“On September 29th, 2023, we will ship out our final red envelope. It has been an honor to share movie nights with you. …We sincerely thank you for joining us on this amazing journey of 25 years.” -The Netflix DVD Team
With Netflix discs closing its doors on the 29th, where will you get your DVD’s, Blu Rays and UHDs?
This raises a few questions for discussion:
- What services do you use?
- Whats your experience with any of these services?
- What do you do with your physical media?
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I know, I know, yes, its 2023 and people still get physical media. A physical disc can have many advantages over a streaming service, such as:
- Control Over Content
- Quality
- Sound Profiles
- Extras
- Back Ups
Here is a list of popular Rental and Buy services:
Rent:
Buy (New):
- https://www.amazon.com
- https://www.hamiltonbook.com
- https://shoutfactory.com
- https://grindhousevideo.com
Buy (Used):
Just a friendly reminder, your local library likely has a movie and video game section, it’s worth having a look
My local library has Monte Python and the quest for the Holy Grail, and the first season of the Simpsons.
What’s more, DVD-RW drives for a desktop PC can be had for under $10 and USB-powered ones aren’t much more. If anyone out there in TV land still relies on DVDs, you should get yourself a drive and rip your local library’s DVDs to your computer. Handbrake is your friend and you can get a DVD down to a video stream with a much smaller file size than the disc image, but you can also still get blank DVDs at any major retailer and make your own copies with all the menus and special features. DVD still works, but it’s 30-year-old technology and paying other people to watch the movies on that format is getting ridiculous, you owe it to yourself to keep DVD expenses to the drive and blank discs from here on out.
Disclaimer for the people who will whine about it: Yes, this copyright infringement. Don’t snitch on yourself and you’ll be fine. I personally recommend and fully endorse violation of copyright law in this way. I advocate that you commit this criminal activity in full knowledge that this makes me an accessory to crime, and I advocate that you commit this crime and others. I do so with the full approval of the MPA and RIAA, whom I unequivocally represent and speak for in absolutely all matters, and they assume all civil and criminal liability for everything I just said.
On the high seas with my disc burner 🏴☠️
What services do you use?
- Best Buy
- Redbox
- Amazon
- eBay
- My local library
Whats your experience with any of these services?
From least expensive to most expensive:
- My local library is free to use, and they even have Blu-rays alongside DVDs, which is rare in my experience. However, their selection when it comes to Blu-rays pales in comparison to their entire shelves of DVDs, and they seem to favor DVDs. I sometimes donate a few Blu-rays to my library in order to get people to check them out.
- Redbox is the cheapest way to legally own movies. Like my library, the Redbox kiosk I go to (and most Redboxes in general) seems to prioritize DVD over Blu-ray, which can be a bit disheartenig. You can rent a Blu-ray at Redbox for $2.99/night, or you can buy it for $4.99.
- On eBay you can get some pretty good deals, though the condition of the disc may vary.
- Amazon is great if you want to pre-order a DVD/Blu-ray and want it delivered on the same day it releases. But then you have to buy it from Amazon. I don’t usually pre-order movies to be delivered to me anymore.
- And finally there’s Best Buy. If I want a newly-released disc, I’d rather go out of my way to drive all the way to the mall and buy the disc in-person at Best Buy than pre-order it from Amazon. The Best Buy near me is one of the few stores to still have a dedicated space for physical media, so I should feel grateful for that.
What do you do with your physical media?
Before I even put the discs in my player, I put them in my Blu-ray drive and make a backup with MakeMKV. If the keys to remove the DRM aren’t available, I’ll just torrent the BDMV. After the discs have been backed up, I watch them on my player.
If the keys to remove the DRM aren’t available, I’ll just torrent the BDMV.
If you have the right model of blu ray drive you could patch the firmware with libredrive so you could decrypt the keys yourself. I set up my LG drive with it in like 10 min.
And finally there’s Best Buy.
My local Best Buy actually got rid of the DVD and CD section. That made me realize I needed to get serious about converting my physical media to digital. I’m still building my Plex library.
Yes, I know about Jellyfin and Emby. If I’d heard about them first, I’d probably be using one of them. Plex was the first one I tried, and it works great for me.
What services do you use?
As a rental service I have used gamefly and redbox. When buying media, I have used Amazon, Hamilton Books, HPB and Decluttr.
Whats your experience with any of these services?
Gamefly
Its, okay…
Long mailing times due to lack of shipping centers.
Library of movies is pretty good, but lacks many classics.
Low stock.
Good place for contemporary media.
Redbox
Harder to find in my area.
limited library.
Decluttr
This is hit or miss. I have only bought and never sold items here.
Large library of changing titles.
Since pricing is set by an end user, so prices can be amazing or down right insane. (no one is paying $100+ dollars for a used blu ray)
