this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2024
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It's sensible for businesses to shift from physical media sales. Per CNBC's calculations, DVD sales fell over 86 percent between 2008 and 2019. Research from the Motion Picture Association in 2021 found that physical media represented 8 percent of the home/mobile entertainment market in the US, falling behind digital (80 percent) and theatrical (12 percent).

But as physical media gets less lucrative and the shuttering of businesses makes optical discs harder to find, the streaming services that largely replaced them are getting aggravating and unreliable. And with the streaming industry becoming more competitive and profit-hungry than ever, you never know if the movie/show that most attracted you to a streaming service will still be available when you finally get a chance to sit down and watch. Even paid-for online libraries that were marketed as available "forever" have been ripped away from customers.

When someone buys or rents a DVD, they know exactly what content they're paying for and for how long they'll have it (assuming they take care of the physical media). They can also watch the content if the Internet goes out and be certain that they're getting uncompressed 4K resolution. DVD viewers are also less likely to be bombarded with ads whenever they pause and can get around an ad-riddled smart TV home screen (nothing's perfect; some DVDs have unskippable commercials).

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[–] DogPeePoo@lemm.ee 0 points 4 months ago

Per CNBC’s calculations…

🙋🏽‍♂️I found the problem!!!

[–] Brewchin@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

One business dying is not the death of a media type, FFS.

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[–] Toes@ani.social 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I have a 4k BluRay player I picked up for cheap. But I only have like 2 movies for it.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] Toes@ani.social 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You know what it might. But I need the glasses for my TV.

[–] Peffse@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I thought those players only worked on special 3D TVs? I've never tried the feature because my TVs are always the cheap ones.

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[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 0 points 4 months ago (14 children)

Why would I want dvds when I can own digital media?

[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Rip your own DVDs and you can have both, with redundancy

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Or store them on a portable hdd and have redundancy without hoarding shiny plastic discs.

[–] bluGill@kbin.run 0 points 4 months ago (7 children)

I store the discs because while ripping is of questional legallity by having the discs I have the morals right.

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[–] _number8_@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

extras, commentaries, it's nice seeing your favorite films on a shelf

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago

I really don't understand why they don't include this stuff on streaming services.

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[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (7 children)

No ads when you pause, but holy hell, we've been getting DVDs from the library, and sometimes it's a good ten minutes of crap before the movie actually starts.

[–] Peffse@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Most of the DVDs I've played can skip the previews with chapter selection, but daaang the blu-rays locked that up. Can't skip anything at all!

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[–] _number8_@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (9 children)

i try to put in the disc, hit play, and just walk away so i miss all the garbage and the paragraphs warning me about prison time. kinda kills the mood

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[–] slacktoid@lemmy.ml 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 4 months ago (2 children)

If you don't want to wait for it to rip, you can play it in VLC. It will let you skip anything you want to.

[–] slacktoid@lemmy.ml 0 points 4 months ago (3 children)

VLC! Itll let you do anything for only free 99

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[–] Olap@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)
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[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Are the numbers about DVD sales strictly about DVD sales or do they include all optical formats (Blu-ray/UltraHD Blu-ray)? Because unless I’m getting an old TV show that was only ever SD, my preference is to get a Blu-ray, not a DVD. I suppose if I still saw the super cheap ($3-5) DVDs in the grocery store for something I like but not enough to buy normally (this is how I bought Brewster’s Millions) then I might buy a DVD, but otherwise I at least want HD quality.

[–] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (10 children)
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[–] sgibson5150@slrpnk.net 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] androogee@midwest.social 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] sgibson5150@slrpnk.net 0 points 4 months ago

Aye, looks like that's where we be heading, maytee.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 0 points 4 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The end of Redbox marks another death knell for the DVD industry at a time when volatile streaming services are making physical media appealing again.

But on Wednesday, Judge Thomas M. Horan of the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved a conversion to chapter 7, signaling the liquidation of business, per Deadline.

