Are blu ray prices going up? Are they TRYING to bury physical media?

[Drain Bamage]

I'm not the one crying on Mayberry about being too poor for Best Buy.


+ =

I am too smart to be spending $30 a movie is what it is.

Back to the point though - around my area every movie theater is one of these big AMC chains. They're all Dolby Vision 4K Laser Projectors etc etc I still hate going to them though because no matter how good the Audio/Video experience is I don't want stupid fucking assigned seating. I am paying to see a movie, not a student in a classroom. It's stupid the way I can't just get up and move seats if I want too in a half-filled theater.

 

[Mike]

Yeah physical media is pointless now imo. And I'm NEVER paying 30 bucks for a movie.

 

[Threetrees]

Do you guys not have the internet

Why are you buying physical blu rays

 

[HenryFlower]

unless they are editions that are newly restored & stuffed to the gills w/ special features, blus are stupid affordable, so idk what you’re smoking. i’d even consider a lot of the releases that are heavy on special features to be affordable if they’re $25 or less, especially if they’re older or more obscure movies that just got a brand new 2k or 4k coat of paint.

 

[bubbleboyjones]

Back to the point though - around my area every movie theater is one of these big AMC chains. They're all Dolby Vision 4K Laser Projectors etc etc I still hate going to them though because no matter how good the Audio/Video experience is I don't want stupid fucking assigned seating. I am paying to see a movie, not a student in a classroom. It's stupid the way I can't just get up and move seats if I want too in a half-filled theater.

How many screens at any given AMC has Dolby Vision?

The point is most theaters still fucking suck, even AMC chains that advertise Dolby Vision. Case in point, if you didn't catch 1917 during it's first week run most places removed it off of the good screens(IMAX, Dolby Vision) to be replaced by Bad Boys for Life.

 

[Ice That Jaw]

I would abandon physical media in a hearbeat if the major streaming providers could give me audio that doesn't sound like it's playing through a gramaphone. To get full lossless audio, you have to go through niche 3rd party platforms which sucks.

I spent a stupid amount of money on high quality surround speakers so I want to hear uncompressed audio.

 

[HenryFlower]

I would abandon physical media in a hearbeat if the major streaming providers could give me audio that doesn't sound like it's playing through a gramaphone. To get full lossless audio, you have to go through niche 3rd party platforms which sucks.

I spent a stupid amount of money on high quality surround speakers so I want to hear uncompressed audio.

the audio quality isn’t nearly as much of an issue compared to the fuck awful image compression. i’ve blind bought blurays of movies i know are supposed to have great cinematography just to avoid the compressed to shit streaming rental.

tbf i don’t have a super fancy audio setup yet, so i probably haven’t noticed the audio compression nearly as much as i notice the image compression.

 

[Drain Bamage]

I live in an apartment so cant run a lot of bass. I have a 3.0 soundbar that I really like though. It decodes center channel and I like to crank that so I can hear the dialogue easier.

 

[Ice That Jaw]

the audio quality isn’t nearly as much of an issue compared to the fuck awful image compression. i’ve blind bought blurays of movies i know are supposed to have great cinematography just to avoid the compressed to shit streaming rental.

tbf i don’t have a super fancy audio setup yet, so i probably haven’t noticed the audio compression nearly as much as i notice the image compression.

The audio compression is much worse imo and is literally night and day. If you spend the big bucks, you'll see what I mean. I went with Bowers & Wilkins for speakers and SVS for subs. I went with 7.2/5.2.2 but if I did it again I would recommend just 5.2 and get the upper echelon series from B&W.

Prepare to empty your wallet though. My front towers were $900 each, subs were $500 each, center was $1200 and that is the entry level to enthusiast audio. B&W has 3k a piece bookshelf speakers. Lol

Here is a pro tip though. If you are only planning to watch movies and tv, I would save some money and go with a solid mid tier brand like Klipsche for speakers and get some really quality subwoofers like SVS or HSU. The premium brand speakers are geared for music, not movies.

 

[Ice That Jaw]

I live in an apartment so cant run a lot of bass. I have a 3.0 soundbar that I really like though. It decodes center channel and I like to crank that so I can hear the dialogue easier.

I just got a samsung one for my bedroom and it is pretty nice.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

I was just going digitally for a while.. but I recently fell back in love with physical media.. I went to a random yard sale and I saw tons of UFC DVD's for sale..very cheap, $1 per DVD and she said I can have 5 for $4 if I wanted them all.. I was just like yeah what the hell why not...

They are fantastic!!!. so firstly I popped in UFC 40 DVD which is 2 discs.. and the extras are great, it has tons of footage that is not on the internet, I have searched everywhere as I was curious and nope can't find it anywhere.. not on youtube or fightpass or anywhere else, seems its made especially for the DVD.

Next the fights.. they are not cut like fightpass.. fightpass cuts certain things from the fights.. but on the DVD I saw it all.. for example in the Shamock vs Tito fight there was a crazy good walkout and they were getting heated in eachothers face but on fightpass it doesnt show you that.. it seems to have been removed.

 

[Deleted member 263856]

Do you guys not have the internet

Why are you buying physical blu rays

Supposedly the quality for a trained eye is better but I agree. What if you want to watch a movie on the go? Are people carrying around those portable Blu-ray players like some sort of savages. I haven't owned physical copies of games or movies in years.

 

[HenryFlower]

The audio compression is much worse imo and is literally night and day. If you spend the big bucks, you'll see what I mean. I went with Bowers & Wilkins for speakers and SVS for subs. I went with 7.2/5.2.2 but if I did it again I would recommend just 5.2 and get the upper echelon series from B&W.

Prepare to empty your wallet though. My front towers were $900 each, subs were $500 each, center was $1200 and that is the entry level to enthusiast audio. B&W has 3k a piece bookshelf speakers. Lol

Here is a pro tip though. If you are only planning to watch movies and tv, I would save some money and go with a solid mid tier brand like Klipsche for speakers and get some really quality subwoofers like SVS or HSU. The premium brand speakers are geared for music, not movies.

i’m much more attuned to image quality than audio quality, so when i see the blacks & other dark shades have pixelated layers i lose my fucking mind.

appreciate your tips on equipment. i don’t think i’ll be dropping that kind of money on an audio setup just for my movies because i’ve already shelled out for a DAC, amp & headphones for listening to music on my computer. only time i’m not listening to music in my headphones is when i have company over & sound quality isn’t really imperative in those situations.

gonna take your mid tier speaker & sub recommendations for gospel though. once i’m done painting & refurnishing my living room i’m going to finally mount my tv & will need to bite down on some audio equipment to compliment my media setup once i’m finished.

 

[HenryFlower]

Supposedly the quality for a trained eye is better but I agree. What if you want to watch a movie on the go? Are people carrying around those portable Blu-ray players like some sort of savages. I haven't owned physical copies of games or movies in years.

no i just download a 1080p or higher bluray rip onto my external because i know how to internet.

totally legally ofc.

 

[GSP_37]

All of which makes perfect sense if you're just looking to save a few bucks but I'm a collector & there's no way that I'm ever going to have the patience to wait for the discs that I want to go on sale for $5 or $10 a pop. It's just not going to happen. I'd much rather spend a little extra money & get a Blu-ray on its day of release from Amazon ( or 4K if it's available it that format ).
Besides, unless it's something really major, my wife & I prefer to wait for new releases to come out on disc & just buy them rather than go to the theater to see them.

I'm pretty sure this past Black Friday there were 4K BluRay discs like $10 or so that came out that same year. I was shocked. Talking big name movies. I don't think they were that cheap the weekend, just Fri.

 

[sweetviolenturg]

I refuse to go with convenience over quality. Thankfully with music and games, they've gotten there. Movies...nope.

