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And there's even a third option:

Rip the DVDs, keep the digital copies somewhere safe, and discard the physical discs.

If you want to ensure that this remains safe, you'll need to both back up and periodically transfer the digital copies to new physical storage devices (in my case, I just upgraded from the ~4-yr-old 4TB HDD that was holding all my media to a new 16TB HDD). This is, however, kind of a necessity in any case; especially for burned DVDs, for instance of home movies, ripping them and storing the media fully digitally with a plan for long-term archival will have much better longevity. Even pressed DVDs don't last forever (especially if they are used sometimes—scratches happen!), and burned DVDs can have a lifetime of less than 5 years in some cases.

Data, however, if properly treated, can be perfectly saved forever. (Well, barring cosmic ray bit-flips, I guess.)

That’s much more work though than just keeping the DVDs in the basement.

It is. It happens to fit my use case better, though—my viewing habits are very impulse-oriented, and the place I keep the media is my Plex library, so I can just fire up a web browser and watch anything I keep in there any time I want, from anywhere in the house. (I could probably set it up to be able to watch it from other places, too, but I'm working from home, so I'm usually there anyway.)

So if I just kept the DVDs, any time I wanted to watch something on one, I would have to:

1) Physically go to where the DVDs are

2) Locate the specific DVD I'm looking for (can be tricky if I'm looking for a specific episode of a show—I might not always remember what season it's from, and the Plex interface makes it pretty easy to scan through)

3) Get the DVD out

4) Go to the living room, where the DVD player is

5) Take exclusive control of the living room, and also bind myself to being there, for the duration of watching it

6) Put it all back when I'm done

So yes: for simple storage, as long as the DVDs you have will last the length of time you want to keep them, and you have enough physical space to keep them in comfortably, just keeping the DVDs is easier. But for actually using them on a regular basis, for places with less available space, for people who expect to be moving frequently (or just soon), and for collections where the longevity of the physical media is in doubt, digitizing is a better way to go.

only until you move

See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34468436 for how to avoid that problem.

DVDs, sure. Is it possible to back up or store Blu-Ray media on hard drives?

Of course.

Looks like maybe, depending on several factors: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/BluRayAn...

Who is trying to store DRM'd content locally? If you're ripping your DVDs/BluRays/HDDVDs striping copy protection and that's a solved issue. See AnyDVD HD, MakeMKV, etc.

Also note that page is referencing releases of Ubuntu from 2008. Maybe take it's information with a pinch of salt.

Do you have better references on how to rip bluray?

For the BluRay drive itself I have a "Pioneer BDR-XD07TB"[1]. For great compatibility and can do HD/UHD (and DVD obviously).

For a purely Linux way (as you linked to an Ubuntu Page) this[2] is a reasonable guide (giving it a quick skim) using MakeMKV. This should also work on Windows. (Ignore the Haandbrake steps here).

If you're on Windows (or know how to setup a VM with USB passthru for the Bluray drive) and don't mind paying for a license AnyDVD HD[2] is very good.

Both of the above will strip the DRM and leave you with the raw files from the disk (AnyDVDHD also gives the option to make an ISO). You can keep there as a 1:1 backup of the disk or you can further refine.

Without going to a massive rabbit hole and reproducing some (unfortunately private) guides verbatim you have 3 main things you can do from here if you don't want the raw source files.

1. Straight Remuxing: Take the video/audio as is from the `m2ts` container and stick it in an MKV, this won't save you any real space but makes archiving the film alone easier, you'll save some space from extras etc. by deleting the raw source files here. Takes about as long as a copy operation would. You can do this with ffmpeg on the cli in a single command.

2. Audio transcode remuxing. Take the raw video, transcode the audio to something smaller. You use a bunch of tools to strip the Audio[4][5], then transcode it using eac3to, then remux everything[6]. Realistically you've saving maybe a gig here if you're just transcoding the main audio track and dumping the rest. Some time spend recompressing the audio, then remuxing maybe an hour once you know what you're doing. This is usually what you'll see as a "Remux" on the high seas.

