The Premature Death of Physical Media and the Cult Home Video Labels Keeping It Alive

[Susan Foreman]

An argument for physical over digital media / Badger Herald

"While our entertainment is primarily digital, many physical forms with better quality are slept on

There is no question that streaming services have become a cultural zeitgeist of the time — mostly for good reason.

Streaming services are far cheaper than cable, have large libraries of both recent shows and films and classics, and can be viewed anywhere there is a signal. As services like Netflix have risen, businesses like Blockbuster fell, and DVD sales have dropped by 86% in the past 13 years. Why purchase something that you may already be paying for, or at least can buy immediately to watch? Many consumers are unaware of the advantages of physical media.

Collectors of records often discuss the difference in quality to an MP3, and this applies to DVDs as well. A critical aspect of the Blu-ray disc is high resolution, which is possible due to the amount of storage on a disc. Many streaming sites can brag about their own high resolution, but if you compare it to a Blu-ray disc, the quality would fall short.

The explanation lies in the compression that occurs when a piece of media is formatted for online streaming. In order to allow thousands of viewers to stream on a standard, or even weak internet connection, the media is compressed to a small size — reducing the quality of the image and even affecting the frame rate. While many cinephiles will crave watching something on film, a Blu-ray is the best at-home quality available.

DVDs also come with bonus features that are often excluded from digital purchases and are rarely, if ever, present on streaming services. Often, the prices for DVDs are only slightly higher but come with more features. With the existence of boutique distributors like The Criterion Collection, Arrow Video and Kino Lorber, new restorations of older films, special limited editions and features and more, owning a physical copy has more material and does justify the price.

A recent recurring problem is the refrain by digital companies that your digital purchases do not belong to you. Amazon recently said that you are actually paying for a “limited streaming license.” Other problems have occurred when a person moves to another country or the company that hosts the media goes out of business.

If you own a physical copy, there is no question that you own it. This copy can also be resold, loaned to friends or regifted. This opens up opportunities for buying used copies at cheaper prices, and while it may shock some, DVD rental places still exist.

In Madison, Four Star Video Rental has a large library of DVD and Blu-ray discs to rent. While browsing in person is limited due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, curbside pick-up is available. They also rent out VHS and DVD players if you do not have one.

DVD and Blu-ray players have become more affordable since their initial release. In addition, many people may own DVD and Blu-ray players without even realizing it. The Xbox and Playstation for a long time have built-in disc reading. The new PS5s and Xbox Series X will be able to read 4K discs.

None of this is to say that streaming should end. Some things are only available through streaming or are just worth putting on in the background. Purchasing something that may soon get pulled from streaming, deserves the appreciation of its stunning images or simply is an all-time favorite does seem worth it.

Finally, consider trying the peace of browsing the stacks of a rental place in person. It truly is not comparable to scrolling through rows of images."

[gag]

Don’t need a argument or debate only Idiots who think it’s better over owning a physical copy are wallies,
Also as much as wether or not you like Netflix and likes at end of the day they control what you watch, companies also release uncut And obscure films that people have forgotten about and struggle to find online or on streaming sites, Some stuff never makes it on these sites or tv, and can’t exactly see nexflix and likes showing uncut cat III film, and if worse comes to worse if hit financial problems you can always sell your collectable / rare / uncut films can’t do that if you only watch online / streaming sites,

[Nostalgic]

Agree 100 percent.
My wife got into Once Upon A Time, then Merlin on sky/netflix, then they pulled them & she frantically hunted for the dvds.
Netflix etc are more useful for trying new stuff (and I do mean NEW, hardly any old or classic stuff on these things), but for anyone interested in film, they're useless.

We don't want 6 of Ben Affleck/Cameron Diaz/Will Smith's average movies, we want some directors filmography. Just putting all the Harry Potter or Fast & Furious films on there won't cut it, and Hitchcock isn't the only famous film maker (Sky TV!!!).

Scrolled through Netflix the other day, and while it's great for my son (lots of kids shows etc) I struggle to find anything decent. It's all the £7 stuff you find in Tesco or stuff we have all seen like Species.

Sitting on my (creaking) To Watch shelf are Opera, Phenomena, Maniac (Lustig), Phantasm, Gamera movies, My Man Godfrey (criterion) and too many others to list. The average streamng service has nothing on what physical media does.

[gag]

Originally Posted by Nostalgic

Agree 100 percent.
My wife got into Once Upon A Time, then Merlin on sky/netflix, then they pulled them & she frantically hunted for the dvds.
Netflix etc are more useful for trying new stuff (and I do mean NEW, hardly any old or classic stuff on these things), but for anyone interested in film, they're useless.

