Advantages of downloading movies over streaming?

[Guest]

So back in the day I used to download a lot of movies onto external and internal hard drives, I had a pretty big library, but as time went on it didn't really seem necessary as streaming sites (decent ones too, ones that look professional and have no ads) started popping up and always had the newest movies and TV shows as soon as they were available on the net. 

 

Although this is how I see things, I still see a lot of people who have 2 or 3 10TB HDDs and use a lot of that storage for movies, TV shows and music. Why is this still such a popular method of obtaining media? Isn't it more time consuming than just streaming the said movie or TV show on the internet? Not to mention it takes up a lot of space.

 

I'm not saying I'm against it, I'm just curious with the reasoning behind it, I haven't downloaded movies or TV shows in around 4 years.

 

My biggest guess is that it's a "collectors" thing, just like how people collect DVDs or Blu - Rays, but I'm not entirely sure that is it.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Streaming requires reliable internet. Also if you download it and it's in a readily playable format, it's basically always available, even if the streaming service goes down.

[AshleyAshes]

The satisfaction of hoarding. :3

 

 

[Blackhole890]

no poup ads, and always available (unless you dont have battery xd), thats all

[Oshino Shinobu]

Offline access and better quality (typically, as streams are normally compressed and of a lower bitrate) are two of the big ones. 

[Daniel644]

NOT reliant on INTERNET and NOT reliant on the site staying working and hosting the content, plenty of old shows can't be found anymore anywhere, don't believe me, try and find somewhere to watch the Jeffrey Donovan version of Touching Evil today.

[themctipers]

9 minutes ago, Celios said:

So back in the day I used to download a lot of movies onto external and internal hard drives, I had a pretty big library, but as time went on it didn't really seem necessary as streaming sites (decent ones too, ones that look professional and have no ads) started popping up and always had the newest movies and TV shows as soon as they were available on the net. 

 

Although this is how I see things, I still see a lot of people who have 2 or 3 10TB HDDs and use a lot of that storage for movies, TV shows and music. Why is this still such a popular method of obtaining media? Isn't it more time consuming than just streaming the said movie or TV show on the internet? Not to mention it takes up a lot of space.

 

I'm not saying I'm against it, I'm just curious with the reasoning behind it, I haven't downloaded movies or TV shows in around 4 years.

 

My biggest guess is that it's a "collectors" thing, just like how people collect DVDs or Blu - Rays, but I'm not entirely sure that is it.

you have it forever

less compression

able to watch anywhere

does not need reliable internet

does not require lots of bandwidth to stream it

 

bluray's 1080p quality is fantastic. some blurays are even 60fps, if i was able to buy some movies i wanted on bluray over pirating it I would.

[Guest]

Oh okay, I see, thanks for the insight guys!

 

For those of you that download movies, do you keep them on a external device or on your internal storage devices? I still find it crazy how some people buy a 5 - 10TB internal HDD and fill it up with movies, wouldn't it make more sense to do it with a portable device?

[Daniel644]

6 minutes ago, Celios said:

Oh okay, I see, thanks for the insight guys!

 

For those of you that download movies, do you keep them on a external device or on your internal storage devices? I still find it crazy how some people buy a 5 - 10TB internal HDD and fill it up with movies, wouldn't it make more sense to do it with a portable device?

For Years I used DVD discs as affordable storage (as for a LONG time the Price Per Gigabyte of DVD's was cheaper the HDD's, but be warned burned DVD's have a shelf life of like 5-10 years before they start to suffer data corruption) then I bought a 4TB external drive and shifted everything there (getting new 720p x265 rips when possible to replace old standard def versions), that drive is now connected to my wireless router and functions as a NAS Storage device I can access from all network configured devices, Like Kodi on my Shield TV and my Laptop and potentially my phone (but if I'm home I'm watching on something bigger then my phone).

 

problem with "portable" devices, they don't always have the CAPACITY you need, anything over 2TB is likely to be a 3.5" drive and requires a separate power source, so I don't really consider that portable.

[WMGroomAK]

9 minutes ago, Celios said:

Oh okay, I see, thanks for the insight guys!

 

For those of you that download movies, do you keep them on a external device or on your internal storage devices? I still find it crazy how some people buy a 5 - 10TB internal HDD and fill it up with movies, wouldn't it make more sense to do it with a portable device?

