Is it Time to Dump the Silver Disc?

[SithZedi]

Thought this thread was a good place to post this.

Al Pacino on ‘The Godfather’: ‘It’s Taken Me a Lifetime to Accept It and Move On’ (Published 2022)

Fifty years later, the actor looks back on his breakthrough role: how he was cast, why he skipped the Oscars and what it all means to him now.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Pogre]

I've probably watched Infinity War and Endgame 15 times each, lol. I just watched Spaceballs for the 100th time last night and it surprisingly still holds up pretty well today.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I only take streaming service for a month or so when new season comes to series we like to watch and I must say that every time I have been disappointed in the picture quality. We have optical fiber connection so I can surely say that the problem is in the service provider side and not in our side. And like others have said, the streaming services are getting more and more expensive. I much rather to buy blu-ray release of everything for better picture and sound quality, but for some content there unfortunately is no blu-ray nor dvd release.

 

[Eppie]

I have Star Wars on VHS, DVD and blue-ray but have to admit that it's been a while since I've purchased a new movie. Turner Classic Movies is commercial free and if the time is not convenient I just record it to the PVR for later. Just watched The Longest Day last night. Classic war film that could have benefited from a good surround track.

 

[Stanton]

There's one key thing you didn't address: the "collectability" of physical media (CDs/LDs/UHDs/whatever). I too have ripped my CD collection (FLAC) to an external HDD, but that's not so easily done with multi-channel (and hi-rez) media. Even if streaming quality were 1:1 equivalent to UHD discs (and it's not), there are some releases that I would choose to own--no matter how many times I end up watching/re-watching it.

 

[3db]

Ive watched everyone of my shiny discs, at least 5 times. I do stream movies that Im kind of interested in or series like the Expanse, Lucifer, etc but anything I really want to see is purchased on a shiny disk. Picture and sound quality are superior to streaming and if the internet ever goes down, your either screwed or you fall back to a shiny disk.

 

[Replicant 7]

Great thread idea. Vote for keeping anything 'hard' because of current and future censorship.
5 is too very narrow for me depending on mood.
Animal House, Scarface, Godfather 1, Big Lebowski, Night at the Opera.
(Caddyshack, Blazing Saddles, His Girl Friday, 2001, Horse Soldiers, Dr. Strangelove)

Yeah! Animal House! Still have that one on VHS, plus many more from the 80's. "A pledge pin! On your uniform!!"

 

[SithZedi]

This is an interesting piece on the "lost years".

A Decade of Music Is Lost on Your iPod. These Are The Deleted Years. Now Let Us Praise Them.

From 2003 to 2012, music was disposable and nothing survived.

getpocket.com

 

[jeffca]

The majority of my video collection is live concert films.

As to how many cinematic films have I watched more than 5 times? That's a short list:

• Bladerunner
• The Quiet Man
• Bladerunner 2049
• Jaws
• Raiders of the Lost Arc

 

[Mr._Clark]

I tend to buy quite a few 4K blu rays. I've had too many issues with streaming quality, especially audio. For whatever reason, it annoys the living cr*p out of me to pay $3.99 for a movie and get mediocre audio.

Having said that, I do rent movies if it's one I'm not expecting to like all that much. Sometimes it's hard to know before seeing it. For example, I'm on the fence right now when it comes to Matrix Resurrections. The latest Bond flick was a relatively easy choice to go with 4K blu ray.

I've probably seen the original Bladerunner 50 times over the years. For some reason I also really like The Fifth Element, but I'd guess I've only seen that 15 times or so. The Terminator and Terminator 2 are probably in the 10-15 range.

I tend to forget how funny some of the old comedies are if I haven't seen them for a while. I watched Caddyshack the other day for the first time in many years and it was funnier than I remembered. I had a somewhat similar experience when I watched The Naked Gun. I realize this is a matter of personal taste, but I find Leslie Nielsen hilarious in the Naked Gun movies.

 

[mono-bloc]

Streaming is fine if you have a reliable Internet connection. , We have ADSL or the so-called high speed NBN, If your in a country area then you have to rely on a wireless connection, which drops out in bad weather, or a phone line ADSL So it's disc's or a 150 kilometer round trip to a picture theater.

 

[lovinthehd]

Streaming is fine if you have a reliable Internet connection. , We have ADSL or the so-called high speed NBN, If your in a country area then you have to rely on a wireless connection, which drops out in bad weather, or a phone line ADSL So it's disc's or a 150 kilometer round trip to a picture theater.

Streaming generally sucked when I was stuck with DSL (it may have bee ADSL), now I have broadband but with a provider that still causes issues. I'm far from theaters as well. Not familiar with NBN. Hard to beat the silver discs....

