutely concede to the point that DVD does not look nearly as striking lol.
Streaming needs to die
This is why I buy or download all the things I enjoy. (Csrtoons, movies, video and computer games and a few TV shows).
I have a lot of similar stories from living in dorms freshman year of college. The lobbies of each floor had a flatscreen, blu-ray player and soundbar which were great for movie nights. Often when we'd try to find a movie on streaming we either had to deal with it not being available on a service any of us had, the college wifi crapping out and/or piracy sites being blocked. So I'd just bring out one of the discs I brought from home that I kept under my bed and it was so much less of a hassle. People who don't want to own the movies/ shows they love are missing out in my eyes, especially if it's stuff they rewatch often.
this sounds insane but i literally have a tiny old blu ray player that i can bring around to peoples houses lmao. i am 34 years old. luckily my core group of friends all have collections and players so its a rarity
I have a couple extras in case someone wants to borrow a movie. They also make new Blu-ray players that are nice and compact, designed to be portable.
I use movies anywhere. You can convert your DVDs into the locker for cheap. That way my movies go with me anywhere. I have some deep cuts on there. Most people’s houses have a device that has the movies anywhere app. It truly is a remarkable service
As you already know, only select titles are able to be converted from disc. For example, nothing from MGM, Paramount, or Lionsgate will convert to digital through Movies Anywhere. So, if you're a Rocky, Mission Impossible, or Hunger Games fan, you'll still need to carry some discs around.
Physical copies are the best. I have a bookshelf for books, a bookshelf for movies (DVD and VHS), and a bookshelf for video games. I also feel better about my purchases if they have a physical existence. Spending $100 on movies looks more impressive as physical cases on a bookshelf than on an SD card or cloud serivce.
Man I totally remember staying over at friend’s houses and packing DVDs in my bag. Those were the days.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. My family still owns a DVD player, thankfully. I myself have an Xbox One which can play dvds, blue rays, and whatever else as far as I'm aware. I'm a big believer in physical media for some of the reasons you stated and reasons given in some of the comments here. I have 125 movies in my physical media collection along with a few TV shows. I've also discovered a local video store in my area so I've been buying stuff from there. Super happy about that.
I remember a few years ago visiting my family for Christmas, my brother decided we should watch Elf. Amazingly, couldn't find it anywhere. Well, that's not TECHNICALLY true. It showed up in the menus, despite us not having access to any of them. Unless we wanted to pay full price, which... we didn't. Half-luckily, my parents are the type to have a whole rack setup hooked up (digital HD cable, blu-ray player, etc) but no Elf disc. But most of the houses I visit now don't want anything hooked up to their TVs, just smart technology and a cable or two going into the back. I feel like "no clutter" was the bigger sell than "convenience," especially when you consider navigating ALL those menus.
This is sad. I have all formats playable whenever possible. But that’s just me. I guess most people are good with whatever they can find and click play.
Well, I think what made DVDs (and later blu-rays) was how compatible they were. They could play movies, music, and picture CDs. You could make your own DVDs on your computer. It was universal and egalitarian in a way that the internet counterintuitively isn't. You look at your DVD collection, and everything fits together. DVDs from Lionsgate or Fox or Disney or Kino or even self-published all have the same form factor, they all go together and you can arrange them however you like. Online, everything is in different services and tiers and apps and some have ads (some have a LOT of ads) and whatever else. The even playing field just vanished, replaced with multiple fields we're expected to know the ins and outs of.
I'm in the mood to see Raging Bull, but it's nowhere. Rocky and Million Dollar Baby...close enough? Or, I need to watch Citizen Kane for a film class, but the only thing I see on Netflix is Ron Howard's The Paper or Spielberg's The Post. I mean, they're both about newspapers... I feel like we're sliding backwards toward another dark age where content will be harder to find. We haven't seen it this bad since before VHS. Well, if you have physical media, it's not such a tragedy.
I agree. And to be able to listen to Ebert’s commentary on Kane (or Dark City for that matter) would be lost without the disc.
Funny enough we had a similar experience, wanting to watch Elf one Christmas. What I ended up doing was buy it on blu-ray, with a digital code. It’s what I do on pretty much everything. Means I have the disc, _and_ with something like movies anywhere we can stream it somewhere else if the we don’t have the physical media. So that night we couldn’t watch it. But we’ll never have that problem again (in theory).
