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

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Sony released a new model this year (albeit they just removed network functionality from the previous model)

Removing network functionality from a disc player is a good move in my opinion. Also some people claim this newer Sony player (X700U) actually works unlike the very troublesome X700.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Removing network functionality from a disc player is a good move in my opinion. Also some people claim this newer Sony player (X700U) actually works unlike the very troublesome X700.

Hopefully, and yes I agree, network functionality always seemed a bit pointless, with so many other means.

[mng]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

Yeah I totally have $1800-$3300 sitting around to spend on a 4K Blu-ray player.

Not I. Happy with my existing OPPO and Pana 3d Players

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Hopefully, and yes I agree, network functionality always seemed a bit pointless, with so many other means.

A different view point. For quite a few years I used my Panasonic, LG and Sony Blu-ray player as a media player to playback recordings made from PBS DVB-S2 feeds and ATSC 1.0 recordings from CBS, NBC and ABC. This replaced the method where I used a MIT MDP-130 card in my HTPC.

Ever once in a while I will use the Oppo UDP-203 to play a file because it has more video adjustments than my Zidoo media players.

[veritas]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Isn't Amazon Family the same type of sharing system?

I haven't looked into it yet.

The main difference is you give up your privacy, have to share a credit card and have to live at the same address mailing your packages to the same address. Like its not totally unacceptable but it might be easier for me to just shift my buying into 35 dollar intervals. I do buy less that way which I guess isn't the worst thing. It will probably mostly shift my buys from amazon to target during sales I guess.

It will make amazon coupons a pain in the ass probably.

[cheez avenger]

Bit the bullet on a couple of used 4K titles via Gamefly:

Mickey 17 4K & The Wolfman 4K (2025) for $9.99 each. There were a couple more in my cart byt by the time I checked out in my cart some had sold out.

I just watched CIty on Fire 4K disc and it was spectacular. Wow, the first film from SF Hong Kong Classics line has hit out of the park!

[gotmule]

Originally Posted by cheez avenger

Bit the bullet on a couple of used 4K titles via Gamefly:

Mickey 17 4K & The Wolfman 4K (2025) for $9.99 each. There were a couple more in my cart byt by the time I checked out in my cart some had sold out.

I just watched CIty on Fire 4K disc and it was spectacular. Wow, the first film from SF Hong Kong Classics line has hit out of the park!

I just jumped into the GameFly pool with my first order and grabbed Mickey 17, Wicked, and Love Hurts. I couldn’t pass up the pricing as it turned out to be a little over $11 with shipping per disc. I don’t often buy used, but trust the positive comments made within our group here. I already have Wolfman, but definitely would have added that to my order.

[Gotho(redux)]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Just hugged myself.

Were you watching a Melusine release when you did it?

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Gotho(redux)

Were you watching a Melusine release when you did it?

I can neither confirm or deny.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

A different view point. For quite a few years I used my Panasonic, LG and Sony Blu-ray player as a media player to playback recordings made from PBS DVB-S2 feeds and ATSC 1.0 recordings from CBS, NBC and ABC. This replaced the method where I used a MIT MDP-130 card in my HTPC.

Ever once in a while I will use the Oppo UDP-203 to play a file because it has more video adjustments than my Zidoo media players.

Good that you found use for the function.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by gotmule

I just jumped into the GameFly pool with my first order and grabbed Mickey 17, Wicked, and Love Hurts. I couldn’t pass up the pricing as it turned out to be a little over $11 with shipping per disc. I don’t often buy used, but trust the positive comments made within our group here. I already have Wolfman, but definitely would have added that to my order.

Very good. It was cheez avenger that brought buying used from GF to my attention. Prior to that I had not paid much attention to my points. Have purchased a few titles with just points or a dollar or two. Paid $1.09 + points for Wolf Man. Really like that GF has UHD Blu-ray disc which Netflix never offered.

[cheez avenger]

And GF will have copies that are complete with inserts, booklets, digital codes, and/or steelbooks when appropriate.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by Ender14

Physical media's still kicking.



https://www.techradar.com/television...edia-expo-2025

For that price range, those players better play the discs without flaw.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by veritas

kaleidoscopes business doesn't make much sense IMO

pros:
a good bit rate

Cons:
loss of ownership
loss of convenience
loss of variety
more expensive
likely to be a brick eventually
more complicated to set up


Like from a pros and cons standpoint kalidoscope might lose to vhs let alone blu ray. Its business model looks like blu ray saying -look what they must do to pretend to have even a fraction of my power.

Has anyone here actually used kaleidoscope as their main device? If not that really speaks for its survival chances.

I don 't have one but assuming we are talking vs physical media

I don't know if these are true

loss of convenience : I think convenience is a funny (and meaning less word) do I think when I went to my sisters cottage for two weeks it was easier to throw 60 BDs in a box and bring it with me? yes. If I want to watch a film in my bedroom is it more work to go down to the basement get the film and bring it back to the bedroom to watch than pressing play on my fictional k box in my bedroom? yes. If someone rips their BD to a server do I think it is more work than DL directly from the K store? I will guess yes.

loss of variety: I am sure there are titles on UHD BD that are not on K but I am also sure there are titles on K that are not on UHD BD.

more complicated to set up: I am assuming you are right on this one, but in the end of the day it is a non issue for me. If it takes an extra couple of hours to set-up guessing it would not be anywhere near that long) who cares once it is done. I personally will never make a decision based on set-up. what is important is what I get when it is used. (i.e i could have stuck with DVD -no effort just leave everything as is - but moved to BD and then UHD BD - get new player, disconnect old, replace cabling to display, put in new player, reconfigure remote, calibrate system)

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by crutzulee

but I also think that most of our players will be bricks someday as almost every piece of hardware I've had as turned into.

agree but there is a huge difference. If my UHD player becomes a brick in a few minutes I can have a new one in its plcae and watching my film. If K (or your server becomes a brick) it will take longer to replace and even though you can prioritize (i.e. want to watch X so put X on server first) re-building the collection on the drives will take a hell of a long time.

and if we are talking in future state. It will most likely be relatively easy to find a used UHD player (in a time where we assume no one makes new ones) but if K is no more and your server dies there will be no way to continue watching your films because there will be no K to re-dl from..