 

[bladerunner6]

Streaming Services are not here to save us money. They are here to extract money from us on a regular basis for the rest of our lives. Just as regular monthly investing in something like your 401K makes you rich spending money automatically makes you poor.

I understand some people like streaming and I like it for some things myself but it is not here to save us money. It is here to make people globs of money not to help consumers.

 

[Replicant 7]

Streaming Services are not here to save us money. They are here to extract money from us on a regular basis for the rest of our lives. Just as regular monthly investing in something like your 401K makes you rich spending money automatically makes you poor.

I understand some people like streaming and I like it for some things myself but it is not here to save us money. It is here to make people globs of money not to help consumers.

I was totally against streaming for the reasons you stated in your post. Sure $21.88 a month doesn't seem like a lot for Netflix. But times that by a few years and it adds up. By the time you add up your internet fees per month, per years you've spent a lot of money for basically nothing in return to show for it. Not to mention your electricity bill on top of everything else. So 75 a month + 22 x 12 months come to 1164 x 5 years comes to over 5K!! Yikes!!

 

[Hobbit]

Movie watching has changed over the years. Some people go every day, while others wouldn't be caught dead in a commercial theater. How we watch movies, and how many times poses an interesting question. Is it time to dump the silver disc and embrace streaming? We give our thoughts on the subject.



Read: How Many Movies Do you Watch More than 5 Times?

I've never been a movie collector. Likewise, I can't honestly say how many movies I've watched more than twice, let alone 5 times! Which is why I don't collect them. Music is a different story. I have a lot of music, and like a previous poster they're all ripped and I just stream them through the lan.

If by streaming movies we mean actually paying for a specific movie as opposed to watching on a sevice (paramount, disney+, Netflix, etc), I very rarely do that. Once or twice a year perhaps.

To be perfectly honest however, I do miss the days of going to Hastings et al and searching through thousands of movies. There's a difference between typing in something you want to see and walking down an aisle and finding that gem you would have never thought of streaming. The pool seemed deeper at Hastings than what the Netflix's of the world have to offer.

While I miss the silver disk, I can't remember the last time a played one.

As others stated, I am getting concerned with streaming service pricing. Netflix has been playing some sort of game. Last year it went to $20, miraculously went down to $17 at the first billing, then last month went back up to $20. Two years ago it was $8. I read Disney+ is going to jack rates up once they get their sh!t together and get decent content. I keep expecting Paramount to do the same.

It reminds me of the cable days. ESPN found that people were willing to pay $50/mo to have sports. Thus they passed that on to cable companies which was passed to us. Therefore we had $100/mo bills, whether or not you watched ESPN. I'm absolutely sure the providers are honing in on the modern day limit. I'm pretty sure most people nowadays are spending more on their internet plus streaming than they did in the pre cut the cord days. The whole things a racket. I'm floored by how many people have been convinced they need some bizzillion gpbs service to surf the web on a pad and stream netflix @1080p and it's only for 1 person household. .

After writing all that I think it would be nice if someone opened a silver disk rental shop near me!'

 

[Replicant 7]

I've never been a movie collector. Likewise, I can't honestly say how many movies I've watched more than twice, let alone 5 times! Which is why I don't collect them. Music is a different story. I have a lot of music, and like a previous poster they're all ripped and I just stream them through the lan.

If by streaming movies we mean actually paying for a specific movie as opposed to watching on a sevice (paramount, disney+, Netflix, etc), I very rarely do that. Once or twice a year perhaps.

To be perfectly honest however, I do miss the days of going to Hastings et al and searching through thousands of movies. There's a difference between typing in something you want to see and walking down an aisle and finding that gem you would have never thought of streaming. The pool seemed deeper at Hastings than what the Netflix's of the world have to offer.

While I miss the silver disk, I can't remember the last time a played one.

As others stated, I am getting concerned with streaming service pricing. Netflix has been playing some sort of game. Last year it went to $20, miraculously went down to $17 at the first billing, then last month went back up to $20. Two years ago it was $8. I read Disney+ is going to jack rates up once they get their sh!t together and get decent content. I keep expecting Paramount to do the same.

It reminds me of the cable days. ESPN found that people were willing to pay $50/mo to have sports. Thus they passed that on to cable companies which was passed to us. Therefore we had $100/mo bills, whether or not you watched ESPN. I'm absolutely sure the providers are honing in on the modern day limit. I'm pretty sure most people nowadays are spending more on their internet plus streaming than they did in the pre cut the cord days. The whole things a racket. I'm floored by how many people have been convinced they need some bizzillion gpbs service to surf the web on a pad and stream netflix @1080p and it's only for 1 person household. .

After writing all that I think it would be nice if someone opened a silver disk rental shop near me!'

