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

[Lee A Stewart]

Vudu Mounting Sci-Fi and Fantasy Title Sale

Fandango’s TVOD service Vudu is mounting several sales on science-fiction and fantasy titles.

Taking place Aug. 31 through Sept. 13 is Vudu’s Summer of Savings: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Sale, featuring more than a hundred titles at 25% off, such as blockbuster bundles including the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Star Trek and Godzilla franchises, as well as recent titles such as Nicolas Cage’s Willy’s Wonderland, Anthony Mackie’s Synchronic and Bruce Willis’ Cosmic Sin. Also included in the sale are: Avatar, Labyrinth, Interstellar, Ready Player One, They Live, Limitless, Arrival, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Total Recall, War of the Worlds (2005) and Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow.

Other sci-fi-related sales include the Marvel Studios sale, Aug. 31-Sept. 8, with titles up to 60% off (select titles such as Black Panther and Captain Marvel for $7.99, with the four-movie Avengers collection for $29.99); “Pixar Fest,” Aug. 31-Sept. 15, with select Pixar titles, such as Luca, Onward, Up and WALL-E, available at $9.99 each; and 1950s films at $5 each Aug. 31-Sept. 14, including The Incredible Shrinking Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, It Came from Outer Space, It Came from Beneath the Sea, It! The Terror from Beyond Space and The War of the Worlds (1953).

https://www.mediaplaynews.com/vudu-m...i-other-sales/

[veritas]

Originally Posted by alchav21

I guess it could be an issue, but I haven't run into anything like this. For VoD I have Amazon and Vudu, and Netflix has Content to access but I don't have any problems. If you have trouble with a Provider let me know who it is and the problems you're having. If a Provider is having problems they should address and fix them, otherwise get out of the business. IMO the majority of the problems are User, ISP, or CDN related!

I see problems with digital rather often. amazon has pretty constant software problems. if you fast forward scrub in vudu or amazon you can generally break audio sync with video somtimes and you can break subtitles sync almost all the time. vudu and iTunes constantly forget whats in your library and randomly delete titles just for them to show up again within a few days for a few days every quarter. vudu also seems to have some type of maintenance problem where videos become unselectable/ unplayable in the evening sometimes. I have also seen amazons app break so you cant turn off or on subtitles at all and upon updating the app the whole browsing section became quite laggy. I also noticed some rather minor bugs on apple tv with disney plus involving scrolling and fast forwarding.

funimation has a glitch where you basically cant play anything you bought that isn't also available for streaming. they also broke the ability to download videos and before they broke downloads they broke the ability to unexpire downloads after 14 days. Basically funimations is a total mess.

The other major thing I have seen cause constant problems is digital copy protection. I don't mind if it actually worked and was stopping copying but it always seems to trigger over stupid stuff like a cable that has 1% more noise. the reliability of digital is basically shot by bad digital copy protection software triggering for no reason.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by alchav21

For VoD I have Amazon and Vudu, and Netflix has Content to access but I don't have any problems.

In Netflix play an episode of The Crown and tell what you think about the video that has motion in it.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by veritas

I see problems with digital rather often.

Using an Apple TV 4K (2021) with Display HUD active I tried several UHD titles in iTunes, Amazon, Disney+, MoviesAnywhere and Vudu. For all vendors the Network Bandwidth would be between 110 Mbps to about 190 Mbps (I have a 300 Mbps service). For iTunes and MA the average video bit rate was about 20 Mbps. Amazon and Vudu average was about 10 Mbps. Disney+ would show title as 4K with Dolby Vision and Atmos but it would only play in HD with Atmos.

Toward the end of testing the ATV hung and required a restart. Went to turn off Display HUD and Developer did not show. Woke the Mac Mini from sleep, opened Xcode and clicked ATV in Device and Developer reappeared in the ATV. It would appear to me Display HUD and Developer on the ATV is not a permanent install. Mac savvy users may know why (pairing?).

My IPTV stance has not changed, without a central governing body streaming hardware and providers has, is and most likely will remain a big CF.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

In Netflix play an episode of The Crown and tell what you think about the video that has motion in it.

I watch Netflix all the time, right now I'm watching Manifest, and I watched he's all that with no motion problems. You say you have a constant 300Mbps. In Netflix now under Help you can test your Network. My test was 75Mbps, now tell me what your test shows?

[veritas]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

In Netflix play an episode of The Crown and tell what you think about the video that has motion in it.

I will say Netflix is probably the best streaming service leagues better then prime vudu and a bit better then itunes. Netflix simply doesn't have many bugs at all. the biggest bug I have seen is a user profile becoming unswitchable which is a pretty minor bug overall. netflix cheats on video quality a bit to maintain lower bandwidths but the way they do it does tend to be less noticeable unless your doing side by side comparisons ( i rarely notice banding or aliasing from their compression which i cant say for other streaming services).

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by veritas

I will say Netflix is probably the best streaming service leagues better then prime vudu and a bit better then itunes.

For a long time I used Netflix test patterns to check various video parameters including the data rate. A while back they replaced the data rate with “Null” . Don't know if they ever included the Network Test (here) for the Apple TV or not but there is not one there now.

Some time soon they will (have ?) remove your ability to order your Watch List.

