Where do you buy your digital movies/tv?

[Sweet Pea]

   .

[WhitetailAni]

I usually:

1. Wait until it comes out on Netflix

2. Hope the library has a DVD (because we have a PS2 that we use to play DVD's)

3. Buy it on Amazon Prime (last resort)

[pythonmegapixel]

I generally watch stuff on Disney Plus, which has become even better of late since they started to add non-Disney content to it in the middle of last month (I have nothing against the Disney stuff, but the more variety the better), as well as the various streaming services operated by TV channels.

 

If there's anything I really like, I buy a copy on Blu-ray, usually just from eBay.

 

I don't care about DRM on online services - after all, everyone knows what they're getting into by now - but I do object to over-zealous DRM on physical media, which in many countries including my own is entirely legal to copy for personal backup purposes.

 

I also don't give any money to Amazon, for obvious reasons. I also object to the Amazon Shopper Panel because it's clearly just a strategy to allow Amazon to spy on their competitors to learn how best to undercut them and bankrupt them, gradually growing the awful near-monopoly they have.

[WolframaticAlpha]

8 hours ago, Science Officer Spock said:

I use a mix of Prime Video & Apple TV.

 

I get a ton of Amazon giftcards through Bing and Amazon shopper panel. As for Apple TV, TV Show collections are much cheaper than they are on Prime Video usually, so I have all my star trek, star wars and adult animation (archer, futurama, rick and morty, etc) with Apple.

 

Just curious. I know some people are anti-drm or anti-digital. 

Through a *totally* legal Google drive.

 

 

Hehehe, I buy some movies, if they are on dvd. But I don't actually purchase movies. Just stream them through totally legal methods.

[Intergalacticbits]

I mostly have bought movie disks at Walmart but lately I have been buying movies, TV shows from iTunes.

I also had a lot of movie codes from the movie and TV show disks that I had bought from Walmart and never used.

Those do work for me to stream now on iTunes and I really enjoy getting exactly the stuff I like. As opposed to the subscribe to a service and hope you get more then just one show you like method. I also only have slow internet available so that blocks some subscription stuff like Netflix from working well for me

.

I have noticed though that if I buy a type of movie on iTunes. That it seems sometimes like they will then raise the price on the things I show interest in.

Like for example I bought an old star trek movie I liked and then later when I went back to get more. I noticed that all the prices on old star trek movies went up from $5.00 or $8.00 to $15.00.

That bums me out but other then that I like having my own personal library of stuff to watch.

 

I don't subscribe to the Apple TV+  service though because I just don't like the shows they offer.

If it was more science fiction edgy type shows or more adult stuff like Game of Thrones on there then I probably would subscribe to it.

Apple has been nice to me in the past so in general I like them.

 

 

 

[dalekphalm]

15 hours ago, Science Officer Spock said:

I use a mix of Prime Video & Apple TV.

 

I get a ton of Amazon giftcards through Bing and Amazon shopper panel. As for Apple TV, TV Show collections are much cheaper than they are on Prime Video usually, so I have all my star trek, star wars and adult animation (archer, futurama, rick and morty, etc) with Apple.

 

Just curious. I know some people are anti-drm or anti-digital. 

I use a Plex Server to manage all of my digital video content, which invariably means: Blu-Rays (or in some older cases, DVDs).

 

As far as I'm aware, there still isn't a DRM-free store (or even a DRM-included store) that works with a Plex Server.

 

I would love to purchase digital copies of movies and series from the likes of the Apple iTunes Store, if I could use that content on my Plex Server.

 

The other problem with digital content is quality - frankly, even 4K digital downloads are not always up to simple 1080p Blu-Ray quality - let alone a 4K Blu-Ray.

[pythonmegapixel]

4 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

As far as I'm aware, there still isn't a DRM-free store (or even a DRM-included store) that works with a Plex Server.

 

I would love to purchase digital copies of movies and series from the likes of the Apple iTunes Store, if I could use that content on my Plex Server.

What device is there which can access a Plex server but doesn't have a web browser? Couldn't you just pick a store which has an online interface to watch videos through (such as Amazon for example) and use that?

[dalekphalm]

30 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

What device is there which can access a Plex server but doesn't have a web browser? Couldn't you just pick a store which has an online interface to watch videos through (such as Amazon for example) and use that?

I could do that, but then I'm relying on streaming that from the Internet every single time I want to watch it. It also means I don't control the actual file.

 

I buy music from iTunes because it's DRM free and extremely flexible. I would buy digital movies from them if I had the same flexibility. 

