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From Shelf to Stream: The Decline of Physical Media
7 Plays18 days ago
In this episode of Beyond the Shot, Rod and Melody talk about something every movie lover has felt but doesn’t always talk about: the slow decline of physical media. From DVDs and Blu-rays to video store rentals and collector editions, we break down how the shift to streaming has completely changed the way we watch and appreciate films.
We get into what we gained, what we lost, and whether owning movies physically still matters in a world where titles disappear from platforms overnight. Plus, we share our own nostalgia—from Friday night rental runs to shelves full of movies we knew by heart.
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Transcript
Excitement for the Michael Movie Trailer
00:00:00
Speaker
So ah Rod, I wanted to ask you, because you asked me before this, yeah what you think about the ah Michael trailer? I have a lot to say about this movie. There's one thing I have to say about the trailer that kind of bothered me ohh okay a little bit, but all in all, that trailer gave me the freaking chills.
00:00:18
Speaker
It gave me the chills. I think it I'm i and the music and just it gave me the chills and And I am cautiously excited and optimistic about this film.
00:00:33
Speaker
um I think, did they say that it was going to be cut into two parts or something like that? Yeah, I had heard that, but there still hasn't been any... Official call right? Hasn't been an official thing. I don't remember if they did that with Wicked. If it took a while before they said... I think from the beginning they said Wicked was going to be two parts.
00:00:50
Speaker
So... The poster doesn't make it seem like it's two parts, but granted, neither did Wicked. I don't know. exactly But um'm I'm um'm um'm excited about it. I think, um you know, the the big they got the vibe ah right of the time. You know what I mean?
Reflecting on Michael Jackson's Legacy
00:01:06
Speaker
It looks really cool. I love seeing the little glimpses of of like the different music videos and stuff. Like it just hit me. It just took me back to when I was- You really grew up in that- Yeah, i was I was a little kid. you know i was like i was like you know five, six, seven. I grew up in that era of Michael Jackson becoming the king of pop. And I saw him just go into this meteoric rise that I...
00:01:31
Speaker
To this day, i don't i you know I don't think there's anybody that's there. I'll be honest with you. know you love Taylor Swift. I know it's a bunch of people who love Beyonce. I'm sorry. I don't think it compares. Yeah, but that's different. Yeah, it's different.
00:01:45
Speaker
I think it's much bigger, though, because back then, the world was so much smaller. We didn't have internet. We didn't have any of that. you know Viral was you know going on you know the the newspaper or you know on People magazine. That was what going viral back then. And Michael Jackson was just...
00:02:01
Speaker
I just, you know, he was ah he was an enigma, but yeah. Yeah. And that, that trailer really, you know, it brought it. Now, the one thing that bothered me, I don't know, but.
00:02:14
Speaker
Oh God. Oh God. not The last shot of the movie. And and mind you, ah like I like that they got Jafar Jackson. believe that's his name. That's Michael's actual nephew. I don't know who's his dad. I think it's Jermaine.
00:02:28
Speaker
Jermaine, right? So I think, and it's funny, Jermaine does look alike. They all look alike, you know, because they're brothers. But Jermaine actually does have a ah thing that he does look like Michael a lot. But his nose, it looks really big.
00:02:44
Speaker
like i'm Like, I'm like, dude. like Yeah. Was it that big back then? don't remember being that big. I'd say back then because then he changed his... Yeah, because he changed. He had all the plastic surgeries and stuff like that. Yeah. I don't remember it looking that big. I'm like, they kind of... I think... I'm assuming they used prosthetics.
00:03:03
Speaker
They kind of went a little bit overboard on the prosthetic there. You know what i mean? Because I saw that was like, damn. And then it's funny because my friends, they saw the trailer. They all felt the same. I did. And then when I made that comment, they're like, yo, for real? they did I'm like...
00:03:13
Speaker
I'm like, you know that's pretty big. Yeah, i I noticed it. And I was like... was like, what the hell? and full Is it gonna get a cause the nose going to get a credit? Is it going to get like... Well, the thing is, I didn't know if that was the actual actors. That's just his nose. Or if that was something that they added. I look prosthetic.
00:03:36
Speaker
When I looked him up, and I'm like, but he doesn't look at anything like that. So I... Yeah, it was weird it was a weird. It was a weird choice. It was a weird choice. I mean, who knows? You know what? This is the first, you know, the teaser.
00:03:47
Speaker
You know how
Casting and Controversies in the Biopic
00:03:48
Speaker
it is. We've seen so many teasers and we see shots that don't even make the movie. And who knows if that shot doesn't even make the movie or if we do see it again, it looks totally different, you know, because, you know, you know, these directors, man, they shoot so much that.
00:04:05
Speaker
you know, we don't even get to see half the stuff they shoot, you know, unless they it in the DVD extra features. Yeah. Which we were talking about. We were talking about that. But yeah, man, i what do you what did you think, man? What did you think about that?
00:04:19
Speaker
ah Yeah, I got excited, but it's kind of... This Michael Jackson thing to me is almost like the Harry Potter thing. by It's like... ah You almost feel like it's bad to like it because there's so much surrounding the Michael Jackson of it all, right?
00:04:36
Speaker
Where it's with... you know, all the allegations and all the the the um media and bad things that, you know, were around Michael. Because at the end of the day, he had a really bad, you know, childhood. And i I still don't know if I believe these things or don't. Like, I feel weird. But I feel like watching this movie and being excited about it, I almost feel like some people might have something wrong with that. Almost like when you like Harry Potter now. It's kind of like you have to like, secretly like Harry Potter because of the whole...
00:05:08
Speaker
button JK Rowling thing and what she said about you know people and stuff so yeah lacking Harry Potter now is almost like a bad thing it's like oh you support JK Rowling so watching this movie is like weird because it's like I I grew up on Michael Jackson too right I'm a bit younger than you but my mom like she played Michael Jackson Like, crazy. my Like, my mom who used to teach me all the dances. I used i learned all the thriller, the B-Day, all in the living room. I remember, like, the tapes and listening to it on record, like, on repeat all the time in the house. Like, I grew up really listening to Michael Jackson. I love Michael Jackson music.
00:05:49
Speaker
I do agree. There's, like, no one like him. and yeah I don't know if there ever will be. But I feel weird. It's kind of like, oh, should I be excited about watching this movie? Like, because there's still so much...
00:06:02
Speaker
like but you know what though this is i don't even know is this movie covering that is it stopping at a certain point is it covering like the sexual allegations and those things i don't know either i don't know either it'll be interesting to see where from what point to what point does this movie take place i don't think it goes too deep into it um but you know honestly um This is how I feel about that sort of stuff. And I think when it comes to... but Especially when you're doing bio biopics and all these things, you do get to this kind of sketchy line of how much do you put into it? How much do you cover?
00:06:41
Speaker
I never saw the Whitney Houston movie that came out. um But I know people that did. And people did say that they didn't. don't think they went into the... whole thing with the, like they didn't go heavy into the whole issue with the shit with substance abuse and yeah untimely death or whatnot. They didn't go into it as much, I think, or they, maybe they they like mentioned it. They didn't show it.
00:07:06
Speaker
These are real people. And I think it's very important to understand that these are real people who have real problems. And some of these people,
00:07:18
Speaker
might have sketchy back backgrounds. Some of these people might have things or have done things or have said things that you i don't agree with. But at the end of the day, you know it's a story that's being told.
00:07:32
Speaker
And his story and in regards to entertainment I almost feel like you can't tell the story of entertainment without talking about Michael Jackson. Like you, you can't, like if you were to do it a movie on the history of entertainment in the world, and I mean the whole world, not just as it the world, you can't do it without mentioning Michael Jackson.
00:07:52
Speaker
Like it's just, it, it, it's, it, he's, he's, he is, i can say, and I can say this blatantly and without any shame, he is probably the most influential entertainer that has ever existed.
00:08:07
Speaker
Like the chokehold that man had on entertainment as a whole for damn near 25 years is, might be unmatched.
00:08:18
Speaker
And his story, bringing it to the big screen, you have to say it, you have to bring it, you have to watch it to the point where I saw people on YouTube today saying, talking about, does this movie make a billion dollars?
00:08:32
Speaker
Which is, you're like, holy shit. you know When you talk about a billion dollars now, it's not how it was a billion dollars five or six years ago you know in the heyday of you know the MCU or whatnot. Now, to hit a billion dollars is like actually saying, like oh shit, like that's that's big, big money.
00:08:45
Speaker
So you have people who are like... you you know, real industry people saying, yo, this might be like a massive, massive hit, which kind of goes and and shows you that maybe not a lot of people think about the whole allegations thing as much because at the end of the day, a lot of it was allegations.
00:09:00
Speaker
You know, I don't think it ever came out that he was guilty of anything. You know, it's all, everything is- that They made that pet show on HBO and always like- Yeah, and they they could do all those things. But again, at the end of the day, these are all allegations. Allegations are what they are.
