Having to Give Up Physical Media and Turning To Streaming...

Sensitivity101Sensitivity101
in General

I love watching movies. Especially when it's a series of movies in a franchise. But, as technology changes and DVD / BluRay players are becoming more expensive... also, the space that physical media takes up does get out of hand after a while, it's time to go to streaming. But, damn. It's hard to give up physical media. You want a movie and it's there at your fingertips. On streaming, good luck finding it on the apps that you do have and if it's a franchise good luck watching the movie series without having to skip one or two because they're not on the apps you subscribe to or it simply isn't in an app at the moment. So... what to do? Keep the collection and hope the player doesn't die or get rid of it all and get with the program of streaming?

  1. PHYSICAL MEDIA or STREAMING?29 votes
    1. Physical Media
      68.97%
    2. Streaming
      31.03%

Comments

  • BearBear

    I was getting into digital books & movies. Which as mentioned may not always be available.plus you don’t truly own them. So I started getting physical movies.

    I like reading a newspaper or a book. Those get heavy and bulky in regards to storage. I’ll buy books that I want if they are not on kindle. Lately I do most reading or audiobooks from the Libby app.

    Music I’m totally digital. I use to down load music, yet the down loads don’t transfer to the new phone. I purchase my songs mostly. I have SiriusXM for a discount. I don’t pay full price. It’s usually enough for me.

  • disneysamuraidisneysamurai

    Disney+ and Amazon Prime have everything I want to watch. My biggest issue with streaming is that companies can pull titles off the platform whenever they feel like it

  • pokey435pokey435

    I dropped all my streaming services and now just use physical media. I don't watch much but I do watch a movie about once a week. I dug a binder of dvds out from storage that I had copied when netflix mailed you discs. Sometimes I pick something up at a thrift store if it's something I really want. I mostly just get them from the library, though. It takes intention of I need to put a hold on it but their selection is good enough that I can usually find something worth watching.

  • MyrddynMyrddyn

    Media players remain pretty available (and cheap) in thrift stores. I picked one up for $15 just to have in case my "real" player dies. Of course, that consumed space, but not much... it's parked under the real one 😁

  • mauvefoxmauvefox

    I've heard of folks rotating streaming services, so having one for the month or more and watching everything it has to offer, then switching to the next. I've got kids so that's kind of out of the question at my house.

    I already had digital copies of a lot of the things because they came with the blurays I had purchased. so i spent an afternoon redeeming all those codes. and I also purchased a few beloved classics digitally so I always have those on the movies anywhere app. but otherwise streaming has been pretty easy. the apple tvs and rokus of the world make them even easier.

    (although I wish netflix and apple would drop their beef and play nicer in the sand box.)

  • CSnMUS87CSnMUS87
    edited May 27

    I still buy dvds, blu rays, and cds and will do so until either they or I die out. It sure comes in handy when Xfinity decides to have an outage. Plus yes a lot of things I can't find on streaming (both music and movies/shows).

    I still have an old macbook pro with an optical drive, a ps3, a ps4, and access to an external drive as well as another blu ray player, so I don't see it changing any time soon. I do however stream these days if only to see things I haven't seen before or to get the algorithm to give me good suggestions. I do have quite a few collections of shows that I can't find or got removed from streaming though.

  • TichantoPTichantoP

    I mostly stream now. I am not as worried anymore about what to do when a particular movie I want isn’t available at the time. I either buy a digital copy file I just watch something else.

    I have such an enormous backlog of shows and films I want to see - there’s always going to be something available that I do want to watch. There is literally more content available now than I could ever watch in my lifetime. I’ll find something lol

    I have held on to a small collection of physical media over the years but every time I move houses, it gets smaller as I decide to let more of it go.

  • KatotaKatota

    Having to Give Up Physical Media and Turning To Streaming...

