Film Now Introducing HBO Max Classic

[MadVillainy]

Because putting the disc on a device is inconvenient as hell for some of us? Too much work. I prefer the ease of just using my remote to get to the movie.

Same reason I went all digital with my video games. No more discs.

Which is why I said "To each their own"

 

[MadVillainy]

The bigger issue is the movies that aren't even getting physical releases, at all. CODA, the most mainstream, broadly accessable BP winner in years, is going to only be available to people paying an Apple TV. That's freaking terrible.

Yeah that's bad.

Talking about consumers getting choices, it ridiculous that some movies don't even get a widespread digital VOD release. Using your CODA example, you can't even buy or rent CODA on Amazon, YouTube, Vudu, etc. I don't even think you can rent on iTunes but I can't verify. You have to have AppleTV+. And yeah that's just terrible.

The not getting a physical release thing is really bad too, but the lack of even VOD options is very sucky to me

I think it's less to do with cost and more they just want to keep you subscribed. There's no reason a physical release of any of the Marvel and Star Wars shows on Disney+ haven't been released either (they would sell really well), other than making people pay month to month to see them exclusively.

Yeah that's what I've always assumed too.

From a business perspective, I get it. Getting people to pay $7.99 a month is better than people paying $25 and being able to watch as many times they want when they want.

 

[Prison Mike]

Wow didn’t know that Coda wasn’t available for VOD.

Also what do you guys mean that it’s the “most mainstream” movie?

 

[Asr]

Streaming is great but the fact that we dont truly own the digital copies or movies can be removed whenever....I loathe. But moving is to annoying when it comes to physical media so...partially why I have become picky about what and when I buy it.

Yeah it's flippin' annoying having so many movies jump streaming services every month it seems - I've been checking the "leaving HBO Max / Hulu" lists every month for about a year now and it's constantly annoying having movies jump around. But with how often some movies come back to a certain streaming service (HBO Max seems to have a lot of movies that leave and then come back later), I'm hoping to be able to just catch the ones I want at some point in the future, rather than buying on them on disc.

I'm also the same way, used to buy physical media a lot more but over the past few years I've only bought movies that I really like and expect to rewatch from time to time. I also now buy only BD or 4K/BD combo sets for the upgraded visuals/sound, and will now only buy a DVD for an older movie if it isn't freely available on a streaming service.

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[Black Narcissus]

I cut down my bluray/dvd buying by 90%. There is a few exceptions tho! Some old classic flicks are still not available for streaming. I recently bought the bluray of 'Possession', which aint available for streaming. Some criterions. Oddly enough, my record player collection has gone up. heh.

 

[Drizzle]

I wonder if that's from people like me who just stream a show that they've seen before as background noise. I've done the same thing with The Simpsons on Disney+ and The Office when it was on Netflix.

 

[Lily Adler]

I wonder if that's from people like me who just stream a show that they've seen before as background noise. I've done the same thing with The Simpsons on Disney+ and The Office when it was on Netflix.

The main reason I have Peacock and Pluto.

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[CaptainWagner]

Also what do you guys mean that it’s the “most mainstream” movie?

CODA is a pretty straight-forward, heart-warming family dramedy. A simple story, basic sense of style, no real challenging themes - extremely accessible to even the most distracted viewer. It's the type of picture that Disney used to mass produce before pivoting almost wholly to animation and blockbusters. Ten years ago, it probably would have been a Disney movie. But the big studios don't make films like that anymore, so it falls to Apple, which was able to bankroll an awards campaign.

And yeah, I don't buy a ton of physical media, but that's mostly because I'm broke. The last thing I want is my favorite movies to be accessible on the whim of the exponentially growing field of streamers. (Streaming is basically turning into New Cable at this point) And with industry trends forcing more and more prestige pictures onto streamers, they're only going to make the craft more and more insular. Because where CODA has the makings of a populist movie that "everybody sees," it's now a niche product likely to have a very short window of cultural relevancy.

 

[MadVillainy]

I wonder if that's from people like me who just stream a show that they've seen before as background noise. I've done the same thing with The Simpsons on Disney+ and The Office when it was on Netflix.

Yeah those comfort shows/background shows.

American Dad is my main one. Must've technically seen every episode like 10 times. Paying attention though? Probably less

 

[I Am The Knight]

I use YouTube podcasts for background noise.

Or B89.

 

[I Am The Knight]

I personally do not understand buying a movie and then just watching the digital copy. I get maybe for shows because you don't have to swap out discs. But the digital copy quality is worse than even the Blu Ray quality. At least for every digital copy I've seen. Even semi recently with TENET. Bought the 4k Blu Ray and the digital copy looks worse than both the Blu Ray and 4k Blu Ray. And I'm not even one of those "I need to be able to see every pixel and pore" die hards.
If I'm gonna pay $30 for something I want my money's (best picture quality) worth.

