Disney fires Chapek, brings Iger out of retirement

I still buy physical media. I don’t like the idea of content just getting yanked w/o warning at anytime. That said, still have D+.

Having options is the best. Physical media will never really ever die. There are still libraries with books. E-everything just makes things more portable and, to some degree, accessible.

People still want to own LPs.

And read books.

And put DVDs into DVD players.

And ride the roller coasters in Sandusky instead of in the Metaverse.

Is Disney not producing physical copies of their stuff anymore? I guess I haven't bothered to look.

Mulfinator:

I'm sorry, but RRR>>>Inside the Magic.

They had a headline yesterday that made my head hurt: "Universal Studios Shutting Down Orlando Park Imminently".

It was about Volcano Bay closing for cold weather. And anyone that does that to the English language should be sentenced to a day of marathon riding RRR.

I saw that headline too. I figured they were talking about the water park.

OhioStater:

Is Disney not producing physical copies of their stuff anymore? I guess I haven't bothered to look.

They are. I think Coffin Boy's point was that nothing in the Disney or Fox back catalog is being released in 4k, or very limited anyway. My guess is that Disney executives have made the conscience decision not to invest in this endeavor. Their big push has been streaming and the steady revenue flow that it generates.

It is interesting that their model used to be sell for a limited time, put it in the vault, and re-release a "restored" version a few years down the road. But in the interceding years they moved to the Columbia House / BMG model and are now firmly entrenched in streaming. I don't see them going back to limited releases, unless the videophile market is much larger than I am anticipating.

Mulfinator:

I'm torn on streaming. On one hand the quality is certainly less than a physical copy unless you have phenomenal internet. Plus you actually own what you are paying for. On the other hand the convenience and cost are clearly in favor of streaming. We currently have both Hulu and Disney+ for just $5 per month. At those prices I could only buy 3-4 physical titles per year.

We have had Hulu for years. Mainly for backup in case cable doesn't record something. We recently added Disney+ to watch the new Willow series. I watched a couple of others shows. But other than that, they have nothing I want to see. So will cancel in next month or so. For physical media, I have bought close to 100 titles this year. I have always loved having a movie collection I can call my own. I am always budget-minded and will not pay for new releases on 4K, as they are usually close to $30. I wait for price drops. Of course, Black Friday deals online, I went nuts. Added quite a few. More than my wife would have liked!

OhioStater:
Is Disney not producing physical copies of their stuff anymore? I guess I haven't bothered to look.

As for Disney titles, they are still producing DVDs and Blu-Rays of catalog titles but the only thing they are putting on 4K are their newest titles. But since they own Fox, that entire catalog is locked away along with any other titles under the Disney banner. So movies like The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor will probably never see 4K unless they get their heads out of their a$$ and license them out to other labels. On a positive note, there are two titles that it has happened to. Fern Gully (animated Fox title), was released by Shout Factory this year (awesome boutique label), and Wall-E got a 4K re-release from Criterion (another boutique label). So that tells me they are willing to go that route. Just hoping to see more of that.

Disney did release the first Pirates of the Caribbean on 4K at beginning of year. But from the reviews I've seen, they botched the transfer. Apparently that used DNR on it to remove film grain and made it look bad. The same thing happened with Terminator 2. The 4K of that is considered the worst 4K ever.

I realize Disney is a massive company with a lot on its plate, but, like I said, just let someone else pay for the rights and put it out there. You talk to any physical media nerd (like me) and mention Disney, we cringe.

If you have the gear, the quality of the 4K offerings on Disney+ is phenomenal, especially if you keep the TV in "filmmaker mode" so it adheres to all of the intended color space and frame rate.

I still buy some movies, but do so digitally, which means that they fall into the Movies Anywhere bucket and appear on Google, Amazon and Apple. I've amassed probably 50 of those over the last decade and change, many of the early ones coming free with physical Bluray discs. I've even repurchased some that I had on DVD because I'm too lazy to get out the old media. I've bought a few this year... Top Gun, Don't Worry, Darling and others. But beyond that, I don't watch all that many movies via the streaming services... it's mostly "TV shows."

