DVD shop owner vows to be ‘last man standing’

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2wypg7jrdo

by yladiz • 2 years ago

57 55 2 years ago

bbc.com

jwsteigerwalt• 2 years ago

There are still plenty of vintage vinyl, cassette, and VHS stores. Lots of runway left for even younger niche markets.

bombcar• 2 years ago

We had one that finally shut down a few years ago.

The key seems to be if they own the shop they’re operating out of; then they can last quite a while if the owner wants them to.

a2tech• 2 years ago

This is an important thing for any brick and mortar business--if you don't own your building, you're always at more risk for rent changing and putting you in bad straits.

daveoc64• 2 years ago

Whenever this sort of topic comes up, I always have to give a shout out to 20th Century Flicks in Bristol:

https://20thcenturyflicks.co.uk/

They have a huge library of DVD and VHS for rental!

stewx• 2 years ago

There is going to be an interesting breaking point when DVDs and Blu-rays stop being sold mass-market. I think a lot of people will realize the downside of going all-in on streaming.

tuna74• 2 years ago

That has already happened in a lot of parts of the world.

tjpnz• 2 years ago

Can't be far off given manufacturing of blu-ray players is winding down.

cooperadymas2• 2 years ago

Many things already don't make it to DVD, unfortunately.

extraduder_ire• 2 years ago

New ones, sure. But there's a thriving retail market of "recycled" optical media being repackaged and sold for cheap in discount stores last I checked. That should stick around for another few years after.

noisy_boy• 2 years ago

As long as they also sell DVD players, I think they stand a chance. The longer they hold out, the more unique they get.

2OEH8eoCRo0• 2 years ago

It's sad we can't buy people media anymore. Most don't have a way to play CDs or DVDs!

danielbln• 2 years ago

There are some real hard truths about not being able to own physical media, but purely in terms of UX, on-demand streaming blows anything else out of the water. I can stream any children's audiobook under the son to my daughter's Bluetooth speaker in a whim, instead of shuffling through a bunch of optical media that break easily, and for my own purposes I don't have to have a physical player, space to store the media, etc.

Maybe the best of both worlds would be to rip everything to a Plex server and have the originals in the basement.

onecommentman2• 2 years ago

Using the phrase “real hard truth” and “optical media that break easily” in the same post made my eyes cross. Are you referring to glass plate negatives from early 19th C. photography? And storing 400 DVDs in a binder takes about 1 cu ft of storage, and DVD players are $30 and the size of a hardback book.

Your best of both worlds proposal sounds right, though.

t-3• 2 years ago

Most? I find that very hard to believe. Only the latest generation of consoles and a few late models of the last generation have no disc drives. Plenty of people will still have PS* and Xbox-n with disc drives, not to mention a lot of people will have 30-year-old Walkman CD players and 20-year-old set-top DVD players in their garages that still work. I have several working computers that have working DVD drives. My car still has a CD player. If all else fails, new USB-connected drives are still purchasable for very cheap prices.

infecto3• 2 years ago

I don't have anything that can play a DVD or a Blu-ray. It is a lot more common than you think. A lot of people don't game or they don't game on console.

elzbardico• 2 years ago

I donate most equipment that I don't use regularly. Most people I know do even worse: They throw stuff away in the garbage.

My old PS4 and XBox-X got donated, and then I bought a discless series-S because I am a casual gamer, and game pass is cheap and good enough for me, as most AAA exclusive games on PS are now woke boring trash.

If my life depended on playing an old DVD I would probably die.

scarface_74• 2 years ago

Why do you care about buying CDs? Music you pay for has been DRM free since 2009 from all of the stores including Apple’s.

eadmund2• 2 years ago

I’ve switched to buying everything on DVD or Blu-ray. It’s the only way to be sure I can watch, for example, Community Season 2 Episode 14 (one of the funniest episodes ever). If you don’t own the physical medium, you’re just renting a stream. No thanks.

loloquwowndueo2• 2 years ago

DVDs rot after a while. Can’t be sure you’ll be able to watch them indefinitely. Def recommend ripping it and backing up the copy periodically for archival purposes.

cooperadymas2• 2 years ago

While this is undoubtedly true, the lifetime is almost certainly a multiple of whatever it is on a streaming service. I have working DVDs older than Netflix's streaming service.

throwaway89201• 2 years ago

Burned DVDs rot after a while (and quite inconsistently between brands), but pressed CDs and DVDs – such as retail movie DVDs – barely rot at all.

datavirtue2• 2 years ago

Same here. I backup all DVDs to iso. Don't really care for BluRay because ripping/playing them is a nightmare. I then create MP4s and ingest them into my Plex server. I keep my DVDs stored away in the basement, making me 100% legal. Having your own media server is VERY nice. The ripping process is not straight-forware. Almost impossible to automate.

