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Disney discontinues DVD and Bluray production in Australia
- zgluck 3y agoIt will be a sad day when high bitrate rips can't be made any longer. Are we doomed at looking at "optimized" 6 Mbps content advertised as "4k"? Maybe Hollywood is over.
- dylan604 3y agothe hacking attempts at the companies that provide services to the studios will probably increase significantly
- conradfr 3y agoThis will be a more expensive tiers.
- b112 3y agoWhy? They'll plaster 4k all over it, and 95% of people are happy. The next 4% will consume no matter what. So why bother for that small percentage that cares? (numbers are made up, but I bet 1% is high, most people eat what is in front of them)
- rolph 3y agowhen television[monitors] and cameras resolution is beyond that of the human eye, analogue hole techniques will be entirely palatable to the eye. ultrahigh resolution allows pirate production of human quality products
- chung8123 3y agoMaybe they are trying to split between theater for the high quality experience and streaming for everything else. I know I am the minority so they won't be catering to me, but I loved UHD Blu Rays and have built a fun collection of movies. The video and sound have never been better.
- bravetraveler 3y agoIsn't bandwidth/peering exceedingly expensive down under?
- lotsofpulp 3y agoWould it not be easy to host the videos close to population centers in Australia and avoid those costs?
- jtokoph 3y agoPlus Disney could just get the local ISPs to run the edge hardware for them.
- monocasa 3y agoMaybe. When Netflix tried that, Comcast tried to charge them for peering.
- zrail 3y agoAnd famously succeeded.
- bauruine 3y agoIt's a tug of war. Disney could route their traffic via their T1s where the Australian ISPs also have to pay to receive the traffic. Who can pay longer? And if there is a working market of ISPs the ones with peering or caches in their network can use the superior Disney+ experience in their advertisement.
- bravetraveler 3y agoProbably, Netflix does/did similar. I can't anticipate what shenanigans may follow - ie: stream this for free with your Mega Deluxe Cable plan The internet exchanges will see the value proposition for Disney, everyone will get squeezed.
- 3y ago
- clouddrover 3y agoApparently Disney likes the pay TV model. Why get paid once when you can get them to pay continuously for a subscription?
- catchnear4321 3y agothis is the way
- westcort 3y agoI have been buying up all the Disney movies my kids like. We are back to DVDs. No paid streaming services. I have had it with algorithms and endless back to back movies on Plus.
- xwdv 3y agoProblem is some of those have been cut and re-edited to remove “controversial” content for modern audiences. Gotta get the old school vintage stuff. VHS, laser discs.
- kaladin-jasnah 3y agoWhy is this specifically in Australia and not in other regions?
- notfried 3y agoAustralia and New Zealand are often used as testbeds for the Western markets because they are large--but not too large, English-speaking, and have a similar-enough consumer behavior.
- Veliladon 3y agoParallel imports from Asia have effectively killed off local distributors of games and physical media in Australia/NZ. There's no reason to have a subsidiary import all the media when stores will just bulk import from Asia and then sell with the same margins at half RRP.
- swayvil 3y agoThere you have it. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 was so awful that it destroyed Disney's Australian DVD industry.
- skydhash 3y agoI ‘m watching “A new hope” and “Waterworld” and it’s amazing how practical effects can hold up. I’m not against CGI, but they’re all over the place in Marvel’s movies. Even “The Ten Commandments” is more watchable than “Love and Thunder”
- swayvil 3y agoI turned off Love and Thunder when genderflipped Thor turned her hammer into a swarm of guided missiles.
- scarface_74 3y agoYes because that’s not how it worked in the comics at all. And where did they ever get the idea for Captain America to be a Black guy? Please note sarcasm
- barbariangrunge 3y agoLove and thunder was a masterpiece
- mnd999 3y agoI’m watching it right now, about an hour in. So far, I see your point.
- ta1243 3y agoMy understanding is that GotG3 is the best received of the post-endgame files (at least the non-spiderman ones)
- monocasa 3y agoI wonder if this is a proxy fight in the SAG-AFTRA/WGA strikes. Most of the core issue is the reduced residuals seen by workers on streaming, so making visible moves to cut out classic residuals completely would be a classic dick move in these kinds of fights.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- jarjoura 3y agoWell, residuals are just a fancy term for profit sharing. Disney has used artificial scarcity to keep the value of its content high since I can remember. You'd never find a Disney movie in the bargain bin, for example. Stopping DVD/Bluray production just seems like they weren't able to keep high profit margins and those movies were about to hit those bargain bins. Seems to me, completely unrelated to the strike.
