I’m Tired of Pretending Physical Media Isn’t Still Better Than Digital Broadcasting

As cinemas face a tumultuous future, and ticket prices continue to rise, movies and television at home are becoming the primary choice for family entertainment. But even as a self-professed moviegoer—I watch movies for a living—I didn’t realize how bad the situation was with home options… until I had my baby earlier this year, and I couldn’t go to the movies. theater almost as often as I have ever had.

And it’s all because of that little circle of buffering doom. Even Beyonce poked fun at it when she indirectly told Netflix that they better not air her NFL Christmas Halftime Show. We stop our western disco singer here, and we agree: the biggest flaw of streaming is the inconsistency of communication, and the inopportune moments when the suspension of disbelief in storytelling can be marked by mistakes on any platform.

At the beginning of the year, when I was just pregnant, I was assigned to watch Furiosa at LA’s glittering IMAX Headquarters. To prepare, I thought I’d just turn on Max and rewatch Mad Max: Fury Road. And what surprised me was the quick shock, discovered within a few minutes of watching the film that something was off about the sound of the score. My husband and I have long been movie theater goers—we’ve been there during the first or second opening day showings—and we remember how Mad Max: Fury Road it was heard. This was not the case. Finding that something had gone wrong with Max’s streaming service’s compression of audio files, we switched to our digital copy. And it still didn’t feel right. So we pulled out our Blu-ray and popped it in, and there it was: the crisp sounds of Junkie XL’s warring drums and guitars pouring out of our sound bar.

I knew that as a parent I would have to get used to more home entertainment than before. I’ll admit, even on a rewatch or first viewing of a classic I’d rather see it on the big screen at a revival house like the New Beverly, American Cinemathque, or Vidiots. If I loved it on the big screen, I would go to the store or my favorite video store to add the title to my collection—only to watch if the occasion called for it.

Now that the future cinephile has joined our family, my husband and I enjoy managing their entertainment for as long as possible. And that goes for TV shows too. Our home was a Bluey at home even before we welcomed our little one; there won’t be Cocomelon, Peppa Pigor Friends if we can help you. From the childless millennials who loved it Bluey for new parents it’s been a journey in making sure our child gets to experience the show the way it’s meant to be. It was no surprise that when Disney acquired the Ludo Studio program, they did the editing and banning of the episode, although fortunately that has been reversed for the most part.

Anyway, we went and tracked down the first few seasons on DVD to avoid any unwanted cleanup, and grabbed the music from the show on vinyl. Like, seriously, why do we have to discuss all the international credits in silence before the next episode plays?

Staying at home after giving birth during the holidays was another form of learning; more often than not, it was a general interruption of storage while on many streaming services. And sure, it might be my internet connection but that’s not a problem if you have a good Blu-ray player and disc.

You might be asking, if it’s so annoying to watch movies on Max, Disney+, Netflix, etc., why can’t I just watch them in my movie snob collection? It’s funny you should ask, because it’s a not-so-funny story: I moved during a pandemic with a person he stole our virtual media collection – save one box of our absolute favorites. That’s right, somewhere in the Valley someone got the biggest movies of the film school on Blu-ray and DVD right on the curb next to a moving truck. Disrespect.

And how does that come into my predicament as a parent?

Ours Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pizza box collection? It’s gone. How did we see? Just before viewing Mutant Mayhem we looked in our box. It wasn’t there, so we searched to see which platform had the original films. What’s important? Oh, we don’t register! The same happens if you want to participate Sonic movies before seeing them Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Spending time with the baby at home has been a jumble of trying to figure out which streaming service is the best price, seeing certain titles being pulled, and trying to figure out if we still have what we want to watch.

For example, we’re still in peak holiday movie season; if you want to watch American tail for Hanukkah, hard luck. Amblin’s animated films are not available for what you pay for. You can rent or buy Fievel adventures on Prime Video, but if like most households you’re paying for multiple platforms that you can no longer share with your loved ones, it just adds to the cost. And even if you subscribe to Disney+ and want to watch it It is frozengood luck trying to broadcast it at the same time as millions of others sitting at home during winter break. It continued to find snow and I will not stop that.

So unless you own them and hope your PS4 will still work, it’s a total problem. The whole problem I will write about in a new column is the importance of visual media and how to watch it at home. Thankfully we got a PS5 for Christmas so the journey starts now and on time They are not bad is being released on Blu-ray, hopefully we’ll have some answers.

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