people are already taking the machines from wall greens so that wont stop em (can't don't mean people ain't) they are being removed at a rapid rate by modders
I have several, actually. I had been buying BR discs from RedBox for years, and I've moved most of my discs into books to reduce storage space, so I still have a handful of RedBox cases that I haven't recycled yet.
The data on people buying less physical media is kind of misleading because a lot of Studios stop selling physical media to force the consumer to buy digital
Plus stores like Best Buy and Target no longer stock any physical media. The industry is killing itself. And it doesn't help Hollywood stopped trying to create blockbuster movies and pursued more "personal interest" productions that target smaller demographics. The whole industry is in shambles, meanwhile streaming encourages faster cheaper production for audiences that consume too quickly.
@@jasonpdoyle Long as Amazon is willing to carry the physical media and make it easy to find it'll keep that market going for awhile. Yes I am sad to see Best Buy and soon Target no longer carry physical media.
@@charlesdoesmore5488 but you can spend $10 - $20 per month? which in the long run is more expensive if say you don't watch that much streaming , and your movie or tv show gets inevitably removed due to licensing reasons or other - it makes more financial sense to just spend the money and buy a copy and you can find it cheaper if you look.
The problem is that you down own digital media! It can disappear any time because it has happened to me so I no longer purchase it. I buy my blue rays and DVDs on the secondary market. This works well for me since I love old movies. I'm convinced I'm not the only one.
@@dawn1berlitz until a flood comes and ruins your house, or until a fire, or an earthquake, or tornado, or until you get too old to care about them anymore
@@Gravitatis a flood in my area is less likely and plus cloud providers can snooop through your data at any time as its on their system and a fire wouldnt easily spread through my moms house as its older built whioch means its better built than some newer homes
I believe the issue with early DVD's, were they usually just slapped the Laserdisc file onto the DVD instead of doing a new transfer for DVD. Which took some time to happen. Kind of the same happened with early Blu-Ray with them just getting an upconverted DVD file put onto them from older movies.
Streaming media is like when Walmart opens a store in a small town and puts all the local businesses (physical media) out of business with super low prices (easy to stream). But then Walmart closes the store a few years later (removing movies from streaming). So everyone goes back to local stores again (physical media).
I went digital for movies about 10 or so years ago, but I'm going back to physical media because the quality of streaming has significantly decreased over the years.
@@zeroturn7091 i have DVDs that are 20+ years old and still work, so either you are not taking care of your discs or your copies are poorly manufactured.
I own over 1000 movies and have taken the time to digitize them to my own personal server, and I can stream them both at home and away anywhere that there is internet or cell service. Fortunately most, if not all of the movies that have come out in the last few years have been so bad and worthless that I stopped going to Redbox or buying new movies. or TV. So, it's not that I don't want physical media, nothing coming out is worth buying. When yo have streaming or even "own" a digital version, you "own" nothing and can have access to nothing if they decide you don't or simply go out of business. That goes for games as well. I want to OWN my games, not be at the mercy of the company.
It makes sense that 4K etc. physical media has a market. Another thing that might drive sales in the future - streaming becoming a hopeless nightmare of ever increasing prices with questionable content.
Time to ask if they have a CD section and if so spend as much time as necessary to comb all the way through it sometimes CDs also get set on top and fall behind the CD Shelf or behind one of the racks like when I found my Ozzy Osbourne CD
If you want a NAS to play your movies on then it is either physical media - whether second hand for around £1 each or less likely new (too expensive) - or sailing the seven seas with more questionable souces.
I sill have DVDs that I have been too lazy to diigitize. I bought them,they are mine. Barring theft or damage,they cannot be withdrawn by the issuer. That's how purchasing is supposed to work.
Redbox has been a net negative business for a while, well before Chicken Soup for the Soul bought them. The sad part is that if Redbox had been managed properly, even the shrinking company could have been profitable. There are areas of the country where DVDs are still popular due to not having high speed internet. Redbox would never have been what it once was, but it could have at lease been. The company I used to work for had a contract to service these machines at one point. The ones kept outside had air conditioners in them. The machine itself and the internal machinery aren't really useful for other applications. However there are aspects of these that can be parted out. The brain is a standard desktop PC. They have cellular modems. Also the credit card readers could be sold. If the air conditioner is not proprietary it can probably be sold as well. While companies may lose money on scrapping these, it wouldn't be as bad as letting the eyesores sit on their sidewalks
I was thinking that too, but for the one glaring exception that now exists, Starlink. You can now be in the middle of nowhere and still have internet access sufficient enough to stream a movie. They're doing it now in western NC, where the grid is down and roads are even not passable. A generator or solar power setup and Starlink keeps you online through anything.
@@sbrazenor2 Yes, but the issue with Starlink is cost. Many of the places where Redbox does well are places where the residents cannot afford to spend $100 more than they are currently spending to get internet. I agree, as Starlink proliferates this will be less of a concern, but the idea is still valid for the moment. Either way, redbox is gone. Physical media is going to continue to go down as well. I hate that.
Streaming is convenient if all you care about is 90th percentile Hollywood lowest common denominator but if you want to watch anything remotely out of the mainstream good luck. That combined with the constant titles moving, or disappearing completely all make streaming a pretty shit experience in my opinion. The draconian licensing all the major streamers employ make it literally impossible to own a title despite the fact you can "purchase" it. This in my view is the biggest benefit of physical media and people finally get sick of juggling streaming subscriptions and coming to bleach realizing they actually don't "own" anything.
While we do stream things, especially tv shows, I still buy physical discs for my media. And TV shows that we really like and offer discs, we will get those too. Though usually later on, like a set after the show ends or something. But in general, we’re a physical house.
I agree Physical media market is shrinking, except for used media. I spent $1.40 for 8 DVDs! So yeah the quality isn't like what's in an Ultra Blue ray. BUT, how many media titles are available on demand compared to what you can find used on DVD? To me, I want titles that have been yanked from being online! For, instance, I found a classic DVD of FLCL for 50 cents! It's available online BUT without the extras on the DVD!
The old classic movies are being released in the 4k format. I bought blu ray versions of the movie that I wanted and than randomly a week or anything month later, the 4k version of the movie that I wanted came out. I originally wanted 4k of the blu ray discs that I bought but 4k was not available so I settled for the blu ray disc versions. The 4k discs sometimes comes with a 4k disc and a blu ray disc in the same packaging. It's not always the case with all 4k titles but only certain titles. I bought some blu ray movies in the blu ray version version that I really want in 4k and than out of nowhere the 4k version comes out randomly because the blu ray version was already being released and sold and than later I found out the 4k version is already coming out. Unfortunately, not every title comes out in 4k, so I ended up settling for a blu ray version and if there is no 4k or blu ray version than I would settle for the dvd version as the last resort. I have the george lucas star wars movies on dvd with the high fidelity thx audio but there is no 4k movies with thx audio even though certain movies were originally mixed and mastered with thx level of high fidelity audio like the original george lucas star wars series and even indiana jones series of movies. I mention thx for audio because thx is about the high fidelity audio standard and certification that george lucas implement in theaters because of the audio engineer tomlinson holman that george lucas partnered to set a high quality standard and certification for high fidelity audio in movie theaters. However, since razer acquired thx, razer ruined thx since thx is being used to market razer products with the thx logo. Nowadays, dolby atmos are being used heavily for marketing similar to thx audio. There are android phones, headphones and speakers that says that they have dolby atmos or some type of spatial audio being used to sell there products.
