While I go for Blu Rays if a big part of a film's appeal is its visuals, I still buy DVDs if it's like a drama or something, as they're still $10-$20 cheaper.

Just this year for instance I grabbed Nuremberg on DVD.

I have never even seen a laser disc in real life. The format was never popular in Sweden even as a nisch for entusiasts. 

Yeah it wasn't popular here either, my brother who was a huge nerd is the only person I ever knew who had one.

We didn't even get DVD in our household until like 2003 I think.

The first time I got in touch with a DVD was when I started my professional training in 1999. Everybody said, that it's not even the better image quality compared to VHS, it's the fact that you have special additional content on the disc besides the movie, like outtakes and interviews.

DVD turns 30. I turned 40. Apple turned 50 this year, and Adam Sandler turned 60.

I distincly remember in the late 90s we were switching from VHS to DVD, and living through that. Disney movies were the first we got in DVD format, notably the classic like Cinderella, Lion King, Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland.

I got a DVD player for Christmas around 2002 or 2003. It came with copies of The Full Monty and James and the Giant Peach. I watched neither (although I'd seen The Full Monty before).

I mainly got it as I wanted to watch music DVDs (mainly live stuff). Great memories of watching the below over and over, or picking and choosing songs if time was short.

Alice Cooper - Alice Cooper Trashes the World
Alice Cooper - Brutally Live
Children of Bodom - Trashed, Lost & Strungout
Edguy - Superheroes
Korn - Live at Hammerstein
Kreator - Live Kreation
Metallica - Cunning Stunts
Metallica - S&M
Ozzy Osbourne - Live at Budokan

Also, in the times before streaming, getting a DVD box set and binge watching a season of things like 24 and Prison Break was a very enjoyable experience.

Which interestingly enough LaserDisc had some of that extra content, depending on the release. LaserDisc is more inconvenient than DVD. Even CLV LaserDiscs can only store 1 hour of video per side. The first LaserDisc of Star Wars even sped up the film by a few percentage points so that everything would fit on one disc over two sides. The pre-Special Edition version of the film is 2 hrs, 1 min. That barely exceeds the LaserDisc limit per disc.

DVD does have its advantages besides better picture quality, as you said. Extras (which LaserDisc had sometimes), menus, no rewinding, and so on. The best thing about VHS is stopping right where you left off. DVD, Blu-ray, and UHD Blu-ray do not support this universally. 

I lived in Amsterdam and there were 3 stores that sold LaserDiscs. They were a lot more expensive than VHS, like 3x to 5x more expensive. The special edition boxsets were awesome though (and even more expensive, $100+ movie boxsets in the 90s)

I got this boxset at the time, still have the movie cell framed hanging on the wall

The disadvantage of LaserDisc was the choice between CLV or CAV discs, constant linear or angular velocity. The CAV discs had 1 frame per rotation so perfect pause possible but the picture quality varied from inside to outside, and only 30 minutes (NTSC) to 36 minutes (PAL) per side. (60 vs 50 interlaced fps, where PAL conversions ran 4% faster mapping 24fps to 25fps, NTSC conversions using 3:2 pulldown filter introducing judder. Sound also had slightly higher pitch on PAL movies) CLV discs could store up to 60 minutes per side. 

Anyway the player would move the head around to the other side in the middle of the movie, took a while to spin the disc down, move the head and spin it back up in the other direction. And some movies you also had to swap discs mid way. Plus those things turned fast up to 1800 rpm, going just over 100 kph at the outer edge. 

DVD box sets were quite a step back after LD, nowadays the flimsy boxes hardly hold together :/ But DVD was quite the space saver! And those LDs were heavy! Up to 500 grams per disc (avg 250 grams, DVD 16 grams). It really felt like you were 'putting a movie on'.

I wonder if Laserdisc will ever make a comeback like records. There were HD laserdiscs as well (Hi-Vision / MUSE 1080i) in the 90s but never got out of Japan.



DVD really was just a stepping stone until blu-ray, but streaming put an end to physical format before blu-ray could really take hold. Which also put a big stop on special features and commentary tracks. 1990-2010 was the golden age for home theater movies with the best sound mixes and lots of extras.

Something interesting I felt like saying on this thread, and it's advice I got on a thread I made after getting a PS2 Slim.
I don't recommend using game consoles for watching DVDs and other discs, or especially consoles that you can run the game fully off the disc. Consoles like PS2 and Xbox 360 will have the laser and disc tray worn down over time with regular DVD watching. I don't plan on watching DVDs or listening to CDs on my PS2 Slim. I barely watch discs on more modern consoles like PS5. I have a standalone UHD Blu-ray player for that,
DVD players are still cheap and plentiful. You can get them at thrift stores, online marketplaces and most stores that carry electronics.

I have to call out how awesome that Fantasia box set is.
One of my favourite animated films of all time.

Agreed, those laserdisc boxes were awesome.

I know a lot of people on this site dislike Apple, so I apologize in advance for acting like their pimp 😄
But Apple seems to be the only digital service carrying the torch for the DVD-experience in the digital space (maybe the Criterion channel does too? Not sure). 

On the special features for TV shows, Apple TV+ has a less standardized way of doing things than others (which is just show, extras, recommendations, info), sometimes going overboard on extra-features beyond just the trailers and in depth looks. There is other sorts of bonus content, and some of it similar to the old DVD easter eggs.

For example, Apple TV+'s alternative history show about NASA For All Mankind, which takes place across more than half a century, will open each season with vignettes representing each year up to the beginning of where that season begins and podcasts about each episode (which, I believe Disney does too, just as a separate unlinked entry); but on top of that will be additional bonus side-content that will unlock as you watch through the show.
A quick peak into the menu:

Films on Apple TV+ and direct digital purchase get a little more fun with their iTunes Extras. They work similar to the old DVD with all sorts of different features like  documentaries, director and cast commentary, outtakes, deleted and alternate scenes, (depending on device, for example, through the Roku TV app, it looks more like Disney+ or Netflix):

It even has the old DVD scene bookmarks if you want to navigate that way: