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DVDs are dying right as streaming has made them appealing again (arstechnica.com)

submitted 3 months ago by Stopthatgirl7 to c/technology

231 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It's sensible for businesses to shift from physical media sales. Per CNBC's calculations, DVD sales fell over 86 percent between 2008 and 2019. Research from the Motion Picture Association in 2021 found that physical media represented 8 percent of the home/mobile entertainment market in the US, falling behind digital (80 percent) and theatrical (12 percent).

But as physical media gets less lucrative and the shuttering of businesses makes optical discs harder to find, the streaming services that largely replaced them are getting aggravating and unreliable. And with the streaming industry becoming more competitive and profit-hungry than ever, you never know if the movie/show that most attracted you to a streaming service will still be available when you finally get a chance to sit down and watch. Even paid-for online libraries that were marketed as available "forever" have been ripped away from customers.

When someone buys or rents a DVD, they know exactly what content they're paying for and for how long they'll have it (assuming they take care of the physical media). They can also watch the content if the Internet goes out and be certain that they're getting uncompressed 4K resolution. DVD viewers are also less likely to be bombarded with ads whenever they pause and can get around an ad-riddled smart TV home screen (nothing's perfect; some DVDs have unskippable commercials).

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[–] FlyingSquid 5 points 3 months ago

There's still the public library.

For now.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (24 children)

Why would I want dvds when I can own digital media?

[–] RaoulDook 4 points 3 months ago

Because the discs will safely store that data for decades longer than any of your hard drives will likely work.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (3 children)

DVDs, appealing? Have you watched them lately?

[–] victorz 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I tried to watch a DVD lately (as in past few years). Holy. Yeah. Not as I remembered. It's not even 720p. Looks like manure on my 65" 4K OLED. 💩 And the audio. I had to stop.

I think it was Band Of Brothers? Had to download a 1080p boxset at least. Then it was consumable.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's one of those things were people have gotten used to 1080p or better and they remember DVD being pretty good, but when they go back, yeeesh. I remember thinking that about VHS vs DVD. Got used to DVD, remembered VHS being just fine, put a VHS on, oh boy.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Shout out to [email protected]

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The end of Redbox marks another death knell for the DVD industry at a time when volatile streaming services are making physical media appealing again.

But on Wednesday, Judge Thomas M. Horan of the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved a conversion to chapter 7, signaling the liquidation of business, per Deadline.

Redbox's remaining 24,000 kiosks will close, and 1,000 workers will be laid off (severance and back pay eligibility are under review, and a bankruptcy trustee will investigate if trust funds intended for employees were misappropriated).

In April, Target confirmed that it will only sell DVDs in stores during "key times," like the winter holiday season or the release of a newer movie to DVD.

Still, places that offer DVDs have gotten significantly rarer recently, and relying solely on an increasingly cable-like streaming industry for home entertainment is a scary proposition.

The original article contains 768 words, the summary contains 175 words. Saved 77%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

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