Is blank/burned optical media dying?

[Liberty610]

So, I'm not sure if this is an opinion thing, or if there is any truth to it. Was looking for some input from this community.

I do a lot of video projects with Vegas Pro (now version 16) and it's DVD software DVD Architect. Most of them are wedding videos, family videos, ect. The content I mostly use is what I shoot on my Sony NX100 video camera, but I get the occasional cell phone videos that need dropped into the timeline.

I get more requests these days for Blu Ray then DVD, but I try and keep both options available. I recently was having issues with a project not rendering correctly to BluRay, and asked the community over at Magix (the new Vegas Software owners who bought it from Sony) for some help. When I explained I was aiming to put the final on BluRay, I got hit with a few 'Wow, you're taking the ancient route. No one uses optical media anymore' responses. I even got told that blank DVDs and Bluray discs are becoming obsolete because many manufacturers are no longer making them.

Is there any truth to this? I know digital files on smart phones and flash drives, as well as places like YouTube are making optical media less used, but is optical media really dying? I always enjoy making people's videos on disc for them. I like designing the menus, using the printable discs for the labels ect. And I get great feedback from clients about it.

I always use the higher end Verbatim discs. And I still have a good stack of them left. I also see them still on websites like Amazon. I don't really see a shortage of options for them yet. Just curious what the community here thinks about this.

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liberty610

When I explained I was aiming to put the final on BluRay, I got hit with a few 'Wow, you're taking the ancient route. No one uses optical media anymore' responses. I even got told that blank DVDs and Bluray discs are becoming obsolete because many manufacturers are no longer making them.
Is there any truth to this? I know digital files on smart phones and flash drives, as well as places like YouTube are making optical media less used, but is optical media really dying?

Those people are morons, and obviously never deal with serious distribution or customers.

Nor is optical media being discontinued. Optical manufacturing is still quite strong, even if reduced from 10-15 years ago. If you look even deeper to the financials at companies like CMC (a publicly traded company on the TWSE), it doesn't show them to be in danger. In fact, they have been stable for 10+ years now, far less volatile than other sectors, even if not growing.

For my own personal needs, I no longer burn DVDs, instead streaming everything on the local DLNA, and backup drive 3x. But for extended family members, discs are always required.

Quote:

I like designing the menus, using the printable discs for the labels ect. And I get great feedback from clients about it.

While I also enjoyed menus and cases artwork, those days have largely passed. I don't even make DVD menus/cases for myself anymore. I especially lost interested when the menus for BD became both more complex and more simplistic.

Distributed disc content often has no menus these days, just starts playing, no more case artwork, no disc artwork. The person on the other end gives copies to less-savvy watchers (granny/gramps/mom/dad), and rips it for their own needs. Sometimes the disc is kept, sometimes trashed (even if we strongly suggest otherwise).

Quote:

I always use the higher end Verbatim discs. And I still have a good stack of them left. I also see them still on websites like Amazon. I don't really see a shortage of options for them yet. Just curious what the community here thinks about this.

You're doing everything right. Ignore the peanut gallery at the other site, as they're divorced from reality. At a more professional site like Creative Cow, opinions would largely mirror my own. For offline distribution, discs are what gets used.

Remember that shooters (ie indy filmmakers, or even wanna-be filmmaker) can be artsy/fartsy types, and don't always get grounded in reality, existing in various chic bubbles. On the Vegas forum, I'd not be surprised if you came across that sort of user.

Our work is largely lossless on HDD these days, greater than 50/50, with discs making up the rest. And of the discs, at least 90% is still DVD, not BD. So it can vary by demographic.

[Liberty610]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Those people are morons, and obviously never deal with serious distribution or customers.

Nor is optical media being discontinued. Optical manufacturing is still quite strong, even if reduced from 10-15 years ago. If you look even deeper to the financials at companies like CMC (a publicly traded company on the TWSE), it doesn't show them to be in danger. In fact, they have been stable for 10+ years now, far less volatile than other sectors, even if not growing.

That's what I figured. I never have any issues ordering my Verbatim discs, and I see on their official website no signs of them stopping production.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

For my own personal needs, I no longer burn DVDs, instead streaming everything on the local DLNA, and backup drive 3x. But for extended family members, discs are always required.

I too have a setup like this. I am running a WD My Cloud PR4100 with 32TB of storage space. Plus I have 8 internal hard drives on my studio PC, most of them 4TB in size. So I am no stranger to lossless files on HDD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

While I also enjoyed menus and cases artwork, those days have largely passed. I don't even make DVD menus/cases for myself anymore. I especially lost interested when the menus for BD became both more complex and more simplistic.

Distributed disc content often has no menus these days, just starts playing, no more case artwork, no disc artwork. The person on the other end gives copies to less-savvy watchers (granny/gramps/mom/dad), and rips it for their own needs. Sometimes the disc is kept, sometimes trashed (even if we strongly suggest otherwise).

I enjoy the creating aspect of it. And a lot of my clients/customers seem to enjoy the extra design effort and customizing of their footage. I am from a small town, were there are a lot of non-techy people who keep the optical disc formats alive with me. Even a lot of people I grew up with have fallen short on knowing a lot about technology. So it all kind of ties in together, and they like the full presentation of a full case/artwork/menu project. I also like to keep busy by putting my own little projects together in my free time. It's something I have always enjoyed doing since I started video work back in 2004. Good old Pinnacle Studio 8 broke me in!

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

You're doing everything right. Ignore the peanut gallery at the other site, as they're divorced from reality. At a more professional site like Creative Cow, opinions would largely mirror my own. For offline distribution, discs are what gets used.

And this is where I am at with it - OFFLINE. A lot of people do not want their private weddings, birthday parties, ect distributed online.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Remember that shooters (ie indy filmmakers, or even wanna-be filmmaker) can be artsy/fartsy types, and don't always get grounded in reality, existing in various chic bubbles. On the Vegas forum, I'd not be surprised if you came across that sort of user.

I can see that being the case. A lot of the guys on there have replied to issues I have recently with crashes, and give advice or opinions that make no sense. Even had a guy argue with me that one issue was probably happening because my 'PC was not fast/solid enough'. He said this even after I clearly pointed out that several other forums via Google search had posts from several users having the same exact issue as far back as Vegas version 12. Not to mention I run a Threadripper CPU with 3 SSDs, 32gb of ram, ect.

I just wanted to get some feedback on the optical disc comments. I appreciate the reply!

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liberty610

I enjoy the creating aspect of it.

I've had to find other creative outlets.

I don't think I can quite convey how much I miss the design element of video collateral (cases, menus, etc). If you ever read the About Us for the site, we started out with design work in the late 70s. I wasn't really involved much for those first 10 years, but in the 90s I especially did a lot of design work. By the times video was added in 2000s, I could crank out some impressive pieces. I was especially detailed with my personal projects for then-unreleased cartoons.

But my old DVDs in cases now sit in boxes in the closet, all discs ripped to ISO for the LAN. I still see the menus, but the neatness has worn off, and the extra step of having a menu whatsoever seems quaint, like DOS menu batch files (which I also did back in the day). Now all my videos are just stored as files in network folders, no need to author, no need for artwork of any kind. Just watch and enjoy, less work.

FYI, at some point, hopefully later this year, I'll share more on my other creative outlet.