Comments on: Survey: Consumers prefer DVDs to downloads

Despite trend toward digital downloads, U.S. consumers still prefer to watch favorite TV shows and movies on DVD, says market researcher NPD.

[SactoGuy018]

This does not surprise me. The problem with downloading movies is that you have to tie up your broadband connection for long periods of time, especially if you're talking a movie that can run into several gigabytes in size (that's unless you have really fast broadband such as Verizon FIOS).

Until the USA has far more network capacity and switches to IPv6 addressing, they'd rather rent movies on DVD and/or Blu-ray formats.

[ferricoxide]

It's less a question of speeds than caps. With most bit torrent clients, you can set up bandwidth-limiting parameters within the client. So, you don't *have* to completely chew up your line.

If it weren't for caps, you could queue up a bunch of movies for download, and start watching them as their downloads finish. Really, it's not conceptually different than NetFlix - and that's gotten to be a very popular rental method.

[umbrae]

With Netflix my connection is still usable and the movie is instantly available. I also have a really slow connection and get a mid-quality setting. Honestly, online watching is seamless if it is don't right. Now if you are using Bittorrent then what you say might be true.

[Mergatroid Mania]

I have no problem with a cap, but with the bandwidth on my cable modem connection. I could download as many movies as I want, but I'm not waiting hours to download gigabytes worth of HD audio and video.

I could care less about using up all my bandwidth, it's the time involved in the download that sucks. For ALL my other needs, my bandwidth is fine. I often have four computers playing on-line games at the same time (WOW and Guildwars mostly), so I'm not going to pay for more bandwidth just so I can download movies.

Also, as you can see 63% of the money spent is on DVD/Blu-ray purchases. This shows people still prefer buying movies over renting (or at least don't mind the higher cost of a purchase when they want to). Personally, I like looking through my movie list, going to my 500 strong collection and picking out a movie, firing up the flatscreen and the blu-ray player and watching the movie I'v picked out NOW, not in an hour or more. Plus, I visit my local big box store every Tuesday and check out anything new I might want to purchase. If the Blue-ray is $25 or less for something I like, I'll buy it. Otherwise I get the DVD.
Even if my cable was faster, I still wouldn't down-load movies for rent since I'm not confortable giving out a credit card number over the net. Besides, I don't want to rent, I want to purchase. 63% of money spent agrees.

[gerrrg]

Capacity isn't an issue. Light is light, is light, and that light can be subdivided into nearly unlimited bandwidths. Over time, technology improves, allowing us to subdivide and increase the usable bandwidths of light, further increasing capacity over a single fiber. All the while, costs per gigabyte drop.

And downloading HD movies is somewhat of a red herring, seeing as you can stream it right now.

[johnbayne2]

I don't think the IPv6 issue is relevant here. There will be no difference in video quality over IPv4 or IPv6.

-John
www.ipv4depletion.com

[FellowConspirator]

Not surprising. Most people have a bigger screen and better speakers for the TV than they do the computer. You can't download to the TV, so you either need to hook up a dedicated computer (costly and tedious), or figure a way to get from computer to TV (also tedious). DRM, format, and download issues complicate things even more, and then there's the issue of bandwidth...

A DVD is still far superior, if only because it's less time consuming and more convenient (once the disk is in hand).

[ghaff]

Depends. if you have a TiVo for example, downloading Amazon movies is pretty straightforward. Having said that, aside from using Netflix Watch Instantly and downloading the occasional TV episode that I missed and isn't available for free, I rarely download. In no small part, this is because I'm already paying for a Netflix subscription and there just aren't that many movies that I get the urge to watch RIGHT NOW.

[BigGuns149]

If not for HDCP issues I would say that this is a bit of red herring. Provided one has the proper video card chipset and a TV that supports HDCP this isn't much of an issue because as far as the computer is concerned your TV is no different than any other monitor.

I think a bigger issue is that depending upon the bitrate of the content some online content just doesn't look very sharp on a large TV whereas a standard DVD often looks fine with a little bit of upconverting.

[bradenisme]

it would be better if digital movies didn't have copy protection.

[Seaspray0]

You mean easier to break the law by making copies. Copy protection does not change the quality of the picture, so in that respect it is the same.

