About 10 years ago, I could not imagine a world without video disks of movies. Over several years I had amassed a vast collection of movies (lost cost) on DVD. Then along comes BluRay. GEEZ, now I have to start replacing all of my favorite DVDs into this new, high-definition format.
What’s a girl to do?
Well over the past several years, what has happened is not what I expected to happen – I have not replaced that many of my DVDs; in fact my DVD purchasing has very nearly ground to a screeching halt. Why?
After giving this question some thought I have come up with the following reasons:
- Most of my movies in my DVD collection were not shot in the high-definition format thereby making purchasing them in HD a moot point.
- Economics – as I have gotten older, the economics of purchasing movies is no longer as feasible as it once was. My discretionary income is now divvied up into other categories.
- Death of bricks and mortar – let’s face it – the “see me, by me” retail model really does have an impact on your decision to purchase merchandise.
- (more importantly) I have discovered various alternative means of acquiring my video content. Whether it is via streaming, digital downloading or a host of other products and services made available, I just have not been purchasing or ordering video disks of movies in any form lately.
I wonder if this is an overall trend or just something that I am experiencing? I know anecdotally that DVD/BluRay sales are not exactly where the movie industry wants them to be, but I have not looked up the hard numbers to support this claim. Have any of you seen the data?
In addition I have the following questions for my audience:
- Have your DVD/BluRay purchase patterns changed drastically over the past several years?
- What is your principle means of acquiring copies or gaining access to your favorites movies nowadays?
- What do you think is the future of purchasing hard copies of your favorite movies?
Castor says
I haven’t bought a DVD in ages. If I were you, I wouldn’t even replace my DVDs with Blu-Rays, that’s kind of ridiculous to me. All of my watching happens via Netflix these days and in a few years, I think physical ownership of media will be something left for die-hard collectors.
iluvcinema says
@castor i agree i thought about replacing bd’s and dvd’s but ended up not making much progress. i also agree that physical ownership will be a thing of the past soon. as long as your favorite films are made immediately available there is no reason for the physical media.
YVette says
I don’t own very many DVDs, it’s true. If I had a bigger budget I might own more. But I’m not sure. I find that once I buy a DVD of a favorite movie, I don’t watch it as often as I thought I would.
I watch a lot of things on Netflix streaming, but they’re going to have to up their selectins if they want to keep me. Home DVDs from Netflix are still where most of the choice movies are.
But DVDs are good for one thing: vintage movies. Netflix has missed the boat on many MANY vintage films I’m interested in viewing.
Just ordered THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER a few days ago. It’s the only way I was ever going to see it again.
When VCRs were the thing, I owned far too many videos and wound up just chucking most of them out when I switched to DVDs.
iluvcinema says
@Yvette LOVE that film …. (Adrian Messenger another one that my dad put me on to :))
Ja says
Good question.
My film viewing process goes as follows:
1) Watch my favorite movies on my plethora of cable channels (repeatedly).
2) Venture to the theaters to see very select (i.e. sci-fi/comic) flics on the big screen/IMAX
3) Re-watch them again (see #1)
4) VERY selectively purchase films on blu-ray that fall into category #2 above (exceptions are documentaries, independent dramas, vintage television shows/series, as DVDs).
iluvcinema says
@ja – you have it down to science 🙂
Jack Deth says
Hi, iluv and company:
I’ve never been sold on Blu~Ray and High Definition. Have a nice library of films. Lots of B&W and Noir. Can’t see spending a lot of money to update what I already have.
Since I’ve already done that as entertainment technology has advanced. From Reel-To-Reel, to 8-Track, cassettes and CDs. While Beta surrendered to VHS and later, DVDs.
Great catch on ‘The List Of Adrian Messenger’, Yvette!
Half the fun is trying to figure out who’s who. While enjoying a superior, near forgotten thriller!