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0 pointsams611013y ago0 comments

I think it's quite obvious that the DVD market declined due to a combination of low perceived value, unreasonable inconvenience, and extremely fragile media.

Assuming people are like me and rarely watch a movie more than once unless it's exceptionally good, why pay $20-$30 or more for a DVD when you can rent it at RedBox for a buck or watch it on demand or on Netflix.

OK I bought the disk, but I can't make a backup copy or skip the ads and previews?

Oops, I dropped it or my kids got ahold of it, and now there is a little scratch on the disk, and it's entirely unplayable. Tapes were far more rugged, if slightly bulkier.

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vinceguidry13y ago· 1 in thread

> I think it's quite obvious that the DVD market declined due to a combination of low perceived value, unreasonable inconvenience, and extremely fragile media.

Why would you say DVDs are fragile? Disk media replaced tapes, which were much more so.

Markets don't decline due to negative reasons. People are generally willing to put up with a subjectively poor experience if its absence would be worse. Instead they die when something else offers something better.

In this case, Netflix. It is not poor DVD quality that stopped people from buying them, it's Netflix and competitors. If DVDs sucked, they never would have replaced video tapes.

ams6110OP13y ago

VHS tapes, being entirely enclosed in the cassette, are far more protected from accidental damage than are DVDs which are naked platters and will be rendered unplayable by minor scratches.

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