But to each their own

Rude

 

[Blade Hoarder]

HBO max needs to up its picture quality. It’s terrible compared to its peers. Dune in HBO Max and Dune in Apple TV is like night and day.

 

[Lily Adler]

Merge Away, Warner Bros. Discovery. Just Don't Charge Us More for HBO Max

 

[Gee]

I personally do not understand buying a movie and then just watching the digital copy. I get maybe for shows because you don't have to swap out discs. But the digital copy quality is worse than even the Blu Ray quality. At least for every digital copy I've seen. Even semi recently with TENET. Bought the 4k Blu Ray and the digital copy looks worse than both the Blu Ray and 4k Blu Ray. And I'm not even one of those "I need to be able to see every pixel and pore" die hards.
If I'm gonna pay $30 for something I want my money's (best picture quality) worth.

But to each their own

The digital version that comes with the BR disc is made available for "portable use" so it's heavily compressed. It's not meant to be watched for high video/audio quality. A Blu-ray movie, when ripped, can be around 20-25 GB if it's a single-layer disc. Studios will obviously not give the option to download the digital copies at such size.

Personally, I make my own digital copies by ripping my favourite BR movies to MKV files (8-12 GB depending on movie length). The audio is untouched so I get to hear all that DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD goodness, but the video is slightly compressed yet barely noticeable.

I do the same with my music, but since it's lossless compression (FLAC) there is no loss of quality.

 

[flickchick85]

I personally do not understand buying a movie and then just watching the digital copy. I get maybe for shows because you don't have to swap out discs. But the digital copy quality is worse than even the Blu Ray quality. At least for every digital copy I've seen. Even semi recently with TENET. Bought the 4k Blu Ray and the digital copy looks worse than both the Blu Ray and 4k Blu Ray. And I'm not even one of those "I need to be able to see every pixel and pore" die hards.
If I'm gonna pay $30 for something I want my money's (best picture quality) worth.

But to each their own

Most 4K's I've bought in recent times came with digital copies that are also in 4K. Maybe it depends on where you redeem it and possibly how good your internet is (I know they automatically downgrade quality first to avoid buffering), but they look great on Vudu in my experience. I'm currently watching my NWH digital copy on my dad's 80-inch TV and sure looks convincingly like 4K to me.

 

[Ninjablade]

Most 4K's I've bought in recent times came with digital copies that are also in 4K. Maybe it depends on where you redeem it and possibly how good your internet is (I know they automatically downgrade quality first to avoid buffering), but they look great on Vudu in my experience. I'm currently watching my NWH digital copy on my dad's 80-inch TV and sure looks convincingly like 4K to me.

As someone who does this as well and is super particular about video quality due to work, I can easily tell that a lot of digital copies are most certainly 4k quality. Some devices can't properly project it and/or are unable to because of weird copyright laws depending on the service being used. I know my MacBook can't view the 4K copies on Vudu, but it can through Prime.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

Isn’t streaming 4K closer to Blu-Ray 1080p in terms of quality?

 

[Prison Mike]

The Batman is now on HBO Max

 

[BeserkerHilf]

Going to watch it on HBO Max, but of course it's up on...sites...so I had a peak at the uncompressed preview screenshots of the UHD copy. I'm sure they were being facetious including this one, but I had a laugh at this actual frame from the movie:

Hoping to make it a night of it with my wife this week, but three hours of cinematography this dark and drab is going to be difficult after a day with two year old and a newborn.

 

[NotNickFury]

Isn’t streaming 4K closer to Blu-Ray 1080p in terms of quality?

That sounds about right. Are we at the point of digital copies of films looking like 4K quality? They still look good, yeah, but 4K good? Dunno if we're there yet.

 

[mclay18]

I bought the NWH combo because I get three copies of the movie for one price. I can stream it on Movies Anywhere or watch the DVD or Blu on a nice home theater system. Or if the internet is out, I can still watch the movie whenever I want.

That’s the big negative about relying on streaming for watching your favorite movies or TV shows. If the internet is out or it leaves one streaming service, you’re SOL.

 

[Prison Mike]

Yeah but how many times does that actually happen though? Where the internet goes out the same time you want to watch a movie? I have like 3 different formats of the Star Wars OT but I always find myself going over to Disney+ if I ever want to watch the movies.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Yeah but how many times does that actually happen though? Where the internet goes out the same time you want to watch a movie? I have like 3 different formats of the Star Wars OT but I always find myself going over to Disney+ if I ever want to watch the movies.

Until they take it away, or it changes hand, or they charge you extra to watch them etc.

Nobody is coming into your house and taking it away from you or telling you how you can watch it.