00:09:18
Speaker
you know And there are people that have the ability of like, yeah I'm going to separate the artist from the person. and And his music really put me in such a great place. His music saved my life and at the end of the day if that's something that helped you and you can look past whatever the allegations are then all power to you you know and you can say that about anybody and you know unfortunately you know a couple you know a couple years ago you know you had a Donald Trump movie that came out and that movie got hurt in a lot of ways because a lot of people detest that man yeah but you know that kind of screwed Sebastian Stan out of possibly winning a best actor because everybody said he was actually like
00:10:01
Speaker
really, really good in that movie. You know, sometimes you can do that, sometimes you can't. I think it depends, too. I also like the reason this movie's coming out now is because it's been so many years since he's passed and so many years since relegations. it's not recent. So it's like, you know, who knows? Maybe when the movie does come out in that area, maybe...
00:10:20
Speaker
You know, people will talk more about the allegations. Maybe a book will drop. You know how they are. they These Hollywood, you know, not people always are opportunistic when it comes to, oh, yeah, the this movie is going to drop. Now let's drop the book on the accuser talking about, you know, what Michael did. I mean, look what's happening now. I don't know if you and of you know.
00:10:39
Speaker
I think, I don't know if I sent it to you, um the whole drama with Stranger Things right now ah home yeah with um David Harbour. David Harbour's not having a very good few weeks. With Millie Bobby Brown, the harassment thing. That's part of it.
00:10:53
Speaker
So I don't know if you know this you know Do you know the singer Lily Allen? I've heard it no not real i don't know yeah well she's she's heard of her. yeah She's a British singer. She's pretty good. she's She was married to David Harbour. They got married during the pandemic and everything.
00:11:10
Speaker
And they divorced. She just dropped an album. um Oh, God. And in the album, let's just say there is a lot of tea.
00:11:21
Speaker
A lot of tea. Tea to the point where she's spilling secrets... About their
The Enduring Significance of Physical Media
00:11:31
Speaker
marriage and his um pretty much his ah ah infertility.
00:11:38
Speaker
Or what's the word I'm looking for? umm Not infertility. i'm i'm um i'm looking out on He pretty much like, you know, like he wasn't happy with the relationship. He went and told her like, oh I want to have an open relationship. and And, you know, he wanted to like pretty much have like a second like relationship.
00:11:53
Speaker
girl to mess with. And this is all in the album. And she's talking about it. Yeah, it's it's it's crazy. And then you add the whole thing. And then you had the whole thing with um with the whole...
00:12:06
Speaker
behind the scenes thing with Billy. I don't even know too much about that situation. I don't know much either. just kind I didn't look into it too much. um You know, ah but I just find it so crazy that all these things are all happening around the same time that, oh, Stranger Things season five, the last season coming out this month. so So the album drops an album.
00:12:25
Speaker
You know, we have these these reports and stuff coming out of, yeah, it's crazy. It really is. That's the worst type of press you want to have going into like the finale of a show that's taken forever to come out and it's going a big deal when it drops, but yikes. It is, but, um, okay. Well, i just wanted to say one more thing about,
00:12:44
Speaker
One thing I am looking forward to, though, is I'm really looking forward to seeing, you know, Jafar Jackson. He sounds just like him. scott He does. He does sound and like he sounded good does. He sounded He sounded really good. He's doing all the dancing and everything.
00:12:58
Speaker
I'm assuming if you're going to do this movie, you have to do everything. I feel like i feel like if you are a member of that family and you took this role and how important this role is,
00:13:09
Speaker
He's going to have to do, he's probably doing all the singing, all the dancing. and he sounded like, he sounded exactly like. Exactly. I was like, oh, that's fucking weird. But yeah, I'm excited to see all the performances.
00:13:22
Speaker
I didn't know Coleman Domingo was in this. I didn't know he was playing the dad. know he was in it. He I didn't see him in the trailer. It was very briefly. I didn't see the trailer. was scene when Michael's little.
00:13:33
Speaker
They're all at the table. It's because he looks different. He's got all prosthetics. You probably didn't even know it was him. And Nia Long is playing ah the mom. Oh, wow. But- but oh like A lot of people are like, oh, Oscar was already thinking about Coleman Domingo in this um in this role.
00:13:51
Speaker
Coleman Domingo has a big... he has he has a he has a he's He's quietly one of the big, big stars of the recent like like four or five years. like He's just...
00:14:02
Speaker
Another guy that's had like meteoric rise in in Hollywood. And next year he has a he has this movie. And he has a very big movie coming out next year. um It's a Spielberg movie. It's ah it's one of talking about UFOs.
00:14:15
Speaker
And it's supposed to be like a really big deal. So he's in that movie. he's like a he's like He's like the co-lead. so Ah, yeah. i but But yeah, I'm really excited for him. I mean, by ah but biopics are always like the ones that end up getting like...
00:14:32
Speaker
If they're very good. They have to be very good. Usually the Oscars are like, what's his name? ah Bohemian Rhapsody. Yeah. the mean Remy Malek. Yeah. And then last year we had Timothee Chalamet almost, you know, winning. Yeah. oh What's his name?
00:14:45
Speaker
Tager. oh He played Elton John. Oh, Tanja Edgerton. Yeah, he yeah yeah was a very good movie. I don't know if you've seen the one. No, no, I didn't. I've been wanting to see it. I never got it. I think I've seen it. Rocket Man. Rocket Man. Yeah.
00:15:00
Speaker
And then this year we're seeing what's his face doing? um I forgot the guy from the bear. He's doing a Bruce Springsteen and everybody's saying he's like amazing. and Oh, Jeffrey Allen White. Yeah, he's doing it and they're saying he's a man. He does. He sounds. I mean, when I saw that preview, i was like, holy shit, this guy sounds like like the boss. He sounds like Bruce Springsteen. So, yeah, man, um'm let me tell you, I'm.
00:15:20
Speaker
I do love a good biopic. I do love a good topic, especially if it's done really well and spot on. And, you know, you find out more about these these these these people that you didn't know about. You know what I mean?
00:15:33
Speaker
But anyway, guys, let's talk about our main topic and ah at hand today. We're going talking about physical media. And actually, I'm glad that we're talking about physical media in this aspect because we were talking about Michael Jackson and – You know, I remember when the movie This Is It came out. You remember This Is It?
00:15:53
Speaker
Yes, I remember This Is It, yeah. this That is a freaking amazing, what you would you call it, documentary? It's a documentary concert kind of thing. Behind the scenes thing, yeah. Yeah.
00:16:04
Speaker
And like I was saying, my mom it was and is a huge Michael Jackson fan. So, you know, we went to the movie theater and we watched it. You know, it was really sad because, you know, he never got to do that show. Like that was it. That was literally, yeah that was really sad when that happened because yeah you know people bought tickets. It was like going to be his last thing that he was ever going to do. And then he passed away. So watching that, anytime I watch that show or that documentary, I always like end up kind of crying a little bit at the end. Cause I'm like, Oh my God, that's so sad.
00:16:36
Speaker
um But that movie came out on DVD. Yeah. And my mom has always played it over and over and over again. Every single time we're at the house, she's like, let's put this is it on, you know, because it's like one of those. It's like a feel good, but also like that feel good kind of thing. Cause you get to see Michael and his element. You to get to see him work.
00:16:57
Speaker
You get to see like how passionate other people were to work with him. What a dream it was to work with Michael Jackson, you know, um And it's really nice when you had that on physical media because you can put it on whenever you want, you know, and yeah and it had all extra behind the scenes. And it it was just it was such a great DVD to have. I think my mom still has it um somewhere at at home.
00:17:22
Speaker
But, you know, physical media is one of those things that nowadays I don't know, honestly, how many people. like care about physical media that much.
00:17:33
Speaker
I don't know if you know a little bit more or whatever, what your thought process on that is, but you know, I feel that with social ah social media, physical media, didn't realize for a bit there how much I actually missed it and how important it was and- Like, I think what was it? I think it was sometime last year. i was in the mood. I want, I really wanted to watch a Cinderella story.
00:18:01
Speaker
oh wow. With Hilary Duff and title to Michael Murray. I was like, oh man, I really just want to watch a Cinderella story right now. And I remember going on like Netflix and it wasn't there. I was like, oh, that's annoying. so then i was like, all right, let me go on Amazon Prime.
00:18:14
Speaker
Nope, it's not there. And I, I know it wouldn't be on Disney plus because that's not that they're not connected. And that those were, those were, those were at the time, the only three streaming services I had.
00:18:27
Speaker
So if I didn't have that, where do i watch Cinderella story? Yeah, exactly. Or maybe it's not on a stream. Maybe you can't stream it anywhere right now. Yeah, that's it. That's the sad part. That's why owning your media is... Yeah, then that's you're not the only one.
00:18:43
Speaker
There's so many people that want to watch certain movies that came out in, whether it's 1990s, early 2010s, that...
