Variety article on demise of DVD: estimates sales will fall below $1B in 2024 (2 Viewers)

[Ethan Riley]

Whatever. This same article comes out about once a month. It's over when it's over.

 

[Nathan_H]

The article does not seem to say discs will no longer exist.

But it makes the reasonable point that it is hard to argue that disks are a major line item on any studio's balance sheet any longer. It was once how many (most?) films eventually turned a profit. That role is now played, if at all, by digital sales, rentals and streaming, it seems.

--

By the way, thanks for mentioning these train-oriented movies. Two of which I haven't seen and one of which I hadn't seen since the VHS era. Adding to my queue on "JustWatch," (which, to continue a theme, doesn't even link to a physical release option, even when no digital or streaming version is available).

I'm going to bury my head in the sand and ignore these predictions of doom. Instead I'll continue to buy new releases of films which I want in my collection; films like The Hell With Heroes and Meet John Doe. When the music does finally stop, I'll have a collection which I can watch whenever I want, which is pretty much what I do now. Most evenings, I watch a film on a disc I've had for years. Last night, for example, The Tall Target.

oh yes...The Tall Target. The description of the assassination set-up is eerily similar to JFK's. Another great train film right up there with Narrow Margin and Silver Streak.

 

[jayembee]

Whatever. This same article comes out about once a month. It's over when it's over.

It's over when the plus-sized woman begins her aria.

 

[Capt D McMars]

It's over when the plus-sized woman begins her aria.

 

[jayembee]

I suppose it can also be said that it's over when the wabbit is killed.

 

[Lord Dalek]

I suppose it can also be said that it's over when the wabbit is killed.

David Zaslov seems to be very close to achieving that dream.

 

[davidmatychuk]

If the major studios want to farm out all of their disc production to the boutique labels, I'm sure Kino Lorber, Arrow, Criterion, Indicator, Synapse et al will be happy to divvy up $1 billion (or slightly less) in sales. Enthusiastic disc manufacturers might even be able to grow the home video market with quality releases, who knows?

 

[Keith Cobby]

I don't care about overall numbers which are inexorably declining. I understand folks no longer buy discs (nobody I know buys any and most have disposed of their collections). I no longer buy books (except for the odd coffee table movie book) and use my Kindle for it's convenience. All I care about is that the remaining films on my list are released on blu ray/4k at much higher prices if necessary (to offset lower runs). Life is circular, we are almost back at the beginning!

 

[Desslar]

I don't care about overall numbers which are inexorably declining. I understand folks no longer buy discs (nobody I know buys any and most have disposed of their collections). I no longer buy books (except for the odd coffee table movie book) and use my Kindle for it's convenience. All I care about is that the remaining films on my list are released on blu ray/4k at much higher prices if necessary (to offset lower runs). Life is circular, we are almost back at the beginning!

But... it's all connected. The more overall numbers decline, the less likely it becomes that those wish list titles will be released.

 

[Capt D McMars]

If this doomsday scenerio were as dire as some would have it, why is there a ever increasing list of 4K/Blu ray releases and all of these wonderful titles coming out from WAC, Arrow, Kino, Indicator. Powerhouse and others...it may be that the numbers aren't like it was in the "Golden Era" of physical media, but from where I'm sitting, I couldn't be Happier!!!
I say keep em coming!! As long as someone still belives in a quality disc product and those that DO collect these...I tell the doomsdayers to F#$%off!!!

 

[jcroy]

The only definitive sign that the dvd/bluray market is dead, is if hardware manufacturers stop manufacturing new dvd/bluray players and discs. Especially after all the relevant patents are expired. (Over the next year or so, a standalone dvd player will be largely patent-free in most of the world).

 

[YANG]

Not sure if the practice has stopped, but I have seen many DVDs that have trailers for upcoming releases. Disney titles for sure.

Plus, the nostalgia value probably varies by generation. You can use your DVD player and early LCD flatscreen and feel like you're watching in 2004.

the bonus extras differs between region to region, copyright holders to copyright holders, studios to studios aka publishers to publishers.
where i'm from now, new legit DVD releases comes in the form of DVDR-DL where the optical reading plastic side is bluish, and the content is kind of barebone in comparison, back when DVD releases flourish, the reading side is clear with silverish data layers and comes with extras.
the only studio/publisher in my local market that releases DVD's with clear plastic and visible silver data layers, as well as little load of bonuses is Paramount Asia Pacific and the region coding not just region 3 coded, but also region 4 friendly. otherwise, whatever studios u can think of, they're as what i've described above, pretty much barebone, but not too bad as Anamorphic transfer of image as well as basic 5.1ch Audio Mastering is still present.

as for presentation, undeniably, DVD natively in 480/576(NTSC/PAL) cripples on native 4K screens that we can afford today. but, that doesn't mean that u'll have to be stuck with poor resolution image of the format. thru some tweaking in ur player setting, if u have more than 1 device connected to ur display, the one that play DVD needs not to be stuck with native format output, but rather upscaled image thru the device, secondary upscale thru the display's image/video engine that one can achieve acceptable level of picture presentation.
those who had noticed my posts in other threads, should know that i had been playing DVDs until today despite the availability of higher resolution FHDBDs and UHDBDs.

 

[YANG]

Not sure if the practice has stopped, but I have seen many DVDs that have trailers for upcoming releases. Disney titles for sure.

