Simpsons DVDs Discontinued
 

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwir...n-dvd-20150408

Commentaries will continue to be made though.

That's a shame for those of us who can't watch on "Simpsons World." Then again, you could always watch them on FXX anyway. Whatever.

Horse sh*t. Predictable horse sh*t, but still horse sh*t.

At least put out Seasons 18 and 19, for f*ck's sake. I could somewhat understand stopping at Season 20 and everyone who collects them having the first 20 seasons, that's one thing, but to just leave out two whole seasons for "Eh, don't give a sh*t" reasons is just plain stupid. It's not like they're gonna go broke printing them and enough people would still probably buy them to make it worth it.

Ten years from now, everything is going to be on the internet and every time you want to watch something, they're gonna charge a buck and change to your credit card. Those without credit cards or stable internet connections simply won't be able to watch shows. And we continue on the path of "Nobody owns anything, you just rent it for a little while," and anyone who doesn't have the means can simply go f*** themselves. Because unless you can be tracked electronically by corporations, or feel like handing out your credit information every time you want to watch goddamn TV, You Don't Count.

Yay.

Who would honestly spend money on any of the seasons past 10 anyway?

Completionists.

there are limits!

You do understand the definition of the word "completionist", right? :twink:

I stopped collecting Simpsons DVDs at Season 10. I pretend the Simpsons Movie is the "series finale" and leave it at that.

All you need is the first 10 seasons, the movie, and maybe a small handful of good episodes from the following seasons that you can cherry-pick online and that's it.

Yep, you've hit the nail on the head for those who want to collect all of the seasons on DVD. And even if you get a complete box set, that's going to cost even more if you've got twenty plus seasons over a number of discs. So, yeah, this is stupid, especially as the show is still going.

It used to be you bought your VHS, DVD, or Blu-ray and you owned it. You owned a high-quality product. Over time, the edges of the case might get scratched, the paper inside might get a little worn, the disc ended up being a bit scratched... but that's what made it yours, dammit, and it wasn't like anybody else's in that fashion.

Now they put ridiculously compressed copies of episodes on iTunes, Amazon, etc. for ridiculous amounts of money and even then you have to wait for it to download, and if you're streaming I hope to God you have decent internet speed.

Instead of wisely keeping the high-quality material on physical media and putting lesser quality copies on online stores, companies are phasing out physical media... but keeping the material on web stores low-quality.

Physical media ALWAYS trumps digital in terms of quality and character, NO MATTER WHAT. That crappy iPod you'll replace in a year anyway can't even be compared to a CD jewel case or a vinyl sleeve.

And your film collection "in the cloud" is nowhere as impressive as a shelf of films and TV shows collected over years, maybe even decades.

And in terms of video and audio quality - Digital HD may be better than a DVD in terms of video, but I'm sure the DVD has better audio quality (the 2012 TMNT show has stereo on iTunes. Its DVD has 5.1 surround @448kbps. That's a HUGE difference). And a Blu-ray is far more impressive than anything bought on iTunes.

Anything you buy on iTunes or Amazon pales in comparison to the audio quality of CD or even a vinyl. iTunes files are loud, compressed, and poor-sounding because they're mastered to be that way. CDs are better in terms of audio quality, and vinyl physically isn't able to be that loud, so that's nice.

I don't care about The Simpsons at all... but it shows what a pathetic turn home video is taking. The consumer today gets less quality, less control, and less ownership.

Dude, I just wanna hug you. :tlol: If all it is is a digital file, you don't FREAKING OWN IT. Not permanently.

And yeah, I've maybe seen one full episode of the Simpsons in my entire life. Not my thing. But crap like this gets my blood boiling.

I prefer streaming over physical, so I won't be upset if this is the start of the trend.

I never would have given shows like Breaking Bad, Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, and Rescue Me a chance if they weren't on Netflix. Now they're some of my favorite shows ever. I don't need to clutter my place with boxes to impress people.

I was born in the 80's so physical media is a must for me. I only buy digital when there's no other choice and even than that's rare.

