What do you think of the move toward online media, as opposed to purchasing DVDs?

[Orrex]

I've seen this mentioned several times recently in GD and here in the Lounge, specifically as it pertains to the forthcoming death of the DVD, and I have to say that it doesn't really thrill me. I'm not advocating for dinosaur technology, but if I don't want a record of which book I borrowed from the library, I'm not sure that I want an accessible record of which film I watched 30 times, either.

What do you think?

[TZ]

1. Well your fear is understandable

having a record of all the pron you watch is a bit embarrassing isn't it! :hide:


Seriously, I like having a DVD. Downloading movies is such a PITA if you ask me. And on demand doesn't always have the greatest choices.

[Heidi]

2. I buy DVDs in person, at a store, where I know the staff --

and they know the films and enjoy talking with me about them. And they're the most patient people on earth -- my Italian is HORRIBLE. I'm happy to pay a little more for this like-mindedness and mutual interest in cinema.

[qb]

3. The move to online movies was premature... for Netflix anyway.

I've pulled up several movies where the audio & video weren't in sync, and they have obvious bandwidth issues. I like hulu.com for watching tv shows, but I definitely prefer DVDs for watching movies.

[Jamastiene]

4. Give me hard copy any day.

I might download a movie I'm not sure about, but if it's a favorite, I want a hard copy in my hands that belongs to me. It's none of anybody else's damn business how many times I watch a movie or a scene in a movie, but mine. In other words, I agree with you. Furthermore, I find it creepy and big brother-ish that they want to keep up with what we watch and when that way.

[AlCzervik]

5. I still buy hard copies of movies and rent them.

I have apple tv and i had an episode of some show that i sent over to the tv, it was kind of a pain in the ass, it looked fine but it would have been much easier to just rent the dvd.

[Deja Q]

6. Hard drives are prone to crashing. Amongst extra levels of compression... never mind faux HD quality

(1920x1080p isn't when the data has to be compressed so much to fit a small gigabyte footprint. A single blu-ray disc alone is 25GB in size. A standard definition DVD (720x480) is 8GB for 4 hours and still looks very grainy (DVD compression artifacting).)

DVDs are dying out?

I suspect it has more to do with the whiny MPAA babies and housing control than anything else.

[dembotoz]

7. hard copy

computers crash and burn.
mp3s break

give a hard copy any day that is seperate from
a fickle electronic device