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

[cheez avenger]

The Abyss in Dolby Cinema was great last night. The 4K disc should be stellar. I hope that Disney does a one-off screenings for Aliens and True Lies in DC - that would be amazing.

My copy of Training Day on 4K disc finally shipped from Amazon and should be here Sunday, so hopefully that means by tomorrow or Saturday at the latest.

[crutzulee]

I'm really glad the studio released OPPENHEIMER day and date on physical and digital.
As a person who detests shifting aspect ratios, I was leaning digital but the simultaneous release swung the final decision the other way...
I was also happy that I could use my projector's internal masking to set the entire presentation to my screen's native 2.20:1 ratio without any issue. In a further act of blasphemy, I upmixed the soundtrack with DTSX PRO processing....

The presentation was REFERENCE on my setup!!!

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by crutzulee

In a further act of blasphemy, I upmixed the soundtrack with DTSX PRO processing....

I quite often engage DSU or Neural X on some non-immersive titles.

[Steedeel]

Disney look like they will become even less appealing from next year.

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/dis...ng-1235825822/

Shopping experiences, interactive content, the stuff of nightmares.

[bhampton]

In the war for ad dollars, I'm happy to watch from a distance. Specifically as far as possible.

Black Friday Football (USA) on Prime was interactive shopping. New lightning deals could be pursued but using the QR codes on screen.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by crutzulee

The presentation was REFERENCE on my setup!!!

I felt the same way in my theater but I used the shifting ratios. My Projector does black like an OLED so I don't usually notice the bars or the changes of AR.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Why would you guys say this, a Collection has the same value to the Collector whether Disc or Digital. If something is lost it could happen to both, but Digital has more Server Backups!

Look at the example that others have posted about TV show content being removed from Playstation that people previously bought. They will no longer have access to it and there are no refunds.

It's not an issue of something being lost from a server going down. It's a matter of content being pulled because licensing deals ends, there is some kind of legal red tape, or something other issue occurring.

Whether we are talking about movies, TV shows, video games, etc., there are no long term guarantees. Server backups don't mean jack if a piece of content is pulled off of all of them because of that kind of issue occurring.

Why EULA's Don't Protect You - Digital Content Isn't Property - Adam Koralik - YouTube

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

For alchav21 and a few others, you need to read this article (here).

Also of note is the fact that, with a combo pack like Oppenheimer 4K, you get the 4K disc, Blu-Ray disc, AND digital copy. That is 3 ways to watch the movie, and if anything ever happens to one of them, at least you still have the others.

Obviously the 4K disc will be the best way to watch it, quality wise.

But depending on one's individual priorities and circumstances at any given time, if you are someone who prefers the convenience of digital, you can still redeem the digital code and make that your go-to way of watching the movie (or the option that you use in select circumstances when not using you main set up at home) as long as the digital copy remains available to you. But if that digital copy is ever removed?... well, you still have the discs as options.

If space is an issue, while many collectors would scoff at the idea of this, you don't have to keep the original case. You can get alternate types of packaging/storage to keep discs in that don't take up nearly as much space.

But anyone putting all of their eggs in the digital basket and assuming that nothing will ever happen to any of their movies (or other applicable content) is just fooling themselves into a false sense of comfort.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by t-mel

Unfortunately no source just what this John Campea guy said in a video I saw about the subject.

John Campea talks out of his ass a lot on many topics. I agree with him on some things from time to time, but even a broken clock is correct twice a day.

For example, when it was announced that Best Buy was going to stop carrying DVDs, Blu-Rays, and 4K discs, he goes on about how big of a deal it is because he "heard" that Best Buy accounts for about 45% of physical media sales.

He got that statistic wrong. The 45% applies to Walmart. Best Buy has only been 4% in recent years (I was surprised it was that low, as being an electronics store, one would assume more sales were coming from them). While Best Buy exiting the market is a blow for physical media, the fact is that it is not as big of a blow as he made it out to be.

And while it's bad enough that he made that error, to my knowledge at no point did he attempt to correct it. He may not have even looked far enough into it to even be aware of the correct information now.

[t-mel]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

One of the issues I have right now with streaming is that a lot of content becomes "unavailable." For example, I wanted to watch "Raise The Red Lantern." It was on Freevee for awhile and I have just been working so much I didn't have time to watch it. This week when I went to watch it, it's unavailable anywhere except for Plex. And I hate Plex because the streams are potato quality. You can't really get the Blu-ray anywhere.

Imprint has the "collaborations" set which include RTRL. They've released a standard edition recently.

[bhampton]

Hey,

The theory of this article is if buying isn't owning then piracy isn't stealing. I don't agree but I think it's fairly compelling read apart from the profanity used.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/08/p...ler-james-hill

Quote - "This wasn't an issue of ideological purity – it was about good reviewing practice. Wired was telling readers to buy a product because it had features x, y and z, but at any time in the future, without warning, without recourse, the vendor could switch off any of those features"

This site now has a iTunes "deals" section. For the sake of everyone who enjoys them I hope the $4.99 4K DV ATMOS live forever.

[t-mel]

Originally Posted by cheez avenger

The Abyss in Dolby Cinema was great last night. The 4K disc should be stellar. I hope that Disney does a one-off screenings for Aliens and True Lies in DC - that would be amazing.

My copy of Training Day on 4K disc finally shipped from Amazon and should be here Sunday, so hopefully that means by tomorrow or Saturday at the latest.