Sadly with the new generation of kids growing up in the recent decade when they become adults they're probably going to prefer all streaming. Blu-ray players will become a thing of the past, everything will be digital.

Neither are impressive man.

Pride of ownership, man...

I don't know. I guess I'm not wowed by someone buying a bunch of dvds and putting them on a shelf. I don't view on the same level of pride as owning a house or whatever.

I get where you're comin' from. But isn't it neat to go to someone's house and see a shelf full of movies or video games to just browse through?

I think it is, at least.

Not really. It's just a bunch of dvds. I get the same feeling looking through the movie section at any number of retail stores.

I live kind of sort of in the woods and my internet connection drops out every 10-15 minutes, on average, and we have what's supposedly the "highest-quality service" in the area. Some people are geographically f*cked. I can barely watch a music video on YouTube without it stalling out, and I live in the suburbs, not the mountains or whatever. There's a large chunk of people in this country, and more throughout the world, still using dial-up. People don't like to talk about it, but it's true! And they shouldn't be punished and prevented from watching TV shows or movies, or playing video games, or listening to music, simply because of circumstances they have little to no control over. Not everyone has stable, reliable, affordable, "one click and you're there" internet service, and the number of people who don't is much larger than people think.

And if you remember the protests from those same consumers when Xbox One was originally supposed to be "always online", the corporations' attitudes towards those people is more or less, "F*ck 'em, they can move. They're not the ones paying us, so they're invisible for all we care." Which is horrible.

Also, every single thing TheSkeletonMan939 said. Basically, both forms of media have their ups and downs but you need to give people options.

I'm definitely for not adding clutter. Im from the same timeframe at you too, cubed. I just prefer having a few favorites and anything else can stay electronic. I definitely prefer tv series to stay electronic. Those are too big and bulky in physical form.

As for getting choices, I'd love to be able to ride my horse to work and around town to do my errands. He's eco friendly and hay is cheaper than gas. But none of these darn places have hitching posts and there's no stables for him at work. Sometimes progress means that you adapt. If not you become obsolete. Like me riding Cajun around town. Cars are just better transportation these days. Next decade maybe personal flying vehicles then cars are obsolete.

So, people who live in the midwest or the mountains with weak internet connections can just move, or else they just don't deserve to watch TV, play video games, or listen to music. Because they're cavemen and who cares.

Hah. Super.

Yo, you have a horse? I'm coming over.

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/...oekdcnehmi.jpg

Sorry....just first thing that popped to mind.


On topic: I like physical media, because you know that baring it being destroyed in some way, you have it. Things come and go on streaming services. Digital files can be lost...or at the very least the rights can be. Simpsons is a HUGE franchise and I'd be hard pressed to want to own all of that (that and since it's now incomplete, it seems silly) but I can understand why fans would be disappointed.

I only own the first two seasons, personally, but I like having the option. I do like having complete sets of things, even though yeah, that show is kind of a behemoth (and frankly, the packaging is pretty unforgivably extravagant), so who knows if I'd ever get around to completing it. But again, I like the idea of knowing I could if I felt like it.

I am never giving up physical media. How do people complain about clutter? Buy a bookshelf and fill it with DVDs or videogames. That's what I do.

Or you could fill it with *gasp* BOOKS! That way you could learn something, at least. Kidding. I can't stand the Simpsons most of the time, but trends like this are ridiculous.

I stopped buying around Season 8 or so I did plan to get them all at one point but my interest in owning physical media kept diminishing and now I have no interest. I do think a show as iconic as The Simpsons deserves and needs to be released completely in physical media, hell I find it hard to believe that it is not profitable, maybe it's just not as profitable as it once was, if they can sell obscure TVshows on DVD the Simpsons should be no problem. There has to be so many fans who want a complete series that it can't be unprofitable to sell lower print limited runs over the internet of each season.

