Pattinson/Reeves Batman Movie (Formerly Affleck Stand-Alone Film)

[AquaParade]

One of the main issues is pirating. Companies can't afford to put these out in everyone's home, in perfect quality. How many will actually support the product?

Cubed, it's hard to take your opinion seriously here, when you have talked about how often you pirate movies. If I am misremembering, my apologies. If that is the case, this just sounds like you are whining because you want your free product now.

This movie will play in theaters once it's ready. If they are still around. Either way, it will do well enough. They will find a way.
Batman is bigger than Tenant, Mulan, or Christopher Nolan.

[Leo656]

"DVDs are being phased out" for the last 10+ years, also. They're still a huge source of revenue, so... no.

If theaters go under, discs will probably have a resurgence, if anything. People like me don't like or trust digital. And we like all the Special Features. Discs are still the best value for one's dollar. Aside from Disney stuff; they slap a new cover on a movie and charge you the same $35 they charged you five or ten yeas ago, same Special Features and everything. There ought'a be a law! But no, yeah, everybody ELSE's discs are a good value. Disney are just greedy assholes.

Only people who watch a movie or show one time and forget about it forever because "I seen it already" favor streaming over physical ownership. And those people are weirdos, anyways. Most people still wanna own something if they really like it, not rent it.

It's like all the people who said they hated cable TV packages, and preferred streaming subscription services... and now that there's a million streaming services, those same people are like, "Man, someone should just like... I'unno... bundle ALL the streaming services together so you just have ALL of them... and then you could watch whatever you want whenever you wanted to, and like... you'd only have to pay for ONE thing and not a bunch of things!" And I'm like, "Yeah. That's cable. You're literally describing cable."

People don't know WHAT they want, other than they don't wanna be seen as "out of touch" or "outdated". So they say _____ is going away but it doesn't happen. Even vinyl is big again.

But yeah, no, discs still make huge money. And they'll be even bigger if theaters really do die. Other than shelf space, they're by and large a more convenient and reliable option for most people, for multiple reasons.

[AquaParade]

What are you saying "no" to in relation to DVD sales?

DVD sales have dropped around 80% over the last decade. They are not still a huge source of revenue.

[Leo656]

I'm saying No to the idea that disc media is going extinct soon. People have been saying that for ten years. I remember when the 2012 TMNT cartoon launched, and people liked ol' Cubed were saying "It probably won't even get a DVD release because DVDs are going extinct." Didn't happen that way! Prices have gotten more reasonable in that period of time (Disney's aside) but that's it.

Discs are still profitable for the companies. Maybe not as they were, but the fact is if they weren't, they wouldn't waste money printing them. As long as people buy them, they'll stick around. I just get a chuckle whenever Cubed or anyone insists that's what's happening because no, it actually isn't, at least not to the degree they insist. They just prefer to stream so they insist that's the inevitable future of things. But again, they've been saying that forever. So it's kinda funny to me, is all.

[AquaParade]

I hope you are right. I think they can stick around if something like vinyl can stick around. It will be more for collectors, but I love my discs.

They may even have a boost in popularity once more people realize that many of their digital purchases are merely licenses to watch a movie for as long as it is available on their service provider. I purchased The Lion King animated movie a couple years ago in "4K" quality on Amazon. One day, I realized it had been downgraded to "HD". Apparently Amazon no longer had the license to the 4k version, as it was no longer even available to be purchased on their store. I'm thinking this was Disney gearing up for exclusive Disney+ content. Amazon refunded me immediately, but it was an eye-opener.

[Leo656]

Exactly, and that's a big factor for people like me. I only own something if I have it in my hands. Otherwise I'm borrowing it. People throw a fit when Netflix removes their favorite movie; I never have to worry about that. There's more people like me out there than one might think, they're just not as vocal about things in general.

"Everything" was going to kill "everything" every time any new media technology emerges. VCRs were gonna kill movie theaters alllll the way back in the 70s, because "Why leave your house if you can watch a movie at home?" Then in the 80s video game consoles were going to kill the arcade business overnight; that didn't happen for over ten years, and only happened at all once home console technology finally surpassed arcade technology, but regardless, it was supposed to happen as early as the Atari era, but didn't. Video game consoles were supposed to be dead by now; they're pronounced "dead" every time there's a lull, yet two more are about to come out and Nintendo's been cleaning up with their latest for the last three years. Rentals were going to "kill" movie and game sales, 30+ years ago, and that didn't happen either. "Nobody's gonna buy a $60 game if they can borrow it for $3!" Except sure they would. Movie and game sales didn't die, they just had a new service to figure out how to co-exist with.