- monocasa 3y agoI mean, Disney has specifically been pulling content because of the strike to put pressure on those striking. If there'd no content, then there's no residuals. A lot of writers (and some actors) are dependent on residuals to keep paying their bills, so it's a tactic to put on pressure at the negotiating table. https://insidethemagic.net/2023/05/disney-guts-content-amid-industry-strike-what-it-actually-means-jnw1/ https://insidethemagic.net/2023/05/disney-guts-content-amid-... When you combine that with the fact that the writers and actors are striking because they get significantly less residuals from streaming than they did from traditional physical and broadcast media, killing physical media (and the bigger residuals) looks a lot like a strike breaking move.
- alanfranz 3y ago> will shift its focus to digital releases and its Disney+ streaming service in Oz This may have the unintended consequence of shifting their customers’ focus to other kinds of digital releases - welcome back, torrenting.
- scarface_74 3y agoPeople who were torrenting were not buying DVDs. Besides, tormenting and setting up a Plex server is a lot more of a hassle than just paying $15/month and being able to stream from anywhere.
- natdempk 3y agoI think there are some people out there ripping DVD/Blu-ray to their own personal media servers who would now torrent. Also you can stream Plex from anywhere these days. Even just casting from your smartphone to whatever device is very viable.
- scarface_74 3y agoYes, I realize that. There are Plex apps for everything. But then you have to worry about your Plex server being up, people’s upstream bandwidth is usually piss poor since most people have cable. On top of that if your device doesn’t support the same format that you encoded it in, the Plex server has to transcode. That both limits the quality and puts more load on the server limiting the number of simultaneous streams. Not to mention when torrenting you have to troll/trawl [1] the internet for a good high quality rips. Or just using streaming service. Since Disney is one of the four major studios that support MoviesAnywhere, you can buy a digital movie from any of the participating stores like from Apple, Google, Vudu, Amazon and they will automatically be available in your library from the other stores. [1] British vs American spelling
- joeblubaugh 3y agoThe thing is … these days you’re often spending more like $45 a month, and it’s on the way up.
- xeromal 3y agoI'm a 4k UHD guy so I'm pretty bummed that we're finally going this direction. I have 1GB service and I still can't get a constant 4k stream with at least some artifacting. I wish they'd at least let up precache the movie before watching so it's guaranteed high quality. I mean on my TV btw which I don't think allows offline downloads like on Android.
- chiph 3y agoI switched to 4K discs earlier this year, for the same reasons - no dropouts, no blockiness, no sudden resolution changes. Precaching would solve a lot of these problems (it's how movie theaters get their films now - via encrypted download). But I do prefer owning the physical media. I figure that most of the streaming titles will be lost in time. Sure, the equivalent of "Casablanca" will still be available. But series that people are fond of but weren't good enough to win awards .. they'll vanish into the ether.
- TylerE 3y agoThe theater versions are also compressed at a much higher bitrate (although I believe using a not-as-good codec as h265). I've heard 500GGB+ for a 2HR film.
- ianlevesque 3y agoYeah it’s individual JPEG2000 images, which is definitely...a way to do it.
- shiftpgdn 3y agoMy prosumer cinema camera (sigma fp) records video with individual dng files and a wav for audio. I think it’s not that unusual.
- TylerE 3y agoI would imagine a big advantage for the production team is being able to screen it and pause on any single frame and have it be perfect - consumer codecs all seem to use keyframes, which certainly save a lot of space, but if you start on a non-keyframe you either get no output or pixel puke until the next one.
- aidenn0 3y agoThe writing has been on the wall for a while (none of the Disney+ originals have a physical release) and it's a shame. With the majority of Disney's works staying in copyright until after I'm dead, this will grant total control (and knowledge) of how, when, and where I can watch their films. A copyright period longer than the typical human lifetime combined with streaming removing the protections of the first-sale doctrine means that there will be no legal way to watch without Disney knowing you are watching.
- brobdingnagians 3y agoWhich means Disney will know I'm not watching their films at all. Their loss, I guess.
- scarface_74 3y agoI’m sure they will get over people not paying for one or two DVDs in a year and I dread paying $180 a month.
- barbariangrunge 3y agoExtremely creepy that we’re losing the ability to consume media without being watched and analyzed every moment we do so. I think this is more invasive than people realize, even without meta’s eye tracking on its way
- samwillis 3y agoQuite right, but the solution to this isn't physical discs, or owning the "movie file", it's legislative. We need more restrictive legislation around storing then data mining user activity, and how that information is used. This applies to everything we do on our devices, but also interaction in the real world too.
- tjoff 3y agoSure, but owning a physical disc / movie file is also part of it.
