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

[Mike Boone]

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.

IMO, LPs making a comeback is due to people being conned into believing that LPs feature "more natural sound quality" than a high performance digital medium, such as CD.

Many of the early CDs did get a bad name, and justifiably so, from audiophiles, for having a hard, brittle, and sometimes, even harsh sound, because the folks recording them had not yet adjusted their recording techniques for the much different requirements demanded by digital recording, as opposed to making analogue recordings.

Years ago, NPR featured a discussion by a music producer, along with a musician who had many of his works recorded. The 2 gentleman were both asked which medium they would prefer to have presenting their work: LP records or CDs. And both men quickly answered that CD was their definite preference.

And during that discussion, the statement was made that people who prefer a modern recording on vinyl to its CD counterpart, just prefer some type of particular sound coloration that LPs provide which is farther away from accurately reproducing the sound of instruments, than a good CD recording is.

Also, it was mentioned that even the very best phono cartridges used to play LPs display levels of harmonic distortion many times higher than what is found on quality CDs. But some forms of harmonic distortion actually make music sound more pleasant to some people. And with LPs, surface noise and static pops are heard, which are audio drawbacks that are totally missing on quality CDs.

And of course, keen eared listeners, with high performance audio systems, are able to notice that LPs, after being played 6 to 10 times, or so, no longer sound quite as good as they did on the first playing, due to the slight amount of wear that even a high quality stylus causes to an LP, every time that the LP is played.

 

[Mike Boone]

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.

You may be right. On the other hand, AFAIK, every movie studio already gave up on releasing any more of their creations on one disc format: Laserdisc. My stepson just told me that for only $150 he can add more storage to his computer that will hold 4 to 5 thousand movies at Blu-ray quality. He said that in about 15 to 20 minutes he can download an entire Blu-ray. Now he usually downloads movies without the special features found on Blu-rays, but he said that if he cared about having those extras, there's a source available that would enable him to download Blu-ray, complete with its special features. But since leaving out the special features saves space, he prefers to download his movies that way.

Yup, with him downloading so much material, at no cost, my stepson is one of those who thinks that I'm somewhat nuts to have spent about 15 to 20 thousand dollars on Blu-rays and DVDs. And of course it does little good for me to point out that if everyone was grabbing movies through free downloads, before long, there wouldn't be any movie industry to create that material.

Anyhow, I hope that my fellow HTF members who predict a very long life for movies on disc, eventually prove to have had a more accurate vision of the future than the one I offered in another post. But increasingly fast internet speeds constantly becoming available to more Americans sure have me concerned that downloading and streaming will become so widespread that the movie studios will see the shrinking number of people buying discs as no more worthwhile to keep servicing, than it became to keep providing Laserdiscs.

 

[Brandon Conway]

"We all have it coming, kid."

 

[Mike Boone]

"We all have it coming, kid."

I have always liked that line in "Unforgiven", that's spoken by Clint Eastwood's character, William Munny.

 

[Blimpoy06]

Weren't we having this discussion in at least two other threads?

 

[Lord Dalek]

Weren't we having this discussion in at least two other threads?

Try six.

 

[Sega]

I hope I can still get my DVD's & laser disc in 5 years. I think they will still be around. But not like thery are now... Sad to say.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

A long, long, time ago i had a vhs player like everybody else and bought a few tapes but noticed laserdisc movies and the ones released by Criterion were letterboxed when needed so i stopped buying vhs and started to buy laserdisc. Still have my 3 players and over 300 discs with most being Criterion or box sets like Star Wars or The Godfather and still watch them.

 

[jcroy]

Most of the dvd-video patents have already expired, or will be soon. (Most of the remaining patents are related to burned dvd r/rw type discs + playback).

So over the next several years, in principle anybody can manufacture a dvd player/drive without having to pay any dvd specific royalties. (Though one might still have to pay royalties on something like hdmi or sata).

 

[LeoA]

What could possibly happen to laserdisc at this point? Bit rot may kill some discs and others may be tossed by their owners, while old age will kill a few more machines. But the format is already commercially dead.

I don't see the significance of 5 years from now for that format, where as DVD could sadly be nearly out of stores with new releases concluded by the big publishers.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Yeah Laserdisc is so highly technically deficiant that it'll never make a comeback. Not like vinyl in any way other than disc size and having to get out of your chair to flip it.

 

[PODER]

Very happy with my multitude of DVDs and Blu-rays, thank you very much.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Well, I do wish the *DVD*'s days were numbered, as Blu-Ray is a clearly better format. It makes no sense to keep putting new movies out on DVD, especially when you can't even buy a non-HD TV anymore. Blu-Ray players don't even cost that much anymore, with cheapest ones being in the $50 range. It might make sense to still use DVD for stuff shot on standard-def video, but axing movies on them would certainly make for more shelf space. (And yes, I know for most titles DVDs still sell more overall than Blu-Ray. That doesn't make it right, and shows how uninformed the general public is. Some people were still buying VHS tapes as long as they kept coming out, but they finally put those to bed.)

 

[Dave Moritz]

I have been hoping that DVD would finally go away for a number of years now and it still has not happened. There just seems to be to many people buying them. Personally I have said that the days of DVD only releases should have died and the only way one should be able to get DVD's is bundled with Blu-ray releases. IMHO we have consumers that feel DVD is good enough and far to many titles are super cheap to purchase. The only thing keeping me from really growing my Blu-ray and 4K collections as big as I would like is finances! My focus right now is movies so unfortunately music has taken a back seat as finances are tight. Otherwise I would be picking up CD's, SACD's, DVD-A and new and used vinyl records and be building a much bigger movie library! I see next to no value in buying movies digitally via streaming or download! Yes you can still see and enjoy the movie but there is no real value in it, no collectability and there is nothing there to show for you money spent. There is something to be said about ownership and being able to see and pick up what you have purchased beyond a superior experience in video playback and audio playback quality.

