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

[whipnet]

Originally Posted by alchav21

U-Verse or FTTP has Caps, also 1TB but their FTTH GigaPower does not, it's Unlimited. With U-Verse you can also pay extra to get Unlimited. Caps are put in to control usage when the Infrastructure calls for it.

#1 - Can't subscribe to a non-existent service. No one is going to build out a fiber network in a city the sq. mile size of Houston. You can fit New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington DC, and Boston inside of it. http://mentalfloss.com/article/69534...an-fit-houston

#2 - Paying more defeats the entire purpose. That's like saying I can only watch 30 disks a month and then I have to pay extra. NOPE!

#3 - Your idea of data caps is completely wrong with infrastructure. Comcast has ZERO congestion and only put caps in place to stem the tide of cord cutters. https://www.theverge.com/smart-home/...ork-congestion

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[alchav21]

Originally Posted by alchav21

U-Verse or FTTC has Caps, also 1TB but their FTTH GigaPower does not, it's Unlimited. With U-Verse you can also pay extra to get Unlimited. Caps are put in to control usage when the Infrastructure calls for it.

Originally Posted by whipnet

#1 - Can't subscribe to a non-existent service. No one is going to build out a fiber network in a city the sq. mile size of Houston. You can fit New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington DC, and Boston inside of it. http://mentalfloss.com/article/69534...an-fit-houston

#2 - Paying more defeats the entire purpose. That's like saying I can only watch 30 disks a month and then I have to pay extra. NOPE!

#3 - Your idea of data caps is completely wrong with infrastructure. Comcast has ZERO congestion and only put caps in place to stem the tide of cord cutters. https://www.theverge.com/smart-home/...ork-congestion

Even though AT&T is capable of taking care of the entire City of Houston, you're right it wouldn't be Cost Effective. I was talking about the Community you live in. If it has a HOA, and if all the Home Owners want GigaPower I'm sure AT&T will listen. If you have U-Verse, that's not good for Streaming Video so even paying for Unlimited would not help. As for Caps, you forget I worked in the Industry and the way Copper Networks are laid out they have to be Balanced. So the heavy users pay more, very simple!

[zodwriter]

Originally Posted by whipnet

AT&T has data caps.

Data caps are the worst thing that could happen to digital. It's literally counter productive to mass adoption of digital and is the main reason why discs will remain. Greed on all sides of the spectrum from cable companies upset about cord cutters to movie studios not agreeing on one digital locker for all films. The customer always gets screwed that's the point of all this. Comcast & ATT are not hurting because some people use over 300gigs per month. The fees for "unlimited" are nonsense because the fine print tells you that once you've used 39gigs of your monthly allotment they can "throttle" your service. Until the internet is free and open for all digital will never reach it's true potential.

[Krelldog1977]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

Discs are better. Better A/V quality and there is still plenty of stuff on DVD (director's cuts, special editions, rare stuff) that isn't available digitally. Digital is just more convenient. Will discs quit selling? I don't think any time soon. CDs are still selling 35 years later, vinyl records have even made a comeback. Who knows, maybe in a few years, Laserdiscs or VHS will come back.

Your first 3 words sum it..... I'm with ya bro.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by whipnet

AT&T has data caps.

Originally Posted by alchav21

Even though AT&T is capable of taking care of the entire City of Houston, you're right it wouldn't be Cost Effective. I was talking about the Community you live in. If it has a HOA, and if all the Home Owners want GigaPower I'm sure AT&T will listen. If you have U-Verse, that's not good for Streaming Video so even paying for Unlimited would not help. As for Caps, you forget I worked in the Industry and the way Copper Networks are laid out they have to be Balanced. So the heavy users pay more, very simple!

Originally Posted by zodwriter

Data caps are the worst thing that could happen to digital. It's literally counter productive to mass adoption of digital and is the main reason why discs will remain. Greed on all sides of the spectrum from cable companies upset about cord cutters to movie studios not agreeing on one digital locker for all films. The customer always gets screwed that's the point of all this. Comcast & ATT are not hurting because some people use over 300gigs per month. The fees for "unlimited" are nonsense because the fine print tells you that once you've used 39gigs of your monthly allotment they can "throttle" your service. Until the internet is free and open for all digital will never reach it's true potential.

Yes, nobody likes Data Caps but you have to read what I said, Data Caps are put in to control Heavy Users because of the Obsolete Copper Infrastructure. Even Altice is going all Fiber, this is the only way to eliminate Caps. GigaBit Fiber is the only way to go!

