this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2024
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[–] [email protected] 29 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Found a small part of the problem.

Physical media is dying because the majority of people think just as short sighted as businesses do. Businesses think in short term thoughts like quarters. They do so because investers want immediate return.

But why would you as a person not want physical media??? I literally bought a George Carlin dvd of one of his HBO specials 2 days ago. It was traded into a local resale shop as "used". It was brand new, because even though the plastic wrap was gone, the adhesive label at the top was still unbroken. Brand new dvd. $3.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Most people don't know how to switch between inputs on their TVs or have gotten rid of their DVD or BluRay players at this point.

They're using the built in streaming apps or they've plugged a Roku in where the cable box used to go.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (2 children)

dont know why youre being downvoted, this is completely true. The majority of people favour the convenience that streaming has represented, and TVs have been designed to turn on showing a shiny netflix icon instead of "Composite II" for like a decade now.

Yes, while consumers have been sold a double-edged sword/lie - the streaming companies were obviously never going to market their platforms by saying "one downside of streaming is we can take away content whenever we like".

The average person with a bluray collection is going to be much more aware of the pros and cons of the formats - I'd be willing to guess most peoples family "collections" are still on DVD.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I'd guess that the down votes weren't because it wasn't true, but rather simply that the fact made them unhappy. Not the best use of down votes, but understandable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

With very little initial work, physical media is also very convenient.

I buy a disk, put it into a specific drive, get a instant message when its ripped, check its name and put it into a folder. From there my mediabox converts it to a managable size and adds it to the collection.

Whin I turn on my TV I see all these Movies and shows neatly presented by Kodi. I have a tiny Wireless keyboard and can start any in under a second. No buffering, no adds, no matter if the router is connected, and no fear of ever loosing access.

Its great.

Exeptions are there of couse, I would love to buy The Orville, but they just don't want my money!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

For me, physical media takes up more space. It's a good thing and a bad thing. It takes up more space which means I need to have more space, but it's also cool having the boxes and box art etc. Ultimately, as long as I own my media and it's physically accessible to me (like located on my hard drive), then I am happy with that ownership and don't have to worry about it being taken away from me. Also, physical media can be damaged which means it's unusable entirely. With a proper RAID setup and backups, digital media can outlast physical media.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Blu-rays do not actually take up this much space: On a 1TB drive you can store about 10-12 4K movies. You need a backup and you need a second drive for your Raid setup. This takes up quiet a lot of space too.

Besides that: storing the movies on a Raid system is a lot more expensive. If I'd rip all of my blu-rays to a digital copy, I'd need like 12 TB of storage. In a raid setup with backup, that's quiet expensive!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I meant physical size, not data size. With one computer with multiple 24TB drives, you can store hundreds or thousands of Blu-rays. To have that amount of physical Blu-rays, you would need a massive shelf - or more likely, multiple massive shelves.

True, RAID is more expensive, but it also ensures your data will keep working reliably - and it's much harder to lose than a small disc. Doubly when you throw backups into the mix.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

It's not that big, the cases are much smaller than DVD cases. Each case is 12-13mm wide, so on a typical shelf, you could fit >60. You can easily make them two or three deep, depending on your shelf.

I just stick them in a box after ripping them to my HDDs.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Sure, but with a full-sized PC tower, you could reasonably fit thousands of Blu-rays. The physical size difference is pretty massive in that comparison.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Sure. I'm just saying storage doesn't need to be overly burdensome. I just toss mine in a box and stick it in a closet. And if the drives die, you have the disks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Modern hard drives come in 20 TB or larger. 4K movies don't need to be anywhere near that big either with modern compression technology.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Which has its own downside, that being the up-front cost.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I don’t want physical media because it’s a liability. It can get lost or destroyed very very easily, especially optical media.

Digital copies are portable, I can data hoard them, and, worst case, I can just re-download it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It's very easy to make digital copies of physical media. The resulting copy is likely to be as high quality as you can find, and as portable as any digital copy can be. Pop it in a folder and point Jellyfin at it, and it's available anywhere.

It's also the easiest legal way to get a good digital copy.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

And why on earth would I pay for media when I can get it for free?

My Plex server is packed with downloads and rips.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Because somebody has to create that media. And that person they have to live. (Or better that huge team when it comes to movies) So they have to earn money, so somebody has to pay them.

I also enjoy that today I can test if something fits me If I am skeptical. But I also always make sure to pay back creators for things I enjoy so that in the future there will be more things I enjoy.

Of course I understand anybody who can not afford media and am happy to subsidize them with the part I am paying for good shows. But if you have a Plex server, you can afford it. And If you say its close just start with things you like most and at least say "thank you" to them.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

The creators get paid when they do the work, not from sales.

Also, a much more important note: if I couldn’t pirate it, I wasn’t going to pay for it anyway.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Where do you think the people who pay the creators get the money to pay them? From sales from the results of the last creators who worked for them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Where do you think the people who pay the creators get the money to pay them?

ads, mostly.

From sales from the results of the last creators who worked for them.

so? they already got paid. i feel no remorse for pirating from a global megacorp.

And neither should you

edit: and - once again - if i couldn't pirate it, i wasn't going to buy it anyway. You can't even argue lost sales (which the creators never see).