The Future of Home Video

[Matt]

I realized recently, as a person who came of age in the three-network (plus UHF—very important) era and then with basic cable, I most enjoy watching things that are just on. With both streaming and physical media I have to make a deliberate choice of what to watch and this often paralyzes me. With something like TCM, I don’t have to make that choice. My only decision is how much attention I’m going to allot to what’s on.

I used to arrange my kevyip (unwatched physical media pile) by runtime and simply watch from shortest to longest, regardless of what I was actually in the mood for. That helped me get through the pile, but it was not always an ideal experience.

[denti alligator]

Lawrence of Arabia and Wolf of Wall Street … considering the former is impossible to get on 4K disc and the latter doesn’t have a reference quality physical release.

Did I miss something? Both are available on reference-quality UHD, no?

[vsski]

I think streaming has the advantage of allowing to watch something at the spur of a moment even if that film is not in a personal collection, or to sample movies to see if a certain type is to one’s liking, or if someone wants to see as much as possible of a person’s filmography. Quality will vary based on personal set up and available streaming elements, but it seldom surpasses a good quality BD or UHD.

More than 20 years ago I worked for a company that developed one of the first streaming services for Sony and at the time there was a lot of talk of the Internet enabling every movie ever made at the tip of a finger as well as securing future revenue streams for the studios. Today I don’t hear much of the former and the latter is clearly in the back of the mind of most executives. So Drucker made a very good point that it’s not so much about access or quality but control as to what and how consumers watch movies (implying make the studios money).

Personally I will not give up collecting physical media, but at times streaming is a good alternative, so I hope both can coexist for a long time to come.

[swo17]

Lawrence of Arabia and Wolf of Wall Street … considering the former is impossible to get on 4K disc and the latter doesn’t have a reference quality physical release.

Did I miss something? Both are available on reference-quality UHD, no?

Looks like the Lawrence UHD is OOP and fetching high prices. Reportedly the UHDs of Wolf of Wall Street have some black crush in parts, but is it really that bad and is the streaming version any better?

[denti alligator]

Weird. Happy to sell mine for what it appears to be going for…

[MichaelB]

There's a James White interview from back in the day where he mentions some of his favorite movie watching experiences were VHS's from back in his day as a video clerk.

One of the more surprising extras trends has been the inclusion of Super 8 cut-downs - but they really are genuinely popular.

It certainly isn't anything to do with the AV quality, which is pretty abysmal in both cases (and if the film was originally Scope-framed, you'll most likely only get about half of the picture), but as someone who was around in the Super 8 era I can totally understand the nostalgic pull.

[rrenault]

Just this summer, the Museum of Moving Image in New York had to cancel a 70MM screening of the original Top Gun because Paramount wanted to force viewers to its platform to watch the movie.

Streaming, like downloading, can be a great way to explore film. But I'm sure we all can agree we don't want the home video, repertory, and greater film industry to go the way the music industry has gone.

That's definitely a low blow on Paramount's part, regardless of what one thinks of Top Gun as a movie. I certainly see where you're coming from and agree about not wanting film to go the way of the music industry, but I also think the collapse of physical rentals of films has maybe pushed a lot of cinephiles to physically purchase a decent number of titles they otherwise would just rent first. Granted, the digital rentals on Apple TV/iTunes tend to be fairly good quality, even in HD.

[tenia]

That's definitely a low blow on Paramount's part, regardless of what one thinks of Top Gun as a movie. I certainly see where you're coming from and agree about not wanting film to go the way of the music industry, but I also think the collapse of physical rentals of films has maybe pushed a lot of cinephiles to physically purchase a decent number of titles they otherwise would just rent first. Granted, the digital rentals on Apple TV/iTunes tend to be fairly good quality, even in HD.

It also makes no sense from a purely short-term perspective : even if one believes 100% of theater viewers had planned to see the movie there instead of streaming it (and that this decision will 100% reverse the situation), we're about of 300 viewers. Oh yeah, that definitely going to show in Paramount+ viewing figures.

[Drucker]

Corporate policy is a facts-free field, don't worry. All that matters is short-term thinking.

Also just and checked and figured I'd share the relevant screening to ensure I remembered correctly.

[mhofmann]

And this is why I believe that an increasing acceptance and usage of streaming services is really, really bad for the future accessibility of movies. Peaceful coexistence of both is a utopia that is rendered unrealistic by simple corporate greed.