00:18:52
Speaker
early two thousand two thousand ten that Oh, let me check Netflix. Let me check Disney Plus. Let me check HBO Max. Let me check Paramount. Let me check freaking Peacock.
00:19:04
Speaker
Amazon. I always forget about Peacock. Yeah. I mean, there's so many now. It's, you know, yeah it's insane. But... Yeah, we we have a big problem. I think this is, you know what's funny though?
00:19:16
Speaker
Because there was a period in time where people said, oh man, digital is going to be awesome. You don't have to worry about um you know ah movies holding up space in our homes and these things and that thing.
00:19:31
Speaker
So yeah, you know and then when you have the movie, it's its you you have it, you own it, but it's like not occupying a physical space. And people pick up it and they're like, oh yeah, that's great. Until you realize, because that that happened to me, one of the movies I owned. Matter of fact, in 20, I want to say 2014 or 15, something like that, I i owned Man of Steel.
00:19:55
Speaker
I remember I bought a Blu-ray for it and the Blu-ray brought the digital code. Because, you know, you can buy a digital code where you can it. remember that, yeah. So I have the physical Blu-ray for Man of Steel, but I also had the digital code. So I would watch a lot. I would watch Man Steel all the time. And I would watch it like when I'm um when i on my way to work, I watch it on my phone, you know, all these things.
00:20:16
Speaker
And I remember, I forgot when it was. think it was after Batman v Superman came out and stuff. And I was like, oh man, you know, I haven't seen Man Steel in a while. Let me watch it. So can go through watch, you know, that and Batman Superman.
00:20:28
Speaker
And i remember I went into... my app, there's this app called Movies Anywhere, where pretty much whatever you have in your digital your digital code collection is there.
00:20:40
Speaker
And I remember I went in and I was like, where's Man of Steel? Why isn't it there? It's not there. And then i was like i was like, I went on Google and I looked it up like, oh, why isn't this movie, why aren't move certain movies available on movies anywhere and there was a thing that came up that said certain movies when you have a digital copy it's a license and because it's licensed um a certain website or certain movie studio has the rights to that movie until they don't have it anymore so i think what ended up happening was that for some reason the exclusivity that movies anywhere had for man of steel left so i don't have it anymore digital i don't have it
00:21:25
Speaker
I don't think I have it anywhere. i got check and see. Oh, shoot. Because that's the thing that people don't realize. ah digital When you have a digital um copy of the movie, what you have is the is the is the is the rights to watch it and it's licensed to you until that studio says we are not use we're not letting this website carry this movie any anymore.
00:21:49
Speaker
Because if you want to see this movie, you have to watch it now on... app A or app C, whatever app you want to throw in there, Disney Plus, Netflix, HBO Max. So that's how these things work.
00:22:02
Speaker
So technically you don't own something digital because it's digital. It's not, it's, it's, it's, it's nothing, but you know what you do own? You own that physical. So I do have Man of Steel. I have the Blu-ray downstairs in my, my, in my collection.
00:22:17
Speaker
You know what I mean? And Mel, let me tell you, i had a huge movie collection, big, big movie DVD, bunch of DVDs. I, I got rid of a lot of them because I said to myself, just like many of you listening, Oh, why do I need this?
00:22:30
Speaker
You know, I'm going to have the digital version of this. Yeah. no one behold you know a lot of these movies that i gave away or disposed of that i miss that i want to watch guess what i can't find it anywhere they're not available in certain areas i have to either repurchase them again digitally Or try to find a hard copy again.
00:22:53
Speaker
You know what I mean? So this is where we're at now. this is this is This is where we're at now. And it's crazy, Mel, how things are happening. It's funny how things are kind of going yeah back to how it was.
00:23:07
Speaker
you know Because you're seeing you're you're starting to see this this affinity with analog. Right. you know, physical, taking a cassette, putting it the VCR, taking a record, putting it in a record player CDs.
00:23:22
Speaker
Well, that's why, sorry, just what you're saying about records, you know, that celebrity, celebrities, artists, vinyls, the vinyls that people, records. Oh, it's huge. It's huge. I mean, freaking Taylor Swift releases like 15 vinyl different kinds and people are buying them like crazy.
00:23:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's a huge market. Huge market, but sorry. Yeah, continue. No, no, but I'm just i'm just saying, like this is where we're at now. And and you're starting to see a bunch of... you know We're a movie-centric you know podcast, but I'm going to go into other realms of media and and entertainment when it comes to this topic. But ah in terms of movies, you you hear...
00:23:58
Speaker
I mean, Christopher Nolan, and we already know Christopher Nolan, he's he is a huge purveyor of physical media. He said it, man. there's this ah There was this thing that came out a few years ago where he and Cillian Murphy were in the creatine closet picking out movies and stuff.
00:24:15
Speaker
And I think he had made mention of one of the movies he picked. I forgot what it was, but he's he he he went on like a little diatribe of how important it is to have physical media. He's like, if you have physical media, it's yours.
00:24:27
Speaker
No studio can come into your house and take that from you because it's yours. You have it. But he's like, if it's a digital copy, you know, good luck pretty much. And the same thing, Guillermo del Toro, another guy who's a purveyor of movies, he said it too.
00:24:41
Speaker
He said, like, he, man, he said it so beautifully. I got to find the quote, but he said something along the lines of, like, you, when you have a, when you go and you purchase a movie and you have it, a physical copy of it, you are almost like the gatekeeper of the museum of movies because you're one of the people keeping alive. And,
00:25:02
Speaker
Hearing them say it, i felt so it felt so special. It felt so near and dear to my heart because I am one of those people. I um i'm i'm i do go and buy movies.
00:25:13
Speaker
um I don't buy every movie. I used to be bad. I used to like go and buy like a bunch of movies. um I do go buy certain films. You know what I mean? There are certain movies that I do want to buy now. that i like if you If I go on my Amazon cart, you know I have Top Gun Maverick. I want to that. want to own the i want to own the ultra 4k version of that i want to own um a copy of f one i want to get a physical copy of that you know what i mean um like for instance ah one of the big movies that came out that i've been asking for for a long time for in 4k tron legacy tron legacy finally came out in 4k guess what you can't find that movie anywhere it's like it's so coveted if you go on amazon right now and you try to find it
00:25:57
Speaker
you're going to pay like upwards so like eighty to $80 to $100 because you can't find it. Oh, wow. Yeah. So these movies, you know they some of them hold hold a certain value.
00:26:09
Speaker
You know what I mean? So this is where we're coming to in this physical media world when it comes to movies. you know And you can say the same thing when it comes to other forms of media.
00:26:20
Speaker
um I'm going to dip my toe right now into video games. um I'm an Xbox user. And one of the big things that Xbox had, and even other video companies have, but they had their own version of Netflix called Game Pass, where you can pretty much um download digital versions of of of games and play them on your Xbox.
00:26:40
Speaker
PlayStation has their own version of it. Nintendo also has its own version of it. Point is, though, that these systems, Xbox, PlayStation, Xbox, They're dropping two versions of their system. they're watching They're dropping a version that has a CD slot.
00:26:53
Speaker
So you put your games in physical and they have a digital version. So what's happening now is you're starting to see it happen in video games where it's like, okay, we're going to move away from the physical, getting the actual disc and putting it in. And we're just going go straight to digital.
00:27:09
Speaker
But you know, the funny thing, Mel, just like with movies, you would think, oh, well, since you don't have to print the disc and do all these things, it'll be cheaper. No, it's the same price. That $70 game that costs $70 as a disc is also $70 digitally. $70 digitally.
00:27:24
Speaker
digital You know? And it's just, it's it's crazy. You know, it's crazy when you think about it. Because it's there's this thing about when you got a movie and you you you open it up and there's a book. The same thing with getting a CD. email Think about it. You the booklet growing up.
00:27:39
Speaker
You had your your your CDs of the Backstreet Boys, of the Jonas Brothers, and you would crack open that plastic, take it out, and then open up that booklet and read all the lyrics. Oh, this was written by this person. This was produced by this person.
00:27:52
Speaker
And then you start reading. Then you get to the thank you portions of the notes. Do you remember that? There was something special about... opening up like a fresh CD or opening up a fresh movie and you open the booklet and you see what's, what's inside. And there was something special about that.
00:28:10
Speaker
Now in this digital world we live in we don't have that anymore. It's very cold. And it's almost like you don't appreciate it. You literally don't appreciate it, you know, because it's just there.
00:28:24
Speaker
You don't appreciate any of the other things that you see the movie and then that's it. I feel like back in the day when you would get a DVD, Man, I would watch that movie i don't know how many times on that weekend. If I were to get a movie that Friday,
00:28:36
Speaker
I'm watching it Friday night. I'm watching it Saturday night. I'm watching it Sunday. And hell, I might watch it again on Monday. Because it's just like you're just you just, there's something about it. It's yours. You want to watch it. Hey, my friend, you're coming over. Yeah, let's watch this movie.