The 4K remaster thing is hit or miss at best. Sony did a pretty crappy job with Ghostbusters. I don't think Disney is that anxious to be in the business of physical media indefinitely. It's still viable now, but in the long term it will no doubt be a niche product, the way vinyl is for music.

I've been buying digital movies primarily as well. Between Amazon no-rush shipping credits and the resale market it's hard to pass up. You can generally find decent titles for under $5, sometimes in 4k. I've bought hundreds of DVDs, Blu-Rays, and CDs over the years but I don't see myself going back.

Jeff:

If you have the gear, the quality of the 4K offerings on Disney+ is phenomenal, especially if you keep the TV in "filmmaker mode" so it adheres to all of the intended color space and frame rate.

My TV may not be the best. I got a budget-minded TCL QLED 65" 2 years ago. It looks pretty damn good. Sure it may not be a high-end Sony or LG. But can't afford something like that. When it comes to 4K streaming, I am not sure which services are "true" 4K. Many claim they are, but hide the fact they use some compression to keep bandwidth down. I read last year that Netflix was one of those that were scaling back the 4K streams. I haven't watched any movies on Disney+ as there is nothing I want to see there. I have, however watched a couple of movies on Peacock and Paramount+ to hold me over until I buy the disc. Although they were pretty good, they failed compared to the discs. Also the audio sucked, especially on Peacock. I watched Ambulance streaming first. Looked great but audio was awful! Got the 4K disc and it was phenomenal!

Jeff:
I still buy some movies, but do so digitally, which means that they fall into the Movies Anywhere bucket and appear on Google, Amazon and Apple. I've amassed probably 50 of those over the last decade and change, many of the early ones coming free with physical Bluray discs. I've even repurchased some that I had on DVD because I'm too lazy to get out the old media. I've bought a few this year... Top Gun, Don't Worry, Darling and others. But beyond that, I don't watch all that many movies via the streaming services... it's mostly "TV shows."

Same, just watch TV shows streaming. I have never bought a movie streaming. I just redeem the digital codes with the discs. I have about 350 movies on Vudu now. I think I have watched a movie that way once...when I was too lazy to get up and put disc in. LOL

Jeff:
The 4K remaster thing is hit or miss at best. Sony did a pretty crappy job with Ghostbusters. I don't think Disney is that anxious to be in the business of physical media indefinitely. It's still viable now, but in the long term it will no doubt be a niche product, the way vinyl is for music.

For Ghostbusters, did you see the older 2016 4K or the newer version that was in the Ultimate Set that came out this year? I bought the new set which included Dolby Vision. The older transfer was NOT Dolby Vision. Same thing with the original Halloween. Lionsgate released it on 4K several years ago without DV. Last year Shout Factory did a new scan and added DV and it actually was better. As for Ghostbusters, I really enjoyed it. Was it perfect...no. But it was the best it has ever looked. Older movies is where 4K really shines. Classics like Jaws, Willy Wonka, Wizard of Oz are simply incredible restored. Even B&W is better. Normally, you wouldn't expect B&W to be better but it is. I have both volumes of Universal's Classic Monsters on 4k and they are amazing. Also It's a Wonderful life is incredible.

I do agree that 4K is more of a niche market. But I think a lot of that is due to the pricing. I just saw a post on 2022 physical media numbers and DVD is still reigning supreme due to how cheap they are.

Like I mentioned above, we will most likely cancel Disney+ soon after we watch Willow. There is nothing else we are interested in.

Again, if Disney would let boutique labels release more catalog titles from Fox and other studios under there umbrella, that would renew some of my (and many others) faith with Disney. I follow many YouTubers out there that despise Disney for this.

There are definitely advantages to physical media. You own it, it can't be revoked, and trucks are still the largest bandwidth delivery system--and probably always will be--so it can provides the best possible quality vs. any virtual medium.

