Physical media offers the first three, but not option four.

I, too, would pay per show/movie to download and save DRM-free videos to my own drives.

So how come you can't (legally) watch Blue-Rays using a Linux computer, or when viewing it on an ancient CRT using an HDMI-to-analog converter?

A lot of effort has gone into making physical media work only with pre-approved devices.

	▲	jonvk 5 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		And driving the price up for the consumer for the anti-consumer tech licencing fees.
	▲	account42 5 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		A lot of effort has been wasted, thanks to MakeMKV+libredrive making ripping easy.

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noselasd 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It fails on all of them if it's not available to purchase, and none of them are of relevance if I want it right now vs having to wait 1-7 days to get hold of that physical copy and there's an easier alternative where I can have it right now.

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MrGilbert 6 days ago | parent [-]

The elder might remember a time where you could drive to a place and rent physical copies of a movie.

But of course, these places dried out a long time ago.

	▲	wingworks 6 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		In NZ we have aliceinvideoland.co.nz which overnights you x DVDs. They have a pretty extensive library and a lot of lesser known and local content. I used them for a few years, they are great and I'm happy to see they're still around.
	▲	bombcar 5 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		They still exist and now are free. They’re called “public libraries”.

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yunwal 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Physical media has arbitrary device limitations.

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black_puppydog 6 days ago | parent [-]

and arent' there retro-active device blocklists on bluray? I seem to recall sth of the sort. Sure, they can be circumvented, but then why bother buying in the first place if you're gonna be the bad guy anyhow?

	▲	A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		Yes and yes. I got mildly upset when I learned this, because it is oddly surprising amount of work to get it to work ( and some models do better than others, apparently ). On the other hand, dvd is dirt cheap now and you get a very respectable collection that is not reliant on the internet.