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[jason10mm]

Started watching a lot of older films lately, and realized that I have DVDs, or more likely Blu-rays, even 4k, of a lot of them. But I also have a lot of streaming services, so I can just click around and find most of my library there. But there are ads on a lot of these services now, at least at the tier I pay for, and while it's better, there are still compression artifacts, resolution drops, and freezes at times.

So, out of curiosity, how lazy is the average gaffer? Deal with ads or go look for the disc and have to click through those opening sequences? Is streaming resolution and audio superior to the disc version?

Some versions of a film are not readily available on streaming, I don't think. I'm watching the DC of Aliens right now, is that on Hulu?

 

[T8SC]

4k disc.

I didn't buy an 65" OLED TV and Atmos home cinema for compressed bullshit.

 

[Richard Packer]

How fat are you OP?

 

[calico]

I would sooner not watch it than watch it with ads.

 

[Mr Hyde]

I prefer buying movies rather than streaming. I don't subscribe to anything right now as I have a massive film collection to go through now. Feels good having amassed a large collection of dvds, blu-rays and 4K in this digital day and age.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Most my physical media is VHS

It used to be the vast majority of my VHS collection had no digital or streaming counterpart

Not so true anymore

Generally, I'm more and more becoming digital with gaming, movies and music. It's just so convenient

 

[jason10mm]

I prefer buying movies rather than streaming. I don't subscribe to anything right now as I have a massive film collection to go through now. Feels good having amassed a large collection of dvds, blu-rays and 4K in this digital day and age.

3-4 years ago I would have said that streaming replaced the need for a physical library, but then they started dumping stuff, doing those god awful AI hack jobs, so I'm back to collecting discs again. The HD-DVD vs BR 'wars' hurt, as I was on the losing side. But now I just allocate $400-500 'round every pre-xmas amazon sale and I an stock up on really nice BR/4k versions of the things I love.

 

[jason10mm]

Most my physical media is VHS

It used to be the vast majority of my VHS collection had no digital or streaming counterpart

Not so true anymore

Generally, I'm more and more becoming digital with gaming, movies and music. It's just so convenient

Can you even watch VHS anymore? I think I MIGHT have a TV that can take component inputs. I still have some VHS, mostly the Star Wars special editions, some playboy specials, and some anime, but I'm not sure I could watch them now, or that they have remained in good condition.

 

[violence]

Streaming 4k Blu-ray.

 

[Fbh]

 

[SomeNorseGuy]

Streaming services ads hasn't appeard on any of my subscriptions here in Norway yet. The day it does is the day I unsubscribe. Back to the high seas I go and pick up physical to support the movies/shows I enjoy.

 

[The_hunter]

Is streaming resolution and audio superior to the disc version?

A blu-ray should be better quality than streaming, as streaming services compress the video and audio to save bandwidth.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Can you even watch VHS anymore? I think I MIGHT have a TV that can take component inputs. I still have some VHS, mostly the Star Wars special editions, some playboy specials, and some anime, but I'm not sure I could watch them now, or that they have remained in good condition.

Of course you can. You can use an old tv or just a hdmi converter with a modern tv

VHS doenst look great on modern tvs though. I prefer crt for vhs

 

[kpopSuperstar]

I started collecting blu-rays last year after noticing how some films disappear, and how much is still locked to dvd and blu-rays.

I also like commentary tracks from directors.

And its fun collecting, you can get a lot for little.

I had that phase where I sell all my physical media a few times through the years, but now I lost faith in streaming as the end-all. I am all for physical now.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

5TB, usb powered drives are a god send, I agree..

 

[Valonquar]

 

[Sonik]

When it comes to screwing over corporations I'm the least lazy person in the world, I used to rip subtitles back in the day when you couldn't even download movies and stay there for an hour to fix them and then burn the CDs for my friends. That's after encoding for half a day btw. For everything else though, probably the laziest

 

[poppabk]

Of course you can. You can use an old tv or just a hdmi converter with a modern tv

VHS doenst look great on modern tvs though. I prefer crt for vhs

VHS doesnt look good full stop. I can't believe I used to watch movies that way - DVD quality even is kinda rough and that was a huge step-up from VHS.
I have a whole bunch of ripped DVD's on a server but would rather watch them on a streaming service if they are available there.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

VHS doesnt look good full stop. I can't believe I used to watch movies that way - DVD quality even is kinda rough and that was a huge step-up from VHS.
I have a whole bunch of ripped DVD's on a server but would rather watch them on a streaming service if they are available there.

