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Answerman - Is It Safe To Replace My Discs With Streaming?


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Mewmaster300



Joined: 04 Dec 2018
Posts: 9
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 1:57 am Reply with quote
Heishi wrote:
Some of my favorite anime (Karas, Kannazuki no Miko, Casshern Sins) either

A. Don't have Blu Ray releases.

B. Don't even have subbed versions(KnM comes to mind).

C. Aren't being streamed at all. (Karas comes to mind).

So that's why I don't like to pirate but frankly, I have no other choice in the matter.
I wanna watch the anime I love but its hard to do it, given the limited options.
Either its the DVDs or streaming. But I want more options and I want some of these shows to get BD releases but they haven't and it really pisses me off.


Part of the problem with some shows getting the bluray treatment is that they were made in the '00s and have some really low quality 3d effects. In order to "remaster" the show they'd have to basically do the whole thing all over again. I'm sure that's why Karas and KnM haven't been released on bluray. As for shows not being subbed, that's changing slowly but surely. The worst part is... fighting misinformation... (KnM was brought over by GeneonUSA years ago. It's currently sold by Sentai Filmworks as "Destiny of the Shrine Maiden".)

Kannazuki no Miko DVD - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002CWKTQY/
Karas DVD - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UYX4RM
Casshern Sins Bluray - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050UEVO6
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Zof





PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 4:55 am Reply with quote
I have this awesome physical media called a Hard Drive. It's made out of metal instead of plastic like my DVD's. Also, I can read... AND write to that physical media. So it's like a DVD but ten times better. What I do is, since it's a superior physical media (I think it's because it uses electricity somehow. I see wires going into it that my DVD's do not have) I can make a full copy of it easily every day onto an identical Hard Drive. So I'll never lose my collection. And if by some terrible twist of fate I lost both, I'd begrudgingly have to pull it down from Glacier.

But yeah, having 500 pounds of plastic is great too I guess.
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Just Passing Through



Joined: 04 Apr 2011
Posts: 276
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:10 am Reply with quote
Zof wrote:
I have this awesome physical media called a Hard Drive.


Pressed optical media doesn't get wiped by a high altitude EMP. I guess you don't have Terror in Resonance on your Hard Drive.
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TheTheory



Joined: 23 Mar 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: Central PA
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:25 am Reply with quote
I've been going hard in on digital over the last five years with books, music, and movies/tv. I worry a bit about licensing issues--even though I'm "purchasing" them, I'm well aware that a digital purchase comes with a whole slew of issues that are not present with a physical purchase.

I'm not surprised at the brashly pro-physical arguments that dominate this thread. I am, however, surprised by the sentiment that there's no danger with physical and that it's yours forever and ever. You can lose discs, you can scratch discs, and even if you're one of those people who take perfect care of your physical media, discs will degrade over time. Maybe you will be able to play your Geneon-released Haibane Renmei DVD boxset in 2040, but maybe not.

And while people make a good point that you need Internet access to stream a title, whereas you can watch a Blu-ray without, there are portability/access problems with physical, too. If you want to watch stuff while travelling, physical requires both bringing a disc and having a way to play it. I do not miss having to lug my CD Wallet around stuffed with discs, nor lugging that wallet around and realizing mid-vacation that I want to be watching/listening to stuff I didn't bring.

I will say, since I've been speaking broadly, that digital anime purchases makes me more nervous than anything else I do digitally. A part of that is because anime licenses in general are sticky business, more volatile, and partly because the US companies that license anime are just volatile in general. Besides, I find little incentive to purchase digital anime. It's expensive. Companies are inconsistent in making anime available on iTunes/Amazon/Vudu, and if they do, you often can't pick between sub/dub (bought Cowboy Bebop a month or two back on Vudu because it was on sale; only dub was available and I'm a sub guy). If both sub/dub are available for a title, you have to pick which you want before you purchase it. Right now the annoyances of buying digital anime are outweighing any conveniences, so I only do it when they go on a significant sale.
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Peter Hunt



Joined: 20 Feb 2011
Posts: 85
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:48 am Reply with quote
When I first started collecting anime, I lived at home and had a mostly disposable income.

