DVD Sales Slowing

SFGate.com is reporting ("Consumers Changing Buying Habits") that DVD sales are slowing because of a variety of factors:

"What we're experiencing now is the later adopters are either lower income or certainly more frugal on their discretionary spending," Ernst said. "They're buying fewer DVDs per home."

The number has dropped to about 14 DVDs sold per household per year.

Wagner, at Home Media Retailing, said there are any number of possible explanations floating around Hollywood. It could be that more people are renting DVDs through companies like Netflix and Blockbuster now that rental prices have dropped and the excitement of owning movies has given way to the realization that they are sitting unwatched on a shelf.

It could be that people are buying used DVDs, which hold up over time much better than VHS tapes. (Wagner said Blockbuster and other rental firms buy used DVDs as an inexpensive way to replenish their rental stock.)

via CinemaTech.

Comments

[John Fiala]

In my case buying has slowed because I've got all these DVDs that I haven't had a chance to watch yet!

[rw]

Netflix has definitely reduced my purchases of DVD's, though I have placed a couple of 20+ disc orders for overseas titles. The biggest impact on my DVD purchases has been the acquisition of an HDtv. What's the point of buying discs that will be rereleased in a couple of years in HD format? This is especially true of tv boxsets for shows that were originally broadcast in HD. HD also moves one from VOD demand and back to scanning the program listings.

[JDB]

Who buys DVD's anyway? I wonder if they are getting guilty knowing they only watch the movie once or twice. Maybe they are getting sick of special editions every year.

[Wolf]

I stopped buying DVDs when I realized that I only saw some movies once or twice, while other DVDs just sat there unopened. I figured I'd rather rent most DVDs and buy those I consider masterpieces, and save myself some $$$...

[Ehi P.]

I am selective about what I buy on DVD, normally I only get TV shows like Simpsons, Futurama, Arrested Development, the Sopranos, and Star Trek:TOS. The only movies I own are the extended editions of the LOTR.

The linked article was about two movies:
"Shrek 2" and "The Incredibles", which are DVDs that parents buy in the hope that the tykes will sit quietly and watch them 100 times, thereby giving the parents some peace. The linked article said that the studios sold many copies of those movies, but the studios had projected that they would sell x number of copies, and the actual sales had been somewhat less than x. So the linked article is about the studios making incorrect guesses, which isn't that important unless your name is Jobs, Spielberg, Katzenberg, Geffen, or Stockholder.

I've never been much of a DVD buyer, mainly because I don't believe in buying things only to put them on a shelf. There really aren't many movies or TV shows which I would have any need to watch over and over again, and if I really want to watch something I can get it from Netflix or the library. For a lot of people, I suspect the slump in DVD buying has to do with the novelty of DVDs wearing off - DVDs have been around for several years now, and the sheer number of titles has become astounding, so people have naturally become more selective when deciding what titles to buy (for instance, I'm guessing that people have become less likely to buy second-rate movies just because of bonus features).

[J]

"Maybe they are getting sick of special editions every year."

You are so correct. It makes no sense to purchase a DVD today when you know, from past experience, that the movie studio will, in 6 months, come out with a "Special Edition" and then 6 months after that with a "Limited Edition", and then an "Uncut Version". Then after all that they will come out with an "Anniversary Version", then a "Restored Version" and on, and on, and on.

To top it off they have the nerve to complain about the sales falling off. Maybe if they didn't try to screw us we would be more willing to purchase what they are offering.

DVD burning pc's were in 3% of households with computers 24 months ago, they are now in 88%.
People are making their own copies from rentals. Every other supposition is simply uninformed.

[J]

"People are making their own copies from rentals. Every other supposition is simply uninformed."

How long have you been a shill for the freakin' MPAA??

[netflix throttles best]

"sick of special editions every year."

That's the ticket. For example. Count on a new version of "Sin City" soon, given that the current DVD lacks a commentary and has almost no extra features at all - an 8 min interview featurette, no trailers, no t.v. spots, no behind-the-scenes documentaries. I'd give it until Christmas before they hit us up for another release. I ripped "City", made the layer break totally seamless with PGC Edit (cell type flag 9 for every cell), and stripped all the crap with VobBlanker. Now I have a disc that's better than the piece of shit they sold with the copyright warning that plays right before the movie.

If the studios want me to buy, I suggest they learn how to make DVDs with seamless layer breaks (seamless angle + seamless joint = cell flag type 09). The layer break on "Sin City" is REALLY annoying, right before Dwight shoves Jackie Boy's head in the toilet. My version has no layer break pause at all, on a dual layer Verbatim. Why should I buy inferior DVDs from the studio when I can do better work myself???