The reason people are buying less physical media is that there's less media coming out that people want to buy. Also, many people will wait until a current series has run its course before buying the full set instead of one season at a time. There's also fewer old titles coming out on modern formats, so people who want, say, _Cheers_ already have it on the best format they're going to get. That's a big chunk of your billion-dollar drop.
@@sirducksworthythe3rd842, I didn't say streaming was increasing. I'm sure people aren't subscribing to as many services as they were 4+ years ago. And as he points out in the video, there is a growing niche for physical, but most people just pick up a Gomer Pyle or Supernatural DVD collection at Walmart and are happy with that.
The funny thing is that certain Anime titles are more collectable on VHS than on DVD. I don't know specifically but I'd venture it's a combination of 1: VHS titles came out when there was less attention on anime, and so there would have been far less interest in editing/censoring them, and 2: some of the DVD titles were mastered from VHS copies, not the master print, so the VHS ends up being *better* quality.
@@SenileOtaku, I have zero interest in VHS. Any DVD pressed from VHS is almost certainly a bootleg, but even so, a VHS tape will gradually lose quality with time, as well as wear and tear. With the exception of relatively rare disc rot, DVDs are a far more robust and reliable format. As long as the disc is kept in its case, almost every DVD will long outlast almost every VHS tape. And if something is only available through VHS, I would immediately have a digital copy made.
Physical media will always have its place, looking at the value of Steelbooks alone. I actually import from Italy cheaper than buying in the UK. I've got the Twister and Twisters on order for £17 cheaper than in the UK. There's a website which displays the language information on all movies including the source region. The problem is I was collecting the Marvel phase editions (volumes) of the marvel movies but they got so far and stopped them for some reason. I'm not buying anymore Marvel releases in the hope to start releasing collections again. Collectors editions of games though the prices are now insane, £250 for Sonic Generations 2 and £190 for Indiana Jones for consoles. I used to get collectors editions for £90-£130 now I don't bother.
I like the directors comments and other extras that come on physical media. Also I like being able to control the resolution of phyisical media. For most movies I like the online convenience however, the streaming companies control the resolution and even though they give me the resolution choice They could very easily change the resolution maximum at any time they want especially if they determine there's more demand than bandwidth or charge more for higher resolution, etc. Amazon prime already charges more for many online higher resolution movies.
I have a library that I don't intend to end. I still got a DVD burner in my workstation. Streaming might be more convenient for some and I could understand that argument but I just still prefer physical media for many reasons. But above all it's a copy that's mine, I can read the liners, I can hold the disk in my hand and I can watch it as many times as I want without the threat of some online vender threatening to throw me off their platform.
Redbox stripped their DVDs of a lot of their value. They typically bought the disc without the case and insert. It's the same issue people used to have when they put their CDs in a binder. No one really wants the disc without the case and insert, because it makes finding the movie difficult.
the numbers your showing my not pain a full picture, because I don't think they cover the Collectors Market like Arrow video, Shout Factory, vinegar syndrome to name a few. last year we head numbers and company's saying sales where up by 20% to 30% from 2022... and with some of the newer titles it could climb even higher this year. maybe worth chatting with them and seeing how physical working out for them can be a cool eye opener for the viewers.
I started buying most of my games digitally as I can quickly switch around to a different game, and that I've decided over the years to just keep my games. As after 10 years, I'll want to go back and replay them and would have to go and buy them back. As I used to sell my games after I completed them.
I haven't seen a Redbox kiosk in years. The last one was at my regular grocery store but it got removed and the store installed shelving and coolers for their internet shopping service. My local public library has a 'used book & media section' where you can buy DVDs for 50 cents each (very few blu-rays). The shelf space is not large, but it turns over quickly. Most of the DVDs appear to have been rarely used, I suspect watched only once or twice, so they're in great shape. And yes, the quality of the picture from a DVD is noticeably better than watching it on a streaming service.
I can imagine physical medias are more popular outside the USA especially in smaller markets where infrastructure aren't really up to snuff or data capped for streaming.
I’m buying a blu-ray every month as I’m not confident that I will be able to access my digital purchases into the future and not confident that I will be able to see my favourites on the same streaming platform in the future.
or also can you be sure your favorite tv show or movie on streaming won't be altered in some way for "modern audiences", because it might be deemed offensive? nobody can edit your physical media; but they sure can modify digital.
I'm very excited to announce the rollout of my new fleet of movie rental kiosks. Please look out for Bredbox, coming soon outside of a grocery store, pharmacy, or gas station in your area.
Laser was where it was at. (Honestly so much better than DVD and VHS and now streaming. I was there at the beginning and it was astonishing the quality.) Combined with a great sound set up and screen. The best. Wish I still had it.
I still have a bunch of laserdiscs and a player at my Mom's place .. I should bring it back here. Quality was absolutely incredible vs. VHS - I had some epic movie nights with friends and my surround sound system.
On a wide scale there are literally hundreds of thousands of titles on DVD - shout out to Ralph Tribbey of the DVD & Blu-Ray Release Report - and many of those are of very little value. As I am interested in stereoscopic films, I have many 3D Blu-ray titles. Most are now out of print and as such over time the value increases to collectors, but even still many of those are nearly worthless because the film itself sucks.
In my eyes, the DVD format is a big reason for the low value of Redbox's physical inventory. I am very much a fan of owning physical media (I've been running a Plex server for several years), but I have ZERO interest in buying anything below Blu-Ray quality. In fact, I was really bummed about RedBox's bankruptcy mainly because they were my main source for REALLY inexpensive BR discs. The only time of the year that I could hope to beat spending ~$4 for a used first-run BR movie was during Black Friday sales, and that is a changing landscape, too. I'm not sure if having more BR content would've made enough of a difference to offset the other expenses with removing the machines though. I did encounter a RedBox machine in my area that was still powered on yesterday. I didn't see any BR movies for sale that I wanted, but maybe I should head back over there and see what happens when I try to RENT a title that I want to add to my collection. Thanks for doing this video, Lon.
@@n3xt1nlyn3 Doesn't it annoy you, though, that the _special features_ available on the DVD version be missing from the Blu-ray version Not only that, but don't you like keeping _both_ versions just to be able to see the (much nicer) DVD menus?
@@grantorino2325, my main concern is normally the quality of the feature title when I rip it to my Plex server. If I pick up a BR/DVD combo, then I may keep the DVD along with the BR, but I’m more likely to give away the DVD. In the case of RedBox, the only time I might take a DVD title is if it’s a Warner Brothers DC animation title, which might be the only physical version available in the kiosk and still tends to look decent on a large TV.
I still buy physical media because I like having the tactile dimension to owning collectors edition. I also like all the extras on the discus and physical extras like booklets and posters. Also I know that nobody can ever delete my movies or tv series or alter them.
As former video store owner, I know it doesn't look good for physical media. But I am not giving it up for dead yet. I think when people catch on to the fact your virtual purchase is nothing more than a license that you can easily lose, some of those will return to physical media. That disc is yours. You can buy, sell, rent, or upload it to your own server for the virtual convenience without the need for internet access. That license requires internet and is subject to business success and corporate greed.
As someone that is attempting to make a jellyfin server? I love digital media. I just happen to recognize getting digital copies is very convenient since it lets you then put the physical media away and not risk it getting torn up.
hard disks can crash, SSDs can degrade data can also degrade on hard disks unless you have multiple copies , and if you sourced your media from a reputable source - chances are it is highly locked down. so are you really better off on digital ?
@@breadmoth6443 Hence keeping the actual DVDs in storage in a climate controlled place. On long enough time scales. Everything decays. Possibly even protons.
