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Director Ridley Scott: Streaming Media Stinks
Director Ridley Scott is dismayed with all the hype given to streaming and mobile media for movie viewing.
In a Huffington Post column, Scott says the public has become "preoccupied" with "this era of innovation" and it disregards what's most important: sound and video quality.
"In my view, the only way to see a film remains the way the filmmaker intended: inside a large movie theater with great sound and pristine picture. Music and dialogue that doesn't fully reproduce the soundtrack of the original loses an essential element for its appreciation," the director of "Alien" and "Gladiator" writes. "Simply put, the film loses its power."
He goes on the say Blu-ray discs are "the closest we've come to replicating the best theatrical viewing experience I've ever seen. It allows us to present in a person's living room films in their original form with proper colors, aspect ratio, sound quality, and, perhaps most importantly, startling clarity."
He advises no one to write off "physical media," which he believes will be around for years.
"Far from being dead, physical media has years of life left and must be preserved because there is no better alternative. Pundits aside, Blu-ray for the foreseeable future remains the finest technology to preserve the impact and enjoyment of watching movies at home," he adds.
"We've come a long way from those flickering, silent screens which were accompanied only by a person playing a piano. What has remained constant is that people then and now have always sought out the magic one feels after watching a truly memorable film," he says. "For movie lovers it doesn't matter whether that magic comes at a theater or through a disc, an electronic stream, a satellite or a wireless device as long as it is delivered through the best possible experience."
Scott's comments about a new video technology are reminiscent of what "Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola's told CE Pro last year during a SIM2 event about 3D being "tiresome."
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6 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
Ridley Scott is 100% correct, the creation of a film is made to be viewed on a big screen in an audience setting.
We design and build home theaters..but it really only lets you see the story not live the experience .......home theater is a good second choice.
Is “stinks” a technical cinematic term?
Dear Ridley Scott:
I like your work, most of it anyway. So I’ll cut you some slack. When the rest of Hollywood starts actually making movies, rather than making sequels, re-doing old movies, and A-Team rip offs (oops, that was you). Then I’ll start worrying about the quality of my streaming device. Until then, I’ll keep streaming the movies because they’re not worth buying, or even driving to rent. If you expect me to get in my car and drive 3 minutes up the road for the pieces of crap you guys are churning out, you sir are mistaken. There’s an old adage in the AV industry, Garbage in/Garbage out.
Now stop worrying about how I’m watching movies, and start worrying about making a movie that’s worth owning. Oh, I forgot you’re going the sequel, doh!, I mean “pre”-quel route with your new movie. What? Out of good ideas?
Physical media allowed people to watch movies at home vs the theater. It became popular because its convenient.
Streaming will continue to grow in popularity because its more convenient.
Umm, theatrical exhibition is often streamed via satellite today.
The problem isn’t the conduit, it’s the bandwidth, and the consistency thereof. Most home feeds do not approach 2D BD today, and are not promising for 3D, which might be a subtext of Ridley’s rant.
Netflix at an unreliable 2 Mpbs stinks, but so does much of the available content 
For non-stink titles, we rely on BD. But BD, alas, is the new LaserDisc. The market for quality home theatre may always be a niche.
Good article, confusing headline. I agree with Mr. Scott, I’m no fan of streaming media over even a good DVD. But the public is willing to give up quality for convenience (see iPod). I think Mr. Scott may be optimistic. Also, streaming media is getting better as bandwidth increases - who knows where it will be in 2, 3, 5 years.