Column | The case for physical media

My favorite place in the small hometown of my childhood was the DVD rental store, Family Video. My family’s Friday night routine was to go to the store, pick up a movie and order a pizza from next door. We would then return home, DVD in hand, pop popcorn in our giant red Family Video-branded popcorn bucket and settle in for the night. Before streaming, DVDs and cable were all I knew.

My later childhood marked the rise of streaming services, from digital videos on demand to actual Netflix subscriptions. Before I knew it, our DVDs were collecting dust, the Family Video had shut its doors and I was faced only with a screen. For a while, I was content with this, thrilled by the opportunities that streaming offered, namely easier access to more content. However, eventually this began to feel like a kind of lack, as there was no excitement in the search and content disappeared from streaming services faster than I could keep up with. Not only that, but increasingly, content became scattered across multiple streaming services, distributed thinly and jumping from platform to platform. It began to feel that to have access to any content you wanted, you needed to be subscribed to at least five services at once. 

At the same time as these feelings arose, I also started college and my film minor. My studies, and my growing interest in film, helped me to discover a wider array of movies. However, wanting to watch even more films — and specifically more niche movies — also meant that they became harder to find on streaming services. The combination of my growing interest in film, the desire to watch more films and my difficulty finding them led me to finally buy a DVD player. In many ways, my world opened up.

Owning a DVD player has allowed me to further embrace my love for film and expand my knowledge for very little cost. In fact, though it may seem like DVD players are nowhere to be found, they aren’t hard to come by and can usually be found for just a few dollars at yard sales or on Facebook Marketplace. DVDs of older popular films can also often be found at thrift stores. Furthermore, libraries keep their own DVD collection, including both Pitt’s libraries and the Carnegie Library. In combination, these libraries allow for access to hundreds of films, created across many countries and languages. The library also keeps up to date on recent films as DVDs are released, allowing for you to check out new films without needing to pay to rent it or pay for a streaming service.

Additionally, a key benefit of DVDs can be the additional features they offer, frequently including bonus scenes and even director’s commentary. This allows you to understand more of the world of the story and involve yourself further with the characters and their creators. DVDs can also serve as a fun collector’s item, as the cases of the disc often include small booklets and even alternate posters. These DVDs can come from thrift stores as I’ve mentioned, but you can also purchase more specialty ones such as the films included in the Criterion Collection. These specialty DVDs are often remastered versions, with the quality enhanced for better visuals, sound and image. The Carnegie Library has an extensive collection of these speciality DVDs — namely the Criterion Collection — giving you the opportunity to test out the DVD and its features before making the decision to purchase it. 

Owning DVDs also allows you to curate your own personal collection of your favorite films, guaranteeing that you always have them on hand and can show them to anyone at any time. My DVD collection has become my own personal point of pride and one of my favorite things to display in my room. Additionally, I keep a running list on my phone of DVDs to look for at thrift stores, which adds a fun element to every thrift store trip as I have a kind of buried treasure to look for. At the end of the day, going back to DVDs has brought me a lot of joy and has allowed me to expand my love and knowledge of film.

DVDs haven’t entirely replaced streaming for me, but they have saved me money in the long run –– from avoiding rental fees to subscribing to a service just to watch one thing. There is a kind of joy and whimsy inherent in them, as it allows you to focus on the content present in the DVD alone, and to go even deeper with that content through bonus features. In their thin plastic discs, DVDs offer easy access to other worlds, and through reliance on free community resources such as the library, there is truly no limit.

Lauren is a senior studying English literature, communications and film. You can connect with her at led99@pitt.edu.