Physical Media By the Numbers With Ralph Tribbey | DVD and Blu-ray Release Report | Podcast
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- Heath is joined by RALPH TRIBBEY from DVD and Blu-ray Release Report for a deep-dive into the actual numbers of physical media. Ralph has worked for multiple studios and now tracks the ups and downs of the disc market. Is physical media dying? NO! Here's hard data to prove it.
Find Ralph's work at DVDandBluRayReleaseReport.com
When shopping on Amazon, please consider using Cereal At Midnight's affiliate link to support the channel: amzn.to/3LAgnlt
Find the Cereal at Midnight Podcast wherever you download your podcasts! If it's not there yet, we're working on it! It can already been found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, the Podbean app, Amazon Music/Audible, iHeart Radio, PlayerFM, Samsung, and Podchaser!
Please subscribe, rate, and review!
Review Archive: CerealAtMidnight.com/p/reviews.html
Shop: CerealAtMidnight.Threadless.com
Ebay.com/usr/cerealatmidnight
Patreon.com/CerealAtMidnight
Facebook.com/CerealMidnight
Twitter: CerealMidnight
Instagram: CerealMidnight
TikTok: OfficialCerealAtMidnight
Letterboxd: CerealAtMidnite
![NOSFERATU - Official Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters December 25](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nulvWqYUM8k/mqdefault.jpg)
When he said that the studios account for less than 5% of the new blu ray releases this year, I visibly felt my eye twitch. What business do these people think they work in?
The potential upside is that they may drastically increase the number of titles going out to labels like Arrow, Second Sight, Kino Lorber, Vinegar Syndrome, etc. I would rather have boutique releases for most films because those labels typically put way more care into it than the studios and we would hopefully get fewer disappointing releases.
My background is 35 years working in Retail Management. I worked for specialty retail music companies back in the day. When I worked for BLOCKBUSTER MUSIC for 4 1/2 years, yes, they had a chain of 400 locations back in the day.
After VIACOM purchased BLOCKBUSTER INC, it was decided to sell off the music division and focus on the video division. I ended up leaving the music division and went to work for BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO. I worked for them for another 6 years, and during that time, VIACOM wanted to buy PARAMOUNT PICTURES. I. Doing VIACOM sattled BLOCKBUSTER with tens of millions of dollars, which ultimately was the downfall of the company.(Not NETFLIX like some think). I know exactly what he's saying about DVD I followed since the beginning. These studios only see $$$$ signs when streaming started taking off they figured it's easier to stream then produce physical media. Yeah how's that working out. It's clear why the studios are remastering catalog classic films for 4K and releasing them on 4K UHD Blu-Ray Disc. 1) The studio get a new master copy of the film. 2) Consumers want to purchase them.
I personally do not think that physical media is going anywhere soon. If studios are loosing millions of dollars with streaming and their streaming channels I have to wonder if we'll see more focus on physical media. They have to make up the margin somehow.
Great chat, guys! Wow I bet you could have him on here as a regular guest and it would never get boring to listen to!
Very good interview. Always interesting to hear from people who have been in the industry for a while and have seen how it's changed.
As far as Disney+ original content, it seems like they don't want physical media out there because they want to force us to sub to streaming to see the shows.
Again cool topic - thanks for discussing not only new reviews but cinema / tv history , retail and ethics / monetary issues on physical media !! Really super topic
Thank you, Heath, you get some great people for sure. Institutional knowledge is gold. It provides history, wisdom, perspective and realistic viewpoints towards important debates.
That was a GREAT conversation. What a delight!
Think I want his book more than an AIP BD release!
This was a great listen, thanks for putting this together!
Heath I can’t thank you enough for interviewing Ralph. This was incredible! So much knowledge and insight. As much as I enjoy the convenience of streaming physical media will always be superior from higher fidelity and bit rates to the stunning artwork that covers provide. I could watch Ralph discuss these important topics every week!
Thank you! You can't watch Ralph every single week, but you can read his report 48 times a year!
Mr. Tribbey was just great! What a luxury guest you just had. Probably I will watch the whole thing again anytime soon. Greetings from Sweden!
I've been updating my movie room and having you on while I work. This has been a fantastic listen! Thanks fellas!!
Do you ever worry that as physical media keeps going toward boutique labels the cost will rise, making a more financially difficult barrier of entry to new potential collectors? At some point we need more people in the hobby, not just more release.
I think we're already there, as releases get more prestigious, expensive, and fancy. As streaming continues to implode, I hope more people reconnect with discs and we see a renaissance.
