Your Movie Library, the Medium/Method of Choice?

[Huntn]

For decades, I have purchased movies for my personal viewing library, BetaMax, VHS, DVD, BluRay. There are many films I have updated into the newest format. Should I continue this or should I look to purchases to be streamed? How does this work with providers when higher versions of movies are produced. In other words, if you purchased a movie, say Blade Runner when it was available in DVD format, but you bought it on iTunes, when the 4K disk version of this movie becomes available, will you be required to repurchase you streamed version to see it, or will your original purchase be upgraded?

Are there any distinct advantages if one format over the other? I’d say that the 4K will have a distinct resolution advantage over streaming sources.

Choices can be changed. i’ll Make note of the original results say 1 month in, and if this thread lasts, make note of changes.

 

[AngerDanger]

I think most services that allow you to make a one-time digital purchase won't automatically upgrade your purchase to the latest format if you re-downoad.

There's a little ambiguity in your OP regarding the different between "streaming" and one-time digital purchases. I assume you mean the latter because the former tends to require a subscription that, once ended, would disallow access to films. If you subscribe to a streaming service, I think the formats update as soon as their available.

I prefer to both stream (initially) and own a physical copy (if the film is good enough that I don't want to ever lose it).

 

[AustinIllini]

I use iTunes with an added Movies Anywhere account.

 

[D.T.]

How does this work with providers when higher versions of movies are produced. In other words, if you purchased a movie, say Blade Runner when it was available in DVD format, but you bought it on iTunes, when the 4K disk version of this movie becomes available, will you be required to repurchase you streamed version to see it, or will your original purchase be upgraded?

Apple did this as a one time perk for existing HD movies where a 4K version became available (during their transition to 4K content), otherwise, I haven't seen this, you get what you buy and another format is another purchase.

Are there any distinct advantages if one format over the other? I’d say that the 4K will have a distinct resolution advantage over streaming sources.

I'm sort of confused by this, are you talking about 4K physical media vs. 4K streaming sources? Because of course, a physical 4K source vs. a non-4K streaming source, the former will be better!

OK, just a general comment: I realize that a physical source could be better (PQ/SQ) than a streaming source, but even as a film buff, I haven't really any issues. I've had people ask "What if your connectivity is down?" I read a book or a play a game I'm just out of buying physical movie media, I really prefer the convenience factor (and cost) of streaming movies, where I can watch in different locations, different devices, I can easily pack up an AppleTV and take 200+ movies we own on the road (not to mention the 1000s of other movies/shows through Netflix/Hulu/Prime).

 

[Huntn]

Apple did this as a one time perk for existing HD movies where a 4K version became available (during their transition to 4K content), otherwise, I haven't seen this, you get what you buy and another format is another purchase.




I'm sort of confused by this, are you talking about 4K physical media vs. 4K streaming sources? Because of course, a physical 4K source vs. a non-4K streaming source, the former will be better!

OK, just a general comment: I realize that a physical source could be better (PQ/SQ) than a streaming source, but even as a film buff, I haven't really any issues. I've had people ask "What if your connectivity is down?" I read a book or a play a game I'm just out of buying physical movie media, I really prefer the convenience factor (and cost) of streaming movies, where I can watch in different locations, different devices, I can easily pack up an AppleTV and take 200+ movies we own on the road (not to mention the 1000s of other movies/shows through Netflix/Hulu/Prime).

From what I’ve seen though my cable company (Suddenlink) 4K is limited if not existent, but honestly I’d like to explore that more.

 

[rhett7660]

I have a pretty good size library. If it is a movie I know will get multiple views from me or the wife, I purchase it. If it is a one time viewing, I will rent. I don't like buying the digital for the very reason the company can pull it back from you. Whether it is a licensing issue, region issue, or something else. Especially if it is a movie I like and want to keep.

I end up ripping the movie and use my own media streamer for viewing, or if I want, I can pop the disk in. I have cut down on the amount of movies I have or will purchase though. Renting seems a lot easier now and again, if it is a one time viewing, I rent or wait for netflix/amazon prime etc.

 

[D.T.]

From what I’ve seen though my cable company (Suddenlink) 4K is limited if not existent, but honestly I’d like to explore that more.

Ahh, yeah, I have no idea about your cable company (and in the context of broadcast TV), but movies (and a number of shows) through Vudu/iTunes/Netflix have plenty of 4K options.