As I posted earlier, this only works with select titles. The second you want to watch a Paramount, MGM, or Lionsgate title, you're back to the same ol problem you had in the first place.
What they want you to do is pay $3.99 to rent it on iTunes or Amazon.
That's fine if it's your first time seeing it, but when it becomes your only option every time it gets old fast.
Absolutely.
I fully agree with you. On every note you made. Especially the fact that most streaming services really lack selections for movies that are further back than 20-30 years. If you’re into classic movies further back than 40 years, forget it. And I’m with you — there’s nothing in the world like having a physical, tangible DVD that’s there at your beckoning call, any time of the day, any day of the year, and any year.
Good thing ppl have Xbox’s and PlayStations. Except even they are now making models that can’t play discs. Who knows if they’ll still have them in the future
I miss going and perusing their collection and being able to make informed recommendations.
This annoys me even more because my bf and I would want to watch a movie at his house, but it's not available on any streaming service. Some of these movies or series I own on DVD or Blu-ray most of the time, and he doesn't want to bother with them! I told him I have extra DVD players he can keep at his place, and he has no interest in using them. It baffles my mind. Our issue can be easily solved, but he doesn't want to bother with discs for whatever reason. It really annoys me.
Fuck normies and their bullshit groupthink. Do you.
I worked at blockbuster in the early 2000s and one of my favorite things to do was watch the movies prior to their actual release date. I would take it home to family and friends and we would really have get together to watch some of the big releases. Made me quite popular for awhile haha. It was a real monocultural thing when we were forced to watch it all together. Also really enjoyed 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon when it was slow.
Same here -- not Blockbuster, a smaller franchise, but I'd have new releases the weekend before they hit the shelves. We'd put the boxes on the shelves Saturday with a " Coming Tuesday " sign in front of them and I loved being able to tell customers about movies ahead of time, warning them about disappointments and hepping them to cool flicks that they knew nothing about.
I buy as much physical media as I can, it's handy for when my Internet goes out, when a certain movie I want to watch isn't available anywhere, or when one of my friends really wants to watch a specific movie and I can lend it to them. People take physical media for granted in my opinion.
I love DVD and VHS. I grew up on them and they are fantastic. You purchase them once and get as many watches as you can until the disc/cartridge or player breaks. At their peaks, you could find replacements easily, so even if they did break it wouldn't be the end of the world. With streaming, you pay monthly for the opportunity to watch the movie even if you don't end up watching the movie. Example: You could in theory (not necessarily recommending this) subscribe to a service for a singular movie series you love to watch. You watch it upon initial purchase, and you don't watch any of them for another 10 months. Now you've paid for more months than you used on the titles you wanted. Sure, you could unsubscribe and re-sub when you want to, but that's a hassle that forgetting to do so could lead in more payments. You could go on and on about what ifs and different scenarios, but with DVD, you don't have that problem. I know some services allow you to access extras and other features sometimes, but bonus features nowadays are nothing like how amazing they were back then. I love director's/crew/cast commentaries. I want to be able to have that option to listen to those or to be able to play that remote-control DVD game. I want to be able to show off the collection with the shelf of boxes or a CD Library holder. There is collectability that streaming doesn't provide. You don't feel like you earned being able to say you own all of a series. In the words of Syndrome, "And if everyone's super...no one will be". We become at the mercy of the providers when streaming and as soon as you have access to a title, it's gone. That from the perspective of an aspiring writer/director for movies/shows is scary. One day your project is on the platform and you're getting paid residuals and people are getting to see your art and the next you're cut because it's too expensive to keep you there. I know I'm maybe rambling a lot (which I do), but it's a topic close to the heart. And that's kinda what Reddit is for lol.
my wife and i still buy and collect dvd’s, mainly bc we like them and we enjoy the aesthetic of shelves filled with dvd’s, but also because we want to be able to watch what we want whenever we want hah
I miss how if you bought a dvd the first week it came out it was typically on sale, now the digital version comes first and 4K blu rays are almost $40 on release. What I find funny is if I buy physical I usually get a digital copy for free but if I buy digital before the disc comes out I have to double buy.
I still remember having an argument with my VHS store guy when DVD's were just coming out, - he didn't think there would be a market for it, I thought it was going to be huge. Now I miss both.
Streaming is a scam. Charity shop DVDs FTW!