Fact is, things don't really "die" very often in entertainment media, but revenue streams do change very often. Some areas shrink and cede ground to new technology as it emerges. That's all. When something does "die off" it's really only because a new form of media technology comes along that is SO much more efficient, stable, and convenient, that one has no choice but to jump onto it. Cassette tapes were supposed to "kill" vinyl records, but they co-existed for a very long time because cassettes were not actually much "better", just more convenient. CDs eliminated them both by simply being far too good of an option to ignore. And even then, it took a while. CDs were supposed to be all gone by now, too. It's a smaller market, but it still exists. But Napster was supposed to have wiped them off the face of the planet by 2002. Didn't happen.

Since different media delivery services generally serve different masters, things can become "outdated" but still have a very stable life in the marketplace, albeit a less-exorbitant or prominent one. They just have to give up ground to The New Thing, but The Old Thing rarely goes away completely, unless it's thoroughly sh*tty and useless. 8-tracks were sh*tty and useless, so they died a fairly quick death. CDs are still hanging on, though, even though everyone just listens to music on YouTube now. Because some people still just plain like 'em better. That's all it really takes.

Money moves around and different things overtake the lion's share of the market, but rarely does anything truly "die off" in the media-delivery game. People always predict doomsday for one thing when a new thing hits, but that's less to do with historical precedent of the business and more to do with the fact that people get off on being doomsayers as a general fact of human psychology. I'm guilty of it myself rather often, as anyone knows. Just not on this specific topic.

Personally, we live near the woods and our internet service isn't awful but it's spotty. It's far from a seamless experience when we rely on the internet to bring us our entertainment, and interruptions and outages are more common than we would like. Therefore, my wife and I overwhelmingly prefer disc-based media for our music, movie, and gaming needs. It's just plain more stable and reliable for our circumstances. I have to imagine it's the same for people in various regions who aren't lucky enough to have a constant strong signal. They're out there.

Would you believe I have never once watched Netflix? True story! Other than one movie I watched on YouTube when I couldn't find it available to buy on disc, the very first digital movie I ever watched was the new Bill & Ted flick. And I'm still hopefully looking forward to having it on a disc so I can stick it with the others. Just how I roll.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Would you believe I have never once watched Netflix? True story! Other than one movie I watched on YouTube when I couldn't find it available to buy on disc, the very first digital movie I ever watched was the new Bill & Ted flick. And I'm still hopefully looking forward to having it on a disc so I can stick it with the others. Just how I roll.

Same and same. Not only do you own the movie, but you own the movie in its original form. You know, before years from now some snowflake gets offended by this and that and they go back and re-release an edited version of the movie, or in case someone decide to George Lucas a movie and randomly stick Christian Haydensen in your movie, you'll own the original.

[frank_one]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Would you believe I have never once watched Netflix?

I believe you because that's my story as well. Never in my life I've spent money for a streaming service, it's not for me. I want to own what I like, renting a digital version of it is not enough.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by frank_one

I believe you because that's my story as well. Never in my life I've spent money for a streaming service, it's not for me. I want to own what I like, renting a digital version of it is not enough.

He really is the Retro Rocker! In and out of the ring, BROTHER!!

[neatoman]

On the topic of DVDs being phased out, I found an interesting study for a University thing I had to write. According to a Hong Kong study, DVD sales of a particular thing will increase when it is removed or moved from a streaming service, the particular case being when a distributor switched partnership from Netflix to Hulu.

https://www.semanticscholar.org/pape...#citing-papers

http://www.dvd-and-beyond.com/_image...eaming-dvd.pdf

So if you want a concrete reason for DVDs continued existence, there's one.

[Andrew NDB]

It's less "DVD being phased out" and more "blu-rays being phased out and DVD being phased back in." Is what I'm seeing. Which is pretty weird.

[CyberCubed]

I think it's mostly old people who still buy DVDs because to them they can't tell the difference in video quality between a DVD and blu-ray so they feel it's not worth it.

Not to mention you can use DVDs in blu-ray players and it upscales most DVDs so to them they can't tell the difference. I doubt a 55 year old man is really going to care much.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I think it's mostly old people who still buy DVDs because to them they can't tell the difference in video quality between a DVD and blu-ray so they feel it's not worth it.

Not to mention you can use DVDs in blu-ray players and it upscales most DVDs so to them they can't tell the difference. I doubt a 55 year old man is really going to care much.

I am younger than you and its not really any difference. I only get Blu-Rays if they come with the DVD. I like things uniform. Instead of getting things already owned on one format and having to repurchase thus having a duplicate I have continued to buy the same format that I already have. All 200 films I own are the same format not some on one and some on another and others repurchased. Unless DVDs are removed I will continue to buy them in that format. I also prefer to have the physical copy so I can watch it whenever I want to instead of depending on a licensure agreement of a streaming service and with the continuing of streaming services breaking out its getting hard to have things streaming in a uniform location.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

I'm a year or two younger than Cubed, I think, and also am satisfied with DVD. No Bluray for me yet...

