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My streaming fatigue got so bad I started collecting DVDs

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Re: My streaming fatigue got so bad I started collecting DVDs

#31

Post by bsjxjeb »

silverquiet wrote: post #11
juujian wrote: post #3

> The variety in Walmart’s DVD bin is seemingly endless: and for a price of about $5 per disc that you can hang onto forever, you can’t really go wrong. Am I the only one who thinks that this premise is flawed? DVDs, like any physical storage medium, have a limited lease on life. If I was serious enough about movies to go into a store and pick them by hand, the first thing in would do is to create a digital backup. A…

What's going to live longer - a piece of plastic stored properly, or you? I have vinyl records from owners who are now deceased, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Unless you have an illness, it's most likely you.

I'm not worries about the plastic part of a DVD at all but the metallic layer will last you 10-20 years if stored away from any UV

Re: My streaming fatigue got so bad I started collecting DVDs

#32

Post by allturtles »

onion2k wrote: post #22

$5 per disc I think you could happily watch a different movie every night for a year on Netflix if you were happy with 'bargain bin' quality films. $5/night would be an expensive way of doing the same thing. And that's before you start on TV series...

I just did a quick search on Walmart.com for DVDs - Shawshank Redemption - Despicable Me 1 & 2 (for $5 total) - Scream 1-3 (again $5 total) - Beverly Hills Cop 1-3 (same) - Tombstone - Unforgiven - ET - A Star is Born (2018) - Sleepless in Seattle - The Thing (1982) - Seabiscuit - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - Titanic

I would say any of these movies is better than 95% of the movies available for streaming on Netflix (conservatively).

Re: My streaming fatigue got so bad I started collecting DVDs

#33

Post by jeffbee »

capitainenemo wrote: post #30
jeffbee wrote: post #27

Same here! I canceled HBO/Max, Hulu, and Disney and now I just buy discs by the armload at the local used books and records stores. The prices range from 99¢ to $10. The trigger was I wanted to watch The Abyss, the longer edition, and it's just not available anywhere. The DVD version looks great and sounds amazing compared to the tragically bad downmixes I get from streaming. After a few months of doing this now I ha…

Pretty cool. I'm hunting for alternatives to Netflix DVD. I've been checking out Café DVD as a possibility but haven't actually tried it - it might not have as large a catalog. Another thing I've been meaning to try, but haven't yet, is hooking up VLC to https://github.com/k4yt3x/video2x/wiki or similar, since, yeah, while DVD quality is pretty decent, for certain genres sometimes I do want a bit more luscious detail…

DVD is pretty bad for animated films. My Blu-Ray money has been going to those. For regular photography, a well-mastered DVD looks fine, in my opinion.

Re: My streaming fatigue got so bad I started collecting DVDs

#34

Post by silverquiet »

bsjxjeb wrote: post #31
silverquiet wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's going to live longer - a piece of plastic stored properly, or you? I have vinyl records from owners who are now deceased, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Unless you have an illness, it's most likely you. I'm not worries about the plastic part of a DVD at all but the metallic layer will last you 10-20 years if stored away from any UV

How does the metallic layer degrade? I was under the impression that disc rot was solved rather long ago.

Re: My streaming fatigue got so bad I started collecting DVDs

#35

Post by bonton89 »

neocritter wrote: post #6
bonton89 wrote: post #2

I'm quite annoyed that netflix let their DVD service just rot. For quite awhile I was using it as a nice value add to the couple of streaming services I had, to watch new movies or catch a single show from some service I wasn't interested in subscribing too. But then they stopped even replacing broken discs so there were holes in series so it lost a lot its usefulness.

How does Redbox compare? I always see their kiosks, but I never think to look. I'm also surprised and amused to learn it's owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul. Yes, that Chicken Soup for the Soul.

The biggest weakness with redbox is that is just doesn't have much of a catalog as I understand it. I've never really used them.

My local library is the next best thing to netflix DVDs, but it isn't the same at all.

Re: My streaming fatigue got so bad I started collecting DVDs

#36

Post by rthomas6 »

Blu-rays are much better quality than streaming in the majority of cases, and 4k blu-rays are ALWAYS better quality than any streaming, hands down. If you have a home theater setup, or even an nice TV, it is very very worth it to get the blu-ray for movies you like. It seriously makes a huge difference, not only for picture quality but for sound.

The bitrate of a 4k UHD stream on Netflix is optimistically 20 Mbps max. A standard blu-ray does about 40 Mbps. A 4k UHD blu-ray is often 100+ Mbps. And you can tell.

Streaming is for watching throwaway content on a laptop or phone. Blu-rays are for watching films with a theater-like experience.

Re: My streaming fatigue got so bad I started collecting DVDs

#37

Post by rthomas6 »

onion2k wrote: post #22

$5 per disc I think you could happily watch a different movie every night for a year on Netflix if you were happy with 'bargain bin' quality films. $5/night would be an expensive way of doing the same thing. And that's before you start on TV series...

That is why I buy the blu-rays

Re: My streaming fatigue got so bad I started collecting DVDs

#38

Post by calamari4065 »

I recently started using radarr and sonarr.

I can just get any quality of any movie or show. It might take hours or days for obscure stuff to pop up, but mainstream media is usually downloaded in ten minutes. Then it lives in my jellyfin server where my husband and I can watch at any time anywhere.

It's been really nice. I was dismayed at first that there's no function to browse, only search for specific titles. But after a few weeks I think this is the right decision. I have to specifically seek out what I want, which has greatly reduced the amount of utter trash being consumed.

It's really nice. It's an actually pleasant experience when it works well. Netflix is more consistent than my multilayered stack of server containers, but Netflix is pure agony to use no matter how stable it is.

Piracy is now an order of magnitude easier than paying for something. Even if you do pay for something anymore, it's usually a license that can be revoked at any time with no notice or refund. Why would I even waste my time with that?

Re: My streaming fatigue got so bad I started collecting DVDs

#39

Post by timw4mail »

bsjxjeb wrote: post #31
silverquiet wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's going to live longer - a piece of plastic stored properly, or you? I have vinyl records from owners who are now deceased, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Unless you have an illness, it's most likely you. I'm not worries about the plastic part of a DVD at all but the metallic layer will last you 10-20 years if stored away from any UV

Even LaserDiscs, which are probably the format most prone to "laser rot" are mostly fine.

Laser rot is kind of a non-issue: it's generally down to manufacturing defects.

Re: My streaming fatigue got so bad I started collecting DVDs

#40

Post by beej71 »

I'm in that same boat. Disk is cheap, servers are cheap, DVDs are cheap, and Jellyfin is free. Yes, DVDs are lower-res, but IMO end up looking better than streaming much of the time. I'm not enough of a connoisseur/too old to care if it's a little fuzzy.

Second-hand stores are great sources for CDs and DVDs. A friend of mine buys tons of them at flea markets, as well.

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