Physical & Digital EST: The Future of Home Video Discussion Thread

[Lee A Stewart]

Studios Debate When to Sell Movies to Streaming Services During Coronavirus

https://variety.com/2020/biz/news/ho...rs-1234623599/

[Lee A Stewart]

So today I took one step backwards . . . to normality. Had a doctors appointment at 11 AM. Her office is just a couple of miles away from one of our favorite stores which sells used BDs and DVDs. They just reopened two days ago so we went after the appointment. The only thing reminding me of the present were the masks we had to wear. Picked up Ghost In The Shell SAC 2nd Gig BD for $8. Still waiting for their main store to reopen which is less than 1/2 mile from where I live. Should be next week. DVDs run either 99 cents or $1.25. Box sets at $3.99. BDs are $2.99 and $3.99 with box sets at $7.95. All guaranteed to play.

Now if we can get our local Burger King to offer in-store dining (still drive thru only) which is across the street from the disc store . . . that will be a BIG step to normal for us.

Losing faith that our favorite restaurant; Hong Kong Buffet isn't going to reopen. We ate there every Saturday night for years. Still have my fingers crossed they will somehow reopen. Great food and sushi for $11.50 per person.

[thisis2]

..would the panasonic EB820 be a more reliable 4k player compared to the sony x700.?..i think they both have dolby vision but the x700 has had freezing issue complaints by a number of customers....which model would better upscale 1080p blu-rays..?...thanks for any info

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by thisis2

..would the panasonic EB820 be a more reliable 4k player compared to the sony x700.?..i think they both have dolby vision but the x700 has had freezing issue complaints by a number of customers....which model would better upscale 1080p blu-rays..?...thanks for any info

I have a X700 and UB420 and my experience is the penny is much more reliable.

Also Dolby Vision itself seems buggy. I've been reading more about that lately.

[Vilya]

The Panasonic UB420 is more comparable to the newer Sony X800M2 and they both sell for about $250. The Panasonic UB820 is comparable to the Sony X1100ES as both of these sell for about $500. Comparing a $200 Sony X700 to a $500 Panasonic UB820 is a bit of a mismatch.

Again, my only beef with Sony's 4K disc players is having to manually select Dolby Vision while my concern with Panasonic 4K disc players are the persistent reports that they do a poorer job with the upscaling of DVDs. I still watch a lot of DVDs, so that rules out the Panny's for me.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

Now if we can get our local Burger King to offer in-store dining (still drive thru only) which is across the street from the disc store . . . that will be a BIG step to normal for us.

I would not eat at Burger King on a bet. Placing one of my old sneakers between a bun would make for a better burger.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by bhampton

I hate ads. I"m out of streaming and more and more

[Show spoiler]off line in general because news and current events are so disgusting that I don't feel the need to participate in most of it... my kids can have the steaming. I'm glad that movies I buy come with the online version I can share with them... I'm collecting movies. I'm also at least middle aged so exactly how I spend my time may not matter as much because I'm not part of whatever current wave is going through the youth mind.

I've never watched much TV apart from using it to get to actual original content. Where I live I get no Over the Air reception at all. My parents will watch movies they own on disc on TV with commercials, cropped, edited, and censored because that's just life.

Even if they stop making physical media I have arrived at 2000 movies I find enjoyable to revisit including Jaws, James Bond, ET, Star Wars, LotR, Game of Thrones, .... there's too much of what I want and have for me to endure ads for something that may be worth while.

-Brian

Ads are why I cancelled my cable TV subscription in 2014. In decades past an hour of TV broadcasts contained about 9 minutes of commercials per hour. Today, we get nearly 20 minutes of commercials per hour. One third of every broadcast hour are for ads; I refuse to pay to watch ads about erectile dysfunction, bladder control issues, and constipation on a continuous loop.

As I use subscription streaming so infrequently, I don't care much what they do. An ad or trailer before a show is tolerable, but ads that interrupt the show are not unless the service is free -which, for me, they all are.

