Would you buy DVDs/BRs of TV show if the entire series was available for streaming?

~~Davetello~~ · 12-04-2014, 03:16 PM

First of all, let's level the playing field. Many people live in isolated rural areas with slow internet speeds. They and others also face heavy data caps. Let's talk hypothetically and assume that everyone has access to fibre broadband and unlimited usage.

Now that's taken care of, would you buy physical copies of television shows if you could stream the entire thing (I'm keeping movies out of this as they're often cheaper per film and often hold more collector value too)? It's true that a subscription costs money, but Netflix is only something like $7 or £6, and you can get the first month free as well. If you watched intensively enough you could view something like Breaking Bad for free, and in better quality than is found on the DVDs. You also wouldn't have to constantly swtich DVDs, but you would miss out on bonus features. I understand that buying shows has collector and aesthetic value, but is it really worth paying $70 for a boxset when the entire thing is available on subscription?

The turtles would clearly be an exception here. If - for example - 4kids came to Netflix, I'm sure most of us would still buy a potential future boxset. This extends to other shows - if something is one of our favourites then we're more likely to buy a boxset for collector value than we would be to just stream on Amazon or Netflix.

Blu Ray is also of higher quality HD than HD streaming, as technology just hasn't advanced enough yet for streaming to be on the same level. However, my picture and sound on Netflix HD streams is pretty amazing anyway, so I don't see this as a big issue other than for very knowledgeable and passionate videophiles and audiophiles.

12-04-2014, 03:16 PM	#1
~~Davetello~~ Banned Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Greater Glasgow, Scotland, The Ununited Kingdom Posts: 1,712	Would you buy DVDs/BRs of TV show if the entire series was available for streaming? First of all, let's level the playing field. Many people live in isolated rural areas with slow internet speeds. They and others also face heavy data caps. Let's talk hypothetically and assume that everyone has access to fibre broadband and unlimited usage. Now that's taken care of, would you buy physical copies of television shows if you could stream the entire thing (I'm keeping movies out of this as they're often cheaper per film and often hold more collector value too)? It's true that a subscription costs money, but Netflix is only something like $7 or £6, and you can get the first month free as well. If you watched intensively enough you could view something like Breaking Bad for free, and in better quality than is found on the DVDs. You also wouldn't have to constantly swtich DVDs, but you would miss out on bonus features. I understand that buying shows has collector and aesthetic value, but is it really worth paying $70 for a boxset when the entire thing is available on subscription? The turtles would clearly be an exception here. If - for example - 4kids came to Netflix, I'm sure most of us would still buy a potential future boxset. This extends to other shows - if something is one of our favourites then we're more likely to buy a boxset for collector value than we would be to just stream on Amazon or Netflix. Blu Ray is also of higher quality HD than HD streaming, as technology just hasn't advanced enough yet for streaming to be on the same level. However, my picture and sound on Netflix HD streams is pretty amazing anyway, so I don't see this as a big issue other than for very knowledgeable and passionate videophiles and audiophiles.