There’s an emotional side of this conversation that also deserves a mention. The feeling of walking into a store, picking out a new movie or an old classic you want to watch, taking it home, and adding it to your collection… it’s something that can’t be replicated.
I have an extensive video game collection, and to me, it’s more than a pile of discs and cases – it’s a physical manifestation of my love, nostalgia, and reverence for the art form. The same goes for 4K discs, and I’m looking forward to adding more to expanding my collection in coming years.
I really connect with this. There is huge value in curating your own personal collection, whether that’s films, music, or anything else, as opposed to paying someone else to do it for you based on algorithms or just paying for access to the exact same collection as everyone else. It’s an expression of who you are as a unique individual, and I love when I can go to a friend’s place and dig through their bookshelf or physical game collection and have an insightful conversation about it. We can’t talk about their Netflix or Spotify account in the same way, it just doesn’t even come close to replicating that feeling.
That assumes that I actually want to watch it.
On a streaming service, I can take a new show for a test run. Watch a episode. If I like it, keep going.
And back when I was obsessed with isekais, like holy crap there’s so much garbage. And they’re all rated pretty well because weebs see a boob.
Libraries have Blu-rays!
I have a computer.
That’s all. My computer provides unlimited entertainment at zero additional cost.
Go fuck yourself, paid media.
No no, quite wrong! Having people who support physical media is how we maintain access to high def pirated content!
Remember when Netflix would send you 3 4K blu ray discs at a time?
It doesnt have to be expensive to get a nice experience like this. I’ve started picking up random cheap used blurays from wherever I see them (and most of them for under like £3) and I play them on my consoles. Sure its not top of the line quality but I enjoy it more than streaming.
A standard bluray movie is something like 20gb.
A Netflix 1080p stream caps out at about 3GB/hr iirc
4k bluray movie is something like 60-80gb
So yeah definitely better quality
I diitched, no problems. Also, the Charity shops, Sunday markets etc always have some amazing films for sale. I can keep these and watch as often as I like. I now also burn to a hard drive, as I have been doing the same with CDs. Feels good to own.
At $30 per title, how is this cheaper than Netflix? Are you checking them all out from the library?
You get them used for much cheaper than that
You can get a Bluray for $1-2 at thrift stores.
They have so little value in the resale / used market that a local store sells 250lbs of unsorted discs for $75 (a 4’ cube grocery Gaylord).