But, there are also some significant disadvantages.

Physical media takes space to store. Not a lot, and less with each successive generation, but still: space. We are in the middle of cleaning out and selling an elderly relative's condo, and that experience has convinced me that one of the best things I can do for my kids is to get rid of as much stuff as possible before I have to move.

Physical media only provides an ownership model, and doesn't allow for either a rental or a subscription model without also having to ship physical things back and forth. How many movies/albums do I want to listen to over and over and over again? Some, for sure---and maybe more so for music---but not that much.

Physical media is locked in to one specific quality, encoding, and medium. As new encodings arrive, they become out of date. In the limit, they are no longer readable. The last VHS tape we bought was probably only 20 years ago, and maybe only 15. They are useless today, and even if I had something that could read them, I'd never want to. I think I threw them all out a few years ago in a fit of "clean out the crap." We have piles of DVDs. They looked great when we bought them, because there was nothing better to compare them to. They look awful now. They probably need to be thrown out too.

So there are lots of reasons why someone might prefer streaming to physical media. It's not hard to imagine that most people would prefer a streaming solution for most of their consumption most of the time.

But Disney hasn't abandoned the physical market. Pretty much every recent release is available physically in 4K, as are a number of older titles from the Animation renaissance and before. Disney is rather famous for bringing titles into and out of circulation (the "Disney Vault") to stimulate demand, and they've been doing this for as long as I've been buying their films, so this isn't some recent phenomenon. Are they going to permanently offer the entire back catalog in physical 4K? No, and neither does any other mass-media studio. Some are more aggressive at opening the back catalog than others, but it's such a niche market compared to, well, mass media and it's not their business.

There are others for whom that is the business: I came across a few looking for market share. The names escape me but if I have a chance I'll come back and post some. They looked interesting.

Edited: found one of them. Kino Lorber. https://kinolorber.com/

I was hesitant to post because I hate not owning my music, but I haven’t bought a movie in over a decade. I think the main difference is what Brian mentioned: Music won’t get obsolete (lossless compression is trivial to find and store) and I listen to music over and over whereas there are only a few movies I’d ever want to watch more than once.

Brian Noble:

The last VHS tape we bought was probably only 20 years ago, and maybe only 15. They are useless today, and even if I had something that could read them, I'd never want to. I think I threw them all out a few years ago in a fit of "clean out the crap." We have piles of DVDs. They looked great when we bought them, because there was nothing better to compare them to. They look awful now. They probably need to be thrown out too.

Don't throw them out!!! DVDs are the biggest seller/biggest want in our Library used bookstore. And we have VHS collectors in regularly. Find somewhere to donate them - many folks still depend on them, and we raise thousands for the library each year from selling donated DVDs for $1

You have hit upon one of the Evergreen Arguments in my house.

My partner doesn't want to throw anything away, ever. It's not that they want to keep things, but they can't stand the idea that something will just get landfilled instead of re-purposed. And that's definitely an issue. But finding someone to take <thing X> takes time, and the biggest reason we don't get rid of anything is time. If I have to go hunting for someone to take <thing X> every time I want to get rid of something, it will take us forever to get rid of things, and history has shown we don't do it.

And that's before the problem that the dump is in one place, and all the different places that take different <things X> are in different places and (very reasonably) want me to bring <things X> to them. I'd have to drive all over town to unload one car's worth of crap unless I plan ahead--again, something that takes more time.

[Ask me how long we had my daughter's bed in our front room waiting to find someone who (a) would take it and (b) come pick it up. Months.]

My library might take them. might. I'm not sure I wouldn't rather send $200 to the local library and throw everything away than go through it and e.g. make sure each disk is in the right box, etc.

I still buy music, since it's available as MP3 without DRM. I got so tired of companies changing the rules that I built my own private music cloud service. Unfortunately there's no movie equivalent possible.

Music is an interesting case. There is some music I do listen to over and over again, and would buy if I cared about "not owning it" [for whatever reason, I don't]. But, more often, I find myself wanting what amounts to a background loop that fits my current mood. That's much more ephemeral, and I can't imagine ever wanting to buy that stuff.

