How long until DVDs go the way of VHS tapes?

Streaming is not going to be a feasible option for many people who can't get a good broadband service to their home.

 

So are The Beatles!

 

My local Walmart used to have a wonderful selection of blu rays a few years back, actually outpacing the quantity of DVD's.

Now it's the opposite, hardly any blu rays except for new releases and a big bargain $5.99 bin.

So many blu rays I bought are now 50% cheaper, that worries me as to it's future. Not sure what it all means but if I like the movie and it's on blu ray I'm getting it now.

Also a lot of the classic sci fi I got on DVD is now OOP and going for 3X what I paid.

Luckily I have the bulk of what I want already.

There's a few dozen movies not yet on DVD/blu ray that I still have on VHS, but it's painful to pull out the player and watch all that grain.

Some rare ones have come out on non USA region DVD discs, thankfully I have an all region player so I've bought some of those too.

Regardless I have enough hard copy media to last me the rest of my life, so I'm set. It really does not matter to me.

 

I bring this up every time there's one of those "physical media is dead/everybody's streaming now" threads come up and my posts are ignored. Every time.

People - not everyone lives in a city with broadband cable in America!

 

Yes, true, and even if you do, there can be quality/bandwidth issues which makes the experience frustrating. Personally I'd hate to rely on streaming, but the other alternative to streaming is digital downloads, which need not be transmitted in real-time.

 

A rather large investment has been made in plant and manpower for manufacturing the optical disc.
Companies will be slow to phase out a particular format because of this. I imagine it takes quite a few years for them
to pay all this off.

As mentioned, streaming will never have complete acceptance as long as net speeds remain the way they are at the moment. Downloads on the other hand....!

 

DVD players will go away quickly, since Blu-ray players can play DVD and they are now also available at very affordable prices. Only the very cheapest players will be DVD-only.

But I don't think DVDs will go away soon, because there is a lot of standard definition material being reissued, and there would be no point (and even misleading) to press SD video on Blu-ray.

Maybe soon new releases (produced in HD) will only become available on Blu-ray and as a SD online stream or download, to avoid dual inventory.

 

Why not? Just cause it is a blu ray, does not automatically mean it contains HD source material. Blu Ray offers better compression techniques for SD material also. So a standard def show or movie will in most cases look better on blu ray also. Not a huge amount, but they do not have to compress it really.

 

There are a ton ot titles that will never see release as blu-ray, but are still in print on DVD. I think DVD will be around for a long time.

 

Some DVDs look excellent. Grindhouse Releasing's Pieces and The Beyond are two examples.

 

As long is they are inexpensive to manufacture and can still be played in blu ray players and computers, DVDs aren't going anywhere.

The trouble with VHS tapes is that they need a unique player. DVDs do not.

 

The Hollywood studios will be the last ones to abandon physical media in favor of streaming. It's the cheap, disposable content that will start hitting streaming video only and niche stuff which few care about it.

 

Exactly. My collection is comprised of a lot of really obscure cult/horror/foreign titles, so I'd be curious to see what % of them are actually available on BR.... it's probably a pretty small portion.

 

I agree...

 

Not until blu-ray prices become reasonable.

 

What?!? They are more reasonable that DVDs ever were...

 

I agree...around here used go for $3.00. But, DVD is a buck so 3 DVDs for 3 bucks...and I'm still happy with the DVD.

 

I have thousands that look good...no complaints here...only ones I'm not happy with are the non anamorphic DVDs...

 

One advantage of Blu-ray for the industry is that it is much harder to copy than a standard DVD is.

 

I'm sticking with DVD's until streaming provides the content fully interlaced with a high-bitrate. Every streaming service (and even youtube) get rid of half the fields of every frame, leaving video taped segments looking like film.

 

that was their point...control.

 

me too! minus the streaming...physical product in a massive library makes me happy.

 

I have several non-anamorphic DVDs also, which I'm slowly replacing with Blu-ray discs, if/when they're available. Sometimes you're stuck if it's a film you really love and its the only way you can have it. I have the Limited editions of the original Star Wars films, and while the "remastered" (yuck) films are anamorphic, they have the original theatrical releases of each film as a Bonus Feature. I use the zoom on my TV to fill the screen without changing the films aspect ratio. Even zoomed up it looks better on my plasma set than the Laserdisc does.

 

And software that requires users to pay per use is the way of the future and great for consumers. Assuming it actually works without a bug. Yea! Let's enslave ourselves to media companies and software companies like Apple and Google so there are no alternatives. Get over yourself, this isn't high school. It is about value and choice. History repeats itself. Cable company part 2.

 

Nice strawman.