Hollywood wants you to forget about DVDs and physical media

Physical media is on life support.

It’s been happening slowly over the last decade, but now it might be happening all at once with big stores cutting back on selling DVDs and Blu-Rays.

In this video, we talk about what's in store for the future of home video.

Are you a collector? Share what kinds of media you collect in the comments below! I’m trying to start a collection of standard def animation. It hits that sweet spot of acceptable quality and price.

Special thanks to Jeff and Dustin for their notes on my script!

[sktch]

Good information! Thanks Bert from Sesame Street!

[RenePeraza]

The reasons to buy physical media are:
1) you don't need a subscription.
2) you don't need internet connectivity.
3) you get the best, consistent image quality.
4) you don't fear it being removed from online catalog.
5) you better support the maker/artist with a traceable sale rather that a stream (ask the struggling Spotify streaming musician)!
6) Oh, and you potentially keep the original edit which might later be censored or 'changed' (think French Connection, ET or Star Wars).

[mind-of-neo]

It honestly disgusts me to see physical media going away. And to see physical retail in general going away.

[Jared_Wignall]

I’ll always buy physical media no matter what. Once I’ve got the film or show, I’ve got it and don’t have to rely on a streaming service to watch it.

[zedman]

No thanks… I’ll keep my physical media. Nothing beats it. I pay for it once, and I have it forever, even if the internet goes down!!😊

[RarebitFiends]

I slowed down on my physical media collecting for about 15 years, but streaming services deleting content for tax breaks got me to cancel all my streaming services and go full-force into physical media again. The selection of movies on bluray now is amazing.

[CZsWorld]

Popular movies will continue to have physical releases as a collectors items. It's going to be very difficult to find less popular movies. It's already difficult to get movies from the 2000s that never got a blu-ray release. You can't even get this stuff on the seas anymore due to lack of seeds.

I'm not a collector but it's concerning to think some movies will become impossible to watch.

[siarnne]

I guess what changed my mind about the streaming market was the way the streaming providers behaved. They took as much control as I would give them and exercised it.
Buying physical media is not so much about owning the movie as it is having basic rights to it.
One thing the era of streaming services has taught me is that no one has rights on the internet. If someone breaks into my house and steals my movie collection, I call the cops. Maybe they get arrested. Maybe my insurance covers it. The point is someone is accountable for injuring my rights to those movies. Netflix drops Battlestar Galactica, Futurama, Portlandia, Archer, SNL reruns, Star Trek, The Clone Wars, Parks and Recreation, I can't get a refund, sue them or claim injury. I had no rights when I signed their subscription agreement.
But turn it around: if I share a log-in, restream on Twitch or YouTube or access content outside of my region, they have all the legal recourse in the world to wield against me.
I buy a movie from Target, I'm done dealing with Target. I'm done dealing with Fox, I'm done dealing with Disney and I'm done dealing with the fucking warehouse of marketing spies they have trying to deconstruct me so they can shove their algorithmic dicks in my face. It's just me and the movie I want to watch whenever I want to watch it.

[Thatlowdsg]

"You will own nothing and be happy" It goes much farther than them not wanting you to own physical media.

[torom]

Reasons why I'll never give up physical media:
- I LOVE having my shelves full of them
- I want to be constantly reminded of my favourite by looking at my shelves and want to feel them part of me through their physical presence in my home
- I don't just watch what a streaming platform offers me, I know what I want to watch in a specific moment and look for it, and most times what I'm looking for is just not available for free on the streaming service I'm paying for in that moment
- If I have to pay for a single movie, I will always prefer to have it on my shelf than in a digital library, even if the disc is a bit more expensive

[Bahamut_Mega]

Story time : When I was 18 I used Law & Order on Netflix to turn my brain off before bed. I owned one movie on DVD, my favorite.When I was 22, Netflix lost the rights to the show. I then bought a collection of all 20 seasons on DVD for $200 on Ebay.

Today, I'm 32 and have over 500 movies, 200 Anime, and about 50 TV shows on DVD and Blu-Ray. All because Netflix broke my trust in streaming services a decade ago.

True Story.

[johnettipio]

In a world where piracy is so prevalent, many of us want to do the right thing and buy our movies/shows. Hollywood and the tech companies are making it much harder and much less convenient to watch content the right way

[AbrasiousProductions]

the thing is about physical media is that once you own something, you own it, it's real, you can hold it, watch it and display it on a shelf, keeping a movie on a streaming service just lacks the intimacy you'd get when buying something phyiscal

[brianegendorf]

Years ago, when VHS was still popular, my dad made an invention that counts how many times a tape is played. He tried to sell it to hollywood, and they sent him a letter basically saying, "we're in this business to sell videos, not rent them".

[jackel]

I am a physical media person for sure. I tried streaming and it just wasn't the same without the bonus features. Also, as he stated. As time goes on, certain films will get forgotten and never seen again. You can't beat the classics!

[staind]

When my internet was out for 6 hours, I was extremely grateful for my physical media collection lol

[BuIldogProd]

The biggest issue I’ve got with digital media is the ability to censor or edit a tv show / movie when it’s “too controversial”, and therefore tampering with art. A physical copy can never be changed

[anniestarlight]

I buy DVDs and Blurays for dirt cheap from thrift stores, the $5 walmart bin, and occasionally for cheap from amazon sales, and have started accumulating a pretty sizeable collection of stuff I like. But I don't just leave them on the disks, I instead rip them onto my computer and store them digitally as MP4 files that I can easily access any of whenever

Creating your own local "streaming service" out of your disk collection is awesome :)

[haroldromero]

I’m 21 and I recently started collecting movies and shows that have affected me on a deep level. I want to have them physically so I can show them to my future children and not have to worry about where to stream or if they’re even Banned. I’ve collected the office show, Harry Potter, Star Wars, back to the future, the devils advocate, perks of being a wallflower and more. But I’ve limited myself to only buying them from the thrift store or garage sales

[HughMansonMD]

I used to buy digital because "it cant break" and you would "always have it". But between the Comixology/Amazon buy out, and Hulu removing the "Dee is Dating a Retarded Person" episode of IASP, I realized digital media is significantly more "breakable" than physical media.

When I stare at my bookshelf and comic holders I feel pride in having a good collection with nice presentation. When I stare at my Comixology library I feel physical pain for the digital burnt pile of money that I "will always have". If anything happens where I desperately need money, the speculative market for collectors will take care of me. Amazon, Hulu, Paramount, etc. will just cancel my memberships and tell me to F' off..