    Gasp! 😮

    Blasphemy! I Gave Up Nothing! Lol 😆

    Nothing I tell you, why after all the DEEP DIVING in Walmart bins, the haggling in various pawn shops/thrift stores/yard sales ( Hey, I managed pay only $5 for all 4 seasons of Jim Henson's tv show Dinosaurs on dvd, in very good condition. 😁👍), I put in a lot effort to get my dvd collection as mighty as it is. Lol! No, I will not let them go for "streaming"... Never! Lol 😆😆😆

    And all dvd stalking EFFORT at ANY Dollar Tree, that I was able to get to back then will not be forgotten. 😆

    Yes Dollar Tree, before they inflated up $1.25 did sell dvds for only a dollar. My son's entire DC animated dvd collection practically came from Dollar Tree, thank you Dollar Tree. 🤑👍

  • SunsetSnugglesSunsetSnuggles

    My boyfriend and I have a big list of movies we want to share with each other. We've been working on it for eight years and still have lots of movies that are never available for free on Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, the library, etc. It's super frustrating to search them up again and again and never see them come available.

    For the ones we really want to watch that have to be rented on Amazon, we use digital reward points (earned for things like letting an Amazon shipment be delayed a couple days instead of delivered right away). We haven't paid real money for a movie in years.

    We only pay for Prime; Netflix is shared by a family member, and we have zero intention of paying for any streaming services.

    We go to the movies once every couple years when something we're particularly interested in is on the big screen.

    I have a large DVD collection in storage, my mom has an even larger one, and we both have VHS tapes, as well. My boyfriend and I do not have a TV though, and the DVD/VHS player is in storage. When we watch things, it's on my gaming laptop.

    Sadly, I can't remember the last DVD I got. It was likely a present from my mom. I rarely see a new movie that makes me feel inclined to own it.

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

    🫂 Enthusiast 🏞 Travel Junkie 📷 Shutter Bug

  • PasquiaPasquia

    I use to have a very large movie collection, but I down sized during one of my moves and got rid ot it. I regret that. There were so many movies that I had that I know I will never see again. Ther are some that I can't even remember the name of, but remember clips of them, so I couldn't even look them up if I wanted to. Digital is good for saving space and traveling, but you can't control what you have access to in the long run.

  • CharlieBearCharlieBear Mod

    I got rid of most of my physical media, short of some VHS tapes, a couple dvd's/blu-rays, and old game cartridges/discs. Mainly due to space. I only have so much room and it was really hard to justify paying $150+ a month to store stuff I wasn't using. I have backed up most games, and streaming has most of what I want. Some movies def need backups since they are not available on streaming platforms (thank goodness sites like the Internet Archive exist).

  • [Deleted User]MasonDixonCuddl (deleted user)

    Physical media all the way here! I have had, and cancelled, both Netflix and Paramount+, although I can restart either or both at any time. I have several movies as well as the BBC Sherlock TV series on DVD and Blu-ray. If a movie is that good (Tron Legacy, Grand Budapest Hotel, etc.) I can watch them in rotation and not mind one bit.

    For music, I stream SXM at home or in my car. I also have thousands of iTunes music files (downloads that I own), plus a growing list of CDs, SACDs, and Blu-ray audio discs for surround music. Streaming media can never match the reliability and consistency of my owned and physical media, in my opinion. If the Internet ever goes down, I'm still good.

  • xandriarainxandriarain

    You should definitely try to convert all of your physical media into a digital format that’s secure. Preferably both on a cloud somewhere, but also on an external hard drive. I’m subscribed to six or seven different streaming services. I believe I currently have Apple TV, Netflix, Hulu, Disney Paramount+ HBO and prime yet whenever I find a movie or show I want to watch it’s not available on any platforms or if it is it’s some obscure one that I don’t want to subscribe to and then I end up having to pay four dollars to rent the movie, but I’m also not the type who wants to rewatch the same movie all the time so buying a physical copy or even a digital copy doesn’t make sense so honestly both options are not great for me. It’s annoying having so many subscriptions and never finding anything I want to watch.

  • CSnMUS87CSnMUS87

    @SunsetSnuggles I hadn't even thought about subscription costs. I don't think I've ever personally had to pay for a streaming service, as my uncle seems to enjoy subscribing to almost every big name one and shares it with the entire family and some friends. Also at least 3 anime streaming services. I had a free year of disney plus once through some promotion with Verizon I think. After that I just asked my dad to log in to my devices for me on his account. If they ever cancelled their subscriptions I would just stick to Tubi, YouTube, Pluto, and my physical media collection (or go get movies/shows from the public library).