(Pre-cut cord days) yep! By the time you add, your internet bill, all the streaming services, well pretty much back up to where the cable channels where at prices. But with one exception, No commercials. But yeah cable back in the 80's was around 40 bucks, with a whole lot less commercials, MTV, History channel science channels. ESPN is a joke now so is cable tv. My internet bill is 75 bucks a month COX. Add in 21.88 for Netflix closing in on 100 bucks. COX them fools are always hitting me up to (bundle) deals, which would push that 75 bucks up to 134.00 a month plus taxes with a two year deal, no premium channels.

 

[MR.MAGOO]

After writing all that I think it would be nice if someone opened a silver disk rental shop near me!'

35 years ago I could go to my local shopping mall, it had at least 3 book stores and at least one shop selling CD's. Now it's all this trendy high-end clothing stores with $400 sneakers and other foo foo crap nobody can afford. .

 

[lovinthehd]

I've never been a movie collector. Likewise, I can't honestly say how many movies I've watched more than twice, let alone 5 times! Which is why I don't collect them. Music is a different story. I have a lot of music, and like a previous poster they're all ripped and I just stream them through the lan.

If by streaming movies we mean actually paying for a specific movie as opposed to watching on a sevice (paramount, disney+, Netflix, etc), I very rarely do that. Once or twice a year perhaps.

To be perfectly honest however, I do miss the days of going to Hastings et al and searching through thousands of movies. There's a difference between typing in something you want to see and walking down an aisle and finding that gem you would have never thought of streaming. The pool seemed deeper at Hastings than what the Netflix's of the world have to offer.

While I miss the silver disk, I can't remember the last time a played one.

As others stated, I am getting concerned with streaming service pricing. Netflix has been playing some sort of game. Last year it went to $20, miraculously went down to $17 at the first billing, then last month went back up to $20. Two years ago it was $8. I read Disney+ is going to jack rates up once they get their sh!t together and get decent content. I keep expecting Paramount to do the same.

It reminds me of the cable days. ESPN found that people were willing to pay $50/mo to have sports. Thus they passed that on to cable companies which was passed to us. Therefore we had $100/mo bills, whether or not you watched ESPN. I'm absolutely sure the providers are honing in on the modern day limit. I'm pretty sure most people nowadays are spending more on their internet plus streaming than they did in the pre cut the cord days. The whole things a racket. I'm floored by how many people have been convinced they need some bizzillion gpbs service to surf the web on a pad and stream netflix @1080p and it's only for 1 person household. .

After writing all that I think it would be nice if someone opened a silver disk rental shop near me!'

Well Netflix does still rent DVDs and Blurays....I still do that.

 

[Ovation]

Streaming has replaced casual rentals at the video store for me--and the casual purchases of used movies at the same store (those that were cheaper to buy than rent when they were new releases). It has also slowed my purchases of some types of films. However, it has not stopped purchases entirely. There are films that are "must haves" in highest quality even if currently available to stream. Also, I have a sizeable collection of documentary films for use in my classes that are not readily available for streaming OR cannot be properly streamed from available library resources because of poor internet in the classroom (our libraries and offices have strong internet but many of the classrooms in which I teach have excrementally bad internet). Moreover, I also use many scenes from feature films in class--same limitations and reasons as for the documentaries.

I understand I am not the typical use case (movies only for entertainment at home), but I've had a few too many moments when, for the sake of convenience, I decide to stream something rather than dig out the disc, only to find the title is "no longer available".

So, to answer the original question--I'd say I have at least 200-250 titles that get regular use (more than 5 times), and others that are not on any streaming service to which I subscribe (that's probably a couple hundred more). I do have 2000+ discs for movies overall (DVD, HD-DVD, BD, UHD), but many were for extremely bargain bin prices (so can't complain).

As for music, I could, if I really wanted, slim down my 700+ disc collection, but I've amortized them over nearly 40 years now, so no real need. Also, I have a self-contained, no computer/hard-drive/streaming audio set-up that requires discs, so I use them a fair bit. About 35% of my discs are MCH SACD or DVD-A or Blu-ray Audio--they're not going anywhere. I will concede that since Apple Music went lossless, my 2 channel disc buying has gone down dramatically and is unlikely to return to previous levels. However, MCH audio discs (sadly far too few and far between) will continue to be added to the shelves when available/affordable (to me)/interesting.

Ultimately, for both movies and music, streaming is certainly part of the equation, but it's not going to supplant my discs entirely anytime soon.

 

[chapp]

I use streaming services with Apple TV 4K through my Yamaha A8A and a Sony X900H TV. A full Atmos and Auro 3D setup. Some streaming content is very close to the physical disc 4k quality, however, if you want the utmost in Sound/Picture, I still go with the 4K Disc playing through a decent player. I use a Sony X800 and a Panasonic 820 and they can't be beat currently by any streaming services. "Lord of the Rings" and most of my discs get a good workout.