# In this day and age...



## bluemax_1 (Feb 14, 2011)

Why are folks still stupid enough to place their sticky fingers all over the optical faces of discs? Maybe that's why I prefer buying to renting. No one else will handle my discs but me. I swear, some rental discs look like they've been used as coffee coasters, or snot rags.


Max


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## moparz10 (Sep 21, 2010)

I think people just don't care,I was brought up to care for things that were not mine,pluss you don't know where those fingers have been.that's why I also buy and stream.


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## bluemax_1 (Feb 14, 2011)

moparz10 said:


> *I think people just don't care,I was brought up to care for things that were not mine*,pluss you don't know where those fingers have been.that's why I also buy and stream.


Good point. It seem proper upbringing isn't common these days, neither are common courtesy nor common sense.

A few years back, I was living in a neighborhood that admittedly wasn't the best, but I'd lived there for years without problem, then a group of neighborhood kids, ranging in age from 7-14 decided that it would be fun to go around vandalizing other people's property just for the hell of it.

They began vandalizing one of my cars while I was at work with the other one. Over the course of 2 weeks, they broke every single piece of glass on the car; all the windows, mirrors, lights etc. Came back early one day and saw 2 of the kids at it. I followed them home and knocked on the door and spoke to their mother about it. Her response? "You gots proof? If not, I hope you gots good inshurrrance". Upbringing like that is why some kids wind up getting shot before they turn 21.

If someone had knocked on my parent's door and told them they'd seen my vandalizing their car, I'd have gotten a whuppin.


Max


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

So true, The "its not mine so who cares" attitude is a big problem with many people. Public property just means lets destroy it so that no one can enjoy it. Bus shelters are a great example. The city puts them at bus stops and many get vandalized so often that they remove them and if its cold or pouring rain you have to stand out in the open so no one wins. 
Sigh, all I can do is raise my daughters to know that its important to respect other people, their property and belongings. our children are our future and we as parents need to make sure they know whats right and wrong and deal with it if that line is crossed.


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## leona.mccauley (Oct 17, 2012)

They just spoil the disc and making it good for nothing.


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## moparz10 (Sep 21, 2010)

I've had pretty good good luck when it comes to discs,i e-mailed them and they have replied with free rental codes,i guess i'm out the wasted trips but it does not happen all of the time,i now look at the disc before i even get home,if it looks bad enough i fire off e-mail .:foottap:


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## JBrax (Oct 13, 2011)

My local Family Video runs all Blu-ray disks through a cleaning machine before they are put back on the shelf.


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## bluemax_1 (Feb 14, 2011)

JBrax said:


> My local Family Video runs all Blu-ray disks through a cleaning machine before they are put back on the shelf.


I know my local Family Video has one of those disc polishing machines (not the el cheapo radial scratchers available at Best Buy) as they offer it as a service for owner discs, but they don't use it unless there's a complaint.

They obviously don't clean the discs before putting them back on the shelves either.


Max


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## tripplej (Oct 23, 2011)

In a few years once everything is 100% streaming, folks will ask, blu ray dvd's.. what were they? 

lol.. 

Till then, unfortunately, it is the luck of the draw as to whether you get a clean dvd or not.. 

Worse are the dvd's for kids, you know kids leave their hand prints and what else everywhere ... lol


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## gorb (Sep 5, 2010)

This is one of the reasons why I don't bother renting. I can't stand fingerprints or smears or scratches on discs.


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## JBrax (Oct 13, 2011)

bluemax_1 said:


> I know my local Family Video has one of those disc polishing machines (not the el cheapo radial scratchers available at Best Buy) as they offer it as a service for owner discs, but they don't use it unless there's a complaint.
> 
> They obviously don't clean the discs before putting them back on the shelves either.
> 
> Max


Looks kinda like a computer tower. Pretty nice and from what I was told all Blu-rays are suppose to be cleaned before going back on the shelf. Not sure if that's a local directive or franchise level. I've never had any issue's with their movies being all smudged up.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

tripplej said:


> In a few years once everything is 100% streaming, folks will ask, blu ray dvd's.. what were they?