@@breadmoth6443 Physically and functionally yes. You have access to all your media at once without dealing with swapping out discs, you can stream to multiple devices in/out of your home, and you can store your physical copies in the attic/basement/somewhere out of the way. Digital rips are definitely the way to go. As far as hard drives dying and all that, you should always 3-2-1 backup any data you don't want to loose. The physical disk is a single point of failure unless you're making duplicate disks.
@@breadmoth6443 You can arrange your data on a raid array to add redundancy in case of failed drives. I use a raid 5 configuration on top of backing up the data and storing it away in my shed on the other side of my property. I've only been buying physical media and digitizing it for about a year and already have over 100 movies, a couple hundred music albums, and like a dozen full series. I don't pay much of anything for the disks because nobody seems to want them. The space they take up is becoming an issue. I'm going to buy binders for the discs and toss the cases out. I might keep the ones for the tv series since they seem to have some value. As for the media being locked down, pretty much any commercial disc can easily be decrypted. Handbrake handles pretty much any dvd, and I like makemkv for bluray. It is actually really simple to run a jellyfin server once you get it started. It won't replace all your streaming services, but I only stay subscribed to one at a time now. I've got all my favorites on my hard disks, so I just flop between streamers now and then to see what I've missed.
Here in the UK, the local charity shops/thrift stores have stopped taking in DVDs and CDs as donations. A couple of weeks ago I pulled 100 plus DVDs and CDs from the dumpster behind one store. Laser Disc quality is a myth. Laser Discs recorded an analog composite video signal on a continuous spiral track. They were not digital. So they were not fundamentally better technology than VHS. A lot of Laser Discs suffer from "Laser Disc Rot". Where the layers degrade and the playback gets increasingly noisy, until they become unplayable,
I have a feeling that more and more people will seek out physical media every time one of those things happen with these DRM distrubutors when they just pull the stuff people buy for various reasons (servers shutting down, some scandals, etc, etc). Then people research just a little and realize they actually own nothing and just have a license. That leaves a bad taste in peoples mouths.
Can't they convert those machines into vending machines for snacks? Maybe disposable phones? It's quite convenient to be able to buy a burner without witnesses around... 😏
I was thinking the same thing either certain cell phones or other objects that can fit into that size it just seems you’ve got the mechanism make use of it.
I think digital as an option is good, but i hate the push towards digital only. There are times when digital is unavailable, and physical will always be superior
They can be repurposed to rent movies as video files on personal SD cards and flash media if quality is the objective here, Streaming does not deliver the videophile quality the physical media enthusiasts looking for, They need to be fitted with high speed internet though for people to load movies on flash media instantly.
My $89 16mp digicam is now worth $200 and the SD card is worth $300. Valueless? No. Got a Slot Radio? Goldmine, still can't afford a Taylor Swift concert with it though.
But to me, honestly, maybe people have now go in the way of digital media, but to me I think it’s just not good because there might be sometimes that the movies that you want to watch or love to watch gets taken down from the streaming service or you stop thinking that you want to continue paying for the service then you cannot watch the movies anymore and also that’s why I’m thinking that physical media is in whatever reason still is the way to watch movies because even though you might be renting it or buying these movies, they will never be gone because you own it and you also don’t need Internet in order to watch your favorite movies as sometimes maybe that there might be blackouts, and so the streaming services won’t be available.
We used to have a machine which was owned and operated by Video Easy here in Australia there was one at our local shopping centre I used to use It was taken away about 4 years ago
My local RedBox is gone & still had many movies I could not return. I was charged for late fees & the DVD's. I called my credit card holder & they refunded me & did a charge back as they knew the company is gone. I kept the DVD's & sold them online & locally just had to remove their labels.
I will keep buying physical media as long as I can buy physical media. I would assume most people watch movies on tablets, phones, and computers anyway, so having the best picture and sound is only a priority if you have a true "home theater" setup. And how many of us really have that? I can get 100 DVDs on eBay for around $30. Out of that 100, maybe half are worth it. I take the good ones, convert them to an MP4 format, load them on an external hard drive I can access anywhere. Now I can access all of the movies digitally anywhere. I keep the really good ones, and resell the duds from the initial 100 along with the okay discs back on eBay and make some money back. It takes up a little bit of room, but not a deal breaker.
Now I don't really go out of my way to buy new DVDs anymore but I do like Blu-ray or better. I wish the animated star wars shows were on Blu-Ray, Clone Wars Season 7, Resistance, Tales of the Jedi, Tales of the Empire and Bad Batch. None of these have home releases.
Redbox failed to innovate. They didn't have to file bankruptcy. I used to rent atleast 2 movies a week from Redbox. When Redbox announced it would start offering 4K blurays I immediately (same day) went and purchased a 4K tv. Years later not a single Redbox kiosk within 200 jiles offered any 4K movies. I stopped renting and I'm stuck with a 4K tv and no content to watch. Considering that nobody streams true 4K content Redbox had an opportunity to corner the 4K market. Redbox continued to rent DVD when everybody had already moved on to Bluray and many like me were anticipating 4K Bluray.
Its not worthless per se. Remember everyone agreed that the jump from tape to dvd to blu ray all was a value added innovation. Then streaming came along and re-introduced expensive cable channels again. Now to be fair, Netflix and ONLY having Netflix, provided they had all the content, was pretty tough to compete with. That was a very narrow point in time where Streaming can make a case for being objectively better than physical media. You still lost quality in sound and picture, but most may not have even noticed. But now with book burning introduced again by BIG MEDIA, streaming is not financially viable for the average household. Fun Fact: We still cannot stream RAW HQ movies due to internet still 40-50 years behind in the required speeds.
Honestly RedBox killed the video store experience. People were lured away from the ability to browse 1000s of movies by $1 newest releases with zero browsing experience. I think Redbox's formula ultimately was wrong in the long term, especially when you consider Hollywood simply stopped making good movies or have went to streaming low cost productions. I'd like to think there may be room for the classic video store yet that didn't focus on the latest releases.
As long as there are movies that, for whatever reason, are apparently not on ANY streaming service, I would say physical media is not completely worthless. I know of one 1980's movie that is in that situation. There are probably many others like that.
The value of that asset; costing more to liquidate than it is worth, shows not that it is worthless, rather it is a sign of an inefficient economy. To cut to the chase here, the root cause is free trade among unequal parties. "Stuff" is comparatively inexpensive because the bulk of it is manufactured by overseas workers getting paid a livable wage in that economy. We can not compete with their prices, and since that is all we care about, we have lost manufacturing and all those jobs. And now we can't afford nothing and wonder why.
I’ve noticed over the years quite a few friends and family members not know that their Xbox one/series or ps3/4/5 can even play blu rays, and in regards to Xbox I don’t blame them for not knowing as I’ve noticed the blu ray player app isn’t even pre installed, it has to be downloaded from the Microsoft store the first time you pop in a blu ray. I did also just notice last week that Walmart has started selling Series X’s without a disc drive :(
Older gaming consoles like the PS3 and Xbox One will play DVDs. It's likely you have one of these devices in your home but it may be extremely dusty. Strictly speaking of external PC DVD players, I've seen them sell for $40 and under. I've said too much.
I never used redbox. What was the point when it was the exact same thing as Netflix? The only difference is, Netflix you only have to walk to your mailbox, instead of going all the way to Walgreens.
As a non-american, I never heard of Redbox, but hardly surprising it's gone bankrupt - it sounds like the dumbest business model ever. You cannot possibly conclude any trends about physical media based on the bankruptcy of such a doomed to fail idea... It would be like a new company trying to bring back dial-up internet, going bankrupt, and concluding that people are not interested in the internet anymore!