One thing you might not be aware of: Disney created a hub for movies called MoviesAnywhere (formerly DisneyMoviesAnywhere when it was only their content), what this does is link various movie services together. For example, we have our Vudu/iTunes/Google/Prime all linked, so most (see below) movies purchased through one service are available on other services. This let's you sort of shop around different services, and still use your favorite app for viewing. In fact, quite a few digital codes want you to redeem in MA (vs. a service specific location), it's kind of the "content management" service for most studios.

However, the one caveat is not all studios participate, so some movies are in MA and the original purchase service, but not pushed into, for example, iTunes. That just means you have to hop into the specific servicers app to view (it's very few for our movies, maybe 10-15%).

 

[Mefisto]

As is the case with both music and films, I like my collections in physical format. It works best for me, and I'm not relying on outside factors (save for electricity, obviously) in case the desire to watch / listen to something strikes. It's been a while now, but it took me "ages" to sign up for Netflix, and even then I did it because the original programming (in this case Narcos specifically) interested me.

Now if it is smart, in this day and age, to store hundreds of DVD's/Blu Rays, even more CDs and some tapes in my two room apartment (and basement storage unit) is a question I've succesfully avoided asking myself for a long time now. But I like it that way, I like to have my films and music right there where I can see them, walk up to them and put them in the player.

 

[Mousse]

I've got crates of DVD's and Blu-Ray. For viewing, I have 'em all ripped and saved on a HD connected to a media player. I had forgotten why I did that because I have the disc right there. Why waste HD space? Then I popped in ST:Generations just to kill some time... Now I remember why I ripped them to my HD. 15 minutes of frakking trailers to skip through just to began watching my movie.

I've got disc to support the industry; ripped to my HD to convenience. Streaming? The good stuff requires a subscriptions.

 

[shinji]

100% streaming. I sold all of my DVDs and Blu-Rays a while ago... don't miss physical media one bit.

Same thing with gaming in this generation. I only buy digital copies.

 

[Huntn]

I've got crates of DVD's and Blu-Ray. For viewing, I have 'em all ripped and saved on a HD connected to a media player. I had forgotten why I did that because I have the disc right there. Why waste HD space? Then I popped in ST:Generations just to kill some time... Now I remember why I ripped them to my HD. 15 minutes of frakking trailers to skip through just to began watching my movie.

I've got disc to support the industry; ripped to my HD to convenience. Streaming? The good stuff requires a subscriptions.

I was thinking more in terms of buying movies. Now on occasion I do buy movies from a service like iTunes or Amazon. No subscription there. On one hand you have physical media, ready to play with or without internet. On the other, there is convenience, but you need internet, which for most cases is available. The vast majority of my library is blurry/dvd, although I do have a couple of movies I've purchased through Amazon and iTunes. Just recently I decided to buy Bladerunner 2049. The Blueray was $19, iTunes was $12, Amazon was $10. I purchased the Amazon version.

 

[kazmac]

Purchase and watch: Hard copy and digital. Not a fan of subscription services or streaming. Beyond a song here or there, the most I will stream is a short clip or trailer.

I believe in paying to own my entertainment, not going to change that now.

 

[velocityg4]

Although I rarely buy movies anymore. If I do. I buy physical media. I want to actually own the movie. I then rip it onto my server in a high quality x265 bitrate and store the original. This way I don't have stacks of discs to go through. Plus I can watch anything, anywhere in the house.

I've lost much of my interest in buying movies though. Once Blu Ray came out. I refused to buy DVD anymore, why waste money on an obsolete format. But Blu Ray had a short life. Once prices of movies became reasonable 4K started hitting the market. I wasn't about to buy some lowly 1080p material when 4K should be an option.

Now I have Netflix. It's hard to see the value in spending $10 for a movie I've seen many times in a new format. When for $8 a month I get to watch tons of movies and series with frequent additions in content. I already own most of the movies I'll ever want on Blu Ray. I'm not interested in new movies I'll watch maybe once every three or four years. There are classics I'd like to have. But not at more than a few dollars each in 4K.

Edit: Mainly what drove it home was getting rid of a huge VHS collection. They took up too much space and the quality was too poor to ever want to watch again. Then thinking of how much money was wasted on movies I couldn't even sell on eBay for shipping cost. Then how much more I wasted rebuying them on DVD then Blu Ray.

Streaming really hurt the value of buying movies as well. Before streaming I'd rewatch movies quite often. Because it was either watch a movie I like or whatever crap was on cable, laden with commercials. Streaming got rid of that problem. There is a plethora of content I've never seen before which is quite interesting. It's hard to sit and rewatch a movie that I know the plot to. When I can see something new (to me). It wasn't so much a problem when I didn't have the choice. Now I do.