[netflix throttles best]

"People are making their own copies from rentals. Every other supposition is simply uninformed."

A nice theory, but you have no facts to back it up. I guarantee you most of those people with DVD burners don't even know how to rip a movie, strip it, blank it, shrink it, edit it, or burn dual layer media without making a coaster. I do, but it took a lot of time to figure it out. Also, most people use crap media like Memorex, Imation, or Khypermedia. You don't get good burns on that garbage. I use Taiyo Yuden (TYG/Yuden) and Mitsubishi (MCC/MKM) media codes. The rest is land-fill garbage. I also use good burners (Pioneer, Plextor, LG, BenQ, NEC). Others are likely to give crappy results. Stay away from junk drives like LiteOn, Sony, Memorex, etc.

" I guarantee you most of those people with DVD burners don't even know how to rip a movie,"

I gaurantee 99% do know how to do it because it is incredibly easy.

He gave some facts to "back it up." the fact that every pc ovr $400 sold in the past two years has a burner and the fact that massive quantities of blank disks are sold to consumers.

It took you long time to figure it out? you must be a little thick or over 30 years old.

it is EASIER to make a copy of a movie than it is to make one of a CD, something anyone who went to college in the past decade did a hundred times or more.

the fact that you are talking about "editing" stripping, blanking etc and dual media means you are no expert.

ripping disks is an unattended operation the average grandmother can do. dvd decrypter will rip 99.9% of films dvds out there. dvdfabdecrypter will do all others. both are free and all over th net. you push one button andwalk away.

in terms of recoding all the free software comes with presets that make it one step including burning as well. Indeed 90% of disks require nothing other than placing the original in the drive, having a blank handy and pressing "backup" on dvdshrink!

Do look around at various NON tech forums. ones frequented by soccer moms etc. everyone talks about this stuff and how to do it. wht amazes people is how EASY it is even for the n00bs.

if it is along movie peopel don;t bother with dual media which will never be less than 1/10 single layer. they just span the film across two disks and ditch the extras whihc are often not on rental disks anyway!

Also "most people" dont use "crap media." MCC is now the largest seller. Top quality Verbatim which are MCC disks are $0.30 now. Second quality disks like Taiyo Yuden are found everyday of the week for under $0.25 if you look at slick deals or fatwallet.

by the way you used an incredible inefficent n00bish work-around for sin city if you look on digital digest you will see you did not need to do any of that for a seemless break.

[netflix throttles best]

"the fact that every pc ovr $400 sold in the past two years has a burner and the fact that massive quantities of blank disks are sold to consumers."

That doesn't prove they are ripping movies, moron. There are lots of other uses for DVD burners and blank media. You can burn data DVDs with any modern operating system. That doesn't prove massive numbers of people are copying rentals. Try taking alogic class.

"It took you long time to figure it out? you must be a little thick or over 30 years old."

No, I just want good results and you don't get them by using one program with standard settings. YOu have to learn VobBlanker, PGC Edit, as well as Shrink and Decrypter.

"ripping disks is an unattended operation the average grandmother can do."

Yeah, and she ends up with a disc that still has annoying previews, copyright warnings, and other useless crap. If you want to make a GOOD copy, it takes more time and effort.

"don;t bother with dual media which will never be less than 1/10 single layer. they just span the film across two disks and ditch the extras whihc are often not on rental disks anyway!"

Spanning movies over multiple discs is the lame newbie solution for cheap-skates who can't afford $4 dual layer Verbatims. It's obvious you're a dumb newbie, to talk about splitting movies. Only newbies do that. If the movie itself will fit single layer, I'd do that. But I *NEVER* split movies. That's pathetic and laughable. Get a real job if you can't afford $4 for dual layer MKM-001.

"by the way you used an incredible inefficent n00bish work-around for sin city if you look on digital digest you will see you did not need to do any of that for a seemless break."

No, it wasn't inefficient or n00bish. Just rip the movie in file mode. Open PGC edit, change the cell type flags, remove any cell commands near the layer break, and save. I would love to hear you give a solution that is easier for burning an uncompressed copy. But n00bs like you would probably split it or shrink it. (You get crappy results too.)

[netflix throttles best]

"by the way you used an incredible inefficent n00bish work-around for sin city if you look on digital digest you will see you did not need to do any of that for a seemless break."

