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

[whipnet]

Originally Posted by Zu Nim

Comcast has an Unlimited Data Option for $50/mo which removes the cap. Not worth it (or affordable) for everyone but it exists.

Yes, that's the maximum they charge per month for going over your cap, so technically, for $50 extra a month I can have unlimited.

I prefer unlimited for $0 extra a month like I did this time last year.

Comcast greed.

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[master gandhi]

Dang, we used to use around 90-100 GBs/month. Out of curiosity, after reading these other testimonies, I checked our usage this month. 599 GBs. Ha. Yeah, that's going to increase a crazy amount if and when we regularly stream UHD. As of now, we don't stream any UHD. I decreased our Netflix subscription to the 1080p-only version months ago, and set my Roku's resolution to 1080p months ago too. Interesting stuff to think about.

[flyry]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

So that rules out high bit rate 4K? That's why disc will always be one step ahead in terms of quality. I presume you are not a gamer?

Not really. I have the 4k netflix plan, but really there is still not much 4K content. Occasional Netflix and Amazon shows I will binge yes, but the majority of my shows I watch on cable apps are still 1080.

Plus holding a job and relationship etc, I'm lucky if i watch even one movie on filmstruck a night.

I do watch a lot of clips on youtube

I used to be a hardcore gamer, but tailed off the past 4 years or so. I recently bought Horizon Zero Dawn but haven't really had the time to dig into it.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Zu Nim

Comcast has an Unlimited Data Option for $50/mo which removes the cap. Not worth it (or affordable) for everyone but it exists.

Originally Posted by whipnet

Yes, that's the maximum they charge per month for going over your cap, so technically, for $50 extra a month I can have unlimited.

I prefer unlimited for $0 extra a month like I did this time last year.

Comcast greed.

Originally Posted by master gandhi

Dang, we used to use around 90-100 GBs/month. Out of curiosity, after reading these other testimonies, I checked our usage this month. 599 GBs. Ha. Yeah, that's going to increase a crazy amount if and when we regularly stream UHD. As of now, we don't stream any UHD. I decreased our Netflix subscription to the 1080p-only version months ago, and set my Roku's resolution to 1080p months ago too. Interesting stuff to think about.

Like I have been saying, any form of Copper Infrastructure is Obsolete, Symmetrical Fiber is the only way to go with no Caps. Streaming 4K UHD will never work with Caps. People will have to work out their priorities, and if your City or Community doesn't have Fiber you'll have to decide if you'll move to one that does.

[whipnet]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Like I have been saying, any form of Copper Infrastructure is Obsolete, Symmetrical Fiber is the only way to go with no Caps. Streaming 4K UHD will never work with Caps. People will have to work out their priorities, and if your City or Community doesn't have Fiber you'll have to decide if you'll move to one that does.

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[PCFan]

I have a feeling that I'm going back to blu-ray purchases for movies I want to own in the near future and only using subscription for digital viewing and stop doing EST purchases. I came to the reasoning that if I won't purchase a movie from a digital service at full price (if there is no code) and only wait for them to go on a huge discount sale, but willing to purchase physical media (movie, TV shows, and music) at full price occasionally or willing to spend more on a blu-ray than I would on a digital movie, then I am not committed to staying with digital and I don't value digital media as much as physical media. Also since I'm not willing to purchase a digital movie at full price from a service, my digital collection in iTunes and Vudu will most likely not ever feel complete, by complete I mean having all the movies that belong to a certain series because either their is no code for some of those movies or the movie has not gone on sale or might not ever go on sale. Sure I can always buy the movie at full price through iTunes if I want it bad enough but I just don't value highly compressed DRM'd movies from a service very much and what if I don't want do use an Apple TV anymore.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by PCFan

I have a feeling that I'm going back to blu-ray purchases for movies I want to own in the near future and only using subscription for digital viewing and stop doing EST purchases. I came to the reasoning that if I won't purchase a movie from a digital service at full price (if there is no code) and only wait for them to go on a huge discount sale, but willing to purchase physical media (movie, TV shows, and music) at full price occasionally or willing to spend more on a blu-ray than I would on a digital movie, then I am not committed to staying with digital and I don't value digital media as much as physical media. Also since I'm not willing to purchase a digital movie at full price from a service, my digital collection in iTunes and Vudu will most likely not ever feel complete, by complete I mean having all the movies that belong to a certain series because either their is no code for some of those movies or the movie has not gone on sale or might not ever go on sale. Sure I can always buy the movie at full price through iTunes if I want it bad enough but I just don't value highly compressed DRM'd movies from a service very much and what if I don't want do use an Apple TV anymore.

Welcome back.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by flyry

Not really. I have the 4k netflix plan, but really there is still not much 4K content. Occasional Netflix and Amazon shows I will binge yes, but the majority of my shows I watch on cable apps are still 1080.

Plus holding a job and relationship etc, I'm lucky if i watch even one movie on filmstruck a night.

I do watch a lot of clips on youtube

I used to be a hardcore gamer, but tailed off the past 4 years or so. I recently bought Horizon Zero Dawn but haven't really had the time to dig into it.

Yes, but going forward? Hopefully we won't be stuck with 720/1080.

Well, for me, I have never wanted kids so it probably saves me a absolute fortune! .

Horizon zero Dawn is excellent. My top game this gen is still The Witcher 3 though. Followed closely by Resident Evil in PlayStation VR.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by master gandhi

Dang, we used to use around 90-100 GBs/month. Out of curiosity, after reading these other testimonies, I checked our usage this month. 599 GBs. Ha. Yeah, that's going to increase a crazy amount if and when we regularly stream UHD. As of now, we don't stream any UHD. I decreased our Netflix subscription to the 1080p-only version months ago, and set my Roku's resolution to 1080p months ago too. Interesting stuff to think about.