00:28:49
Speaker
You know, that that's that's how it was, man. and And I'm not saying that you can't do that now. But I think that there's a so little piece of of that happiness. It has been taken away from us because of the way things are now.
00:29:04
Speaker
Yeah. No. And then like, even like what you're saying about the, you know, that feeling of opening up the DVD and, and, and like seeing or the CD, right. Or just like reading my favorite part was always reading like what, because some movies back in the day where they needed two discs.
00:29:21
Speaker
Oh my God. Right. I think Lord of the Rings needed two discs. I think it was like, yeah, I think, I think thing at one point it needed two discs. A regular DVD. a regular DVD, yeah. a regular DVD, yeah.
00:29:33
Speaker
The Blu-rays are bigger, so they hold more information. You don't have to really do that. though you But yeah I think it took a while before the Blu-rays came. Yeah. i don't I don't remember. Well, no, remember, a lot of these other discs, too, they had they had the movie on one disc and then had the special features on the other. Yes, there we go, special features. Yeah, you know, and that is one of the main things to me that I think I miss the most about the physical media aspect, because just like you said, right now, it's just like, you just watch the movie and you move on. Right.
00:30:04
Speaker
But like, I liked the, the special features of it all, how they made the movie, the actors talking about it. Do you remember when actors used to do a commentary? I love the DVD commentaries. will watch DVD commentaries. I would watch it regularly.
00:30:20
Speaker
You could watch the movie and the actors would be watching it too. And they're just giving their commentary about yeah like filming. Yeah, it's the best. There's nothing better. You that. Like, imagine, like, how cool it would be, like, you know, you're watching, you know, F1 and Brad Pitt's talking about, like, yeah, so in the scene, you know, the way that it was filmed or, like, oh, man, I was feeling so scared at the time or whatever, right?
00:30:43
Speaker
just don't get that anymore. Now, like, you just watch the movie and it was like, yep, and then you move on. But, like, they they release, like, kind of like, special features on, like, YouTube sometimes, like, little clips or, like, behind the scenes. yeah like a two minute clip, whatever. Yeah. yeah yeah Yeah. But you don't get like that, like hours worth of like behind the scenes. Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite DVDs because it has hours and hours worth of what it was like to make this movie.
00:31:13
Speaker
Yeah. You know, the like, oh, this is how we did the makeup. This is how we did the effects. This is how we did the weapons that you're interviewing the actors. They're talking about how they, you know, made scenes, talking about their friendships, talking about everything. And now you just don't get that. If you, if, if you, if you'd get something digitally, I've, to be honest, i don't think I've ever bought anything digitally.
00:31:38
Speaker
I've gotten stuff digitally because it's so easy to get. I've gotten it because it's so easy to get. Like i and like you go on you go on iTunes on your phone and you go into the movie thing and they make it so easy. you know Oh, get a bundle. Get you know get the the collection for $10. It's like, oh, shit, that's $10. But again, it's a digital collection. It's not the physical media collection. And it's just very much, it's it's a very cold experience. Let's put it like So what was the last ah movie you got on physical media?
00:32:15
Speaker
Oppenheimer? Okay. always make sure I get the the Nolan. I always try to get the Nolan movies. and And i used to get all the superhero movies.
00:32:25
Speaker
um After the last DCU, I've calmed down on that. But I do want to... Another movie I have in my heart is The Batman. I want to own The Batman. I love that. I just fought again i i love The Batman. I got to own it.
00:32:37
Speaker
Um... And I want to get, i want to go like i said, I want to get Top Gun Maverick. I want to get F1. There's certain movies that that you have to own. There's a special thing about when you get those, because I haven't bought a DVD in so long, do they have like each special features ven twos and everything they do like they used to?
00:32:56
Speaker
They do. They do. But... You know, even... this is the sad thing, though. There used to be an art form when it came to the menus and how they would do things and how they were presented. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that is lacking now. It's just... It's a very just like...
00:33:13
Speaker
special features, blah, blah, blah, blah. Before there used to be like an animation thing to it. It used like a whole experience thing behind it. Not anymore. It's very much just's like, okay, special features, blah, blah, blah, hit this button here.
00:33:28
Speaker
You know, moves. It's just, it's just, yeah, it's missing that personality, that, and that, that, that that it's still that part of it. But regardless though, you still get the special features. You still have the audio commentaries.
00:33:41
Speaker
from either the director or the actors, you know what I mean? So- Oh, they still do make those. Yeah, yeah. they they They still... Not everybody, not every film does it, but there's still some that that that does. Yeah, yeah. When I... ah So I'm going home for to Florida this... And I can't believe in a month already. Corey's in good thing. I can't believe it. In December.
00:33:59
Speaker
um but I still have a lot of DVDs there. I was like, you know what? I'm bringing back all of these DVDs with me. Like, I gave away a lot, but I think there's still some at home. So I'm definitely going to, like, bring them back because...
00:34:14
Speaker
I'm granted. I need to buy a DVD player. i don't even have a d DVD player. No, you can find one. you know what's crazy? It's like, even though, like, physical media is not a... know, people aren't buying physical media like that. Like, DVDs are so... Like, DVD players are so expensive. i don'm like Well, they're expensive because it's um it's ah it's a form of... A physical form of of of media that's dying out. So, you know, a lot of places don't really make them anymore like that. So it's like you can...
00:34:44
Speaker
You can find them and the prices will still be high. um Or like for a lot of people, what they do is they have, they use their computer as like their, you know, their Blu-ray player or their video game system as their Blu-ray player.
00:34:58
Speaker
Like for me, computers don't even have CD player things anymore. Well, well, if If you buy it like that, you can you can get us put in the slot for it if you want to. that's That's still available, the slot for it. Like on a tower for a computer, you can the slot. Oh, I guess I don't have a tower because a a lot of people have Mac. lot of people do you know have like you know PCs that they build on their own and they put on that stuff. Yeah, there that's different. That's still a thing. And then again, the big thing is video games. A lot of people use the same video. Like my Xbox plays Blu-ray, so...
00:35:32
Speaker
That's my Blu-ray player. Even though I have another Blu-ray player somewhere um in the house somewhere. Somewhere in house. Yeah, I know. but But yeah, like, I agree with you. i think when you go back home, bring your collection, that's your collection. And that's the other thing with the collection. When it comes to collections and things like that, that's a very personal thing.
00:35:50
Speaker
Like, When you think about movies and you think about when you make that purchase of buying that movie, that movie meant something to you. So that's something that is yours. It's forever yours. and And you take that with you as you grow up, as you get older, that that movie means something to you.
00:36:07
Speaker
And, you know, God knows if in the future... You know, when you when you have children of your own and and you sit down and you watch these movies, those are memories you're sharing with your children. And that movie will now become the movie you both share.
00:36:21
Speaker
And then, you know, your child will be like, mom, i want this movie. All right, you can have it. That becomes their movie. And it's it becomes almost like a lineage thing, which is which is, if you think about it, it's very beautiful.
00:36:32
Speaker
You know, because there's not a lot of art forms... You know, there's not a lot of things that we can share with people like that. You know, we can share, know, we can share dishes, you know, food, we can share music.
00:36:45
Speaker
But, you know, the movie thing is something that is is is on a whole other kind of level because it's it's ah it's a shared experience.
Physical Media as Heirlooms
00:36:54
Speaker
And it's something where you you sit down, you take it in, and you you visually just absorb it.
00:37:02
Speaker
yeah And again, like I always say, artists' objectives, you could view a movie one way, I can you of ah view a movie differently, but it's also about the moment you shared with that person watching that. So, you know, that's the thing when you have a collection like that.
00:37:16
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that that's true. That is true. and It's beautiful. I, one of my favorite things I just recall thinking is I remember in high school, you know, I had so many DVDs and one of my favorite things to do was put them in alphabetical order.
00:37:34
Speaker
I was like, a v because i had so many DVDs. Like, oh my God. Like just thinking about it. It makes me really excited to like go home and see what DVDs are there that I can. It's like a treasure. It's a couple of things. that It's a time capsule.
00:37:49
Speaker
It's a treasure chest. It's so many things. Like I'm downstairs in my basement. I have my my DVDs. I still have a i still have a lot. And the other day I was looking for something and I, and I moved my bin and I looked at i'm like, I'm like, Oh my God, look, it's, it's like, it's, it's this movie. It's this movie.
00:38:06
Speaker
And man, like, it's just like, it just, I just thought I was like, wow, I have these, these are mine. You know? like Yeah. There's something about it. Yeah. It's something about having the physical thing. And, you know, now it's all like the memories are like coming back to me. And then like also, you know, you're talking about like the movies that you share with people and how important that is.
00:38:26
Speaker
And I'm like, well, yeah. Like I remember the first DVD you got was You've Got Mail. Yeah. When it was still the paper. It was not paper. It was like the card. was cardboard. it was like a cardboard flap. Cardboard flap. I still, like, i remember that DVD. Like, and I remember like where we were.