I hate digital. have always been a physical copy guy. As you can see with games, people are more and more getting nostalgic and going back to physical. Guaranteed, these boxes will be worth A TON one day.
back when bluerays costed 14.99 to 19.99 I would buy but now that 4k uhd blueray cost 29.99 - 34.99 a movie I hold off till amazon puts it on sale under 24$ or I just dont buy it.
Most of the boxes in my area were removed already but I tried one at Walgreen's this week - it failed to dispense the disc and the 4K's were all gone, so no such luck
I don't understand why anyone would get a DVD from a Redbox machine placed outside. I predict a huge Big Lots influx of DVDs previously made for Redbox.
The RB at the Walgreens that I used to go to it recently disappeared but the other walgreens down the street it's still there surprisingly. The past several months prior to the shut down, RB was offering to let you buy the movie and not return it for about the same price or just a nominal increase. I never did that beause I didn't want to be stuck with the disc. But as for the concept of physical media dying because it's inconvenient, why then do people schlep bottles of water from the store and the bottled water industry is doing great when they can just get it out of their faucet? Isn't walking over the faucet more convenient? For me, renting a dvd was more for the nostalgic experience and returning it the next day, I mean, that's just how we did it. Bee kind, rewind.
I do on occasion purchase bottled water, but only to refill the bottles from my reverse osmosis water filter. I also purchase physical media, and put things on my Plex server since I don't have a 4k (or blu-ray) player for the television. Rip it once, put it back in the case and store them in large boxes.
@@john_in_phoenix Yreah I do that also to some extent but my point was we do things that are inconvenient. Physical media is inconvenient but that doesn't mean people wouldn't do it. People don't do it because it's cheaper in most cases to rent/stream when you not going to watch it again more than likely. Even if you have it on your own server.
If you’re up to date on technology, physical media is useless. Otherwise it is essential because you won’t be able to watch your favorite movies, music, etc…
Between streaming and downloading movies, I haven't owned physical media in nearly twenty years. You couldn't give it to me for free - I wouldn't take it - it's not worth the shelf space.
Couple ditties. 4k discs are in a very weird spot. Defects being huge for 1. I'm on my 4th Jaws 4k for example. I've never had a bad DVD, but have numerous blu-rays and 4ks. 2. The video isn't necessarily better. Take Disney+ having the expanded aspect ratio of it's movies. Or stream Dolby vision, but only put hdr10 on disc. Or Aliens. The so called 'directors intent' was to use AI to scrub all the grain away. Most people have complained hard about it. To where you're arguably getting a better version, streaming it. Back in the DVD days, you had so much more choice. Wanna watch the Matrix in an expanded aspect ratio? You can! Wanna see it as it was in theaters? You can do that too!
Seems Red Box could have sold these machines to help finance things. Could likely move these with a furniture/appliance dolly. Are they just heavy or are they anchored from the inside, if so probably only 4 🔩 to remove. Sad watching physical media die, because without legislation you'll never actually own digital media.
physical media is not going away yet. We have at least another decade, no business worth a billion dollars just disappears I think we are pretty much headed to 1997 type business, Dvd had low adoption as it was brand new. Titles were slow to come out in those early years and really expensive. I remember our first dvds we owned were Terminator 2 and Shakespeare in love and they cost 30$ each in 1997. 65$ in todays currency. more companies will rely on small outfits like kino lorber to put out their physical media and we should expect to keep paying 40-60$ for new releases
Digital is for the common man now that a large majority of people have high speed internet. The trade off on quality and having a physical copy are outweighed by the convenience of quick and easy streaming. Also I'm sure people are also happy that they don't have to have a chunk of space in their house dedicated to storing movies. Most of my movies are now in a cd binder. Removing the Blu Ray drive from the PS5 is a reaction to what has become the norm, they're not trying to pressure people to change because they already have. So why waste money on including a disc drive for a small percentage of people?
My steel book for season 1 of arcane arrived this week. I prefer to own my media. But I am apparently in the minority. Drop Box tried to do video games for a bit too right? I'll have to see if one of these machines still exists nearby.
digital storage can be an issue eventually, hard disks can fail , SSDs can degrade - so venture to guess you don't have your digital media backed up on multiple mediums do you?
Even though I still buy physical media for most people physical media is dead. There may be a niche market for people that still like to buy physical and hopefully that market is big enough that companies continue to put out content. But as a whole physical media will continue to decline. Even sales of vinyl records which had been rising in the past few years dropped 33% in 2024.
@@austinwillcut4919 To say nothing has changed is not true. A lot of retailers like Best Buy have stopped carrying physical media. Sales of physical media will continue to decline. There will be a market for collectors but most people will be consuming movies and music on digital. That's just reality.
@@austinwillcut4919 It's simply not true that nothing has changed. Retailers like Best Buy have stopped carrying physical media. Physical media will still be popular with collectors but the reality is that most consumers will consume content digitally.
If anyone has an extra Redbox case I'd love to add it to my shelf behind me! Let me know, happy to toss a few bucks to cover postage.
There are tons on ebay.
people are already taking the machines from wall greens so that wont stop em (can't don't mean people ain't) they are being removed at a rapid rate by modders
I have several, actually. I had been buying BR discs from RedBox for years, and I've moved most of my discs into books to reduce storage space, so I still have a handful of RedBox cases that I haven't recycled yet.
@@n3xt1nlyn3 Shoot me an email I'd love a few if you're willing to part with them! lon@lon.tv
@@LonSeidman
Contact please
The data on people buying less physical media is kind of misleading because a lot of Studios stop selling physical media to force the consumer to buy digital
Plus stores like Best Buy and Target no longer stock any physical media. The industry is killing itself. And it doesn't help Hollywood stopped trying to create blockbuster movies and pursued more "personal interest" productions that target smaller demographics. The whole industry is in shambles, meanwhile streaming encourages faster cheaper production for audiences that consume too quickly.
@@jasonpdoyle Long as Amazon is willing to carry the physical media and make it easy to find it'll keep that market going for awhile. Yes I am sad to see Best Buy and soon Target no longer carry physical media.
This is not true. A lot of things just aren’t sold in high quality for a myriad of reasons.
I'm in western NC no 😮power or Internet for 4 days but have a generator and DVDs I love physical media
Middle NC here. I don't have any DVD, but my collection of 4K blu is up to 143.
Like you, I too love my physical media.
@@thetrumanshow4791 I have some blue too not many I've got hundreds of DVD's alot have never been opened
No, streaming media is worthless, just a digital phantom
@@RandallStevenson my thoughts exactly
Yet, not all can spend $50 on just one movie
No, but more people have meet that demon.
@@charlesdoesmore5488 who's spending $50 on one movie?
@@charlesdoesmore5488 but you can spend $10 - $20 per month? which in the long run is more expensive if say you don't watch that much streaming , and your movie or tv show gets inevitably removed due to licensing reasons or other - it makes more financial sense to just spend the money and buy a copy and you can find it cheaper if you look.
The problem is that you down own digital media! It can disappear any time because it has happened to me so I no longer purchase it. I buy my blue rays and DVDs on the secondary market. This works well for me since I love old movies. I'm convinced I'm not the only one.
sir, physical media is just plastic, it can disappear at any moment too
Yes, I have 3 NAS now for my physical media.
my media collection well alot of it is rips from dvd's to preserve them and i will always own that digital media
@@dawn1berlitz
until a flood comes and ruins your house, or until a fire, or an earthquake, or tornado, or until you get too old to care about them anymore
@@Gravitatis a flood in my area is less likely and plus cloud providers can snooop through your data at any time as its on their system and a fire wouldnt easily spread through my moms house as its older built whioch means its better built than some newer homes
I believe the issue with early DVD's, were they usually just slapped the Laserdisc file onto the DVD instead of doing a new transfer for DVD. Which took some time to happen. Kind of the same happened with early Blu-Ray with them just getting an upconverted DVD file put onto them from older movies.