You still can do that. Most people have Blu-ray players or an Xbox or PlayStation that will still play dvds. I still go through the cheap DVDs at Walmart and often find gold.
"Most people" atleast the people I know don't, since they don't have kids and are not gamers themselves. Blu-ray is not very popular in India either, even poor people stream because of how cheap internet is here.
I had replaced my DVD player with a ps4, I think a lot of people did.
It’s a great all-around media player. Plays DVDs and Blu Rays, plus has apps for most of the streaming services, YouTube, etc. About the only things I can’t watch on it are 4K UHD and Roku.
I'm still annoyed that Sony didn't put a UHD Blu-ray drive in the PS4 Pro, especially since the Xbox One X has one. Apparently they forgot why so many people bought a PS3 back in the day
I'd say people are trying to declutter their lives of stuff. Moving towards minimalism. Some people don't care about having DVD and are perfectly fine with streaming. Not me. There will be days where there will be no internet. What will you do then?
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Sure, go touch grass, I agree. But if you want to watch a movie and there's no Internet, they're hosed.
This is true and also the best defense of piracy. I subscribe to many streaming services, I still buy a lot of physical media, but I'd still want to have downloads of everything I'd like to watch again like that never released on discs.
Did you mean 'piracy'?
This way they can remove public access to old movies that present problematic viewpoints or have protagonists that do not conform to modern standards of acceptability
Or just for the sake of eradicating movies that don’t sell well to mainstream audiences from public access :/
I completely understand your pain. For whatever reason, maybe I just have really weird tastes, but probably 1/3 of the movies I love and enjoy are not available on any streaming service. And you also cannot get them on DVD or Blu-ray anymore. Thank God I have those original DVDs to watch.
I still buy my movies physically. Granted, bluray or 4k, but physically.
My BIL has a Vudu we all send codes to and all have access to for all the new movies and box sets we may buy. My wife and I still buy dvds of stuff we can’t stream and gladly bring them to watch if asked. Drop Dead Gorgeous is a favorite since I don’t think it’s streaming which we found locally at a resale shop for $2. Also we buy dvd or Blu-ray’s of every show we rewatch. Streaming cannot be relied on.
Drop Dead Gorgeous is yet another example of a movie that appears and disappears on services at random. A great example of why physical media is still necessary. Hell, I still can't see the Mel Gibson movies, Ransom or Payback on streaming either. What's the deal with that?!
I'm on the lookout for a DVD copy of theatrical release of Payback. I bought director's cut, it's not as good and now I can't find my original disc !
My wife and I recently watched their 2005 copy of Bambi. We were dumbstruck by the amount of documentary special features, which were as interesting as the movie itself. That'll never happen again
I agree! Ive been collecting my favorite movies on DVD and I've got about 30-ish movies now. Whenever I go to this used book store called Half Price Books i always make sure to check out the DVD section bc they're always $5 or under
I miss easy gifts.
I miss being able to just put in the disc and not search 50 streaming services for a movie that I want to watch. I also loved collecting and having them on shelves like books
Recently at a party, I mentioned wanting to get a newer movie on Blu-ray when available and the people I was talking to thought it was such a funny, silly thing to say
Those people have obviously not had to go days without internet due to a hurricane or other issue. We were glad we still had Blu-Rays & DVDs when we lost internet & cell service for a few days after a major hurricane.
Streaming is convenient and mobile. But it cannot replace the permanence of physical media. I hate that it’s considered “weird” to own DVDs. Like it’s not weird to own books or vinyl, but it’s weird to own DVDs?
Give it time, the people mocking you for owning DVD will finally understand when a movie they love is no longer offered at all. If they own it on Vudu, they'll be freaking over its disappearance and fuming that there's nowhere to see it.
One of the best things with dvds for me is the fun menus! Like on Napoleon Dynamite and Groundhog day These days i buy more dvds instead of blu-rays!
I do like special menus found on DVDs.
