The DVD day’s are numbered. (1 Viewer)

[Sega]

Happy New Year All.
And I'm looking to buy more
LaserDisc. DVD's this year.
Yes! I'm one of the few that still like the disc
in my hand.

 

[jcroy]

I guess you could set up a RAID storage in a decent computer for home theater use. That is a redundant array of independent drives. There is several ways to do it and if one goes down the others kick in.

I don't even bother with arrays of data drives anymore. Previously I have talked about my quasi-hometheater computer setup on other various threads on this message board.

I mostly use my external hard drives as short or medium term storage (ie. less than 2 years or so), for rips of dvd disc isos. I keep a seperate computer exclusively for playing dvd rips, connected to my large screen tv. So if I want to watch a particular tv show, I'll rip the dozen or so dvd disc isos to the computer. I'll watch the rips one episode after another in autoplay on vlc on the computer connected to the large screen tv.

When it comes to bluray, for the past several years I only buy blurays of movies which I am willing to devote my full entire attention to watching from start to finish. I play these few blurays on the standalone bluray player, and rarely ever rip them to the computer. (For example, such as Star Wars, the clone wars, etc ...).

If I'm not willing to watch a movie from start to finish with my full attention, then I will not buy the bluray (nor the dvd for that matter). These are usually movies (or shows) which I end up only watching once or twice.

 

[jcroy]

The day that streaming can match the audio quality, and the video quality, that's when I will go all in.

In practice, I've found that the only times I actually cared legitimately about the picture/sound quality, were primarily scifi movies which I end up watching more than a dozen times. Mostly stuff like Star Wars, Blade Runner, etc ...

For just about anything else, I've found that I don't really care much about the picture/sound quality. Especially stuff that I only watch once or twice, whether it is action movies, romcoms, rock concerts, documentaries, etc ... or generic dramas. (This also includes crappy scifi movies which I end up only watching once or twice).

 

[jcroy]

(On a huge tangent).

There is only one case where discs are completely useless to me nowadays: video games.

Back in the day, pc video games on cdrom or dvdrom discs were made such that the entire game was on the disc in a (almost) complete form. In those days, it was easy to find "no cd" hacked game *.exe files where you didn't have to always have the appropriate cdrom disc in the computer's cd-r/dvd-r drive. (This was an early form of drm, where pc games of that generation did not play if the appropriate cd or dvd disc was absent).


Though as time went on, discs had less and less actual game content where sometimes it was just a download program on the actual cdrom disc enclosed in the retail package. The activation code was written on a piece of paper enclosed in the retail package, which was required for an online authentication.

Similar story happened with the recent generation of consoles which are online all the time. The actual game discs were frequently just the "first edition" of the game, while numerous patches/expansions were piled on via updates as time went on.

As a recent example of this, the retail boxed version of the pc version of Cyberpunk 2077 released back in December, did not even have an actual cd/dvd rom game disc in the package. It was just two audio cd discs which had the soundtrack, and a piece of paper with the authentication code to download the actual game. (The download service for Cyberpunk 2077 is actually drm-free).

So other than for really really old pc games and/or games which didn't require an online authentication, over the past decade or two the actual discs didn't have any notion of "ownership".

 

[TJPC]

Another tangent! When PCs were first in schools, I borrowed one over the Christmas break. Programs for it were on cassette tapes! You pressed play and then came back 1/2 hour later.

There was an attachment for the original Atari, which plugged in the slot, and which had a wire you attached to the earphone plug in of a cassette player. Games for it were also of course on cassette. I remember one that my wife played that had several parts to it. When you accomplished part 1 it said “press play”. She loved this game, but there was no memory or ability to save where you were. I remember staying up to 2:00 a.m. to finish it.

 

[Bob Bielski]

I love being in the company of guys my age LOL The good old days, or were they really that good? Time is not something you have to wait for slow processors. To think that the mother boards and processors on our smart phones are so much better than the old desktops, we have moved forward fairly fast.

 

[Sega]

I love being in the company of guys my age LOL The good old days, or were they really that good? Time is not something you have to wait for slow processors. To think that the mother boards and processors on our smart phones are so much better than the old desktops, we have moved forward fairly fast.

I love the good old days of fun simple times.
And Laser Disc. VHS Tapes. Ect. But when you look and see what we can do today. And what we have now, we have really moved forward.
Most of it for the good.

 

[jcroy]

Most of it for the good.

In the case of modern video games, some aspects have turned for the worst.

Since everybody knows there can be huge patches which are applied automatically by modern "always online" consoles (or manually on the pc), nowadays game companies can get away with selling full price msrp preorders games which are basically incomplete beta versions.

