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

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

As of now my streaming devices:

• Apple TV4K 2nd gen
• Apple TV4K 3nd gen (this one has Apple Developer HUD installed via Apple Xcode on Mac Mini).
• FireTV Cube
• LG Smart TV
• Nvidia Shield Pro (2019)
• Roku Express
• Roku Ultra
• TCL Smart TV (Roku)
• Vizio Smart TV

The irony is that you put so much more money and effort into maximizing streaming results than he, the self-proclaimed champion of streaming, ever will.

[sapiendut]

Originally Posted by Vilya

It's great to see you back! I was worried about you.

Thank you Vilya, after a total of 3 weeks in the hospital, I finally got out last week and was ( and is ) told to do bed rest at home. Every 2 weeks I have to get back to the hospital for follow up.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by sapiendut

Thank you Vilya, after a total of 3 weeks in the hospital, I finally got out last week and was ( and is ) told to do bed rest at home. Every 2 weeks I have to get back to the hospital for follow up.

I am very happy that you are home after such a long and difficult hospital stay. I hope that you are well on your way to a full recovery.

Remember that you are supposed to be resting; enjoy this place in moderation until you get your strength back.

[bhampton]

Streaming is watching other people's content if you can agree to and meet the terms of service which can and often do change. It's useful but it's not my favorite.

I am thankful that I can own movies and the quality of UHD BD thrills me.

I'm so happy to have my home theater and to own a library of movies.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by bhampton

I am thankful that I can own movies and the quality of UHD BD thrills me.

I'm so happy to have my home theater and to own a library of movies.

Same here.

Last night we watched some UHD demo content on the new JVC projector. Stunning, just stunning . Wish every movie lover could have one or at least see one in action on a big scope screen.

[cheez avenger]

I've got some "light" reading material coming in this week (1396 pages):



https://www.amazon.com/Stanley-Kubri...f_=as_li_ss_tl

[the-pi-guy]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Well with only two major Player Manufactures and no new Players coming out, is it time to take a serious look at Physical Media? With only Amazon Prime, Netflix, AppleTV+, and IPTV I can watch just about any Movie. Here is another Article that Streaming is taking over!

Streaming already took over.

I don't really understand what you think you're pushing / why you bother. I am pretty confident at this point everyone is pretty well aware of the benefits of streaming services.

I would guarantee even most people here have streaming services. I'd bet for quite a few people, physical media is more supplemental to their streaming service.

I've had a bunch of streaming services, I've mostly gone back to physical media because buying discs has some great benefits.

High bitrates for UHDs.
Ownership is fun.

Sometimes I feel like I enjoy collecting discs more than I enjoy watching them.

I think collecting in itself is fun. For example, I grew up on Scooby-Doo, I have watched some of the better stuff in the past few years, but I'm not really amped up to watch all of the Scooby-Doo. But I am pretty interested in just collecting as much of it as I can on blu-rays.

I'm pretty sure at this point, most people who aren't exclusively streaming are specifically interested in ownership for some reason or another. And some people don't feel that most of these streaming services are quite at the quality of UHD, or even blu-ray in some instances.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by the-pi-guy

I'd bet for quite a few people, physical media is more supplemental to their streaming service.

It is the other way around for me: streaming services are AT MOST a distant supplement to my physical media library. I have used a subscription streaming service only once in the past 6 months.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by the-pi-guy

Streaming already took over.

I don't really understand what you think you're pushing / why you bother. I am pretty confident at this point everyone is pretty well aware of the benefits of streaming services.

I would guarantee even most people here have streaming services. I'd bet for quite a few people, physical media is more supplemental to their streaming service.

I've had a bunch of streaming services, I've mostly gone back to physical media because buying discs has some great benefits.

High bitrates for UHDs.
Ownership is fun.

Sometimes I feel like I enjoy collecting discs more than I enjoy watching them.

I think collecting in itself is fun. For example, I grew up on Scooby-Doo, I have watched some of the better stuff in the past few years, but I'm not really amped up to watch all of the Scooby-Doo. But I am pretty interested in just collecting as much of it as I can on blu-rays.

I'm pretty sure at this point, most people who aren't exclusively streaming are specifically interested in ownership for some reason or another. And some people don't feel that most of these streaming services are quite at the quality of UHD, or even blu-ray in some instances.

Originally Posted by Vilya

It is the other way around for me: streaming services are AT MOST a distant supplement to my physical media library. I have used a subscription streaming service only once in the past 6 months.

Same as Vilya, subscription streaming is supplemental to discs.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by the-pi-guy

Streaming already took over.

Not quite yet in the US, data here.

What I don’t get is the fascination folks still have with streaming but it may not be any different than yesteryear when people were enthralled with their cable and/or satellite. I have been enjoying movies on demand since the earlier 80's with Beta cassette and LaserDisc rental plus LD ownership. Still doing so with my library of DVD, Blu-ray, UHD Blu-ray disc and rental via GameFly.

SVOD is just a supplement with a few series like Yellowstone, Dexter New Blood, Reacher, etc. plus the occasional movie. For us, most SVOD series and movies is just plain junk with a majority of it looking worse than a high school film class project. Some could be interesting but apparently they cannot budget for a good DP, camera tripods, tracks or Steadicams.

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Not quite yet in the US, data here.

Video streaming revenue in the US was over $57 billion in 2024. Physical media was under $1 billion, down 23% from 2023, which was already down over 20% from 2022.

