DVDs are Obsolete

[glend]

I finally decided to get rid of them, being most of my DVD collection. Built up over decades, they were just collecting dust on my shelves. My young grandkids love to pull them out and scatter them on the floor like big Uno cards. I cannot recall the last time I actually played one.
The Council Clean up was on, and they explained how to recycle them ( plastic cases in the Yellow recycle bin, DVDs left for the Egoods collection truck).
I kept, of course, privately made DVDs and CDs, which contain things that are non-commercial, family related video, weddings, graduations, etc. But I wonder what will become of these when I am gone.
Most movie related content is now available via streaming, and frankly it is easier to push a button or two on the remote, rather than digging out a DVD (even through I had them organised by genre).
And don't get me started on printed books, and my even older film sildes and negative collection.

[Allan_L]

I still prefer DVDs to streaming.
I think better quality audio and video content.
and no drop outs.
But its getting harder to find rental stores (or vending machines).
Like you I have a very nice collection that seldom gets aired, except when my 3 year old grandson visits and he demands to watch Apollo 11, :)

I too have been wondering what to do with the collection.

[castor]

Wow, we didn't even buy a VCR player until DVDs were in vogue. But luckily my dad still had a favourite place to rent videos.

[sharpiel]

I still like to have my favourite movies on disc (Blu-ray where possible) so I can watch them anytime easily. But I do take your point.

Unless you have every streaming service you can't guarantee finding any particular content upon demand. As an example, last week I decided to filter my Netflix by Tom Cruise movies. Netflix had only four movies available at that date. Stan have others etc.

I remember when I only had a foxtel subscription and as such almost everything was found there. And I paid a single subscription fee. Now I need a fox subscription (price hasn't reduced) Stan, Disney, Netflix, binge etc. All with subscription fees. The sum totalling more than I paid before.

Do you remember when ATM fees were $0.20 cents..? Then the Reserve Bank decided to allow marketplace competition to drive prices down. Private ownership of atm's was encouraged. Almost overnight fees rose to $2.

I've noticed that competition often encourages prices to rise, in the end costing the consumer more.

Anyway back to topic; whenever I want to watch the entire Star Wars Saga etc I watch from my own library... Anytime. No hassle.

[alpal]

I gave all my DVDs away.
I couldn't compete with Youtube.
There are 120 billion videos on Youtube.


http://www.howmanyarethere.net/how-many-videos-are-there-on-youtube/

[multiweb]

Streaming entertainment and movies is the worst thing that has happened over the years IMHO. I don't understand the logic in having a massive infrastructure on stand by 24/7 spread all over the world so people can have the convenience of watching anything anytime anywhere and usually the same thing again and again. The cost in energy is a massive chunk of what we use globally every year and you have to ask yourself if we really need it when we're supposed to be heading the other way. 5G is going to be a real headache for our emission targets. Sobriety is the key here. So you'd think old school bluray or dvds would make a lot more sense. All you need is a player at home and a collection of a few discs. I have collected 100s of discs at home of movies I'm interested in. Never sreamed anything. On principle.

[alpal]

Then you're missing out on your choice of 120 billion videos.

[DarkArts]

There are indeed 120 billion videos on YouTube (Google's estimate) ... But what streaming service, that carries DVD/BluRay-quality productions, has 120 billion titles? That comparison is absurd.

There are many good but rare films you just can't find on streaming services - I wouldn't blame anyone for establishing and maintaining a disc collection if only for that reason. And then there's the splintering of content across different services with exclusive arrangements, and no guarantee that even movies bought and stored online will remain available due to shifting license arrangements.

DVDs and BluRay purchases may be declining (due to the allure of convenience - read laziness - over quality) but discs still have many years left in them.

[alpal]

If you want to watch movies then yes maybe DVD is better for you.
How many times do you want to watch the same movie or
do you just watch it once and then the DVD becomes junk?


How about channels like this?
601K subscribers
Time ghost format told in the present tense week by week
of the history of WW2.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP1AejCL4DA7jYkZAELRhHQ


chess games narrated 1.07M subscribers
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5YbN5WLFD8dLIegT5QAbA




PBS Space Time 2.26M subscribers
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7_gcs09iThXybpVgjHZ_7g


Fermilab
506K subscribers
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD5B6VoXv41fJ-IW8Wrhz9A




You can't get content like that on a DVD -
it's made for Youtube.

[strongmanmike]

You'll just have to wait now, until the year 802, 701 for the next recording medium (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NRMYUpgyJ8) :doh: :D

Mike

[DarkArts]

Who the heck said that I haven't watched YouTube (I do, almost daily) or don't watch commercial streaming content (I do that too)? Who the heck said I (or anyone) can't have a disc collection and enjoy online videos as well?

The OP posed the argument that DVDs (by context, commercial disc content) are/is obsolete - that is clearly not the case.