Streaming media is like when Walmart opens a store in a small town and puts all the local businesses (physical media) out of business with super low prices (easy to stream). But then Walmart closes the store a few years later (removing movies from streaming). So everyone goes back to local stores again (physical media).
I've only seen one Walmart close in my life.
I went digital for movies about 10 or so years ago, but I'm going back to physical media because the quality of streaming has significantly decreased over the years.
Objectively not true, but I’d rather have physical media.
Aside from disc rot, my only issue is that the hardware is usually the first casualty.
@@eliporter3980 give examples? 2014 4khdr wasnt a thing.
Why? RUclipss free. I'm not paying if I'm not owning. Hey Bob look what film I got. SKIBADY DO DAH SKOBADY DAY DISNEY IS NOW GAY AND LAME.
@@zeroturn7091 i have DVDs that are 20+ years old and still work, so either you are not taking care of your discs or your copies are poorly manufactured.
I own over 1000 movies and have taken the time to digitize them to my own personal server, and I can stream them both at home and away anywhere that there is internet or cell service. Fortunately most, if not all of the movies that have come out in the last few years have been so bad and worthless that I stopped going to Redbox or buying new movies. or TV. So, it's not that I don't want physical media, nothing coming out is worth buying. When yo have streaming or even "own" a digital version, you "own" nothing and can have access to nothing if they decide you don't or simply go out of business. That goes for games as well. I want to OWN my games, not be at the mercy of the company.
It makes sense that 4K etc. physical media has a market. Another thing that might drive sales in the future - streaming becoming a hopeless nightmare of ever increasing prices with questionable content.
That’s already come to pass.
Agreed. Netflix is well on it's way to becoming Comcast.
Interesting, Walgreens announced today that they will be closing 1,200 stores across the country.
Time to ask if they have a CD section and if so spend as much time as necessary to comb all the way through it sometimes CDs also get set on top and fall behind the CD Shelf or behind one of the racks like when I found my Ozzy Osbourne CD
Keep voting for democrats in blue states
@@jtm71 fail
@@limbeboy7 Must be a lib. Smh
I bought GhostBusters After Life from a redbox machine
I buy used dvds and rip to my home plex media server for personal use. Best way for me for all the old movies I loved
If you want a NAS to play your movies on then it is either physical media - whether second hand for around £1 each or less likely new (too expensive) - or sailing the seven seas with more questionable souces.
Call me old fashioned, but I will always buy physical media. I scour shops for used movies and cd's which often yields unique finds along the way.
I sill have DVDs that I have been too lazy to diigitize. I bought them,they are mine. Barring theft or damage,they cannot be withdrawn by the issuer. That's how purchasing is supposed to work.
Redbox has been a net negative business for a while, well before Chicken Soup for the Soul bought them. The sad part is that if Redbox had been managed properly, even the shrinking company could have been profitable. There are areas of the country where DVDs are still popular due to not having high speed internet. Redbox would never have been what it once was, but it could have at lease been.
The company I used to work for had a contract to service these machines at one point. The ones kept outside had air conditioners in them. The machine itself and the internal machinery aren't really useful for other applications. However there are aspects of these that can be parted out. The brain is a standard desktop PC. They have cellular modems. Also the credit card readers could be sold. If the air conditioner is not proprietary it can probably be sold as well. While companies may lose money on scrapping these, it wouldn't be as bad as letting the eyesores sit on their sidewalks
I was thinking that too, but for the one glaring exception that now exists, Starlink. You can now be in the middle of nowhere and still have internet access sufficient enough to stream a movie. They're doing it now in western NC, where the grid is down and roads are even not passable. A generator or solar power setup and Starlink keeps you online through anything.
@@sbrazenor2 Yes, but the issue with Starlink is cost. Many of the places where Redbox does well are places where the residents cannot afford to spend $100 more than they are currently spending to get internet. I agree, as Starlink proliferates this will be less of a concern, but the idea is still valid for the moment.
Either way, redbox is gone. Physical media is going to continue to go down as well. I hate that.
Streaming is convenient if all you care about is 90th percentile Hollywood lowest common denominator but if you want to watch anything remotely out of the mainstream good luck. That combined with the constant titles moving, or disappearing completely all make streaming a pretty shit experience in my opinion. The draconian licensing all the major streamers employ make it literally impossible to own a title despite the fact you can "purchase" it. This in my view is the biggest benefit of physical media and people finally get sick of juggling streaming subscriptions and coming to bleach realizing they actually don't "own" anything.
While we do stream things, especially tv shows, I still buy physical discs for my media. And TV shows that we really like and offer discs, we will get those too. Though usually later on, like a set after the show ends or something. But in general, we’re a physical house.
I agree Physical media market is shrinking, except for used media.
I spent $1.40 for 8 DVDs! So yeah the quality isn't like what's in an Ultra Blue ray.
BUT, how many media titles are available on demand compared to what you can find used on DVD?
To me, I want titles that have been yanked from being online!
For, instance, I found a classic DVD of FLCL for 50 cents! It's available online BUT without the extras on the DVD!
The old classic movies are being released in the 4k format. I bought blu ray versions of the movie that I wanted and than randomly a week or anything month later, the 4k version of the movie that I wanted came out. I originally wanted 4k of the blu ray discs that I bought but 4k was not available so I settled for the blu ray disc versions. The 4k discs sometimes comes with a 4k disc and a blu ray disc in the same packaging. It's not always the case with all 4k titles but only certain titles. I bought some blu ray movies in the blu ray version version that I really want in 4k and than out of nowhere the 4k version comes out randomly because the blu ray version was already being released and sold and than later I found out the 4k version is already coming out. Unfortunately, not every title comes out in 4k, so I ended up settling for a blu ray version and if there is no 4k or blu ray version than I would settle for the dvd version as the last resort. I have the george lucas star wars movies on dvd with the high fidelity thx audio but there is no 4k movies with thx audio even though certain movies were originally mixed and mastered with thx level of high fidelity audio like the original george lucas star wars series and even indiana jones series of movies. I mention thx for audio because thx is about the high fidelity audio standard and certification that george lucas implement in theaters because of the audio engineer tomlinson holman that george lucas partnered to set a high quality standard and certification for high fidelity audio in movie theaters. However, since razer acquired thx, razer ruined thx since thx is being used to market razer products with the thx logo. Nowadays, dolby atmos are being used heavily for marketing similar to thx audio. There are android phones, headphones and speakers that says that they have dolby atmos or some type of spatial audio being used to sell there products.
I suspect wallgreens is leaving the boxes on because legally 'we get more money if we show we made every effort to allow them to keep making money.'
The reason people are buying less physical media is that there's less media coming out that people want to buy. Also, many people will wait until a current series has run its course before buying the full set instead of one season at a time. There's also fewer old titles coming out on modern formats, so people who want, say, _Cheers_ already have it on the best format they're going to get.
That's a big chunk of your billion-dollar drop.
Acutely people are buying more physically then streaming the past year now
@@sirducksworthythe3rd842, I didn't say streaming was increasing. I'm sure people aren't subscribing to as many services as they were 4+ years ago. And as he points out in the video, there is a growing niche for physical, but most people just pick up a Gomer Pyle or Supernatural DVD collection at Walmart and are happy with that.
Also 10 million people have no jobs. Ah were heading towards hell. Enjoy the view boya.
