Mike Flanagan -- director of The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and more -- laments that there will be no official DVD/BD releases of the Netflix originals he created (with the exception...
Mike Flanagan -- director of The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and more -- laments that there will be no official DVD/BD releases of the Netflix originals he created (with the exception of those under Paramount's control).
The fact that Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, Gerald’s Game and Before I Wake (and the upcoming Fall of the House of Usher) are exclusively available ONLY on Netflix, and can disappear from the service at any time and be entirely erased from the world - is absolutely terrifying to me.
With streaming services recently pulling content to save money, this is a very real fear.
I have purchased several pirated blu-ray copies of Midnight Mass, am very impressed with the quality and presentation, and I am profoundly grateful they exist.
What streaming originals do you wish had physical releases, but do not?
I loved Charlie Kaufman's I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix), but I don't think there's been a physical release of it. Maybe the Criterion Collection could come through here, as they did with The Irishman (also Netflix)?
P.S. Not sure if this is fits better in ~movies or ~tv, as it applies to both.
While not technically a streaming exclusive, one of my favourite TV series ever is Halt and Catch Fire; only season one got a Blu-ray, and season two only got a DVD release. S3 and 4 never saw a...
While not technically a streaming exclusive, one of my favourite TV series ever is Halt and Catch Fire; only season one got a Blu-ray, and season two only got a DVD release. S3 and 4 never saw a physical release at all.
The only place you can still find it are iTunes, and AMC's streaming service. While iTunes is theoretically "permanent", you're still reliant on Apple not one day pulling the plug on that service.
Oh man, that's a shame. The show really got into a nice swing after season 1, too, and I really liked the ending! This is making building a NAS for media really attractive right now. For, uh,...
Oh man, that's a shame. The show really got into a nice swing after season 1, too, and I really liked the ending!
This is making building a NAS for media really attractive right now. For, uh, completely unrelated reasons.
You can find a DVD screener of I'm Thinking of Ending Things on eBay. It is unfortunate there's no Blu-ray or 4K UHD edition available, it really is deserving of one.
You can find a DVD screener of I'm Thinking of Ending Things on eBay. It is unfortunate there's no Blu-ray or 4K UHD edition available, it really is deserving of one.
This touches on another aspect about video without physical releases. Blu-ray releases can achieve higher bitrates than what streaming platforms will pass to you. This means you're already dealing...
I have purchased several pirated blu-ray copies of Midnight Mass, am very impressed with the quality and presentation, and I am profoundly grateful they exist.
This touches on another aspect about video without physical releases. Blu-ray releases can achieve higher bitrates than what streaming platforms will pass to you. This means you're already dealing with a worse video right out the gate (without getting more technical, there's other steps between BR/stream to files for sharing and archiving).
While I'm glad he's happy with those files, streaming has made it harder for consumers to access high quality videos and more difficult to archive (and share) a high quality video at a reasonable bitrate.
That is true in some cases, but not all of them. Especially in the case where a show is mastered in 4K but they only release a standard 1080p-limited blu-ray. It's also possible that streaming can...
Blu-ray releases can achieve higher bitrates than what streaming platforms will pass to you.
That is true in some cases, but not all of them. Especially in the case where a show is mastered in 4K but they only release a standard 1080p-limited blu-ray.
It's also possible that streaming can use newer and more efficient codecs than blu-ray can, though I haven't bothered to look into what streaming services are running under the hood in a long time, and I wouldn't be surprised if everyone's still a generation or so behind.
This would be an interesting one to see some blind tests on! A standard 1080p blu-ray will be 2-4x the bitrate of Netflix 4K content, and personally I’d expect the extra data rate to be more...
This would be an interesting one to see some blind tests on!
A standard 1080p blu-ray will be 2-4x the bitrate of Netflix 4K content, and personally I’d expect the extra data rate to be more important than the extra pixels if all else were equal - but all else is often not equal since classic blu-ray will be using h.264, whereas Netflix will push AV1 if your device supports it. At an educated guess with the codec difference in play I’d expect it to be roughly equivalent perceptual quality with still maybe a slight edge to the blu-ray, but I also imagine it’d vary enough from scene to scene and content type to content type that you’d need a proper study to get any meaningful data.
UHD blu-ray should still come out clearly ahead when it’s an option though: way higher data rates than classic blu-ray and h.265 support.
Oh yes I tried to be careful in my phrasing because you are right -- just because a BR can provide 4k at high bitrates doesn't mean the video will be distributed taking full advantage of BR. One...
Oh yes I tried to be careful in my phrasing because you are right -- just because a BR can provide 4k at high bitrates doesn't mean the video will be distributed taking full advantage of BR.
One interesting case of this is BR releases of shows that were aired in SD. I've seen this with older animation and sitcoms, but that may just be because of what I consume. While these are occasionally remastered from their original airings, it isn't common.
Now maybe it's because I'm an unapologetic media pirate and put everything I like on my own media server, but I don't care... I have no way to play physical media even if it was given to me for...
Now maybe it's because I'm an unapologetic media pirate and put everything I like on my own media server, but I don't care...
I have no way to play physical media even if it was given to me for free and it would have to be, because i'm not paying a premium for a shiny disk...
