Almost entirely DVD. Sometimes a movie recorded onto a DVR. We don’t have a Blu-Ray player, nor do we have any equipment for streaming. The little experience I have playing videos from the internet (e.g. You Tube) indicates that streaming would not be a pleasant experience for me.
I Have DVDs for those times when there is nothing decent on cable and the “just released” rental options don’t match my needs. Oddly enough, newer movies seem easier to find but the older stuff is harder to come by or
rent when you want them unless you tie yourself to Netflix.
Last summer I picked up 5 movies that where (then) not played a lot on cable. The 5 I bought have gotten a lot of cable play-time since then, but its still nice to have options when “cable’s out” or there is nothing good on and you don’t want to spend money.
“The only thing we haven’t seen already is ‘The Mask 2’…”
“…and that’s actually how I want to go through life…”
Primarily via paid streaming (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Xfinity On Demand inc. HBO, Starz, etc)
I rarely buy anything on DVD/Blu Ray because I don’t usually watch the same movie with enough regularity to make it worth the clutter. If it’s a movie where I feel streaming won’t be “good enough” such as some visual feast style blockbuster, I’ll rent on BR from the local video store. But most movies are good 'nuff for streaming.
I like my movies on Blu-Ray because I am a fan of cinematography, and movies just look better on Blu-Ray than any other available format at this point.
For the person above who answered VHS, high five! I still have a big old-school projection tv that we keep in the basement. It has a built-in VCR. I’ve kept all of my old VHS tapes that still work and when the cable and/or the internet goes out, we can go downstairs and watch the oldies on VHS.
I also have the original Nintendo unit and games hooked up down there, too, as well as my boom box and cassettes from the 1980/90s.
It’s surprising fun to revist the ‘ancient’ technology once in a while.
I think streaming wins by sheer number of hours watched, but I use all of these methods regularly except for Blu-Ray.
Notably, though, DVD is the most likely source for the stuff I really want to see. Streaming and cable are mostly for seeing what’s on… or for just having stuff on in the background while I’m working on something else.
I don’t really watch a lot of movies, but my wife does, and I’d say 99% of them are on one cable channel or another, and about 60% of those are things like Hallmark or Oxygen channel movies, with the other 40% being cable movie channel offerings from HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc…
We do occasionally sit down and intentionally watch a particular movie that we want to watch, and when that happens, we fire up the Netflix or Amazon Movie on the Xbox and stream it.
I think personally that physical media will gradually wane in importance, but until EVERYONE has a sufficient internet pipe, physical media will still be around. There are a lot of broke people out there using Redbox to get DVDs, not even Blu-Rays, and it’ll take a long time for that demographic to shift over to streaming movies.
I have a suspicion that in the near-mid future, the streaming services, cable boxes and game consoles are going to more or less merge into a catch-all entertainment appliance. Microsoft is already moving that direction with the Xbox One, and I suspect when people can stream all their favorite content, local and otherwise, then that’ll be an extremely viable route. As it stands, you can’t generally stream the evening and night news programs, and you can’t stream a lot of sports events, both of which are a huge deal for a lot of people, and will keep cable and TV in the picture until that’s resolved.
45% paid streaming (Netflix or Amazon Prime)
45% “free streaming” via Roku and a media server
10% Netflix DVD
We have a blu ray player that hasn’t played a blu ray in years.
Threw out my VHS after downloading the entire series of the Facts of Life from Youtube, and Beauty and the Beast came to Netflix. All taken care of. Miss those 80s and 90s commercials, though.
DVDs, but we also use streaming.
Mostly DVDs, but starting to switch over to Bluray. I own very few. I get most from the local public library.
I’d love for streaming to be a better solution for me, but I’ve had either Netflix or my internet flake out on me enough in the middle of a movie that I don’t use it any more. The Apple/Amazon model where you pay for a rental and can download it in advance and then can watch it without the quality randomly going all to hell seems much better to me, and I use that sometimes. But the library is free.