I now that Disney has always done "the vault" thing. But it was usually limited to their animated titles and maybe some other classics. I know they are still supporting new releases on physical. My issue is all the studios under them have large catalogs to pull from but they are refusing at this point. If they don't want to mess with them, let a boutique label snatch some up.

I kow about Kino Lorber. They are making a huge name for themselves by putting out some quality stuff. They have deals with Paramount and Warner on catalog titles. Other popular labels are Arrow, Criterion and Shout Factory. Ther ae many others out there including a newer one Vinegar Syndrome that is doing good work. They are more expensive. They recently released a 4K of the original Amityville Horror and looked incredible!

As you might tell, I am very passionate about home video/physical media. It is my second love in life, right under rollercoasters. I have been buying movies since the VHS days when they cost $60 each. When I started my home theater, I jumped into Laserdisc and then DVD when it came out. But due to those early compression technologies, DVD was a disappointment. Sure, it was better than VHS but failed compared to laserdisc. Then came Blu-Ray and HD-DVD and I supported them both until the latter was abandoned.

Space is a big disadvantage with physical media. I normally get rid of older formats of titles when upgrading them. Right now I am at a point I have no more shelf space and need to find space in room to even get new shelf. Of course it didn't help that I added over 150 titles at once that I got when my brother passed couple months ago. Looking at doing a purge sometime by eliminating titles I may never watch. I still love to have a large collection. Sometimes, I like to select titles I haven't seen in years.

Another reason I am sad about Disney's lack of 4K support is, in the past, their titles were top-notch quality. Their DVD's and Blu-Rays were far ahead of what other studios were producing.

Even Netflix and Amazon Prime has put some of their content on physical. Now that Amazon has acquired MGM catalog, they are letting other players get some titles. Rocky 1-4 has just been announced for 4K from Warner Bros. Great that these other studios are willing to open up their libraries. Why can't Disney? It is sore subject amonst us. While back, one YouTuber said in a video that talking Disney/Physical media was like beating a dead horse! So true! LOL

Jeff:

Unfortunately there's no movie equivalent possible.

If you have a DVD or Blu-Ray ripper on a PC wouldn't PLEX serve a similar purpose?

I used to stream my 500+ Cds worth of music through Amazon. They used to charge something like $20 to $25 for the year to upload your own music, which allowed you to stream at no extra cost. We have since switched over to Apple One. $23 per month for music, Apple Tv+, increased iCloud storage, and arcade for the whole family is tough to beat.

YouTube music is free. They'll let you upload and stream up to 100,000 of your own files. I have about 8,000 songs on there now that are mine, either downloads or CD/Vinyl rips. Never any ads or anything like that. I much preferred the interface of its predecessor, Google Play Music, but for zero dollars a month I can't complain. You can also download playlists/songs/albums to your other devices if you are going on a long plane ride or to somewhere without good intertube service.

So hey, you DO know that people can say literally anything on message boards and that's not "making an accusation" right? LOL thinking this is some legal precedent setting news source. And no, I didn't link because, as pointed out, there were "sources say..." references without actual sources. Some of y'all need a ladder to get over yourselves already.

Mulfinator:

If you have a DVD or Blu-Ray ripper on a PC wouldn't PLEX serve a similar purpose?

I'm a big fan of Plex. That's what I use to organize/serve all of our media (commercial and personal).

I've been of the mindset that there's just no reason for me to need physical media for quite a while. Been using Plex for almost 8 years now. I've converted almost every last bit of physical media we had (VHS, DVD, Photos, CD, cassettes, LP - you name it) to digital and I can't tell you the last time I bought or created a piece of physical media. Everything I want to keep exists on a handful of hard drives connected to an old PC (every time I upgrade my desktop, the old one becomes the new "media server") and can be fed to any screen in the house.

Did you upgrade to the Plex Pass or are you using the free version of Plex?