 

[Thomas Veil]

I buy discs. Like others, I’m wary of something you “buy” to stream suddenly going away.

I’m open to the idea of digital downloads, but even then I have two concerns: the amount of storage I’d eventually need, and the uncertainty over whether the download would contain some hidden data (like a play limit) or be somehow incompatible with a computer I buy down the road.

 

[Gutwrench]

I was thinking more in terms of buying movies. Now on occasion I do buy movies from a service like iTunes or Amazon. No subscription there. On one hand you have physical media, ready to play with or without internet. On the other, there is convenience, but you need internet, which for most cases is available. The vast majority of my library is blurry/dvd, although I do have a couple of movies I've purchased through Amazon and iTunes. Just recently I decided to buy Bladerunner 2049. The Blueray was $19, iTunes was $12, Amazon was $10. I purchased the Amazon version.

I don’t d/l my iTunes movie purchases so I still need internet.

 

[velocityg4]

For decades, I have purchased movies for my personal viewing library, BetaMax, VHS, DVD, BluRay. There are many films I have updated into the newest format. Should I continue this or should I look to purchases to be streamed? How does this work with providers when higher versions of movies are produced. In other words, if you purchased a movie, say Blade Runner when it was available in DVD format, but you bought it on iTunes, when the 4K disk version of this movie becomes available, will you be required to repurchase you streamed version to see it, or will your original purchase be upgraded?

Are there any distinct advantages if one format over the other? I’d say that the 4K will have a distinct resolution advantage over streaming sources.

Choices can be changed. i’ll Make note of the original results say 1 month in, and if this thread lasts, make note of changes.

For your original questions.

How does this work with providers when higher versions of movies are produced. In other words, if you purchased a movie, say Blade Runner when it was available in DVD format, but you bought it on iTunes, when the 4K disk version of this movie becomes available, will you be required to repurchase you streamed version to see it, or will your original purchase be upgraded?

That all depends on licensing.

When it comes to old movies. When they transferred it. It may have only been transferred in DVD quality. Then when a HD copy is made they have to transfer the film again along with all costs associated with optimization and cleanup. This happens again with 4K. They need to recoup their costs by selling it again.

This doesn't even include distribution rights. Lets say Fox owns a movie. When a DVD transfer was made. Company A may have owned the distribution rights and possibly even paid for the digital transfer. Then 10 years later. Company B buys the distribution rights and does all the transferring in HD. They need to make their money and certainly won't allow a free upgrade.

For newer movies it may not be as big of a deal. If it was shot digitally in 4k. Then only released in HD. They already have a 4K master. There isn't much additional cost if any to re-release in 4K. Especially if the release is digital not some disc getting stamped out. If the studio also holds the distribution rights and Apple made a deal with them. Then it could be upgraded for free or a tiny cost. Like they did with old to new iTunes music.

Are there any distinct advantages if one format over the other? I’d say that the 4K will have a distinct resolution advantage over streaming sources.

Discs generally have a much higher bitrate than streaming. This can make for less blockiness and richer colors. Since there is less file compression. Technically, if streaming provided the bandwidth it could be much better quality. No disc would match a 1Gbps 4K stream, since the discs range from 82Mbps to 108Mbps. As it stands Netflix, for example, does about 16 Mbps for 4K. I don't know what Apple's is. But it probably is around the same. So, disc is far superior. Although I doubt most people really notice or care.

 

[Mac'nCheese]

I have a bunch of movies on dvd or bluray. Mostly pixar and disney stuff for kids. We never touch them. Kids would rather watch something they haven't seen. I keep them because why not, they don't take up tons of room like VHS tapes did. Probably will be thrown out or sold to a vintage store in a decade or two like old records.

 

[CPTmom2wp]

I generally purchase TV Seasons, BluRay and 4K movies. Like others, I rent anything I might only want to watch 1x, like Chappaquiddick, from iTunes. Since the price is generally about the same, I prefer owning something that can't be removed for content later on for "hate speech", e.g. Huckleberry Finn being removed from school libraries. I also subscribe to Netflix for some of their original series.

However, I don't think it's going to matter much, since several TV series have stopped producing discs for sale, and are only available online. It seems like it's only a matter of time until too few discs are purchased to make it financially viable. I think that's unfortunate, since there are still many rural places in the world where the internet is spotty or unavailable.

 

[max2]

No streaming just digital hard drive copy! I don't like streaming because it requires a constant internet connection.

 

[decafjava]

I have some films I bought physical copies of although I rarely re-watch them-at least I haven't for ages.

