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

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Well Wendell got me started with Netflix, but Streaming HD or Subscription are all the same. Even though Netflix doesn't carry my Collection, Amazon does so I feel Streaming is Streaming. The Studios control distribution, and Disc has been the primary way. Now with Netflix joining the Association will they Distribute in Disc, I say no. Netflix is a Streaming Provider and wants to increase their Subscription Service, so they will rely on their Original Content. I have Amazon, Netflix, and Vudu plus all the MA Providers. So to me SVOD or HD Streaming are all the same!

Netflix will undoubtedly have a big say in the movie industry but so too will Disney, WB, Amazon, NBC Universal (with Sky backing) Apple etc.. you can see where I’m going with this? Hope your bank account is healthy.

[flyry]

I'm travelling for work and finished the last 25 min of a movie I rented on Vudu a few nights ago before it expired.

First time ever watching on a phone.

I won't be watching this way again though

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by flyry

I'm travelling for work and finished the last 25 min of a movie I rented on Vudu a few nights ago before it expired.

First time ever watching on a phone.

I won't be watching this way again though

Where have i heard that before? Oh yes, this forum.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Folks need to keep in mind Netflix is not a studio in the sense that Disney, Fox, etc. are studios. They, Netflix, has recently purchased a production company near Albuquerque NM. Don't know if Amazon owns a production company or not.

I would wager most SVOD original content is produced under contract by independent production companies. As such its availability on physical, cable, broadcast or PPV will depend on the contract between Netflix and the production company. For example, one of the best known titles on Netflix is House of Cards, it is available on DVD, Blu-ray and PPV on Amazon. Could be available via other outlets.

I have enjoyed many TV series over the years via satellite and SVOD but find hardly any worth re-watching. About a month ago I searched and sampled all the Netflix original programs in UHD and only found a few I thought worth watching. Most were cheap made junk.

At some point I may break from the past and purchase Game Of Thrones.

[Steedeel]

I’m convinced the advent of 5G wireless is going to lead to millions leaving their fibre broadband behind because they don’t want to pay two high bills. This could go both ways. It could mean they have a genuine alternative IF this fixed 5G can be proven as a viable tech. If not, then millions would just make do with their tv shows and movies on their mobile. People like to do things the cheap way. If that means sacrificing their living room tv, so be it. That’s what I feel (fear) anyway

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

I’m convinced the advent of 5G wireless is going to lead to millions leaving their fibre broadband behind because they don’t want to pay two high bills. This could go both ways. It could mean they have a genuine alternative IF this fixed 5G can be proven as a viable tech. If not, then millions would just make do with their tv shows and movies on their mobile. People like to do things the cheap way. If that means sacrificing their living room tv, so be it. That’s what I feel (fear) anyway

You're persistent if you're nothing else.

No one is going to "sacrifice" their TV. You sound like some weird cultist prepping his altar for a dark arcane ritual.

If 5G proves to work well, it is possible that some people might dump their traditional ISP. I would dump mine in a heartbeat just because I hate their monopolistic stranglehold on the market here where I live. Even if I did, how I use the internet, and how I watch content, would not change just because I switched internet service providers. I, like most people, will watch content on the best device available. When I am at home the best device is my TV.

Do I need to keep posting links that show how great TV sales are doing, year after year, or would it just be simpler to assume that you will ignore such evidence, as you always do, while also providing no evidence to support anything that you predict? I'll go with the latter; it's not easy
banging your heart (head) against some mad bugger's wall.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by flyry

I'm travelling for work and finished the last 25 min of a movie I rented on Vudu a few nights ago before it expired.

First time ever watching on a phone.

I won't be watching this way again though

I can't remember the last time I watched anything on my phone, even when traveling. When I travel, I prefer to be fully attuned to the environment which I am in, but that could be my railroad career conditioning at work.

The phone is the smallest screen in my home and thus it is the last of all possible choices when I want to watch something. It is so far down the list that I seldom even think of it for that purpose.

I can't imagine anyone preferring to watch a movie or a TV show on a 4"-6" screen whenever they have a wonderful 65" TV available to them.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I can't remember the last time I watched anything on my phone, even when traveling. When I travel, I prefer to be fully attuned to the environment which I am in, but that could be my railroad career conditioning at work.

