bwayne64
Master Member
No I didn't. I knew there was a way, or so I was told by people who would do that, ; )
The downfall of physical media ??? ( where do you side ) glad to see it go or not
- Thread starter INTO THE VOID
- Start date
An old mate worked in a corporate video transfer company supplying Demo videos for conferences, the place was wall to wall video Recorders!
One tape in... Twenty copies out!
He may have slipped in the odd copy of Quadrophenia
Cephus
Master Member
It worked. Of course, this is back when tapes cost more than $100 and weren't intended for home purchase so I made plenty of copies for personal use.
Paul Andrew
Master Member
I remember when the first "THX certified" black box trilogy came out on VHS and even that copy had changes from the old versions we'd taken off HBO or whatever.
Specifically there's a VO change in empire when Luke comments after R2 is spat out of the swamp monster. Don't remember the original dialogue, but I remember noticing the change as a kid.
Specifically there's a VO change in empire when Luke comments after R2 is spat out of the swamp monster. Don't remember the original dialogue, but I remember noticing the change as a kid.
My OG version off the TV was in 4.3 I distinctly remember the Pan and Scan being so bad the Gunner who fired the Deathbolt on Alderran was off screen.. Just his voice played!
CB2001
Master Member
I get the convenience of streaming and digital downloads. However, forcing people to go to digital downloads or streaming sucks. There's a lot of movies that never made the jump from VHS to DVD. And the same is true with some movies that have had a physical release but aren't available on Streaming due to rights issues (and may never be able to due to the rights issues). And, there are still a lot of places where people can't get high speed internet due to where they live, with them having to rely on their DVD collections. And, more important, you can't alter films after they've been released on DVD or Blu-Ray. A while ago, I shared why I prefer physical media, sharing a video of Doomcock expressing his concerns about why Disney stopping the sell of physical media to push their Disney+ services. Even now, I'm still collecting movies physically. The irony is that Disney+ says that they lost a lot of money because of piracy. That's because a lot of people don't want to spend money for services they don't want. I see Netflix only as a partially good thing. But other streaming services is nothing more than cash grabbing. In order to get most access to materials you'd see on cable, you have to basically pay almost the same amount of money you would be paying to get cable. And you don't even really own the digital copies. They exist for as long as the services remain. What about if the services decide to close? That money you spent for your digital copy is gone, in addition to access to that digital copy.
I prefer physical media because I want to own a copy of it. Disney and other companies are pushing for streaming because they get to charge for it monthly. If you buy a DVD or Blu-Ray, it's a one time sell and they don't get any revenue if you decide to sell it second hand. I am actually glad Universal and Warner Brothers made a pact to keep making physical releases up to 2031 because I actually want to own my copy of a movie. Forcing physical media to become obsolete is a sure fire way of losing all lot of new material if things ever go wrong.
This video discusses lost films, and how hard it is trying to preserve works of both the past and present because the materials needed to do so are being lost, which ties into streaming services as well. And it scares the hell out of me. And that means any modern films and TV that are filmed digitally and have a physical release are probably the only means of preserving them for future generations if something were to happen to the actual audio and video files, or if the work is pulled off of digital services. That means if anything were to happen to the streaming services with "channel exclusives", those exclusive TV shows and movies would be gone. I already have problems with having TV shows I've bought seasons for on physical media, but not all seasons be released on physical media because there wasn't much interest from the distributors to do so.
I prefer physical media because I want to own a copy of it. Disney and other companies are pushing for streaming because they get to charge for it monthly. If you buy a DVD or Blu-Ray, it's a one time sell and they don't get any revenue if you decide to sell it second hand. I am actually glad Universal and Warner Brothers made a pact to keep making physical releases up to 2031 because I actually want to own my copy of a movie. Forcing physical media to become obsolete is a sure fire way of losing all lot of new material if things ever go wrong.
