When Gravitas Ventures agreed to distribute Fat Head Kids, I asked if people still buy DVDs and Blu-rays. Yup, they answered, video discs are what we call a sunset technology. It will go away someday, but for now, plenty of people still prefer a physical product over a download.
I wanted people who buy a physical disc to get some sort of bonus track, so I put together 20 minutes of extra interview footage. Here’s a six-minute version I uploaded to YouTube:
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DVDs are a “sunset technology”? Ai yi yi — to me it seems like they just got here! But then, I remember when the VCR was new. I also remember the LaserDisc, which was only here long enough for my husband to spend a small fortune on a collection of his favorite movies before becoming obsolete. Come to think of it, in music I’ve been through 78s, 45s, 33 & 1/3s, reel to reel, cassettes, and CDs. There may have been one or two others. Now I’m starting to feel like I’M sunset technology. I’m glad DVDs aren’t going away immediately, because I haven’t learned to download and don’t want to. I’ll stick with the physical product, just like I’m sticking with real books that don’t require microchips and that people 500 years from now will be able to read just like people now can read documents from 500 years ago, or even a lot longer. Imagine how much knowledge and literature will be lost because today’s technology will be lost and forgotten in a couple of centuries, or more likely, far less. Pity the future historian.
There, I’ve had my Crotchety Old Lady rant for the day. Enjoyed the bonus interviews. Keep up the good work!
I make some of those rants myself. I suspect DVD/Blu-ray will be around for quite a few years before the sun sets on them completely. Someone at Gravitas told me they’re still popular partly because of gift-giving. Your kid asks for a particular movie for Christmas, you want something you can wrap, not a coupon for a download. In fact, one of younger daughter’s friends gave her a DVD for Christmas, even though kids their age generally download the movies they want to see.
Can’t tell you how much I regret not saving those Beatles 45s from my childhood …
DVDs are also still around largely due to the ubiquity of the 5-inch optical media size (shows, movies, games, software distribution, home backup). It was wise of Tom to authorize DVD and BD media.
Also, for anyone who wants 4K (UHD) content, there’s some chance they don’t have the internet bandwidth to download or stream it. Heck, where I am (rural wireless), we can just stream SD.
However, despite being the author of one of the two main LaserDisc FAQs (not presently on-line), I’m rarely tempted to spin one of those up anymore, and the player is getting a bit cranky when I do. Tom doesn’t need to offer his work on that, if only because all the pressing plants are shut down.
LaserDisc … I don’t remember the last time I saw one of those. I believe I was still living in Chicago.
I knew my clients (not to mention my kids) wouldn’t be happy with me if we only had satellite internet, so when we moved here I paid Comcast rather a large sum to extend the cable to our property.
Thanks for that. I’ve been wondering how you managed internet in that relatively rural area. We live ( technically ) in the City of Tulsa, OK. All we can get is satellite internet – no cable, etc. I love it here, but can’t get over missing fiber optic where we lived before. Fair trade-off, but I reserve the right to complain!
We were about a half-mile past their already-cabled area at the time. Extending the cable was expensive but worth it, especially since I could write it off as a business expense.
I still remember VHS vs. Betamax, oh and I think the first video recorder I saw was some bizarre Philips format. Somewhere in my garage I have my Ferrograph which was a British reel to reel recorder, maybe some museum would like it. Three giant hand-wound motors and valves.
Off topic Tom, but figured you’d want to see this:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-22/aussie-farms-map-sparks-outrage-from-farmers-and-ag-minister/10736006
Good lord. What will these nutters do next?
I’ve received a couple of threats from people telling me they know where I live because of the blog. I’ve responded by telling them if they drop by unannounced, I’ll happily introduce them to my Rottweilers and Mossbergs. No visitors so far.
Rottweilers are for choice, guns might put them out of their misery too quickly.
Plus you don’t have to reload a Rottweiler.
Oh dear, further down the page
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-27/your-healthy-diet-in-the-age-of-climate-change/10750274
Rosemary Bloody Stanton
Laserdiscs were on the market for over 20 years, and there is still an active community of 2nd hand owners. My wife sells atleast one a week on ebay.
Dianne: “Imagine how much knowledge and literature will be lost because today’s technology will be lost and forgotten in a couple of centuries, or more likely, far less.”
A couple of centuries? It’s difficult enough after 10 years. I heard an interview a couple of years back where a photographer was talking about the archival storage of photographs. He said that they had great difficulty retrieving an archive that had been digitised less than 10 years previously, because the technology had become obsolete in the intervening time.
I’m another who has the www via satellite. I pay $63 each month to rent the dish plus 10 gigabytes of data. And I live on old age pension money. I bet there are millions like me. So, yes, Tom, DVD’s are the best way for me to see movies, especially ones I want to view more than once.
Makes sense. Glad people are still buying them.