If you weren't such a dumb n00b, you'd know the ONLY way to have a truly seamless layer break on dual layer movies is to change the cell type flags to 9 or higher. (They are usually 0, 1, or 2, which causes a pause on many players.) Using 9 makes a layer change totally imperceptible, even if it comes in the middle of dialogue, music, and action.

Another example of bad layer break placing is "Tomorrow Never Dies: Special Edition". There's a 3-second gap after the helicopter explosion, before the shower scene. You can use PGC Edit to REMOVE Cell #40, unrefernce it, then back it up to single layer media with DVD Shrink Re-Author. If you just do a plain rip, the 3-second gap will be present in all your copies. But a dumb newbie like you probably wouldn't even care. Well, have fun with your bad copies, loser.

An expert on copying DVDs and very upset about 'throttling'.

Hmmmm....

"An expert on copying DVDs and very upset about throttling."

I watch most DVDs before returning them. I'm not like some who rip and send them back ten minutes later. Netflix SHOULD throttle folks who send back 3 or more DVDS the same day as they receive them. They're obviously copying or at least ripping to view later. But it is silly to suggest that most NFLX members are copying. Most movies aren't worth copying. A person eventually runs out of hard drive space, shelf space, and time. Our standards increase as our collection grow.

[netflix throttles best]

BTW, n00b, I got the idea for changing cell type flags by examining lots of dual layers. Only one DVD had a truly seamless break with WinDVD. "Solaris: Criterion Collection." All the cells were type 9, except the first one, which was type 3. I was trying to figure out how to make dual layer discs with no pause.

Some DVD players are seamless for cell type 0 layer breaks - as with "Wicker Park", for example. But WinDVD and some players still have a split-second pause on those DVDs. It became clear that cell type flags of 8 and higher were seamless. But I didn't know if cell flag 8 would work on dual layer media. So I used 9 to be sure (11 for the start of each new Vob ID).

Some movies have cell commands before layer change - like "Mulholland Drive" and "Chain Reaction." If you just change the flags, it will still have a split second pause because of the cell commands which tell it to pause. So you have to get rid of any cell commands near the layer break.

Some neat things you can do with PGC Edit: Remove cells from a PGC (unreference them), add or remove chapter stops on cell by cell basis, re-assign cells within a PGC... For Example: "Mulholland Drive" has no chapters, but the movie itself has 25 cells, plus 2 after the end credits. You can turn all of the cells into chapters and create a DVD that is easier to navigate, and better than the original. Plus, you have a true seamless layer break. Seamless angle (1) + Seamless Joint (8) = Cell Type Flag 9.

If you burn a dual layer disc, you might as well do it RIGHT. Blank out everything that you don't want, strip foreign language audio and subtitle streams, unreference cells from the movie you don't want (like layer gaps on some DVDs), add chapters cell by cell, etc. I like to have as many chapters as possible. "Tomorrow Never Dies" only has 29 chaps. But it has 50 cells (51 including the 3-second gap at the layer change, which I got rid of using PGC Edit). I'd rather have 50 chapters than 29. Lots of movies are like this. "Dr. No" has 33 chapters, 74 cells. "From Russia with Love" has 32 chapters, 74 cells.

Copies can be better than the original, if you get rid of annoyances, add more chapter stops, or make the movie play seamlessly. I have improved my DVD back-ups considerably by taking the time to learn VobBlanker, PGC Edit, Shrink, Decrypter, and AnyDVD INSIDE OUT. I never split movies and I rarely use compression. I tried compressing "Sin City" at around 75% for the movie and one audio, but the quality loss was dramatic for me. I have good eyes and high standards.

[Bodie]

I don't know about the above debate but I would say a lot of peopel backup their DVD's adn know it is extremely easy.

It is never more than a simple two step process to back up the dvd's. Free decryption programs like dvddecrypter automatically remove forced material like notices, manditory previews etc.

DVDshrink which is free, back up disks with one step. two steps if you want to remove previews or other unwanted materials so you have no quality loss.

I am not saying people should copy Netflix, but since it is so easy I would imagine most people are.

It is as easy as TIVO and most people probably think of the advantage of seeing something whenever they want same way.

[qed]

DVDshrink is free and will do everything with one click on almost every dvd. For those it has a problem with, one click with "dvddecrypter" or "dvdfabdecrypter" first solves the problem.

Anydvd is a "for pay" program and totally unneeded when dvdfabdecrypter or dvdecrypter will do the same for free.

The guy getting pauses with his dual layer disks ought to do some reading at sites like "videohelp.com" etc or get a better player because that is where his problem is.