Suffice to say, I went a bit nuts.

Now, some 800+ titles later, living by myself and having most of what I want (excluding out-of-print and new releases that I haven't gotten around to buying yet), my purchasing has slowed down and I'm more often than not waiting for sales and promotions before buying these days. That said, I'll still lash out every now and again (buying the LD Evangelion series and films, 4K your name. and those beautiful Japanese Studio Ghibli blu-ray releases a few years back) and each sale purchase includes several anime series, not just one or two.

I don't stream, because I torrent a lot of new stuff and things you simply cannot find anywhere physically, streamed, or in official English sub/dub. I know it's not very supportive, but I repent a little by buying anything I've torrented as physical copies if they get a release later on.
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Violynne



Joined: 09 May 2014
Posts: 128
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:57 am Reply with quote
Psycho 101 wrote:
And re-releasing this year just in time for Christmas....the original PS1. So yea, turns out a lot of people do just that. Wink

Perhaps you should read the comments of people who are raising an eyebrow at the game list assigned to this nostalgia-focused release. Not many are happy with it.

While Sony can't please everyone, even I'm at a loss at the titles. Most of the games in the list didn't come any where near the popularity of other titles, including the very exclusives Sony had.

This is purely a cash grab, so of course it will sell.

But this also enforces my original statement: people will find value in older things because they can still enjoy them today, making those games worthy of a purchase.

The rest of the games? Nope, and most wouldn't even touch the titles even if they owned them all.

The PS2 library is one of the most robust in gaming history. Thousands of titles released.

Yet, people only fondly remember a handful.

Yes, friends, anime is just like video games. Wink
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Zof





PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 8:08 am Reply with quote
Violynne wrote:
Psycho 101 wrote:
And re-releasing this year just in time for Christmas....the original PS1. So yea, turns out a lot of people do just that. Wink

Perhaps you should read the comments of people who are raising an eyebrow at the game list assigned to this nostalgia-focused release. Not many are happy with it.

While Sony can't please everyone, even I'm at a loss at the titles. Most of the games in the list didn't come any where near the popularity of other titles, including the very exclusives Sony had.

This is purely a cash grab, so of course it will sell.

But this also enforces my original statement: people will find value in older things because they can still enjoy them today, making those games worthy of a purchase.

The rest of the games? Nope, and most wouldn't even touch the titles even if they owned them all.

The PS2 library is one of the most robust in gaming history. Thousands of titles released.

Yet, people only fondly remember a handful.

Yes, friends, anime is just like video games. Wink


Might care about a PS2 classic. Especially the racing titles. I'd also love to see them do something like a PSP RPG Classic at some point. Like, some PSP Go style device that features the seeming gabillion amazing RPG's for psp.
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Shiflan



Joined: 29 Jul 2015
Posts: 418
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 8:12 am Reply with quote
Zof wrote:
I have this awesome physical media called a Hard Drive. It's made out of metal instead of plastic like my DVD's. Also, I can read... AND write to that physical media. So it's like a DVD but ten times better. What I do is, since it's a superior physical media (I think it's because it uses electricity somehow. I see wires going into it that my DVD's do not have) I can make a full copy of it easily every day onto an identical Hard Drive. So I'll never lose my collection. And if by some terrible twist of fate I lost both, I'd begrudgingly have to pull it down from Glacier.

But yeah, having 500 pounds of plastic is great too I guess.


You're right that hard drives are more compact and portable than physical media is, but that's about the only advantage. Hard drives are far more fragile than physical media. They are subject to damange from physical shock, malware, static electricity, magnetic fields, or just plain old mechancial wear. There is a reason why optical disks and even tape (yes, tape!) is preferred as an archival medium. And if you have so many eggs in one (fragile) basket, it can be a big deal when that device fails.