[Zu Nim]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Yes, nobody likes Data Caps but you have to read what I said, Data Caps are put in to control Heavy Users because of the Obsolete Copper Infrastructure. Even Altice is going all Fiber, this is the only way to eliminate Caps. GigaBit Fiber is the only way to go!

Data caps have zero to do with the physical layer. Data caps are for revenue generation only. They do not reduce congestion.

Yes, all consumer offerings are oversubscribed. The result is that during peak hours customers have the potential of seeing congestion. But capping the total amount of data per month doesn't affect peak usage. People still primarily use their home internet service from when they get home in the afternoon through the evening. Data caps are a measure of your total usage through the month, which has nothing to do with what hours you're using the service. It has nothing to do with the speed or type of physical layer you're using (copper, coax, fiber, etc.).

Even in the mobile space, which has a more restricted physical layer, Verizon has been pounding the table with their customers and government agencies that metering is the only way to manage the network. Except, gosh, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint all have unlimited data plans. Guess who revived their unlimited plan in response...

Data caps are a symptom of a lack of competition, that's all.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Yes, nobody likes Data Caps but you have to read what I said, Data Caps are put in to control Heavy Users because of the Obsolete Copper Infrastructure. Even Altice is going all Fiber, this is the only way to eliminate Caps. GigaBit Fiber is the only way to go!

Originally Posted by Zu Nim

Data caps have zero to do with the physical layer. Data caps are for revenue generation only. They do not reduce congestion.

Yes, all consumer offerings are oversubscribed. The result is that during peak hours customers have the potential of seeing congestion. But capping the total amount of data per month doesn't affect peak usage. People still primarily use their home internet service from when they get home in the afternoon through the evening. Data caps are a measure of your total usage through the month, which has nothing to do with what hours you're using the service. It has nothing to do with the speed or type of physical layer you're using (copper, coax, fiber, etc.).

Even in the mobile space, which has a more restricted physical layer, Verizon has been pounding the table with their customers and government agencies that metering is the only way to manage the network. Except, gosh, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint all have unlimited data plans. Guess who revived their unlimited plan in response...

Data caps are a symptom of a lack of competition, that's all.

You know this because of what kind of background, only your own interpretation of the Network. I worked all my life in The Industry, how do you think Networks are Balanced. Like I said, there is no Conspiracy Theory or Greed, just simple facts Caps are put in to control Heavy Users. This goes back to the beginning of Networks, especially Copper ones. It has nothing to do with Competition! Balancing out the Networks has always been an essential part of Network Management.

[flyry]

Originally Posted by whipnet

Cool. I can't wait to go buy some great classics online like 'The Abyss' (James Cameron) or 'Monty Python's Life of Brian' or 'Pink Floyd The Wall'

...oh wait!

When those finally come out they will be on digital 2-3 weeks earlier

[Zu Nim]

Originally Posted by alchav21

You know this because of what kind of background, only your own interpretation of the Network. I worked all my life in The Industry, how do you think Networks are Balanced. Like I said, there is no Conspiracy Theory or Greed, just simple facts Caps are put in to control Heavy Users. This goes back to the beginning of Networks, especially Copper ones. It has nothing to do with Competition! Balancing out the Networks has always been an essential part of Network Management.

You know what they say about assumptions. In a former life I used to design, implement, and manage networks for a Fortune 50. From vampire taps on 10Base2 to lighting up fibers between facilities. For dozens of groups with thousands of employees and millions in contracts and equipment.

Data caps are a false narrative targeted at consumers and should be easily debunked by someone in The Industry. Caps have nothing to do with network utilization and everything to do with increasing revenue. Caps don't encourage customers to use data during off-peak hours; they continue to use their data during peak hours. ISPs still have to build out their networks to handle peak congestion, not the total amount of data customers use over a month.

Some ISPs figure that they can bill based on data usage even if it's unrelated to network management. Data isn't like water or electricity but the public can be intentionally misled to think it is. If customers think that their total data consumption actually contributes to costs ISPs can raise revenue without raising base plan prices. Cha-ching!

What wireless companies are doing with their unlimited plans given their finite bandwidth is network management. You are guaranteed "full" speed up to a certain point after which you may be deprioritized if you are connected to a congested tower. Instead of implementing a data cap and charging for additional blocks of data, ISPs could follow wireless's lead. They could deprioritize the heavy users (that have exceeded a soft cap) if their neighborhood is currently congested. Other customers would see no slowdown. When traffic has returned to lower levels the heavy customers can be reprioritized. And if the heavy user isn't in a congested neighborhood there's no reason to deprioritize them. But what Comcast wants is stealth revenue hikes so we won't see that from them.

Pretend that Comcast can't implement actual real network management and instead is forced to handle it only via billing regimes. They could choose some kind of peak pricing or use 95th percentile pricing. Both at least try to solve a network issue instead of a revenue issue. The two are different.