[thisis2]

Originally Posted by bhampton

I have a X700 and UB420 and my experience is the penny is much more reliable.

Also Dolby Vision itself seems buggy. I've been reading more about that lately.

...may i ask whether the freeze image / locking problem you had with the x700 occcurred during playback of 1080p blu-rays or only with 4k uhd discs , as was considering purchasing both , the sony for the upscale quality of 1080p blu-ray discs /dvds and the panasonic for uhd 4k disc playback reliability...thanks for any info..

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by thisis2

...may i ask whether the freeze image / locking problem you had with the x700 occcurred during playback of 1080p blu-rays or only with 4k uhd discs , as was considering purchasing both , the sony for the upscale quality of 1080p blu-ray discs /dvds and the panasonic for uhd 4k disc playback reliability...thanks for any info..

I only remember it happening with 4Ks.

Also,... the FW update made it happen a lot less. My theory is it over heats and it would be simple to hook a USB fan up to the USB port and run it without the cover on... it may work fine that way.

Perhaps even just mating the heatsink to the CPU better would solve it.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by thisis2

...may i ask whether the freeze image / locking problem you had with the x700 occcurred during playback of 1080p blu-rays or only with 4k uhd discs , as was considering purchasing both , the sony for the upscale quality of 1080p blu-ray discs /dvds and the panasonic for uhd 4k disc playback reliability...thanks for any info..

It sounds like you prefer Discs, but with the problems with Disc Players that you have talked about have you tried Streaming? If you have good Bandwidth and a good large 4K Display, you should have source access to Streaming Providers. The Quality of Streaming keeps improving, and with more Streaming Providers you should not deprive yourself with access to their Content.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

The major battle of the 2020 streaming wars will be over ads

https://www.fastcompany.com/90444295...ll-be-over-ads

Which leads into the great bubble popping with numerous online ad tracking firms disappearing forever.

The online advertising industry is a huge bubble waiting to burst - Medium from 11/10/2019 before Pandemic.

The internet advertising industry has managed to create a product that we hate so much that we install adblockers. Advertising not only makes us unhappy, but aspects such as behavioral advertising and ultra-segmentation now pose a real danger to our societies and even our democracy.

Don't kid your yourself firms that pitch more and more of this, the public hates you. Fair warning if you're a internet subscription service and start using ads you will not be popular and will loose subscribers.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by alchav21

It sounds like you prefer Discs, but with the problems with Disc Players that you have talked about have you tried Streaming? If you have good Bandwidth and a good large 4K Display, you should have source access to Streaming Providers. The Quality of Streaming keeps improving, and with more Streaming Providers you should not deprive yourself with access to their Content.

Really do you sell used cars also? Hey this one gets great milage and after you driven it for awhile the ride gets better and better!

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

Which leads into the great bubble popping with numerous online ad tracking firms disappearing forever.

The online advertising industry is a huge bubble waiting to burst - Medium from 11/10/2019 before Pandemic.



Don't kid your yourself firms that pitch more and more of this, the public hates you. Fair warning if you're a internet subscription service and start using ads you will not be popular and will loose subscribers.

People will be delighted to watch ads if they get a free service. Trust me. The old way of so many ads will struggle but things will be more subtle than that.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by alchav21

The Quality of Streaming keeps improving, and with more Streaming Providers you should not deprive yourself with access to their Content.

Why do you keep repeating this BS? Exactly what do you believe has improved? Others and myself have pointed you to you little has changed in the last 5 years as to video compression.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by alchav21

It sounds like you prefer Discs, but with the problems with Disc Players that you have talked about have you tried Streaming? If you have good Bandwidth and a good large 4K Display, you should have source access to Streaming Providers. The Quality of Streaming keeps improving, and with more Streaming Providers you should not deprive yourself with access to their Content.

The quality of streaming has been unchanged for years and you know it. Bitrates are unchanged; the codecs are unchanged; and your disinformation is unchanged.

