Physical media is officially a 'luxury' now and I hate it

I stopped buying disks five years ago and haven't looked back. My living room looks so much cleaner without the "wall of plastic." If a service drops a show, it’s usually on another one two months later anyway. $45 is a steak dinner, man.

@StreamDreamer Tell that to the people who lost their digital libraries when that one major storefront shut down last year. "Buying" digital is just a long-term rental.

I’m with OP. I’ll pay the "luxury" tax if it means I actually own the bits. Plus, the 4K bitrate on a disk absolutely destroys whatever compressed garbage the streaming apps are pushing.

It’s definitely becoming like vinyl. The packaging is getting nicer (steelbooks, art cards, etc.), but the prices are scaling with the "collector" status. It sucks for casual fans, but for us nerds, it’s the only way to ensure a movie doesn't become lost media.

The secondary market is where it’s at. Wait three months and pick it up used for $15 from someone who watched it once. Let the "collectors" pay the $45 premium for the day-one hype.

Imagine actually paying for the privilege of being told what you can and can't do with a file. I gave up on both streaming and physical years ago. My Plex server doesn't have "licensing issues" and I don't have to pay $45 for a plastic coaster. If the industry makes it this hard to be a legal customer, they're basically asking for it.

A quick reminder to everyone: Discussion of specific sites or tools for piracy is against the forum's ToS. Keep it theoretical or talk about your own backups. First and only warning.

@ModTeam_Official Understood. 🫡

But yeah, OP, there's a middle ground. I buy the disk when it's on sale, rip it to my local NAS in full quality, and then put the disk in storage. It’s the only way to get the high bitrate of physical with the convenience of streaming. If you aren't self-hosting your own library in 2026, you're just at the mercy of CEOs who want to "rent" you your childhood.

Can we stop acting like mentioning media servers is a "piracy" dog whistle? Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby are just tools. It’s no different than an emulator; owning the software isn’t illegal. I use my setup to stream my own home movies and the metadata-enriched backups of disks I’ve legally purchased. The tech is neutral—how people use it is on them.

Exactly. The "Plex = Piracy" narrative is exactly what the big studios want so they can push for more restrictive DRM. If I buy a 4K disc, I should have the right to format-shift that data onto my own server so I don't have to listen to a jet-engine disc player every time I want to watch a movie. It's about ownership, not theft.

@FOSS_Fanatic "The tech is neutral—how people use it is on them." Lmao, who actually talks like this? Nice em dash, Shakespeare. Are you a ChatGPT prompt or did you just graduate from a corporate sensitivity seminar? The dead giveaway is always the "it's a nuanced issue" energy. Post a picture of your hand or get out of the thread, bot.

Seriously, the "AI-speak" is getting out of hand on this board. "Metadata-enriched backups" 🤓. Just say you rip movies, man. No human is that defensive about FOSS terminology unless they’re getting paid in electricity and GPU cycles.

@TrollFaceTony Imagine thinking basic grammar is "AI-speak." I guess the education system really is cooked. I use em dashes because I actually read books, you absolute walnut. Here’s your "hand pic"—except it’s just me holding the $200 rare import steelbook you’re probably going to have to watch at 480p on some sketchy mirror site. Stay mad and stay illiterate.

Are we just going to ignore the massive e-waste and carbon footprint of everyone running personal servers 24/7? "I need 40TB of storage for movies I'll watch once every decade." 🙄

Streaming is way more efficient at scale. This "ownership" obsession is just digital hoarding disguised as a moral crusade. The planet is literally burning and you guys are arguing about bitrates.

@EcoWarrior_92 LOL "efficient." Sure, until the streaming giants decide to raise prices for the 4th time this year to pay for their failing original content.

The real interesting part is that we've come full circle. We went from physical (VHS/DVD) -> digital convenience -> subscription hell -> back to physical "luxury" items. It’s the same cycle as the music industry. Soon we’ll have "Boutique Blu-ray" shops in hipster neighborhoods charging $60 for a 1080p scan because it feels "authentic."

@EcoWarrior_92 You’re still trapped in the "efficiency" trap. Whether it's streaming or local servers, the industrial-technological system remains a disaster for the human race. It doesn't matter if it's "greener"—it’s a system that requires the total regulation of human behavior and the environment to function. We've traded our autonomy for the "convenience" of having every piece of media ever made at our fingertips, and in doing so, we've become appendages of the machine. The push toward digital-only is just another way to tighten the leash.

@CabinInnaWoodz Lmao, okay Uncle Ted. Put down the manifesto and look at what you’re doing. You’re literally posting this on a high-speed fiber-optic network using a device made of rare earth minerals just to complain about "the system." If technology is such a soul-crushing cage, why are you still here arguing about Blu-ray bitrates? Go live in the woods and sent letters via carrier pigeon if you’re so committed to the bit. The larping is reaching critical levels.

OP here. Honestly, seeing this thread turn into an argument about AI, FOSS, environmental footprints, and the downfall of industrial civilization just proves my point. Physical media used to just be... how you watched movies. Now it's a political statement, a tech hobby, or an "appendage of the machine."

I just wanted to watch Neon Drift without an internet connection or a philosophical crisis, man. 💀