I hope you really are making those daily backups! I'd get tired of that very fast.
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Zof





PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 8:18 am Reply with quote
Shiflan wrote:
Zof wrote:
I have this awesome physical media called a Hard Drive. It's made out of metal instead of plastic like my DVD's. Also, I can read... AND write to that physical media. So it's like a DVD but ten times better. What I do is, since it's a superior physical media (I think it's because it uses electricity somehow. I see wires going into it that my DVD's do not have) I can make a full copy of it easily every day onto an identical Hard Drive. So I'll never lose my collection. And if by some terrible twist of fate I lost both, I'd begrudgingly have to pull it down from Glacier.

But yeah, having 500 pounds of plastic is great too I guess.


You're right that hard drives are more compact and portable than physical media is, but that's about the only advantage. Hard drives are far more fragile than physical media. They are subject to damange from physical shock, malware, static electricity, magnetic fields, or just plain old mechancial wear. There is a reason why optical disks and even tape (yes, tape!) is preferred as an archival medium. And if you have so many eggs in one (fragile) basket, it can be a big deal when that device fails.

I hope you really are making those daily backups! I'd get tired of that very fast.



Tired?

0 3 * * * /root/bin/clonemedia.sh

It just sorta happens at 3am including Glacier diffs. I even have a script that calculates the cost to do an immediately Glacier retrieval and will do it for me. I'm kind of an AWS dork.
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Shiflan



Joined: 29 Jul 2015
Posts: 418
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 8:24 am Reply with quote
TheTheory wrote:

I'm not surprised at the brashly pro-physical arguments that dominate this thread. I am, however, surprised by the sentiment that there's no danger with physical and that it's yours forever and ever. You can lose discs, you can scratch discs, and even if you're one of those people who take perfect care of your physical media, discs will degrade over time. Maybe you will be able to play your Geneon-released Haibane Renmei DVD boxset in 2040, but maybe not.


I don't think that anybody pretends that physical media has zero danger of being lost. Rather it's that digital (in its current incarnation) simply has more possible ways that might happen, including the incredibly frustrating issue we've already mentioned when titles suddenly disappear from streaming sites when licenses expire, companies don't get along, etc. I never have to worry about a DVD or BD magically disappearing from my shelf because two of the rights holders had a legal spat as can happen with paid digital downloads. Likewise, physical media doesn't disappear whenever a license expires.

Quote:
And while people make a good point that you need Internet access to stream a title, whereas you can watch a Blu-ray without, there are portability/access problems with physical, too. If you want to watch stuff while travelling, physical requires both bringing a disc and having a way to play it. I do not miss having to lug my CD Wallet around stuffed with discs, nor lugging that wallet around and realizing mid-vacation that I want to be watching/listening to stuff I didn't bring.


Absolutely. Portability may be anything from a non-issue to a huge issue depending on the person. I very rarely take my anime anywhere so portability doesn't matter at all for me. It's not even a factor in my case--when I'm on a business trip I don't have time for anime or movies--I am either working, preparing for work, or meeting with clients. When I'm on vacation I don't want to watch anime like I do at home; the point of a vacation is to get away--I want to enjoy the sights of wherever it is that I am visiting, not sit in front of a screen. OTOH if you travel a great deal and you want to bring your anime with you then it might be a great benefit, but understand that's not the same for everyone.


Last edited by Shiflan on Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:28 am; edited 1 time in total
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Shiflan



Joined: 29 Jul 2015
Posts: 418
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:22 am Reply with quote
Zof wrote:

Tired?

0 3 * * * /root/bin/clonemedia.sh


Yeah, tired. Online backups of a big video library aren't an option for many people. I live in a rural area, my internet speed is barely 1 mb/s. That's on a good day.

