How Long Until DVD Ceases Production?

Not only that, but even if you could stream it the transfers of the classic seasons on Simpsons World are horrid, 16x9 reframings that alternate between cropping and stretching the original image and have pretty ugly color and detail. There's a reason why I've kept my own DVD ripped copies for Plex on my Roku in spite of me having a cable login.

EDIT: Just checked out the site after not having used it since launch, they've added a 4:3 button, likely due to complaints. That's good.

 

Pretty sure that's already the case. At least by volume, i.e. most laptops no longer have DVD drives, and full tower PC market is shrinking rapidly.

 

And that's why I don't think physical media will completely disappear. There will always be enough people who want to buy discs, thereby making it financially viable to produce them. Earlier you mentioned the millenials and their love of convenience, and it's true. But think of this: Computer game publishers are still selling boxed physical cd-roms of AAA titles. They never stopped. Granted, it's not like the heyday of the early 00's (and everyone has kissed the printed manual goodbye years ago), but game publishers sell physical discs because it's still turning a profit.

In terms of movies, if laserdiscs could survive in a VHS world, then I believe Blu-rays and DVDs can survive in a streaming world. And keep in mind, Laserdics were wiped out by DVDs that were another - and better - physical media, not by the "cloud" or anything like that. If DVDs had been inferior to Laserdiscs, then Laserdiscs would've survived until Blu-Rays. I think a small number of people are always willing to pay for quality and personal access to titles while the rest of the streaming public returns to a "convenience" that reminds me a little too much of the network broadcasting era.

 

I keep hearing that, but I just left Microcenter (the only serious computer retailer in Chicago) and out of the 20 or so fill tower computers on display, every single one had an optical drive. There was one micro unit on hand that didn't. They did have more laptops on display, but so would I given the higher margin on those items.

 

Yeah but Microcenter is a speciality shop. The same inventory mix at Best Buy would be different.

 

Yes, as I said, it is the place you go to buy a computer in the city. There are rumors of a Fries out in the burbs, but I rarely go anywhere in town not reachable via the L. PCs, Macs, Chromeboxes, Raspberry Pis and all the parts to build your own computer of any flavor - dozens of cases for custom rigs...all of which have a space to mount an optical drive.

Suffice to say, the rumors of the death of the optical drive have been greatly exaggerated.

 

Yeah all the custom desktop PCs I build now do not have an optical drive. Yes, people don't want them. These are $1000+ boxes. The $20 goes towards more ram, bigger SSD, GPU...

 

Most PC power supplies still have a floppy connector. Its just legacy, like the mountings for optical drives.

Appendix...tonsils...

 

I'm really pissed off about that, too.... it's definitely a huge middle finger to the loyal fans who have bought all 17 of the previous DVD sets.

EDIT: Wow, this was my 10,000th post!

 

Let the he pc optical drive die, but as long as computer builders like Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Acer can make more money by featuring optional optical drives as an add-on option, then they will offer it. When consumers stop ordering that add on (for whatever reason) the optical drive will die. (I ordered the optional blu-ray drive with my Dell 8700 just last year).

The stand alone blu-ray player is another story. Who knows how long those will be around. I suspect it will take a generation until Millenials grow up and no longer involve themselves with physical media.

 

I'm with you on "The Simpsons"... They released seasons 1-17, then jumped to season 20 to "cash in" on the show's anniversary, and season 20 had zero in the way of any extras (except the "20th Anniversary" sneal peek)...

As someone said in a different thread (about "The Simpsons" on DVD) when the show finally goes off the air, they'll probably release a "complete series" set on DVD and/or Blu-Ray and then we'll be stuck repurchasing half of what we already own...

 

Perhaps the Australian government is still upset about the booting incident?

 

Mixed feelings about this. As long as there are multiple streaming services with varying, volatile deals with studios, there will be a need for physical media to set off consumer frustration. DVDs at the library where I work remain immensely popular. (And libraries may be the last holdout -- long after everyone stops buying the things, there will undoubtedly be an expectation that we'll have it, quite understandably. Wouldn't be surprised if we're one of the primary reasons they remain on the market for a lot longer.) But since their value dropped I've been able to hoard a staggering number of the things for next to nothing -- some for work, some for me. I work with a lot of low-income people who don't have Netflix subscriptions and the like, but even those who do have the means still -- like me -- supplement their streaming subscriptions with other sources.

CDs are the only thing whose usage in my library has died out, and they were never very popular with us in the first place.

 

Oh, and one further point. I do long, drawn-out film projects, like seeing all the films on a certain list or that won a certain award, etc., and while ten years ago this was a relatively simple matter of having a Netflix mail subscription, checking libraries and catching TV airings, it's now a complicated and unwieldy process of checking both branches of Netflix, Amazon Prime, the online rental outlets, various local libraries, etc.; in direct opposition with music, it's gotten more difficult since 2007 or so to see a given film, generally speaking. If it's not a blockbuster from the last two years, basically forget about it being simple or predictable. It's painful because I don't think it's at all what people want.

