Yes, hiring something for a time is invariably cheaper than buying something. Plus streaming services will lose the rights to things over time.
You could also purchase things digitally if you wanted. I have an entirely library of movies on DVD that I haven't even touched in over 10 years. Not a single rewatch. Why? They are inconvenient. I've pretty much gone full digital for everything. Yes, I may lose a bit of quality depending on quality of stream or whether it's a actual digital download. But for me, and everyone I know, the potential loss of detail at typical living room distances is typically unnoticeable unless the stream is really bad. On my computer where I sit ~3 feet from my display, I would probably notice, but I don't watch movies at my computer desk. Heck, in Japan where you typically sit much closer to the TV than you do in the US, digital streaming/distribution is still taking off rapidly.
I keep meaning to take my entire DVD collection (hundreds of movies) down to the local charitable thrift shop to donate, but laziness (that's a LOT of DVDs to move
) has meant they continue to take up space here for no reason. If I invested in BluRay to replace my DVD collection, the same thing would end up happening. Except in rare cases, ownership is over-rated. Out of that collection during the time when I did a lot of movie watching on DVD from ~1997-2006 it was very rare to watch a DVD more than once. And the ones I watched more than 3-4 times likely comprised just 2-3% of my entire collection.
I know a lot of people that still use physical media (BluRay) for movie viewing. But I also know quite a few people that have ditched physical media entirely and that group grows yearly, while the group that continues to buy physical doesn't. Yes, personal anecdotes and all that.
Countries with significantly worse internet than the US probably wouldn't be too practical to go all digital, I'll admit.
Regards,
SB