Redbox's remaining 24,000 kiosks will close, and 1,000 workers will be laid off (severance and back pay eligibility are under review, and a bankruptcy trustee will investigate if trust funds intended for employees were misappropriated).

In April, Target confirmed that it will only sell DVDs in stores during "key times," like the winter holiday season or the release of a newer movie to DVD.

But as physical media gets less lucrative and the shuttering of businesses makes optical discs harder to find, the streaming services that largely replaced them are getting aggravating and unreliable.

Still, places that offer DVDs have gotten significantly rarer recently, and relying solely on an increasingly cable-like streaming industry for home entertainment is a scary proposition.


The original article contains 768 words, the summary contains 175 words. Saved 77%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] db2@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (12 children)

It's sensible for businesses to shift from physical media sales.

Sensible to who?

[–] Arbiter@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yes, the costs to actually make and distribute a physical disc are relatively low on a unit basis, but the cost of distributing a digital copy online make physical media look astronomical.

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[–] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 0 points 4 months ago (2 children)

For all the reality of "streaming rights are a shitshow", what percentage of the population do you think is willing to buy physical movies?

Because I don't think it's all that high.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago

I buy physical dvds. Sometimes I'm all that high when I buy them.

[–] dan@lemm.ee 0 points 4 months ago (11 children)

Someone go make Steam for videos and I'll pay for media again. My stipulations are:

  • Once I buy it, it's mine forever (otherwise piracy is better)
  • The file is high quality, DRM free, and in a selection of standard formats (otherwise piracy is better)
  • I can redownload it from the service at any time (otherwise piracy is better)
  • I can get everything I want to watch (otherwise piracy is better)
[–] SGG@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Companies see that as a mistake. They want you on a subscription for life that they can arbitrarily change at any time.

Profits not increasing enough for this quarter? Better cut content, increase prices, increase the number of ads.

Profits increased amazingly this quarter? Better cut content, increase prices, increase the number of ads.

Profits down? Better cut content, increase prices, increase the number of ads, and start adding extra paywalls to some content

They want you to own nothing. Oh you unsubscribed? Sorry even the content you paid extra to unlock was only available while your subscription continued, you will need to start your subscription again and then pay to unlock the content again.

A show isn't popular enough? Better write it off, pull it from all distribution so you can claim it as a tax write off

[–] sturmblast@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] SGG@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago

Yarrrrrr indeed

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[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Steam satisfies only your third point, though. Otherwise, no. You don't actually own your Steam library, Steam itself is DRM, and it doesn't have everything.

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[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 0 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Steam isn't DRM free, though. Most games use Steamworks DRM.

[–] explore_broaden@midwest.social 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I don’t think DRM-free is really a requirement for most people.

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (4 children)

So then we have iTunes. The only one it does not cover is the permanent ownership. Companies have yanked stuff from iTunes libraries before.

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[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 4 months ago

The MBAs whose sole purpose on earth it is to inflate margins over and over and over again

[–] maccentric@sh.itjust.works 0 points 4 months ago
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[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (3 children)

I mean......I just bought Batman the animated series on DVD. Whole series too. I never got to watch it as a kid, but I hear it holds up even for adults.

I also bought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles DVD which has the first 3 movies from the 90s. The stupid Micheal Bay reboot from the 2010s, and also a movie called "Batman vs TMNT". Which sounded bizzare enough for me to buy.

Now I just need time to watch these things.

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 0 points 4 months ago

I just downloaded them, saved my wallet and the environment.

[–] androogee@midwest.social 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Check out Gargoyles too, that shit rules

The dulcet tones of j. frakes is enough reasonto watch gargoyles rawr. Still mad at demora. Gargoyles is good.

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 0 points 4 months ago

May not be the same type of stuff, but I've seen comple box sets of shows like Courage the Cowardly Dog, Edd Ed N Eddy, and a few other shows for roughly around $30 a set at my local Walmart. It's absolutely beautiful to see physical media box sets at a reasonable price crushes streaming prices.

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