Movies: digital download, blu ray, DVD? What to do?

For 80% of our movies - we buy DVDs and rip those discs into iTunes using RipIt.

That way, the kids have a disc they can use in their dvd players when they want but we still have the convenience of the movie being available digitally on the iOS devices in the house.

We also buy Blu Ray discs when they are on sale. Most Blu Ray discs we buy either come with an iTunes download or a DVD of the same movie, so we use those to get the movie into iTunes.

I don't have a Blu Ray drive for my mac yet, so no ripping of Blu Ray discs (although the star wars collection has tempted me to get a drive).

I'm still reluctant to buy digital content. The prices are just too high, especially when I can get a 1080p blu-ray for a few dollars more (or several less), or get DVD movies for cheap on amazon or in stores. It's clutter, sure, but it's cheap and I can play the rips on any device I want (PS3, iOS, set-top box...).

btbrossard said:

That way, the kids have a disc they can use in their dvd players when they want but we still have the convenience of the movie being available digitally on the iOS devices in the house.

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WOW...the exact opposite of most. Usually its rip the dvd (or whatever) so the kids can play the rip, and the DVD stays in good condition.

Old DVDs ripped to my MacBook pro (which acts as my media server) using rip it, three apple tvs, one in each room......now everyone can watch whatever they want at the same time, listen to whatever they want, be on Netflix, iTunes, or look at pictures, in any room. We all have iPhones and use those as our remotes which is cool.

All new content I get off of the iTunes store.

Of course, old DVDs kept in storage just on case.

MacBook hd gets automatically backed up to an external just in case.

How smalls your tv? If you have anything under 37-40 inchs then you don't really need anything better than a dvd. If you have anything over that then Dvd looks like garbage. I can't watch anything under 720p even then it hurts to watch now that I am use to 1080p on my 50 inch led.

If your watching it on your computer then its not an issue but the screen size matters. This is the main reason I haven't bought the apple tv yet, my ps3 can play netflix at 1080 (tho don't really use netflix) and I have a mini hdmi thing to connect my macbook pro to the tv.

I also hate how digitial copies are $10 bucks and are dvd quality. I hate it even more that I paid $20-30 dollars for my blu ray and they give me a digital copy that is only dvd quality. Once you upgrade you do not go back. It's like having a super nintendo and a wii. Fine you get nostogia of playing old school Mario kart but new mario kart plays the same but looks way way better

I have a 50,47, and 32...I'm not sure what issues you are talking about as far as resolution but I don't have any. DVDs look fine, digital copies look fine, and hd in either 1080 or 720 looks fine. Sure, some movies look better than others but the convenience of having all of that connected at once and the ease of use is why I chose that way.

I also have an Xbox 360 and ps3 which I never use for watching dvd's simply because, to be honest, it's easier to watch everything with an apple remote.

Omne666 said:

WOW...the exact opposite of most. Usually its rip the dvd (or whatever) so the kids can play the rip, and the DVD stays in good condition.

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Well - the kids are almost all teenagers - so I would hope they can handle a DVD without destroying it.

EDIT TO ADD - the only DVD that ended up destroyed in recent memory was Avatar, and I broke it, not the kids. I was screwing around behind the TV trying to get a router to work while they were watching the DVD in the xbox and I knocked the xbox over. So, the kids should probably hide the discs from me, not the other way around.

Blu Ray by far is the best if you want to really experience HD. My first choice is always rent from a Red Box for $1.50. If the movie is not available at a Red Box, I will stream, but $3.99 to $4.99 is a rip off and do not do it very often. Plus streaming is a poor HD substitute with it's low bitrate transfer. If it's a movie I know I will watch again, I will buy the Blu Ray a year after release from Amazon when it will likely be only $10 or so.