[cheez avenger]

Got a shipping notice from GRUV that my 4K disc of The Thing is on the way. It doesn't release until next week, technically, so hopefully it gets here before the Labor Day weekend starts.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by alchav21

I watch Netflix all the time, right now I'm watching Manifest, and I watched he's all that with no motion problems. You say you have a constant 300Mbps. In Netflix now under Help you can test your Network. My test was 75Mbps, now tell me what your test shows?

For once, I have to back you up here. No motion issues here either. PS4 watched on a OLED tv. (I don’t watch streaming on projector)

I do see banding and pixelation in darker or challenging scenes though.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Don't know if they ever included the Network Test

Netflix does have a Network Test for Android TV's in Help. Where it tests the Servers and your Speed. My main Sony 4KTV Speed is 75Mbps and my 42" TCL 4KTV Speed is 73.58Mbps!

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by alchav21

I watch Netflix all the time, right now I'm watching Manifest, and I watched he's all that with no motion problems. You say you have a constant 300Mbps. In Netflix now under Help you can test your Network. My test was 75Mbps, now tell me what your test shows?

Oh man. With my "inferior" wireless connection I'm only getting 143.83 Mbps. What's that you were saying about a hard wired connection again?

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by alchav21

I watch Netflix all the time, right now I'm watching Manifest, and I watched he's all that with no motion problems.

Originally Posted by Steedeel

For once, I have to back you up here. No motion issues here either. PS4 watched on a OLED tv.

The Crown was chosen for a specific reason.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Ender14

Oh man. With my "inferior" wireless connection I'm only getting 143.83 Mbps.

Untold millions use wireless without issues. Most devices in my rack are surrounded by a lot of metal so most are wired. No choice but wired for the Oppo and Sony when 19" rack mounted. The Sony has an option to mount with the unit protruding about 37mm so Wi-Fi can be used.

Recent weeks of Netflix test during prime time:

Nvidia Shield Pro - 230 Mbps
Apple TV 4k via Playback HUD - 150 Mbps

Sony UHD BD and BD players - 90 Mbps (100Base-T)

Fire TV Cube - 30 Mbps via Ethernet to USB, 75 Mbps via Wi-Fi (802.11g)

[avs commenter]

My only issues streaming have been when I used a first gen Fire Stick and streaming apps from my Sony disc player. Both were so slow and very unreliable.

I rarely have any issues with my Apple Tv and Roku

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by avs commenter

My only issues streaming have been when I used a first gen Fire Stick and streaming apps from my Sony disc player. Both were so slow and very unreliable.

Models? My UBP-X800 and UBP-X1000ES are very fast loading Netflix, Amazon and Vudu in 3 to 4 seconds. They never miss matching frame rates. Downside, no Atmos from streaming and limited number of apps.

Apple TV 4K (2021) - fast loading of apps and NOW with match frame rate that works. No Atmos from Vudu and no UHD from Disney+ even tho a title shows as 4K. No IR code for Power toggle, no way to create shortcuts to apps. Setting up Display HUD was a PITA.

Nvidia Shield Pro - fast loading of apps and but requires an app for matching frame rate. Still have to manually select 25 for content with 25 Fps. Can do shortcuts via Refresh Rate app.

Roku Ultra - removed from rack.

Amazon Fire TV Cube - gets the job done for a bedroom setup.

[avs commenter]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Models? My UBP-X800 and UBP-X1000ES are very fast loading Netflix, Amazon and Vudu in 3 to 4 seconds. They never miss matching frame rates. Downside, no Atmos from streaming and limited number of apps.

Apple TV 4K (2021) - fast loading of apps and NOW with match frame rate that works. No Atmos from Vudu and no UHD from Disney+ even tho a title shows as 4K. No IR code for Power toggle, no way to create shortcuts to apps. Setting up Display HUD was a PITA.

Nvidia Shield Pro - fast loading of apps and but requires an app for matching frame rate. Still have to manually select 25 for content with 25 Fps. Can do shortcuts via Refresh Rate app.

Roku Ultra - removed from rack.

Amazon Fire TV Cube - gets the job done for a bedroom setup.

BDP-S3700 and X700. The X700 wasn't as bad as the S3700 but I hate the user interface and still way slower than my other devices.

[avs commenter]

Why are you not getting UHD from Disney+? Check your profiles to make sure you have highest quality selected.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Ender14

Oh man. With my "inferior" wireless connection I'm only getting 143.83 Mbps. What's that you were saying about a hard wired connection again?

Good for you plenty of Speed Down, so you should have no problems with Streaming. If that is a constant speed with no drops, then your Streaming should be at the Highest Level and Quality!

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Good for you plenty of Speed Down, so you should have no problems with Streaming. If that is a constant speed with no drops, then your Streaming should be at the Highest Level and Quality!

Generally it is. As others have mentioned Amazon Prime takes some time to hit UHD or HD quality and most of the apps will have some wonkiness from time to time. But the quality is generally very good.

But I must say I don't have any of those issues with my discs .

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

The Crown was chosen for a specific reason.

I did watch scenes from The Crown, like the Motor Boat splashing around the water. No problem they looked great, no Degradation or Pixilation. My Internet Speed is constant Up and Down. Just like a Hardwired Disc Player!