I don't know about you but here in the UK, we pay over $20-25 for two adults to see a film at a cinema. So $25 to own a 4K film doesn't seem too bad.
Here in America, we can easily spend $50-$100 for a 2-person movie date night, more if it's a whole family. We can spend $20-$25 on just some popcorn with a soda or two. But we want movies we could show to 50 people in our home to cost a nickel or a dime because "Studios are greedy." And yet, some of us can feel the math is like this...
Studios want $50 to rent a movie 17 days after release...? Absurd.
Personally, if I can take the family to the theater for $100+ or wait 17 days after release and we can watch it for half price or better, with the best seats in the house, without other people noise/distractions, with popcorn + soda, etc costing about 1/20th of the theater price, etc, it doesn't exactly sound "absurd" to me. Instead, it sounds like a pretty good option... especially if it's not the ONLY option forever and ever.
I think in this case after reading this article, paying for a physical bundle is the best deal with value. With iTunes you will only be paying for the one version of the content. With a Disc package, you get a DVD, a blu-ray, and a digital copy. In the case of a UHD disc bundle, you get the 4K+HDR disc, a standard blu-ray, and a digital copy. If I'm going to pay a higher price, then getting at least 3 copies of the movie in different formats for the price of one, is well worth it.
The other thing to consider, and I know this doesn't apply to everyone here I'm sure. Physical media can still deliver the highest quality audio and video then streaming right now because of file size and bandwidth limitations.
I've seriously considered going back to a disc based only library. I like the benefits of streaming, and digital copies. However, the way companies fight over licensing is stupid. Buying the disc, gives me the license to access that content, and once the disc is purchased, there is no middle man such as iTunes or any other service to change how I can view the content.
Exactly right. Wise post. The only disadvantage to buying the disc is the convenience factor, the onerous burden of storage
so often slung about in threads talking about it, and the optional one-time hassle of making your own digital copy from it if it doesn't come with one (which comes with the benefit of choosing your own quality instead of some stranger choosing it for you).
One thing you didn't mention is the robust USED BD market, where you can own a perfect copy of many movies for as little as just a few dollars... often much cheaper than digital or new options.
After reading the article I thought "I wonder how many comments before someone paints Apple as the villain here?" Very first comment. LOL!
Yes, and approx. 85% of the rest of the comments are gushing at the wonderful job Apple is doing trying to get us retail prices at $20 per movie, while painting the Studios that actually OWN those products as 100% the villain.
Putting on the Studio hat for a moment: if I give Apple a $10 discount from the current norm, I'm making them about the best price option in the digital download space. My other customers are going to demand a competitive deal so I'm opting to cut my working price from $30 to $20 for EVERYONE over time. Furthermore, Apple will get some period of time to market "best price in digital" AND Apple will take their 15%-30% "right off the top" which is probably more than my other customers demand (and thus why I've already struck deals with them- no "scrambling" required).
In short, it is MY product. Maybe I- like Apple- want (or are obligated to) maximize my profits too... which is not necessarily accomplished by cutting my working price from about $30 to about $20 and ceding much of the market to a single company that takes a big fat cut of the revenue right off the top too. Besides, my music business cousins have long since educated me about what happens when you give media dominance to Apple. Do I really want to ignore what happened there and hope it will be better with video?
It would appear that Hollywood studios are encouraging the public to illegally download films. They need to take their heads out of their collective ass. We have been paying way too much for way too long for films and music.
4K content should not have a price premium. At worst, prices should remain constant over time even as technology improves. Imagine if we'd been buying computers from Hollywood the last 20 years.
Reworded slightly to potentially offer an alternate view:
It would appear that Apple is encouraging the public to illegally steal iPhones/Tablets/Macs. They need to take their heads out of their collective ass. We have been paying way too much for way too long for Phones/Tablets/Macs.
New Phones/Tablets/Macs should not have a price premium. At worst, prices should remain constant over time even as technology improves.
However, as usual, we practically find no fault with the mothership, only anyone and everyone that doesn't seem to comply with whatever Apple wants them to do. Bottom line: those movies ARE
their iPhones/Tablets/Macs. If we can't fault Apple's choice of pricing for Apple products, we should not be so quick to fault other company's pricing their offerings at whatever they want either. As we so often sling at the anti-Apple crowd, "don't like it, don't buy it." IMO, it seems that should apply both ways to me.
TV in the Fall of 2017 and be striking these deals many months or even a year or two BEFORE that.