The funny thing is that certain Anime titles are more collectable on VHS than on DVD. I don't know specifically but I'd venture it's a combination of 1: VHS titles came out when there was less attention on anime, and so there would have been far less interest in editing/censoring them, and 2: some of the DVD titles were mastered from VHS copies, not the master print, so the VHS ends up being *better* quality.
@@SenileOtaku, I have zero interest in VHS. Any DVD pressed from VHS is almost certainly a bootleg, but even so, a VHS tape will gradually lose quality with time, as well as wear and tear. With the exception of relatively rare disc rot, DVDs are a far more robust and reliable format. As long as the disc is kept in its case, almost every DVD will long outlast almost every VHS tape. And if something is only available through VHS, I would immediately have a digital copy made.
Physical media will always have its place, looking at the value of Steelbooks alone. I actually import from Italy cheaper than buying in the UK. I've got the Twister and Twisters on order for £17 cheaper than in the UK. There's a website which displays the language information on all movies including the source region.
The problem is I was collecting the Marvel phase editions (volumes) of the marvel movies but they got so far and stopped them for some reason. I'm not buying anymore Marvel releases in the hope to start releasing collections again.
Collectors editions of games though the prices are now insane, £250 for Sonic Generations 2 and £190 for Indiana Jones for consoles. I used to get collectors editions for £90-£130 now I don't bother.
I like the directors comments and other extras that come on physical media. Also I like being able to control the resolution of phyisical media. For most movies I like the online convenience however, the streaming companies control the resolution and even though they give me the resolution choice They could very easily change the resolution maximum at any time they want especially if they determine there's more demand than bandwidth or charge more for higher resolution, etc. Amazon prime already charges more for many online higher resolution movies.
I have a library that I don't intend to end. I still got a DVD burner in my workstation. Streaming might be more convenient for some and I could understand that argument but I just still prefer physical media for many reasons. But above all it's a copy that's mine, I can read the liners, I can hold the disk in my hand and I can watch it as many times as I want without the threat of some online vender threatening to throw me off their platform.
It’s crazy how often these machines seem frozen still since last year, they’re often promoting the SMB and Barbie movies which were around mid-2023
There's a Redbox still renting and selling DVDs in Anchorage Alaska
Redbox stripped their DVDs of a lot of their value. They typically bought the disc without the case and insert. It's the same issue people used to have when they put their CDs in a binder. No one really wants the disc without the case and insert, because it makes finding the movie difficult.
the numbers your showing my not pain a full picture, because I don't think they cover the Collectors Market like Arrow video, Shout Factory, vinegar syndrome to name a few. last year we head numbers and company's saying sales where up by 20% to 30% from 2022... and with some of the newer titles it could climb even higher this year. maybe worth chatting with them and seeing how physical working out for them can be a cool eye opener for the viewers.
Loud and clear, LON! Time to loot them REDBOX machines! 😝
@@fleetingfacet 🤣
I started buying most of my games digitally as I can quickly switch around to a different game, and that I've decided over the years to just keep my games. As after 10 years, I'll want to go back and replay them and would have to go and buy them back. As I used to sell my games after I completed them.
One issue is that a lot of hit titles went away as the company was going under and much of what remains in the machines is direct-to-video fare.
I haven't seen a Redbox kiosk in years. The last one was at my regular grocery store but it got removed and the store installed shelving and coolers for their internet shopping service. My local public library has a 'used book & media section' where you can buy DVDs for 50 cents each (very few blu-rays). The shelf space is not large, but it turns over quickly. Most of the DVDs appear to have been rarely used, I suspect watched only once or twice, so they're in great shape. And yes, the quality of the picture from a DVD is noticeably better than watching it on a streaming service.
My library loans out blu-ray and DVD disks. Goodwill is another good source.
I can imagine physical medias are more popular outside the USA especially in smaller markets where infrastructure aren't really up to snuff or data capped for streaming.
I’m buying a blu-ray every month as I’m not confident that I will be able to access my digital purchases into the future and not confident that I will be able to see my favourites on the same streaming platform in the future.
or also can you be sure your favorite tv show or movie on streaming won't be altered in some way for "modern audiences", because it might be deemed offensive? nobody can edit your physical media; but they sure can modify digital.
I'm very excited to announce the rollout of my new fleet of movie rental kiosks. Please look out for Bredbox, coming soon outside of a grocery store, pharmacy, or gas station in your area.
Laser was where it was at. (Honestly so much better than DVD and VHS and now streaming. I was there at the beginning and it was astonishing the quality.) Combined with a great sound set up and screen. The best. Wish I still had it.
I still have a bunch of laserdiscs and a player at my Mom's place .. I should bring it back here. Quality was absolutely incredible vs. VHS - I had some epic movie nights with friends and my surround sound system.
Renting is useless, but owning physical media is never useless, as we have seen evidence of over and over.
On a wide scale there are literally hundreds of thousands of titles on DVD - shout out to Ralph Tribbey of the DVD & Blu-Ray Release Report - and many of those are of very little value. As I am interested in stereoscopic films, I have many 3D Blu-ray titles. Most are now out of print and as such over time the value increases to collectors, but even still many of those are nearly worthless because the film itself sucks.
In my eyes, the DVD format is a big reason for the low value of Redbox's physical inventory. I am very much a fan of owning physical media (I've been running a Plex server for several years), but I have ZERO interest in buying anything below Blu-Ray quality. In fact, I was really bummed about RedBox's bankruptcy mainly because they were my main source for REALLY inexpensive BR discs. The only time of the year that I could hope to beat spending ~$4 for a used first-run BR movie was during Black Friday sales, and that is a changing landscape, too. I'm not sure if having more BR content would've made enough of a difference to offset the other expenses with removing the machines though.
I did encounter a RedBox machine in my area that was still powered on yesterday. I didn't see any BR movies for sale that I wanted, but maybe I should head back over there and see what happens when I try to RENT a title that I want to add to my collection. Thanks for doing this video, Lon.
@@n3xt1nlyn3
Doesn't it annoy you, though, that the _special features_ available on the DVD version be missing from the Blu-ray version
Not only that, but don't you like keeping _both_ versions just to be able to see the (much nicer) DVD menus?
@@grantorino2325, my main concern is normally the quality of the feature title when I rip it to my Plex server. If I pick up a BR/DVD combo, then I may keep the DVD along with the BR, but I’m more likely to give away the DVD. In the case of RedBox, the only time I might take a DVD title is if it’s a Warner Brothers DC animation title, which might be the only physical version available in the kiosk and still tends to look decent on a large TV.
they just started to charge too much for one day of rental so i stopped using it.. last movie i saw with redbox was alita battle angel.
@@commando0110 how much is 1 day rental?
I still buy physical media because I like having the tactile dimension to owning collectors edition. I also like all the extras on the discus and physical extras like booklets and posters. Also I know that nobody can ever delete my movies or tv series or alter them.
As former video store owner, I know it doesn't look good for physical media. But I am not giving it up for dead yet. I think when people catch on to the fact your virtual purchase is nothing more than a license that you can easily lose, some of those will return to physical media. That disc is yours. You can buy, sell, rent, or upload it to your own server for the virtual convenience without the need for internet access. That license requires internet and is subject to business success and corporate greed.
I'll take one of those machines!
As someone that is attempting to make a jellyfin server?
I love digital media. I just happen to recognize getting digital copies is very convenient since it lets you then put the physical media away and not risk it getting torn up.
hard disks can crash, SSDs can degrade data can also degrade on hard disks unless you have multiple copies , and if you sourced your media from a reputable source - chances are it is highly locked down. so are you really better off on digital ?