Judging by the Titanic thread, it was probably DNR and EE (latter shouldn't happen at all) and it's a crying shame.

https://slow.pics/c/LCuATp1s

Inevitable that aliens and true lies will get the same treatment. Very sad when the 4k of alien is so good.

[cheez avenger]

Originally Posted by t-mel

Judging by the Titanic thread, it was probably DNR and EE (latter shouldn't happen at all) and it's a crying shame.

https://slow.pics/c/LCuATp1s

Inevitable that aliens and true lies will get the same treatment. Very sad when the 4k of alien is so good.

Some of those people don't know what they're talking about. Hell, some didn't even see it on the big screen and are just talking out of their asses.

I have not gotten the Titanic 4K disc yet, so can't comment on it. The Abyss in Dolby Cinema was fantastic.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by cheez avenger

Some of those people don't know what they're talking about. Hell, some didn't even see it on the big screen and are just talking out of their asses.

I have not gotten the Titanic 4K disc yet, so can't comment on it. The Abyss in Dolby Cinema was fantastic.

Very much this^

People wait years and years for sought after films and then criticise 4K transfers if a few frames don’t look quite as pristine as others.

[Vilya]

is the second movie that I have purchased since October. I have been following the comments in the Titanic 4K thread and there are certainly a lot of complaints, some are quite hyperbolic, but they are mostly from the same handful of people repeating themselves over and over day after day. It begins to feel like they are trying to review bomb this disc with the sheer quantity of their posts.

That's certainly their prerogative; they can post as often as they wish, but when I comment on how a disc looks or sounds, be it good or bad, I don't find the need to repeat myself literally dozens of times.

In instances like these, I just buy the disc myself and form my own opinion. It is a well known fact that James Cameron adjusts how his movies look on home video to satisfy himself. He doesn't care about how it looked at the theater in 1997; he cares about how it looks now on home video in 2023.

[crutzulee]

There has never been a better time to be a movie fan - especially on the home presentation front, but some of the pixel peepers on these forums don't just take half of the fun out of things..

I actually feel sorry for many of them as I think many are incapable of experiencing real joy...

[Boccaccio]

Originally Posted by crutzulee

There has never been a better time to be a movie fan - especially on the home presentation front, but some of the pixel peepers on these forums don't just take half of the fun out of things..

I actually feel sorry for many of them as I think many are incapable of experiencing real joy...

Very true. I think UHD is a fantastic format. Top Gun: Maverick 4K is

Even when I'm not really impressed with some of them (like Scarface), they are always an upgrade from any other format.

[s2mikey]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

Look at the example that others have posted about TV show content being removed from Playstation that people previously bought. They will no longer have access to it and there are no refunds.

It's not an issue of something being lost from a server going down. It's a matter of content being pulled because licensing deals ends, there is some kind of legal red tape, or something other issue occurring.

Whether we are talking about movies, TV shows, video games, etc., there are no long term guarantees. Server backups don't mean jack if a piece of content is pulled off of all of them because of that kind of issue occurring.

Why EULA's Don't Protect You - Digital Content Isn't Property - Adam Koralik - YouTube

100% facts here. If you dont hold it, you dont own it. Simple. Having a digital download is still tied to some vaporware server where a contract, some executive, content police or whomever else just flicks a switch and you're download is now useless.

Like you said, this isnt a hardware failure or the equivalent of a warehouse fire where things just accidentally got destroyed. This is by design. Look, I use streaming too for various things but if you really like content and expect to watch it UN-edited & over and over, ya better get it on disc.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by t-mel

Well still they can't put illegal stuff in the TOS and then use them as cover, so stonesfan has a point. I just don't see any action on this front when so many other things are taking precedence. Right now it isn't illegal.

If the TOS/EULA had "you must murder anyone they tell you to kill in the next 24h after the request" your point would be valid and they cannot put illegal stuff and have it stick

The problem is no one is talking about anything illegal in the TOS/EULA

If the owner decides to pull the content not only is it legal for them to do so but it would be illegal for them to do other wise.

If the provider decides they will save some money by removing content that is not popular it is not illegal for them to pull it for that reason

If the provider decides to close down the service (like Target ticket) or close down (like cinema now, it is legal for them to do so.

If the service provider decides you need to pay a monthly subscription to have access to the content you bought, there is nothing illegal there

If the service provider decides you need to pay every time you access content you bought, there is nothing illegal there either.

....

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

It's beside the point. I am done buying things digitally. Yeah I agreed to the terms and conditions to use the service, that doesn't mean they can word things vaguely, buried within pages and pages, that would be overly burdensome - even for lawyers - to read. It's misleading and deceptive. They don't want you to know that you don't really own anything. And I do not agree that these EULAs should shield them from criticism and legal action when they're not being forthcoming and honest about what you're really paying for.

If they told you right up front that you do not really own a digital good, would you have paid for it? Probably not.

well everyone in this thread knows what is in them, we have just been discussing it and we have discussed it many times in the past and there are people in this thread that buy digital copies. Now I am not saying they should stop , it is up to them to decide what they do with their money, but they obviously clearly know what is in the TOS/EULA and still do it.

It is like with gambling everyone knows that you have almost no chance at winning at slots, the whole industry is built on people putting a lot more money that is paid out but there are a lot of people that prefer to assume they will e the exception and they will become rich with that coin.