Without a physical release, there will probably never be a version with decent bitrate video or a lossless surround track. If physical releases totally die, we'd be taking a pretty big step back...
Without a physical release, there will probably never be a version with decent bitrate video or a lossless surround track. If physical releases totally die, we'd be taking a pretty big step back in fidelity.
We took a step back in fidelity when we moved on from the record to the cassette, CD, and now MP3, yet the majority of people are totally fine with it because the convenience outweighed any...
We took a step back in fidelity when we moved on from the record to the cassette, CD, and now MP3, yet the majority of people are totally fine with it because the convenience outweighed any decline (perceived or real) in fidelity.
The real drawback in my mind is the potential for this content to be completely lost.
I am a big stand up comedy fan, and there are several Netflix specials that I would love to buy physical copies of now that I don't have Netflix. Dana Carvey, Tom Segura, Nate Bargatze... So many...
I am a big stand up comedy fan, and there are several Netflix specials that I would love to buy physical copies of now that I don't have Netflix. Dana Carvey, Tom Segura, Nate Bargatze... So many good ones that I miss.
Some of them release albums but I find that's going away. I don't miss Netflix overall but listening or watching stand up has always been a comfort thing for me and I miss Netflix's library of it.
Mike Flanagan -- director of The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and more -- laments that there will be no official DVD/BD releases of the Netflix originals he created (with the exception of those under Paramount's control).
With streaming services recently pulling content to save money, this is a very real fear.
What streaming originals do you wish had physical releases, but do not?
I loved Charlie Kaufman's I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix), but I don't think there's been a physical release of it. Maybe the Criterion Collection could come through here, as they did with The Irishman (also Netflix)?
P.S. Not sure if this is fits better in ~movies or ~tv, as it applies to both.
Here's a list of all the Criterion Netflix films
While not technically a streaming exclusive, one of my favourite TV series ever is Halt and Catch Fire; only season one got a Blu-ray, and season two only got a DVD release. S3 and 4 never saw a physical release at all.
The only place you can still find it are iTunes, and AMC's streaming service. While iTunes is theoretically "permanent", you're still reliant on Apple not one day pulling the plug on that service.
Oh man, that's a shame. The show really got into a nice swing after season 1, too, and I really liked the ending!
This is making building a NAS for media really attractive right now. For, uh, completely unrelated reasons.
Rest assured there will be plenty of illegal backups.
You can find a DVD screener of I'm Thinking of Ending Things on eBay. It is unfortunate there's no Blu-ray or 4K UHD edition available, it really is deserving of one.
This touches on another aspect about video without physical releases. Blu-ray releases can achieve higher bitrates than what streaming platforms will pass to you. This means you're already dealing with a worse video right out the gate (without getting more technical, there's other steps between BR/stream to files for sharing and archiving).
While I'm glad he's happy with those files, streaming has made it harder for consumers to access high quality videos and more difficult to archive (and share) a high quality video at a reasonable bitrate.
That is true in some cases, but not all of them. Especially in the case where a show is mastered in 4K but they only release a standard 1080p-limited blu-ray.
It's also possible that streaming can use newer and more efficient codecs than blu-ray can, though I haven't bothered to look into what streaming services are running under the hood in a long time, and I wouldn't be surprised if everyone's still a generation or so behind.
This would be an interesting one to see some blind tests on!
A standard 1080p blu-ray will be 2-4x the bitrate of Netflix 4K content, and personally I’d expect the extra data rate to be more important than the extra pixels if all else were equal - but all else is often not equal since classic blu-ray will be using h.264, whereas Netflix will push AV1 if your device supports it. At an educated guess with the codec difference in play I’d expect it to be roughly equivalent perceptual quality with still maybe a slight edge to the blu-ray, but I also imagine it’d vary enough from scene to scene and content type to content type that you’d need a proper study to get any meaningful data.
UHD blu-ray should still come out clearly ahead when it’s an option though: way higher data rates than classic blu-ray and h.265 support.
Oh yes I tried to be careful in my phrasing because you are right -- just because a BR can provide 4k at high bitrates doesn't mean the video will be distributed taking full advantage of BR.
One interesting case of this is BR releases of shows that were aired in SD. I've seen this with older animation and sitcoms, but that may just be because of what I consume. While these are occasionally remastered from their original airings, it isn't common.
Now maybe it's because I'm an unapologetic media pirate and put everything I like on my own media server, but I don't care...
I have no way to play physical media even if it was given to me for free and it would have to be, because i'm not paying a premium for a shiny disk...
Without a physical release, there will probably never be a version with decent bitrate video or a lossless surround track. If physical releases totally die, we'd be taking a pretty big step back in fidelity.
We took a step back in fidelity when we moved on from the record to the cassette, CD, and now MP3, yet the majority of people are totally fine with it because the convenience outweighed any decline (perceived or real) in fidelity.
The real drawback in my mind is the potential for this content to be completely lost.
I am a big stand up comedy fan, and there are several Netflix specials that I would love to buy physical copies of now that I don't have Netflix. Dana Carvey, Tom Segura, Nate Bargatze... So many good ones that I miss.
Some of them release albums but I find that's going away. I don't miss Netflix overall but listening or watching stand up has always been a comfort thing for me and I miss Netflix's library of it.
Looks like Mike Flanagan should leak some master copies, just saying...