00:38:45
Speaker
I remember everything about that and like putting it on. because Because I remember when we were growing up, you were always the one that was like, forward like you always knew all the new stuff you always new phones coming out yeah knew this like you were always on that and I remember you being like oh there's these like now they're gonna put them like on DVDs and then you bought it and you yeah put it on on that big TV that you guys had in the living room yeah it was awesome It was awesome. And it looked it looked amazing.
00:39:14
Speaker
It looked amazing. It was crisp. Crisp. You what mean? Think about it. Coming from a VHS to go to something digital, it was like, that's a big change. You know I mean? Yeah. We were like, oh my God. This is amazing. And like I said, it was literally like a cardboard flap. They didn't even have like much on that. like It was literally just like a cardboard It was just a flap. It didn't have chapters.
00:39:34
Speaker
Yeah. It had the chapters. It didn't have like a little booklet or anything. no Once you watch the movie, though, you know that's when you go into the menus and it has... So many things. Do you still have that DVD? I do.
00:39:44
Speaker
i don't i I did not get rid of it. that's Oh, my God. You got to bring that out. When I come visit you, you got to bring that one out. That's downstairs. have that. Oh, my God. I'll never get rid of that. That's too special.
00:39:57
Speaker
And again, this is what I'm saying. especially it's yeah It's a special thing. It's like if you have a book. It's like if you have a comic book. it's it's It's something that you... It's it's an heirloom that you have. Oh, I like that word. Heirloom.
00:40:09
Speaker
that that you have that's yours, you know what I mean? And it's special, man. And that's something that when you when you have like a digital version, It's just air. doesn't exist.
00:40:21
Speaker
It doesn't exist. And so this is the thing that like it's like it's so interesting to think about. Right. Because back then, you know, when it was like we had VHS, that was like before the DVD. Right.
00:40:34
Speaker
And let's say we watched a movie in the trailer. I'm getting the trailer. We watched a movie in the movie theater and then it was released on VHS. Right. And then there were movies that just went straight to VHS, right? yeah and but But one thing that was really great was that even though it went straight to VHS, you still physically had it, right?
00:40:55
Speaker
yeah Now, when you have things that go straight to streaming, you'll never be able to own it. Nope. You better hope that you better hope that the the streamer that gets it decides to release a physical copy, which a lot of them aren't.
00:41:09
Speaker
Which will never. But then also, because a lot of these streaming streamers, they create their own shows, right? it's an Apple TV original. It's a Netflix original, right? Mm-hmm.
00:41:25
Speaker
They're not going to release that on DVD. Nope. Right? It's just just always going to be on Netflix or it's always going to be on Apple TV, which, yeah, you can go get. But if you – that means you have to be subscribed to that streamer forever.
00:41:38
Speaker
So if one day – 10 years from now, I want to say I decide I want to rewatch Severance. What if I don't have Apple TV? I'm not watching Severance because I don't have it on my DVD.
00:41:51
Speaker
When, you know, technically speaking in the 2000s, right? There's Gilmore Girls, Winter Hill, Dawson's Creek. all those shows. I think I have all of the seasons of One Tree Hill on DVD. I think I had, like, Smallville for while. I think I had Smallville for a while. I think I might have gotten rid of those. But, like...
00:42:11
Speaker
you were at least able to like watch the show even because we have to remember shows as well right yeah sure we're just talking about movies but like there are shows as well that i wish i could have on physical media that i never will because they're just on a streaming on a yeah on a streamer site and if i have not subscribed that's a big thing and you know let me now that you're mentioning it um one thing that digital has done is it's ruined a lot of the um the income for a lot of actors and producers because a lot these actors and producers made a lot of money off of the resale of these movies on oh yeah on home video which was either dvd whatever you know they made a lot of money off of that you know movies a lot of studios would recoup a
00:42:56
Speaker
lot of money off of the sale of DVDs and Blu-rays. It's crazy how how the how much that that changes things. you know Because now when you get a digital copy or it's available on streaming, you know it's it's ah just available on streaming. You don't have to necessarily own it. You can just go on the streamer and and and watch it there. You don't got to buy it. so it's it listen and This digital thing, you know i don't want to sound like a boomer or an old man, off my lawn type thing, yeah but You know, because listen, I'm not going to sit here and bash it. There are a lot of really cool benefits too to um digital. There are.
00:43:33
Speaker
But I feel like a lot of the soul of what it was to have a movie and own it and experience it. And again, not just a movie. I say this in i say this in music and I say this in video games.
00:43:48
Speaker
When you have that digital, that that physical copy, it almost feels you feel empowered. You know, yeah it's a moment that you have that's yours. Like I was having a conversation with a friend the other day. We were talking about music and we were talking about how for some reason, like now when it comes to music, a lot of people don't appreciate albums anymore.
00:44:10
Speaker
Like they don't. It's like, OK, I'm only going to listen to the tracks I like and that's it. Because technically you can do that. But when you have a CD, which you paid $15, $16 for, you're going to make sure you listen to every single track. Yeah, that's true. Even if the album sucks, going to be like, yo, going listen to it because I paid $15 for this thing. So um yeah listen to it But you also gain a respect for these movies. I mean, for this song, for this album. You gain this thing where that's how you end up becoming a fan of the artist. That's how you end up getting those deep cuts and you get up with all those things.
00:44:52
Speaker
There's a different... There's a different thing when it comes to owning something physical. and and And there's an appreciation you have for it. There's almost like ah almost like a respect you have for it.
00:45:05
Speaker
Because again, like I said, when you open up those CDs and you open up those booklets and you read the lyrics and you're like... oh that's what this lyric is you know yeah you gain another connection you gain something new from these artists that made this form of music you know what i mean and again you can say the same thing when it comes to movies like you said those bonus features where you get the behind the scenes on how things are made you get you get a viewpoint of production like that's another thing you get the that that that the the what was it called the the production artists when they make the sets like
00:45:40
Speaker
You're doing this fresh perspective that you didn't know about. Set design, yeah. Yeah, and that's one of the beauties that you don't get. That's one of the beauties of having that you don't get with digital. With digital, it's just, dude, it's like, I'm going to say something really crazy, but it's a fucking one night stand.
00:45:55
Speaker
It's literally like, wham, bam, thank you. I'll see you when I see you. That's what it is. Yeah, that's true. It's true. Oh, my God. That is so true.
00:46:09
Speaker
Yeah. It is. And it's sad. You know, i listen, I know not every movie is going to hit. Not every movie is going to like, you know, and you're not going to buy every movie. I'm not saying to buy every movie.
00:46:20
Speaker
But again, there there is something about that. and And there's a beauty to it. And it's a beauty of having a collection, too. I like the collection aspect of it. It's the collection aspect of it. yeah It's like, listen, I love this actor.
00:46:34
Speaker
I want to have all the movies of this actor. I love this director. I need to have all the movies of this director because I need it for my collection. And there's a thing with that. and And you see, like, now that I'm talking about with physical and with the physical media, you know what's a big thing that's been huge the past, want to say four or five years, that is very old-timey but has just picked up steam again?
00:46:59
Speaker
Collector, um' ah um collecting um cards, baseball cards. Oh, really? It is huge. Mel, you can go- didn't even know they made those. Dude, it is a big, big business.
00:47:13
Speaker
Like you go into like all these, you go into Target, you go into Walmart, you go into any of these places to find like people, like the boxes of like these types of baseball, like, you know, 2025, you know, Topps baseball cards.
00:47:26
Speaker
They're sold out. They're gone. People are buying these things because there's this new affinity now with with with baseball cards, with special special types of cards, you know autographs, you know but like one of one prints. like It's a big business online now, and it's huge.
00:47:43
Speaker
It is massive. But you think about it, you're like, wow. you know There was a period in time where it's like you're like nobody thought about trading cards anymore. It was was a very thing to be honest. Yeah, I can remember. Last five years, though.
00:47:55
Speaker
like Yeah, i had a but I still have some. The last five years, though, last five years, it's been it's skyrocketed. Like legit big business to the point where when they have these fan conventions, there's this big fan convention called um Fanatics Fan Fest. They have it every year.
00:48:10
Speaker
And people bring their cards and they do trades. They sell their cards. Like it was this really cool video. I think it was, I think Tom Brady was there and someone had like one of these special cards of his that he didn't have. He's like, oh, I love that card.
00:48:24
Speaker
He's like, can we make a deal for that card? Like there's video of it where you see him making a deal. and And the guy's like, nah, can't part with it for this much. He's like, why don't we do this? And it's huge. And again, that's just that's just trading cards.
00:48:36
Speaker
So again, that goes to show you like there's something happening in our society and where it almost feels like we're going back, but we're going back because people want to feel something.
00:48:49
Speaker
people don't people People want to feel this this thing of of of touching stuff, touching a book, touching a CD, ah record taking a record out and putting it on the record player, putting that needle and you hear that, you know.