Plus, the nostalgia value probably varies by generation. You can use your DVD player and early LCD flatscreen and feel like you're watching in 2004.

the bonus extras differs between region to region, copyright holders to copyright holders, studios to studios aka publishers to publishers.
where i'm from now, new legit DVD releases comes in the form of DVDR-DL where the optical reading plastic side is bluish, and the content is kind of barebone in comparison, back when DVD releases flourish, the reading side is clear with silverish data layers and comes with extras.
the only studio/publisher in my local market that releases DVD's with clear plastic and visible silver data layers, as well as little load of bonuses is Paramount Asia Pacific and the region coding not just region 3 coded, but also region 4 friendly. otherwise, whatever studios u can think of, they're as what i've described above, pretty much barebone, but not too bad as Anamorphic transfer of image as well as basic 5.1ch Audio Mastering is still present.

as for presentation, undeniably, DVD natively in 480/576(NTSC/PAL) cripples on native 4K screens that we can afford today. but, that doesn't mean that u'll have to be stuck with poor resolution image of the format. thru some tweaking in ur player setting, if u have more than 1 device connected to ur display, the one that play DVD needs not to be stuck with native format output, but rather upscaled image thru the device, secondary upscale thru the display's image/video engine that one can achieve acceptable level of picture presentation.
those who had noticed my posts in other threads, should know that i had been playing DVDs until today despite the availability of higher resolution FHDBDs and UHDBDs.

 

[jcroy]

I don't care about overall numbers which are inexorably declining. I understand folks no longer buy discs (nobody I know buys any and most have disposed of their collections). I no longer buy books (except for the odd coffee table movie book) and use my Kindle for it's convenience. All I care about is that the remaining films on my list are released on blu ray/4k at much higher prices if necessary (to offset lower runs). Life is circular, we are almost back at the beginning!

It is not back to laserdisc prices (yet), either nominally or inflation adjusted.

 

[jcroy]

as for presentation, undeniably, DVD natively in 480/576(NTSC/PAL) cripples on native 4K screens that we can afford today. but, that doesn't mean that u'll have to be stuck with poor resolution image of the format. thru some tweaking in ur player setting, if u have more than 1 device connected to ur display, the one that play DVD needs not to be stuck with native format output, but rather upscaled image thru the device, secondary upscale thru the display's image/video engine that one can achieve acceptable level of picture presentation.
those who had noticed my posts in other threads, should know that i had been playing DVDs until today despite the availability of higher resolution FHDBDs and UHDBDs.

(Excluding AI methods).

I was using the MadVR renderer with media player classic. The developers behind MadVR went all in hardcore into driving the hardware of cutting edge graphics cards (which the hardcore videogamers and cryptominers buy) to do upscaling 480i -> 1080p or uhd. Though it took a lot of tweaking to get something which was not dropping frames, on older computers.

 

[cineescape]

For collectors, the loss of the DVD format, at least regarding all important A/V quality, presents no great loss, compared to BD. I didn’t read the Variety report, but whenever the end comes for DVD with events like this it looks like collectors will continue to enjoy BD, and perhaps even new forms of high-res physical media, indefinitely. https://www.hometheaterforum.com/co...ver-disneys-physical-media-production.381885/ Thus, as long as specialty vendors like Criterion, Kino, VCI, Warner Archives, Arrow, Eureka, Powerhouse, Radiance, Cult Films, et al, remain committed to physical media and/or allow high-res downloads of titles then we should likely be fine.

 

[Desslar]

For collectors, the loss of the DVD format, at least regarding all important A/V quality, presents no great loss, compared to BD. I didn’t read the Variety report, but whenever the end comes for DVD with events like this it looks like collectors will continue to enjoy BD, and perhaps even new forms of high-res physical media, indefinitely. https://www.hometheaterforum.com/co...ver-disneys-physical-media-production.381885/ Thus, as long as specialty vendors like Criterion, Kino, VCI, Warner Archives, Arrow, Eureka, Powerhouse, Radiance, Cult Films, et al, remain committed to physical media and/or allow high-res downloads of titles then we should likely be fine.

I have to differ a bit with this view. Speaking as a collector of primarily TV series on disc, I can safely say that there are probably hundreds of series that will never see a physical release beyond DVD. So the continuation of DVD sales is quite important to me, at least until I can complete my lengthy wish lists.

 

[jcroy]

I have to differ a bit with this view. Speaking as a collector of primarily TV series on disc, I can safely say that there are probably hundreds of series that will never see a physical release beyond DVD. So the continuation of DVD sales is quite important to me, at least until I can complete my lengthy wish lists.

Similar sentiments here too. Most of my disc purchases are gereric network tv shows, which are rarely ever released on bluray. If dvd ever dies for generic tv shows, it will likely be the absolute end of the line for me in terms of regularly buying optical discs.

The only titles I insist on the bluray versions, are sci-fi movies and tv shows. (I haven't found any 4Kbluray titles yet, which have convinced me to purchase a 4Kbluray player).

 

[Desslar]

Similar sentiments here too. Most of my disc purchases are gereric network tv shows, which are rarely ever released on bluray. If dvd ever dies for generic tv shows, it will likely be the absolute end of the line for me in terms of regularly buying optical discs.

The only titles I insist on the bluray versions, are sci-fi movies and tv shows. (I haven't found any 4Kbluray titles yet, which have convinced me to purchase a 4Kbluray player).

I always get blu ray versions if I can, but they are quite rare for TV series apart from mega hits and some scifi and animated properties.

 

[Traveling Matt]

Judging by article excerpts and thread comments, it sounds like nearly everyone is saying "DVD" as a catch-all for discs. I'm not sure this story refers to DVD alone and not also Blu-ray.