Digital media ownership

As a tech enthusiast in Spain, I was amongst the first to learn about the Netflix streaming explosion in the US during late 2000’s. I waited patiently until the service came here, and was one of the first subscribers in the country in 2015.

Since then, we never stopped consuming streaming services. We now have Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and iterate through other services whenever we want to consume some specific show or movie.

But there’s a catch with all these services. They get to decide what you can see and when. What if I want to see «Tais-toi!» (in English «Shut up!»), an hilarious french movie starring Jean Reno and Gerard Depardieu? I’m just out of luck.

Since I’m a believer in owning media, I started moving away from subscription streaming platforms and buying some of the movies I watch on platforms like Apple iTunes, YouTube movies, or Amazon Prime.

But there’s a limitation will all these services. What happens if some of these platforms decides to shut-down, or if they just decide some movie I bought shouldn’t be on their platform anymore? In these kind of platforms you’re not *buying* digital media, you’re just long-term renting it.

So what can we do about it? Physical ownership. I had lots of VHS tapes during my childhood, and DVDs after that. The good part of physical media is that no one can limit how you consume it. You just have it: if you want to see it, you insert the disc in a player and it’s there. And there’s hardly any movie you can’t find at least on DVD, so it’s the perfect format for someone who cares about ownership.

Also, physical media is quite easy to digitalize and (legally, since I own and keep the original movies) store in a Plex server to create some sort of personal streaming service. Easy to access and under my control.

Next problem? Trying to digitize my parent’s huge DVD library into a Plex server I realized they basically look like shit now. DVDs aged quickly in terms of quality.

I’m amazed that new DVDs are still produced and sold nowadays, in what I consider a huge scam. It’s not some slight difference that only tech nerds will notice: literally anyone will see the difference between a DVD and a Blu-ray movie.

And after Blu-ray we got 4K Blu-ray. How long will it be until we have 8K Blu-ray, or something similar? I recently started collecting Blu-ray and 4k Blu-ray discs. Will they become obsolete whenever a new format arises?

My honest opinion is: NO. For the first time in a while, it seems like the formats getting obsolete story is over. Someone who enjoys collecting Blu-ray or 4K Blu-ray discs is not going to feel obsolete whenever something new comes for a simple reason: it’s not getting much better after 4K.

I see little motivation to upgrade to a 4K movie if you already own the standard Blu-ray version. The difference is not going to be big. You’re certainly not going to enjoy it much more than you already did on Blu-ray. The difference is going to be even smaller with any future format that comes. The only exception, if you’re a big enthusiast, is the 4K treatment some old movies are getting, which are generated from the original film tapes and look absolutely amazing. But it’s not like Blu-ray versions looked bad, as DVDs do, if you just want to see a movie you’re not missing anything.

Sure, they will probably invent something new, like 3D movies, in an attempt to keep the wheel spinning. But there’s no 8K or 16K or 32K that will make Shawshank Redemption look better than it does on 4K (unless, maybe if you have a 300+ inch screen? In which case you’ll be happy to upgrade I guess), and nothing they invent will make it better than watching it as the creator intended: in a 2D screen a few meters from your face. If you own the 4K version of a classic movie you already own the best possible version of it.

I think, for the first time, we can peacefully collect our favorite movies without fear of future take-backsies. Let’s hope 4K Blu-ray keeps succeeding and players become as ubiquitous and cheap as DVD players are today.