And for what it's worth, I'll watch the items from my collection whenever the heck I want, no matter what licensing, restricted distribution or re-editing (a la George Lucas) ensues in online versions. They'll be junk when *I* say they are and not a moment before - that's a large part of the point of having a collection - to not be beholden to the vagaries of some distant curator or shifting commercial pressures.

[alpal]

I'd forgotten that - it's a great scene.

[AstralTraveller]

Probably my favourite YouTube channel. But I can't seem to watch them as quick as he posts them.

BTW I ripped my DVDs and now play them from the nas. Same for CDs. Vinyls are still played the old way.

[multiweb]

:lol: Not sure missing out is the word. I just don't care for that much. There are more enjoyable things in life. Like going outside. :)

[Zuts]

I hear if you go outside and look up, you can see stars :)

[Astronovice]

I’ve ripped my favourite vinyls too using Audiacity - lets me play them in the car now :D

[AdamJL]

Well, yeah... DVDs are obsolete. Who buys them?

If you're going to buy discs, you buy 4K UHD.
Still better than streaming. I rip all of mine to a Plex server. Got 44TB on the server, with about 35TB in use.

Streaming quality is very good. Better than Blu-ray in some instances, but not better than 4K Discs.

[sutekh]

There's another reason why DVD's are obsolete: you create them by burning layers of a dye, which degrades in just a few years!

Thinking of archiving your astro data with external mechanical hard drives? Nope, they fail in a few short years as well.

What about solid-state drives? Sorry, mate, they're actually your worst choice: they all have bad blocks from the moment you buy them and these grow exponentially with time. The data loss accumulates much faster in this type of drive.

So, how are you supposed to archive data? Currently, the only quasi-permanent methods are burning onto M-DISC (look for the M-DISC logo on the drive) or Blu-Ray HTL (not LTH). You can read more here:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2984597/hard-core-data-preservation-the-best-media-and-methods-for-archiving-your-data.html

-- sutekh

[glend]

How will you insure the information you wish to save, on drives, solid state, etc, will survive the inevitable EMP? Do you store everything in a well grounded Faraday Cage?
As a storage medium, DVDs at least were EMP proof, although you still need to protect the reader player device, PC, TV etc..
I wonder how the CDs that NASA sent up on various satellites are going? All that radiation is it breaking down the plastic? I found it very amusing that there was an assumption that some alien who came across the probe in the future, might have a CD player with them.:rofl:

[raymo]

Well. sutek, I have and use many hundreds of CDs and DVDs, some of which date back to when these discs were first marketed, and all still work just fine,
although some of my VHS tapes have degraded enough to be unwatchable.
I still love my vinyl, and I don't own a mobile phone, and I don't know how to add an attachment or image to an email, so I must be a dinosaur.
raymo

[alpal]

Yes he makes a lot of chess videos - sometimes 3 per day.

Another great chess channel is Kingscrusher with 112K subscribers:


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUDDmslypVXYoUsZafHSUQ

[Sunfish]

Makes a well cared for vinyl record seem pretty long lasting really.

Although I suspect any reasonable media , even digital tape, chosen carefully and stored correctly to be used as a master copy rather than played continuosly will be fine for our lifetime.

[sutekh]

Disc rot is more subtle than you are suggesting: after only a few years, your DVD will develop one bad sector and the movie will stop playing midway through; in a data folder with hundreds of files, one file will mysteriously develop a bad check sum and become unreadable; an external hard drive will work properly for a while and then suddenly start making rattling noises and become inaccessible. I know this because I have experienced all of these types of data loss from the obsolete technologies that you support.

If you want to make the wrong choice to archive your data, then go ahead. But please remember that I did try to warn you as politely as I can.

-- sutekh

[raymo]

At my advanced age, archiving music and/or movies, is not important to me.
raymo

[DarkArts]

Am I really that lucky and unusual that this has never happened to me in 25+ years? Or to anyone else I know?

[sutekh]

@DarkArts,

Here are 8500 examples:

https://www.lddb.com/laserrot.php

Also note that the dye in recordable CD-R/DVD-R discs (used for astro data backup) decays faster than the dye in CD-ROM/DVD-ROM and commercial DVD's.

--sutekh

[multiweb]

I believe the original DVD+/-R had a purple dye which was organic and would degrade quicker if exposed to sunlight. So that was if you were making your own copies. The commercial DVD data recording was a different process so the ones you buy last longer. I read about 10 years ago that some bank in the US had stored information on discs that became corrupted over time. I have DVDs that are over 15 years old in spindles with the purple die. The double sided type. I still play them. No issues so I don't know what timescale we're talking about before losing data. What I know is that my dvd and bluray player had to be replaced once but the discs are still fine.

[AstralTraveller]

Do you pause the video or just enjoy the show? I sometimes try but only rarely succeed.

[alpal]

I sometimes pause the video and sometimes get the right answer.

[raymo]

Hasn't happened to me yet either.
raymo