In 2013 both physical and streaming revenue in the US were $7 billion each.

As much as I prefer the superior picture and audio quality of 4K and BD media--as well as the availability of titles that go off streaming or were never streaming--there's no question that in the mass market the convenience and lower cost made streaming dominant years ago and has been crushing physical media ever since.

[Vilya]

The popular choice is rarely the quality choice.

[Ender14]

I said I was done with purchases for a while but this was a good deal at $53.99 so I had to snag it.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by sherlockjr

As much as I prefer the superior picture and audio quality of 4K and BD media, as well as the availability of available that go off streaming or were never streaming, there's no question that in the mass market the convenience and lower cost made streaming dominant years ago and has been crushing physical media ever since.

At the very height of ownership spend it was still a small fraction of total global spend on TV. Streaming is just pay TV being delivered with a different methodology. Just a paradigm shift in how the masses view TV. Started with broadcast, then a shift to cable with satellite added in, now a shift to streaming.

Keep in mind that streamers have spent many billions on streaming with some still not having made a profit. And those that have made a profit could be sometime before they recoup what they spent. So if you have a revenue of 100 billion but spent 117 billion means you are still 17 billion in the hole.

Normally I shy from statements but: Broadcast, cable, satellite and streaming is aimed at the masses. Physical ownership (LD, DVD, D-VHS D-Theater, HD-DVD, Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray) is aimed at us enthusiast. Been this way, is and most likely will continue this way. And yes, still have my JVC HM–DH5U D-Theater machine.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Ender14

I said I was done with purchases for a while but this was a good deal at $53.99 so I had to snag it.

Same mate, but I just can’t stop. Panic Room, Dressed To Kill, The Monkey, Gladiator 2, Conclave, The Brood, Wicked, Better Man, Heretic and Nosferatu all pre ordered in 4K.

Oh, and a Blu-ray that caught the eye, The Delta Test.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Normally I shy from statements but: Broadcast, cable, satellite and streaming is aimed at the masses. Physical ownership (LD, DVD, D-VHS D-Theater, HD-DVD, Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray) is aimed at us enthusiast. Been this way, is and most likely will continue this way. And yes, still have my JVC HM–DH5U D-Theater machine.

So by your Graphs, Disc Users have less than 10% of the Video Market. That's why only two Major Player Manufactures, and limited Disc Releases with rising Disc Costs. Physical Ownership is going to have some problems, I guess you guys know that!

[Warm Gun]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

Video was about 200 ms behind DTS-HD MA while played in PCM over Optical from the Zidoo Z9X 8K yesterday. The AV receiver takes too long to process the HDMI signal and I saw no way to delay the Optical sound in the Zidoo settings. Think only formats that it needs to convert to PCM have this issue. Weird that it knows to delay FLAC and PCM but not DTS and probably Dolby.

Edit: Or maybe activating Optical with DTS/Dolby to PCM conversion makes the HDMI signal from the player lag behind the sound. Will post it on AVSForum and maybe also register on the Zidoo forums for feedback.

Sweet, I finally figured out how to convert 24-bit DTS-HD MA and presumably Dolby TrueHD to 24-bit FLAC in fre:ac. I always had to leave those huge 24-bit DTS and Dolby tracks as is because my tools could seemingly only convert to 16-bit FLAC. You have to convert to WAV/PCM first, after setting the WAV decoder to 24 bits. Then convert the WAV to FLAC in the same program. The idea came to me after I read a forum post in response to someone trying to do the same thing with another program. They told the original poster that the program wouldn't know the bit depth and that they should convert to PCM first. Now I can, at last, watch those Future Boy Conan UHDs I imported over a month ago, in peace (my surroundings muted). I did find out that the new Zidoos have a known sync issue with DTS tracks. For me, it only happens when using Optical for the in-ear monitors. I would use speakers with all content if I still had an apartment in my name, but I hear so much more quiet detail with the expensive earphones.

I wonder why only anime fansubbers convert multichannel (surround) tracks to FLAC. I worry, but have never heard anything that sounded off in terms of position when playing FLAC 5.1 or 2.0 surround tracks.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by alchav21

So by your Graphs, Disc Users have less than 10% of the Video Market. That's why only two Major Player Manufactures, and limited Disc Releases with rising Disc Costs. Physical Ownership is going to have some problems, I guess you guys know that!

What I know is higher quality content is available and you are going out of your way to avoid it.

You want assurance physical media is going away at the same time I loving all the amazing new releases.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by alchav21

So by your Graphs, Disc Users have less than 10% of the Video Market. That's why only two Major Player Manufactures, and limited Disc Releases with rising Disc Costs. Physical Ownership is going to have some problems, I guess you guys know that!

The masses wouldn’t know quality if it bit them on the ass, and you fall into that category I’m afraid.

[stonesfan129]

Originally Posted by alchav21

So by your Graphs, Disc Users have less than 10% of the Video Market. That's why only two Major Player Manufactures, and limited Disc Releases with rising Disc Costs. Physical Ownership is going to have some problems, I guess you guys know that!

with rising Disc Costs

This, I'm afraid, is going to kill it off in the mass market. When you have new releases coming out for $38 for a Blu-ray or $45 for a 4K; the vast majority of people are not going to pay that. I know I certainly am not. And if I have to wait a few weeks until it's $5 on Vudu, so be it.