- samwillis 3y agoAnecdotal, but as a family, of all the streaming/TV services we have been subscribed to [0] Disney Plus is the one we by far get the most value from, closely followed by the larger Apple One subscription. I am not at all surprised to hear they are going all in on Plus. 0: Currently Disney, Apple TV (via One), Netflix, Prime, and we just last week canceled all Sky UK. Had Paramount for a couple of months when there was something we wanted, will resubscribe when it's back. We are downgrading to Netflix basic as it's only the kids that watch it most of the year (there are no ads on the kids account), and will upgrade for the month when one of the two shows we watch are new.
- mnd999 3y agoThis will just mean more piracy.
- CharlesW 3y agoAnd less privacy!
- quags 3y agoDisney vault used to be a thing were movies were pulled and cycled later. Might be a combination of low sales and gearing up to go back to the Disney cycle wheel. My very quick search shows dvd sales down over 86% since 2008. It would appear everyone saying they are back on physical media here are outliers.
- toast0 3y agoDo Australians tend to have region 4 DVD players or region free? For blu-ray, they're in region B with Europe, so importing will probably be simple... And a lot of Blu-Ray releases are region free anyway.
- fxtentacle 3y agoLet's hope they will at least stop whining about their "losses" due to "blu-ray piracy" once there are no blu-rays left that anyone could pirate ...
- voytec 3y agoI'm happy with my audio CD and DVD/BR movies and TV series collection. I OWN these discs and no licensing agreements between corporations can deprive me of watching or listening to what I paid for. Under local law, I can also make how many copies I like, to ensure that I'll be able to use these purchased (in opposition to: rented) products even after physical media degrades.
- Tijdreiziger 3y ago> I OWN these discs and no licensing agreements between corporations can deprive me of watching or listening to what I paid for. Are you sure? > The approach of AACS provisions each individual player with a unique set of decryption keys which are used in a broadcast encryption scheme. This approach allows licensors to "revoke" individual players, or more specifically, the decryption keys associated with the player. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Access_Content_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Access_Content_System
- voytec 3y agoFor the time being, I'm sure. I don't have to use proprietary connected players that can change behavior when reconfigured by vendor against my will. Until user-friendly hardware projects like frame.work (edit: "open hardware" may be a more suiting phrase), and software projects like VLC exist and are not de-legalized, my point stands.
- Tijdreiziger 3y agoIIRC you’re still dependent on leaked player keys to decrypt the discs, though.
- voytec 3y agoYou're right. But fully lawfully - I can use non-connected hardware like old dedicated players (my Yamaha Blu-Ray player has no issues with BD discs from at least 2 regions) or PlayStation3 that I no longer need connected to LAN. And hey - unlike its successors - PS3 can play audio CDs, too! Since these media formats are seemingly being phased-out, using older hardware for "legacy" media seems reasonable. As for audio, I am lawfully allowed to rip CDs, so open hardware and open-source decoders (like FLAC) will work well when Apple starts doing some shitfuckery around my AIFF rips.
- bowsamic 3y agoI genuinely believe that Disney are going to kill themselves through raw optimisation of their business practises
- harrego 3y agoIt's happening.
- sourcecodeplz 3y agoJust torrent them.
- everdrive 3y agoPretty clear there's no future in watching Disney products. I've never been one to horde data, but it seems pretty obvious that sometime in the future it could get harder and harder to get your hands on the data you want. Some things really could potentially disappear forever.
- jedberg 3y agoFor now this doesn't really matter much, right? I assume everyone in Australia has multi-region DVD players and Blu Ray, and you can just order them from somewhere else on Amazon, right? I mean this is clearly a sign of things to come, with no physical releases anywhere. But for now it seems fairly easy to work around, unless I'm misinformed about how the DVD/BluRay market works down under.
- bogantech 3y ago> I assume everyone in Australia has multi-region DVD players and Blu Ray No, why would we? Most people will buy whatever dvd/blu ray player they can get at JB HIFI or use their console
- jedberg 3y ago> No, why would we? I'd heard that most everyone outside the USA got multi-region players since so many disks were USA/Region 1 only. I guess I was wrong.
- renegat0x0 3y agoThere is a problem with Disney? You have a problem. No Internet? You have a problem. You live in a place where internet is slow? You have a problem. I do not understand why doscs are discontinued. Recently I have bought ps5. I have no account, mostly play offline after installation. I forgot the times where games had no shops, clients, and you were able to play immediatly after installation. I do not have a good internet connections. the fastest transfer is via disc
- Scoundreller 3y agoYeah, plenty of northern outposts (and even a territory capital) in Canada that are 100% geo-satellite fed for internet. And no local caching (big miss there imo). And cabins with marginal cellular data, and when available, it's $$$. And days are short with (debatably) not a lot to do outside in winter...
- nsavage 3y ago"Northern outputs"? My grandparents an hour from Ottawa in a small town only had satellite internet until about six months ago when the government paid for fiber through the town.
