they want you to stream it

People don’t buy dvds/blurays anymore

Blurays are a pain in the ass for the industry. They're region locked, require physical production. 4k UHD television is more effectively streamed. Only takes like 11-25 Mbps connection for a clear and detailed picture.

They make more money selling digital copies or through streaming.

As someone who likes to own the shows and films that I really like / love, I do find it annoying but it is what it is.

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The whole Blu-ray system seems needlessly complicated is my point. We're moving to digital, and while physical copies will exist, everything won't go DvD happy. I remember back when every season of a TV show had some extravagant blu-ray package with extras.

How many people buy Blu-Rays anyway though? I doubt it’ll make that much of a difference. Besides, more successful shows have gotten Blu-Ray releases.

>It's one of HBO's most successful dramas.

Is it ??

What part are you questioning? Without question, it is.

As convenient as streaming is, the bitrate is nowhere near as good as BluRay.

Most streams have a bitrate of about 6-8MBps for 1080p or 10-12MBps for 4K. That's not sufficient for a good picture, it results in lots of color banding and artifacts. BluRays have 20-30MBps for 1080p and 50+MBps for 4K.

Not to mention the audio. The best you can get in streams is an AC3 640KBps, while BluRays have 3-4MBps of DTS-HD/TrueHD.

To put it plainly, a 1080p BluRay stretched on a 4K TV would look and sound better than a 4K stream on a 4K TV.

Oh yeah, absolutely. Quality is better. There's no question about that. There was a serious waste problem in the early 2000's with CDs, DVDs, PC gaming, etc. Now, in a world with recovering supply chains and an emphasis on using the least amount of materials, mass producing discs is a total hassle. They're being both cost and environmentally effective by limiting DVD releases. Does that mean we have the best quality shows? Nope. But, we also have far more access than ever before.

You're right. What I don't understand is, they sold Succession's rights to many streaming platforms in Europe, just as same as they did for HotD or even lesser known shows like Station Eleven, yet the latter two got a BluRay release, while Succession didn't. I doubt Station Eleven (or even Perry Mason S1, which also got a BluRay release) are more profitable than Succession.

But yeah, it is what it is.

Yes

Definitely makes sense about the e-waste. I didn't think of it as much, but with the current supply situation and the environmental damage, could be the case.

I also believe this arrangement gives the Movie Theaters an enduring quality. Sure, they aren't something we all may visit even once a year -- but when we do, we're due for a truly unique experience. Whether that's a sporting event, a film, or the premiere of a show.

The Station Eleven is a Paramount produced/distributed show, not by HBO Max/Warner. Warner just bought the rights to stream it but they don't own it.

> when other lesser known/older HBO shows are already out.

have any of the newer HBO originals besides House of the Dragon been released on bluray? i don't think so tbh. not since HBO Max. Euphoria hasn't been released on Blu-ray either. Only House of the Dragon and stuff co-produced with Sky like We Are Who We Are and Chernobyl.

How many post GoT finale new shows you see on BluRay tho?

You’re getting downvotes, but I think you’re right with the caveat “don’t buy dvds in the numbers required to support the industry anymore”

Peacemaker, but maybe it's treated differently being under the DC umbrella

House of the Dragon. His Dark Materials. Winning Time: The Rise of the L.A. Lakers. Perry Mason. Westworld. The Undoing. Lovecraft Country.

And that's just HBO. Want to look at other Warner-related Blu-rays that aren't HBO? Peacemaker. Doom Patrol. Titans. Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal. Superman & Lois. The Flash. Naomi. Legends of Tomorrow. Batwoman. Supernatural. Doctor Who. Coming out this coming Tuesday: Filmation's 1968 The Adventures of Batman. Coming out a month after that: the complete series of Duck Dodgers. All on Blu-ray Disc.

u/el_filipo (OP) - Since S1 came out on both DVD and Blu-ray, but S2 and S3 of Succession only came out on DVD, it's quite possible that an MOD (Manufacture On Demand) release of Succession S2 and also S3 will happen eventually. It was just announced that S4 will be the final season, right? So maybe to tie in with that? We'll see.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2022/05/15/the-inevitable-downfall-of-the-dvd-threatened-by-streaming-platforms_5983592_19.html#:~:text=DVD%20sales%20have%20plummeted%20by,by%20new%20film%20distribution%20regulations.&text=6%20min.

Completion owned.

Not many, but still some. Perry Mason, Hacks, Peacemaker, Raised by Wolves, Westworld, Mare of Easttown, Watchmen, maybe some others too

Physical media lul

I feel that coincidentally, since season 1 was released by HBO Home Entertainment, while the DVDs for seasons 2 and 3 are released by Warner Bros Home Entertainment could be a factor in why they stopped releasing Blu-rays.

Physical media is just waste and clutter nowadays

my hope is we get a boxset after the series wraps this year

That could also be a James Gunn thing; he seems the type to insist on his stuff getting a physical release

Season 1 released on DVD/BD in 2018. S2 came out on DVD only in September 2020.

In January 2020, SDS Media was formed as a joint venture of Warner (then owned by AT&T) and NBCUniversal (owned by Comcast) to release all physical media from those studios for at least 10 years. Warner always released DVDs, BDs, and 4K UHDs from HBO, so all HBO items were then put out by SDS.

If SDS chooses not to release a title on physical media into traditional brick&mortar stores, then the studio can choose to work with Allied Vaughn - the foremost North American distributor of Manufacture On Demand content - to release the item as an MOD title available exclusively online.

AV even has their own webstore, called MovieZyng, to ensure that every title they sell can be purchased (even if other sellers like Amazon or Deep Discount or whoever decide not to offer it).