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

For that price range, it better play those players better play the discs without flaw.

I have paid as much or more as these players cost for disc players in the past. Some examples:

• In 1985 I paid ≈ $1,050 ($3,188 in 2025 $s) for my Pioneer LaserDisc player.
• In 1997 I paid ≈ $1,040 ($2,100 in 2025 $s) for my Sony DVD player.
• In 2006 I paid ≈ $1,060 ($1,700 in 2025 $s) for my Panasonic Blu-ray player.

The Sony DVD player was quick and responsive, the Panasonic Blu-ray player was slow as molasses on a cold winter day.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

I have paid as much or more as these players cost for disc players in the past. Some examples:

• In 1985 I paid ≈ $1,050 ($3,188 in 2025 $s) for my Pioneer LaserDisc player.
• In 1997 I paid ≈ $1,040 ($2,100 in 2025 $s) for my Sony DVD player.
• In 2006 I paid ≈ $1,060 ($1,700 in 2025 $s) for my Panasonic Blu-ray player.

The Sony DVD player was quick and responsive, the Panasonic Blu-ray player was slow as molasses on a cold winter day.

I actually meant my comment as a serious statement in the sense that I wouldn't necessarily be unwilling to pay for the $1800 model (the one that is over $3,000 is probably more than I am willing to pay), but just with the 4K format being more finicky on average than regular Blu-Ray for a lot of people, I wouldn't want to pay that kind of price and find that a lot of discs are skipping/having errors.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

I actually meant my comment as a serious statement in the sense that I wouldn't necessarily be unwilling to pay for the $1800 model (the one that is over $3,000 is probably more than I am willing to pay), but just with the 4K format being more finicky on average than regular Blu-Ray for a lot of people, I wouldn't want to pay that kind of price and find that a lot of discs are skipping/having errors.

IF I were in the market today to buy a player it would most likely be the Panasonic DP-UB820-K. One of the cheaper models with split HDMI Outs and front panel display. As is, I can not see myself ever spinning disc again except to copy disc to NAS. I do play disc rentals in the Oppo or Sony.

[veritas]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

I don 't have one but assuming we are talking vs physical media

I don't know if these are true

loss of convenience : I think convenience is a funny (and meaning less word) do I think when I went to my sisters cottage for two weeks it was easier to throw 60 BDs in a box and bring it with me? yes. If I want to watch a film in my bedroom is it more work to go down to the basement get the film and bring it back to the bedroom to watch than pressing play on my fictional k box in my bedroom? yes. If someone rips their BD to a server do I think it is more work than DL directly from the K store? I will guess yes.

loss of variety: I am sure there are titles on UHD BD that are not on K but I am also sure there are titles on K that are not on UHD BD.

more complicated to set up: I am assuming you are right on this one, but in the end of the day it is a non issue for me. If it takes an extra couple of hours to set-up guessing it would not be anywhere near that long) who cares once it is done. I personally will never make a decision based on set-up. what is important is what I get when it is used. (i.e i could have stuck with DVD -no effort just leave everything as is - but moved to BD and then UHD BD - get new player, disconnect old, replace cabling to display, put in new player, reconfigure remote, calibrate system)

loss of convenience as in you cant watch your film at your girlfriends house. you cant watch the film on your iPad when your out of town. your girlfriend comes over and wants to watch mean girls which you don't own. you can buy it but the film wont be watchable for an hour or 2 as its not a stream but a download. you have multiple houses perhaps but your collection isn't really movable between the 2 without you double buying a ton of very expensive equipment. by going kaleidoscope you lose almost all of the positives of choosing streaming.

loss of variety: their are a couple hundred thousand releases for physical media. Their are a couple of hundred thousand vod releases and their are like 13 thousand kaleidoscope films. if you want everything in one place then ya kaleidoscope gives you a fraction of the options.

The ease of setup: Is more of a business problem then a consumer problem. your buying specialized hardware and setting up a server in your houses network. that probably removes 99% of potential customers as sadly a fair number cant set up a blu ray player when push comes to shove. it means market share likely wont ever grow and its kind of the main reason digital out performs physical. Make things simple and easy to use and that is enough for the majority of people.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

I actually meant my comment as a serious statement in the sense that I wouldn't necessarily be unwilling to pay for the $1800 model (the one that is over $3,000 is probably more than I am willing to pay), but just with the 4K format being more finicky on average than regular Blu-Ray for a lot of people, I wouldn't want to pay that kind of price and find that a lot of discs are skipping/having errors.

For a lot of discs to not play you need the Sony X700. In fact, some people say the X700 works for them. If you have a defective player or a damaged disc you will certainly have a problem.

I have been watching my discs more lately because I gave the media server a time out due to some renovations in the basement. I believe I could honestly watch all of my UHD BDs without error. I tend to watch them every day and they have been totally fine. I had a defective disc (Anatomy of a Murder) that I replaced and that solved the problem. Sometimes the new discs arrives covered in some type of slime or hazy gunk and the inside of the case can have it also. I don't like that but that's not often and you just need to wipe it off.

It's ironic or sad to know Sony used to make the more reliable Blu Ray players and they won't pull the extremely defective UHD player off the shelves but there is a updated model so maybe look for that one and roll the dice.