The phone is the smallest screen in my home and thus it is the last of all possible choices when I want to watch something. It is so far down the list that I seldom even think of it for that purpose.

I can't imagine anyone preferring to watch a movie or a TV show on a 4"-6" screen whenever they have a wonderful 65" TV available to them.

I wouldn’t lower myself.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

I’m convinced the advent of 5G wireless is going to lead to millions leaving their fibre broadband behind because they don’t want to pay two high bills. This could go both ways. It could mean they have a genuine alternative IF this fixed 5G can be proven as a viable tech. If not, then millions would just make do with their tv shows and movies on their mobile.

If people start dropping their internet service in favor of 5G in even modest numbers it will take all of five minutes for 5G providers and third party sellers to start offering 5G home routers. And TV manufacturers might even jump on the bandwagon too by making their smart sets directly 5G compatible.

Originally Posted by Steedeel

People like to do things the cheap way. If that means sacrificing their living room tv, so be it. That’s what I feel (fear) anyway

Then why haven't they already sacrificed their living room TVs? Just about every internet service in existence supports home wi-fi which means they already support everyody's mobile devices.

And not having a living room tv is obviously cheaper than having a living room tv.

So why do 90+ percent of households have one?

Bonus Question: and why does average home screen size keep getting bigger? Smaller sets are cheaper than bigger ones but people can't seem to gobble the bigger sets up fast enough. Why???

[stonesfan129]

If I watch VUDU movies it is either on my laptop or on my home TV. I also would not watch on a phone.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by octagon

If people start dropping their internet service in favor of 5G in even modest numbers it will take all of five minutes for 5G providers and third party sellers to start offering 5G home routers. And TV manufacturers might even jump on the bandwagon too by making their smart sets directly 5G compatible.

Existing phones can create hotpots that you can connect anything to now, including your TV. 5G should work similarly. It is just another way to connect and 5G won't drive people to watch movies on their phones to the exclusion of their beautiful large screen TVs despite his perpetual fears to the contrary. I can't even imagine anything that would get me to favor my phone over my TV.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Folks need to keep in mind Netflix is not a studio in the sense that Disney, Fox, etc. are studios. They, Netflix, has recently purchased a production company near Albuquerque NM. Don't know if Amazon owns a production company or not.

Originally Posted by Steedeel

I’m convinced the advent of 5G wireless is going to lead to millions leaving their fibre broadband behind because they don’t want to pay two high bills. This could go both ways. It could mean they have a genuine alternative IF this fixed 5G can be proven as a viable tech. If not, then millions would just make do with their tv shows and movies on their mobile. People like to do things the cheap way. If that means sacrificing their living room tv, so be it. That’s what I feel (fear) anyway

You guys are way off the mark, Netflix joining the MPAA puts them in line with all the other Studios. That means their Production and Distribution are in line with them. If you read the Article Netflix has pulled all the stops and they are a Studio with Disney, Paramount, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, and Warner Brothers. Netflix makes their own content, and has a mass distribution. Their primary concern is Streaming to all platforms with the best Quality at present day Bit Streams.

5G like I said has limitations, it's a Fixed Wireless with Line of Site, and Distant Specs. FTTP is still the best connection, and 5G will trail but if this is your alternative get it. Capacity is the main concern with any ISP Connections. What feeds the Interface will be the deciding point!

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by alchav21

You guys are way off the mark, Netflix joining the MPAA puts them in line with all the other Studios. That means their Production and Distribution are in line with them. If you read the Article Netflix has pulled all the stops and they are a Studio with Disney, Paramount, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, and Warner Brothers. Netflix makes their own content, and has a mass distribution. Their primary concern is Streaming to all platforms with the best Quality at present day Bit Streams.

Netflix joining the MPAA, according to several news articles, has more to do with combating piracy, protecting copyrights, obtaining tax credits, and penetrating the Chinese market than it does anything else. Netflix joining the MPAA, a Hollywood lobbying group, has not changed their production levels one iota. Netflix was making a lot of original content before joining the MPAA, not as a result of joining them. Netflix was the largest subscription streaming service before joining the MPAA.

"The Average Person barely knows about Amazon and Netflix, let along all the other Streaming Providers."