I simply won't buy recent video games, until they are stable after all the relevant patches/expansions have been released.

A very recent example of a new games which was buggy/botched on release, is Cyberpunk 2077. It was so botched that microsoft and sony offered full refunds for the xbox1 and ps4 versions.

 

[jcroy]

I love the good old days of fun simple times.

(Going offtopic).

My "good old days" never actually happened, when it came to cds, vhs, laserdisc, etc ....

I grew up with a family that was moving constantly. So I ended up learning to not have much of anything, so that we didn't have to haul around tons of stuff cross country or over international borders. The only "collection" I had accumulated from that time, was several milk crates of vinyl records.

If I ever had a "good old days" in regard to music, movies, etc ... formats, it was over the past 15+ years or so where my living situation is more stable (ie. not moving around much anymore).

 

[Sega]

(Going offtopic).

My "good old days" never actually happened, when it came to cds, vhs, laserdisc, etc ....

I grew up with a family that was moving constantly. So I ended up learning to not have much of anything, so that we didn't have to haul around tons of stuff cross country or over international borders. The only "collection" I had accumulated from that time, was several milk crates of vinyl records.

If I ever had a "good old days" in regard to music, movies, etc ... formats, it was over the past 15+ years or so where my living situation is more stable (ie. not moving around much anymore).

Yes. It would be hard to pack up and move all kinds of cds vhs laserdisc
etc.

 

[Sega]

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

You got that right! No digital for me.

 

[Sega]

The latest numbers from Media Play News:

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

I'm picking up a LaserDisc today. And a few 4K movies.

 

[Sega]

I'm picking up a LaserDisc today. And a few 4K movies.

Way to go!Where did you pick up the LaserDisc?

 

[Indy Guy]

I started my lifelong collecting of media when i was 12 years old. Nine minute 8mm condensations of feature films eventually gave way to full length 16mm prints when I found access to the underground market selling prints of feature films The cost was astronomical, but I was lucky that the entertainment company I worked for allowed employees to check out the studio's entire film library on 16mm...even lending anamorphic lenses if the print required one! That perk greatly enhanced my limited ability to afford actual 16mm film films and was a precursor to the video lending libraries.

Then came a Sony miracle - Umatic 3/4 inch cassette recorders! I took out a personal loan from a shady finance company for a $2000+ recorder back in the mid 70's, before any consumer means of collecting full length film existed. Being the first and being able to have exclusive content has always been exciting to me. A one hour tape was 25 dollars, so recording Gone With The Wind off-air amounted to $100! VHS reduced costs, but was a step down in quality until the advent of Super VHS which rivaled the Umatic for quality. Later, I must have been one of 3 people in the US who bought a JVC HD VHS recorder. I still have about a half dozen commercial titles sold in HD in the days before Blu ray.

As everyone has said, DVD was a game changer, but Pioneer & LD America folded their cards too early, failing to keep LD competitive for a few years beyond DVD's debut. I still have several anamorphically squeezed LD's from Japan including "Cutthroat Island". These discs held their own against DVD, but even more fantastic was the Japanese early 90's debut of HD Laser Discs! The analogue HD picture was encoded by a process called the Muse system. I still have a beautiful boxed set of "Back to the Future" on HD Laser Disc. It has never been played as the Muse system never came to the US, but I hedged my bet and got much excitement from looking at that set and imagining how great the future was going to be.

So here we are with HD & 4K BR's facing a diminishing public interest for the highest quality formats ever. All the reasons for this everyone mentioned above are true, but another very important factor will affect streaming and better delivery systems yet to come as well.
Sooner or later everyone has collected most every title they passionately want.
Sooner or later the quality of the last format purchased satisfies cravings for "good enough" or the elusive concept of "perfection".

Each time I visit BB or Target and see cobwebbed shelves of Star Wars, Marvel, Jurassic Park and Back to the Future DVD, BD and UHD sets gathering dust, the reason becomes clear...everyone who wants these "must have" titles already has them! No amount of steel book packaging or title bundling can make people who own perfect copies of these "A" titles buy them again or feel obliged to discard what they know to be good enough in terms of quality or perfection.
As for the streaming wars, the value of catalog content will not shine any brighter until the last physical media owners and their vintage machines turn to dust, passing the baton to digital delivery as the only means of seeing content at all.
Before that doom and gloom happens, it is good to note that you can still go to vintage music collector meets and buy mechanical music boxes and find craftspeople producing replacement parts and newly manufactured content discs. That goes for Edison Phonographs, cylinders and other various formats that died 100+ years ago!

 

[Sega]

Well said & true.
Old is still cool.
Just picked up. Sheena.With Tanya Roberts.
Who left us a few weeks back.
Got it on. LaserDisc & DVD.
From Ebay.

