How do you explain your love of physical media in an era of streaming? (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Having been reluctantly retired last year, I've had more free time on my hands lately, so I've been in organization mode for the house, mainly for my comic book collection (which is mostly done, except for an on-going project of converting long boxes to short boxes and also procuring shelving units to go vertical with the short boxes storage situation). Nowadays my movie media collection has most of my attention for re-organization.

For years now, I only bought BDs and 4Ks when they go on sale during Black Friday/November sales (mostly $10 or less, unless it's a steelbook, then maybe a little more per title), so that's a small window of purchasing activity for me these days. It still means I've amassed dupes of titles from DVD to BD to 4K due to collecting for over a quarter of a century.

I've been culling from the collection any of the dupe DVD/BD titles if the 4K version has most of the goodies with that titles, but I'll keep a DVD or BD edition if it has extras or nifty packaging (I kept the DVDs of a handful of Tarantino films simply for the packaging). This past month, I was able to remove 40 DVDs and a few BDs from the collection, and I mostly just give them to a friend who is nice enough to accept them, though I doubt he gets much use out of them these days because it is hard to find time to keep current with content offerings out the wazoo on all forms of streaming and broadcasting. It's a hamster wheel existence to keep current and also find time to enjoy the collection. Last year, I also culled the BDs that were already included in the 4k edition of the movies, and gave those to my friend.

Finally pulled the trigger on a large 4K TV set during black Friday this year, so I'm ramping up my 4K viewing priority going forward, and enjoying the 4K collection that I've amassed in yearly buying opportunities. I do have a small 4K TV for the bedroom, but I never really enjoyed watching 4Ks on it. I'm finally retiring my ancient Samsung 1080 DLP TV!

I'm also running out of room to store media, so gutting more and more DVDs/BDs will be on top of the culling priorities for 2022.

I finally cut the cable cord, and using YouTubeTV for my TV viewing for current shows I used to watch via cable TV. I rarely watch the streaming content on Amazon Prime, but it's an option since I do have Prime. I don't really do the Netflix/Disney+/etc streaming thing at this time. Just trying to keep monthly content costs in check. I'm not a fan of streaming, but know that it's the future. I still enjoy being able to pop in physical media of movies and TV shows from the collection at my leisure (without having to worry if it's still available in a streaming content provider's library or not), and it's how my brain is wired, mostly old-school.

So, I realize I'm sort of dumb to keep on keeping on with the physical media purchases, but I am what I am.

 

[Bryan^H]

I just rented George Romero's 'Creepshow' streaming through Amazon Prime $2.99.

I own the BD, but decided instead of sifting through my countless horror titles to find it I picked a convenient method as the option was there, fully accessible.


I find I'm doing this more, and more as time goes on. Pray for me.

 

[Jeffrey D]

I just rented George Romero's 'Creepshow' streaming through Amazon Prime $2.99.

I own the BD, but decided instead of sifting through my countless horror titles to find it I picked a convenient method as, and the option was there, fully accessible.


I find I'm doing this more, and more as time goes on. Pray for me.

When the special edition BluRay came out, someone posted that the default audio was out of pitch. I bought the disc a while back, but haven’t gotten around to checking it out. Obvious problems/shortcomings in disc releases is inexcusable, and it’s easy to understand why people prefer streaming.

 

[Charles Smith]

I walk to the shelves that hold the horror & sci-fi movies, go to the "C"'s, and there it is. Takes about five seconds.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I just rented George Romero's 'Creepshow' streaming through Amazon Prime $2.99.

I own the BD, but decided instead of sifting through my countless horror titles to find it I picked a convenient method as the option was there, fully accessible.


I find I'm doing this more, and more as time goes on. Pray for me.

Yeah, streaming access is definitely often more convenient... though I can't stand Amazon's UI and rarely ever do that thru them (and still almost never rent in general), if I even happen to reactivate my subscription (more often than not on some free/very-cheap trial basis as I don't find their Prime service worth paying regularly)...

Far prefer AppleTV/iTunes and Vudu (or even Movies Anywhere for some eligible titles) -- and yeah, I often buy HD/4K digitals from iTunes on sale at <=$5/title (though mostly only for stuff I don't already own or plan to own on disc) as do a handful other HTF regulars...

There's definitely plenty of "space" and suitability for both physical media and streaming. No need to restrict to one or the other IMHO...

_Man_

 

[Capt D McMars]

I just rented George Romero's 'Creepshow' streaming through Amazon Prime $2.99.

I own the BD, but decided instead of sifting through my countless horror titles to find it I picked a convenient method as the option was there, fully accessible.


I find I'm doing this more, and more as time goes on. Pray for me.

