Weekend Open Forum: DVD, Blu-ray, digital or streaming?

[Scorpus]

The media industry is currently going through a shift, with many people choosing to adopt streaming and digital options for their daily fix of television and movies. But physical media is still a big seller, especially Blu-ray discs, which are an easy and low-bandwidth option for high quality 1080p content.

So when it comes to watching a film on your TV, what do you end up choosing? Is it a streaming option like Netflix or Amazon Instant Video? Or perhaps a digital download using Ultraviolet or a content provider like iTunes? Maybe you're opting for the best quality and go with Blu-ray, or perhaps you're like my parents and are still rocking that DVD player from 10 years ago.

Unfortunately my internet connection isn't fast enough to stream movies with any sort of decent quality, so I tend to opt for a digital download instead. Let me know what you use in the comments below (hopefully it's not VHS).

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https://www.techspot.com/news/56789-weekend-open-forum-dvd-blu-ray-digital-or-streaming.html

 

[Mike Steele]

Dvd's from the library. a huge free collection of just about anything. plus there's real human interaction out there

 

[Jad Chaar]

Currently streaming via netflix. I still watch blu rays and DVDs though.

 

[BMfan]

HDD\Blu-ray.

 

[mailpup]

Mostly Blu-ray with some DVDs.

 

[Tanstar]

I mostly rent DVDs from Redbox, but for an action or sci-fi flik I go Bluray. I normally buy Bluray/DVD/Digital combo packs, so I can watch my bought movie anywhere. We stream some movies through Amazon Prime or from Comcast On Demand and yes, the library has a great collection of DVDs (though I am normally picking up seasons of TV shows there).

With all these choices, and many others I could access but choose not to, it's a great time to watch movies!

 

[TomSEA]

90% blu-ray, 7% DVD, 3% streaming. I like having my own library, plus you can't beat the resolution.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, the DTS-HD and Master Audio are soooo great on streamed downloads (like vomit).

Streamed videos just cheapen my expensive audio setup. Isn't mass technology great? MP3's already proved that is a lie.

 

[deathspeed]

A mix of DVD, streaming Netflix, and digital downloads on a Seegate Freeagent Theater+.
And I don't know how I ever watched TV without DVR.

 

[tonylukac]

Watched about 4 movies at home in the last year. 3 blu ray, 1 verizon instant free stream of the hobbit.All resolutions good, but blu ray better. Rent them at redbox at walmart for $1.50. Wouldn't pay to have netflix nor a higher speed internet line.

 

[davislane1]

Most of the time I prefer Netflix, but I use Blu-ray for movies and shows not listed in their streaming service.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Netflix, Youtube, Twitch, and h.264 encoded video.

 

[Guest]

Some people download blurays and storing them on hard drives (which are dirt cheap).
The 8BG bluray rips aren't significantly different compared tot he BD25 or BD50 GB discs. Torrents

Of course I BUY all my blurays. I wait for them to reach bargain bin prices then buy the ones I love.

Or if it's a great movie I just buy it full release retail price.

Once you go HD on a 50" + plasma, LED, how can you go back to DVD?

 

[yukka]

Only recently bought a bluray player (Xmas sale) and I've got game of thrones box sets, lord of the rings and Star Wars. The resolution for game of thrones and lotr is vastly superior to anything else I've seen. I haven't watched the star wars bluray yet. I've got netflix but don't watch it too much. Still got a library of DVDs but haven't bought a new one for a while. Do have sky tv and sky movies with their on demand streaming service and fibre (uk) so watch quite a few films on there nowadays.

 

[Guest]

This is derivative and unoriginal.

 

[Pioy]

Digital, mostly. Easiest way. Streaming then. I don't like all this play with cd's, using space to store them, searching them and worrying if they don't work.

 

[Experimentongod]

This is derivative and unoriginal.

You mean your post? heh.

I'm with TomSEA, Bluray is the way movies are meant to be watched, streaming is just too low quality. It's also a shame that you need to resort to torrents when you want a full quality digital copy of a movie and also when you don't want to wait for months for a movie to be released in your particular country. Then you wait for the movie to be on Bluray in your area and for price to drop and THEN buy the disc.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

I don't watch movies, only live sports, documentaries and some news. If there's nothing on that interests at the time me I'll play a PC game. (or post crap on this site)

 

[cliffordcooley]

I'll play a PC game. (or post crap on this site)

That should have been my line!

 

[VitalyT]

90% - downloads, 5%-netflix, 5%-youtube. Blu-Ray/DVD - hardly ever, even though I have about 200 of them.

For too many shows and movies download is the only option, as they cannot be found anyhow else. For example, The West Wing in HD - 200GB. Many movies in proper 60fps adaptation, like Gravity, Rush, etc. Those are 10 times better than 60fps emulation, which sucks by the way.

 

[Guest]

Digital content mostly. SD definition mostly. Smaller files, content seen. Done.
DVD quality is enough for me.

Blu-rays for stuff with CGI. The whole idea of HD for The Simpsons or other animated content baffles me. And quite frankly, I won't pay the extra money for films, that 90% of the current market are just re-makes or same ol' same ol' with no wow factor.

And streaming in the UK isnt worth the money either. Netflix doesnt have the content here. And Skys option was ok for a while but, another monthly cost to haemorrhage more money from the wallet.

 

[Tekkaraiden]

I do a bit of everything, I do subscribe to Netflix and Crunchyroll but I don't use them all the time. I tend to download movies and tv shows or stream them directly. I do have a fairly large dvd/bluray collection and plan to watch them a lot more when my basement is done being renovated.

 

[GhostRyder]

I like Blu-rays or downloading/streaming in HD. I dislike DVD's nowadays mostly because I can see the quality difference.

 

[Guest]

I have never viewed a bluray didnt even see a bluray player

 

[EEatGDL]

Blu-rays complemented with the movies we had already bought in DVD. We use streaming for that casual movie not worth buying and to watch it in family on weekends. There are some scenarios where video compression is not that big of a loss; but others with a lot of colors and thones when the compressed video of streaming messes them up (like in Gravity, when the galaxy and stars appear on screen some tones of black are approximated to a dark-violet, looks like big patches). Still, having bought expensive audio equipment, is an insult not to use Blu-ray.