- Scoundreller 3y ago> the government paid for fiber through the town. But I was told we pay really high prices in Canada because it covered the cost of coverage in low-density areas. We've been lied to!
- BearhatBeer 3y agoI never got into Blu-Ray because I can do math and they never settled on an HDR format which was universal. In fact I still prefer Laserdisc, the colors were better, no re-grading ruining my favorite flics.
- joker_minmax 3y agoObligatory "you'll own nothing and be happy" dead horse comment. Everyone, this is your call to get a region unlocked device. It's the best thing I ever did.
- extraduder_ire 3y agoIt's a crying shame you don't still need to deposit a copy of some media to a library to exercise copyright on it.
- aglavine 3y agoStreaming services could have some kind of global agreement and offer physical media on demand printing discs or any format when sold. Quite simple to implement with the streaming source available and a respectable market at global scale
- o1y32 3y agoHave to complain that they put a Despicable Me picture next to a Disney story.
- metaphor 3y agoTake a look at the numbers under DMED --> Content Sales/Licensing and Other --> Home entertainment. Last fiscal year[1; p. 42], Home entertainment generated $820 million revenue (down -19% YoY) while the overall sub-segment profusely bled -$287 million in operating losses. This past quarter[2; p. 44], the trend continues at $148 million revenue (down -36% QoQ) with the sub-segment still bleeding -$50 million in operating losses. Disney's problem within DMED segment appears to be that Linear Networks has been floating Direct-to-Consumer's massive growth burn for several years, but cash flows from the former are fading faster than the latter is tracking towards being operationally profitable. Speculating, what if what we're seeing is a sort of A/B test in a much smaller market where cutting a revenue stream with relatively high opex is an attempt to steer those high-retention consumers towards Direct-to-Consumer? In any case, investors have certainly expressed their dissatisfaction by severely punishing Disney's stock. With the residual impact of lockdowns in Shanghai and Hong Kong still being felt in DPEP, all the recent negative press surrounding Disney World/DeSantis feud in Florida, and now union strikes, Disney is without a doubt in a tough situation. [1] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1744489/000174448922000213/dis-20221001.htm#i225682e36b4940d388ae4577116e8630_55 https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1744489/000174448922... [2] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1744489/000174448923000099/dis-20230401.htm https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1744489/000174448923...
- tiahura 3y agoSpeculating, what if what we're seeing is a sort of A/B test in a much smaller market where cutting a revenue stream with relatively high opex is an attempt to steer those high-retention consumers towards Direct-to-Consumer? Given Disney’s recent actions, there are likely Australian tax code reasons as well.
- metaphor 3y agoInteresting. I'm not familiar with tax code implications down under. Would you mind expanding on it a bit?
- liendolucas 3y agoNo surprise here, it's the natural move to keep people under subscriptions. I wouldn't also be surprised if every single mayor studio out there actually start doing this. Perhaps in 10 years or less people will have no choice other than to get absolutely online to consume content of any kind. I do hope that at least books will be an exception. I think the problem also originates from people who don't care about subscribing and pay them blindly.
- c120 3y agoFor Australian fans it's probably easy to import the DVDs and Blurays from some other country - since all have the English sound track. Personally I'm going to miss to be able to collect current Disney and Pixar animations on Bluray and they are going to miss my money in the long run. Disney already stopped releasing the films in 3D format. First in the US (no Frozen 3D there) then in Europe as well. I had to import the last one from Japan for a price of 1 year of Disney + Compared to collecting Blurays and DVDs, Disney+ is currently cheap and good value. But that's unlikely to stay that way. They will at some point raise prices a lot and/or introduce ads. Also even now: There's the problem with the picture quality (and internet connectivity) compared to Bluray. You also don't get to import out-of-area versions. Want to watch Pixar's Coco in the Mexican Spanish Dub? Not possible here. Want to watch a film without "Skip Intro", Age & flicker warning or the complete end credits? Want to easily pause a film to analyse a scene, without some overlay covering the picture? With Disney's track record on annoying logos and other distractions, I don't trust them to keep their user interface clean or not suddenly force ads and trailers on their paying audience.
- ajdude 3y agoTo reiterate my comments on the previous thread[1] about this: I know this isn't typical HN type news, but to me this feels like the true beginning of the end for physical media. I have always loved having the physical movies in the best quality that I can receive, VHS, laserdisc, DVD, Blu-ray, and these days 4K blue rays. I still stand that watching a movie in 4K from the UHD disc appears better quality than what I see on streaming. And at the end of the day, if the streaming service decides to pull the movie, I still own a physical copy of it. I have so many laserdiscs and DVDs that just aren't available anywhere. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36954597 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36954597