This video discusses lost films, and how hard it is trying to preserve works of both the past and present because the materials needed to do so are being lost, which ties into streaming services as well. And it scares the hell out of me. And that means any modern films and TV that are filmed digitally and have a physical release are probably the only means of preserving them for future generations if something were to happen to the actual audio and video files, or if the work is pulled off of digital services. That means if anything were to happen to the streaming services with "channel exclusives", those exclusive TV shows and movies would be gone. I already have problems with having TV shows I've bought seasons for on physical media, but not all seasons be released on physical media because there wasn't much interest from the distributors to do so.
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Paul Andrew
Master Member
For me the biggest problem with digital copies is that you're basically locked to wherever you bought it from. Movies Anywhere takes some of the sting off that, but doesn't cover every studio.
Even if you stick to one service, say iTunes, you are limited to playing those files from their player, even if you download them instead of streaming them. I don't think that this actually prevents piracy, it seems like it actually just makes things more difficult for the people who ARE paying for those digital copies.
You can get around that, in some cases, but if you want a digital collection at the ready you either have to be ready to accept the issues that go with buying into a specific store or be equipped to rip your discs.
I've still got 480p dvd rips sitting on my plex server, not that they get a whole lot of play these days, but they're there if I want them.
Even if you stick to one service, say iTunes, you are limited to playing those files from their player, even if you download them instead of streaming them. I don't think that this actually prevents piracy, it seems like it actually just makes things more difficult for the people who ARE paying for those digital copies.
You can get around that, in some cases, but if you want a digital collection at the ready you either have to be ready to accept the issues that go with buying into a specific store or be equipped to rip your discs.
I've still got 480p dvd rips sitting on my plex server, not that they get a whole lot of play these days, but they're there if I want them.
Maybe it was said here, not sure....but I only found out recently that it can be a pain to play blurays on a pc....I have a burner and can burn them, but then it won't let me watch it. I found this kinda weird, but a google search laid it out for me.
-Copied off Google-
"Windows 10 doesn't include the built-in ability to play Blu-ray discs because Microsoft would have to pay a licensing fee to include that functionality. That option would drive up the cost of every single copy of Windows 10. Since most computers don't even have Blu-ray players, Microsoft doesn't offer the feature."
So in trying to even find a player that would play them, I was getting super frustrated. I mostly wanted to get a screen shot from a movie. I have a PlayStation 3 and 4, but getting a good quality screen shot isn't so easy.
So between companies wanting their share of money, and trying to prevent pirating, it really just makes it super annoying in the long run, and plenty people I know just pirate it to cut out the hassle, which defeats to whole purpose the companies created it in the first place.
I tried a few "FREE" PC bluray players, but there were a ton of issues with those, I don't even remember everything right now. Bluray and Ultra bluray are still the superior quality.
-Copied off Google-
"Windows 10 doesn't include the built-in ability to play Blu-ray discs because Microsoft would have to pay a licensing fee to include that functionality. That option would drive up the cost of every single copy of Windows 10. Since most computers don't even have Blu-ray players, Microsoft doesn't offer the feature."
So in trying to even find a player that would play them, I was getting super frustrated. I mostly wanted to get a screen shot from a movie. I have a PlayStation 3 and 4, but getting a good quality screen shot isn't so easy.
So between companies wanting their share of money, and trying to prevent pirating, it really just makes it super annoying in the long run, and plenty people I know just pirate it to cut out the hassle, which defeats to whole purpose the companies created it in the first place.
I tried a few "FREE" PC bluray players, but there were a ton of issues with those, I don't even remember everything right now. Bluray and Ultra bluray are still the superior quality.
CB2001
Master Member
That's why I own a Region Free Blu-Ray Player, so that I can play them and play copies of movies from other regions (including some that don't have a Blu-Ray release in the U.S. For example, Strange Days (1995), which only had a bare bone DVD release years ago).
Physical media and/or downloaded digital rips(huge files) for the win!
Frakk streaming.
I want to watch "Movie X", lets check one of the 5 streaming services I'm currently paying for. Hmm, nope.
If one is lucky you might find it available on a different streaming service. One you still need a VPN for.
Subtitles? Sure, most of the time. But the subtitle options are very different across the different streaming services. Some are a joke.
With digital MKV files you can easily add a downloaded/self-made text-file for subtitles.
