Does it still make sense to buy DVD and Blu-ray over digital downloads?

absolutely! or quantity... the master plan!

 

Yes. I want a hard copy if I can.

 

To me, it's digital downloads that don't make sense to buy. If I'm going to pay for something I want a copy that I am in control of, not some company that could go out of business.

 

Are you being serious? You roll your eyes at yourself so I'm not sure.

If this is a serious post: sorry, but there's no "warmth" in DVD that's absent in BD. Unless digital artifacts are your idea of "warmth"...

 

I put that emoticon because my comment about "warmth" could be seen, you know, a little "extravagant".

HD is great but DVD still shows a very sharp image. And that "warmth" I perceive, has to do with a little film grain, the color and brightness.

Maybe I need a side-by-side comparison between the DVD and BD of the same films...

 

Depends on the mastering. There are plenty of blurays that are blighted with lots of grain.

 

I guess everything depends on the mastering

 

If a BR comes with a digital DL, I would rather own both for the same price or less.

 

It's interesting that digital downloads are often more expensive than their physical format counterparts. I was browsing the newer Battlestar Galactica on Amazon. The Blu-ray set combining the mini-series and complete first season costs $27.49. The download version of the 1st season is $34.99, and it doesn't include the mini-series. You would have to pay an additional $12.99 for the mini-series. So it would cost more over $20 more to download what you would get if you purchased the Blu-ray version. Very strange!

 

Guess I'm old, but I don't feel like I bought and own anything when I buy a download. Would never, ever pick a digital file over a disc and artwork I can see sitting in my display. Been buying everything I can on blu ray in case that is the end of the road for physical media, which some say will be.

 

Good point. But, I wonder what will happen when the company holding all the movie files you bought closes down. That'll be the end of that! I just don't trust it for some reason.

 

Good point, and to that I kind of felt silly buying my favorite show Monk as a box set while my older kids watched it on Netflix because of convenience. Until it was pulled. Glad now I have been collecting my favorite shows.

 

I try to buy with UV, to have both.

Although Walmart could go bye bye, pretty sure the UV site itself would go nowhere.

 

I waved goodbye to all physical media ages ago. And I have access to pretty much whatever I want, when I want. As does everyone in my family. In high quality. My main problem is being spoiled for choice.

Not only is optical media essentially finished as a format, free to air TV is in its death throes too. It's about choice, content and access.

I've never understood video collections, though - although I have one. Unlike great albums, there aren't that many movies I can watch over and over again. So renting and streaming is awesome. Also, Netflix.

 

Who knows? It could easily be bought out by another site or absorbed into some other entity, but there is no guarantee the files will still be available. It's all pretty much uncharted territory right now.

We're starting to see things happen with digital comic books, where one publisher loses the license and the titles disappear from their store front - and they're only available to purchasers as a courtesy.

I've also found one series that I bought on iTunes that is no longer available. It's an obscure Japanese anime, and when I select it on my Apple TV I am told that it is no longer available in the US store. There could be others, but I've never checked everything I purchased, and I deleted most of the files when they started offering the cloud streaming.

 

Yes, Blu-rays and DVD are more than worth it, they're the only way to go for us out here in the country, whether purchased or from Netflix. I've got good ol' rural DSL here (flat-rate, uncapped, unthrottled, but only about 1.7 Mbps), so streaming is barely low-def let alone HD. Cell service maxes out at 3G, if I get any bars at all. Last I checked a few weeks ago, Amazon no longer allows me to download any digital video purchases to my PC. So "buying" a movie and streaming it from Amazon is pointless. And used and even new discs are often cheaper than iTunes. DirecTV allows me to buffer an entire HD movie or other program on the DVR to watch at my leisure. That's a great arrangement although I'm rarely going to pay $3.99 to do that when I can just have it delivered via Netflix in a couple days.

And it's not like I'm in North Dakota either. I'm 25 minutes from Dover, DE. If one day I'm forced to stream everything without there being a significant upgrade to the high-speed internet availability here, I'll just read more books.

 

The company's titles are an asset, so if the company is taken over, it's likely that the titles will be supported by the new entity. And even if it closes completely, the assets are likely to be sold off and some other company will support the titles. Some of this has already happened, but yes, there is also a risk that they may not be supported. However, if you buy physical media, there is also a chance that the media may rot or get hoplessly scratched, and then you're in the same boat of having to repurchase.

However, the alternative of digital media being offered as a streaming service with a monthly service fee, negates both of those concerns as you have access to any content at any time.

We're spoiled for choice currently and you can pick and choose whichever model best suits your needs.

 

I still buy both media, why not have a physical product to enjoy and share?

Suppose I have a book on my reading shelf. You can buy the Digital book online, keep it on a device (until Publishers change/ contract changes) possibly later you purchase another Digital book online, but now one or possibly other titles are unavailable (Digital OOP) so you of course no longer have some titles on the reading device or you can repurchase from another Publisher a Digital repurchase.

Occasionally I stop into a Half-price Books, many times they have stuff I enjoy reading, other times they can Search for a title and will get it later on, again this is when I would like to own the physical product.