[master gandhi]

Originally Posted by whipnet

Cool. I can't wait to go buy some great classics online like 'The Abyss' (James Cameron) or 'Monty Python's Life of Brian' or 'Pink Floyd The Wall'

...oh wait!

Originally Posted by flyry

When those finally come out they will be on digital 2-3 weeks earlier

Monty Python's Life of Brian is on iTunes as I type this.

[partridge]

Originally Posted by flyry

When those finally come out they will be on digital 2-3 weeks earlier

er, whipnet says he can't wait to buy them online and you reply that they'll be available 2-3 weeks earlier on digital... So, digital is different to online?


Digital is fine for convenience but if you're pushing that through a decent home theatre set up, then why did you bother buying a decent home theatre set up?!

[whipnet]

Originally Posted by master gandhi

Monty Python's Life of Brian is on iTunes as I type this.

Yeah, that's a problem for me. I not only don't do iTunes, I despise Apple. I also don't buy non-porting movies. Life of Brian used to be available, but was yanked from Ultraviolet markets. If you bought it or even D2D'ed it back when you still have a copy, but it's no where for sale.

I own the movie on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray, but came too late to the digital game. Now it's one I cannot obtain. I've even begged Sony.

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[harpolini]

I'm starting to side with digital for convenience and quality. I buy seasons passes for The Expanse because I don't have cable. The quality is so good (I watch it on a projector at 110"), I'm not tempted at all to upgrade to disc. It's also nice to have it available on my phone or tablet when I'm away from my home setup.

I've started getting into Orphan Black, and will def get that digitally (Also because BBC stuff never comes with a digital copy). It's another show I'm sure will look great, because like The Expanse it has a clean digital look. For alot of newer content, digital seems a better value.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by partridge

Digital is fine for convenience but if you're pushing that through a decent home theatre set up, then why did you bother buying a decent home theatre set up?!

Originally Posted by harpolini

I'm starting to side with digital for convenience and quality. I buy seasons passes for The Expanse because I don't have cable. The quality is so good (I watch it on a projector at 110"), I'm not tempted at all to upgrade to disc. It's also nice to have it available on my phone or tablet when I'm away from my home setup.

I've started getting into Orphan Black, and will def get that digitally (Also because BBC stuff never comes with a digital copy). It's another show I'm sure will look great, because like The Expanse it has a clean digital look. For alot of newer content, digital seems a better value.

I agree, with the right setup the Quality is right up there with any Disc. I have a 65" Sony UHD TV, and watch the Latest Releases way before they come out on Disc. Usually with my Optical Fiber Sony Headsets with Lossless Sound.

[whipnet]

Originally Posted by alchav21

I agree, with the right setup the Quality is right up there with any Disc. I have a 65" Sony UHD TV, and watch the Latest Releases way before they come out on Disc. Usually with my Optical Fiber Sony Headsets with Lossless Sound.

Which service is streaming lossless sound in movies?

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[DamageINC]

Originally Posted by whipnet

Which service is streaming lossless sound in movies?

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As usual, he's being dishonest in his argument.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by alchav21

I agree, with the right setup the Quality is right up there with any Disc. I have a 65" Sony UHD TV, and watch the Latest Releases way before they come out on Disc. Usually with my Optical Fiber Sony Headsets with Lossless Sound.

Originally Posted by whipnet

Which service is streaming lossless sound in movies?

With the right setup and Bandwidth, the major Providers like Amazon, Netflix, Sony Ultra, and Vudu have Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. If you are setup for UHD you can also get HDR. The key is Solid Bandwidth that you can only get with FTTH, and Hard Wired.

[zarquon]

Originally Posted by alchav21

I agree, with the right setup the Quality is right up there with any Disc. I have a 65" Sony UHD TV, and watch the Latest Releases way before they come out on Disc. Usually with my Optical Fiber Sony Headsets with Lossless Sound.

You've mentioned these before; what exactly are "Optical Fiber Sony Headsets"?

[SethRex]

Honestly, I like both. If it came down to a matter of saving space, I'd be willing to go digital, cause I really have no issues with how Digital looks.

[Talal86]

I love both too. I just used Apple tv with my 4k 65" tv for the first time, (I usually use it with a smaller screen) watched 'The Great Wall' and the PQ/AQ were very good

buying every movie I was interested in physically made my collection a mess, so I decided to split my purchases between blus and itunes and I'm very happy with the decision so far, it actually rejuvenated my interest in blu rays (and movies in general), cause I used to dread looking at my shelves and see dusty blu rays I'll never watch