 

[RJ992]

I walk to the shelves that hold the horror & sci-fi movies, go to the "C"'s, and there it is. Takes about five seconds.

I don't even have categories. I just go to C But then, I grew up with the Dewey Decimal system.

 

[PMF]

The newest of Nikes or the creature comforts of Keds? As long as both remain accessible, I say viva la difference and may everyone & all enjoy their Burger King experiences and of having it their way.

 

[Desslar]

iTunes Luddite question here: If you buy movies/shows from iTunes in the U.S., can you watch them in other countries? I'm not always in the U.S., so I wonder if there are any international accessibility issues.

 

[jayembee]

This may sound flippant but I don’t bother to.

I don't either. If anything, I say it's just like books. You can borrow from the library, or you can download them for your Kindle (or Nook or whathaveyou), but I prefer to have physical books. And likewise, I prefer to have movies on physical media as well.

My wife and I subscribe to several streaming platforms, so we're not adverse to going that route, and I'll get books for my Kindle if they're OOP and I can't find a hard copy (or one is too expensive).

On the other hand, the collection is getting out of hand, and I'm at an age where downsizing has serious appeal, so I don't know how much longer I'll hold out.

 

[jayembee]

Then there's the issue of cost. Even if the titles are available for streaming, you may need to subscribe to 17 different services, paying never-ending monthly fees, to maintain access to them all while hoping none of them drop the titles you're interested in watching. You can buy a disc for a few dollars and it's yours forever for no additional cost.

Well, as long as the equipment to play them is still available. I have a lot of LDs and Beta tapes, and I don't know how long I'll be able to watch them.

 

[jayembee]

(On a tangent).

My reasons for still getting paper books, is that I find it difficult to read some titles on a computer or tablet. I primarily read books which almost always requires one to jump around sections/chapters in a very non-linear manner, which is not easy to do on a digital ebook even when heavily hyperlinked.

I do the same thing. I'll be 10 chapters into a book, a character shows up and I say to myself, "Waitaminute...is this the guy that did such-and-such several chapters back?" and I flip back to find the scene I was thinking of.

I actually do the same thing with any number of movies. Sometimes, it can take me three hours to watch a 100-minute movie because I move back and forth through a movie.

 

[jayembee]

For me if it's not on DVD, Blu-ray I won't bother with it. I hate streaming services, you pay money for nothing and most of the time what I like is not available. Streaming services are a waste of time and money. Keep them. No company is going to con me into giving them money for nothing. Young people in general are such fools, they have no sense of the worth of money..

There are people who feel the same way about physical media. Or cable TV. "Why should I pay for something that I can watch for free on TV?" "Why buy a book when I can borrow it from the library?"

 

[jayembee]

I also prefer physical media to streaming as streaming companies have a limited time in which you can see a film/tv series. Having your own dvd copy means that you can watch it any time when they are no longer able to be streamed. Discs have extras which streaming services do not. have. Like all digital media- (blurays etc) they don't last forever. I also prefer seeing an actual film in a cinema as against a digital copy. That is why I rarely visit a cinema.With so many companies streaming, it has become too expensive to join them all so a physical copy is my choice .

That depends on the streamer. You have a point if you're talking about Netflix or Prime Video or Apple TV. But one of the advantages of the studios creating their own streaming platforms is that they can stream their own product ad infinitum. Disney+ will never lose the rights to stream Disney product; HBO Max will never lose the rights to anything owned by Warner. Und so weiter.

 

[SuperClark]

I don't explain I just enjoy it,But ok a series or movie maybe is on a site 1 week then its gone.Or its not in HD.Ior example have Hogans heroes on blue ray also the Time Tunnel.On the other hand 1 of my fav tv westerns is Laramie.The video quality on the dvds is horrendous but awesome on Starz.

 

[jayembee]

For many years I didn't go to the theater (other than a 007 opening) due to rude behavior including talking, and cell phone lights. A few years ago, Fathom Events did screenings of Casablanca. Randy surprised me with tickets and I was blown away by the assigned seating, the comfortable recliners and the people who were, on the whole, quiet and behaved.

Since that time, I try to go see the classics when they are shown if I can. If no one goes then no one will show them. Before the pandemic, Marcus Theaters did several series of classics and Disney films. I went to several and I was pleasantly surprised at the Disney showings. I was dreading the behavior of the children in attendance but was pleased and amazed by how well behaved most of the children were.

There is also something special about seeing a movie with an audience. Last night, I was at the Arkadin Cinema, a small outdoor venue that has a capacity of around 40. You bring your own chairs, get a drink from the bar and watch carefully curated films. Last night was a showing of Hitchcock's The Lodger presented by a new initiative called Silents Please, STL. The courtyard was at capacity and the audience loved the film. To me, it was fun to hear the audience reactions to certain scenes. It's interesting to see and hear the reactions. Is it an ideal set up? No, but I can't hear those reactions and have spontaneous conversations about the film with strangers in my living room. For that reason, I will continue to go to screens, particularly of classic or catalog titles.