[Mergatroid Mania]

No, he means easier to move his legal and valid purchase where he wants it to be. Easier to back up that downloaded file to a DVD so he has it permanently, as the fair use laws say he has this right, he should be able to exercise it.

[ballmerisanape]

The title of this article is a bit off.... This survey does not at all say that people prefer DVDs to digital downloads.. it just states the obvious... That more people use.. and feel comfortable with a technology that has been around for a while (15 years or so??). Of those interviewed, only a small % have made the jump toward other options. That % has parallel an slight increase in options for consumers regarding digital downloads.

People don't care what the media is.. they just want it to work.... and they want it to be cheap.

[HlLLARY CLITON]

if the USA had the higher speed broadband that Japan or other countries enjoy downloading movies would be quicker and probably have more appeal

[Regulator7]

This survey just proves that 91% of those asked stick to the tried-and-true method of going down to the local video store for a DVD. People don't like change, and the experience of renting a DVD is now ingrained enough that it's what people want to do.

But the commenters ought to get their facts straight. Of course you can "download to a TV". We 'download to a TV' with an AppleTV. For *renting* movies, we ust love it. We haven't even bothered to go to the video store since we got it . We rent both SD and HD stuff. It works beautifully with our 'slow' 3mb DSL connection. SD are as good as DVD - at least on our 61" HDTV. And they're buffered enough to watch in 30 seconds. SECONDS, not minutes. HD movies are almost as good as BluRay (via PS/3), though those do take about an hour to buffer. Still faster than going out to the video store, by the time you factor in the hassle of driving there, searching for a movie, finding a DVD/BR that's not scratched to hell, then driving back home. Then going back the next day to return it. How quaint. Good for you if you live next door to a Blockbuster. But many folks don't.

Now for buying movies, that's different. People want that physical disc that they know they won't lose just because of a fried hard drive. Until BR burners become cheap and common with an easy way to make a backup/playable disc of online purchases, movie downloads won't catch on.

[umbrae]

Just to mention BR burners are available for a lot cheaper than BR players. I found a lite-on on for $125. More than a DVD burner, but pretty cheap. The cost is in the discs. A single BR disc is about $9, and I have not seen them in spindles.

[billbasler]

Absolutely! The reason I buy physical is I can't burn the download and I already have over 1TB of movies and TV stored on disk. I don't want a server farm just to keep copies of occasional use media. When I can burn my purchase to removable media, I'll always buy the media via download.

[skillingssucks]

And they will continue to be more popular as long as Hollywood insists on their ridiculous 24-hour rule when it comes to any on-demand type movies. Why should I download a movie to my DVR and only have 24 hours to complete it once I start, when I can rent a DVD from Blockbuster and keep it for 2 weeks? Clueless wonders.

[ghaff]

This 24-hour "standard" for rentals in really annoying. Even something like 72 hours would be a huge improvement. The problem is that if you start watching and get interrupted you pretty much have to finish it the same night.

[jwestburg]

I threw an old computer with a DVI to HDMI adapter behind my plasma, and we just watch whatever we want in a maximized web player. (no tuner, cable box, dvr, etc)
Between Hulu, Netflix, and google searches, I'm set.

I'm not sure whats so hard about that - anyone with have a brain and an ounce of energy should be able to hook it up. Though perhaps if you're a couch potato, you have neither :P

[freemarket--2008]

Maybe not everyone has an 'old computer' around that is capabale. Or maybe they don't want to hear it constantly in the background while watching TV.

This 'old computer' will also need a high-speed internet connection, wireless or otherwise, as well, so not necessarily all that simple.

You do yourself no favor by being condescending and insulting.

[preit]

Obviously anyone with "have" a brain can hook it up :)

[BigGuns149]

Netflix uses HDCP if the video card supports it, which causes an issue if the monitor isn't HDCP compliant as well. While I like Netflix's online content I must admit that there are a lot of people with TVs that are only a couple of years old that they can't use because their newer computer is outputting an encrypted signal.

When you replace your old computer you are going to find out that unless your plasma set has HDCP support you won't be able to use Netflix anymore with that TV.

[Tedders85]

@preit - oh snap....

