why buy DVDs?

[RobertScorpio]

Can you see a time when people wont even buy DVDS or BLURAY? I can. I buy less DVDs now, even though I do have a BLURAY now. Why? Because NETFLIX has HD streaming now, as does XBOX..

I looked at my DVD/Bluray collection. I have have to have, at least 500+ DVDs (and thats not including all my TREK dvds). I randomly took one out of its place on my shelf...Witness. Great film with Harrison Ford. I got this DVD five years ago for christmas and I have yet to even open it up and see it....

The Limey? I bought this way back in 1999 on DVD and I have watched it once; last year after I saw THE TAKEN.

I think, within 10-20 years, DVDs are going to go lose out to the streaming/downloading market. You buy it one time and you download it whenever you want to see it..

XBOX does this. I have purchashed several cartoons on XBOX. I delete them after a while, and then when I want to see them, I just press download and they reload without paying...

What do you think? Will 'hardcopy' purchased media (DVDS/CDS) fade away?

Rob

 

[Dar70]

I never fell into the dvd trap. I have maybe 40 dvds over a 9 year period. Most of them are tv shows that are no longer reran on tv. I really dont know why so many people over obsessed over dvds. I barely have time to rewatch what i have, I cant imagine what someone does with 500+ dvd collections. I have a feeling we will see some big collections for sale on ebay in the next 5 years.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Yeah, I sort of skipped over the DVD buying phase and went straight to renting. I own about 10 DVDs and 10 VHS tapes, and the only time I get any more is if they are given to me as gifts. I rarely rewatch a movie, just like I rarely reread books. I just don't feel a need to unless I've completely forgotten the story. I rent all the movies and tv shows I want to see.

 

[23skidoo]

Technology may render them obsolete, but there will still be enough people interested in purchasing permanent, reliable media for archiving and repeated future enjoyment reasons (no OS-dependent, Net-distributed media option fulfills any of that criteria).

And frankly if we get to the point where environmental laws make any sort of impact, we'll already have been forced to use computers and iPods anyway.

All this goes for CDs as well. People are in for a rude awakening as they abandon physical media. All this jumping on the bandwagon has happened AFTER the great XP and Mac OSX hardware/software/media purge. If you're too young to remember the thousands and millions of dollars worth of products rendered inoperable -- and unreadble -- by an OS "upgrade", just ask your elders who lost their music files, games, video files (Real Media anyone?).

That said, unless Hitler comes back from the dead and takes over and orders everything destroyed, if no new physical media were issued ever again as of tomorrow, there is still ample product already in circulation and available in the secondary market to keep me watching TV, if I wanted to, 24/7 for the remainder of my life. Ditto books and CDs.

As an archivist, I see red as short-sighted people interested in new shiny things push us towards what will be remembered as "the digital gap" by future historians. As a collector, I'm rubbing my hands with glee as I consider the possibility of my copy of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer becoming a rare collectable as everyone else throws their DVDs away.

Alex

Alex

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

CDs are as good as dead, but I don't think DVDs ever will be. Particularly Blu-Rays. The bandwidth just isn't there to take over for them.

 

[Trekker4747]

I don't like renting, and I like having tangable media. I like sitting back and looking at my collection filling bookshelves and masturbating to it, er, smiling at it. The idea of my movie collection sitting on a hard-drive in a device in my home that I may or may not have in five years, or that can fail, or having the collection on a server on the otherside of the country doesn't appeal to me.

I will always have tangable media if it is available to me.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I probably own 10 DVDs in total, mostly stuff I got as gifts. These formats come and go, why invest in any of it? Netflix is great. I consider it my own personal library, and I don't have to devote any of my own storage space to all that crap. There's so much new stuff to watch, I can't get around to rewatching the little I have on DVD. I got Star Trek for Xmas and I still haven't watched it on DVD.

 

[RobertScorpio]

My friend Mike has never switching over to DVR. He has a network of 6 VCRs at home where he records his shows...I'm amazed he can even find blank VHS tapes...