Used to have a couple of external USB HDDs, but was tired of them filling up my USB ports, having to sort through multiple drives for my shows and wasn't wanting to risk on reliability so I built a 12TB UnRaid box with an old computer and migrated them all to that...  Also helps to service my internal network as a Plex Server so I can watch my content anywhere at home or with an internet connection and download my shows to my portable devices.  

[Guest]

Well thanks guys... this has certainly been an eye opener. 

 

I'm still hoping for the day that a legit (paid) streaming service is made that contains all the new movies, in HD, as soon as they release on the cinema, like Netflix but with brand new movies. If that is a thing, let me know

[Energycore]

1 hour ago, Celios said:

Well thanks guys... this has certainly been an eye opener. 

 

I'm still hoping for the day that a legit (paid) streaming service is made that contains all the new movies, in HD, as soon as they release on the cinema, like Netflix but with brand new movies. If that is a thing, let me know

I think movie companies would have something to say against that, as it would eat into movie ticket sales.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Energycore said:

I think movie companies would have something to say against that, as it would eat into movie ticket sales.

Oh, of course it would but I mean it's bound to happen sometime in the near future, almost everything is digital now. It would also bring movie companies more income than if people were pirating their movies, a lot of people who pirate movies is not to save money but just because it's more convenient than going to the Cinema.

[Mooshi]

It's kind of bad either way if you have a horrific isp since streaming can studder and huge downloads could be throttled.

[Centurius]

1 hour ago, Celios said:

Oh, of course it would but I mean it's bound to happen sometime in the near future, almost everything is digital now. It would also bring movie companies more income than if people were pirating their movies, a lot of people who pirate movies is not to save money but just because it's more convenient than going to the Cinema.

1. No it's not

2. No it's not

3. No it wouldn't

4. No they don't and no it's not

[-TesseracT-]

5 hours ago, Centurius said:

1. No it's not

2. No it's not

3. No it wouldn't

4. No they don't and no it's not

Care to explain (this generalization)?

[SpaceGhostC2C]

7 hours ago, Celios said:

 It would also bring movie companies more income than if people were pirating their movies

That's the key: there's no reason why studios can't make money from streaming. They will oppose early digital release only if they make a net loss from the change. The moment you grant them the same or more income (or you prevent a decline in income), they won't care if every theater out there shuts down. 

The question, of course, is whether that sort of financial split can be engineered and remain interesting for all parties. 

[Guest]

8 hours ago, Centurius said:

1. No it's not

2. No it's not

3. No it wouldn't

4. No they don't and no it's not

Didn't they ever teach to you in school that it's better to explain your points in an argument rather than putting things in a list with nothing to back it up or why you think that way?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, JayKay3000 said:

They used to say people who pirate music get a better knowledge of bands because they hear more stuff and go to more gigs as a result. But why bother when you've got services like youtube (for music) spotify and loads of other streaming services. You pretty much forced to have the internet now anyway. I can get a lot of music without pirating it and know about a lot of bands by streaming. A lot of the developed world has fairly fast, reliable un-capped internet now too which makes streaming less of an issue than it used to be. I discover loads of bands via youtube. You know the suggested songs list can take you on a musical adventure that lasts all day if you let it!

 

Half the time you only watch a film once and then never see it again unless it's really amazing. If a films good and it's worth watching its worth paying for it in some way. If a movie is reported rubbish I won't pirate it just to see it, i'll simply not see it. The movie makes no money either way from me.

 

Same with music, if it's that good that I want to have it on my person or be able to play it in the car I'd rather pay something for it, even it's a second hand CD that all I'm going to do is turn into mp3s for my cars mp3 player I've at least put some money for it. I don't need to download 20 films a month or 50 albums of music since I have a job and other hobbies that all take loads of time. If I'm at home I can stream and if the internet does go out I can always fall back on books - Got a load I should read, would like to read.

This is also my view on things, I don't download music, movies or anything like that, I mainly just stream. As movies are usually a one time thing but if I love a movie, in this case I'll buy it. I love the movie Night Crawler, I streamed it the first time I watched it and then bought it on Blu Ray.

[dalekphalm]

On 30/03/2017 at 6:20 PM, Energycore said:

I think movie companies would have something to say against that, as it would eat into movie ticket sales.

There was a startup company that was shopping itself around to hollywood studios where the business model was streaming available at the same time as theatrical release, but the rental price would be like $50.