logoalt Hacker News

komali2today at 12:53 PM2 repliesview on HN

I'm curious, because I've had an interest in physical media, especially videogames, but what I keep coming back to is, "why would I bother when I can just pirate it?"

What's the attraction to the physical media given the availability of these versions online?


Replies

Springtimetoday at 1:31 PM

Pirating doesn't help sustain the very thing being pirated, if you want a tangible rather than moralistic reason.

4K (Ultra HD) Blu-Ray is likely the last physical home video media generation to be produced. Disney has pulled physical out of the Asian market, Best Buy stopped releasing any physical media beside games, Target stopped selling them beside certain DVDs.

If you want any chance of actually having high quality releases continue it needs to be supported. An issue though is certain less mainstream releases in Ultra HD Blu-Ray can be rather pricey (if they get a release at all). However I still buy those I'm interested in since I don't want lower quality streaming-tier video to be the only option available in the future, apart from concerns about the volatile nature of online-only libraries (various of which have been wholly removed in the past when licensing/ownership changes).

wiseowisetoday at 1:26 PM

> What's the attraction to the physical media given the availability of these versions online?

Where do you think they've got the version that circulates the net?