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No More Video Recordings?


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A couple weeks ago I tried inserting a DVD movie I've had many years into my DVD player but it took three tries before it finally accepted it. I decided it was time to look for a new DVD player so I went online to websites that rate DVD players and found one site that rated my six year old player as still the best in it's category. The way technology advances so quickly that was a red flag.

So I did some research online and it appears that the DVD/CD formats are being phased out, quickly. The current younger generation is only interested in digital audio/video files they can download to their phones/TVs/computers. They are not buying DVD players. Therefore, the manufacturers of DVD/CD players are getting out of the business, or at least scaling back which will reduce supply and raise prices and this is not good news if you're someone like me (75 years old) who has more than a thousand DVDs/CDs, including ALL the DCI videos going back to the beginning.

I thought I would check with the DCI store to ask if they had plans for adding digital championship recordings to the Blu-Rays and DVDs. The DCI store is now powered by PepWear in Texas. I sent the following question to the Pepwear Zendesk Support group: "Has DCI ever mentioned to you about offering digital videos in the future?" Their response was, "Unfortunately, to my knowledge DCI is no longer going to be making Blu Ray's and DVD's." That didn't answer whether DCI was going to sell digital products but it did shock me that they would not be offering any more DVDs and Blu-Rays!

So, I went directly to DCI and asked the same question and here was their response,

 "We are not planning on selling physical Blu-rays or CDs any longer. We also are not planning on selling video downloads other than those that are already available.

We are planning on offering Audio downloads for 2022.

Sincerely,
DCI.org Support"

Notice that DCI's response did not mention DVDs, just Blu-Rays and CDs. It bothers me that they will not be offering digital downloads which is the wave of the future. This is especially bad for me with all those movies and CDs I've accumulated over many years. They cost a LOT of money and I don't want to have to pay in the future every time I want to see a movie I already paid for and own but might not have a DVD player! So, the only thing I can think of is to buy a couple new DVD players now while they are still available at reasonable prices. I suggest you might do the same, especially if you have a large collection like me. Then I thought maybe I could find a way to convert my DVDs/CDs to digital formats to put on USB thumb drives or external hard drives that I could use with my TV but even if I could do that HUGE job, that's over a thousand conversions and my pc would probably melt because video processing is very intensive.

To help clarify the situation I emailed DCI earlier today and asked "I heard you will not be selling Blu-Ray discs or CDs anymore. Will you still be selling regular DVDs?"

They just responded,
"We do not currently have plans to sell physical audio or video media in the future. However, we do have have digital audio and some video downloads available on Marching Music Downloads:

https://marchingmusicdownloads.com

Digital audio downloads are also available on Amazon and iTunes. Thank you for your interest.

Sincerely,
DCI.org Support"

Wow. Say it ain't true!

The only good news is that I learned earlier in the year that Tom Blair will be producing/directing the 3 days of the championships this year so we should have the best views of the shows but it's a shame the performances from now on will only live in our memories, with the exception of the scattered videos that may get posted to YouTube if that will still be allowed.

For some reason this information is giving me negative vibes about DCI's situation. I hope this is not a portent of trouble. Perhaps DCI doesn't want to be bothered with the digital rights issues anymore, especially if the video sales were not profitable. Am I over-thinking this? (It wouldn't be the first time; I'm a card-carrying pessimist.) Hopefully someone knows something I don't and everything will be fine.

Any thoughts?

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35 minutes ago, over60 said:

A couple weeks ago I tried inserting a DVD movie I've had many years into my DVD player but it took three tries before it finally accepted it. I decided it was time to look for a new DVD player so I went online to websites that rate DVD players and found one site that rated my six year old player as still the best in it's category. The way technology advances so quickly that was a red flag.

So I did some research online and it appears that the DVD/CD formats are being phased out, quickly. The current younger generation is only interested in digital audio/video files they can download to their phones/TVs/computers. They are not buying DVD players. Therefore, the manufacturers of DVD/CD players are getting out of the business, or at least scaling back which will reduce supply and raise prices and this is not good news if you're someone like me (75 years old) who has more than a thousand DVDs/CDs, including ALL the DCI videos going back to the beginning.

