The DVD days are numbered. (1 Viewer)

[Sega]

The DVD day's are numbered. Just like the Laser Disc,VHS Tapes. I still like my movies & TV shows in my hand...Yes I have Amazon, Hulu, Warner Archives, NetFlix, FilmStruck.
But i still buy DVD's. Laser Disc. And have over 250 VHS tapes.
But like the VHS Tapes & Laser Disc. DVD's there days are numbered.
It will be a time yet. But it will come.
Everything will be Digital.

 

[TonyD]

Nope.

 

[Carabimero]

They said CD's days were numbered back when Napster started. I bought two CDs last week. Now DVD's days are numbered because of streaming, they tell me. I just bought a 5-disc set last week.

Discs aren't going anywhere. Not in my lifetime.

I wonder. Are DVDs still outselling BDs? Does anyone have numbers?

 

[David Norman]

Cd days are numbered
DVD are numbered
BD and UHD are numbers
That's OK, so are mine -- as long as my number is smaller then nothing will change.

Not buying what I can't own, so digital is just a different version of Cable TV. Not interested in paying for long term rentals

 

[Thomas T]

The market for physical media is indeed shrinking but shrinking is not the same as gone. At the very least, it will be a small niche market.

 

[Bernard McNair]

I hope that they are not numbered!
I enjoy streaming for many shows that Iwould not usually be able to see; particularly non-English speaking drama.
However for favourites I love owning the copy to watch as the whim takes me.

 

[Mike Boone]

I've never streamed or downloaded a movie, or any kind of video material, and have no interest in ever doing that. But I love movies and have 889 of them on Blu-ray, and about 750 others, on DVD.

And since my wife and I have yet to see about a third of our movie collection in any form, or on any format, we have plenty of material to spend our days catching up on, even if the sale of movies on disc was somehow halted tomorrow.

Considering the sad fact that the vast majority of Americans are gravitating toward streaming and downloading the movies they view, just for the sake of convenience, I feel fairly sure that the movie studios will discontinue putting out movies, on any disc format, within 10 years, or less, from now.

Sam's Club stores have already discontinued selling movies on disc, which is a bad sign for a devoted fan of Blu-ray, such as yours truly.

And a couple weeks ago, Best Buy announced that its stores will eliminate the selling of music on compact disc by July 1st, so it's only a matter of time until BB stores will also be eliminating their movie sections, as Sam's Club has already done.

So I'm very glad that we already have at least 98% of my favorite films on Blu-ray. Have movies on Blu-ray that range all the way from 1927's "Sunrise" (the only silent film besides "The Artist" that we have on disc) to 2017's "Dunkirk".

A number of friends and relatives have regarded the emphasis that I've put on movie collecting, as having defined me as being something of a nut. But that doesn't bother me one bit. Because to me, our collection is the only real treasure that we have, and I notice that the folks of my wife's family, as well as my best friend, still all enjoy watching a good film on the big screen in our home theater.

So to me, it will be somewhat sad to be witnessing the time when the movie studios finally end up allowing the sale of movies on disc, to fade to black.

And BTW, IMO, even the newest, most advanced disc format for movies, UHD Blu-ray, will become extinct in the next 5 to 10 years. Because in spite of some people making claims regarding the format's supposed popularity, my own observations from often visiting 2 fairly close Best Buy stores (one in a well-to do area, the other in an average income area) are that I never see any consumers checking out the UHD Blu-ray sections of either of those Best Buy stores during the times I'm loitering around those areas.

Of course it might help the UHD Blu-ray format if the movie studios would release more classic catalog titles on the format, instead of just concentrating on sequels to movies where part 1 sucked, with most of the rest of UHD BD releases being so heavily weighted in favor of comic book super-hero flicks. But, I guess the fact that most of today's biggest movie blockbusters contain caped super-heroes, or, are movie sequels, means that UHD BD releases must duplicate that trend.

However, while I noticed, last Saturday, that Sony has released an UHD Blu-ray edition of its 1992 catalog title "A Few Good Men", that fact just caused me to wonder why Sony has yet to issue UHD BD releases of its much more brightly shining catalog jewels: "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Bridge On The River Kwai."

The last 2 mentioned films, with their well deserved Oscars for the stunning outdoor cinematography that they both feature, would obviously display the advantages of UHD video, to much greater effect than a courtroom drama like "A Few Good Men", could ever hope to do.