With that said what does being born in the 80s have to do with physical media being a must? I loved physical media but owning digital or streaming is obviously the better choice which is why physical media is dying and it's dying because older people prefer not to have physical media, it's not like it's people who are 20 and younger the ones who drive sales. Blu-Ray players ARE a thing of the past because people just find the alternative more convenient. Yeah physical media creates clutter and putting things on a bookshelf doesn't help things if you have an averagely sized DVD/BR collection. I like having space instead of clutter in my house and I have no need to have so many TV shows or movies that I don't watch regularly, there's no point of it taking up space. Sure if you're a completist or collector go for it but don't shove the mentality of having to own everything to more casual people. Sure we all got into a completist mentality back when DVDs were cheap in the 2000's but that phase has passed.

I used to live in the midwest as well in rural flippin' Missouri and it took me a while to finally get broadband...and I still got broadband back in 2002. Hell, now I've lived in plenty of places with terrible infrastructure but still broadband was available. I'm sorry but not having accessibility to reliable broadband in this day and age is a pretty damn difficult scenario in most countries. Sure there will always be places that have bad electricity or other basic needs but you can't stop progress because of that. If your argument is data caps or 4k resolution over the internet sure you have a point right now since most people can't handle that but as time passes that will stop being a problem as well.

Now I don't have FX, how long is The Simpsons deal with FX for? I mean after a few years I'm sure another company like Netflix/Hulu/Amazon will get the show and it'll be easier for people to watch. I've been on a Simpsons itch lately and I'd definitely would like to watch all of the Simpsons episodes one day. I wish the show would end very soon and on a bang but we'll see.

Considering it's on FXX which is a channel owned by Fox which owns The Simpsons, I'd say for a good long while.

Explain. Explain why, other than, "Less clutter", which is admittedly convenient, but not as convenient as, say, being able to actually watch what you want, when you want to, hassle-free, forever, without having to pay more than once for it, or worrying if you have adequate service where you happen to live to even view it, or whatever.

Again, I don't exactly live in a cave, just near the woods, in central NJ. It is almost physically impossible to watch an entire episode of any show online where we live, because the connection drops constantly, at random, for anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes. It's a consistent problem, even after switching providers three times. And the problem is called, "Online service ain't perfect and sh*t happens." People shouldn't have to put up with that because "technology moves forward". If it creates entirely new problems, it's not moving forward, it's moving sideways. You solve a "lack of space" problem, and create a whole new "some people just can't even watch the sh*t" problem. That is not progress.

Meanwhile, I can put a disc in a tray and watch/play/listen to hours of content uninterrupted, internet connection or no. So, no, digital streaming is NOT "obviously" a better choice. It's only a better choice if you're short on space... and I'm sorry, but those things don't take up that much room.

Point being, digital is not "obviously" better or more convenient; for some, it's far LESS convenient, and in fairness to those people, those consumers who decide with their own money which format they prefer, there needs to remain a physical option to view/play/listen to media. Taking away that option is unfair. The "better" choice, or rather, the Best choice, is to even have a choice.

I can't get mad at these companies for ditching or scaling down physical media when it's dying.

At some point they're just wasting money putting it out there on dvd if it's only going to sell a couple of copies. It's a business afterall.

Such BS. I think streaming is really overrated. I can understand pay-per-view rentals and subscribing to Netflix and such for people who want convenience but this trend of physical formats getting brushed off just feels pretentious to me for some reason.

I still think they'll eventually put out some epic series set once it's over. Way too profitable to pass up but the Simpson's isn't even the point. The point is physically owning something is actually owning something.

Using the clutter argument is just dumb. It's not even about showing off a collection. It's about seeing something you're proud to actually own. The special covers, cases and such. Pretty much everything we buy other than food and clothes could be counted as clutter.

I really don't think all movies and shows will become digital and physical media will end. I think it's more-so a trend of "oh look everything is available whenever I want". That's nice and should not end either but people are becoming tv and format snobs.

Lots of shows are Manufactured On Demand rather than mass-produced. You order it, they produce it, you pay them, they send it, you own it. Everybody wins.

If it's an option that "makes sense" for shows like Superboy that me and five other people are ever going to buy, then it should make even more sense for a show like The Simpsons that, internet snark aside, tons of people still watch, enjoy, and would gladly pay to own on disc. Meanwhile, the exact same company that owns the show and is paying to manufacture the discs is still making a profit from the sales of both physical and digital, leaving them way in the black when all is said and done. They're never going to go broke or even lose anything by manufacturing a few discs for those who prefer it that way. Not ever.