Also: major gripe -- in just the last week I've gone to watch two films, one from 1974 and one from 2006, that were available on Netflix streaming or on Prime, and both were cropped from Scope format to 1.78. Do I need to spell out how damned frustrating that is?

 

What "upsets" me is that...in your earlier post...you said "all disks can go tomorrow". Well...OK for you ! You've apparently already gotten rid of or will get rid of your physical media so why say this in a way that makes it sound like they're obsolete for everyone ? The way you say it is CALLOUS ! You don't say it like it only applies to you..but for the rest of us as well. See.....collecting DVD's and CD's are rather dear to me. For someone to not only choose another way of watching/listening...but to disregard and speak so, I'll say nastily, about media and drives....it's like when I diss Peter Frampton's "Comes Alive". I'm sure there are plenty here who may be 'upset' at my disdain for that album. Believe me...I understand...."Comes Alive" doesn't register to me...just like the media/optical drive arena doesn't apply to you. I KNOW what callous is.

That's very nice that you're contributing/championing/promoting/participating in the decline and demise of physical media and optical drives/players....thanks for being considerate ! Oh yeah...you don't care what others think. I'm the same way about some stuff too.

See....you're not only unconcerned for any need of this for yourself....you play it like the whole physical thing is "tonsils...appendix"....and my interpretation..."Get rid of it's existence !"

On the other hand....thanks for being of the sort who apparently gets rid of 'their stuff'....and finds it's way into my collection ! I'm relatively confident now that I'll be able to replace my optical player and computer drives during the remainder of my lifetime even with those who denounce and lead the charge for obsolescence.

Nothing personal of course. I'm speaking of the sentiment.

 

Poor lamb.

 

Poor is right....but I'm a RAM !

An Aries by birth and spirit !

"The symbol of Aries is the Ram, and that's both good and bad news. Impulsive Aries might be tempted to ram their ideas down everyone's throats without even bothering to ask if they want to know. It's these times when you may wish Aries' symbol were a more subdued creature, more lamb than ram perhaps. You're not likely to convince the Ram to soften up; these folks are blunt and to the point. Along with those qualities comes the sheer force of the Aries nature, a force that can actually accomplish a great deal."

Dang...this part is pretty accurate.

 

You me both! Been a while since I've had a Easter birthday!

 

Mine's the 19th of April....over here it's Paul Revere (Patriot's) day or The Oklahoma bombing day...or the Waco Branch Davidian day !

And Easter sometimes too.

Oh...I DO like a good argument...but I am a lamb when it comes to physical aggression. So long as I can keep my stuff and keep getting replacements for my players...I'm good. See...the funny thing is...my, by far, main focus is on older releases...so the demise of future discs aren't a huge concern of mine...somewhere under 5% of my collecting. I'm lots more concerned about future hardware compatibility.

 

Oh the whole digital decay and obsolescence situation is terrifying. The shock that a 4 thousand year old stone tablet will still be usable 50 years from now but all the AmiPro docs ever created and probably 80% of all the digital photographs from now will be long gone.

But still, it will be someone else's problem then.

 

eh, thanks. By the way, I fully understand the point of view of those who watch a movie or a TV show once and living in a small house and/or with space problems. For that kind of customers, streaming and digital files are clearly a blessing. In my case, simply is not acceptable.
When I buy a DVD/BD, I also buy it because it usually has the original english track, bonus features, direct access to scenes, I can choose to watch the theatrical or the extended cut (of course not every movies has a director's cut). Some older LDs/DVDs have bonus features not present on the recent BD editions. Does streaming offer all those options? I don't know, it seems to me all you can do is pay and watch a movie and pray for the connection to work. As I said, personally I believe physical media (if well pressed) are far more reliable and not www-dependant. A well cared working player and a TV do what I need. But it's also good to have digital/streaming options, what matters to me is freedom of choice, sure I'm not telling people that don't want physical media anymore that they're wrong.

 

I am a physical media guy and I can tell you right now I will never pay $19.99 for a digital version of anything.

 

Hey daglesj,

I've posted this at least twice on this forum....but look here. Haven't looked up to see how far Norfolk is from Southampton...but this comes from there...

The future IS now...if they can only find a way to market it with a readback/player device...affordably, the ultimate in long, long, long stable storage. If I had a long term viable 'player' with all my particular lossless files on this..and could play them into a stereo, optically-RCA jacks or whatever...I'd take it ! All my music, movies, photos and ANYTHING on 300+ TB eternal storage.



The team are now looking for industry partners to further develop and commercialise this ground-breaking new technology.

Eternal 5D data storage could record the history of humankind | University of Southampton »

 

Of course, they gave this ominous scene in an episode:

 

I remember being SO excited when I read about the coming "Videodiscs" in 1973, because I was a depressed 14 year-old. I dreamt of the 2-Color Technicolor and Wheeler and Woolsey films I might buy!(I was one weird kid!). And one takes it so for granted now!