Don’t tell these companies but I’m happy to pay premium prices for premium releases. I mean I wish kino lorber was releasing everything on 4k for 27 bucks a piece tbh. Haha
Great interview and insight into various markets- especially from a business econ point of view- how sustainable are these strategies-- what seems clear is that the boutique labels are picking up the slack from big studios- and honestly it probably produces a better product with better special features and attention to detail that big companies don't have the time for.
Love to learn the numbers! Thanx for introducing Ralph to the community. Man! I’m thankful for videos that educate like this. I wish I could have real life conversations with people I know. No one I know cares anything about physical media. I’m on an island by myself when it comes to having an interest for physical media. So glad for the opportunity to be able to learn and be apart of the discussion via RUclips tho!
Heath,
Do you think we will see something of a movie rental store rebirth in some form at some point? I'd love to see you do a video on this topic.
Thanks.
I’m still amazed that the general movie buying public still see DVDs as their go to format. I currently know three different people who I work with who all bought John Wick 4 on DVD last week? How much are you really saving by not getting the 4K or even the blu ray release?
i guess the thing now i assume is that they dont have bluray players in the home so that would be the first hurdle granted im sure bluray players themselves are cheaper nowadays but the point still stands its an additional cost but basically once that hurdle is cleared yeah its within a few dollars for the bluray but also the thing is with the casual movie watcher for the most part they just want to watch the movie so quality is not important to most or as far as casual goes
Fascinating interview. Thanks so much for sharing it. I kept seeing a five-minute highlight reel of this for some reason do it was great to be finally able to enjoy the full hour of the podcast.
What I don't understand is why these studios aren't partnering up with these "helpers".
If I was running Disney, I'd go to these companies, ask them for a 50% cut of sales and give them the official artwork to use for the discs, and allow them to sell those discs of Amazon as well as in stores. These "helpers" could become legitimate in-house boutique labels if the studios were okay with that.
This is incredibly valuable.. thank you so much!!!
Psychical media I've always know will never go away it will always be a part of lives as a form entertainment. I ve been around psychical media since the mid 70's and have been an advid collector since vhs, dvds and blu rays I have a world of knowledge not to mention a modest collection. I myself got into cable tv at a young age when wht, HBO, cinemax, showtime etc.... roughly 30 yrs ago when cable was good. The only reason why streaming got popular in recent years was do to covid-19 and Hollywood movie industry got shut down. So they figured let's bring the movies to people's home's which in retro spet was a good idea.... but now that things/industry is getting back into the swing of things eventually streaming will disappear..... Because think about what you spend each month on streaming when you can easily purchase the movie on DVD or blu ray own it without having to worry about it disappearing off of streaming... moving forward I am not a fan of Disney they have gotten to big for their own good and just taking the fun out of our enjoyment..... referring to the censorship on films will just leave it here... great video very informative....
I also love and collect a lot of physical media, but I think another problem today is simply space for it all. Here in Ontario, Canada everything is getting so expensive now that a lot of people can only own/rent condos/apartments, so the space for items is limiting as opposed to owning a house with a basement.
Very interesting, thank you. So what I mostly got out of this is that the "helpers" are responsible for about 60% of blu ray and DVD's each month. But does it really "count"? I had no idea physical media bootlegging was that popular. Are the "helpers" only helping with titles that were never released on physical or are they also putting out titles that do have a legitimite release? Those are two very, very different things and I wish Ralph would expand on that. I also assume the quality of the bootleg can be hit or miss? (I assume they are not reveiwed so you don't really know what you're getting until you pop into your player). And I assume they have no special features to speak of? If that is the case than for me a physical bootleg wouldn't be that far from pirated copy I download using a torrent. So personally I don't really count it. At least for now. It would be as if I burned the downloade file onto a disc a put in a box with some poster artword. At least that's how it is in my head. I've never bought a bootleg copy.
Great work. I learned a lot.
I didn't miss the contest winner reveal, did I. I promised I wouldn't miss it, but I started a new job and didn't wanna lie when I said I wouldn't miss it. Thanks.
God bless this Ralph, I skipped the beginning but he had great things to say
Loved the interview! Very informative and nostalgic.
My only quibble: the improvement from DVD to Blu Ray really shocked me back in the day; I wouldn’t agree that it was marginal. (I remember the specific Target store where I was stopped in my tracks by a blu ray demo showing a James Bond movie. I was floored.)
The image quality jump from VHS/LD to DVD seemed more marginal to me, especially because the TVs of the day were SD. I remember seeing DVDs with a lot of artifacts and compression noise that “felt” worse than VHS to me.
What was so special about DVD was the aspect ratio, the commentary tracks, the menus, the special features, the low price, the compactness, and the collectibility.
But first time I was ever wowed by an image on a TV was at the beginning of the blu ray era.