00:49:08
Speaker
cassettes cassettes are making up people's buying cassette players yeah you know like honestly though you know like i there's this i've been following this um this uh handle on instagram um uh it's like a it shows it's it shows old sony technology analog technology so they show a lot of like really cool stuff from the and 90s and even early 2000s like cassette players um record players cd players and i was looking at that and i was looking at that tech and i'm like that tech is so beautiful it was so you think about how it was constructed like you put a cassette in there and press down you hit play and there's so many components going on it's it's almost it's alive literally it's it's alive yeah and then now just think about oh take my phone and put it down and
00:49:59
Speaker
because you think about a phone a phone doesn't have moving parts it's essentially a computer you know like i'm trying to think the last thing that i own that's like moving parts you know my car has moving parts um a lot of things don't have moving parts anymore a lot of things is pretty much okay there's a chip and the chip runs stuff through the circuit processes everything and it processes everything and that's it and and it's crazy though like I feel like our society has gone into this thing of we want to go back. We want to feel what it is to actually hold something. It's like people that like to read books from an actual book as opposed to reading it from their tablet or from their computer. Yeah, that never worked for me. There's people that like having a book. They love the feel of the page turning. They love smell of the page.
00:50:52
Speaker
And I don't blame them. Because there's something about that. There's something that feels authentic and it feels real. And you feel this connection to it. You know what I mean? And I think that goes the same with with when you take that movie out of you know the the CD holder and you put it into the into the machine and you hit play. and Special features.
00:51:17
Speaker
DVD commentary. Makes me want have a movie night. Today. like like like I'll be honest with you. like not Speaking about this now, it it took me back to the greatest, I still say it's the greatest DVD commentary of all time. There's nothing better than this.
00:51:33
Speaker
I told you many times, Tropic Thunder. Oh, yeah. there is no better trop There is no better DVD commentary than that. Because in that DVD commentary, you have Ben Stiller, you have Jack Black,
00:51:48
Speaker
And you have Robert Downey Jr. And there is in it, the whole point of this thing is in Tropic Thunder, there is a joke where Robert Downey Jr., who plays Lincoln Osiris in the movie, he says, I do not drop character until I'm done with the DVD commentary.
00:52:05
Speaker
He does the movie as the, he does the DVD commentary as the character. It is, it is, it is top five, one of the most genius things ever done. And it's the greatest DVD commentary of all time. There's nothing haven't watched that in forever.
00:52:23
Speaker
I should have watched that movie in forever. I haven't watched it in forever, but i do I'll say this, the last time I did watch that movie at home, like that um I had the DVD commentary on because it is the funniest thing I've ever. it is It might be funnier than what's going on on the screen.
00:52:37
Speaker
ah Because here you have Ben Stiller playing the straight man where he's like, oh, well you know we shot this here and there. And then you have Jack Black who's eating French fries. um He ordered food and they bring the food into him while they're shooting this and he's eating fries.
00:52:52
Speaker
And Ben Stiller and and and and and Lincoln Osiris are annoyed because he's eating and he's talking and he's eating really loud. And then you have Lincoln Osiris, a.k.a. Robert Dunning Jr., pretty much being the same character that's in the movie in the DVD commentary.
00:53:06
Speaker
and there's it's not There's nothing funnier than that. I recommend everybody. you want a good laugh, like you need a good laugh, just watch that movie with the DVD commentary. You won't be disappointed. It's the funniest thing ever. I think I had Tropic Thunder on DVD as well. I need to see if I still have at home. Try to find it. And when you get home and watch it, you're going to love it. But you see, that's the of what it is.
00:53:30
Speaker
when you own something like that because you get those little special things. And yeah I know we we wanted to talk about the different things, you know, Blu-ray and 4K. Okay. I'll say this. 4K is just this ultra clean, sharp version of the movie.
00:53:46
Speaker
It looks so great. Now I know people will say, oh, well, DVD, Blu-ray, 4K, it's, you know, who cares? You know, it's just a movie. It's 4K, like an ultra 4K Blu-ray is for those people that just want that.
00:54:00
Speaker
that just, that chef's kiss, that image that looks great. Because think about it, we have these awesome TVs with beautiful 4k screens, you know, high definition, super high definition screen. So wouldn't you want the best version of that movie on that screen?
00:54:16
Speaker
That's what that's for. Do you have to get it? No, you don't have to get it. I do. Especially if I know it's for um a film that I absolutely love. So I want the best version of it. So you, I get it. I'll pony up the extra, you know, 30 bucks at that cost, you know, or sometimes it's more than 35, depending on the movie.
00:54:34
Speaker
Um, But for the most part, though, most of these movies, 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, a lot of them do have the same stuff in terms of commentary and stuff. Some don't.
00:54:45
Speaker
Sometimes they do have some DVDs that are bare bones. This is just a movie. and and Yeah. huh But you can read that from the cover. It'll tell you, you know, this movie includes X, Y, and Z. You know what I mean? So, you don't you know, if if you do want to start this up after listening to this, you know, podcast and stuff, you do want to start a collection again and doing that again.
00:55:04
Speaker
You know, go by go by what what benefits you and what's better for you. If you really, really love the movie, pony up and get the extra stuff because it is worth it. Don't get me wrong. Let's think about getting wicked.
00:55:15
Speaker
Yeah, oh, no, get it. that's That's a movie that's beloved to you. Get it. You know? that So, like like I said, went with all my Christopher Nolan things, I make sure I get the best version of that because I love those movies. I love him as a director, and I love his his eye for things. So I'm going to get the best version of it You what I mean? I feel like there's also certain movies that need to be in, like, 4K, right? Like, yeah grandiose movies like that, like Avatar, right? You want to get that in 4K.
00:55:42
Speaker
Clearly. But I'm not going to get, like, some, like, I don't know. Give me an example of like a regular movie these days. You're not going to get. All right. I'm not. you're not going to get. You're not going to get materialist on Oh, that's what I was going to say. I was like, I was thinking. I was thinking of something romantic. Yeah. I'm not going get that on 4K.
00:56:00
Speaker
Right. that You would just get on regular DVD. Yeah. You don't need it. I wonder if they made Lord of the Rings again in 4K. Yeah. Yeah, like, you know, things like that. like that like Granted, I still have the DVDs from, like, but my first original DVDs, Me too. But it would be really nice to get the 4K version, you know, to get them. I mean, I love my versions. I have i have the extended versions. Remember those that there were like they were, like, books?
00:56:24
Speaker
I have those, and love those. I'll never give those up for anything. They're beautiful. I mean, imagine how much those would be worth. Yeah, and the detail in those books. like in those Yeah. You open it up, was like a book within itself.
00:56:36
Speaker
Never. I love that. I will never give that up. I know there's a 4K version of it. That's fine. I love that I heist. I love that I still own that. I will never, ever give those um ever give those up, no. beautiful.
00:56:49
Speaker
They're beautiful. The packaging is beautiful. Everything about it is beautiful. That was one thing that I was going to say before i was like, i don't want to forget saying it is when you had like your DVD collection, right?
00:57:01
Speaker
like I feel like it kind of narrowed down your options as well. Like you knew what you had and what you could watch again, yeah right? With streaming, what I find sometimes is that there's so many options that you feel like you can't pick something.
00:57:18
Speaker
When you had your DVD collection, yeah, you could have had 40 DVDs, but it was like 40 of your DVDs of like your favorite movies that you knew that anything you put on, you would enjoy.
00:57:29
Speaker
yeah Now I feel like whenever you are on one, let's say you're like, I want to have a movie night. And let's say you go on Netflix. You're like, okay, well, let's go through the comedies. And then you're just going, going, going. And you're like, well, I don't know and Maybe keep going, going, going.
00:57:46
Speaker
And then you're like, oh I don't know if I really want any of these. And the next thing you know, you're going on Paramount Plus. You're going on Apple TV, seeing what they have. And actually, you know, it's been an hour and you haven't picked anything. Before, when you had your, but say, 40 DVDs, you knew what 40 DVDs you had and what you felt like watching. Oh, man, you know what?
00:58:03
Speaker
I want to watch Wedding Crashers tonight. Let's put that on. I want to watch Step Brothers. I want to watch whatever it was. I want to watch a romantic comedy. Put 27 dresses on. Easy. But now, with there being so many different kinds of streaming like platforms, so there's it's too much to the point that you can't make a decision and you can't really think about what you really want to watch because your mind's kind of like action. like it's so It's so much. And on top of the fact that there's
00:58:35
Speaker
original films with these streamings and original shows. And then next thing you know, you're like, and right i i um I find myself going whenever I'm like thinking about what I want to watch. Sometimes it's like really difficult. You know, with shows these days, there's so many shows, right? Oh my God. The amount of shows there are on TV. Like growing up, I'm just like, was there that much TV? Like that many shows?