It does sound like we're on the same page though. Whether it be a hard drive or an optical disk, just about anything beats relying on streaming sites only like the question asked.
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jrockfreak



Joined: 06 Sep 2013
Posts: 125
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:34 am Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
I love buying anime on disc (mostly Blu-rays). I do not buy them to simply have access to the content; they are a symbol of my fandom. I watch 50+ anime shows each year, and I usually buy 10 of those shows on disc because I like them enough to rewatch them multiple times. Perhaps it is silly, but I love to look at my shelves and see physical copies of my favorite anime.


Im the exact same way, Most of the box sets that I own i haven't gone back to watch but thats not why I bought them, i got them because they were a favorite series of mine and I wanted to have it as a reminder
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BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber



Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3017
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 10:03 am Reply with quote
Zof wrote:
I have this awesome physical media called a Hard Drive.


It's a decent option, except very few shows are legally available in downloadable form these days, because companies have decided that people would rather pay a subscription fee than a one-time download fee for shows.
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Ouran High School Dropout



Joined: 28 Jun 2015
Posts: 440
Location: Somewhere in Massachusetts, USA
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 10:07 am Reply with quote
Old-time collector here. (And I do mean old...VHS, anyone? Cool )

For me, the math is simple: Streaming = temporary by definition

Yes, collecting is expensive, and has its own issues (read: shelf space Rolling Eyes ), but there's nothing like being able to enjoy an old favorite years after its [legal] internet presence has vanished completely--or one that never had an internet presence at all, past, present, or future. Then there's the experience of having friends and family over for screenings, knowing you (usually) have the best audio and video available. Other than anime, home theater is my one indulgence, and I want to make the most of it.

That said, even I can see that streaming serves a vital and desperate need. For those wanting the latest and greatest (and getting it soonest! Smile ), there's no substitute. For those who want to sample a lot of recent shows to find the handful they'll follow that season, there's no better option. As a fan, not a collector, I'm just happy that there are so many legal options these days.
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Shiflan



Joined: 29 Jul 2015
Posts: 418
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 10:12 am Reply with quote
Takizawa-Shinzou wrote:
Quote:
Blu-rays are better quality than streaming, it's true, but to be honest, with a lot of anime it's hard to tell the difference. Most digitally made anime (which is to say, pretty much everything made in the last 17 years) compresses really well.


No. This is FACTUALLY untrue. The differences are extremely easy to see if you have decent eyes at all. Streaming quality IS BAD. Even on the major players like Crunchyroll and Netflix, their bitrates are way too low for 1080p h264. HIDIVE is even worse, using even just a 1/3rd of what CR/Netflix use for the same resolution. Their compression artifacts are hard NOT to notice. Extremely distracting, in fact, in high-motion action scenes. I remember watching KonoSuba on CR and every time Megumin did "Explosion" I wanted to cry at how much the screen was pixelated. And no, it's not my 1Gig internet connection.


Agreed. And if your internet connection is not top-tier the quality is much worse. My net connection sucks, and when I go to stream I have to deal with VHS-tier resolution, horrible pixellation, and lots of pauses while the show buffers.


Quote:
Saying "Most digitally made anime .... compresses really well" makes no sense. The quality of a compression has nothing to do with the anime itself, but rather the encoder and the settings used to compress it.


I think he/she might have been colluding two seperate factors.
Anime does tend to compress to a fairly small bitrate compared to real-life video. That's because the large areas of uniform color take less data to store in a compressed format.

But on the other hand, the quality loss from compression tends to be very visible with anime. Those same large areas of uniform color make it very easy to see artifacts and macroblocking. The clean lines of animation often turn jaggy, etc. Streaming now has the same problem as the early days of DVD had: the compression algorithms are optimized for real-life video that was filmed with a camera, where variations in the scene tend to hide the compression artifacts. Use those same algorithms with animation or digital graphics (e.g. a business presentation) and it doesn't look anywhere near as good.
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