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Do you even use optical media anymore?

The DVD drive of my PC sounds like a jet engine, I've even rebought Steam copies of games just so I don't hear that thing when I boot my otherwise silent PC.

I've enjoyed a few digital versions of games on my PS3 such as Assassins Creed Bloodlines and InFamous 2. If everything was on PSN I'd easily go for it, as it is that and lack of HD space (I know I can upgrade but I'd rather get a new system at my machines age) mean I'm mostly going with regular old Blu Rays.
 
I'm not sure I would have gotten an optical drive when I built the computer I'm currently using if I didn't need one to install the copy of Windows I bought. It's useful, but very situational, like when I want to install something off an old disk, or when I don't feel like waiting for a large PC game to download on my relatively slow internet connection.
 
For movies definitely, my collection is all digital on a huge hd cluster. For pc its all steam. For ps3, well mostly play ssf4ae so its in the tray all the time and never take it out. Yeah for me digital is the way to go...physical media is dying fast!
 
Digital: new PC games, programs, OS, everything on my Mac, legacy PC games ripped to ISO, 360 games installed, XBLA, XBI, PSP CFW, ROM copies of all my legacy cartridge and disc games, DS flash cart, Wii games off USB hard drive, WiiWare, VC, DVD movies, DVD seasons, Netflix, Kindle (purchased + scanned books, scanned graphic novels), ripped CDs.

Optical: Legacy PC games which are ripped to ISO, PS3, technically still need the 360 discs, blu-rays since I don't have a PC drive to rip them with. I could--and have--replaced a lot of my physical 360 discs with digital PC games, but I basically only buy PS3 exclusives so none of those could be replaced.
 
Diprosalic said:
i don't even have an optical disc drive anymore. the last time i used it was probably 3-4 years ago.
Click to expand...

This. No optical disc drive in my new rig. I have an external USB one for emergencies. Will not buy boxed games unless there's a way to download the contents (i.e. Steam, Origin).
 
Theonik said:
Eh, it's still compressed. Just done really well unlike what your streaming site or cable provider would do to conserve bandwidth.
I agree though, disk media ftw!
Click to expand...

You are right - it is done so well as to be generally undetectable. Until I can stream video at that quality, optical is always going to have a place in my library.

Also, I'm playing Catherine and it's on a disc. :)
 
Yes, I hate digital downloads. I own few dd games and really only want physical copies of my games. For movies, nothing beats Blu ray in quality, so if there's a movie I like i will but a blu Ray of it. I will never buy a Digital Copy of a movie.

Have bought a few things on Steam though and it's very convient.
 
I'll stop using physical media when they stop making it. On the topic of audio, nothing beats listening to a CD or vinyl record versus a digitally reproduced version. On the topic of games, having a game right on the hard drive is nice, but I'm content with buying physical copies given how few games I buy these days.
 
Only for

Games because most of what I play is through rentals and console DD prices are INSANE.

Blu Rays because streaming selection is too minimal, and I most DD prices are too much.'


Books/music - all digital.

I don't think I own even ten pieces of physical media.
 
Yes. My Wii isn't modded yet, things might change if Xenoblade and The Last Story really aren't coming to America, I still have hope!!! Plus, with my netflix subscription, streaming only doesn't cut it. Still need them shiny Blu-Rays and DVDs. My only computer is a netbook, so no optical drive and I don't own an external one.
 
Other than a disc version of a PS3 game literally never. Been like that for years for me.
 
Am trying to wean off of it. On-Demand services for watching movies and TV, and downloadable games wherever I can and get a decent price.

I don't honestly want to *own* this stuff if I can have access to it when needed for a low price. But since some of these services can change in a heartbeat its not a bad idea to have physical copies for the stuff you absolutely can't be without.
 
Yap. Still on NetFlix Blu-ray subscription. Also borrow free DVDs from public library for my kid every week. Nothing beats free so far.
 
On PC? Not really, just insert once to get it ripped/installed and be done with it.

Yes for movies since I still like to watch them on the big screen from time to time. dat bluray quality! And I still use my PS3 for console needs.
 
I do use optical media to launch some games still, but I have got all my 400 or whatever disc pc games iso ripped to a hdd, so I never install from disc.

is there a choice on consoles?

SalsaShark said:
Dont know, probably a big minority here, but i really have no use for DVDs or any kind of optical media anymore. I like retail, of course, i like a box, but if owned PS360, id probably mod it to play games from a hard drive too.
Click to expand...
next gen console games really should be just a serial key in a box, like steamworks games are. but with a better tie key to account system compared to steam.
 
On my Mac not so much aside from if I want to backup something to a DVD (once in a blue moon). Somehow I still do that even though I backup on another HD already and sometimes on flash drives too. It is just for extra assurance I guess.

Besides that, I play Blu-rays (games and movies) all the time on my PS3 and my Blu-ray player. I hope physical media never goes away. :)
I can see myself using things like Netflix and Blu-ray in conjunction, with Blu-ray purchases when I want to own a film I really love or for other collection purposes.
 
Despite what Apple like to blab about, most people do still use optical media. I can't afford to download everything since I have 50GB cap on my bandwidth per month. So no, I don't want a console future that does not involve the use of optical media. I like a tangible product in my hand when I buy them. I tolerate DLC because their filesize are small but I don't want to have to download things all the time.
 