[CyberCubed]

Odd, most of us are around the same age give or take a few years and blu-rays are considered the way to go for our generation. The visual quality is actually massive especially for all the big budget movies and popcorn flicks that we love.

DVDs really do look worse even on blu-ray players, the difference is noticeable especially with HD TV's. I can't go back, I like to be young and hip with the latest modern tech and I can't go back to the ancient times of the early 2000's. The only DVDs I still have is stuff that has never been released on blu-ray, like for example old cartoons mainly which wouldn't look any different on blu ray for the most part.

[AquaParade]

I've moved on to 4K's. I don't have very many, but that's how I like to own my very favorite movies. It is the HDR that really steals the show. I purged all my DVDs long ago and have one or two blu rays - The Batman Animated series collection and Princess Mononoke.

[Leo656]

The quality of a lot of the stuff is case-by-case, too. I have all the main "Nightmare On Elm Street" movies on two of those cheap-o "four movies on two double-sided discs" sets that you can get for $5 apiece, I was watching them the other day and I was legit amazed at how good the picture quality was for that kind of thing. You'd expect it to look and sound all grainy and compressed, but not so. Very clean and sharp, for the most part.

I broke down and ordered the Blu-ray box set - should be here by Saturday - but only because my player randomly decided to stop playing the first movie. Figured that was a sign I might as well upgrade after putting it off for a while. Otherwise, the "cheap" versions were perfectly adequate.

Point being, SOME movies look dramatically better on Blu-ray than on DVD, some look a little bit better, and some things look the same. For the longest time, I stayed with DVDs unless it was a movie I REALLY liked, because they were cheaper. But now any non-Disney Blu-ray ends up being $5, same as regular DVDs, and for $10 or less there's usually a "DVD+ Blu-Ray + Digital" set available, so again, for the value it's like, Why Not? So now I mostly get Blu-ray if I can help it; costs the same as a DVD and there's mostly more Special Features on the disc. Only the Disney stuff hovers at over $30, because F*ck Disney. But literally everything else is a great value. So I've ended up amassing quite a Blu-ray collection despite initially not caring that much.

One thing to consider, also, is TV size. Mine is 30-something inches; multiple studies have suggested that until you get into around 50-inch territory, the quality difference between Blu-ray to DVD (and in some cases from Blu-ray to 4K) is tough to really notice unless the quality of the transfer is VERY poor. In a lot of cases, a person can't tell but they want to be "hip" like our pal Cubed so they adopt the "better" format, even if their rig doesn't take full advantage of the potential quality.

Our TV works perfectly fine - haven't even had it for ten years - so I have no urgency to "upgrade" to 4K. My wife's been casually looking at 4K TVs in case anything happens to ours, but again, nothing's wrong with ours yet. And also, I'm quite comfortable paying $5-10 for discs so I'm not inclined to go back to paying $20-30 for slightly better quality. By the time we're forced to upgrade I'm sure the price of those discs will have dropped. Until then, I'm fine.

Regarding some people switching back to DVD from Blu-ray, I imagine that it has to do with the fact that the color grading across the various formats is wildly inconsistent. Not long ago there was a whole big thing about the "Jurassic Park" movies, and how the color grading with each new disc release varies wildly. Observe:

Spoiler:

It apparently happens with a lot of movies, Star Wars being another prominent example. Based on that, I have a feeling that some people are just finding the presentation that works best for them specifically and sticking with it.

Some movies also suffer a bit from being upscaled too dramatically, like "Superman III" and such. Not a great movie to begin with, but many people who insist on watching it prefer the DVD version, because on the Blu-ray you can clearly see the suspension wires and a lot of other things that were either cropped out or hidden better on the earlier releases. It happens.

Lot of moving parts with this stuff.

[frank_one]

Color grading is something I take into account a lot! Whenever I need to buy a movie I check comparisons in websites like dvdbeaver.com

[MikeandRaph87]

I miss Filmaf!

For me its about having access to something and having everything in the same format. There was an attempt to remove deleted scenes and other bonuses from the DVD and make it exclusive to Blu-Ray leaving the DVD bare bones. Honestly it is disappointing, but the only special features I ever use is the deleted scenes and there is the rare occasion I listen to the DVD commentary, but its when I am only and am in the mood to listen to it and not concentrate on the film or episode. Extras are slowly being added back to the DVD format since we did not switch over.

[Leo656]

Blu-ray cases being a bit thinner by almost half so you can fit more on a shelf is a big deal to me.

Kind of a humblebrag but when you have thousands of discs as I do, it does get to a point where every fraction of an inch starts to make a difference.