It doesn't have to be One or The Other. Nor should it be. There is plenty of room for both. The only thing that happens when physical media goes away, is that stores close, the economy shrinks and jobs disappear. So yeah, Big Picture? That's a real problem that's way, way bigger than, "I need space on my junk shelf."

But hey. "Convenience".

You missed the point in my post that says for the majority it's not a problem, yes Leo you screwed by this change but you have to realize you are a tiny minority of the population that has this problem, I feel for you but that's how it is. Of course all media has different problems, DVD's scratch, DVD players break and the lasers stop working and won't be sold anymore in the future just like VHS players ceased, DVD's get disc rot which makes them useless. Nothing is forever. Streaming is the most convenient but of course it has the whole license issue. The problem is solved by buying it digitally, in this case you own it now and can watch it forever, make back up copies in case your HDD fails etc, play at any moment with just a click making it far better than DVD's, internet connection is only required when you download it for the first time and you only need to pay for it once. I'm sorry but digital is literally better than DVD unless you want a physical product in your house. Now digital being better than Blu-Ray is another debate since BR is indeed usually better quality but as time and technology improves this will be a non-issue and for normal people and even geeky people like me we don't even notice the difference even if Mr. Videophile does.

The reality is no one wants DVDs anymore just like no one wanted CD's anymore ten years ago and yet even with audiophiles complaining digital won. Of course there's still CD's but they're a minority of the market now and most audiophiles moved on to Vinyl instead. Fact is people aren't buying DVDs and Blu-Rays never reached the market share that DVDs had in their heyday and the minority of the market that still enjoys them seem to be old people who can't move on to new technologies and collectors. I'm all for people buying physical copies and them existing, especially for a show like the Simpsons but the alternative is better for the majority and in this day and age it's hard to argue that the market cares for movies/shows on physical media, just look at sales charts over the past decade and you can see the trend is not in your favor, you're a dying breed for better or worse. And I agree, there's enough market out there with collectors and the "minority" for physical media to exist just like you can still find CD's now and other small niches, and like I stated in my first post there should be enough fans for some type of release for the simpsons but Fox doesn't care.

The language you use to defend your position is deplorable. Essentially, what you're saying is, "People need to get with the times or otherwise f*ck off." That's ridiculous. "You're a minority, you're out of touch, you don't matter." I guess my money shouldn't either, right? I hope nobody ever puts you in charge of any company's marketing or PR departments... although you do sound suspiciously like someone who would work for Microsoft.

No, you're wrong. People need to have OPTIONS so they can choose the most convenient experience FOR THEM. Not this, "Get with the times, you old fogey" nonsense. What are you, 12? Do you own stock in Netflix? Why are you so gung-ho to eliminate people's right to choose how they engage in their entertainment?

And regardless of who "won" any kind of format war, anyone who actually cares about quality more than "I need space for more toys or junk or whatever" will tell you, digital stuff, be it music or TV/movies, looks and sounds like sh*t compared to physical media. You absolutely sacrifice Quality for "convenience". Well, that's fine for you, if that's what YOU prefer. *I* don't want to be forced to choose something that's openly inferior and, to me, LESS convenient, just because "Them's the breaks".

There is, once again, NO reason at all to force things to be all one or the other. Like Wildcat said, only format snobs want that. "I like streaming better, so everything else needs to go away." No, you're wrong to force other people to adapt to your own standards and preferences that have nothing at all to do with them or what they prefer.

More and more people are jumping on the stream and digital train. Is it wrong? Of course not. But you can't get mad just because companies decide to cater to a growing majority audience. It looks like this is the future for not just home media but television in general. It's not that anyone is actively trying to eliminate dvds and blu rays. They're just dying off on their own.

DVD sales have been dipping for years and it seems like people have already chosen the next generation. That's what happens. There's no deeper scary meaning to it. It just happened.

The world isn't going to end over this. We're all going to survive. Just put your hands together like Birdman and make your dreams come true.