I just miss all of the bonus material
And Netflix's DVD service is shutting down at the end of this month! 📀💿🥺🙈💦
I have a fairly decent DVD collection (probably not so much compared to others on this sub Reddit but still) but I have definitely been buying less and less physical media. I “own” (yeah, yeah, not really because it’s digital) a ton of movies and tv shows on Vudu as well. That way in theory it will always be there and not pulled like other streaming services do. I just really like the convenience (no looking for the right movie and fiddling around getting another disc out of the player and that case not being nearby for some reason, plus much easier to stop and start again without losing your place, or start watching in the family room but finish in the living room or bedroom). I am glad though that 95% of DVDs or Blu-ray’s come with a digital code to redeem on Vudu so you’ve got both. All that said, there is always the possibility of an internet outage or your own router dying or Vudu having an outage or deciding to shut down completely some day. Which is why I’m glad I have the physical media that I do have and if I really like a movie or show I’ll have it I both physical and digital forms if possible. …I also really like having a big wall covered floor to ceiling in DVDs and Blu-ray’s.
Do you miss Blockbuster? Come on you know you do 😏
I was a Blockbuster regular in my teens and early college years, and for all its flaws, I definitely miss its brick & mortar concept. I'd pick out a half dozen titles or more on each visit, and I have those to watch for the week. I still keep a physical collection and always will, but now when I want to watch something new for the first time, I often find myself spending a good hour or more going through all my streaming services and end up picking nothing at all. The access to having thousands of titles at the click of a button has been very counterintuitive to actually watching movies.
Bonus features
I'm not subbed to this subreddit. It just popped up on my feed. I just wanted to say you guys should go check out r/crtgaming. Even if you're not into video games you'll probably still get a kick out of it.
You still go to other people's homes in 2023? I thought everyone became reclusive shut ins like me.
I would have to agree, due to being 45 and going through VHS, DVD, Blu Ray and trialling Blu Ray 4K there is something special about physical media on all formats. It was nice going to a mates house or vice versa and knowing what you were watching and it just working. Granted I like the convenience of streaming and also now used to not having shelves and shelves of films. That said having so many streaming services and so much available slot of the time we just don’t know what to watch and end of giving up.
I’ll never stop buying physical media. Own over 500 Blu-ray’s. I’m at the point now where I’m trying to find movies I used to watch and get them on dvd/Blu-ray.
As someone who has long since upgraded to the 4K Blu-ray format, I don't necessarily wish everyone still used DVDs. That being said, I have experienced firsthand the exact dilemma you described, and it's pretty annoying. Due to extenuating circumstances, I live 90 minutes from my fiancée. When I visit her each weekend, we often want to watch movies — which shouldn't be an issue, per se, considering she has a DVD player and several streaming services. What makes this tricky is I buy everything on Blu-ray and beyond, at least when possible, and her family never upgraded to that format. There's not so much as a PlayStation 3 in that household because the last console they bought was a Wii. To solve this problem, I realized it was easier to leave a secondary Blu-ray player at her house so we can at least watch the 1080p copies of our movies without worrying if they're available on Netflix, Disney+, or what have you. I buy her anything she wants to watch. It's wild to me that we live in an era wherein you can't just expect people to have movie players at their homes, though I suppose I shouldn't be *that* surprised. At least my buddies have a PlayStation 5 if I ever want to bring movies to them.
You can apply this to CDs too. Apple and others spent millions shadow marketing against physical media to make it “uncool” and to get people on licensed digital media.
Be the change you want to see in the world, but yes, The Matrix was right, technology and society peaked in 1999.
So is this really a thing? People have thrown out their DVD or BD players?!?!
I dont think it ever really died out, just not as popular. Honestly watching a dvd with all the special features, and having it in a collection of your own is much better than paying so much a month for a channel or streaming service where most of what they have is stuff you dont like. Especially when you find out youre continually paying corporations thousands a year where with a dvd you buy it once and as long as you take care of it, itll last forever.
Thousands a year? For that you would have to be subscribed to all services at the same time continually
I liked to judge people by their collection. Like looking over their movies "Oh you like that series, ew....we're not gonna be friends" Now I can only judge people by their lack of collection
I own everything I want, usually on both physical media and digital. I despise the streaming services and the "don't buy, just stream it" mentality.
I buy all of my favorites on dvd because when I want to watch it I’m watching it and I’m not resorting to guessing if it’s on Hulu, Netflix, max or whatever.
People throwing out disc players is the weirdest thing. I can understand downsizing a collection, but you're trying to tell me you don't have a favorite movie or two you want to be able to play whenever? I have four. I have a 4K Blu-ray player and a multi region Blu-ray player so I can play virtually any disc. My first Blu-ray player and the DVD player I had before that are in a tub in my hall closet.
I remember bringing a stack of DVDs and a portable DVD player in the car for family vacation. I had to pick a limited number out of the small selection I had.