With the extensive restoration that "Lawrence of Arabia" has undergone, combined with the 8k scan of its original camera negative that was meticulously done, 6 years ago, to enable the film's stunning debut on 1080p Blu-ray, it's quite obvious that it is one large format film that's ideally suited for showing what UHD Blu-ray is really capable of, and is fully ready to be transferred to UHD BD.

Is anyone going to seriously claim that film addicts have been clamoring more for an UHD Blu-ray release of "A Few Good Men", than they have for such amazing looking films as LOA, "Apocalypse Now", or "Spartacus"?

So as long as the Hollywood studios are more preoccupied with releasing crap like "The Dark Tower" or "Smurfs 2" on UHD BD, rather than giving film addicts UHD BD editions of such large format films as LOA, "My Fair Lady", "Spartacus", or "Oklahoma", then I'll just continue to say the hell with UHD Blu-ray, since its potential as a format for presenting fine films in the highest quality possible today, seems like it has been largely wasted, so far. I wouldn't even be interested in seeing 9 out of 10 of the crappy movies that are currently being released on UHD BD, even if they could be seen on a new format at commercial movie theaters that allowed for true holographic 3D viewing that would permit audience members to actually see what was behind a movie's character, just by audience members moving their heads to view a different perspective. That's how little I think of most of the totally un-original crap that Hollywood is pumping out anymore.

In 1971, not a single one of the top 10 movies at the American box office for that year was a sequel or a remake, unless you counted a James Bond film which actually wasn't a sequel because it had no relation to the previous Bond film, but was just a case of another Bond novel that Ian Fleming wrote, being made into a movie.

But contrast 1971 with last year, with the top 11 of 2017's box office hits all being sequels or remakes, with the possible exception of 10th place holder, "Wonder Woman", which had been a TV series, but was not a movie remake, and which most people would not regard as a movie sequel to "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", which also featured Wonder Woman, because the movie "Wonder Woman" provides the origin story of that character and has nothing to do with Batman or Superman. (Actually, I feel like an idiot making these distinctions.)

Anyhow, there you have it folks. Because it seems that the most original creation among the top 11 movie hits of 2017 was "Wonder Woman", a movie about a character who was hardly new to Americans.

Before making one of the greatest film sequels of all time: "The Godfather Part II", Francis Coppola had to be argued into agreeing to do the film, because he was telling the executives at Paramount that if a director does a movie sequel that's tantamount to him admitting that his creativity may be drying up.

And in reality, "The Godfather Part II" actually wasn't even a sequel, as much as it was a completion of the first movie, since, in making Godfather 2, Coppola was filming more of the book "The Godfather", which he wasn't able to include in his first Godfather film, because it simply isn't practical for a movie studio to try to release a 6 and a half hour long film to movie theaters. But, it can't be denied that Coppola's 3rd film about the Corleone family: "The Godfather Part III", was a case of Mr Coppola having made a genuine sequel, which has nothing to do with any of the events in the "The Godfather" novel, as Godfather 3 presents cheesy plot development of a kind that is so often typical of a movie sequel that shows itself to be little more than a cash-in that leeches off of the better quality material that preceded it.

Anyway, today's serious creativity deficit in major studio movie making, actually makes me think that it wouldn't be that great of a loss if the major studios were to suddenly stop issuing more new movie releases on any of the disc formats.

Though I admit, that it would be a genuine shame to not have some of the relatively few movies of substance, such as "Darkest Hour", not being made available to movie fans who want something a little weightier than productions that just stem from the copycat mode of movie making.

 

[moviepas]

How do you explain LPs and, now, cassettes coming back? I would not start buying either again, though. No streaming services for me at this time.

Today I got a Facebook from a group that were marvelling over a new Super 8 copy of The Adventures of Robin Hood(WB Flynn 1938) in glorious color. I was staggered at that and the cost which I think was 200 pounds UK. Who would have thought. I went out of selling material on 8mm and 16mm by the 1980s as my suppliers went out of business all over the world.

 

[Mark-P]

However, while I noticed, last Saturday, that Sony has released an UHD Blu-ray edition of its 1992 catalog title "A Few Good Men", that fact just caused me to wonder why Sony has yet to issue UHD BD releases of its much more brightly shining catalog jewels: "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Bridge On The River Kwai."

The last 2 mentioned films, with their well deserved Oscars for the stunning outdoor cinematography that they both feature, would obviously display the advantages of UHD video, to much greater effect than a courtroom drama like "A Few Good Men", could ever hope to do.