I dont think thats going to happen any time soon. CDs have been around for 25 years and they still have not been replaced, and with iTunes one would have thought it would have already been done. The cost of building the infrastructure to handle true uncompressed streaming/downloading is still way off. As long as there are people like myself who can see and hear a difference between a streamed/downloaded HD video and a BluRay there wont be a change.


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## tripplej (Oct 23, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> I dont think thats going to happen any time soon. CDs have been around for 25 years and they still have not been replaced, and with iTunes one would have thought it would have already been done. The cost of building the infrastructure to handle true uncompressed streaming/downloading is still way off. As long as there are people like myself who can see and hear a difference between a streamed/downloaded HD video and a BluRay there wont be a change.


I agree with you but the market is leaning toward streaming. Just about every new tv now is "smart" and more and more devices to make non smart tv's smart.

The ball is rolling toward streaming so in the end I am not sure if dvds will stay but of course my preference is that they do stay since the quality of streaming is not yet up to par.. 

Time will tell.


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## moparz10 (Sep 21, 2010)

for us that prefer disks as i do can see it deminishing,point Costco at least to the ones i've bin in which is about four diferent ones now carrys 5 to 6 titles ??


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## JBrax (Oct 13, 2011)

I prefer having a physical disc as opposed to streaming. If someday you can actually stream and get the same quality as the disc then I'd be more open to the idea. I still enjoy building my library and it wouldn't be the same building a digital library.


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## bluemax_1 (Feb 14, 2011)

As I'm already archiving all my discs to an array of hard drives, it's obvious that I have no qualms about a digital library. That said though, as with the others, until such time as the quality of digital downloads equals the quality on physical media, I'm going to stick to the better quality. My archives are all ISO's, i.e. indistinguishable/identical to the data on the physical disc. Using the Oppo 93 with the old ISO capable firmware, the ISOs are identical to the actual disc.

I'm not averse to downloading a complete disc in this manner, even if it takes a little longer, i.e. if I could simply purchase the movie and download it to my hard drive and play it anytime I wish without requiring some encryption key and an internet connection every single time I want to play it, I'm down.

Streaming as it currently stands? Haven't bothered with it, except for the included Video On Demand feature with Charter Cable. No interest in a Pay-Per-View rental with sub-par quality.


Max


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## tripplej (Oct 23, 2011)

With all of us on this forum, I believe everybody prefers blu ray quality above streaming quality but we are in the minority with the average consumer who wants cheap decent quality not great quality. That is my fear.. 

We shall see how this streaming vs dvd goes but with the evolution of smart tv's and all we will know shortly in a few years which direction things will go.


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## gorb (Sep 5, 2010)

Even if streaming has the exact same quality as the disc, I would still prefer to have the disc. I can always rip it myself and stream it locally. If I'm paying money for something, I would much rather have the physical copy


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## tripplej (Oct 23, 2011)

gorb said:


> Even if streaming has the exact same quality as the disc, I would still prefer to have the disc. I can always rip it myself and stream it locally. If I'm paying money for something, I would much rather have the physical copy


I agree 100%.

Also, from what I can tell with streaming prices, you can only stream for a certain time frame so beyond that time frame, you have to buy again. Talk about a rip off. DVD in that sense is better. Buy once and you can replay any number of times for as long as you want regardless of any time frame.


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

I have been getting several of the older TV series (I Love Lucy, Dallas, etc.) from Netflix. About 1/4 of them won't play due to scratches - or part of the time - clearly broken discs. They either don't look at them before shipping (more likely) or they get broken in the mail. 

But, I tell them about the problem on their website and they promptly send another. Yesterday I got a replacement disc for The Lucy Show that was also broken - worse than the first one I sent back. Neither would play.


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