We don't want 6 of Ben Affleck/Cameron Diaz/Will Smith's average movies, we want some directors filmography. Just putting all the Harry Potter or Fast & Furious films on there won't cut it, and Hitchcock isn't the only famous film maker (Sky TV!!!).

Scrolled through Netflix the other day, and while it's great for my son (lots of kids shows etc) I struggle to find anything decent. It's all the £7 stuff you find in Tesco or stuff we have all seen like Species.

Sitting on my (creaking) To Watch shelf are Opera, Phenomena, Maniac (Lustig), Phantasm, Gamera movies, My Man Godfrey (criterion) and too many others to list. The average streamng service has nothing on what physical media does.

Totally agree, rather scroll for ages through your dvd film collection like we did vhs style in a shop, than scroll for ages at a screen,
I’ve that many films Cluttered around and lying willy nilly here there and everywhere, nowhere near as some as you lot, I’m running out of space, only live in a small house, I’ve resort to rearranging corners to put shelf up.

[iank]

There's been a lot of talk about streaming vs physical media, but after a month of Netflix my opinion is that the medium most likely to die as a result of streaming is regular television networks. Physical media will always be around - people will always want to own their fave shows and movies, collecting is a human instinct - but 'scheduled' TV? That's the thing going to go the way of the dinosaur IMO.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Just read that No Time to Die sold 717,500 physical copies in two weeks in the UK.

The largest week one sale for a disc since 2017 and is the biggest selling 4K title ever.

Meanwhile Adele sold 450,000 physical copies of her album within two months of release with huge physical sales for Ed Sheeran and Abba as well.

https://inews.co.uk/news/james-bond-...ssance-1383851

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Just read that No Time to Die sold 717,500 physical copies in two weeks in the UK.

The largest week one sale for a disc since 2017 and is the biggest selling 4K title ever.

Meanwhile Adele sold 450,000 physical copies of her album within two months of release with huge physical sales for Ed Sheeran and Abba as well.

https://inews.co.uk/news/james-bond-...ssance-1383851

Also Adele's new album caused an international shortage of Vinyl and slots at pressing plants delaying so many albums in the last quarter of 2021

I bet the majority of those sold went to homes without record players as well

[hivemind]

Originally Posted by iank

There's been a lot of talk about streaming vs physical media, but after a month of Netflix my opinion is that the medium most likely to die as a result of streaming is regular television networks. Physical media will always be around - people will always want to own their fave shows and movies, collecting is a human instinct - but 'scheduled' TV? That's the thing going to go the way of the dinosaur IMO.

Yes, the old order of standard television will go, just look at the last number of years with the TV schedules, absolute shite. The BBC will have to head down a subscription path, just like the streaming services, but physical media certainly won't last beyond this decade. The corporations want total control over what we watch and consume, so what could be better than collectivzing streaming services together, but of course, you won't have the luxury of really owning a film forever, even though you may have it on a phone or TV set box library. Went into both Sainsbury's and Tesco's the other day, and all physical media is being sold off , banished for good. Spoke to the store manager at Tesco, and he said that physical won't last this decade out. You'll still be able to buy physical online through the usual channels, but time is ticking he said. Physical media sales are on the dip. With DVD now looking ever more redundant. Blu-Ray has a number years left, but to say physical will be here forever is taking the biscuit quite literally.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by hivemind

Yes, the old order of standard television will go, just look at the last number of years with the TV schedules, absolute shite. The BBC will have to head down a subscription path, just like the streaming services, but physical media certainly won't last beyond this decade. The corporations want total control over what we watch and consume, so what could be better than collectivzing streaming services together, but of course, you won't have the luxury of really owning a film forever, even though you may have it on a phone or TV set box library. Went into both Sainsbury's and Tesco's the other day, and all physical media is being sold off , banished for good. Spoke to the store manager at Tesco, and he said that physical won't last this decade out. You'll still be able to buy physical online through the usual channels, but time is ticking he said. Physical media sales are on the dip. With DVD now looking ever more redundant. Blu-Ray has a number years left, but to say physical will be here forever is taking the biscuit quite literally.

All speculation and quoting a store manager from a company that don't care about selling physical media.

I am impressed that you actually found a Tesco store manager to speak to though.

Speak to an HMV store manager and you might hear a different story. Especially with physical media having a great end to the year. As for dvd being ever more redundant it still outsells Blu-ray so what does that make Blu-ray and 4K?

Of course it won't last forever and if it does see the decade out that won't be bad at all. Especially seeing as we are only two years into it. As long as there's a market there'll be a product. Vinyl is selling more and more as each year comes round so i do think that will see the decade out.

[nosferatu42]