3. Compress Audio/Video: This is where you'd use something like Handbrake[7] to recompress the video, you can use the presets and get a watchable file but not the best quality but usually a significant size reduction. You can also tweak a lot of knobs here for excellent quality with little to no visual fidelity loss (a transparent encode) but this will take a lot of time. If you're using a preset you're probably looking at roughly the film's length encoding (more with slower processors). This is usually what you'll see tagged as a "BluRay" release on the high seas.

Obviously this is all for backing up your legitimately owned media in jurisdictions which allow it.

1. https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19634 2. https://www.howtogeek.com/161498/HOW-TO-BACKUP-YOUR-DVD-AND-... 3. https://www.redfox.bz/en/anydvdhd.html 4. https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=125966 5. http://haali.net/mkv/ 6. https://mkvtoolnix.download/ 7. https://handbrake.fr/

Thanks! That's really helpful.

MakeMKV is the easiest option.

It's possible, but I have concerns with blu-rays.

1. Bluray drives are becoming increasingly rare. Few people are buying them (because many stream) which is slowly killing the market.

2. Blurays tend to be much more finichy with read errors (unfortunately). A little dust or a bad pressed disk and the entire episode is lost :(

3. Blurays aren't being produced. Sure, you can get bluray movies still, but for tv series it's becoming REALLY rare for a bluray to be produced. Funnily, you'll often find DVDs for tv series before blurays (even for brand new shows).

Have you noticed yet that playing most blu-rays in a regular player requires an internet connection for encryption purposes?

I don't use a bluray player, I use bluray computer drives and rip my media.

Touch wood, but I have never, ever needed to do this. I don't know why. Every time I get something from the video library (yes, we still have one) or buy a new movie I'm worried it'll complain about no internet and want to update ...

... but it never has.

I keep the originals in a box. That way if someone finds put I can prove i'm morally right even though the law doesn't allow it.

Me too, I have a few big cd wallets (like 12 by 12 by 6 inches thick) where I put my dvds as I rip them and discard the cases. They don’t take up much room and prove that I own all of the movies I ripped.

I converted them to mid quality mp4s so can keep a copy on a 512gb usb flash drive so I can take my movie collection anywhere I travel.

Yep, prefer rips to my actual DVDs. If for no other reason the film starts right away. :-)

> discard the physical discs.

Donate to the library at least.

> burned DVDs can have a lifetime of less than 5 years in some cases.

My CD-Rs from '97 are in fine shape, thanks.

Sounds like you happened to get a good batch or a good manufacturer.

I had some from around the same time that were becoming unreadable by the mid-2000s.

The point is, you can't count on them lasting unless you specifically go out and buy the archival type.

All of them are still in good shape. We bought good brands, not the cheapest.

How do you know? Are you reading them? If so, you're just exposing them to more of the elements that will degrade them. They were never designed to last forever.

And if you're not reading them regularly, then you'll only find out they've gone bad when it's already too late.

There is a reason why transferring backups to new media is done on the regular by professionals. They know that the only way to make sure the copies are good is to ... well, make copies.

Yes, I took all of them out, played the music discs (some are now in my car), and consolidated the data discs a year or two ago. But it wasn't because the data discs were bad, simply that CDR doesn't have the capacity for today.

One of my old photo/video backups is on 100GB Verbatim Bluray. Don't know about these in the future so I did a parity scan on each of them so errors can be fixed if need be. Also on external HD. Let's check in, in twenty years.

https://imgur.com/a/I7fokrx

This is my same conclusion. With books, movies, series and music I like to own physically only my personal favorites that I know will use many times. But that’s less than 10% of my media consumption.

> With books, movies, series and music I like to own physically only my personal favorites that I know will use many times.

I don't own many DVDs, but when I see them in my bookshelf they remind of the story the tell, the context when I watched them, and my theories about society, sci-fi, and utopias that those movies inspired.

With books it's even more extreme. I get the physical copy sometimes more to have a physical representation of an idea than to read the book.