 

[Bob Bielski]

Indy your story even took me back before my time. That is hard being 65 in a few weeks. Fascinating read and so true.
I want to build a system, that is add to my Atmos system, a collection of every media format going back to 8 track. I have the old 16 mm equipment, all home movies of OLD days, but your story with the video lending libraries reminds me of all the rental stores that bit the dust. I miss the stores like Blockbuster, and going in and smelling pop corn and seeing all the candy like the actual theaters had. All the excited faces of the children and grown ups flipping through the covers and reading.
That wouldn't fit well in today's world of contagious diseases, but still a fond memory of social activity that is kaput. I used to get angry at having to "update the media format" once again. But the good enough statement should be highlighted. Like you said we have playback of so called 8k, but no content. Broadcasters drag their feet to upgrade the equipment they use, the bandwidth issue lags, and we have the display companies going from 12 bit to 10 bit instead of going up WTF?
We all know it is money that prohibits keeping up, but like audio, we are approaching the point of human perception limits. '
No not perfect, but good enough for our limited human perceptions.
Thinking of storage, say like an apartment dweller, streaming has its advantages. And no replacing outdated equipment every minute LOL. One big issue is some titles just don't get made in the latest and greatest format. I do think Google, or Amazon will eventually have a bar none library. I hope anyway. Just think of searching for an obsolete title, finding it, and no equipment to play it back on. The upscale ability should be one of the attributes that the new equipment manufacturers should focus on, and make it as good as can be, not just good enough.
Streaming is coming like a runaway train down the track. We will lose total control over quality, and take what they give us.
With all the AI we now have, I can imagine walking in the front door and start talking to put the lights on, the food to start cooking, some form of hologram to start, minus any hardware, oh boy such a warm thought, home sweet home.

 

[Sega]

Indy your story even took me back before my time. That is hard being 65 in a few weeks. Fascinating read and so true.
I want to build a system, that is add to my Atmos system, a collection of every media format going back to 8 track. I have the old 16 mm equipment, all home movies of OLD days, but your story with the video lending libraries reminds me of all the rental stores that bit the dust. I miss the stores like Blockbuster, and going in and smelling pop corn and seeing all the candy like the actual theaters had. All the excited faces of the children and grown ups flipping through the covers and reading.
That wouldn't fit well in today's world of contagious diseases, but still a fond memory of social activity that is kaput. I used to get angry at having to "update the media format" once again. But the good enough statement should be highlighted. Like you said we have playback of so called 8k, but no content. Broadcasters drag their feet to upgrade the equipment they use, the bandwidth issue lags, and we have the display companies going from 12 bit to 10 bit instead of going up WTF?
We all know it is money that prohibits keeping up, but like audio, we are approaching the point of human perception limits. '
No not perfect, but good enough for our limited human perceptions.
Thinking of storage, say like an apartment dweller, streaming has its advantages. And no replacing outdated equipment every minute LOL. One big issue is some titles just don't get made in the latest and greatest format. I do think Google, or Amazon will eventually have a bar none library. I hope anyway. Just think of searching for an obsolete title, finding it, and no equipment to play it back on. The upscale ability should be one of the attributes that the new equipment manufacturers should focus on, and make it as good as can be, not just good enough.
Streaming is coming like a runaway train down the track. We will lose total control over quality, and take what they give us.
With all the AI we now have, I can imagine walking in the front door and start talking to put the lights on, the food to start cooking, some form of hologram to start, minus any hardware, oh boy such a warm thought, home sweet home.

Well said & very true. I miss going to Blockbuster.
I had a $30 bucks a month deal with them. You could
get a new movie every day.
We will never have anything like that again. ;(

 

[paul pisano]

They are adapting to newer markets by investing in new technology like 4k. Physical media rules. Many streaming services don't carry certain movies.

 

[Bob Bielski]

I finally broke down and bought a new display. My daughter is moving downstairs with my only grandchild and she is poor so I am giving her my old Plasma that has been calibrated ISF.
I picked up last years LG GX65" OLED 4K. This model has a built in 4K tuner and some broadcasters are finally upgrading. I figure if I stream from Netflix, Amazon Prime and some other I could get over the air signals as well. The wife doesn't want to drop cable yet but I just want to save more cash. Granddaughter is almost 5 and she hasn't heard surround sound yet. I can't wait to put on a nice movie and see the look on her face when something flys by her head.

 

[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.

Dvd's will be here for a time yet. But down the road I see them going the way VHS tapes did. Sad deal. Yes, I still like my DVDs in my hand. And I still, pick up VHS tapes & LaserDisc when I can.