00:59:00
Speaker
Like I cannot imagine keep up with the amount of streaming shows that there are because there's just... And there's some great shows. But, you know, you're telling me. You give me a list and I'm like, oh, shit. look i got like yeah i'm still trying to figure out I'm still trying to figure out this. And some <unk> I always find myself just kind of wanting to watch my comfort shows and just being like, oh I'm going to put boy meets world on, or I want to watch, you know, like right now I'm in this phase where, um, I don't know if you ever watched sister, sister with Tia and Tamara Maury. I loved that choice to watch on like ABC family. Like I love that show. And I, and, and I found it on my streaming or whatever. and I was like, I'm just going to rewatch this.
00:59:41
Speaker
So now like, I'm just like in this mood where I just want to rewatch everything. Um, Oh, this, this really pissed me off. Oh, so you know how we're talking about how sometimes you kind of want to watch a movie and then you realize that you can't find it on any streaming service.
01:00:02
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know if you ever saw Schitt's Creek. so No, no, but i and and and I know of it. You know what it is. I mean, it's that one of the best TV shows that to ever have existed. Yeah, comedically it's amazing. it's Comedically it is amazing. I think I've rewatched the whole season. I think I've watched the whole series like three three or four times because I love it that much.
01:00:21
Speaker
um But there was maybe six months ago. I forgot how long ago it was. i was like, man, I really want to watch Schitt's Creek. I want to rewatch it. And Netflix only had like the first like four seasons and didn't have the other two. And you couldn't find the other two anywhere else.
01:00:39
Speaker
I'm like, well, this sucks. Because that show was on CBS in Canada because it was a Canadian show. It is a Canadian show. So they showed it on TV first and then it went to Netflix and then they showed the rest on Netflix.
Streaming Challenges and Physical Media's Security
01:00:54
Speaker
So Netflix only has the right to a certain amount of seasons. So if you want to watch the whole series, you couldn't because they only had the first, I think three or three, I think three seasons. I think it only had like five, five or six seasons. I think it had.
01:01:10
Speaker
So the idea that like I could only watch the first three and then after that, it's like, well, good luck. That's crazy. Oh, I was so, so mad. Because I'm like, well, what's the point? You don't even have the whole series. I can't even read what i can't even watch it. Yeah.
01:01:26
Speaker
That's a show I'd buy on. And that's the that's the thing when it comes to with the thing about what was talking about with rights and stuff. like things Yeah. For instance, um there's a show that... all right, me, Alfie, and Mackenzie, we watched a show on Hallmark.
01:01:39
Speaker
We watched on Hallmark first and we fell in love with it. We loved It's called The Way Home. Super popular on Netflix right now because Netflix acquired the rights from Hallmark to have it on on it on the streaming service.
01:01:55
Speaker
um The Way Home has three seasons. OK. Netflix has only the first two seasons. Now, I know a lot of people, are my sister in law, she watched it. Another another friend of ours, they watched it and they're like, yo, like, I want to see the the third season. And we're like, well, do you you know go on go on the Hallmark, you know, the Hallmark TV ad?
01:02:20
Speaker
Whatever, you know, because if you have a cable access provider, if you go in and you plug in all the information, you have access to it. So my sister-in-law was like, yo, I went on and it's not there. i'm like, how the hell it's not there? belongs to Homework. It should be there.
01:02:34
Speaker
Season three. I'm like, I was like, i was a you know what, let me go and see. And I go on and i'm like, holy shit, she's right. It's not there. Because I was like, I'm dumbfounded. How was is that possible? Then Hallmark has this other app called Hallmark Plus, which is like their app pretty much where you get it and you just- It's like library everything, yeah. Yeah.
01:02:52
Speaker
And there, but you have to become a member to get that. And there they have the the three seasons. And I'm like, why is that? That's weird. And then I realized- Netflix licensed the rights to show this show on their streamer.
01:03:07
Speaker
That's why Hallmark TV doesn't have it because they licensed the rights away. So I went and I looked. i was like, when is season three? Because season three already came out. We saw it earlier this year already.
01:03:18
Speaker
But when is it going to be available on and ah Netflix? It's going to be available, and they said supposedly, in February of next year. Because the new season of this show is supposed to start, I think, near that time, season four. But season four is not going to be on Netflix. It's going to be on on the Hallmark, the regular Hallmark app, because it's an ongoing show that's live.
01:03:38
Speaker
So I guess once it's been aired, then it'll go to Netflix. So like right then and there, it kind of shows you where this whole issue is with rights and this team This thing has to rise. This thing has to rise. So just like I was talking about how movies, how certain you know studios license certain things to a company.
01:03:58
Speaker
So let's say you have the movie and it's running on the app of Disney+. plus But then let's say Disney, for some odd reason, they won't because Disney doesn't need to do this. But let's say they so they say, yo, we're going to cut a deal and we're going to license off Star Wars to...
01:04:14
Speaker
Comcast. Yeah. Well, guess what? Everything that was Star Wars, it's not no longer on Disney+. plus It's going to be on Comcast. So you're going to have to pay um Peacock in order to watch all your Star Wars shit.
01:04:28
Speaker
You understand? Oh, damn. So, again, this is where it comes in when we talk about physical media and shit. Because guess what? If you own these shows, yo, the new season of my way ah The Way Home is out on on on DVD and Blu-ray. You can own it.
01:04:41
Speaker
It's yours. Okay. You have it. It's yours. But if you don't, oh, nah, it'll be on digital. Uh-uh. No, no, no. It'll be on digital, but it'll be on digital. going to have to wait, and then you're to to become member of Netflix to even get it.
01:04:56
Speaker
So this where what I'm talking about when it comes to these ah things of of of of owning it. It's yours. It's physically yours. You know, like I said, Warner Brothers, Universal, Disney, no one's going to come and break down the door and take your movies away from you. That's yours. That's physically yours.
01:05:12
Speaker
But those digital rights that you have, you got to look at the fine print and read that shit. It's yours up until that company, wherever you're streaming it on, has the rights for it Has the rights for it. has That's how it is. Little things you don't even think about.
01:05:27
Speaker
No. And you know what's even scarier, Mel? And this is where i'm gonna I'm going to kind of go on so we can wrap this up. This is where it's getting scary.
01:05:38
Speaker
Mel, do you think Best Buy sells DVDs, Blu-rays, and fourcase movies? Yeah.
01:05:45
Speaker
Best Buy? Yeah. Yeah? I would think so.
Retail Changes Impacting Media Consumption
01:05:49
Speaker
No, they don't. Not anymore. Best Buy doesn't sell DVDs anymore? At least here in the States, they don't.
01:05:57
Speaker
Just for those who can't see my face, my mouth is dropped. What? I looked it up. No, Best Buy stopped selling physical media DVDs in stores and online in early 2024.
01:06:07
Speaker
Yep. That's crazy. i'll admit I'll take it even a step further. Costco is starting to phase out physical media. Costco, which is a massive company, they're phasing it out. I target is i believe Target is to doing the same thing as well if they haven't already.
01:06:31
Speaker
So then where do you buy it?
01:06:34
Speaker
Online, Amazon still sells it, even though that's the that's a sucky thing is a lot of people don't really want to purchase things from Amazon anymore. So um that's that's the million-dollar question.
01:06:47
Speaker
You know, i where are you purchasing these things from? I'm shooketh. Yep. Best Buy was, like, I remember going to Best Buy. That was the place. And you've got, like, they had everything there.
01:06:58
Speaker
I mean, Best Buy is like an entertainment store. Yep, that was the place.
01:07:05
Speaker
I'm shocked. I don't know if it's like that in Canada. Yeah, I don't know if it's like that. I know here in the States, Best Buy, because I remember I went into a Best Buy, want to say a month ago, to see if they had, um I was looking for a movie or something. i forgot what It was a movie I was looking for. forgot what movie it was.
01:07:21
Speaker
But I went in to look, and there is no movie. There is no movie section. It's gone. and And that's what I'm saying. So even if you want to start a collection, you want to start buying physical meat again, it's becoming really difficult to do so because they are starting to just close up shop on it.
01:07:40
Speaker
you know i don't know if I don't know if these studios have a direct thing where you can order from them. I don't know. i i I haven't checked if Disney has a thing where you could buy directly from Disney or or if Universal has it or Wonders.
01:07:54
Speaker
Because Disney doesn't even have stores anymore. No, there's some Disney stores. There's just not as many as there used to be. But there's still some. Yeah, I think like a handful. But they closed most of those during the pandemic. Yeah, because there were so many. There was like a plethora.
01:08:09
Speaker
But the point is, though, now it's just it's almost difficult. And that's why, like I was telling you with the whole Tron situation, Tron Legacy on four k That's why that that movie is so hard to find now because it's just, there might not be there might not be so many. You remember Disney. Disney was one of those companies that, you know, they would they would sell a certain amount and then they'll put it away in the vault.
01:08:32
Speaker
You know, that one the big Oh, yeah. I remember that when it was like out of the Disney vault. It was like a huge thing and then like people would go crazy buying them because it was like out of the vault after like 20 years or whatever.