I have books I've never opened since I read them that is just a marker like that. I have one copy I've never opened: I read it as an e-book but got the physical copy just to complete my set and have it on my shelf.

I also have books I've suddenly taken down to reference 20+ years after I read it, and where the text was not online, so I also like to have physical copies of books where the idea mattered because I know that some day I'll want to pass that idea on and will need a refresher.

Like a... Antilibrary

> But what if Netflix and Amazon Prime Video lets their streaming licenses expire for "X-Files" and it's no longer available? Wouldn't that make the X-Files DVDs a great backup?!? It would, if she actually re-watched the X-Files -- but she never did.

The problem is that the future is uncertain. It's always possible that she might want to rewatch the X-Files at some point, even if she never actually does.

Or, she might recommend that someone else watch them. If they are no longer on streaming services, she could loan them her DVDs. It is either that or pirate them.

> … the future is uncertain. It's always possible that she might want to … even if she never actually does.

True, although …

"Difficulty discarding possessions is characterized by a perceived need to save items and distress associated with discarding them. Accumulation of possessions can result in living spaces becoming cluttered to the point that their use or safety is compromised. Compulsive hoarding is recognized by the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5)."

Don’t read too much into the DSM definitions. There’s an (often explicit) caveat that they apply iff the condition distresses the patient or seriously affects their life.

It’s healthy to hang onto a few ratty t-shirts because you might need them to mow the lawn or because they remind you of good times; you can even be a bit bummed when you eventually do throw them out. It’s compulsive hoarding when you do it even though it seriously bothers you or turns your place into a death trap.

There is absolutely no way to have so much that you will never want something you don’t have.

Pirate bay is that backup option, at least for me. To use your example of the X-Files, you can currently download a 75 GB torrent with every season + extras and it will only take a few hours.

I think people continue seeding torrents for longer than DVDs reliably last.

Someone has to have it on DVD/BD first for it to get on the Pirate Bay.

That's not true, as the entire categories of releases titled WEB-DL and WEBRip demonstrate.

I've never understood the appeal of downloading pirate movies.

Feels dodgy, always a hassle trying to fight your way through all the scams and malware and porn and when you get the movie it's of questionable quality.

If I buy a DVD then I get perfect quality in a nice case in a day or two without having to visit the seedy red light district of the Internet only to get dud contraband.

The only reason you see scams, malware and porn is because you don't have an adblocker. Install uBlock Origin. It's mandatory not just for pirating, but even for normal browsing.

It does take a but of time to spot fakes, and you need to give the community time to aggregate good content and weed out the fakes, but it's definitely not the experience you describe. It sounds like you last tried a decade or two ago.

>I've never understood the appeal of downloading pirate movies.

Oh, that's easy! You want to see <movie>, so you search for "<movie> 1080p" (or better) and after a few minutes you have it on your PC and can watch it 1,000 of times if you want; even when offline (!). It's also free. This is why people like pirate movies.

>in a day or two ...

LOL

Or you live outside of USA and there is no store that has X files dvds. Also no streaming service offers that here. Also due to copyright and region locking, I cannot import them from USA.

But somehow if I pirate that, i cause them 'damage'.

Luckily on most sites, pirated videos have keywords in filename (720p, 1080p, 4k,... x264, x265,... ) so you can see the quality and choose what filetype you want/need.

None of those apply if you put a modicum of effort into it, and then you get access to almost all media in human history unencumbered by the copyright "people". Without having shelves filled with plastic crap.

Literally none of these things are true.

Private trackers solve all of those problems.

> Feels dodgy, always a hassle trying to fight your way through all the scams and malware and porn and when you get the movie it's of questionable quality.

Its actually really easy, it only takes seconds to get the right torrent going. I've never accidentally torrented anything I didn't intend to.

I'm not sure of what are you exactly picturing in your mind about how the experience is of downloading a pirated movie. But opening up the qBittorrent application in your PC or Mac, clicking on the "search" tab, and writing "Pirates of the Caribbean", doesn't feel at all as interesting and creepy as walking at night through the red lights district of amsterdam. That'd be awesome!

they do a great job at compressing and encoding.

