this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2024
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It's sensible for businesses to shift from physical media sales. Per CNBC's calculations, DVD sales fell over 86 percent between 2008 and 2019. Research from the Motion Picture Association in 2021 found that physical media represented 8 percent of the home/mobile entertainment market in the US, falling behind digital (80 percent) and theatrical (12 percent).

But as physical media gets less lucrative and the shuttering of businesses makes optical discs harder to find, the streaming services that largely replaced them are getting aggravating and unreliable. And with the streaming industry becoming more competitive and profit-hungry than ever, you never know if the movie/show that most attracted you to a streaming service will still be available when you finally get a chance to sit down and watch. Even paid-for online libraries that were marketed as available "forever" have been ripped away from customers.

When someone buys or rents a DVD, they know exactly what content they're paying for and for how long they'll have it (assuming they take care of the physical media). They can also watch the content if the Internet goes out and be certain that they're getting uncompressed 4K resolution. DVD viewers are also less likely to be bombarded with ads whenever they pause and can get around an ad-riddled smart TV home screen (nothing's perfect; some DVDs have unskippable commercials).

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[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Yup, here's my hierarchy of preference:

  1. No DRM digital files w/ guaranteed re-downloadability if I have a license key or something
  2. No DRM physical media
  3. Offline DRM physical media
  4. Low cost subscription service with fantastic selection w/ offline viewing capability

Anything after 4 is unacceptable. VHS was 2, DVD and Bluray are 3, and Netflix was 4. Now Netflix has higher prices and worse selection, so it's now somewhere after 4 and not worth the effort.

I'm willing to pay a premium for 1 or 2, and I'm willing to buy discounted 3, but nothing is offering 4 anymore. 1 & 2 don't really exist anymore, so if 3 goes away, I guess I'll go back to the alternatives I used when I couldn't afford 1-3 and Netflix wasn't around yet.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

VHS was 2

VHS did have a halfassed copy protection technology attempted, though, which was Macrovision. It didn't really work worth a damn in the end, but even in that area the media giants were already huffing on the DRM crack pipe.

[–] Malfeasant@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

VHS was kind of 2.5 thanks to macrovision...

[–] DanVctr@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

Dropout.TV would definitely fall under #4 if you haven't checked them out