    @xandriarain that is a good idea. I always rip my CDs in the highest quality MP3 that I can as soon as I buy them and then put them on a flash drive to play in my car. I miss my old car that had an actual CD player though. I remember those days of carrying a few cd cases filled with cds. I did use a digital converter from the public library to convert some old VHS tapes to digital format, though this was mostly things like home movies such as my 3rd birthday, my parents wedding, something celebrating the life of my late grandfather, graduations, and a few other random VHS tapes. My mom was excited when I borrowed the converter from the library and gave me a pile of tapes to save on an external SSD for her. Oh man I AM the type to rewatch a movie I enjoy over and over and over again to the point that I memorize most if not all of the movie. I can't count how many times I've watched Amadeus (usually showing it to someone who hasn't seen it before).

  • AchterbahnAchterbahn

    I have several streaming services. I find the website/app "JustWatch" super valuable. For example, if I want to watch Lord of the Rings, then I can look there and see that I can stream it from HBOMax if I'm subscribed or rent it from Amazon/Apple TV/etc.

  • Goonie4lifeGoonie4life

    I currently have Netflix. That's the best streaming service for me. I also added AMC+ for a year for $29.99. I thought that was a good deal. I've been in my new place for a year now and finally decided to plug in my DVD player. I'll never get rid of my physical media. I have a killer selection that I have accrued since I got my first job. I still have CDs because Spotify and YouTube don't have everything. I still have my Sony 4 CD boom box that I purchased when I was 16. Speakers have never gone out.

  • frankchaosfrankchaos

    I haven't been consuming much other than music while I keep busy instead anyway, but usually just take it as a forced reset and make myself sit with the silence for a while.
    My friend however, collects VHS tapes and will most definitely keep going down that route and just finding and buying new VHS players as they crap out. So add one vote from him on that front. I've actually been helping him organize and re- categorize it all right now! LOL

  • disneysamuraidisneysamurai

    @frankchaos I still have all my Disney vhs tapes as well!

  • TichantoPTichantoP

    I use the app Just Watch to manage my services. It keeps track and updates as movies on my watchlist bounce around to other platforms.

    I also use The Internet Archive to find some very esoteric movies or foreign films that are not hosted on the more popular streaming services. It’s a free non-profit platform. It’s not always the best resolution/quality, but there have been many times that’s the only place to find a particular movie for me.

  • cuddlefaerycuddlefaery

    My polycule has been digitalizing our gigantic collection and uploading them into a Plex server, so we get best of both worlds 🤷🏻‍♀️ several of us refuse to pay the streaming giants any more, but we can replicate the experience by getting to share our media libraries. Much better than sharing passwords 😅

  • CSnMUS87CSnMUS87

    @cuddlefaery oh wow I've heard of Plex before but never really checked it out. I didn't know you could upload your own media into a Plex server! Might make me want to figure out how to digitize my collection and try this myself!

  • cuddlefaerycuddlefaery

    @CSnMUS87 yeah, they offer their own ad-supported and paid streaming, but we don't use it. Instead, we use it to share videos, pictures, and next project is music (my partner is going to hate me when we start ripping all my old CDs 😅 I have literal totes of binders lol).

    The Plex is most useful if you want to watch your collection on the go without having to use up storage on your travelling device. It's like an NAS, so you have to have enough server power, storage, and network stability to make it work
    We ended up dividing the physical hosting between two people to cost share and help in the event of outtages. But then we're also a bunch of nerds who like tinkering with computer builds and programming 😂

  • SelfMadeJaySelfMadeJay

    I used to be big on Physical media, even dogpiled on the Xbox One trying to normalize the trend 13 years ago. Slowly but surely I've become more open to it as my PS5 and my PC have become media and gaming hubs in their own right. I live in a one bedroom complex in Queens, NY so I simply don't have the space for having a massive collection of media & games which used to be a fantasy of mine several years ago. Convenience plays as such a huge factor for going digital. I also have my streaming sites as well: Netflix, Prime Video, (Hulu, Disney + & HBO Max) bundled together & Crunchyroll as well as a pirate anime & movie site on the site for anything I can't find within my subscriptions. I believe that at some point we all dreamed of this level of convenience to have mass amounts of media within our fingertips, but of course the major drawback is the constant monetization of it. Comes with the territory of course.

Sign In or Register to comment.