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by classichasclass 1546 days ago
I'll throw in a data point here: I dislike streaming services on general principles (I have HBO Max, but it came with my AT&T plan) and I'll pick DVD if there's a substantial cost difference on a movie I'm not sure about. Likewise, I'll gravitate to BD/DVD combo packs for movies I do want to see because pretty much anything plays DVDs nowadays and I might want to watch it on the road.

Also, upscalers matter. To my nearly half-century eyes Sony upscalers aren't too bad. No one is claiming they're in any respect hi-def, but they're also hardly a miserable experience. Craptastic upscalers, on the other hand, are craptastic, sometimes from major brands who cheaped out.

1 comments

> pretty much anything plays DVDs nowadays

Like what ? I don’t think I own a single device capable of playing back plastic discs in any format.

This was maybe true 15 years ago, but not today.

Then you obviously aren't the market that buys any physical disc. But if you have an optical drive bought anytime in the last 15 years, to use your number, odds are just about certain you can play a DVD in it.
The point is that practically nothing comes with optical drives anymore.

I think game consoles are the last holdout, and even there we’re finally seeing versions free from this antiquated technology.

You know they still make DVD players, right? Sony will sell you one for a whole 40 bucks: https://www.amazon.com/Sony-DVPSR510H-Player-HDMI-Upscaling/...

And blu-ray players are under $100 now.

Physical media still has a lot going for it. High bitrate video which cannot be taken away from you, and doesn't require you to be online.

> Sony will sell you one for a whole 40 bucks

So we went from "anything will play DVD" to "you have to buy a specific piece of outdated technology"