Yeah, the problem with that argument is that while it may be true where YOU live, it's not true everywhere. I live in rural, small-town Texas, and guess what? The majority of people around her have the same problem. Internet providers are few, some areas aren't even COVERED, and people have to rely on actual stores for most of their movies/music. I visit my local Wal-Mart (the only large chain store in a ten-mile radius) on an almost daily basis, and I am constantly seeing DVD's and Blu-Rays flying off the shelves for "new" series/recent seasons of long-running ones. There are plenty of other parts of the country with this same issue- internet access sucks, people can't GET access because they live in a region that's not covered, etc. So those people have to suck it up and not get to watch (fill in the blank) just because some company big-wig doesn't think physical media is profitable in the core test-regions? BS.

The problem isn't that people don't want CD's or DVD's anymore, it's that the availability has gone way down because companies think it's easier and more profitable to NOT MAKE THEM. Because production uses materials and resources that cost the company money, while a stream or digital copy costs literally NOTHING to make. It's a few minutes of uploading a copy into the ether where millions of people can just keep paying for the SAME FILE again and again, without any materials or labor being spent on it. And as others mentioned, the "death" of physical media (more like murder, really) is causing loss of jobs (video stores, fewer made meaning workers in the factories get laid off, less shipped means less profit, etc) and is self-fulfilling because the people in charge WANT it to happen.

Again while I don't care for physical media and it doesn't affect me if it's sold. I only post arguments as to why physical media is dying and I'm mostly debating because a loud minority acts like people want physical media when it's far from the opposite, you don't have to believe me, just google for dvd sales over the past ten years.

Maybe I chose some of my words poorly in some parts of my post but the message is the same, yes you are a minority and to the market you don't matter. Yes your money doesn't matter to big companies because you are a indeed a minority, that's not meant to be a bad thing just that you are, hell I'm a minority in many things. It is indeed a case of having to get with the times because you are angry that you now have to go to a specialty store to buy horse shoes instead of at the normal store where they only sell tires now even if horse power is superior to you it's not to the majority. And yes people vote with their wallets and they aren't voting for physical media which is why companies are ceasing to make those products. They just don't sell, you'll make the company lose a lot of money if you keep doing it. Big companies don't care for your convenience, they care about profits and they get profits by giving people what they want which in this case the majority has chosen digital. I'm not here to eliminate people's right to choose, if companies make physical copies available then great, but if the don't I'm posting the reasons they have chosen not to do so which while it may suck for people who liked it the old way it's just the way things are.

As far as quality it really depends, of course a service like spotify won't have the best quality but that's what people prefer. I can still buy lossless audio digitally and it sounds a lot better than physical CD's I used to own. I'm also a bit of an audiophile but even I can't tell the difference between very high quality lossless recordings. Some people do but they are a niche. You can easily get Vinyls nowadays and more and more bands keep releasing vinyl's for a niche audience. It's profitable enough to do and that's great. I do hate sacrificing quality as a completist myself and I'm concerned about it as well. Digital has other flaws but most of the ones you post about are not it. Digital is not all evil and it's hear to stay and physical media will continue to die over the years, don't blame me for it, the market is the one that is speaking and companies are making decisions accordingly. Physical media isn't going anywhere for the next few years anyway and digital will only get better. Sadly it can't be "both" ways because there isn't a market big enough but there can definitely be a niche.

Again in my first post I mention there is no reason The Simpsons shouldn't be finished as physical media, it sucks. Digital is here to stay though as decided by the market and I personally have no problems with that.

edit:first link after a few seconds on google http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/1/567...irment-charges

Stryker: So, it's your position then that retail stores are NOT closing by the hundreds, people are NOT losing their jobs by the thousands, and this is NOT going to be a huge problem in the near future, despite those jobs - which for decades were considered stable, if unremarkable forms of employment for people of all age groups and demographics all over the country - not being replaced by anything else? All in the name of, "I want more shelf space." This isn't something you see as a concern?

Interesting. That's interesting. I'm personally pretty concerned any time I see a "leap forward in technology" that leaves thousands of people with suddenly far fewer employment options, at all positions from manufacturing to transporting to retail.

