Did people really watch movies/shows on DVDs that forced them to watch ads before even starting? Like you go to the store and pay for a movie disc and when you go home you have to sit through like 10 minutes of ads. Did people really have to watch ads before they could even watch the movie they paid for a copy of?!

𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝘿𝙑𝘿 𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙣𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙣𝙚𝙮’𝙨 𝙁𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮. 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙗𝙤𝙣𝙪𝙨 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮. 𝙏𝙤 𝙗𝙮𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨 𝙁𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮, 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙈𝙚𝙣𝙪 𝙗𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚. 𝙁𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩…

Even on VHS there were ads (you could fast-forward through them though), and Blu-Ray also has ads despite being a “more modern” standard (it’s not it’s just HD-DVD with a different branding). Also you can’t even use the disc without paying for a special disc reader that reads that shit for you (tbf a lot of devices came with a disc reader, but it still persisted despite the fact that USB storage was far cheaper and more efficient). You’d also have to navigate the terribly slow menus just to get to the part you were at.

Also if you buy a DVD/Blu-Ray whatever the fuck they call it nowadays in one part of the world and you travel to another, say you have family that lives in one country and you live in another, you can’t play that disc because it’s “region-locked.”

Ok maybe it’s region locked because different countries probably use different displays/standards or whatnot. NO! It’s region locked for NO MATERIAL REASON besides “ensuring copyright distribution of the holder”. This is even more mind-boggling for “blu-ray” the supposedly new format.

Also most Blu-Rays don’t even come with all the goodies that normal DVDs had like behind the scenes/deleted scenes etc, so it’s not like Blu-Rays have any other advantage besides being incompatible with your dvd player. “Just buy a PS3” yes I will buy the SONY product to play movies on a disc also created by SONY.

How is it considered physical media when the devices to play it are not being sold anymore? I’m sure there are a lot of Sony walkmans being sold nowadays. I can totally pick up a VHS player right now at the store and enjoy my treasure trove of vhs tapes that haven’t already withered to dust.

People older than me (I was born after Al Gore lost the election) are having nostalgia for the “age of physical media” when really it was an age of physical bullshit compared to streaming bullshit. It’s always capitalism, capitalism will burn down all art if it means that someone didn’t get to skip paying for it. Here’s what I say, just pay a couple a dollars a month for a VPN with port-forwarding and just torrent all your media. Your torrented file has done more for media preservation and archival then any DVD bullshit ever did. The only use for physical media is to digitize it and share it.

The bootlegged Cinderella movie sold in the Global South has done more for media preservation than Disney ever has. A seedbox in Russia is more of a art library compared to any video store.

Don’t get me started on video games. Where every generation of devices there’s a new standard and new way to do things. Nothing says media preservation like buying a disc from a store and then waiting an hour for your device to download updates online.

  • ComradeVark [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    13·
    1 month ago

    You’re right. It could be much better, but I also think you’ve got some confusion/lack of information on some of these issues. If for nothing else than to alleviate some of your suffering, let me explain.

    • ads: these are exceptions, not the rule. most discs do not have ads, fortunately. I’m curious what Blu-Ray you’ve seen ads on (Disney again?) - I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a BD with ads.
    • players: Improvements in disc technology meant improvements to the players were also needed. Not much that could have been done there. Blu-Ray players are backwards compatible with DVD. Any thrift shop in a moderately sized city is going to have a whole shelf of players. There’s no reason not to buy a BD player over DVD at the prices they go for. 4K players are a little more difficult, but once in a while refurb/used models can be had for good prices. It should last - it’s unlikely we’re going to see another new physical format. It’s surprising that we even got triple-layer BD-100 discs for 4K.
    • region-locking: Yeah this sucks, but it can be bypassed. It’s possible to buy region-free DVD/BD/4K players. Some labels have region-free discs, but they are an exception. ALL 4K DISCS should be region-free, it’s one of the licensing requirements.
    • special features: You’re wrong. Blu-Rays have lots of special features. If the DVD had them, the Blu-Ray version certainly does. Most of the ones that don’t are not worth caring for. Streaming services sometimes have behind-the-scenes documentaries, but not the same extras discs have.

    Torrenting is a great way to go, but as you seem to know, the physical copies are where most digital copies come from. Physical copies are better source material than anything streaming, and BD are better sources than almost any other (sometimes color timing or other nit-picky things can be better on DVD/VHS/LaserDisc editions). BD has support for higher video resolutions, lossless audio, more subtitle formats, more and multiple aspect ratios, and other smaller features. Some of these might not matter to you, some should. If you’ve only seen a pan&scan copy of your favorite movie and not the original aspect ratio, you’re missing out.

      • ComradeVark [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        4·
        1 month ago

        Perhaps my wording is not quite right in my post: I’m not arguing that all BD releases include special features, but that it isn’t a fault of the format. BDs absolutely have other perks. Most BDs, even TV shows, have the DVD special features copied over. If the BD release doesn’t have them, then yes, imo it’s probably not worth it.

        • GalaxyBrain [they/them]@hexbear.net
          English
          1·
          1 month ago

          Okay, so it’s just most the movies and shows I have both dvd and Blu Rays of that cut the special features. The only things I have that I’m sure do contain all the dvd features is Jurassic Park and Star Trek TNG. The original mad max movies, the few trek movies I got doubles of on Blu ray, Babylon 5 cut all the special features and Twin Peaks got rid of most of the dvd features and swapped em for new ones. Almost every Blu ray I have that I also have/had the dvd of is very bare bones in comparison