Have I got a surprise for you! This was released 5 months ago: https://www.amazon.com/The-Bridge-on-the-River-Kwai-4K-Blu-ray/dp/B0746Z4DLD
Sadly even when the studios do release a classic "jewel" like Bridge on the River Kwai on UHD disc, people barely notice.

 

[Alan Tully]

Discs aren't going anywhere. Not in my lifetime.

Yup, that's pretty much me, & after my lifetime...who cares. Like many here, I'm from a generation who likes to own "stuff", but I'm sure the youngsters who don't need to own a physical copy & are happy to stream have the higher moral ground.

 

[Lord Dalek]

They aren't but thanks for regurgitating the same myth this forum has been wrong about (on top of the multitudes of things it's been wrong about going all the way back to laserdisc) since 2012 anyway.

 

[MatthewA]

Physical media will cease to exist when physical matter does.

 

[Randy Korstick]

The original post is 6 years too late. That's when people started making this statement and many said discs would be gone in 5-6 years at that time.

 

[skylark68]

I think what’s going on at Best Buy and other physical retailers is just an example of what is happening at physical retailers as a whole. Toys r us appears to be moving forward with shuttering all their physical stores. People are buying online. If anything I envision a future with very few physical retailers regardless of what they are selling. Discs will still be around but will be sold through online retailers. Go to a shopping center or mall and see how many people are actually carrying around shopping bags with purchases in them. Very few. I don’t think the lack of cds or other physical media being sold through Best Buy or target is indicative of the health of the physical media market but more as a demonstration of the overall weak health of physical retailers as a whole. These stores are in panic mode.

 

[Paul Penna]

Gee, this is a novel concept that hasn't been discussed much here before.

 

[TonyD]

They aren't but thanks for regurgitating the same myth this forum has been wrong about (on top of the multitudes of things it's been wrong about going all the way back to laserdisc) since 2012 anyway.

What do you mean by This Forum?

From what I see it’s only one person trying to get this myth going.

 

[BobO'Link]

They said CD's days were numbered back when Napster started. I bought two CDs last week. Now DVD's days are numbered because of streaming, they tell me. I just bought a 5-disc set last week.

Discs aren't going anywhere. Not in my lifetime.

I wonder. Are DVDs still outselling BDs? Does anyone have numbers?

The latest numbers from Media Play News:

I purchased 3 CDs, 3 BR, and 1 DVD last week.

 

[skylark68]

Interesting data. I have to admit that DVD is holding on way longer than I thought it would. I recently saw Blade Runner 2049 at Walmart in a DVD only package and just had to nod my head in disbelief.

 

[Worth]

DVD continues to outsell blu-ray overall, but if you look at the top selling individual titles week-to-week, blu-ray moves significantly more units.

 

[David Norman]

I wonder. Are DVDs still outselling BDs? Does anyone have numbers?

Yes
From Home Media Magazine numbers

2013 DVD $5.2B (-13% YTY) BD 2.3B (+5%)
2014 DVD $4.6B (-11%) BD 2.1B (-8%)
2015 DVD $3.96 (-15%) BD 2.0B (-5%)
2016 DVD $3.4B (-14%) BD 2.0B (-0.5%)
2017 DVD $2.8B (-17%) BD 1.9B (-7%)
2018 DVD 327.5M (-23.1) BD 189.3M (-15.1)

2018 through 2/24. Noting that there have been virtually no high profile releases since 1/1. The next 6 weeks will include Several Top 10 Box Office films including multiple Disney/Marvel items and/or items that should be UHD big sellers - Coco, Lady and the Tramp, Ragnarok, Justice League, Jumanji, and Star Wars.

It wouldn't surprise me if BD/UHD ends up erasing the losses and passing up for the YTY numbers. I most interested in seeing how many weeks BD outsells DVD over the next 6 weeks and possibly the first full month-6 wk time period that BD outsells DVD. BD has outsold DVD a handful of weeks over the last couple years, but never even back to back weeks. The biggest differential in 2017 the 3 weeks it happened was $3M with Rogue One and in 2016 the single week it happened was $30 during TFA release week. BD was actually up for 2017 until Nov/Dec, but there was no new Big releases in the last 2 months to really push sales other than BF sales -- Cars 3, DespMe3??

The Coco/LatT week numbers should be out within a couple days, but I think next week number reporting Thor will be the first big indication about what's going to happen in 2018.