^alchav21, January 7, 2019 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...ostcount=12857

I can't help but chuckle when you mention Netflix being this major studio and Netflix's "mass distribution" when just about two weeks ago you said that they were largely an unknown subscription streaming service. Just 17 days ago you told everyone that almost no one knew of Netflix and now you can't stop telling us how gigantic they are. How hard, and how often, does that head of yours get hit?

From news articles about Netflix joining the MPAA:

"The MPAA has a long history lobbying for stronger copyright protections, which has often alienated it from silicon valley."

"with its growing roster of exclusive shows and movies, Netflix may be increasingly aligned with the MPAA’s strict stance on copyright. Earlier this month, Netflix formally left the Internet Association (IA), a prominent tech trade lobby that has often opposed the MPAA on copyright issues."

https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/22/1...ation-internet

"A Netflix-MPAA partnership would be fruitful in that both are in sync when it comes to many of the latter’s positions in the industry regarding topics like worldwide anti-piracy and state tax film/TV production breaks and credits."

"Another key area where MPAA could possibly help Netflix is China. The MPAA has long lobbied for expanding the quota of Hollywood films in the Middle Kingdom, now numbered around 34 per year (and that’s for any film from any country). Breaking into China’s streaming landscape has been an impossible task for Netflix as the country has a rigid set of restrictions that place a 30% quota on streaming platforms for imported content."

https://deadline.com/2019/01/netflix...aa-1202539433/

Netflix's likely primary concern is creating enough original content to remain competitive after more studios yank their content away and then launch their own streaming services. Ironically, Netflix is learning the value actually owning their content as opposed to just licensing it from others. None of the articles mention any plans by Netflix to increase the quality of their streams- you pulled that right out of your arse.

As usual, you read, or just skim, a news story without comprehending it. Worse still, you completely fabricate things that were not discussed at all. None of the "reasons" you blather about were mentioned in these articles about why Netflix joined the MPAA.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Vilya

"The Average Person barely knows about Amazon and Netflix, let along all the other Streaming Providers."

None of the articles mention any plans by Netflix to increase the quality of their streams

When I talk to people they barely know how to access Amazon or Netflix, let alone any other Streaming Provider. If they don't have a button or someone hasn't set it up for them, they wouldn't know how to set it up for themselves. Tech people like the ones here on this Site know all about it.

Check the Link below this was part of the Article if you would have clicked some Links. The Streaming Bandwidth hasn't increased because Netflix is well aware of the Low Bandwidths and Caps, and has been working with more efficient algorithms for better Quality.

https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/...g-4b9464204830

[Vilya]

I decided to watch my dvd copy of the 1953 version of The War Of The Worlds. I have to say for a DVD, that it looked better than decent upscaled by my Oppo 203 and viewed upon my 4K TV. I fully expect that the Vudu 4K stream looks far better, but this DVD edition also included a lot of great extras.

It had two commentary tracks, one with the cast and another with the crew. It had a really enjoyable 30 minute making of documentary with both cast and crew. It also had a 10 minute mini-feature about the author H.G. Wells. The best extra of all was that it included the hour long original October 30, 1938 radio broadcast starring Orson Welles that incited a nationwide panic at the time. It also contained the original theatrical trailer.

I went to Vudu to see if any of these extras were included with the digital version that they sell, but there was no mention of any of them, so I can only assume that they are not included. A real shame, if so, because these extras really added to my enjoyment of this classic sci-fi movie. That, and actually owning the title, make the DVD a better choice in my opinion.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by alchav21

When I talk to people they barely know how to access Amazon or Netflix, let alone any other Streaming Provider. If they don't have a button or someone hasn't set it up for them, they wouldn't know how to set it up for themselves. Tech people like the ones here on this Site know all about it.

Check the Link below this was part of the Article if you would have clicked some Links. The Streaming Bandwidth hasn't increased because Netflix is will aware of the Low Bandwidths and Caps, and has been working with more efficient algorithms for better Quality.

https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/...g-4b9464204830

When you "talk to people" means absolutely nothing. You do not know enough people for any of your conversations to be statistically significant plus they are all second-hand accounts and are entirely unverifiable. It is called "hearsay" and hearsay is inadmissible as evidence for those reasons.