4Ks look great, but certain blu rays (e.g., the recent Warner Archive Wonderful World of the Bros. Grimm release) still look better than most 4K discs do.
Came here to say exact same thing: by the facts, dvd resolution is less than 2x an improvement over vhs, whereas blu-ray is about 4x over dvd.
This MF spittin'
A friend of mine just posted some Blu-rays that are bootlegs of Disney shows and some movies that haven't gotten a physical release. He actually thinks they're legit. I told him, at this point, who cares. We should care, but if you want to own Barbarian or Mandalorian on physical, bootlegs are the only option. Clearly the "Helpers" are doing a great job at it. Packaging looks legit and my friend has a substantial collection, so if it fooled him, then a casual buyer surely won't know the difference
Really interesting chat, Heath. 👍
Really enjoyed the conversation! Also really excited to see Disney starting to release some of the streaming shows on disc now (Mandalorian, Andor, Loki, etc). Love that physical media is staying alive and growing in some ways. People see the advantages and that will keep it alive.
Fascinating interview, very in depth and insightful, thank you Mr. Tribbey! The main reason I quit Netflix was their nonstop delivery of dime a dozen "made for" movies and series, 90% of which was formulated pc crap. Three years ago I tried out The Criterion Channel and now it's the only one I subscribe to off and on. For me Criterion provides a happy marriage or synergy between their streaming service and physical side; about 80% of my Criterion blu rays were first discovered on their streaming platform.
I have less and less qualms going bootleg than ever before. If Disney doesn't want to put out any of its MCU shows on physical media, fine! I got options! If anyone wants to put together the R-rated print of Galaxy Quest with the hour long mockumentary as a bonus, please give a brotha' a holler....I'm tired of waiting for the anniversary year of a catalog title for studios to get their act together with a proper physical media release only to see it never materialize...
We absolutely must give Paramount credit, they are releasing discs for most of their Paramount+ originals.
They've historically been really good at finding ways to make their shows profitable BTW, CBS is infamous for making shows as cheaply as possible and as many episodes of those shows as possible so they can hit syndication and make money. Their current slate of shows will still be making them money in 50 years.
That more people aren't following their strategy is baffling to me. Both syndication and putting stuff out disc is just another way to make money off of existing content.
How things can change in a few months. No physical media release for Indiana Jones
Really enjoyed this! Thanks.
First! 🥇 Awesome video!
Very interesting topic Heath ! Very cool !! Some points of the discussion piqued my curiosity: I seem to remember a point in the late 90’s , when Disney was “farming out” their lesser popular (predominantly live action) films to (as Ralph calls them) “helpers” . Why isn’t Disney doing that now ?? There is certainly a passion for home video , and as you have stated we are living in a new golden age , with all the different older films , special editions with bonus features and different formats coming out - particularly with the help of the boutique / specialty / niche labels . Why isn’t Disney using a boutique label now and farming out the physical media side of their business as they did 25-30 years ago ? I’d love to see special editions on blu ray and 4K of Island at the Top of the World (one of the earliest films I saw in the movie theaters) , Black Hole , Watcher in the Woods , etc ? I’d imagine this would be the “win - win” for everyone : Disney wouldn’t have to spend the money per se yet could reap the rewards - the fans get a good product as the boutique labels seem to pull out all the stops to create a good edition for home video. It seems short sighted if they aren’t thinking of this . I’m bummed as I was hoping for a 70th anniversary edition of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on 4K - I was hoping to see it on blu ray in time for the 60th or 65th anniversary……. Disney seems off their game
Is Ralph saying Netflix is going to eventually shut down or be bought out or the speculation is someone is going to try and take them down ? I do stream, but I love physical media - having said this with the cost of cable , and multiple streaming platforms, it is unsustainable for the average consumer . You may like one or 2 programs / films on a streaming platform but not everything . Once Cobra Kai and Stranger things are over will Netflix have any other product ? Even if they do , with everything spread out , will every consumer want to blow a bunch of money on every streaming platform ? How will it end up ? One streaming platform? Only 2 ? If you’re getting cable , do you need streaming , regularly?? Where is the happy medium ? Pre cable , you could see old movies on the old tv networks and uhf antenna channels regularly- you couldn’t see a single movie in regular rotation as you can on cable , nor could you chose to see a movie all the time as in streaming - but it seems the streaming platform has its strengths but also so many limitations.
Disney has recently cut a deal with Mill Creek Entertainment to get a bunch of discs that have gone out of print back into production, but I don't think we've actually seen any of the fruits of that deal hitting shelves yet. It's definitely the start of something with a lot of potential. At this point, Warner Bros. is the only studio that hasn't seen the value of a third party.