I'll buy the bluray/dvd, then download the torrent for the movie to put into Plex. Like a backup, but MUCH better and easier on the size than I would be able to do myself.

Get a seedbox, set up sonarr [0] and radarr [1]. Use Plex, or even better, Jellyfin [2] for streaming.

Takes about 1.5 hours to set up - you now have a Netflix-like UI with an easy option of requesting TV Shows and Movies from a nice UX.

You can get any media in any quality you want, without ever stepping into any red light district.

[0] https://sonarr.tv/ [1] https://radarr.video/ [2] https://jellyfin.org/

I rarely get DVDs any more, for much that reason, but I'm just finishing up stripping the liners and archiving the last of ~1000 DVD's I bought over the years. They now take up one and a half shelf in a book case.

In terms of cost, it wasn't a waste of money to me: I spent the money to watch them that once. With a few exceptions I never bought with the expectation of rewatching in mind. That was a nice bonus. And now I have an archival copy, and while there are many I haven't rewatched, there are are plenty I have, and some I've rewatched many times, and it wasn't always predictable ahead of time. There are series I loved a lot I never rewatched, and movies I didn't know I'd like that I've rewatched half a dozen times.

These days, I don't buy if it's something really mainstream, but I still buy if it's a bit more niche and something I consider might not always remain available. Quite a lot of the DVD's I have are of things that are not available on the streaming services I have.

But separate to all of this, even for a lot of the movies people might never watch again, don't underestimate the value of that feeling of comfort to a lot of people, and the value of the physical artefact as a memento.

I thought the layers separate and they are not a good long-term storage medium. Aren't DVDs supposed to decompose after some time? Or is that only true for CDs?

I'd rip them and put them on new hard disks from time to time. AFAIK, that's the best long-term storage strategy for most people.

I'd be curious in a few years. I don't watch old things anymore and keep consuming youtube stuff, but honestly I don't like it anymore. It's not the same somehow.

ps: I just bought a dvd from CL

Like others, I don't rely on the streamed content being available in the future, so I hoard content.

I wrote a Python app that runs on a Raspberry Pi that continually plays the content that I have accrued. Some of the content I schedule, other content is random.

It just runs on a downstairs TV. I enjoy accidentally catching some old film, or a musical or something I pulled down from YouTube of a guy making furniture....

brilliant

This is why I don't have a DVD/BD player and only use streaming services. I almost never watch the same movie more than once.

Me neither, but there are some exceptions. The original Star Wars trilogy, LOTR, Dune, ...

My wife loves Harry Potter.

So we got these ripped. We ditched her DVD collection after ripping everything. Legal copies, saving space. Don't even think we brought them to some second hand store.

IANAL but I don’t think your rips would be legal if you gave the discs to a second hand store or any other person.

Circumvention clause of the DMCA probably makes DVD rips illegal in the US, even if you keep your original copy and don’t otherwise violate copyright law.

In The Netherlands, yes I am quite sure they are legal copies. They'd been even legal copies if you rented them and made a copy. You don't need to own the original, all you need is that the source was both legal and legally in your possession. You're then allowed to make a copy of it for private use. You're not allowed to distribute it further, you don't have a license for that.

My US ex did the same. She'd rent Netflix DVDs, rip them, and bring them back. Tho that was a long time ago as Netflix DVDs suggests (2005).

Furthermore, I do not feel morally bad about the practice, and the chance of getting into legal trouble with such (if it were illegal) is so small that I simply wouldn't care. You'd have to face a civil court, and how would any party know about your collection if you keep it private?

Fair, I should have said my comments were US-specific.

I'll rewatch when it's been long enough that I have mostly forgotten what happened. Not at all worth keeping DVDs around for that.

Same type. It's urgggg feeling to re-watch a movie. I can say that I never, but I don't remember exactly so almost never is accurate.