I was speaking to a friend of mine recently who works at a local 'Mom & Pop' video game and DVD/BD rental shop and the subject of how much longer came up.
He knows I spent cash on old Laserdiscs and he spends cash on old console games so I guess at some point it was an inevitable conversation...

The thread on this forum about how long we can spin Laserdisc may be a moot point. Right now we have DVD and Blu-ray being produced for movies and games on disc for both consoles and PCs but with the push towards online gaming, downloads and streaming are not the Blu-rays selling now about to be just as dead as our mutual friend the Laserdisc?

Thought? Opinions?

Bluray will be the last physical format for movies. The next generation of console and handheld video games will be the last to accept physical copies of stuff.

That's it. It sucks, but its true.

I'm all for digital downloads, if, the downloads are of high quality non compressed format. That's the problem though, non control of proliferation on the web. So we continue with physical sales, DVD and BR. LD is NEVER coming back, end of story, get over it and enjoy what you have, just is not cost efficient and never will be again.

Elvis

Wrong thread

here you go

Thank goodness we have the Nazi LD board police to help guide us, NOT. Get lost!!! You don't like it, ignore it.

Elvis

This is the unfortunate conclusion we came to as well.

I would agree, but, until a higher quality download ever becomes available without being too intrusive, physical releases shall exist, how or when that shall occur? if ever?

Quality has nothing to do with it. The copyright holders want DRM that works, streaming and downloads are the only way to do it, so as soon as broadband is truely world wide, that's all they are going to sell.

So do you think there will be newer physical formats going forward?

This is a perplexing problem for me as I love the ability go grab a movie off the shelf that may be one of several versions or have lots of great supplemental material. Take films like "Blade Runner" or "Dawn of the Dead" for example; will Netflix (as an example) or whatever company or entity stream me all those variations of one film or any supplement at all? Also who decides what soundtrack I will be stuck listening to?

I'm a Nazi because you were doing your usual trolling in the wrong thread? OP said nothing about LD "coming back."

Disagree, customer has a huge say and can plain refuse to buy lesser quality or someone will continue to release physical medium to take advantage of those customers that demand quality. That's it, and always has been the case.

Who knows? There will not be a need for any physical formats going forward if the quality issue is addressed and security. If not, then there could be physical releases for as long as needed to fullfill customer demands, as long as it's profitable.

elvis there will always be people who want a physical copy to hold in their hands. the feeling of "owning a movie" will never go away, there will always be enough people to warrant sales of physical copies of music and movies. Well, maybe not always but at least for a long time to come. I know to me watching movies on hulu or netflix or off of bittorrent feels cheap and shallow. If I like a movie or a tv show i want to actually have it in my collection, makes me feel like i have a piece of the movie in my house. And its a great feeling to be able to see and hold a movie

It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.

If the customer's wants are so powerful, where is pre-special edition Star Wars?

Seriously, the studios demand DRM. Anything you can have a physical copy of can be cracked and duplicated. Even Sony has learned this by now. If they could stop making physical copies this minute they would.

Also, the customer pretty much has spoken in saying he prefers streaming.

As for multiple edits, bonus material, etc. There is no technical reason for streaming content to not have this now. They leave it out to make the BR/DVD more apealing.

I'm not disagreeing about the eventuality or possibility of DRM being the eventual lone method of purchase (definitely the king on cost effectiveness), but as of now the gap on quality and diversity is far to great for overall consumer acceptance/domination. Until then (and beyond), I will expect physical medium to remain a method of purchase and maybe much longer as long as there is a market for profitibility.

As far as copy right protection, there will be hack programs created to copy DRM's, as long as it's digital, they will find a way to copy. No, it's more to do with cost effectiveness than copy right protection that will drive the DRM market. In fact, I predict the cost will get so low for media that it won't even be worth the cost to copy or store, DRM's. Also storage may become a permanent factor by the media outlet with license to reuse as you please.

As far as your Star Wars argument not being released. We don't know why, I will assume it has something to do with cost effectiveness, copyright issues? Seems their was a post here with a link to a site that spent umpteen pages on the reasoning.

You must be asleep to not believe in the power of the consumer to dictate what they want or don't want and the demand for profits.

Show me where you find any study or statistics on your statement about the consumer demanding streaming (DRM's) as far as it pertains to here. I doubt your conclusion at least as far as final product for audio or video buffs, with the current quality of DRM's today. A good example would be LP's, look how they survived the digital onslaught to remain a physical medium, why? Because through demand they remained cost effective and profitable.
I think physical releases will remain around for much longer than we think, again as long as there remains a demand and it's cost effective.

Sorry, Yazorin, I feel this is a poor argument to warrant the future existence of physical medium. Very few people feel this way, nostalgic, but it will help to keep physical medium around with the quality buffs, at least until DRM comes close to matching quality. You can always freeze a frame in your favorite movie, transfer to Adobe photoshop and take to a professional printer to blow up your favorite poster, or make a t-shirt, or whatever stokes your physical need to touch.

totally agree, people will always want to have a physical thing, BUT you and i are sure doing our part to stop that

i use download on ntflx also and the more companies see US spend money with instant and less
over discs, they stop making discs for sale due to sales lacking.

I agree with all of you. But I am not worried a bit. The number of new movies I want watch gets smaller and smaller each year. So much action not much acting or story doesnt entertain me no more. anything upto this point are already on laserdisc,dvd,bluray and the numbers are vast. There is enough old stuff to keep me busy for a life time. This applies to music too. I dont game so no argument for me there. But this is me I know a lot of folks like to watch new stuff then old. Tv shows on the other hand will suffer for me because I watch new stuff there.mostlikely tv stuff will be download only first then movies. $2.99 per episode is a good way of making money.

The quality of streaming video has increased enormously in recent years. Netflix now looks better than DVD (although certainly doesn't sound better than DVD). Like I said, we will have physical copies until the hillbillies in Possum Pouch Arkansas have cable internet. Once they do, its over. By then the combination of better streaming technology, higher speed connections, and people's ever lowering standards will kill all physical media other than vinyl records and home brew video games.

Even theaters are moving to streaming content. Seriously. Its over. All the more reason to keep your LDs forever.

The troll once again shows his sophomoric mentality, and it is impossible to get him to understand even the most basic ideation of why many people have interests that are not like his own.

It is also impractical to get this character to even see that there is no universal right or wrong in the matter of collecting and enjoying such, but that it is merely right to the collector and like-minded persons and wrong to those who find such things uninteresting.

But the worst is that this ignorant troll must cackle, squawk and resort to namecalling on a forum devoted to those who enjoy the collecting and the nature of the format about how wrong they are seemingly only to raise their ire, and to get some sort of sociopathic joy out of doing that.

And to this troll, even if one shows irrefutably that one is right, one is still wrong.