Legally watching movies and tv-series is increasing thanks to services like Netflix, HBO and the likes.
But still you can't see what you want to see because of 'regions', 'release windows' or exclusivity. You first need to subscribe to another service or even cable company to get access to what you want to watch.
Then there are issues with the rights holders. Some titles are available on DVD but are not and will never get an online alternative: the heirs of the rights are in a legal battle or certain territories are covered by other distributors and so on. Also, when you watch something through a stream, you don't own it. You might never be able to see it again when popular demand fades.
A fine mess.
True, many rare movies are uploaded to YouTube where the rights holders can come and claim some of the advertising revenue, but this is often not the preferred alternative.
The legal framework for DVDs is much better! You can even import a DVD from elsewhere in the world. Or a rare one. But a web stream is often easier.
Enter the DVD streaming service. You bring or send your dvd collection to them and they store each DVD in an envelop with your name on it. If you want to watch the DVD you can get a unique and personal stream to it through this service.
If you want to sell your DVD, you can do so through them. You can also buy a title together with a few other users, just like you can now buy a DVD together with 3 or 4 buddies to share the burden. But you can't stream that title at the same time to all owners, you have to wait for the other to have finished watching.
You can also sell your DVD with a buy back option, just to prevent it from becoming unavailable. In case someone wants to sell a rare DVD on eBay to profit from the scarcity.
Obviously, it is cheaper to buy DVDs from online retailers through this service because frequently they receive shipments or they organise a combined shipment. They can bring down shipping and transaction costs.
At any time you can demand your wholy owned DVDs back, for example when you are going to travel and want to watch DVDs on the road or while flying. When you share ownership you have to arrange a deal with the other owners (they can't watch while you take the DVD out).
This service might also be buying DVDs cheaply. Collections from collectors with some obscure, but consistent taste for example. The heirs of a deceased collector don't want to sell each title one by one through eBay, they want to sell the entire collection, preferably as a collection that will survive as a collection. The service can then list the titles in their catalogue as such, in honour of the late collector.
Also, it will be very easy to find and connect freely available subtitle files from the internet to a certain title. Besides the rips of DVDs it will also store .srt-files with subtitles for each title.-- rrr, Aug 28 2017 Interesting - so if I want to watch a film I don't own, I buy the DVD through this service. Then this service plays the DVD for me and gives me access to a stream of it. Later I can sell the DVD back to the service - is this right?-- hippo, Aug 29 2017 Hmm, would work best somewhere with lots of salmon. You could attach the dvd and a gps beacon to the fish, then insert salmon into the appropriate stream and get caught by dvd owner at the end of the trip.
The clever bit is the small packet containing one salmon larvae(?) from that self-same stream in with the dvd. To return the dvd simply wait for the salmon to mature, attach the dvd and gps beacon and sling it in same river.-- not_morrison_rm, Aug 29 2017 Yes hippo, exactly. And all that just because the legal ownership of physcial media is more portable and flexible than the online titles.-- rrr, Aug 29 2017 The 'Disc rot' Ian Tindale mentioned is legally interesting. If the disc has become illegible throughout the years, but your 'personal copy' survived, than you are still legally entitled to watch the dvd you own.
I have to sit down with an intellectual property lawyer to discuss this I am afraid. Will keep you posted.-- rrr, Aug 29 2017 Another advantage over existing streaming services is that you could view the special features (behind-the-scenes video, director's commentary, etc.) and maybe even the disc easter eggs.
// The 'Disc rot' Ian Tindale mentioned is legally interesting. If the disc has become illegible throughout the years, but your 'personal copy' survived, than you are still legally entitled to watch the dvd you own. //
Isn't that the point of being allowed to make a backup?-- notexactly, Jan 10 2018 random, halfbakery