The world of digital media has been changing rapidly over the last few years, and with streaming services, Smart TV’s, Tablets and Smartphones truly taking hold we’ve started to see a transition from films and music being published on a physical disc (or indeed the good old days of VHS!) to them being purchased, watched and shared entirely online. When it comes to your wedding film though is it better to have a DVD sent to you or just to keep it online in “the cloud”? Time for our two debaters to step into the ring and go head to head to find out which is better – DVD vs Online Only
In the Red Corner, fighting on behalf of DVD’s everywhere, she seemingly mostly enjoys having DVD’s so that she can wind her husband up by putting them back in the wrong boxes, it’s Dom “The Tog Bride”
In the Blue Corner, fighting for online only, although to be fair he might just be grumpy because he has to actually make the bloomin’ things… it’s Matt “The Gormless Groom”
DVD Vs Online Only
FIGHT!!!
Image Courtesy jorgensenalbums.com
Dom: Your wedding film isn’t like other films you might go out and buy, it’s something really special and personal to you and I think somehow you feel much more attachment and affection towards the DVD than you would if it was just something you can watch online.
Matt: DVD’s are an ageing technology and will very soon become virtually redundant just like VHS video tapes did. Even the higher quality Blu-ray has failed to take off fully as digital downloads have become the norm. Having your film online means that it will remain accessible for the foreseeable future and, being a digital file, should be much easier to convert to play on any future technology than having to rip the file off a DVD and potentially lose some of the quality in the process.
Dom: There’s something really special about receiving your DVD in the post and opening up all of the packaging and then gathering your family around, seeing your names pop up on the menu and reliving the best day of your lives on the big TV rather than just watching it on a computer or tablet.
Matt: But Smart TV’s are now relatively inexpensive and are starting to take over which allow you to stream online videos directly onto your TV so that you can still have everyone gather round to watch it in perfect quality.
Dom: Streaming services are often slow to load and if you don’t have a fast internet connection can make your film virtually unwatchable!
Matt: Most streaming services (including Vimeo – the most commonly used service by wedding videographers) can allow you to download the film so that you can avoid any streaming issues.
Dom: Sometimes though servers can be down or the company could go bust and your video could end up being taken offline either for long periods when you want to watch it or even permanently. Surely it’s better to have a hard copy that is totally under your own control
Matt: Again it should be possible to download the film, but DVD’s are equally likely to go wrong or get scratches on them leaving you with a film that skips huge chunks of the action. If anything did go wrong then as long as your videographer has another copy they should be able to upload another version to a different server often much faster than they could send out a new DVD to you.
Dom: DVD’s also make great gifts for family members, particularly older friends and family who may not be as up to speed with the online digital world and would prefer to have a DVD to watch. Sending a digital file as a present doesn’t work in quite the same way.
Matt: The resolution and picture quality that films are shot in is constantly increasing, with 4K resolution now being introduced as the new standard and 8K not too far over the horizon. DVD’s are too far outdated in terms of their capacity and are not even equipped to handle the current High definition standard of 1080p, let alone 4000p!
So those are our points but where do you stand? Would you be happy with a video purely in the cloud or would you prefer to have a physical disc to play? We’d love for you to join the debate in the comments section or you can simply place your vote via the poll below!
[yop_poll id=”28″]
