Let’s start with the most essential element of the home viewing experience: the picture and sound quality. When it comes to picture and sound quality, even the best streaming lags behind physical media But even more than that, owning movies yourself helps build an emotional connection that’s hard to replicate with streaming.

If you did find movies on disc under this tree this year, or if you picked up a few with holiday gift cards, count yourself lucky: Physical media remains superior to streaming in nearly every way as a technical experience. But over the past decade, as disc sales have dropped and streaming video services have displaced physical media, it’s an experience that’s become far less common: Why purchase a single movie for someone when Netflix, Amazon Prime, and a growing number of other streaming services offer libraries with thousands of films and TV shows for a monthly price less than the cost of a single new movie on disc? DVDs, and later Blu-Rays, were the go-to gifts from people who love movies to people who love movies. A dozen years ago, it was common for film fans to wake up on Christmas morning and find a trove of DVDs under the tree.

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