If I am watching a film for the first time, or watching to write about it or study it further, then I like the quiet and the pause ability at home. I absolutely love my physical media collection because so many obscure things won't be shown in a theater. I feel that there is room for both.

I used to go to movie theaters all the time. Over time, my doing so has dropped more and more. A lot of it is inertia, and not having many theaters locally who will show what I really wanted to see in a theater (like 70mm versions of The Hateful Eight or various Christopher Nolan films. And the pandemic did a lot to curtail movie-going. My wife and I would often have a "date night" at the movies, and that went by the wayside during Covid.

There's one small-ish art theater here in Concord, NH, and I even have a hard time overcoming the intertia to see films there. And it makes me feel guilty. Although, my wife and I have been there twice in recent months to see silent films. The first was a silent called Straight Is the Way (1921), which was just this side of being a lost film, which was (partially) set here in New Hampshire. The man who organized the showing performed the score. The theater was pretty much full, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. More recently, we'd seen The Flying Ace (1926), which I'd already seen before (it's in Kino's Pioneers of African-American Cinema set), but it was fun to see with an audience (again, the theater was mostly full).

 

[jayembee]

But for me if it wasn't for physical media there a lot of great movies I would never have had the privilege to see.

Same here. But, to be honest, that's a somewhat irrelevant statement. To paraphrase a previous comment in this thread, physical media is just a delivery system, and so is streaming. Now, the success of streaming -- in terms of it providing things that people want to see -- is dependent on what the streamers want to deliver.

But the same is true of physical media. Whether we want to see classics from the Warner/MGM/RKO catalog or Disney/Fox catalog is dependent on what films those respect companies want to go through the time and effort and money to release on disc. And that's not even considering that some films have been kept hostage do to underlying rights to the source material, or the music, or whatever. And the owners of some movies, whether it's Disney and Song of the South or MGM and The Alamo, will keep some films unavailable for whatever reason, political, financial, or otherwise.

At the same time, there are movies I'd love to see on the big screen, but that depends on whether any theater within reasonable driving distance of me is showing them. No matter what the medium, we are at the mercy of gatekeepers.

 

[jayembee]

Yes.

That concerns me with disc purchases.

I'd probably go into a meltdown if my whole collection did that.

It will be interesting to see when some of them generally start to rot in a lot of personal collections.

When that happens we might start to get a gauge of the longevity of Blu Ray discs etc.

I heard Joe Dante say Laserdiscs are prone to disc rot.

Have many collector's been victim to this?

The issue with "laser rot" on LDs was blown way out of proportion. There were instances in which one or another replicating plant had issues that caused rot. So, it did exist. But too many people seemed to think that the majority of LDs had this problem. And largely, it was due to a misunderstanding of what exactly constituted "laser rot". Laser rot was a degenerative condition generally caused by failure of adhesive holding the two platters together. Air would get inside, and oxidize the data surface.

Over the course of my time buying LDs, I've probably had well over 2000 of them pass through my hands. I encountered maybe a dozen that had genuine rot. For several years, I made a point of checking each LD on an annual basis. I stopped doing this after 6-8 years, as I figured if a disc hadn't rotted -- or shown signs of starting to do so --by then, it wasn't about to.

 

[jayembee]

Those of us who collected Columbia / TriStar titles on Laserdisc are all too familiar with Laserdisc Rot. While rot was not exclusive to those titles, it certainly felt like a preponderance of disc failures were associated with that entity.

- Walter.

That was because the biggest problem with rot was at the Sony DADC replicating plant in Terre Haute. Sony, not surprisingly, pretty much replicated all of its LDs there. The other labels, not so much. On the other hand, one of the best replicating plants was 3M, and even they had their moment with rot.

One of the more "notorious rotters" from Sony was their release of Heavy Metal. My copy of it never had a problem.

 

[Walter Kittel]

That was because the biggest problem with rot was at the Sony DADC replicating plant in Terre Haute. Sony, not surprisingly, pretty much replicated all of its LDs there. The other labels, not so much. On the other hand, one of the best replicating plants was 3M, and even they had their moment with rot.

One of the more "notorious rotters" from Sony was their release of Heavy Metal. My copy of it never had a problem.

My copy of Heavy Metal died within a year of purchase. I always approached newly released LD versions of Sony / Columbia Tri-Star titles with the contradictory emotions of happiness and dread anticipation.

- Walter.