Rob

 

[BenRoethig]

It could happen tomorrow if it weren't for three little letters D-R-M. Everything that bad digital music such a success is being ignored for digital movie. You have no rights to import your DVD-Blu Ray library. There are no industry standard file formats. Why? Greed. Every company wants to lock you in to their stuff exclusively to maximize profits. Well, except if you factor in that digital movies and settop boxes just aren't selling.

 

[Kronos]

My friend Mike has never switching over to DVR. He has a network of 6 VCRs at home where he records his shows...I'm amazed he can even find blank VHS tapes...

Rob

People still sell them, what I never seem to see in stores other then Goodwill is actual VCR's.

 

[RobertScorpio]

You're right. There is a thrift store that sells VCRs, nice ones for their time. I got mike two of them for XMAS to "update" his VCR tech.

Rob

 

[Davros]

I consider my DvD purchases as economic votes for the kinds of movies and TV shows I want to see produced. It was after all the great sales of Firefly DvDs that brought us the Serenity movie.

 

[marillion]

Davros, you hit it right on the head.. Until the industry recognizes downloads as valuable as outright DVD purchases, we'll always see a market for them.

I guess if it wasn't for my kids, my DVD purchases would be few and far between. But there will always be a few movies I want to have some tactile connection to. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Serenity/Firefly, Trek, etc...

I've given up on Netflix, as we never seem to get around to watching the movies we order. The movies we want, we buy.

 

[Hermiod]

I have maybe a thousand or so DVDs and Blu-Rays though my purchasing has slowed down significantly.

I have a Sky+ box, a Sky Movies subscription and Sky Player on my Xbox 360. That gives me a pretty much all you can eat buffet of movies on demand.

 

[bigdaddy]

I own a lot of movies, but they are mainly $5 DVDs from Walmart, and TV shows.

Why buy DVD, because I don't have an HD TV and I don't care to get one.

 

[CorporalClegg]

CDs are as good as dead

Nonsense. Until lossless formats become ubiquitous enough to matter (which is probably never), those of us who do care will still buy them.

As for DVDs/Blu-ray. I think buying movies will eventually fad out. However, I think the market for TV shows will stay strong for sometime.

I have a 12mps connection, and, when I have an itch to watch ITPM, I find it simpler, easier, and more practical to whip out my DSN DVDs than it would be to try and find a download.

 

[Geckothan]

The longer physical media stays around, the better. I still buy CDs and DVDs of things that are worth paying for, and will continue to do so as long as they're in production. Screw having your music/movie collection attached to an account with some untrustworthy, profit-hungry company that could cut you off any time they want with their dodgy terms of service.

 

[LitmusDragon]

This poll is rather biased. There isn't really a "for" collecting DVDs option. Unless you count the "small pockets" one, which makes us sound like mutants or revolutionaries or something.

Most of the DVDs and Blu-rays I own cost $5-$15. That's not a lot of money.

For TV sets especially I couldn't see renting them- what if I want to watch more episodes now? I'd rather pay a premium to be able to watch at my own pace.

I also feel like I'm supporting the industry when I purchase a DVD of my favorite show. In the current age when a lot of people simply pirate what they watch, I think it's a good thing to actually pay for stuff when you can.

 

[RandyS]

CDs are as good as dead, but I don't think DVDs ever will be.

Did I miss a memo somewhere?

DVD's and CD's are the same technology with the exception that one can play video. How is it that DVD's won't die but CD's will??

 

[Warp Coil]

With music, I've pretty much made the switch to entirely digital/file-based. I don't purchase physical albums anymore. I download everything from iTunes, Amazon, wherever. Now, if I *want* to burn the media to a physical CD it's pretty easy. So the media is flexible enough that I can create a physical, archive copy if I choose to do so.

With video, I still prefer physical media like DVD. I find it to be more reliable (read: less likely to get deleted, erased, corrupted). Another thing that I love about DVD is sharing. I can bring a movie or TV boxed set over to a friend's house and let them enjoy something. With digital media, how exactly would that work?