I actually just subscribe to Netflix' DVD service. I get films in much higher quality delivered every other day, and I use MakeMKV to copy them onto my computer for when I want to watch them.

Films I can't get there, I just pirate. I'm not interested in installing DRM platforms on my computer to be able to watch very heavily compressed videos if they haven't been yanked offline yet.

That sounds like a lot of work just to plop my kid in front of Dora on the tablet so I can have an hour of sanity before dinner.

A lot of initial work maybe. I rip all of my movies with MakeMKV to a Plex Media Server running on an old 2009 desktop. The setup can take a while, mostly picking through extras on the disk and naming them properly. But the interface is just as slick as Netflix and they have an app for practically every device. And if you don't care about the extras ripping the movies is essentially just pushing a button on MakeMKV.

If you're looking for a weekend project and have a movie/TV collection I'd highly recommend it. The base software is free and it runs on linux (and Windows/OSX).

I've often heard that parenting requires a great deal of responsibility.

Honestly, that just seems like a waste of time to me. Regardless of "much" higher quality, at best you're getting 480p from a DVD. I'll take acceptable quality 1080p over great quality 480p every day of the week. What's more, you're still pirating, so why not just download full quality BD rips if you're going to bother?

You can get BD through Netflix's DVD program.

Sorry for the late response. I get BDs from Netflix, not DVDs (when possible). And I'm already pushing my bandwidth to its limit at home, so it's much easier to get the BDs delivered. Also, for a lot of the films I want to see, I can't find full-quality BD copies anywhere online, only recompressed rips.

Jeeze, I wish Netflix would stream in DVD quality for me. Their DRM hates my setup for whatever reason, so I'm stuck at a 1 or 2 mbps stream.

Nitpick: SD DVD is be 576p at best.

PAL-only, and without a corresponding increase in horizontal resolution. 480p is a lot more accurate, though it's in some ways more like 400p.

Nitpicking intensifies: There is no PAL/NTSC in DVD as they are analog TV color encoding systems, DVD has just resolutions and frame (field) rates. So you can practically have 576p dvds in any region.

At 25Hz. (plus interlacing)

Edit: Or that might be wrong and the framerate can be changed separately.

> I actually just subscribe to Netflix' DVD service. I get films in much higher quality delivered every other day

That probably doesn't help with things that aren't on DVD/Blu-Ray, such as some of their original content. I don't think you can get Stranger Things in that format yet.

> I'm not interested in installing DRM platforms on my computer

I believe the majority of people don't watch Netflix on their computer, but instead on set-top devices connected to their TV's That may also include hybrid solutions like Chromecast, where something may be installed on a local computer (likely a phone) as well, but those generally already have DRM platforms installed...

Often true, though I know a lot of people who don't own a TV and just watch Netflix on their laptops, even when watching with a large group. I personally have a dedicated Chromebox running LibreELEC with Kodi plugged into my projector, though I also sometimes television on my laptop when I don't want to set everything up.

Unfortunately, their back catalog is getting worse and worse. If it weren't for ripping what they do still have for later watching I probably would. But I've started thinking of just dropping their DVD service and putting the money toward purchases, paid streaming, and Redbox.

If I wanted to buy the BluRays of all the series I've watched on Netflix it would be way too costly. Buying the release day cost for a new seasons BluRay is even more expensive than the 14.99 or whatever I spend for HD Netflix.

I rarely rewatch seasons after more than 5 years so streaming is usually the best/cost effective option.

> If I wanted to buy the BluRays of all the series I've watched on Netflix it would be way too costly.

Ditto, but almost everything I watch is one-and-done. The series that I like enough to watch more than once are few and far between...so I tend to buy those, whenever they come up in a particularly good sale. Among things I liked enough to buy, the longer it's been since I watched it last, the more likely I am to watch it in the near future. But the longer I wait, the more likely that some contract expires, and it disappears from streaming services.

Plus the physical space cost of storing discs. Even if you remove them from their cases, which is definitely sub-optimal, they take up a decent amount of storage space.

Exactly. Buying digital copies on iTunes makes a lot more sense to me just for that reason.

Digital copies on iTunes are priced somewhere near "highway robbery". Because of the lack of retail-style transactions, there's no price competition on digital copies. What's funny, it's usually cheaper to buy the Blu-ray/DVD/digital copy combo packs... even if you just want the digital copy.

Recently I picked up a couple Blu-rays with digital copies for $3 at Fry's. Vudu had one of them on a huuuuuuuge sale this weekend, digital copy only, for $5. The iTunes price is $14.99. Again, I got that $15 iTunes price... for $3 as physical copy with a digital code. And if I wanted, I could sell the disc at a resale shop and get back a buck or two. Buying video on demand online right now makes no financial sense whatsoever.

> Buying video on demand online right now makes no financial sense whatsoever.

That's only if you place little or no value on convenience. I don't spend much money on video, so the occasional $10 or $20 purchase is bearable.

I don't want a physical copy and I certainly don't want to go to Fry's. For me, iTunes / Google Play / Amazon Video all make more sense.

I've actually thought about cancelling cable and buying everything on demand because I think I would save some money. We're paying more than $1000 / year for TV. That would pay for a lot of TV at $2-$3 per episode. We've never made the jump though because of live sports and the stupid blackout rules.

> That's only if you place little or no value on convenience.

I place a fair amount of value on convenience, but I weight it differently than you do. Not having to worry about my player's internet connection is a big plus. Not caring where I bought the video from is also nice. I like that it's a fire-and-forget operation to convert the video into a format that works on virtually every piece of video-oriented electronics that I own.

Bonuses: I get to choose which version of a particular video that I buy (there are often several available), often receive it in multiple formats, can loan it to a friend, and local media tends to have fewer compression artifacts than streamed media.

Of course, all this only applies to things that I care enough to buy separately. I've got Netflix and Amazon. I've got a few hundred games through a combination of half a dozen services, and it's a pain figuring out which service I bought a particular game through, and all that. I'd rather go to my wallet of game DVDs and pull it out (and I do, for services like Humble Bundle and GOG, where I can download the games and put the installers on external media).

> I place a fair amount of value on convenience, but I weight it differently than you do.

That really is the key. I get it that all those things you list go into the choices you make. I value similar things, but differently so my choices are different. There's no right or wrong.

I'd have to be pretty loaded to want to spend 500% the price for minor convenience. ;) Similar major discounts are available via Amazon Prime as well, if you can wait two days for it to arrive.

> I'd have to be pretty loaded to want to spend 500% the price for minor convenience.

I bet you do it too. Ever order a pizza for delivery rather than make it yourself? Or buy a book rather than borrow it from the library?

I just ordered a Blu-Ray copy of Sing off Amazon yesterday, it's $20 on iTunes and $15 on Amazon for the Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital product. Considering I can keep a high-quality archival copy of the movie in a box and still get a code I can plop into iTunes, though I'll just rip the disc into my Plex library anyway, it's a much better deal.

My list of things I want to watch is longer than I'll ever have time for. Because I'm not rewatching movies, building up a library doesn't make a whole lot of sense for me nor do I want more boxes and discs to be the caretaker of. If I can rent or buy a stream, I'm happy. I don't do it all that often, so the cost isn't really a factor.

Totally reasonable, there's a reason why Redbox/Netflix/iTunes/Amazon/Sony/etc. all offer rentals and I've used them all at one point. If you can't ever see yourself re-watching a movie or only doing so infrequently rentals can make a lot of sense.

I'm a bit of a digital packrat who likes to collect media, but a large chunk of my present movie collection is stuff for my daughter who wants to rewatch the same movie constantly so purchasing content to keep is the way I go 99% of the time.