Watching a tv-show on streaming service can be great, until they remove it from said streaming service. As a whole, physical media is still the better option. Star Wars is another great example. If one wants to watch the original theatrical versions..... which streaming service offer those?
It's coming
Frakk streaming.
I want to watch "Movie X", lets check one of the 5 streaming services I'm currently paying for. Hmm, nope.
If one is lucky you might find it available on a different streaming service. One you still need a VPN for.
Subtitles? Sure, most of the time. But the subtitle options are very different across the different streaming services. Some are a joke.
With digital MKV files you can easily add a downloaded/self-made text-file for subtitles.
Watching a tv-show on streaming service can be great, until they remove it from said streaming service. As a whole, physical media is still the better option. Star Wars is another great example. If one wants to watch the original theatrical versions..... which streaming service offer those?
It's coming
I'm still waiting for The Keep to be released in a format you can actually watch..
I have the DVD but it's like watching a porno(someone told me that)
I know there's a dispute/wrangle over it and the theatrical cut was cut to hell but you'd think at some point an 80s movie might actually be avaliable..
Similar thing with a small B movie that ran alongside The Empire Strikes Back here in the UK Cinema called Black Angel, its prolly been discussed here on the RPF? It's also tied up in litigation spat but the producer has it or did restore/clean it up and was ready to go with a release..
It might be out there now ?
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Laspector
Master Member
I usually always buy the blu-ray and download the digital copy that comes with it. Mostly, if I want to watch it, I will stream it as that is so much easier and faster. You don't have to sit through previews and deal with menus. However, internet is prone to going out, so I always have the physical back up.
I think once Everyone gets top notch Speeds there will be a huge shift..
Especially in the younger generations they simply Play a Game watch a movie then move on and sell it.. If they want it again they use Spotify or Stream it.
They don't seem to have the same dare I say it Hording (which is what it is) as their parents..
Maybe that's why
CB2001
Master Member
The chances of The Keep being released in a format that's watchable is slim, mostly due to the director not being happy with the film IIRC (I have seen DVD releases on eBay, but they are mostly from other countries and require a region-free DVD/Blu-Ray Player, which I myself have gotten one). But there's a lot of TV shows and movies that only still exist because people recorded them on VHS and have them available to view on YouTube. VR.5 is one such example of this. The show did poorly on Fox (of course it'd be Fox). The show had only one VHS release and then only one DVD release, and both of them are so rare to find out in the wild. The closest you'd find are episodes that a user uploaded to YouTube from VHS recordings they made. The same is true with other shows as well. Team Knight Rider is the only spin-off series from the franchise that never got a DVD release and I don't even know if it ever got a VHS release (I had to purchase a pirated DVD of the series, which I know is not gonna look good because it was more than likely recorded from off the TV as well). The irony of TKR being the only series not available for release is that all the other spinoffs (Knight Rider 2000, Knight Rider 2010 and Knight Rider {2008}) all had DVD releases in addition to the original series.
And what's worse, some of those movies and TV shows may not be available through streaming, much like how some movies didn't make the jump from VHS to DVD/Blu-Ray. There might be a chance they might (for example, the movie Rad (1986) was released on VHS and Laserdisc, but for a while, there wasn't a DVD release for the film except for a Laserdisc rip someone made. It eventually made it to streaming, but it wasn't until 2021 that the film got a Blu-Ray release), but you can never know until they're released.
I've found many a movie not released after a VHS release but uploaded on
YouTube..
What streaming also allows is to keep Classic movies alive..
Free Apps like Plex and Pluto etc have litterally thousands of movies and TV shows long forgotten by TV stations.
And its a crying shame IMO that B/W movies don't get a look in these days of which there are many on these Apps and more plus they are Free, yes adverts are involved and they are not 4K but if I want to watch Laurel and Hardy, Wil Hay or an old Tyrone Powers movie I can with little effort.
What is also interesting is the percieved cultural shifts and In the case of Los Angeles visually being able to see how baron California was such a short time back in places..
Strong characters tight story arcs I love those Old movies as much as Modern if not more sometimes...
Yeah. Can't remember if that worked or not.
One of the players pulled it up, but the play buttons didn't work or something like that.
I'd have to try again and see.
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