I thought I would check with the DCI store to ask if they had plans for adding digital championship recordings to the Blu-Rays and DVDs. The DCI store is now powered by PepWear in Texas. I sent the following question to the Pepwear Zendesk Support group: "Has DCI ever mentioned to you about offering digital videos in the future?" Their response was, "Unfortunately, to my knowledge DCI is no longer going to be making Blu Ray's and DVD's." That didn't answer whether DCI was going to sell digital products but it did shock me that they would not be offering any more DVDs and Blu-Rays!

So, I went directly to DCI and asked the same question and here was their response,

 "We are not planning on selling physical Blu-rays or CDs any longer. We also are not planning on selling video downloads other than those that are already available.

We are planning on offering Audio downloads for 2022.

Sincerely,
DCI.org Support"

Notice that DCI's response did not mention DVDs, just Blu-Rays and CDs. It bothers me that they will not be offering digital downloads which is the wave of the future. This is especially bad for me with all those movies and CDs I've accumulated over many years. They cost a LOT of money and I don't want to have to pay in the future every time I want to see a movie I already paid for and own but might not have a DVD player! So, the only thing I can think of is to buy a couple new DVD players now while they are still available at reasonable prices. I suggest you might do the same, especially if you have a large collection like me. Then I thought maybe I could find a way to convert my DVDs/CDs to digital formats to put on USB thumb drives or external hard drives that I could use with my TV but even if I could do that HUGE job, that's over a thousand conversions and my pc would probably melt because video processing is very intensive.

To help clarify the situation I emailed DCI earlier today and asked "I heard you will not be selling Blu-Ray discs or CDs anymore. Will you still be selling regular DVDs?"

They just responded,
"We do not currently have plans to sell physical audio or video media in the future. However, we do have have digital audio and some video downloads available on Marching Music Downloads:

https://marchingmusicdownloads.com

Digital audio downloads are also available on Amazon and iTunes. Thank you for your interest.

Sincerely,
DCI.org Support"

Wow. Say it ain't true!

The only good news is that I learned earlier in the year that Tom Blair will be producing/directing the 3 days of the championships this year so we should have the best views of the shows but it's a shame the performances from now on will only live in our memories, with the exception of the scattered videos that may get posted to YouTube if that will still be allowed.

For some reason this information is giving me negative vibes about DCI's situation. I hope this is not a portent of trouble. Perhaps DCI doesn't want to be bothered with the digital rights issues anymore, especially if the video sales were not profitable. Am I over-thinking this? (It wouldn't be the first time; I'm a card-carrying pessimist.) Hopefully someone knows something I don't and everything will be fine.

Any thoughts?

My 2020 Honda has no CD player.  I couldn’t believe it. 

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I'm not at all surprised they will no longer offer physical media, but not even offering a digital video download seems very odd, unless there is a licensing issue, or they plan to offer some sort of subscription service to view them in the future...🤔

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This is what happens as corps want to play newer music and todays artists are greedy. They’ve found ways to nickle and dime money out of people without actually having to work. (Sorry, I still believe in artists having to go out and tour to make money) 

That being said, there is simply no way DCI can keep up with licensure and fees. It’s way too time consuming and expensive. 

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I'm disheartened by what seems to be a plan to drop even the production values of the edited and polished versions of shows we got for the DVDs as downloadable files. 

 

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I think it may be the licensing companies and the record companies that are the most greedy, not so much the actual artists.  Sony, Warner Bros., Tresona…they all take a big chunk of the sync rights for videos that DCI produces.  As said earlier, I think when COVID hit and the 2020 season was lost, as well as a modified 21 season, the sad financial reality was that DCI could not afford to pay those sync rights licensing fees anymore, even for just the top 12.

I am one of those that has all the DCI media that has ever been offered, and it will be extremely disappointing to not have a crystal clear bluray with DTS sound to watch next Winter and Spring from this season.  I am glad they at least will offer the audio downloads…

 

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This is not the first time DCI has said there will be no BluRays/DVD’s. A few years back, maybe 2014 we had to wait till almost April for the product and there were hints it would be the last year. Last year they said there would be no BluRays since they could not guarantee the sale of the product. I assumed it was due to a smaller number of people in attendance and lesser interest though personally I would have loved a copy. They also had a hard time getting rid of previous years’ BluRays. My guess is there is not enough demand. My understanding is DCI is still hurting from no 2020 season and no Atlanta, San Antonio, and Allentown last year. This is probably why there is no yearbook this year. If you can’t guarantee you’ll make money, it’s better not to take the risk. Unless there’s a surprise in Allentown there’s not even a physical product for the 50th anniversary.

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