I guess they can just go on their iPad and pluck a new job from the Career Tree! I mean, they were only a greeter at Best Buy in the first place because that's all they could find, but hey, should be easy enough to just transition into, I'unno, a career in applied sciences, or whatever.

Any way people slice it, an all-digital future is only good for the content providers, aka The Corporations. Everybody else loses out in some way. People should not be rushing to embrace this so openly. Then again, people are pretty short-sighted in general nowadays.

sdp: There absolutely is a market big enough because plenty of people still say they want Both Options. Only the corporations want to make it All One Way. There is zero way they would lose even one penny if they were to continue manufacturing discs for the people who WOULD pay for them; they just want to shift to digital so they can take away "ownership" and screw people over into perpetuity with all these shady "licensing agreements" and nonsense. The corporations are the bad guys, why would you defend them for taking away a person's choice? That makes zero sense. For the umpteenth time, "Them's the breaks" is no answer, come up with something better.

Again, he's NOT a minority. There are millions of people who live in areas just like his- and mine. That's a big chunk of the market, my friend. A large geographical chunk of the country has these issues, especially those living in rural areas- which BTW is a MUCH larger demographic than you think. Farm communities and mountain areas are pretty much screwed over by this thinking, because many times, the service just ISN'T THERE. I repeat- YOU CAN'T "BUY DIGITAL" AND GET WITH THE TIMES, IF THE SERVICE DOESN'T EXIST WHERE YOU LIVE!! A great example, is that there is ONE cable/internet provider in the town I live in, but because my apartments are on the edge of town, outside their "area", we can't get service. I have to tether to my hubby's phone to get net AT ALL. And it uses my phone's data, so- yeah- once I go over the high-speed limit, that's it. No streaming, because it takes HOURS to watch ONE FLIPPING EPISODE OF TURTLES! It's ridiculous, but since I can't get cable OR net, I have to wait until it's on you-tube or a cartoon viewing site, and if I'm over the limit, forget it. I'm in a part of the country where you're basically stuck with what you can get. And that's a common problem west of the Mississippi. Rural towns don't have the infrastructure to even provide reliable access, large companies don't provide to many areas because the profit margin is too low (people mostly work in lower-paying jobs), and the end result is that the supply ends up dictating the demand, instead of the other way around.

You say they don't sell, but that's hogwash. They SELL just fine. They just don't GET SOLD because they don't MAKE them to begin with! You can't sell what you didn't even produce, duh! When I can go to Wal-Mart, and see only seven or eight copies of Nick's Korra on the shelf, go back three days later and ALL are gone, and they NEVER get any more in, it's NOT lack of sales, it's lack of PRODUCTION. THAT's what's "killing" DVD/Blu-Ray. Not digital media.



Yup. You're exactly right, Leo. Agree 110%.

These are my last comments on digital vs physical but to turn the conversation back to The Simpsons. I'm taking a wild guess that the uproar from all of this will definitely cause something even if it's on demand DVDs and a show like The Simpsons is big enough that it'll have some type of official physical release even if it's not for a few years.

There is no conspiracy though (at least here). I'm not defending big faceless corporations but I've studied them, it's what I do for a living and I understand how they work and why they make decisions. Big companies especially need a margin of profit before they consider doing something, a small profit is not worth the investment in something that can cost them a lot more, the go by sales data. In recent years Shout has done a lot of shows on DVD when in the past they only had lesser known licenses but companies prefer to license it to Shout than do it themselves and for a small company like Shout it's worth the risk to release those sets, but in recent years Shout can't even do that anymore, even big releases aren't selling.

The big concern here is preservation and thankfully we have something that helps us with that and that is piracy. Because of that we're able to enjoy things that we wouldn't otherwise. You'll still be able to get bootleg DVDs/blu-ray's of digital content which is the best option when there is no alternative. And look at it on the bright side, how many shows never got a DVD release when DVDs were booming and yet they have found new life on digital services. I'm still waiting for Mighty Max to come out ;)

But they don't sell just fine, I've seen the numbers.