I have streamed some films through iTunes and am seriously thinking of getting Netflix but my main problem is here (in Switzerland) the film choice especially on the iTunes store is less varied and also includes a lot of non-English language films and film versions. I don't mind French but as I don't understand German or Italian that further cuts down a bit.

I really miss the old rental shops - VHS when I was a teen and young adult and DVDs when I moved to Europe in the late 90s.

 

[S.B.G]

I stream all my movies and TV shows. I only have 1 DVD and its because no streaming service seems to carry it. I don't like having loads and loads of disc's piling up and taking up space. I used to have disc's before high speed Internet but I ripped my collection to disk and sold the originals. That was several years ago and I don't miss them.

I use iTunes for the movies and TV shows and I use Netflix.

 

[Huntn]

I stream all my movies and TV shows. I only have 1 DVD and its because no streaming service seems to carry it. I don't like having loads and loads of disc's piling up and taking up space. I used to have disc's before high speed Internet but I ripped my collection to disk and sold the originals. That was several years ago and I don't miss them.

I use iTunes for the movies and TV shows and I use Netflix.

Does Netflix allow you to “buy” movies and tv shows?

 

[S.B.G]

Does Netflix allow you to “buy” movies and tv shows?

No it doesn't.

 

[TooDarkPark]

I just buy through iTunes. I'm perfectly fine taking the chance that some movies may not be available after a while but that beats having discs taking up space or having to buy all these hard drives to store purchased movies.

I used to download everything and at one time I had 4 hard drives hanging off of my MBP and then the drives started to fail. Last DVD I bought was around 2006 or so.

 

[velocityg4]

I have a bunch of movies on dvd or bluray. Mostly pixar and disney stuff for kids. We never touch them. Kids would rather watch something they haven't seen. I keep them because why not, they don't take up tons of room like VHS tapes did. Probably will be thrown out or sold to a vintage store in a decade or two like old records.

Trying to sell old movies on VHS I found out some things.

- If the movie is re-released on a new format. The old format has little to no resale value. You can still get something for some DVD movies because they are good enough. They'll probably become worthless once 4K becomes the norm.

- Mass market items have no chance: Millions of people bought Disney movies and kept them in mint/near mint condition. If it isn't in mint condition. No one will buy the old format version. Unless it is ridiculously cheap. DVD can still sell due to low shipping costs, especially a small lot of appealing movies, they are still good enough and many people don't understand the difference. I tried selling Disney movies individually, in collections and even a whole lot (I had every Disney animated film as I was a Disney fan as a kid). I couldn't even get a bite when selling at shipping cost. I have a good sales record on eBay, I'm not a power sale but I had a few hundred good sales with no negative reviews. I also had collections of other popular movies/actors. Tried a John Wayne pack, Jimmy Stewart, Arnold Schwarzenegger, war movies, documentaries, looney tunes, period pieces, westerns, &c. Nothing, didn't matter if the starting price was $1 plus shipping, low buy it now, starting at shipping cost (free shipping listing). I let the ads auto-relist for months. I think I sold ten or fifteen movies and brought hundreds to Goodwill.

- The only old format that really has value is when there is no new format option. For VHS cheesy horror flicks have a high resale value if they were never re-released. Not many copies were ever sold, they were never re-released and old cheesy films have a cult status. Therefore, they can have a high value. Because VHS is the only option for physical ownership and legit copies are hard to find. Some people buy them for box art so case condition matters. I remember a friend spent $250 for "Naked Lunch, 1992" on VHS because it was hard to find. It has been finally been re-released on DVD and Blu Ray. Now that VHS copy is worthless. So, the only Disney movie that has much chance is an old VHS copy of "Song of the South". There is no way Disney will ever re-release that. At least not until racism becomes such a distant memory that no one can relate to it anymore and is something just read about in history class. Like burning heretics/witches at the stake.

- I'd expect Blu Ray copies to take many decades to ever be worth anything meaningful once they are obsolete. Perhaps when your kids are retired. Those old copies will have enough nostalgia factor and enough copies will have been tossed to be worth something. At least worth enough to take the time to list, pack and ship.

Video is not records. Records, Reel to Reel even cassettes add their own character to music. CD beat out records because of durability, length and convenience. Records have made a come back because they add a warmth and character to the music being analog. As long as there isn't a decline in the condition of the recording. They give you an excuse to focus on music. Plus records have large and intersting album art to display. CD sales have plummeted because streaming/digital purchase can offer the exact same quality (both are digital), with infinite durability and vastly superior convenience. Video is different there is a noticeable and quantifiable difference in quality between generations. Although we are reaching the point where visual acuity is becoming a limiting factor.