 

Also that doesn't solve the quality issue as well.

[Sweet Pea]

   .

[Sweet Pea]

   .

[airborne spoon]

People still pay for movies and TV in 2021? 

 

I love my VPN from PIA, i built a small server with freenas and 10TB of storage that actually needs a capacity upgrade soon. But when there is soooooo many "legal" sites that you can download from why pay the extortionary prices these streaming companies have?

I just tried Netflix for the first time since 2008 (when they used to send me DVD's in the mail) and hot damn their selection is absolute garbage, worst 8 bucks i ever wasted for their streaming. nothing good to watch and all their original content I've already watched by downloading it for free on other places and the rest of their original content is just trash.

[Yummychickenblue]

My family subscribes to a lot of streaming services, but I have personal convictions that guide my habits:

 

Above all, I care about artists being rewarded for their work (this means no piracy).

My second priority is having DRM free media. (This means minimizing streaming services and iTunes for movies).

My third priority is having high quality media. (This more often than not correlates with actions guided by rule 2).

 

Immediately there is a contradiction: How do I reward artists and obtain high quality DRM free media when their art is only available on streaming services? In this case I am forced to use the streaming service. I also use streaming services to discover new media, then buy it on DVD or Blu-ray and digitize it to the extent I am legally allowed to. For music, I first look on Bandcamp, as they give the largest share of purchases to artists of any online music store, offer flac downloads for all their music, and give artists and listeners great control over how much they pay for their music (there are several albums where I've payed more than asking price for albums on bandcamp).

 

These priorities have come to me recently, so I haven't had the chance to amass an especially large library yet. The content I do have streams from a Jellyfin server (because I want to avoid propietary software to the extent I am able).

 

[pythonmegapixel]

10 hours ago, airborne spoon said:

 why pay the extortionary prices these streaming companies have?

I think the reason is very obvious: somebody has to pay for the content to be made. If *everybody* pirated films then there would be no money in the industry anymore so there would be no films *to* pirate.

 

Honestly, if the streaming service has the content you want and you're going to use it a lot, then the monthly charge is very good value for money. The main problem is that many of them don't allow you to even view the catalogue until you buy a subscription, which is something they really need to fix.

[Tomsta]

Wait till the film I want comes out on DVD/Blu-Ray. Buy it

 

Simple as, if I want to digitise it for personal use I'll rip it from the DVD or Blue-Ray

[PhantomJaguarr]

I bought a few movies from YouTube once they were taken off from the streaming services I have like Netflix, Hulu, and Prime.

[The Flying Sloth]

[dalekphalm]

17 hours ago, airborne spoon said:

People still pay for movies and TV in 2021? 

Of course. I love Movies and TV series. I love them enough to want more of them to be created. If I pirated them all (and I do admit that I occasionally do now and then, and did a lot when younger), then I would be directly contributing to my favourite series not getting renewed for another season, or a really promising upcoming movie not getting a deserved sequel.

 

Most importantly, if no one pays for new content, we simply won't get nearly as much good stuff.

17 hours ago, airborne spoon said:

I love my VPN from PIA, i built a small server with freenas and 10TB of storage that actually needs a capacity upgrade soon. But when there is soooooo many "legal" sites that you can download from why pay the extortionary prices these streaming companies have?

I see you've put the word Legal in quotation marks. This likely means that those sites, are in fact, definitely not legal.

 

Streaming sites, for example, are serving you illegal content unless they hold an authorized distribution license.

17 hours ago, airborne spoon said:

I just tried Netflix for the first time since 2008 (when they used to send me DVD's in the mail) and hot damn their selection is absolute garbage, worst 8 bucks i ever wasted for their streaming.

Granted this largely depends on what country you live in, but the Canadian and US Catalogues for Netflix have tons of good content.

17 hours ago, airborne spoon said:

nothing good to watch and all their original content I've already watched by downloading it for free on other places and the rest of their original content is just trash.

So in other words, it did have good content worth the price, but you decided to watch it illegally anyway.

 

I'm not saying torrenting (or streaming from one of those illegal sites) is the same as being Hitler - obviously it's not. But especially if everyone starts doing it, there are definite consequences to the entertainment industry.

[Mark Kaine]

You can't "buy" digital.

 

Trick question.  next.

[wasab]

When there is an affordable and accessible option, few would pirate. Most pirates now are subscribers to Netflix or Spotify nowadays 

[Andreas Lilja]

I wish services like Vudu existed in Canada, the existing prices don't deter piracy at all. 

[Spotty]

Locking this cause it got bumped by a spam account 2 and a half years later.