01:08:43
Speaker
Well, now it's now it's like that for everything cause now it's more to the point of like, Where can you find this at? Because if you even if you decide, oh, fuck it, I'm going to buy it on on Amazon, which is unfortunately the one place where people can actually get stuff.
01:08:56
Speaker
Even on Amazon, you can go and if it's sold out, you might have to buy it off of a third party who's going to sell it. Oh, yeah, you want on Blu-ray? What, you're going to have to pay me like $70 or $80 for it.
01:09:12
Speaker
So yeah, that's where we're at now. And that that sucks, man. Like we're we're we're we're we're getting at a point where it's like, yeah, we want these things, but now we don't even have a place to buy them. You know, it's it's a scary world if you think about it. I do think, i you know, I haven't gone, i did go into a Barnes & Noble, but I just don't remember if they still have a movie section. remember Barnes & Noble used to sell movies as well. I guess like a bookstore. Yeah.
01:09:38
Speaker
But maybe a bookstore has it. I'm not sure. And then you know, just again, and just to wrap this up on my end, one of the big things that digital has taken away from us as a society and as a movie going fans is the one thing that growing up was one of the most awesome experiences that I miss.
01:10:01
Speaker
and it was a communal experience of not going to the movies, but going to the video store. When you would go and you would go and rent a movie. Oh, a blockbuster. A blockbuster. Even just a mom and pop rental shop. I remember, I don't even remember, there was ah there was a rental spot.
01:10:18
Speaker
Yes. I lived on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. Yes, I remember. There was one there. And man, I used to love going there because the guy behind the counter, super cool. He would talk about movies and we' he'll recommend he'll do recommendations. like There was an experience about going to ah going to a video rental shop to get your movies.
01:10:36
Speaker
And man, listen, you go in and, you know, I went through the phase of VHS to DVD to Blu-ray at video rental spots. And it was just, it was an awesome experience.
01:10:49
Speaker
Yo, you were going, yo, when are y'all going to have this movie? We're going to have it on Friday. Don't worry, I'll hold it for you. remember I was so cool that That dude will be like, don't worry, we're going to get like four copies. I'll hold a copy for you.
01:11:01
Speaker
there was There was an experience. And the experience of going through those aisles and being like, man, what am I going to rent today? It's what something so you said about like like like, you know, you have 40 movies. You know what you you know what you're going to get. you You already kind of had to narrow that down. Yeah, like when you went to Blockbuster, right, you knew the movies that were going to come out. And I remember being like it was like already sold out and you couldn't get it. Like that was an experience. I remember going with my dad on like Fridays.
01:11:23
Speaker
And you were like, all right, let's rent the movies for like, let's rent four or five movies for the week or whatever. And it was, you went through. it was an experience, man. yeah was It was something that we're not going to, we're never going to have that again.
01:11:35
Speaker
Now, if you want to like find things like that, you got to go to like, to like a kind of like a retro thrift store. You might be able to kind of, but these are like older things, right? Anything that's new is where we kind of hit that wall of getting like the new things.
01:11:51
Speaker
um but damn that's true yeah it's sad it's sad it really is because like i i think about i think about my daughter i'm like she's never gonna experience that she's never gonna experience oh yeah going to a video store and telling her hey listen pick out a movie i don't know it's more like what's on netflix today dad Dude, we've done sweet done, it's what you said, we've done doom scrolling on Netflix. we just You said like an hour umt change has passed and you're just, you're looking at previews more than you are looking at the actual thing. Yes!
01:12:22
Speaker
Literally. And then the worst thing with Netflix is Netflix previews give away the entire movie. like yeah Netflix needs to find someone to re-edit their trailers because they literally give away the end. They give you the beginning, the middle, and indian the end of the trailer. you're just like, come on, man.
01:12:37
Speaker
But yeah, man, I'm... um'm I hope that this resurgence that we've seen in people appreciating physical media through movies, through music, through literature,
01:12:50
Speaker
I hope that that does cause a kind of renaissance and a resurgence of these companies saying, yo, you know what? let's Let's bring this back. Because you know what? that does That's the one thing that will change.
01:13:02
Speaker
if there is a If there is a demand for it, there will be a supply for it. Because you know what? Companies love more than anything else is money. So if they met if they know, hey, you know what? Folks want folks want more DVDs.
01:13:15
Speaker
Best Buy is going to be like, shit, you know what? We're not doing so hot. Let's bring it back. Let's bring it back. I'm telling you, Mal. Yeah. You know what Best Buy does have? They have trading cards, Mal.
01:13:26
Speaker
They sell trading cards. And that kind of goes to show you what was talking about my trading cards. Trading cards at that store. Wow. That's baffling. Oh, my God.
01:13:38
Speaker
Well, anyway, guys, this was such a great conversation, um you know, talking about physical media and, you know, the the changes that we have gone through as a society in the last couple, you know, decade, know, it's been, it's, everything has changed. And I don't know if it's for, if, if it's necessarily to change like this forever. I hope not. I hope we do have a resurgence and, um,
01:14:02
Speaker
I mean, I think I'm definitely having a resurgence. I have to buy a DVD player these days. have to buy one so I can rewatch those movies and but rebuild my own little collection again of my favorite films that I know that I can rewatch whenever I want. Instead, I'm just like,
01:14:17
Speaker
Like you said, doom scrolling for like ever. um So we shall see. Get Wicked on, once Wicked for Good comes out, go and get that double, you know, Blu-ray 4K version of it. You're going to have to get Yeah, you know what's going to exist.
01:14:31
Speaker
The only thing was going to say really quick about Blu-ray versus 4K though is like, if you get Blu-ray, you have to have a Blu-ray player. You can't just have a regular DVD player. Yeah, no. and And honestly though, I think everything's either Blu-ray and above. I don't think there's any more regular...
01:14:45
Speaker
DVD players. Oh, they don't even make any regular players. No, because even if you get like an ultra, even if you get like an ultra Blu-ray player, that plays everything. That plays DVDs, Blu-rays, and 4K Blu-rays. So ah yeah, everything is kind of like one big thing now if if you find it, you know. But again, find it they're going to be expensive because the the demand for a lot of it is is is low. And being that the demand is low, the prices are going to be higher, you know, because not a lot of people are making that. That's the other thing.
01:15:12
Speaker
You know, when it comes to these machines that play these things, only a certain handful of companies make these still because they find they're like, you know what, we'll make it like Sony still makes it because Sony technically.
01:15:24
Speaker
They're the ones that invented Blu-ray. So they have all the patents for all that shit. So they're able to to do that. you know But being that Sony is the only show in town, Sony can charge whatever they want for it. Whatever they want, yeah. you know Before you hack you had Sony, you had Panasonic, you had RCA.
01:15:44
Speaker
You had a bunch of other companies making DVD players where you didn't have to worry about paying your crazy price. But now, being that it it's gotten smaller again and it's kind of all gotten back to Sony, Sony can just be like,
01:15:57
Speaker
You guys got to pay me. If I'm charging you $500, you're going to have to pay you $500 if you want to watch this. That's how it is. Damn. Yeah, yeah. Shit. Well, we'll see what I can find. I'll let you yeah you'll find it. but You know. Listen, you get on eBay. You get on one of those auction sites. You'll find something. can just the store.
01:16:13
Speaker
um I might go to. You can find thrift store, yeah. But remember, a lot of people like to go thrifting and they know collections. that Yeah, that's true. But listen, it's all about going in and finding it. And, you know, you never know. You might find some other stuff. Yeah. You got to be a really good thrifter.
01:16:29
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Maybe you'll find the the whole collection of One Tree Hill on DVD and you'll be like, look what I found. Like, oh, look what I found. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Anyway, guys, thanks so much for
Upcoming Content and Listener Engagement
01:16:41
Speaker
listening. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode.
01:16:44
Speaker
um We really, I think, had a had a good old time chatting about physical media. um So next time we will be back. um I believe we will be doing our Wicked for Good review. So I hope you guys will tune and in for that because that will be a very good one i cannot wait to watch wicked for good rodney and i are both very excited to see this opening that we're going opening night opening night yeah where we're both going um unfortunately not together but we are going each to watch it on our own and we're definitely going to come on the pod and have a good old chat about what they were able to do if it was better than the first one i don't know
01:17:24
Speaker
A lot of people are saying it. A lot of people have already seen it and said that the they they think it's even better than the first one, which is baffling because the first one is so... That's a lot. those are That's a lot.
01:17:34
Speaker
um But they say it's really fucking good. So I'm very, very excited. But guys, please do us a favor. ah Follow us. If you haven't been following us and you've been listening, follow the podcast.
01:17:47
Speaker
Give us a rating. Give us five stars. It would be really, really helpful. And... Thank you. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you, guys. Thank you. See you next time. See you next time.
01:17:57
Speaker
Bye, physical media. Bye. Bye, physical media. That's true. Bye, physical media. Please, please, f for us, do it. Bye. Bye.