 

[Doom85]

4K/BR for many films and shows, but I still have plenty of streaming subs for shows that don't get physical releases and/or just came out as well as movies I enjoy to some degree but don't feel the need to own.

 

[Pimpbaa]

Not opinion, fact. VHS wasn't even good even when it was the mainstream way of buying movies. The quality of the tape may be good (in terms of video quality on a crt) the first few times you play it, but it wears out quicker than vinyl records. Anyone who REALLY enjoyed movies back then bought them on laser disc. Good riddance to vhs, I will never miss it.

 

[jason10mm]

4K/BR for many films and shows, but I still have plenty of streaming subs for shows that don't get physical releases and/or just came out as well as movies I enjoy to some degree but don't feel the need to own.

I am kinda curious if we are gonna see a big chunk of stuff just disappear into oblivion if/when the streamers start going belly up. Can I get The Terminal List, Stranger Things, or Extraction on disc?

 

[ResilientBanana]

I don't own a blu-ray player

 

[Quasicat]

Before Plex, I used Apple Home Sharing with an Apple TV. I still buy my movies on Blu-ray and convert them to run natively on my M2 Mac Mini. I like this because there are no ads, I have the convenience of streaming, and everything I want to watch is available to watch. I can't travel the high seas since the ethics board of my state has been known to pull professional licenses if you get caught.

 

[ZehDon]

*laughs in Plex Server*

With that said, if it's a movie where the visual quality matters - like Dune or The Lord of the Rings - than it's 4k Blu-Ray all the way.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Not opinion, fact. VHS wasn't even good even when it was the mainstream way of buying movies. The quality of the tape may be good (in terms of video quality on a crt) the first few times you play it, but it wears out quicker than vinyl records. Anyone who REALLY enjoyed movies back then bought them on laser disc. Good riddance to vhs, I will never miss it.

Whether it looks great is purely subjective

Tons of film shot on VHS look much better on VHS as it hides a lot of the shit you weren't supposed to see. When the film was being made, they took advantage of how low quality it is to hide a lot of shit like costume zippers or poor effects. Rawhead Rex for example looks much better on VHS than Blu ray.

Tons of old B movies look like absolute shit on Blu-ray

 

[Pimpbaa]

What is with your obsession with such a garbage format?

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

What is with your obsession with such a garbage format?

I added some text to my post which didn't originally post for some reason

A lot of my collection is really obscure shit that hasn't been uploaded yet or re released in a newer format

For my releases that eventually see a digital counterpart or a re-release, I've been selling them

 

[Doom85]

A lot of my collection is really obscure shit that hasn't been uploaded yet or re released in a newer format

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

A lot of it is exploitation films which is basically porn

 

[Pimpbaa]

I added some text to my post which didn't originally post for some reason

A lot of my collection is really obscure shit that hasn't been uploaded yet or re released in a newer format

For my releases that eventually see a digital counterpart or a re-release, I've been selling them

Well I can understand you point of view to a degree (in regards to the added text). But surely DVD must also hide those issues with poorly shot movies. Plus you don't have to deal with tape degradation (happens every time you use a tape) and rewinding. Unless those movies are so obscure they didn't even make it to dvd.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Well I can understand you point of view to a degree (in regards to the added text). But surely DVD must also hide those issues with poorly shot movies. Plus you don't have to deal with tape degradation (happens every time you use a tape) and rewinding. Unless those movies are so obscure they didn't even make it to dvd.

Yeah but how often are you realistically watching a VHS film?

It's true though. I'm getting old and my tapes will eventually die.

Such is life. Thanks for the reminding me of my own mortality

 

[p_xavier]

I hate 4K blu-ray layer change though, 1/2 times I need to reboot

 

[AJUMP23]

Blu ray or personal digital copy.

