It seems to me that it took far less time for DVDs to become obsolete than it did for VHS tapes, but worse, Hollywood's disgusting and totally corrupt insistence that pirating stops it making profit has led to a ridiculous level of DRM that, frankly, is tantamount to fraud in itself. Hollywood not making a profit? Give us all a break. I do not condone piracy. As a writer myself I know the value of copyright, but the scare tactics, equating copying with terrorism for example or, in the case of Japan's anti-piracy campaign, with death, is pure propaganda. I buy all my DVDs – quite a lot of them actually, but I'm forced to buy outside the country where I live because prices are so high here. DVD regions were also a simple means of both DRM and to force up prices in some countries. I don't want the extra expense of paying the artificially inflated local prices. Japanese distributors put such a premium on having local subtitles that it is cheaper to buy from Amazon UK anyway even after shipping.
Japan, of course, used to be the same system as the US for VHS tapes (NTSC), but realising that they could charge more if the US and Japan were different systems, the DVD regions are different. I am surprised that Japan is not a region unto itself, but as most Japanese DVD players are fixed to play only NTSC and won't play UK region 2 disks anyway, I guess that was the original plan.
I will never buy the new HD disks and I will enjoy my DVDs for as long as I have a DVD player that works. I feel ripped off by movie distributors in recent years and I'm confident that such anti-consumer practices will destroy their industry. We will soon have on-demand downloads of movies and all forms of disk will become obsolete. Buying what is basically an interim solution between the current DVD and full-blown instant downloads of HD content at very low prices, is simply not worth the money.
Going to the cinema in Japan costs a uniform ¥1,800 almost everywhere at any time. Recently, Japanese cinemas have been playing more Japanese films, and Hollywood movies have been appearing later and later, often six months to a year later. Even our local Warner theatre only has Western movies on about half its screens now. With most movies available on DVD for about ¥1,000 only a month or two after their overseas release, we can see the movie cheaper and quicker by buying the DVD than we can at the cinema. We miss seeing some things on the big screen, but it just isn't worthwhile doing it anymore.
Of course, the vast majority of movies are only worth watching once and a lot of the DVDs I buy only get one showing. Just think if I could download these movies. For the price of renting a DVD, about ¥400-¥500, I'd be more than happy to download a limited time use movie and I'd buy even more. I'd want to watch it on my own terms though and, for some special movies, I'd want a copy I could keep and watch over and over again. The trend right now is to stop me doing just that. It's anti-consumer and, really, it's plain stupid.
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