[mhofmann]

Heck, even TV shows the streaming services have been producing themselves are disappearing, just because it's more economical for the service to not offer them.

[hearthesilence]

I realized recently, as a person who came of age in the three-network (plus UHF—very important) era and then with basic cable, I most enjoy watching things that are just on.

I get nostalgic for this too. My family did not have cable - everyone I know did but my parents refused to spring for it and we stuck with this shitty antenna that got crappier and crappier reception once you got past channel 26. (Watching cartoons on Channel 32 was a frustrating experience.) That part I'm not nostalgic for, but what was cool was WGN (channel 9) and they programmed a lot of interesting movies I'd never see otherwise. It was kind of a godsend on the weekends when nothing else would be on during the day, but you could flip to channel 9 and see some worthwhile movie. Usually a lot of New Hollywood stuff too, though also stuff from the '60s (this was how I saw Cool Hand Luke) and '80s (Brazil).

[rrenault]

And this is why I believe that an increasing acceptance and usage of streaming services is really, really bad for the future accessibility of movies. Peaceful coexistence of both is a utopia that is rendered unrealistic by simple corporate greed.

This is fair. I guess I'm personally just very selective in determining which films I actually need to physically own on disc. Some people's collections number in the thousands, which seems unfathomable to me. My collection of blu-rays and UHDs combined only numbers in the 200s.

[Finch]

Confirmation if nothing else that Kino Lorber continue to believe in the future of physical media

[dustybooks]

Also an admission that Lorber owns bootlegs since Compleat Beatles was never on DVD…

[FrauBlucher]

I don't think Netflix' DVD program is a barometer for physical media's life expectancy. Clearly, eventually their DVD via the mail was going end. I'm surprised it lasted this long. I can't tell you how many people I know didn't know they still shipped DVDs. Plus, Netflix was never going to get into the UHD format which seems to be doing quite well.

[FrauBlucher]

There are reports going around that Disney is ending physical media in Australia and some Asia countries.

[Adam X]

JB Hi-Fi’s stores are almost the only physical places left to buy from a decent selection of DVD’s & Blu-Ray’s in Australia, and their support is slowly shrinking. I’d honestly be (happily) surprised to see anyone other than a few indie labels producing discs here in 10 years time.
Unless there’s a vinylesque resurgence.

[FrauBlucher]

There are reports going around that Disney is ending physical media in Australia and some Asia countries.

This from The Digital Bits...

As to the matter of today’s other Disney hot topic, I’m afraid, the news is not good. Despite the fact that Sanity has now pulled down their original Facebook post announcing it, we at The Digital Bits have confirmed today with multiple industry, distributor, and retailer sources in the region that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is indeed pulling out of the Australian market in terms of physical media. This follows similar moves in Asia (save for Japan) and Latin America, and the reason is apparently down to the gradual collapse of physical disc sales in the region, the growth of Disney+ Starz streaming, and also the rise of global retailers (think Amazon, Zavvi, etc). None of that will be of any comfort to disc fans in Australia, who will now have to pay a hefty shipping premium to import titles from outside the country. But it is true that Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 3 will be the last new-release Disney title to get a physical release in the region. Previously-released titles may continue to be available for purchase until the end of the year, but that will be up to individual retailers.

[Adam X]

Not sure there’s any irony in the article they reference coming from Sanity, who moved to an online-only business this year.

[Walter Kurtz]

Confirmation if nothing else that Kino Lorber continue to believe in the future of physical media

This is a very funny article. Supposedly 4000 titles is a well-curated collection! Coincidentally… a few weeks ago I thought my 64 titles were far too many so I decided to winnow them down to an even 40. What better way to dispose of 24 titles than having a Frisbee contest?

The winner of the Walter Kurtz Award for finishing in first place was Pierrot le fou.
The runner-up after a strong showing was In the Mood for Love

I forget how far the others flew but fly out of my collection they certainly did!

And I like to think they were ALL winners.

[HypnoHelioStaticStasis]

Some food for thought from Richard Brody

[FrauBlucher]

Yeah, Brody is right on. The bottom line is the DVD, bluray, UHD is yours and yours alone. You are at the mercy of no one, whether it's a studios streaming services taking away from you or a studios editing films due to societal trends

[fdm]

Prime (and likely Apple TV+) adding higher cost ad-free tiers to their streaming services.

[FrauBlucher]

Unless I missed something about physical media shouldn't that have been posted on the Streaming Services thread