I ended up putting a disc drive into my PC(didn't have one for a year) but hardly use it. I still watch movies on blu ray and dvd and play console games exclusive to optical media.
 
Yes, nothing beats the value and reliability of optical media and recent and further advances in the technology make it exciting, I bought my vaio notebook for Blu-ray afterall. Its been awhile since Ive bought video content or game content (well Im always gifted steam games...) digitally for the PC. In my experience it takes so long to download games and manage the disk space, I hate even doing it on the PS3 to backup content. I like the insert the disc and go for videos and games.
 
All the time. Outside of video games, I actually only get physical items of media, and even then I will buy a physical release of a game if at all possible. Many of the digital items I have outside of games are free like podcasts or eBook classics.
 
Giolon said:
You are right - it is done so well as to be generally undetectable. Until I can stream video at that quality, optical is always going to have a place in my library.

Also, I'm playing Catherine and it's on a disc. :)
Click to expand...
Well, we could get there in the next few years for 1080p at least. A BD is only read at 50Mb/s which some places in the world have and can maintain. Problem is the streaming sites themselves won't be willing to do that for a while.

Besides, what i really want is the day we can have truly uncompressed video but we'll probably see 4K and 48fps before that.
 
My secondary HDD is showing signs of failure so I just recently burned all of the contents of it to DVDs.

I don't use discs often though

When I do console game, I do
 
Joseph Merrick said:
is there a choice on consoles?
Click to expand...

360 lets you install but you still need the disc for a DRM check. I guess technically with a modded 360 you could do it discless, but you'd be banned so the console would be pretty heavily gimped.

Wii can be discless if you mod it. DS can be discless with a flash card (iirc you have a DS). PSP can be discless with custom firmware.

So it's just PS3 that actually requires the disc to spin to play games--although I'm not sure if CFW lets you install games. I know they had it working for some games but I was under the impression that the firmware updates basically crushed ongoing compatibility.
 
Stumpokapow said:
360 lets you install but you still need the disc for a DRM check.

Wii can be discless if you mod it. DS can be discless with a flash card (iirc you have a DS). PSP can be discless with custom firmware. So it's just PS3 that actually requires the disc to spin to play games.
Click to expand...
Also both PS3 and 360 have the ability to download certain games and play them that way.
And PS3 CFW allows for USB loaders too, though iirc there are some drawbacks to that.
 
For consoles and movies, etc, I still use optical media.

On PC, nope. I don't even have a optical drive in my gaming PC, and rarely need to use the other computer for its drive. I also use a netbook on the go with no optical drive either.

Kind of bizarre really...
 
NullPointer said:
But the library on Games on Demand is pretty damn nice. Too bad its overpriced to hell and back.
Click to expand...

Last I checked GoD had about 70-80% of the top 100 360 games in terms of Metacritic and/or sales if you excluded annual sports titles, so yeah that's a good point.

Theonik said:
Also both PS3 and 360 have the ability to download certain games and play them that way.
Click to expand...

Yeah, forgot that the PS3 also did a few games on demand as well--i should know, I just got two from the PSN outage thing--although their library is a lot less extensive than on 360.

And PS3 CFW allows for USB loaders too, though iirc there are some drawbacks to that.
Click to expand...

Well, fair enough to say that while the Wii USB loaders allow for 100% compatibility and no downsides, the PS3 USB loaders are at best a mixed bag trade-off at this point?
 
For movies, fuck yes. Blu-ray's quality is unmatched and legal downloads and especially streaming will never get close.

Obviously on my gaming consoles.

On my computer? No.
 
If a game is digital only then I am unlikely to ever play it. I learned that back when DD was just starting on home consoles.

Owning digital games feels like having a ROM or a pirate copy, in my mind that strips them of all their value.
 
Only for consoles, and now I'm finding it to be a hassle. Steam has spoiled me. I really hope that consoles have some form of DD for big releases in the future, changing discs is becoming a chore.
 
I wouldn't if games were: region, drm free all the time and cheaper than disc version. I prefer buying PS3 version of games due to no restriction on most blu rays yet.
 
ScionOfTheRisingSun said:
If a game is digital only then I am unlikely to ever play it. I learned that back when DD was just starting on home consoles.

Owning digital games feels like having a ROM or a pirate copy, in my mind that strips them of all their value.
Click to expand...
You can back up digitally purchased games on many PC services, and how is that anything like having a pirated copy?


rapid32.5 said:
I wouldn't if games were: region, drm free all the time and cheaper than disc version.
Click to expand...
http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage/
Lowest amount of DRM you can find for PC digital downloads, great website, has some good deals too
 
Stumpokapow said:
Well, fair enough to say that while the Wii USB loaders allow for 100% compatibility and no downsides, the PS3 USB loaders are at best a mixed bag trade-off at this point?
Click to expand...
If nothing has changed since I last checked yes, no online and especially newer titles could need to be patched or may be very buggy. Wouldn't really recommend going through that route for PS3.
Edit:
ciaossu said:
You can back up digitally purchased games on many PC services, and how is that anything like having a pirated copy?
Click to expand...
I think he's referring to the feeling of ownership you get with physical goods.
 
I still buy new PC games retail sometimes, especially EA games. Sounds like my choice for ME3 will either be Origin or retail, too. I'll choose retail.

Still not comfortable paying full price for a digital game.
 
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