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QOTW: Do you still buy Blu-rays?

by Tarinder Sandhu on 14 November 2014, 16:30

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I remember looking back with a little pride at my DVD collection of 200-odd titles in 2007. Buying DVDs made me a collector, nerd and AV buff.

The same is not true of Blu-rays. Sure, I (re)bought some of the most seminal films and added a few action flicks more for demonstration than repeat viewing. There's a reason I don't buy Blu-rays in the same vein as DVDs: streaming.

It's cheaper to have a Netflix membership and the occasional Love Film than pad out a new Blu-ray collection. It's more convenient, too, which is something I appreciate when watching on multiple devices.

With the persuasive argument put forth by Netflix in particular, do you, the HEXUS readers, still buy Blu-ray titles at the same pace as DVDs? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments facility below.

HEXUS Forums :: 67 Comments

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Posted by s_kinton - Fri 14 Nov 2014 16:37
I've only ever owned a fraction of the number of blu-rays that I used to have as DVDs. I've never been massively into AV and collecting huge numbers of films on disk, but for me blu-ray certainly came in at a time where streaming has become king. I watch all of my films on normal TV or streamed…never from a purchased hard copy.
Posted by MDK - Fri 14 Nov 2014 16:41
I am a collector, and I like having physical versions of media I like.
So yeah, I still use Blu-Ray software/reader on my computer, and I keep buying Blu-Rays.
Nothing like the feeling of grabbing a disc, putting it into the reader's tray, and launch the movie/whatever. :)
Posted by watercooled - Fri 14 Nov 2014 16:57
One major difference besides the obvious stuff such as usability, cost etc, is bitrate; BDs still offer massively higher bitrate than you get with any streaming service, often around 30Mb/s vs 6Mb/s if you're lucky with streaming. And in some cases it really shows, though not as much as the 3Mb/s ‘HD’ bitrate used on non-compliant devices and PCs for Netflix.

There's more to video quality than resolution and a ‘HD’ label…

However, yes I do watch a fair amount of stuff via streams, largely for the convenience and cost reasons mentioned in the article. However in my case it's more of an addition to BD rather than any sort of replacement.
Posted by Ferral - Fri 14 Nov 2014 17:14
I tend to buy the stuff I really want on Bluray and use Netflix for everything else, if there is something that I really enjoyed I will buy it on Bluray after watching on Netflix.

Mind you I like a lot of stuff from the 80's & 90's and not everything is available on Bluray so I still buy DVD's and boxsets of certain things, putting a DVD in my PS3 or Bluray Home Cinema it gets upscaled and usually looks pretty good.
Posted by DemonHighwayman - Fri 14 Nov 2014 17:23
I've not bought a blu-ray or even a dvd for years & I believe streaming is wasteful. That only leaves downloading which I do when it's something that really interests me but I think 2011 was the last year there was anything worthwhile downloading.

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