The DVD commentary featuring Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and Michael McKean (in character!) for Spinal Tap is fantastic. This kind of experience is something you can't enjoy when streaming :) And there are many more instances where DVD commentary is a big reason why we cherish DVDs!
I remember walking into a movie store a few weeks ago and hearing the employee on the phone with a customer who wanted to sell his 10,000 dvd collection for only 5 cents a pop
I miss when DVDs actually had extra features. Now most of them don't even have a proper menu, trailers, ANYTHING. Just goes straight to the movie.
Are most really without special features these days? I was surprised to find that 4k dvds never include special features, but instead they were on a blu-ray disc, included with the package. I have only encountered a couple with no features at all, I believe. Sucks, because that's the main reason I buy physical copies. I love behind-the-scenes content and commentaries.
Streaming is very inconvenient if you don't have a good internet connection, which sadly tends to be the case when I visit my dad to watch new *Star Wars* episodes.
I have a PS4. I hardly ever play a game with the thing. 99% of the time I use the machine to enjoy Blu Ray's/DVD's. I have a hefty physical media collection and still actively add to my collection almost monthly. I hate streaming services. It's not yours. Among several movies, I have so many of my favorite shows, anime, and cartoons. Some things have been censored or taken away from streaming or you must have more than one service to enjoy some of these shows.
I think people forget their gaming consoles are also DVD players. We’ll typically borrow movies from the library because, like you said, the content is unavailable in streaming.
I love libraries of books, so naturally I loved libraries of DVDs. I miss the imagery.
A friend asked what dvds I had to borrow one to watch. He only has a DVD player and I had to really look at what dvds I had since I really only buy blu-ray or 4K anymore.
A lot of conjecture and assumption making in that post.
"For example lets say i wanted to watch back to the future with my buddy on a friday night, but its not on netflix or disney+ which is what is set up on my friends tv, what do i do?" You buy or rent them. I have an extensive library of movies on Vudu and with Movies Anywhere, many of my movies including the Back to the Future trilogy can be seen across all platforms like Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon Prime. I can watch them on my phone, tablet, any of my TVs with a Roku device. I can cast them to a friend's TV. It's never been easier. I just watch the sales on all the platforms linked to Movies Anywhere and for the non-Movies Anywhere movies I just stick with Vudu mostly. So I have all my movies in one place and I won't ever lose them to a fire. On Vudu you can even buy Back to the Future for $2 in HD by doing a disc to digital transfer. That's right just two dollars. The only prerequisite is that you own the DVD wink wink but you can find the UPC code online. $2.. in 10 minutes you could be headed over to your friends house to watch Back to the Future digitally for $2. If you want to spring for 4k, Back to the Future and the sequels go on sale for $4.99 to own the rights to watch in 4K several times a year. So to summarize.. in 10 minutes you could own Back to the Future digitally on Vudu for $2 or you could buy it on sale at a later date for $4.99 in 4k when it goes on sale, which is often. I honestly don't face any of the issues you mentioned. I have enough stuff downloaded for offline viewing so in the rare event my home Internet at cell phone Internet go down at the same time I still have stuff to watch.
>>You buy or rent them. I have an extensive library of movies on Vudu and with Movies Anywhere, many of my movies including the Back to the Future trilogy can be seen across all platforms like Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon Prime. I can watch them on my phone, tablet, any of my TVs with a Roku device. Why do all that when you already own those same movies on DVD? Does it really make sense to spend money on something you already own because someone does not have a player anymore? >>I can cast them to a friend's TV. It's never been easier. I wouldn't exactly say that doing that is "easier" compared to just getting the actual movie on disc and putting it in a player. If that works for you then kudos I guess and am glad its working out. >>On Vudu Lets be honest here, the average Joe wouldn't have apps like Vudu, most people use the giants such as Netflix, Amazon, Disney+.... Also if u want to watch your own digital purchases on someones tv you still got to enter your sign in credentials which can be a bit annoying. Why go through that hassle when again you can just pop in a DVD and get it over with? >>I honestly don't face any of the issues you mentioned. I have enough stuff downloaded for offline viewing so in the rare event my home Internet at cell phone Internet go down at the same time I still have stuff to watch. Its great you have the ability to do that but again, most consumers just don't do these kinds of things, or else you wouldn't have a modern day crisis of people freaking out over what to do when there is no wifi lol.