[umbrae]

I really don't think this survey was done correctly. If you are talking pay-per-download like Blockbuster or Pay-Per-View then I can see it. You can buy a DVD for $10 or less for older movies and a download will cost about 1/2 that. I would much rather OWN a DVD for that price than watch it once. However, I would much rather watch the movie for free over Netflix or any other month service. Problem is that most "new" movies are locked out of PPV or Netflix by studios, so its not so much a format decision as an "availability" one.

[pwoon]

I used to be an avid DVD renter from Blockbuster. Now ever since I got HD from DirecTV and an HD DVR, I find that pay per view is the way to go. Just simply record it on the DVR in case you can't watch it right away.

[macksumum]

it will take at least 20 or more years before DVD's are replaced.the incredible greed from the internet sevice providers won't let that many people get enough bandwith to really take full advantage of online downloads.playing DVD's is easy you just buy and play, unlike downloading where you have to create an account, log-on,put in passwords, put in credit card numbers and wait until your movie downloads.

[DVSD91]

You needed to do research on this???? Yeah I like to have something forever. If I download something and my PC crashes them what? Backup so now I have 500GB of music in two places? Now ISP wants me to pay per useage? And it is the same price???

[joerickx]

I agree that it is totally a question of content available to be downloaded. With very few exceptions, the selection of films for download on Amazon and Netflix are the same one's you'll find in the discount/reject bin at your local supermarket. Until that situation improves, most people will be forced to rely on DVDs.

[fubar4fun]

But behind the scenes to all this. What you are not seeing is the MPIAA probably manipulating the data to skew it against downloading and thusly keeping internet delivery of their properties illegal. This is not a test of whether or not consumers have a preference. This is a test to see if the industry gets their way or has to comply.

That being said, it really will not matter if the economic mayhem continues and ISPs start ramping prices for less service and caps in response to the usage of downloadable media. Expect your monthly rates for a 2Mb connection to hit $80-$100 just so you can download 3-4 movies a month. And then a fee for every megabyte beyond that size from 25 cents to a dollar. If you doubt me

The internet is business my friends, not a right nor a freedom. To use it for entertainment, you have to pay the piper.

[freemarket--2008]

"Expect your monthly rates for a 2Mb connection to hit $80-$100 just so you can download 3-4 movies a month."

I hope so. Maybe with a big enough public backlash we can drop these cable franchises and get some real competition in place.

I would have no issue with downloaded content over DVD and would prefer it if it was DRM free or of there was one standard provider of the DRM so I could always re-download if needed without paying again.

[mrcheck1]

TiVo does it for me. Buy it on the computer and send it to the TiVo. I can buy or rent from Amazon and they're ready to watch in a minute or two (they buffer faster than they play). I've even grabbed some in HD. I can also watch whatever Netflix has available but that's a lot more limited. Amazon has been pretty good lately about having new releases ready for download the same day they come out on DVD. Buy them for $14.99 and watch it on my TIVO. When I feel like watching it again, I download it again (gotta watch out for that blackout period though).

[Renegade Knight]

So far online content is limited. Every time I try Hulu they have the wrong season. Netflix has a limited library and issues with playback. Some services may let me pay to watch, but normally when you add it up, I'm better off buying the DVD. On top of that DRM and quality restrictions make playback where I would like it to be played back, limited and untenable.

[gerrrg]

And a year ago, 17% of Americans had only cell phones, but that changed 2.7 percentage points in less than a year.

With time, everyone chooses the cheapest, most convenient option. Downloading and streaming IS the future. I'm watching House on Hulu right now, as I'm typing this out.

[freemarket--2008]

House is a TV show. Most are available for free download one way or another. The article was about DVDs which are mostly long-format theatrical movies.

Costs to download recent movies are significant, even if it's only for a single play.

[tekwiz4u]

I think the reason people PREFER to get out of the house instead of being couped up waiting for a download. I personally like to get in my car and drive to the nearest rental. It's the atmosphere, and sometimes it calms the mind knowing you're doing something thats is recreation.

[freemarket--2008]

I prefer to take a brisk walk, enjoy the fresh air and take the latest Netflix delivery out of my mailbox on the way in. ;-)

[gerrrg]

@freemarket--2008

And House is also on DVD.

And costs to BUY movies are even MORE significant than downloading it.