I have Netflix subscriptions for both streaming and DVDs. Virtually any film is available on DVD but the streaming selection is small in comparison. If all you like to watch are TV shows and commercially lukewarm “B” movies then streaming is all you need.
There’s no reason that everybody has to use the latest technology if an older generation meets all their needs. You should be subject to a little sibling teasing but no more than that.
BTW a Luddite isn’t someone who simply prefers older technology, it’s someone who actively subverts new technology. The original Luddites smashed textile machines for fear of their jobs being displaced by them.
Bingo. I’ve purchased DVDs of movies I’ve seen dozens of times simply for the special features. Maybe your sister was just trying to look cool in front of techno hubby.
Physical media = I can enjoy the content when there is no internet connection, and if using a straight player there’s no software “phoning home” about what I’m watching. Luddite, schmuddite.
Although I have hundreds of DVDs, I prefer to stream what I watch.
I recently wanted to re-watch Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee & Cigarettes with some friends. I know I own the DVD, but after fifteen minutes of looking I gave up. Found it streaming and watched.
I buy DVDs because it is impossible for THEM to digitally alter them, 1984-style. One day, THEY are going to remove all the smoking from old movies, like Casablanca, and (like Star Wars) it will be impossible to see the real version.
But I will still be able to! Suck on that, streamers!
Right. Although I’d be okay with using the word Luddite for anyone who either hates, fears, or actively avoids modern technology on principle.
Is there a term for the opposite sort of person, who insists on using the latest technology and spurns older ways of doing things, even when those older ways might be just as good or better in some ways?
I’ve still got my DVD library. Heck, I still have my VHS library. Somewhere I’ve got 16 mm film.
There are some things I just can’t get on Netflix or my cable stations. Possibly someone has them on some streaming service, but why bother looking if I have it at hand?
Things like
–The Criterion restored version of the silent Phantom of the Opera
– Ray Harryhausen’s colorized version of Merian C. Cooper’s She
–My copy of Zacherly’s Horrible Horror
– The Star Wars Holiday Special
– The copy of * Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders* that I taped off TV, edited, and copied to DVD.
– not to mention all the “extras” that they stuck onto those DVDs, like David J. Skal’s commentaries and the documentaries on the Universal Horror series, or the “making of…” on all the retro Bond DVDs
Here I thought this thread was going to be about DVDs vs Blu-Rays.
Physical media vs streaming isn’t a technophile argument, in my mind. Streaming doesn’t offer you all the extras, like commentary tracks or behind-the-scenes specials. Having the physical disc means you can watch it whenever you want, without having to pay a third party an extra fee.
A lot of DVDs and Blu-Rays come with a digital copy (mostly Ultraviolet, but there are others). So you don’t even have to choose.
If you still have VHS tapes, I highly recommend converting them to a digital format before they degrade too heavily. I had several VHS tapes, but I waited too long before I converted them. Those Superman episodes are gone forever (until I buy the DVDs, I suppose).
This is my experience. For shits a giggles a few years ago, I took my Netflix DVD queue of about 200 titles and looked to see what I could stream. Less than 10. Most of my queue is not the newest blockbuster, but older films, esoteric films, old esoteric Asian films, etc.
Just a couple of weeks ago I was saying how I had just watched some movie or another on Netflix, and someone tried to convince me it wasn’t available. I told them it sure was–they sent the DVD right to my house. The reaction I got amused me. (DVD? Netflix still has DVDs???)
And I have a shelf of many 100s of DVDs with all sorts of bonus features I can enjoy.
Yeah, we’ll undoubtedly be pulling out our holiday VHSs for the kids who are coming by. Our library has a very large collection of DVDs which we can watch for free. Why WOULDN’T we? We own very few movies on any format. I believe we recently gave away our collection of old Disney VHS when none of our kids wanted them.
Of course, my wife and I regularly comment that CDs are our preferred method for listening to music, so the factc that I agree with you might not exactly shore up your non-Luddite bona fides!
My car CD player recently broke, so I’m rocking my daughter’s old iPod mini! I try to convince her I’m being retro-cool!
I use old-school media almost exclusively. In fact, my family watched a couple of Christmas movies recently on ::gasp:: ::shock:: VHS. The VHS player is old and I had to spend 10 minutes with a hammer persuading it to do its duty, but it eventually cooperated. This past Halloween we watched a VHS movie that was recorded from the Disney channel ca. 1988.
We do watch a lot of DVD’s though. We have Netflix but ::more gasps:: only their DVD service. I use Amazon Prime to stream a few things but usually end up buying whatever it is on DVD anyway: I binge-watched Downton Abbey on Amazon a year or so ago, then promptly bought the whole series on DVD. Like others I like having the physical media on hand. I’ve watched movies on Amazon Prime that later disappear despite the fact that I’d like to watch them again.
Additionally, there are shows like Northern Exposure that aren’t available streaming on Amazon or Netflix. For me DVD’s are the only way to watch those shows.
I don’t have cable, satellite, or even broadcast. I have no way to watch current shows which is fine as none of it interests me.
I suppose there is a significant downside to this. I’ve only owned one MP3 player in my life and have never used iTunes, which I kind of regret… I’m a “greatest hits” sorta music fan and I’d like to learn how to purchase, download, transfer, and listen to music on an iPod or similar. My current car has no stereo at all and when I upgrade later this spring I want to get a good player installed. Perhaps then I’ll learn how to use iTunes.
FTR I’m 35. I’m also a graduate student in history, which might have something to do with it. Or vice versa. Or something.
You don’t have to download music to make use of iTunes. If you have the physical CD in your possession, you can use iTunes to generate MP3 files from the CD. iTunes itself is a free download.
I’m a reasonably tech savvy software engineer, and I don’t consider you a Luddite. I have “cut the cord” in that I don’t have cable television, and most of our television viewing is done through streaming services. But I don’t think buying DVDs or CDs is unreasonable. I don’t buy DVDs very often, but have for exceptional movies that I expect to view multiple times. I also subscribe to Netflix’s DVD service for those films that aren’t on streaming. For me personally DVD purchase crossed over into “not worth it” territory quite a long time ago, given the numerous other mechanisms for watching things and the fact that I don’t often re-watch things. While I have purchased at least one this year, I’d say that 99% of my DVD library was purchased more than 12 years ago and doesn’t reflect my current purchasing patterns.
I do still purchase CDs quite often, after enough streaming music listening has convinced me that the CD in question is worth owning. I like having CD backups of music, and my car will automatically rip CDs to its HDD, which I find more convenient then fiddling with the USB or bluetooth. I also suspect I’m more effectively “voting with my dollars” with CD purchases over streaming, but I don’t really know that for a fact.
damn! Same thing happened to me - I went to transfer my VHS copy of the Complete Paramount Superman cartoons to DVD as soon as I had a dubber, and found it was cornflakes.
