JB Hi-Fi has released its half-year earnings report for 2018 and once again, the Blu-ray and DVD categories have taken a big hit. Software sales (which includes music, movies and video games) fell by 6.5 per cent compared to the first half of FY2017. This was despite a healthy rise in profits for the Games category.

In other words, JB's movie sales are declining at an even faster rate than the above figure suggests. The act of physically placing a disc into a Blu-ray player could soon be as outmoded as VHS tape. Blame Netflix.

Judging by the level of interest in our release-date post, a lot of you are keen to get your hands on a copy of Planet Earth II. For a limited time, you can score 20 per cent off the sticker price of the DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD at JB Hi-Fi. Here are the details.

Physical entertainment is on its last legs -- and they're getting gammier by the month. Before we know it, DVDs and Blu-rays will have gone the way of LaserDisc and VHS tape. To the streamers and torrenters of the world this will be viewed as no big loss: they think it's an obsolete format that's overpriced, prone to scratches and less convenient than digital downloads.

But not me. Here's why I'm sticking with discs to the bitter end, and why you should too. (Also, get off my lawn.)

Dear Lifehacker, I have made many trips to Bali and now have over 100 cheap DVDs purchased from market stalls over there. I like to travel but carrying around 100 DVDs isn't very efficient. I was thinking about moving them onto my MacBook but don't want to get in trouble for breaking copyright. Am I allowed to transfer these DVDs to a MacBook or is this considered pirating?

When it comes to movies and TV shows, physical media is definitely on its last legs. For traditionalists, this just means that prices have never been better! JB Hi-Fi is in the midst of a massive clearance sale with more than 350 DVDs and Blu-rays going for under $10. Here are 50 hand-picked titles that everybody should have in their collection. To make life easy, we've also included links to each deal.

Dear Lifehacker, since January of this year I've been looking to buy an external Blu Ray burner so I can burn Blu-rays and DVDs to watch on my TV. Every site has their own "Top 10" but they're all different. I'm not looking for the greatest, but at the same time I don't want to spend 20 bucks on a piece of junk. I'm on an iMac that's only a year old -- so it's not an outdated paperweight.

The fourth season of HBO's fantasy TV series Game Of Thrones finally arrives on DVD and Blu-ray this week. We take a look at the different versions that are available, the special features on each disc and the cheapest places to pick it up locally.

The Australian Home Entertainment Distributors Association (AHEDA) has released its market data for 2014. In a trend that will surprise few Lifehacker readers, physical disc sales continue to dwindle. What's more surprising is that the decline was roughly identical in the Blu-ray (BD) and DVD categories. Could the era of Full HD physical media be almost over?

JB Hi-Fi's latest financial results have revealed a marked drop in software sales (music, movies and games), with the business category down 11.9 per cent compared to same period in 2012. This is despite the hotly-anticipated release of next-generation video games for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Could the balance be shifting towards digital media as more consumers embrace tricked-out media centres? Is piracy to blame? Or has the quality of software just been a bit crap this year?

UltraViolet (UV) is a cloud-based video distribution service designed to give you instant access to your entertainment library via any device you see fit. The main selling point of UV is that all your purchases will be stored under the one account, regardless of the retailer, media player or hardware platform you happen to be using at the time of purchase.

The US government is ramping up those irritating anti-piracy warnings on DVDs, now forcing viewers to watch two unskippable warnings every time they watch a movie they have actually paid good money for. Australia hasn't gone as far down that path yet, but commercial DVDs often do still feature one warning you can't fast-forward through. The question is: are those warnings actually counter-productive?

Dear Lifehacker, I know a lot of video players (like PotPlayer) can play any video file out there, but why are there so many video formats in the first place? Is there a real difference between DivX and XviD, or MP4 and MKV? When I rip a DVD, or go hunting for downloads, which format is the best to use?

Ashampoo's paid version of their Burning Studio program rated highly in our recent app directory series for best disc burning app for Windows. It wasn't the first choice, as it normally costs a cool $US50, but is available as a free download from The Download Crew's Giveaway site for the next 26 hours (at time of writing).

Linux has a few disc burning apps available, but our favourite is undoubtedly the powerful K3b.

Windows has more disc-burning apps than we can count, but a few notable programs stand out from the pack. Our favourite is CDBurnerXP for its long list of features and easy-to-use interface.

Ever since Apple introduced disc burning into Mac OS X, third-party software stopped seeing much development. While there aren't a ton of disc-burning apps still in the running, Burn still stands strong as our top choice thanks to its simplicity, powerful feature set and $0 price tag.

Being able to watch TV or listen to music while you run is one of the major benefits of running on a treadmill. But for those of you who would rather run outside, but can't due to weather or health reasons, you can actually use race course DVDs to simulate the experience.

We've shown you how to manually create a bootable Mac OS X Lion DVD or thumb drive, but now an app called Lion DiskMaker can automate the process for you. You just download it, insert the media you want to use to create your install, and let it take care of the rest.

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 has made more money on its first day in Australia than any other film in history. That's no surprise given the success of the Potter franchise, but it's also emblematic of the dominant trend in today's movie industry: sequels are the easiest way to turn a dollar.