I would ravage this guy's store.

dnel• 2 years ago

During lockdown I ripped my entire DVD collection using makemkv. It's as close to one click as you'll get and works brilliantly. All my DVDs are stored away now and I play them from Plex in full quality.

tylerflick• 2 years ago

Don't really care for BluRay because ripping/playing them is a nightmare.

What makes you say this? The only issue I occasionally run into is needing to clean 4k BR discs that aren’t reading well.

bluGill• 2 years ago

Technically storing ripped DVDs doesn't make the rip legal. However if they try to come after you for that the courts will start questioning the law and so you have a good chance of winning on appeal.

JKCalhoun• 2 years ago

And then ripping them.

When I hit PLAY I want the movie to start — not FBI warnings, not "previews" (ads), etc.

freedomben• 2 years ago

I've been hesitant to do this because DVD is a bit too low quality for my big TV, but I've heard that ripping Blu-Rays on Linux can be a nightmare. Anyone have experience ripping blu-rays on Linux willing to share what it's currently like?

Gud• 2 years ago

I would argue internet piracy is a more sure bet than your DVD collection.

eadmund2• 2 years ago

I am playing the long game: I want folks to keep on releasing great movies and TV on disc, so I buy great movies and TV on disc.

tmm84• 2 years ago

Been buying up DVDs and Blu-rays that are cheap of movies I like or have heard a lot about. Experienced the whole no one is streaming it this time so just buying the discs and never looking back has been my thing.

BJones12• 2 years ago

Background info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Dungeons_%26_Dragons_...

It's a great episode. And the dark-elf-face joke is not at the expense of any demographic.

okasaki• 2 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjH9cEoEup8

nashashmi• 2 years ago

PSA: Your local library has a good collection of DVDs. Go in there and see how they are still relevant. Sometimes the DVDs are free to borrow.

tacotastic2• 2 years ago

even really poorly funded library networks I've seen in the states tend to have pretty great Blu-ray selections, not just DVDs

infecto3• 2 years ago

I hope he does well. On the flip side I cannot help but feel this is one of the greatest times to be a media consumer. I definitely look back and have nostalgia for going to Blockbuster on a Friday to pick out some tapes to watch but it may just be mostly the nostalgia of it all. We have easy access to almost any movie/show you want to watch, this includes lots of media that is outside of the country you live in. It is far from perfect and while there is a minority that prefers to own the disc, I suspect the vast majority of consumers prefer renting or buying digital.

dackle• 2 years ago

Bay Street Video near Bay and Bloor in Toronto is still alive and well: https://www.baystreetvideo.com/ and has a very deep catalogue and active new release schedule: https://www.baystreetvideo.com/recentbydate.php?sortbytitle=...

ortusdux• 2 years ago

Shoutout to Scarecrow Video in Seattle as well. Over 150k titles in stock along with device rentals for region locked movies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarecrow_Video

Klonoar• 2 years ago

They recently had to go through a donation drive to keep the lights on, so it’s worth supporting them.

gandalfian2• 2 years ago

I think it's the resolution that will kill dvd's. 55" TV's are now entry level. A cinefile in ten years may well have an affordable laser projector filling and suddenly see the merits of 4k.

LeoPanthera• 2 years ago

"DVD" is usually used as an umbrella term that includes blu-ray and 4K blu-ray.

No streaming service matches the quality of 4K blu-ray, and often they look worse even than regular blu-ray.

gandalfian2• 2 years ago

Perhaps, thought blu ray is looking a little laserdisc like. Never quite got the mass adoption to stay around and now fading away. It's now hard to buy a cdrom drive without dvd support. But ones without blue ray remains common. Notmto mention second hand dvds are available for pennies on bulk for hoarders ...

Kraftwurm• 2 years ago

We're the Last Man Standing in Zurich, Switzerland. We have DVDs and Blu-rays but do not rent them, we only sell. Many many regular customers, all Fulm Freaks / Nerds. Our name is LASERZONE because we startet in the early 90's with Laserdiscs. Come to visit us, when you're in Zurich an mention that you read this comment. We will love you for that! Just search for DVD, Zürich and you will find us.

DVD shop owner vows to be ‘last man standing’

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