Do you buy DVDs/BluRays?

[Voyager]

@Wesley_Clark

I have no idea what happens, it has happened with 2 laptops.

Previous laptop, it would transmit video via HDMI but not sound. I had to hook up external speakers to the headphone jack for sound.

For my current laptop, It crashed my hard drive and I had to reinstall the entire operating system. I haven’t messed with my HDMI port since.

I’m not sure if the cable I’m using has issues (it is a 20 foot HDMI cable) or what exactly. But ever since my entire OS got corrupted I haven’t used it.

Hmm. The long HDMI cable I tried between my TV and BluRay player didn’t work, and I substituted a smaller one which is fine. I put it between my laptop and monitor and it worked okay.
I’d guess you have a bad cable, but I’m not surprised you don’t feel like trying again.

[Limmin]

I still buy DVDs, for the exact reasons put down by Thudlow.

[infinitii]

@Sleel

I really, really wish that media rights would get sorted out properly, so that even things that are obscure and esoteric are available for those who want to see them, but there were tons of things that never made it past format bottlenecks. I’ve still never seen Babylon 5, for example, because there was never a DVD release of it and it aired during the several years where I basically never watched TV. There are dozens of books that I would like to read that have been out of print and essentially unavailable during my lifetime. There is no technical reason for their unavailability; it’s mostly just legal bullshit. No creators ever derive any benefit from their works being unavailable for purchase or consumption.

Maybe not in Japan but I have a complete set of DVDs of Babylon 5 that I have had for years.

[divemaster]

@EllisDee

The DVD service still has an order of magnitude more titles than the streaming service. Of the 95 available DVDs in my queue, only 12 are available to stream on Netflix.

I absolutely agree with this. I’ve got 213 in my queue and last time I checked (granted, over a year ago), the streaming availability ran about 10%.

And, as others have mentioned, I LOVE commentaries and interviews and deleted scenes, etc.

Also, of the over 800 DVDs I’ve got on my shelf, over 500 are imports from HK, Korea, and Japan. R3 discs abound. There’s no way in hell I could ever access those movies by a typical U.S. streaming service.** Maybe for the few of these movies that got a U.S. release, but most have not and never will.

**I’ve heard rumors that one can find such movies streamed from “gray” websites, but many times with dodgy (or completely absent) subtitles. And incomplete versions. No thanks. I’ll stick with the double DVD with bonus features!

[ralfy]

Yes, because the streaming options might not last. But I go for used copies and bargain bins, and make backups.