What MEDIUM do I use for giving out copies of a video in 2021?

[Gameshow Host]

I've started digitizing all my old home movies and planning to make sure everyone who was in them gets a copy of the videos. It's going to be a large number of people from all walks of life.

So what MEDIUM do I use? It needs to be something the majority of people can play.

I'm a little out of touch. I used to give out DVDs, in fact I still make DVDs for some people. I am aware of Blu-ray but don't know how mainstream that is, or if there's something new instead. Or perhaps even it's common for people to give each other SD cards? Or something else? I don't have a clue!

[Skiller]

I am aware of Blu-ray but don't know how mainstream that is

Not as mainstream as DVD. Plus, the only real benefit for standard definition video on Blu-ray would be you can fit more playtime on a Blu-ray than a DVD. For a 4.7 GB DVD and shaky, noisy analog home videos expect to fit a maximum of 90 minutes in good quality on a disc. More than that and you are starting to lose quality rapidly and should consider adding another DVD.

Or perhaps even it's common for people to give each other SD cards?

Not common.
What can be considered common is uploading it to a cloud service. I think Dropbox is pretty good but there are tons.

Maybe you should consider doing both because it is easy to share a link once it's uploaded but others might prefer to watch it on their TV using a DVD. It would require making and optimizing two different encodes however, one for uploading and one for DVD.

[sophisticles]

You could just buy a bunch of cheap USB thumb drives, one for each person, put the movies on those and give those to whoever you want.

I can't remember the last time I watched a DVD or Blu-Ray, and I have a ton of DVD's and Blu-rays as well as DVD and Blu-ray players, but I just don't use them anymore.

[Gameshow Host]

Thank you both!

Maybe you should consider doing both because it is easy to share a link once it's uploaded but others might prefer to watch it on their TV using a DVD.

Good idea. I'll probably do just that! DVD and a cloud service. (Not Dropbox though, I hate that site!)

It would require making and optimizing two different encodes however, one for uploading and one for DVD.

That's not a problem at all.