DVDs and BluRay already obsolete?

Just wanted to see how others weighed in on this question. Even as I'm typing this i'm typing this, the banner ad at the top of the page is for a "Western Digital" Home Network Drive. Which leads me to my point that we're reaching an apex where owning physical media may soon be irrelevant. I already own a Western Digital Live media player which like my TiVo Premiere also supports Netflix and other forms of streaming video. So as we start to see more and more cloud computing and the size of memory capacities being pushed to extremes, at what point do we give up owning the physical movies. I do understand that right now the only way to get the colorful insert and booklets as well as the bonus extras are to buy the physical media, but that too is soon becoming easy to replicate in a downloadable format. I remember the huge VHS tape collections that seemed so finite in their day. And then came DVDs and now BluRay. My personal opinion today is that it's irrelevant to own a DVD or BluRay except for novelty and nostalgic reasons. The importance of owning a movie now is decided by how much storage space your'e willing to give it on a hard drive. So what are your thoughts?

I'm old. I will always prefer physical media. I don't want to read my books off a screen. I want real pages. I buy single issues of comic books, I do not read them on my computer. I may download an individual song, but I buy the real CD if I buy an album. I buy my favorite movies on DVD. They are mine. I can watch them when I want to. They will not disappear when my hard-drive crashes. They are not subject to my cable connection. I might stream a film I don't care to watch again, but I will always want a physical copy of my favorites.

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Family DVD Collection | My Top 100 | My Movie Thoughts | Frank Capra

Mixed feelings. On one hand, I do like physical media, and there are some movies I will always insist on having on hand in some form. But I think, for most of us, well over half of the movies we own will spend most of their life sitting on a shelf, and we'd never miss them if we could still watch them now and again streaming over Netflix. I've already cut down significantly on the number of movies I buy for this reason; the ones I get now are almost invariably films I completely adore, huge special editions, gifts, or just really, really cheap.

Same thing with books: some I want to have, and others I just need to read once and have access to in some form later. I'll never rely completely on the cloud, but it's definitely going to save me a lot of shelf space.

Physical always wins if you really care about the purpose behind it. That said, with dvds it's hard to want something if its release is rather shoddy (no special features, bad transfer, etc). Just like listening to vinyl, I get more of an experience out of dvds than I do streaming.

Eventually, the light switch will go on, and the studios will figure out the best way to go is Movies on Demand on Cable/internet. Charge a flat fee for unlimited viewings. This would also include the "special features".

There are a few movies, that when i take em off the shelf, i enjoy the commentary as much as the movie itself.

William Friedkin for instance, I've yet to listen to one of his commentary tracks where i wasn't completely hooked from start to finish.

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"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo.

I hate the idea of everything becoming digital and downloadable only. I can see the desire to have a Kindle because books are heavy, especially if you've gotta move and transport them, but owning DVDs/movies is very essential to my lifeforce. The hoarder in me cannot live without them. And I'm not secure enough with downloaded things -- what if they're erased? What if there's a problem? I hate iTunes for always making you need a password whenever you move song files to another computer (always been my experience, anyway) -- so I don't buy from iTunes because music keeping should not involve passwords. This kind of stuff irritates me down to the bones.

But no way do I want the option to own physical movies to go away. I also believe in the power and art of the cover art, even though many DVD releases suck at their covers now. I feel that would all get lost in the future if everything is all digital.

I dont own a single DVD other then kids movies. I still manage to see one or two films a day so for me it really doesnt matter. I think Dvds are a really good collectible but everything becomes just that sooner or later.

People don't buy dvds because they're too expensive and don't come with anything. That's why people like Keno and Criterion are doing really well because their packaging is phenomenal. Studios want to make money so bad that they forget the point of the product other than it being a product, therefore they lose money in the end. Record companies took a crap because of that (also because their bands suck balls), and now it's happening to dvds. Things will change a lot when these baby boomers in charge die off.

Well record companies took a crap because they are obsolete.

Any artist can produce music and market it themselves, then hit the road. Acts used to hit the road to promote Album sales, nowadays its reverse. Most anything music wise can be heard online, thats what gets the buzz for folks to go see the live shows.

at the event, the cash is huuge in swag and CD's and such.

its a phenomenal time to be a musician thats for sure.

theres a similar discussion in this thread as well:

http://www.movieforums.com/community...ad.php?t=23113

Love my Dvd Collection.

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The Professional.

I agree, some people love playing Keno.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

I like physically owning movies. The packaging is a big help there. I wouldn't trust putting movies on a hard drive, which can crash. I would hope for streaming and physical dvds to live side by side.

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Suspect's Reviews

Do you know anyone addicted to Keno Harry

i can honestly say, i have never have played a single game of keno.

whats the fuss about?

Big winnings

That's why you have two hard drives. I just bought a 1.5TB external for less than $100. Do you know how many downloaded movies I can back up on that thing? Lots. Plus the other 1TB external I have already so really, I'm rollin' in the films these days. Should take me a couple of years to watch them all but that's okay, I got time.

Where do you watch these films? Screen size and stereo speaker specs please.

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They can be watched on my computer or on my tv. As for stereo specs...well, my computer has some pretty loud speakers but my tv is pretty old. I've been slowly giving in to the idea of getting a nice, new, big tv but have been putting it off, like most things. As for screen sizes, nothing special, but then I've never been one who feels any more or less of an impact depending on the size of the screen, which is why I don't go to the movies anymore because they're all here for me. I used to go every week, catching whatever new was out, whether it be Hollywood, Indie or foreign, but those days are long gone. The last movie I watched in theaters was Avatar and the big screen didn't help influence me into thinking it was a great film or anything. Then again, most of the stuff I'm watching these days are as far from Avatar as you can get, except of course for "Oscar Screener Time", when some awesome individuals upload their screeners for the rest of the world to see. Unfortunately, most of them aren't that great...in my opinion that is. Although, I do watch some of the usual Hollywood blockbuster flicks, but for the most part I would never pay for them and I'm happy that I didn't when the credits roll up.

I notice a big difference just between watching films in my bedroom (smaller TV and no external speakers) and watching them in the living room (larger screen with stereo speakers).

I don't. I guess we differ in that aspect. If a film is good, it doesn't need big screens and loud speakers to prove itself.