Music - I have everything in FLAC. Same quality as CD, relatively small files, backed up several times and DNR free. I can downconvert the master files into MP3s for other devices if needed

Games - I'm mostly a PC gamer but I get all of the consoles too. Digital games are the same as the physical version and nowadays, the physical version is pointless since it just installs, has to download patches and is only used as a license key. Nothing plays from the disc anymore. With Steam, it's been around forever, has never screwed me out of anything and looks to have a good future. Sony also has a good track record of digital content. Nintendo however, has an absolutely abysmal record for digital and will close shops, remove games and remove your purchases. I buy Switch games physically since you play them directly off the card and you aren't beholden to Nintendo.

Movies - This is the big one. Unlike music, movies just have so much going on. Tons of different audio options, commentary, special features, HDR (for UHD). Not only that but the file sizes are huge. You're talking 100GB for a single movie and since I like to collect, I'd want to keep that movie forever. I can easily back up my music but movies would require a huge number of hard drives and a lot of work. Not to mention, where are you going to find a digital copy of a movie that is 1:1 copy of a disc? You're not. It's going to be compressed and may not have all of the features. With digital, I'm beholden to streaming services and we've seen countless of those fail already. The price is not cheap and it's going to be compressed and use up your internet bandwidth streaming huge 4K files.

Ironically, having a movie on disc is the convenient way to me - not digital like the others. It's cheap, it's easy to store on a shelf, it looks nice and it's a perfect copy. It's not like a CD where I might want to listen to several different songs. If I'm going to watch a movie, I'm going to be on my couch for 2 hours. There's nothing inconvenient about popping in a disc, sitting down and watching it. I can probably do that faster than scrolling through a streaming service and deciding what to watch.

Quality always matters to me the most and if there ever came a time where I could get a perfect 1:1 copy of a movie in a digital file without DRM, then I'd switch. I just don't see that happening though.

My feelings exactly.

 

[Renard]

It's a classic skimming strategy. Wait 6 months and it'll be in a clearance bin somewhere for half that.

it's news to me that people still buy physical copies though.

 

[Drain Bamage]

I was just going digitally for a while.. but I recently fell back in love with physical media.. I went to a random yard sale and I saw tons of UFC DVD's for sale..very cheap, $1 per DVD and she said I can have 5 for $4 if I wanted them all.. I was just like yeah what the hell why not...

They are fantastic!!!. so firstly I popped in UFC 40 DVD which is 2 discs.. and the extras are great, it has tons of footage that is not on the internet, I have searched everywhere as I was curious and nope can't find it anywhere.. not on youtube or fightpass or anywhere else, seems its made especially for the DVD.

Next the fights.. they are not cut like fightpass.. fightpass cuts certain things from the fights.. but on the DVD I saw it all.. for example in the Shamock vs Tito fight there was a crazy good walkout and they were getting heated in eachothers face but on fightpass it doesnt show you that.. it seems to have been removed.

Hell yeah bro welcome back to the good life

 

[sweetviolenturg]

Yeah physical media is pointless now imo. And I'm NEVER paying 30 bucks for a movie.

Do you guys not have the internet

Why are you buying physical blu rays

Supposedly the quality for a trained eye is better but I agree. What if you want to watch a movie on the go? Are people carrying around those portable Blu-ray players like some sort of savages. I haven't owned physical copies of games or movies in years.

t's a classic skimming strategy. Wait 6 months and it'll be in a clearance bin somewhere for half that.

it's news to me that people still buy physical copies though.

Obviously you gentlemen aren't collectors. Which is cool but I am & I prefer the best possible version of my favorite films on physical media sitting on my shelves. It's not important to everyone but it definitely is to me & money's really not an issue to me when it comes to making sure that I have them as soon as they become available since it's become the hobby that I enjoy the most right now.

 

[Mike]

Obviously you gentlemen aren't collectors. Which is cool but I am & I prefer the best possible version of my favorite films on physical media sitting on my shelves. It's not important to everyone but it definitely is to me & money's really not an issue to me when it comes to making sure that I have them as soon as they become available since it's become the hobby that I enjoy the most right now.

Keeping track of all the crap and moving with it was a factor too. I move way too goddamn much to add more clutter.

I still buy the odd physical copy, I think the last movie I bought was Infinity War.