That's the thing, it's always about compromise with Digital.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by alchav21

I don't hate Apple, I have just been on the PC Side, going back to the Microsoft/Apple Wars. My Wife has an iPhone and iPad, she loves them. If you read some of my Posts you would know I'm Retired AT&T, and Apple was one of our biggest Customers. I sat in meetings with Steve Jobs, and they were an intense group. The only reason I say Apple Clones is because of that 1984 Commercial, were all the Apple Followers were like Zombie Clones. Like I said, I have MS Windows 10 Phone and Windows 10 Computer, so everything works great for me. Apple is too proprietary, and the closed Ecosystem is too confining. I just think you guys lock yourselves into a restrictive Technology.

Its only restrictive if you aren't invested in the ecosystem. I have used Apple for a long time. Like someone said a while back, everything works in tandem from the MacBook to the Iphone.

[zarquon]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Its only restrictive if you aren't invested in the ecosystem. I have used Apple for a long time. Like someone said a while back, everything works in tandem from the MacBook to the Iphone.

It's restricted in other ways as well, such as no real access to the filesystem, and very limited options to customize and tweak the GUI. I've used an iPhone for years, and I do like the stability and ecosystem, but I have Android tablets as well, and enjoy the tinkering I can do there that Apple simply does not allow. I like having both, so I can keep up with both worlds...

Sent from my BN Nook HD using Tapatalk

[Talal86]

I, for one, can't wait to get back to iphone, hopefully Apple releases iphone 8 this year

[whipnet]

It doesn't matter how good of quality or how well it works with it's other products, the problem is they are not open source, so they will never dominate anything.

Getting your product to work with your own other products is a no brainer. Getting your product to jive with millions of other products is the real challenge.

The only thing that saved the iPhone was them finally figuring out how to connect to Exchange Active-Sync, a Microsoft Windows product. Not being able to use it in a business environment (Exchange) is a death knell, ask RIM (Blackberry)

Apple has never invented anything. But they have made some nice products. Being in the IT industry, I've had to deal with Apple since the Apple IIc.

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[veritas]

Originally Posted by zarquon

It's restricted in other ways as well, such as no real access to the filesystem, and very limited options to customize and tweak the GUI. I've used an iPhone for years, and I do like the stability and ecosystem, but I have Android tablets as well, and enjoy the tinkering I can do there that Apple simply does not allow. I like having both, so I can keep up with both worlds...

Sent from my BN Nook HD using Tapatalk

Ya thats true if you want to use a product as its intended I have found apple to be best in that regard but if you want to do something weird then apple computers will fight you every step of the way. Its built that way partly to make apple computers more idiot proof but it can make slightly odd requests a pain in the but which a pc can do effortlessly. It really works best to have a mac and a pc. A mac to run smoothly and do easy stuff like streaming browsing document creation, simple file organization etc and a pc when you want to actually mess with command prompts and run programs of your own to optimize some things.

A mac is like a knife you can do a lot of things with a nice knife but sometimes you need the swiss army knife (a pc) even if that swiss army knife is not as good as a plain knife it has lots of other features to make up for it.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by zarquon

It's restricted in other ways as well, such as no real access to the filesystem, and very limited options to customize and tweak the GUI. I've used an iPhone for years, and I do like the stability and ecosystem, but I have Android tablets as well, and enjoy the tinkering I can do there that Apple simply does not allow. I like having both, so I can keep up with both worlds...

Sent from my BN Nook HD using Tapatalk

Android tablets were awful for the most part. Web browsing was painful compared to the IPad.

[Vor4]

Where I live, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target all cleared out their physical media section except for PS4 and XBox One games. I think it has to do low sales and I see no one browsing at movies and music anymore. I even heard rumors that Walmart might sell Vudu movie code cards within the next few months. I also heard from one of the workers at Best Buy that Best Buy looking into their start their own video streaming service that is tied to the UV locker.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vor4

Where I live, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target all cleared out their physical media section except for PS4 and XBox One games. I think it has to do low sales and I see no one browsing at movies and music anymore. I even heard rumors that Walmart might sell Vudu movie code cards within the next few months. I also heard from one of the workers at Best Buy that Best Buy looking into their start their own video streaming service that is tied to the UV locker.

I heard that holograms are coming next year and the ability to transport humans from one destination to another will follow the next year.

Haven't you heard? 4K Bluray is taking off waaay quicker than Bluray did at the same time of its lifespan.

[Zu Nim]

Originally Posted by whipnet

It doesn't matter how good of quality or how well it works with it's other products, the problem is they are not open source, so they will never dominate anything.

Closed-source Microsoft never dominated anything either. And what's that thing they call Darwin?

Apple has never invented anything. But they have made some nice products. Being in the IT industry, I've had to deal with Apple since the Apple IIc.

From the Apple II to FireWire to the iPhone to Swift, poor Apple has never figured out how to invent anything.

[Zu Nim]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

I heard that holograms are coming next year and the ability to transport humans from one destination to another will follow the next year.

You do realize you have posted extensively about your paranoid fears that all films will be on mobile and watches in the future and everything will migrate to interactive experiences despite a complete lack of evidence, right? Or does that not ring a bell?

The complete removal of physical from brick & mortar stores is at least a concrete observation to go with the annual trend of dropping sales.

Haven't you heard? 4K Bluray is taking off waaay quicker than Bluray did at the same time of its lifespan.

The uptake is quicker than Blu-ray but it's not even close to offsetting the collapse in physical sales. Mixed bag there.

[master gandhi]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

That's the thing, it's always about compromise with Digital.

I didn't forgo UHD to save data. I just didn't see a big difference in quality. I'm not saying I'll never do UHD again, just not until I have a TV with HDR/Dolby Vision.