@@breadmoth6443 Hence keeping the actual DVDs in storage in a climate controlled place.
On long enough time scales. Everything decays. Possibly even protons.
@@breadmoth6443 Physically and functionally yes. You have access to all your media at once without dealing with swapping out discs, you can stream to multiple devices in/out of your home, and you can store your physical copies in the attic/basement/somewhere out of the way. Digital rips are definitely the way to go.
As far as hard drives dying and all that, you should always 3-2-1 backup any data you don't want to loose. The physical disk is a single point of failure unless you're making duplicate disks.
@@breadmoth6443 You can arrange your data on a raid array to add redundancy in case of failed drives. I use a raid 5 configuration on top of backing up the data and storing it away in my shed on the other side of my property. I've only been buying physical media and digitizing it for about a year and already have over 100 movies, a couple hundred music albums, and like a dozen full series. I don't pay much of anything for the disks because nobody seems to want them. The space they take up is becoming an issue. I'm going to buy binders for the discs and toss the cases out. I might keep the ones for the tv series since they seem to have some value. As for the media being locked down, pretty much any commercial disc can easily be decrypted. Handbrake handles pretty much any dvd, and I like makemkv for bluray. It is actually really simple to run a jellyfin server once you get it started. It won't replace all your streaming services, but I only stay subscribed to one at a time now. I've got all my favorites on my hard disks, so I just flop between streamers now and then to see what I've missed.
Here in the UK, the local charity shops/thrift stores have stopped taking in DVDs and CDs as donations. A couple of weeks ago I pulled 100 plus DVDs and CDs from the dumpster behind one store.
Laser Disc quality is a myth. Laser Discs recorded an analog composite video signal on a continuous spiral track. They were not digital. So they were not fundamentally better technology than VHS. A lot of Laser Discs suffer from "Laser Disc Rot". Where the layers degrade and the playback gets increasingly noisy, until they become unplayable,
Physical will never go away. You get to own it. Renting anything just sucks.
leave it to americans to care about "owning" little round plastic discs
Redbox dvds would be significantly less than normal value of a regular dvd. Since they are likely scratched up, no box and no inserts.
Mine is still working and I am keeping on trying to go back there by Walgreens and get more of Blu-ray or DVDs from that machine
I have a feeling that more and more people will seek out physical media every time one of those things happen with these DRM distrubutors when they just pull the stuff people buy for various reasons (servers shutting down, some scandals, etc, etc). Then people research just a little and realize they actually own nothing and just have a license. That leaves a bad taste in peoples mouths.
I installed and maintained these machines for years. I wish I still did. Id make bank! :)
Can't they convert those machines into vending machines for snacks? Maybe disposable phones? It's quite convenient to be able to buy a burner without witnesses around... 😏
I was thinking the same thing either certain cell phones or other objects that can fit into that size it just seems you’ve got the mechanism make use of it.
I prefer physical media. Streaming is not always reliable, other disadvantages.
I think digital as an option is good, but i hate the push towards digital only. There are times when digital is unavailable, and physical will always be superior
I love that they sight “the twelve dogs of Christmas” to show how worthless some of the movies are 😂😂😂😂 amazing
They can be repurposed to rent movies as video files on personal SD cards and flash media if quality is the objective here, Streaming does not deliver the videophile quality the physical media enthusiasts looking for, They need to be fitted with high speed internet though for people to load movies on flash media instantly.
My $89 16mp digicam is now worth $200 and the SD card is worth $300. Valueless? No. Got a Slot Radio? Goldmine, still can't afford a Taylor Swift concert with it though.
But to me, honestly, maybe people have now go in the way of digital media, but to me I think it’s just not good because there might be sometimes that the movies that you want to watch or love to watch gets taken down from the streaming service or you stop thinking that you want to continue paying for the service then you cannot watch the movies anymore and also that’s why I’m thinking that physical media is in whatever reason still is the way to watch movies because even though you might be renting it or buying these movies, they will never be gone because you own it and you also don’t need Internet in order to watch your favorite movies as sometimes maybe that there might be blackouts, and so the streaming services won’t be available.
We used to have a machine which was owned and operated by Video Easy here in Australia there was one at our local shopping centre I used to use
It was taken away about 4 years ago
It is indeed interesting because you can get all DVDs and BluRays (in the machine) for free.
My local RedBox is gone & still had many movies I could not return. I was charged for late fees & the DVD's. I called my credit card holder & they refunded me & did a charge back as they knew the company is gone. I kept the DVD's & sold them online & locally just had to remove their labels.
I will keep buying physical media as long as I can buy physical media. I would assume most people watch movies on tablets, phones, and computers anyway, so having the best picture and sound is only a priority if you have a true "home theater" setup. And how many of us really have that? I can get 100 DVDs on eBay for around $30. Out of that 100, maybe half are worth it. I take the good ones, convert them to an MP4 format, load them on an external hard drive I can access anywhere. Now I can access all of the movies digitally anywhere. I keep the really good ones, and resell the duds from the initial 100 along with the okay discs back on eBay and make some money back. It takes up a little bit of room, but not a deal breaker.
I still prefer UHD BD to streaming: i want the best quality. I hate those compression artifacts and the audio on streaming is pretty bad..
Now I don't really go out of my way to buy new DVDs anymore but I do like Blu-ray or better. I wish the animated star wars shows were on Blu-Ray, Clone Wars Season 7, Resistance, Tales of the Jedi, Tales of the Empire and Bad Batch. None of these have home releases.
Redbox failed to innovate. They didn't have to file bankruptcy. I used to rent atleast 2 movies a week from Redbox. When Redbox announced it would start offering 4K blurays I immediately (same day) went and purchased a 4K tv. Years later not a single Redbox kiosk within 200 jiles offered any 4K movies. I stopped renting and I'm stuck with a 4K tv and no content to watch. Considering that nobody streams true 4K content Redbox had an opportunity to corner the 4K market. Redbox continued to rent DVD when everybody had already moved on to Bluray and many like me were anticipating 4K Bluray.
The redbox probably failed because they kept putting DVDs in them and not only Bluray and 4k at the min
05:18 - I'll be glad to buy them.
Its not worthless per se. Remember everyone agreed that the jump from tape to dvd to blu ray all was a value added innovation. Then streaming came along and re-introduced expensive cable channels again. Now to be fair, Netflix and ONLY having Netflix, provided they had all the content, was pretty tough to compete with. That was a very narrow point in time where Streaming can make a case for being objectively better than physical media. You still lost quality in sound and picture, but most may not have even noticed. But now with book burning introduced again by BIG MEDIA, streaming is not financially viable for the average household.
Fun Fact: We still cannot stream RAW HQ movies due to internet still 40-50 years behind in the required speeds.
Walgreens is also in trouble. They are closing a lot of stores across the country.
Honestly RedBox killed the video store experience. People were lured away from the ability to browse 1000s of movies by $1 newest releases with zero browsing experience. I think Redbox's formula ultimately was wrong in the long term, especially when you consider Hollywood simply stopped making good movies or have went to streaming low cost productions. I'd like to think there may be room for the classic video store yet that didn't focus on the latest releases.
As long as there are movies that, for whatever reason, are apparently not on ANY streaming service, I would say physical media is not completely worthless. I know of one 1980's movie that is in that situation. There are probably many others like that.
The value of that asset; costing more to liquidate than it is worth, shows not that it is worthless, rather it is a sign of an inefficient economy. To cut to the chase here, the root cause is free trade among unequal parties. "Stuff" is comparatively inexpensive because the bulk of it is manufactured by overseas workers getting paid a livable wage in that economy. We can not compete with their prices, and since that is all we care about, we have lost manufacturing and all those jobs. And now we can't afford nothing and wonder why.
