DVD sure, but why Bluray? They’re actually good…
this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
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I don't think most people have a device that can play disks anymore it's kind of crazy to think about but I haven't owned something with a disk drive in several years apart from a old cd player I found in the ewaste I keep at work because I don't want to throw it away
Xbox and PlayStation can both play Bluray, so a lot of people still have the option. But who cares if most people don’t want them? Most people don’t want a Chromebook, but they carry those.
Best Buy number crunchers care. Profit is relative to floor space required.
The cheaper drive-less PS5 and Xbox Series S are the more popular models.
And people who “have the option” clearly are not buying disks like they used to. If that floor space was a cash cow, they’d keep it around. Best Buy isn’t a charity. Floor space needs to be driving sale somehow.
In the case of Chromebooks, they could be the entry level price point that inevitably upsells someone to a more capable Microsoft or Apple machine. Or hell, for all I know, that table could be a negotiated requirement from Google. Want to sell Pixel, Nest, Eero, and Chromecast product? Then you need to give us that 8x5 oak table for these shitty laptops.
Edit: also, Google could also be straight up leasing that floor space.
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If you look at the sale numbers, the overwhelming majority of people aren’t buying disks for movies and games, and when people buy consoles with optional drives, they usually end up buying the cheaper digital only version.
It’s a bummer, but the sales are what they are.
I still buy DVD and Blu-rays. Because you have a physical backup, you can watch it without Internet, and they can't change the media. Like removing scenes or episodes.
I have an external ssd with all my movie, show, and book backups.
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This is my biggest gripe. I have all of Mr. Show on DVD because it cant be taken away from me. Netflix deleted an episode of w/ Bob and David, so to watch the whole thing you have to pirate it. And the rub is they deleted it because David does blackface in one of the sketches where he's trying to provoke cops at a traffic stop.
Scenes of him in the now deleted episode are in the final one because its a documentary of sorts, but that one is still up. So you see them talking about sketches that you have no reference for because Netflix deleted them.
Same thing happened to Community - they removed one of the best episodes because it has blackface, but the context of it is that an actual insane person is doing it and literally Every other character condemns it in no small way (not to mention that it's not really blackface, because he's supposed to be a dark troll) - but it still had to go apparently
A dark elf (drow) actually, but I totally agree it's the most ridiculous example of episode deletion.
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They didn't clarify in the article, but I assume they mean they will still sell 4K UHD discs. Those often include a Blu-ray copy as well.
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Seriously? Given how all the streaming services are getting more expensive, I was starting to wonder if buying some good series on Blu-ray would be the better option.
Buying series on a disc is crazy expensive. You're better off subscribing to a streaming service and cancel when you're done watching, even with the price increases.
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I haven't used a DVD in 10-15 years and never used a BluRay but this is still a little surprising to me. Old non-tech-savvy people need movies too.
Physical media is still the best quality for those of us that care. I rip it to watch digitally, but I like having the physical backup and option to watch with minimal compression.
Just a reminder that anything digitally bought you don't own. The company you bought it from. Can do whatever they want with it. But you do sure as hell ownon a Blu-ray
There is actually DRM baked into BluRay that can prevent playback under certain circumstances. BD+ is one of those.
Some players require updates from the Internet to work with newer discs as the cryptography keys can rotate or be revoked. And then there are updates like where they can remove playback features.
I actually had an issue where a disc wouldn’t play in any of my players and I had to crack and rip it just to watch the content I purchased. I recommend people backup their blurays because newer players or internet updated ones can revoke access to playback.
There is software that can rip blurays and strip out the DRM. 4k only works with certain drives that have custom firmware available though.
MakeMKV for those wondering. I have yet to be unable to rip a disk with it due to DRM.
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Also, you may not be able to play BluRays on non-HDCP compliant TVs.
At this point, piracy is just easier.
Just a reminder that anything digitally bought you don’t own.
I wish people would stop saying this. There's a middle ground for digital media people should be reminded of: DRM-free digital media. In that situation it's much like a physical DVD/blu-ray or the like, you own a copy of it, you can back it up, share it (though the terms & conditions will often discourage this), and so on.
This all or nothing talk of digital media only encourages people to give up and give in to restricted digital media via streaming or limited downloads/installs, both of which do better enable them to diminish your ownership.
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Same. I love my Plex server - I rip all of my physical media audio and video to it and can watch/listen on all of my devices. Music is especially fun on Plex, as it pulls in great bio info for most of the artists, which makes organizing my decent sized music library a fun bit of zen..
Blu Ray is still the best quality you can get. Streaming services will compress the shit out of everything (even when they pretend you give you "4k") and pirate rips are all over the place. Buying a Blu Ray (and ripping out yourself if you do please) is a great investment because you own it, the quality is great, the discs have been designed to last 100 years or more, and they have capacity that will be able to deal with 8k and probably what comes after that too.
100% this. People jizz themselves over resolution and dynamic range all while having no idea that their image quality is shit due to compression destroying the bitrate of the video they are viewing.
With tools like radarr the quality is usually what you want now a days but it takes up a lot of space so you have to pick and choose what's worth it
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I've gone back to Blu-Ray for some things because I no longer trust streaming sites to keep them available.
I'm old and am tech savvy. Give me a disc over streaming any day.
I am young, tech-savvy and I started to use discs recently because I finally have money to buy movies and not pirate. Honestly I don't want to pirate movies I really like, but if they don't want to give options, then...
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CDs are still being produced despite most retailers dropping them or massively reducing stock. I’m hoping the same applies for blu-ray.
I want to own the media I pay for. If physical discs go away and there isn’t a DRM-free way to purchase it digitally (not a chance in hell of that happening), I will just pirate what I want to watch.
I buy music because DRM-free digital downloads are the norm.
I buy games because Steam is actually good and DRM-free options are available from Itch and GOG for those with no tolerance for DRM.
The TV and movie industry on the other hand feels like it’s actively trying to get rid of the only remaining way to own the media.
Also, I want to own the proper high quality version of my movies. There's such a noticeable difference between 4K streaming quality and 4K disc quality... if they stop making discs, there isn't any website where movies are sold at that uncompressed quality level digitally.
I'd rather watch an HD blu ray than one of these crappy 4K streams provided by Netflix.
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I kinda wish we had a Gog of movies, like download movies with zero DRM or anything. I much rather store them on a local disk.
If you're willing to pirate, Stremio + Torrentio can do exactly this. Stream and download anything you want. Keep it forever. Works on smart TVs. This is the way.
Back when we saw the death of the floppy disk, I knew optical media's days were numbered. Twenty years ago we had no idea that everything was going to be "something as a service." Enshitification hadn't been invented yet.
and now that word is so overused it has lost its meaning.
But they're still selling vinyl?
Because that actually sells.
Exactly. A lot of people in the thread seem to miss that point. Best Buy is a physical space with limited real estate. They carry things that people want to buy and taking things off their shelves is a clear indicator of something that isn't selling anymore. Streaming is not going away. The quality of streaming is good enough for the vast majority of the public.
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Thanks for taking away the last few remaining copies of my hopes and dreams away from me.
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