Netflix has 139 million subscribers worldwide and they are the largest subscription streaming service provider in the world. Clearly, all of these people figured out how to use them even if the "challenged" people in your social circles could not. Netflix is easy to use; it is pre-installed on nearly every device. Children use it with ease. Most of the major SVOD providers come pre-installed; a monkey can set them up and use them. It takes literally three self-explanatory steps to get up and running with Netflix and the other services.

Your revelatory quote says that "average" people "barely" know about Netflix, not that they could not figure out how to use it, which is still just as absurd. Your attempt to back pedal this idiotic statement of yours and turn it into this latest version, which took you 17 days to rephrase and after having been quoted several times, does not make it any less ridiculous. The time to clarify what you now claim to have meant was then, not 17 days later. Your new wording does not change the fact that Netflix is super easy to use.

Netflix has not developed any new more efficient codecs. Streaming bitrates have not changed since 2015, even Vudu's own engineering head said as much in the quote from him that I cited awhile back. The article you just cited talks about Netflix's encodiing efforts back in 2015! The article you cited states that the last thing Netflix developed was better mobile encodes for downloads in Dec. 2016. That was three years ago and it was mobile encodes for downloads, not streaming.

"To improve our members’ video quality, we developed and deployed per-title encoding in 2015, followed by better mobile encodes for downloads a year later."

https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/...g-4b9464204830

More proof that you either do not read, or can not comprehend, what you claim to have read. Netflix 4K streams are at 16 Mbps, same now as they were in 2015.

Regardless, Netflix's streaming quality has NOTHING to do with them joining the MPAA and no article I have read about them joining the MPAA makes any mention of it. Nowhere in these articles has Netflix said that they are attempting to equal the quality of disc playback or to even just improve the streaming quality that they now offer.

Netflix's production of original content has not changed as a result of joining the MPAA. They are not any more of a content creator after joining the MPAA than they were before joining.

I have never encountered worse reading comprehension than yours on any forum. It is both sad and remarkable. Your making stuff up altogether is as inexplicable as it is mystifying. You ALWAYS get caught when you do it, but you keep doing it anyway.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by alchav21

When I talk to people they barely know how to access Amazon or Netflix, let alone any other Streaming Provider. If they don't have a button or someone hasn't set it up for them, they wouldn't know how to set it up for themselves. Tech people like the ones here on this Site know all about it.

Check the Link below this was part of the Article if you would have clicked some Links. The Streaming Bandwidth hasn't increased because Netflix is will aware of the Low Bandwidths and Caps, and has been working with more efficient algorithms for better Quality.

https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/...g-4b9464204830

In other words, they are looking for ways to strip the bit rate even more (imo).

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Netflix has not developed any new more efficient codecs. Streaming bitrates have not changed since 2015, even Vudu's own engineering head said as much in the quote from him that I cited awhile back. The article you just cited talks about Netflix's encoding efforts back in 2015!

Actually I have observed several Netflix shows using lower bit rates than in the past. Just one example, early House of Cards UHD showed 16Mbps, the last season showed 15.2Mbps. Seen even more data reduction with Hemlock Grove HD, went from about 6.5Mbps to 4.8Mbps.

I have never encountered worse reading comprehension than yours on any forum. It is both sad and remarkable. Your making stuff up altogether is as inexplicable as it is mystifying. You ALWAYS get caught when you do it, but you keep doing it anyway.

Same here. AVS used to have a really active pro streaming group but most hardly ever posted the BS this poster does. If they did and folks corrected them then they stopped. IMO, this poster is incapable of learning the VERY basic stuff about A/V.

[Wendell R. Breland]

For those that aspire to immersive audio, the UHD release of Cliffhanger will not disappoint with its new Dolby Atmos audio track. Video, native 4K, was quite nice as well but it does have natural film grain.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

For those that aspire to immersive audio, the UHD release of Cliffhanger will not disappoint with its new Dolby Atmos audio track. Video, native 4K, was quite nice as well but it does have natural film grain.

I have it on blu-ray, but I might upgrade it when the price appeals to me. The movie is entertaining for what it is, but it is not something that I watch very often, so upgrading it needs a more compelling price than where it is currently. I might bite at $15.