I’ve noticed over the years quite a few friends and family members not know that their Xbox one/series or ps3/4/5 can even play blu rays, and in regards to Xbox I don’t blame them for not knowing as I’ve noticed the blu ray player app isn’t even pre installed, it has to be downloaded from the Microsoft store the first time you pop in a blu ray.
I did also just notice last week that Walmart has started selling Series X’s without a disc drive :(
Used to work for the company that manufactured those boxes. Now I need to go lie down.
All your work life now disappeared. All that time now gone 😢
Would be interesting to hear your life story, all things considered
I have absolutely no way to watch physical media anymore. Most people I know no longer own a DVD or Bluray player. DEAD.
Older gaming consoles like the PS3 and Xbox One will play DVDs. It's likely you have one of these devices in your home but it may be extremely dusty. Strictly speaking of external PC DVD players, I've seen them sell for $40 and under. I've said too much.
@@Eeveewashere The PS4 and XBox Series X can play them
Already have people in my area that were laid off from redbox selling the movies and machines to try and get something.
I never used redbox. What was the point when it was the exact same thing as Netflix? The only difference is, Netflix you only have to walk to your mailbox, instead of going all the way to Walgreens.
I am sad to see Redbox go... I used to buy used 4k blu-ray discs for around $4. I have a nice collection now on my Plex server.
As a non-american, I never heard of Redbox, but hardly surprising it's gone bankrupt - it sounds like the dumbest business model ever. You cannot possibly conclude any trends about physical media based on the bankruptcy of such a doomed to fail idea...
It would be like a new company trying to bring back dial-up internet, going bankrupt, and concluding that people are not interested in the internet anymore!
I hate digital. have always been a physical copy guy. As you can see with games, people are more and more getting nostalgic and going back to physical. Guaranteed, these boxes will be worth A TON one day.
back when bluerays costed 14.99 to 19.99 I would buy but now that 4k uhd blueray cost 29.99 - 34.99 a movie I hold off till amazon puts it on sale under 24$ or I just dont buy it.
Most of the boxes in my area were removed already but I tried one at Walgreen's this week - it failed to dispense the disc and the 4K's were all gone, so no such luck
I don't understand why anyone would get a DVD from a Redbox machine placed outside.
I predict a huge Big Lots influx of DVDs previously made for Redbox.
The RB at the Walgreens that I used to go to it recently disappeared but the other walgreens down the street it's still there surprisingly. The past several months prior to the shut down, RB was offering to let you buy the movie and not return it for about the same price or just a nominal increase. I never did that beause I didn't want to be stuck with the disc. But as for the concept of physical media dying because it's inconvenient, why then do people schlep bottles of water from the store and the bottled water industry is doing great when they can just get it out of their faucet? Isn't walking over the faucet more convenient? For me, renting a dvd was more for the nostalgic experience and returning it the next day, I mean, that's just how we did it. Bee kind, rewind.
I do on occasion purchase bottled water, but only to refill the bottles from my reverse osmosis water filter. I also purchase physical media, and put things on my Plex server since I don't have a 4k (or blu-ray) player for the television. Rip it once, put it back in the case and store them in large boxes.
@@john_in_phoenix Yreah I do that also to some extent but my point was we do things that are inconvenient. Physical media is inconvenient but that doesn't mean people wouldn't do it. People don't do it because it's cheaper in most cases to rent/stream when you not going to watch it again more than likely. Even if you have it on your own server.
If you’re up to date on technology, physical media is useless. Otherwise it is essential because you won’t be able to watch your favorite movies, music, etc…
In my Manhattan life I have never seen a Redbox , so I’m obvious to this .
Between streaming and downloading movies, I haven't owned physical media in nearly twenty years. You couldn't give it to me for free - I wouldn't take it - it's not worth the shelf space.
$184,000 a month 2 keep those machines on i hope that includes all of them otherwise that would be a major loss
Couple ditties.
4k discs are in a very weird spot.
Defects being huge for 1. I'm on my 4th Jaws 4k for example. I've never had a bad DVD, but have numerous blu-rays and 4ks.
2. The video isn't necessarily better. Take Disney+ having the expanded aspect ratio of it's movies. Or stream Dolby vision, but only put hdr10 on disc.
Or Aliens. The so called 'directors intent' was to use AI to scrub all the grain away. Most people have complained hard about it. To where you're arguably getting a better version, streaming it.
Back in the DVD days, you had so much more choice. Wanna watch the Matrix in an expanded aspect ratio? You can! Wanna see it as it was in theaters? You can do that too!
I haven't had any defects with 4K discs.
Seems Red Box could have sold these machines to help finance things. Could likely move these with a furniture/appliance dolly. Are they just heavy or are they anchored from the inside, if so probably only 4 🔩 to remove. Sad watching physical media die, because without legislation you'll never actually own digital media.
physical media is not going away yet. We have at least another decade, no business worth a billion dollars just disappears
I think we are pretty much headed to 1997 type business, Dvd had low adoption as it was brand new. Titles were slow to come out in those early years and really expensive.
I remember our first dvds we owned were Terminator 2 and Shakespeare in love and they cost 30$ each in 1997. 65$ in todays currency.
more companies will rely on small outfits like kino lorber to put out their physical media and we should expect to keep paying 40-60$ for new releases
Digital is for the common man now that a large majority of people have high speed internet. The trade off on quality and having a physical copy are outweighed by the convenience of quick and easy streaming. Also I'm sure people are also happy that they don't have to have a chunk of space in their house dedicated to storing movies. Most of my movies are now in a cd binder. Removing the Blu Ray drive from the PS5 is a reaction to what has become the norm, they're not trying to pressure people to change because they already have. So why waste money on including a disc drive for a small percentage of people?
Damn, if only I had the space I would yoink one.
Walgreens is closing 1200 stores over the next 3 years. My Rite Aid has closed and I would hate to lose Walgreens.
There just has to be a better alternative. Like the Costco model compared to Walmart.
My steel book for season 1 of arcane arrived this week. I prefer to own my media. But I am apparently in the minority. Drop Box tried to do video games for a bit too right? I'll have to see if one of these machines still exists nearby.
No. When you purchase a digital movie, you still do not own it and they can take it from you on a whim.
I enjoy the convenience of streaming. If storage weren't an issue I'd still be buying physical media.
digital storage can be an issue eventually, hard disks can fail , SSDs can degrade - so venture to guess you don't have your digital media backed up on multiple mediums do you?
@@breadmoth6443 I'm a backup evangelist for over 55 years. That's not my storage concern. Physical space to keep the CDs, DVDs, tapes, records.
Even though I still buy physical media for most people physical media is dead. There may be a niche market for people that still like to buy physical and hopefully that market is big enough that companies continue to put out content. But as a whole physical media will continue to decline. Even sales of vinyl records which had been rising in the past few years dropped 33% in 2024.
I keep hearing that every 10 years and nothing has changed, home video is still here.
@@austinwillcut4919 To say nothing has changed is not true. A lot of retailers like Best Buy have stopped carrying physical media. Sales of physical media will continue to decline. There will be a market for collectors but most people will be consuming movies and music on digital. That's just reality.
@@austinwillcut4919 It's simply not true that nothing has changed. Retailers like Best Buy have stopped carrying physical media. Physical media will still be popular with collectors but the reality is that most consumers will consume content digitally.
Yoo I want to buy some discs. Anyone got the hook up? lol Where will they be selling them?