[Vilya]

My copy of Jaws on 4K disc just arrived; the other two items in this order are still out sight seeing, apparently. Oh well, something trickles in almost every day like an endless movie holiday.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Vilya

The quality of streaming has been unchanged for years and you know it. Bitrates are unchanged; the codecs are unchanged; and your disinformation is unchanged.

I think if alchav21 would buy a 8K AI upscaling display with 8K YouTube supported he can watch improved streaming. Just think he could be one of the few to watch that.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

I think if alchav21 would buy a 8K AI upscaling display with 8K YouTube supported he can watch improved streaming. Just think he could be one of the few to watch that.

Why would he? Most streamers like him are too cheap to pay for upgrades. He already thinks that what he gets looks and sounds "Fantastic!"

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Why do you keep repeating this BS? Exactly what do you believe has improved? Others and myself have pointed you to you little has changed in the last 5 years as to video compression.

Originally Posted by Vilya

The quality of streaming has been unchanged for years and you know it. Bitrates are unchanged; the codecs are unchanged; and your disinformation is unchanged.

Originally Posted by PenguinInfinity

As the images in his memory deteriorate, alchav thinks that every time he streams it looks better than the last.

You guys keep scaring off all the Digital people, but I keep hanging on. I think people have to decide for themselves, not just listen to you guys. I watched Jaws in 4K Digital the other night, and it looked Amazing....Really enjoyed it again. There is a lot more to Streaming than straight Bitrate, there is also HDR now and the Bitrate has gone up into the 30's like with MA. Streaming Providers are always working with Quality to bring the very best for their service. We all know that only the Strong will Survive, and the weak ones will die off. The Streaming Wars will Show Case only the Very Best!

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by alchav21

You guys keep scaring off all the Digital people, but I keep hanging on. I think people have to decide for themselves, not just listen to you guys. I watched Jaws in 4K Digital the other night, and it looked Amazing....Really enjoyed it again. There is a lot more to Streaming than straight Bitrate, there is also HDR now and the Bitrate has gone up into the 30's like with MA. Streaming Providers are always working with Quality to bring the very best for their service. We all know that only the Strong will Survive, and the weak ones will die off. The Streaming Wars will Show Case only the Very Best!

You can rest assured that no one is being scared off; we each continue to do as we choose. As for your "hanging on", being persistently wrong is not a virtue, but you have made it your trademark. Repeating the falsehood that streaming quality is improving does not make it so; it just underscores how delusional you are.

The bitrates for Movies Anywhere and Apple 4KTV peak near 30 Mbps for their 4K streams whereas a 4K disc can peak as high as 144 Mbps; there is no comparison. HDR is nothing new and it is affected by compression and streaming uses the most compression by far. Further, a 4K disc often offers lossless audio while streaming is still lossy- not that a wireless headphone user like yourself who is content with fake surround sound would ever care.

There is nothing new about any of this; the bitrates for Movies Anywhere and Apple 4KTV have not changed. Streaming providers haven't done anything to improve quality in years; they do not need to because their lower standard customers, like you, are satisfied already.

Improvements to streaming would use more bandwidth and using more bandwidth would cost more money and streaming customers like you want to pay less, not more. If streaming services were to offer a premium plan that offered higher bitrates at an increased price I am confident that you, and most streaming customers, would not pay an extra cent to get it.

No one cares that you prefer streaming. Most of us here use it to varying degrees. We have not seen, or heard, any improvements to streaming's quality in a very long time. 4K streaming with HDR is NOT new and each streaming service's bitrates and codecs remain unchanged. If you are going to persist in this folly of saying that streaming is improving, be specific and show us exactly how, where, and when it happened. Nothing you have been parroting is anything new at all.

If by strong, you mean popular, yes, streaming is popular. Cheap and convenient always is. Thankfully, there is something far better for the more discerning person: 4K discs and blu-rays.