It makes about five minutes how to learn how to backup disks perfectly. one can either recode with dvdshrink or dvdrebuilder, or split across two disks (which is what the smart people do so they will be able to burn to hd or blue ray when the time comes.)

[netflix throttles best]

"Free decryption programs like dvddecrypter automatically remove forced material like notices, manditory previews etc."

DVDD will remove PUOs on the disc, but the previews and copyright notices will still be there. Often right before the movie starts. And you can't always skip them. Some players force you to watch that crap even on ripped copies. Unless there is a Next PGCN command or a chapter stop after the forced content, you may have to watch it. It's also possible to design the DVD so menus aren't accessible even with PUOs off. Menus work RELATIVE to your current position on the DVD.

Rule #1 for High-quality DVD back-ups: They can't force you to watch something if it is not on the DVD.

I use VobBlanker to get rid of unwanted crap entirely. It usu. takes less than a minute, but it saves 5-15 minutes in the long run.

[netflix throttles best]

'The guy getting pauses with his dual layer disks ought to do some reading at sites like "videohelp.com" etc or get a better player because that is where his problem is....'

The pause is the normal layer break. There's nothing wrong with my player. The problem is with the original DVD cell flags. Studios do not use the proper flags to play seamlessly on all players. WinDVD has a split-second layer break on almost all dual layer DVDs, except those with cell type flag 09. Like "Solaris: Criterion Collection" or "Ninja Scroll: 10th Anniversary Special Edition."

It is not that common to find DVD player or software that has no layer break gap. Please don't lecture me about what to read. Either give a link or explain what you are talking about. I'm an expert with DVD Decrypter, DVD Shrink PGC Edit, VobBlanker, IFO Edit, DVD Fab Decrypter, and several other programs. I use the right tools for the job.

"It makes about five minutes how to learn how to backup disks perfectly."

Only if you ignore quality and ease of use. It takes me a couple extra minutes to do a professional job blanking unwanted garbage and correcting bad cell flags.

"one can either recode with dvdshrink or dvdrebuilder, or split across two disks (which is what the smart people do so they will be able to burn to hd or blue ray when the time comes.)"

Smart people would use dual layer media if decent quality can't be maintained. You can get Verbatim MKM-001's $4 a piece on sale. My standards are high. I noticed artifacts all over the place when I tried to back up "Sin City" at 75% with DVD Shrink and Deep Analysis and Adaptive Error Compensation. I can burn to hd-dvd or blu ray when the time comes. And it will look better than yours, if you compressed it. Also, you might have trouble joining those split movies down the line, since the programs you named can't do that... Best of luck, n00b.

[netflix throttles best]

"It is never more than a simple two step process to back up the dvd's."

Tell me the two steps to back up "Tomorrow Never Dies: Special Edition" WITHOUT that annoying 3-second gap (Cell #40) which you can't remove with Shrink??? Blanking it in VobBlanker isn't a good solution, because there will still be a split-second pause in the middle of the helicopter explosion. The only elegant solution is to REMOVE the cell with PGC Edit. But i bet you don't know how to use it, n00b that you are... Oh, well. I happen to not like 3-second gaps of silence caused that cut off the movie.

"American Beauty" also has a layer break gap like TND. It's not quite as bad, because the movie has a fade-out at that point any way. Still, I would rather see the movie as it's supposed to be, with no layer break pause or gap. Sometimes, you have to remove cells or change flags to have it play seamlessly on ALL players and software.

OK:
One guy who thinks backing up dvd's involves making his own edited version of the disk with hours of work.
Everyone else who seems to be able to do it easily with a couple of realy simple steps.

[netflix throttles best]

"One guy who thinks backing up dvd's involves making his own edited version of the disk with hours of work."

It's not hours of work. Try 1 or 2 minutes. It's obvious you don't even know what I am talking about if you think it takes "hours of work." The time is well worth it if you add value and end up with a better version than the original. "Mulholland Drive" with chapter stops, "Tomorrow Never Dies" minus the 3-second blank cell at the layer break, and movies with annoyances totally removed (not just converted to still pics or images which is all Shrink can do).

"Everyone else who seems to be able to do it easily with a couple of realy simple steps."

And they end up with bad copies very often. I'm a perfectionist. I rarely compress DVDs to back them up. If the movie won't fit by itself, I use dual layer media. Unlikee the rest of you, I have $4 to spare for MKM-001 on sale. The price will soon drop to $2 and then $1, but you'll still be splitting your movies over multiple discs. Sorry, but that is lame IMHO. I've never split a disc and I don't plan on starting any time soon. But I want perfection at $4 a pop for blanks.