What’s next is you don’t actually own anything, you buy it as a digital product or subscription, but a corporation actually owns it
That’s already happened. About a decade ago, Apple added to their TOS that you don’t own any Apple products you buy, you’re merely paying for the service. So they were within their rights to take back the physical hardware anytime they wanted because it was still legally their property.
They used this rule to essentially shut down your iPhone during big Apple press releases; anyone attending the event couldn’t take photos or video from their phone and had no Internet access until they left the venue. They could just remotely take over your device and cripple it just like that, and it was legal because their TOS said it was their property to do with as they please.
Amazon also likes to sell digital services without permanent ownership. You can buy digital books for your Kindle currently, but they reserve the right to delete the digital copy from public access without reimbursing you. If a book becomes controversial and they delete it from their inventory… it’s gone from your library too.
About the only digital service I trust nowadays is Valve’s Steam store. Once you buy a digital video game from them, they consider it your personal copy and you retain access to it indefinitely, even if the game gets removed from their store.
For instance, Rockstar wanted to push their new Grand Theft Auto Trilogy remaster, so they removed all the original Grand Theft Auto games from the store. Of course, the “remaster” was a terrible hack job and everyone wanted to play the original games instead. Anyone who had previously bought them (like me) could still download and install them on any computer they’re logged into. But no one else could buy them anymore.
There was that court case where a guy took Apple to court because a movie he paid for on ITunes was removed from the service. Can’t remember what the outcome was though.
8k ultra hd 15360x8640
With interlaced ads so is always playing ads.
The Betamax revival.
Videophiles will be able to see the superior picture quality in the revival of the old tapes. Sales of Betamax cassettes will quickly outsell 4K discs. I’m looking forward to the self-styled Youtuber movie connoisseurs stroking their chins and enthusing about the “new” betamax releases of Scorsese’s Gangs of New York in 333 x 486 resolution.
What’s next is you never truly owning another movie once Blu-ray finally dies.
Drunkenslug + VCR and a stockpile of blank tapes that would make a 90s flea market vendor blush
I can’t see there being another physical format until there is a big leap forward in what goes on the disc, or an emerging very cheap way of producing media.
VHS to DVD was the massive jump to digital.
DVD to BD was a jump in perceivable resolution, colour gamut, and standardisation (remember how films used to get sped up?)
BD to UHDBD was another jump in colour gamut, dynamic range, metadata, and a (perhaps less noticeable) resolution bump.We’re now kinda at the limit of what the studios put out, however. Many studios still produce at a 2k intermediate. Other than full-fat Atmos, and bumping the bitrate to what a cinema gets, I think it’ll be UHDBD and varying streaming services.
That’s my feeling and I don’t think 8k is going to provide enough of an upgrade to convince many people to release physical media for it. It’s why I wasn’t completely joking about holograms.
They forgot VCDs
And film
And CEDs.
And LaserDisc:
(Click on the image for Wikipedia article)I recently got all my LaserDiscs back from my parents. I’d forgotten how many I have and the prices I used to pay (some still had shop stickers on). Here in the UK, the format didn’t really take off.
They’re under my bed now in protective storage boxes. No idea what I’m going to do with them. Thinking of getting those vinyl storage frames and putting them on display in rotation.
That’d be quite cool.
And SVCD and AVCHD.
Just go and watch TechMoan on YouTube, there’s probably a ton more formats that we’ve forgotten or never heard of.
I never knew I cared so much about proprietary formats that only existed in a few markets for a few years until I discovered Techmoan.
So did everyone else. As in forgot to buy them.
And HD-VHS.
Braindance.
Betamax 2: Electric Boogaloo
Adverts will have multiple choice questions at the end which you have to pass to continue what you were doing.
And a Captcha…
2026 is the year of the glorious return to video rectangle. VHS2, baby!
16k Laser Discs
My guess is that as companies are trying to push 8K TV that 8K disc would come
2026: BD2 - Blu-ray 2 designed to accommodate the data for the new holographic displays
2036: BD3 - Brain downloads
ITT: Why isn’t this image an entire Wikipedia article
