News - QOTW: Do you still buy Blu-rays?

[HEXUS]

Or has streaming taken over?

Read more.

[s_kinton]

I've only ever owned a fraction of the number of blu-rays that I used to have as DVDs. I've never been massively into AV and collecting huge numbers of films on disk, but for me blu-ray certainly came in at a time where streaming has become king. I watch all of my films on normal TV or streamed...never from a purchased hard copy.

[MDK]

I am a collector, and I like having physical versions of media I like.
So yeah, I still use Blu-Ray software/reader on my computer, and I keep buying Blu-Rays.
Nothing like the feeling of grabbing a disc, putting it into the reader's tray, and launch the movie/whatever.

[watercooled]

One major difference besides the obvious stuff such as usability, cost etc, is bitrate; BDs still offer massively higher bitrate than you get with any streaming service, often around 30Mb/s vs 6Mb/s if you're lucky with streaming. And in some cases it really shows, though not as much as the 3Mb/s 'HD' bitrate used on non-compliant devices and PCs for Netflix.

There's more to video quality than resolution and a 'HD' label...

However, yes I do watch a fair amount of stuff via streams, largely for the convenience and cost reasons mentioned in the article. However in my case it's more of an addition to BD rather than any sort of replacement.

[Ferral]

I tend to buy the stuff I really want on Bluray and use Netflix for everything else, if there is something that I really enjoyed I will buy it on Bluray after watching on Netflix.

Mind you I like a lot of stuff from the 80's & 90's and not everything is available on Bluray so I still buy DVD's and boxsets of certain things, putting a DVD in my PS3 or Bluray Home Cinema it gets upscaled and usually looks pretty good.

[DemonHighwayman]

I've not bought a blu-ray or even a dvd for years & I believe streaming is wasteful. That only leaves downloading which I do when it's something that really interests me but I think 2011 was the last year there was anything worthwhile downloading.

[DavidM]

All the above.

Streaming for an impulse view, purchase for something that's a must-buy .. and rental for the odd treat.

Although I record a lot ... always the odd thing worth watching on Freeview when you're at work.

[bridges009]

Not for ages, I ran out of space to put them, plus the format is a mess of anti-consumer nonsense. It would probably take me less time to download a pristine 1080p rip of a Blu-ray I have in my cupboard than to get the damn thing to actually play properly on my PC.

[Myss_tree]

Bought a Bluray player earlier this year and all i have played on it so far are exisitng dvd's i have.
If i want to watch a film i want to put the disc in and the film starts, not first be accused of being a pirate and then various trailers to trawl through.
Disc players as well seem to take as long to start from cold as a pc from yesteryear.
Blu Ray discs as well are simply to expensive.

[Attila the Bun]

Never made the step from DVD to Bluray as I felt for me the only step up was the price. A good film is still a good film regardless of definition.

I still buy DVDs but only when they hit £3-£4 in the supermarkets and only then if it's something I know I will watch again. I still prefer to own than rent.

My streaming habit is basically stuff on the iPlayers from telly I've missed but there isn't much of that. This may change if 1) Mobile broadband gets good/cheaper and 2) I upgrade my very old (4 years +) smartphone to something that would make watching films easier on my eyes.

[spl]

I don't, but I still prefer to buy physical copies of games and with an increasing number of 50GB games coming out, I'm thinking it won't be too long before physical copies of games will become Bluray-only. Next optical drive I buy will probably be a BDRW.

[outwar6010]

I happily still buy blu rays the quality still far surpasses streaming imho and you have ownership of the product.

[Plasmastorm]

I do a LOT of streaming but for my favorite films such as a lot of Cine Asia ones I get them on BDR. Simply because they have so much more detail on a 55" TV when you increase the sharpness.

[kammak743]

I have never bought a Blu-ray but have bought quite a few DVD's.
I would prefer to use streaming services but I have very slow internet.

[pastymuncher]

I only buy DVD's and blu-rays (mainly blu-rays these days). We must have hundreds of them now. I prefer to actually own what I am paying for plus the quality of blu-ray is so much better. I tried the free trial of Netflix and Lovefilm (when it was called that) but thought the content was largely rubbish and not worth paying for so cancelled after the trials ran out.

[OilSheikh]

I am not a collector. But, I do buy Blu-rays of seasons of TV shows that I really really like as I feel guilty of not contributing legally to their cause.