 

[MayauMiao]

I don't have 4K blu-ray disc player so streaming only.

 

[diffusionx]

You can rent or buy a digital copy and don't get ads.

The quality is a bit less than a 4K Blu Ray but far more convenient.

 

[The Pleasure]

How fat are you OP?

 

[Kabelly]

Been watching Twin Peaks Blu Ray. It's like 20 discs lol. But it looks so good. The upscale is really nice.

 

[Ironbunny]

4k Appletv with atmos. I cant notice any difference to bluray 4k.

 

[rm082e]

I don't watch many movies anymore, but when I do I prefer a Blu-ray. Usually during the holidays I'll google for lists of good movies that have come out in the last year or two, then look for BDs on sale on Amazon or Best Buy. I usually pick up 6-10 and it takes me most of the year to get around to watching them.

Streaming has just been too convenient not to leverage. I have watched entire TV series while doing my cardio on the bike. I've watched other series while eating meals at my desk with my big monitor and nice headphones. I recently watched a movie called Reptile on Netflix that was great.

 

[Dacvak]

I'm subscribed to like 6 or 7 different streaming services, so usually I'm good. But sometimes it's just too annoying or complicated to actually figure out where the movie/show I want to watch is available. (And sometimes it's literally not available ANYWHERE.)

But dude, I recently figured out how to torrent directly on my iPhone… shit's been golden.

 

[El Muerto]

I'd rather use physical over streaming any day. I want that uncompressed audio. But most of the time i stream. I have ultra SFF desktops hooked up to every tv in my house. I just stream using Firefox with Ublock and have a DNS Adblock server. It stops ads on almost all streaming services. I mainly watch horror movies over on Tubi or Fawesome and I havent seen an ad in a while. One or two might sneak in with Plex.

 

[Gp1]

Streaming for the everyday movie on the background or

right click on the .mp4
"Cast to device"
Bedroom TV

Ad that now.

 

[JimmyRustler]

While I still collect movie steelbooks I barely use my player to watch them. I mostly just rent movies on Amazon Prime.

That said, I would certainly watch more of my movies on disc if it would be possible to resume all of them. I barely have the time to watch a movie from beginning to end in one sitting these days and it upsets me to no end when I have to watch all trailers again before I can resume the movie. How hard can it be to just let me resume the damn thing?

 

[Paasei]

My only blu-ray players are Playstations 3, 4 and 5. And apart from 3 I never made use of it. Unless you count physical game discs.

I stream movies if they are available on 1 of the 3 services I have. If not, I just download that shit and watch it through Plex.

 

[HAYA8U5A]

Blu-ray is the minimum to satisfy me with a good 4K disc being the preference. Streaming and DVD only if neither of those are an option anywhere. And even then only TV shows on DVD and very, very rarely a movie on streaming so mostly shows on that too. If they can't be bothered with a Blu-ray minimum for a movie then I would rather just watch another movie that is.

 

[kyubajin]

I will never accept ads no matter the convenience, I'd rather go back to VHS if I need to.

 

[Avid Reading Horse]

I stopped collecting DVDs for the most part early on because... well they would have unskippable trailers and the like as well. I assume blu-ray does as well but I don't really remember, it's been so long since I've watched one.

I picked up a month of "Premium" Peacock to watch SummerSlam and it would have unskippable ads... even worse when I tried to seek through the timeline to skip the intermissions that would also occasionally trigger like a 5 minute block of commercials, wtf?

Meanwhile any decent video file I can scrub through in PotPlayer with far better responsiveness than any streaming service, along with all sorts of volume normalization options, easy frame by frame or slow-mo... really whatever I need. And it's not even impossible to do in 'streaming', as YouTube gets a good chunk of it right, and sure it doesn't perform as well as watching a local file but it's not painfully like every other web streaming service I've ever tried.

As for 'compression', blu-ray uses lossy compression as well, though of course at generally higher bitrates. One thing I've noticed is that streaming services actually tend to use a ton of bandwidth at times while sometimes looking worse than a scene release that's like 1/4 the size. Picture quality is generally not a dealbreaker for me. I'm usually half-watching stuff on a second monitor anyway. I could probably get by with 720p files.