I have purchased movies online but IMHO as long as the retailer has it locally it can be much cheaper and much faster to just get in the car and drive over and pick it up. Some items should be purchased in a brick & mortar store unless you have already got all the information you need to make the purchase. There is also something to be said about developing a relationship with a salesperson instead of the inhuman and impersonal side of buying online. If you buy enough gear a salesperson gets to know you and you can be more likely to get a better deal when always dealing with one person. You can go in and see and hear the hardware and get a more tactile experience checking out the gear. Online has it place but if retailers are replaced by online fulfillment centers it will not be a step up or an improvement IMHO. This is another reason I miss record stores because there was an interaction and feedback you can not really get buying online. Buying online is impersonal and lacks interaction with another human being! All you do is click on something and check out and that is it. Two companies that will make out like bandits with the upsurge of online shopping will be UPS and FedEx! Maybe we will see less theft in retail if it ever goes to mostly online shopping.

And like I said before in other threads I have had a netflix account but I also do not have the finances to have all these different sources for movies! I have HBO, Starz and a few months ago actually got rid of Netflix until finances improve. If finances get worse instead of better HBO and Starz will go as well. But I do not watch so much content and spend that much time to justify spending money on Amazon, Hulu, Warner Archives and FilmStruck. Besides I am more interested in watching movies on blu-ray or 4K UHD with what I feel is a superior delivery platform and also getting lossless audio that most movies still do not offer streaming. I do not purchase digital movies! I might register the digital code but honestly only do it for a free back up just in case the disc goes bad or in the rare chance my home gets broken into. I have occasionally paid for a movie on demand but I do not do that very often. I am more likely to DVR an HD movie from HBO or Starz or some premium channel than I am to stream a movie from a online site especially one that has a monthly fee. Anyway sooner or later DVD will finally be put to pasture but I will believe it when I see it. And as long as physical discs are available I will keep buying movies and music and when that ends I will just enjoy what I have and enjoy movies via HBO, Starz and even Netflix when finances improve because I seriously would rather buy movies on disc than even pay for Netflix!

 

[moviepas]

Hey, I looked up Amazon Australia's new store tonight for a friend and they are selling packs of 4 VHS Head Cleaners(a tape with spray fluid) for $50. I wouldn't go back there again. Love my DVDs, Blu Rays and UHDs and I have even gone to the flickers across the road recently for the first time in years(I have a giftcard for some films and got a birthday deal) and saw I, Tonya and Lady Bird. Liked them both and I, Tonya is coming on a US Import Blu Ray. Morning session not many there but I was happy a seat in a row to myself an I had my lunch in there. I buy DVD blanks for You Tube compilations for A$20 a 100 pack. unchanged for years in price.

 

[sonomatom1]

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.

I'm not sure "youngsters" have the moral high ground, but they certainly have consumer high ground, and that is what rules the day. I like holding my books, CDs, and DVDs; that will never change. I've never streamed or downloaded, and I never will.

 

[Rick Thompson]

You mean like books vanished because of movies, and radio vanished because of television? And theater vanished because of film? You mean like that?

 

[Joseph Bolus]

I’m *still* not convinced that streaming will totally kill physical media.

As soon as the majority of high-speed internet providers start imposing caps (and Comcast is leading the way here) it will begin to be very painful to view all those movies you “own” on services like VUDU and iTunes. In essence, paying the penalties for exceeding the caps will make it seem like you’re being forced to pay again for an item you “own”. This issue could be escalated due to the end of Net Neutrality which will allow ISPs to charge surcharges for high volume data sites like Netflix, VUDU, and Amazon Prime.

When “Joe Six Pack” figures out that you pay for physical media just once; but that Digital “ownership” requires paying penalties for cap overages and surcharges for high volume entertainment sites, then there will be a huge resurgence back to DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K/UHD discs.

I see this playing out this way over the next 18-24 months.

 

[MatthewA]

Also, it was mentioned that even the very best phono cartridges used to play LPs display levels of harmonic distortion many times higher than what is found on quality CDs. But some forms of harmonic distortion actually make music sound more pleasant to some people. And with LPs, surface noise and static pops are heard, which are audio drawbacks that are totally missing on quality CDs.

Aye, there's the rub: quality CDs. Some of them were not of high-quality, and the loudness wars of the late 1990s made good music sound bad and bad music sound worse.

 

[Jason_V]

I’m *still* not convinced that streaming will totally kill physical media.

As soon as the majority of high-speed internet providers start imposing caps (and Comcast is leading the way here) it will begin to be very painful to view all those movies you “own” on services like VUDU and iTunes. In essence, paying the penalties for exceeding the caps will make it seem like you’re being forced to pay again for an item you “own”. This issue could be escalated due to the end of Net Neutrality which will allow ISPs to charge surcharges for high volume data sites like Netflix, VUDU, and Amazon Prime.

When “Joe Six Pack” figures out that you pay for physical media just once; but that Digital “ownership” requires paying penalties for cap overages and surcharges for high volume entertainment sites, then there will be a huge resurgence back to DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K/UHD discs.

I see this playing out this way over the next 18-24 months.

I've been saying roughly the same thing for years. Add to that what happens when power goes out and you can't stream, but your laptop has a full charged battery plus when a film gets pulled digitally (vs. a physical copy on the shelf), and this is all going to be a disaster. Physical will never go away. It might wane, but it will always be around.