As for streaming, I believe it's the new cable. We cut the cable cord in my house about a decade ago because they wouldn't let us pay for only the channels that we want. Now with streaming, we're able to pick and choose the services and the entertainment that we want with no contracts. But the current streaming model is not sustainable. These companies are spending countless millions of dollars chasing an audience that is increasingly fragmented. Not all of these services are going to survive and they'll need to work together (probably through bundles) to survive the next few years.
Hello Cereal At Midnight,
I think Streaming won't last much longer if they keep purging titles like this. What do you think?
I think streaming is the new cable and it's here to stay, but these companies are going to have to consolidate and work together to start turning the ship around. I think within the next few years, we'll see more services bundling together and the prices will have to come down. Most people aren't going to spend $100 a month on 6 different services.
@@CerealAtMidnight There should be a law preserving these wonderful shows & movies, so that future generations can enjoy them. Plus, I have already heard how the DVD/Blu-ray set for the first season of "Star-Trek: Prodigy" is selling out fast in light of the news to its cancellation & utter removal from the service . People are voting with their wallets & actively tying to save the show. What are your thoughts on this?
Going to the Grindhouse at what age? Lucky him I was allowed to go to the theaters alone like at 13 or 14. Very enlightening discussion bro. Good interview and cool video Heath!👉😃👈
My mom would send me to the store at age 7 to go buy her cigarettes in the 80s. The store was about 1/2 a mile away
@@peakoil-ko5oq wow when I lived in P.R. they wouldn't sell cigarettes to kids. But your store was fairly far my closer store was like 5 min. away.🤔
I went to his website (your link is wrong, I think? ) and I would like to know what “MOD Replication” means
Link works fine for me. That's Ralph's dot com landing page.
MOD is Manufactured-On-Demand :) discs produced when ordered.
If I was Hallmark, I'd be throwing the kitchen sink at Stealer's.
MacArthur Park
Is melting in the dark
Jurassic Park is scary in the dark as well
I havent listened to the full interview, yet, but i just want to chime in that ive noticed a SIGNIFICANT reduction in space in retail stores, such as Best Buy, and Target for physical media (including, movies and games).
So, while studios and other companies are releasing new titles for consumers, every week/month, the amount of overall, space and inventory seems, low.
I cant tell you how bare much of the shelves/aisles are in stores and while it appears consumers are buying...stores arent apparently, restocking, as much.
Honestly, most of my recent purchases of physical media comes from thrift stores and dedicated video shops.
And, yes, ive also bought stuff off of eBay and Amazon, but again, stores like, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, etc...while they do get a fair amount of new release titles and still stock some older stuff, the majority of what i see on their shelves does seem greatly, scaled back.
And, youre also seeing game companies releasing digital-only titles, such as the upcoming, Alan Wake 2, so that does concern me.
So, while I'm thankful for Amazon, eBay and other online outlets that still sell huge quantities of physical media, as well as thrift shops and dedicated video stores...the general situation we are seeing in retail department stores is depressing and I do think there is a slow, gradual shift towards, digital.
Not to mention, I do wish more streaming services would release their content on DVD/blu ray... I understand they may want to keep some of their stuff on the streaming services, for exclusivity and subscribers, but I would like to add Prey to my Predator collection, for example.
You may enjoy this video I made called Where are the Movies? Why Brick and Mortar Stores No Longer Carry Physical Media: ruclips.net/video/gHVLTYDjkQg/видео.html
I hope it doesn't happen that fast, but the transition to big-budget digital-only games will have a severe impact on pressing plants, and some of those won't survive the transition, ips like GTA or CoD sell millions of copies every year.
@@CerealAtMidnight Thank you!
@@vegetarey Exactly. But now we have $70 games and who knows how much more expensive they could get. Physical production costs and pricing for games seems to be an issue.
Due to higher prices of many 4k/steel book movies, I usually, just go for the standard Blu ray editions, but it makes me wonder if the production cost and pricing on the 4K/steel book releases could even go, higher.
I don't know, but obviously, for many companies...going, digital, seems like a better route. Even though I understand new release physical media titles are still a priority, for most studios.
But, as for the future...I mean, just like what happened with music CDs...we could see more shifting to digital, sooner than we think.
I hope I'm wrong.
@@g3ckoizlethal It's not at all about physical costs. It's about the cost of making the game. ". Even though I understand new release physical media titles are still a priority, for most studios.
" How much does it cost to host a server with those films in perpetuity?
I would love to get that poster newsletter!!! Is there any way I can get it?
You'll have to ask Ralph! Find him at DVDandBluRayReleaseReport.com!