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

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

How can a daytime movie experience be met when I (and many millions) work most of the time it’s sunny? The only chance I get for films is nighttime and Saturday.

I know what people think of some of my posts but this is based in fact.

See, but this isn't based on fact.

You're basically assuming that renewable technologies won't be up to the task if and when we're forced to rely on them entirely for our electrical needs.

That's not a fact. That's speculation.

Originally Posted by Steedeel

No, but a battery storage breakthrough and solar panels that last all day long would!

Yes, yes it would.

As would devices that are more energy than they are now.

There are a lot of ways to close a hypothetical gap between the amount of energy produced by renewables and the energy needs of consumers.

There are a lot of things to worry about in this world. The lights going out when the wind stops blowing isn't even on my list.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by octagon

See, but this isn't based on fact.

You're basically assuming that renewable technologies won't be up to the task if and when we're forced to rely on them entirely for our electrical needs.

That's not a fact. That's speculation.



Yes, yes it would.

As would devices that are more energy than they are now.

There are a lot of ways to close a hypothetical gap between the amount of energy produced by renewables and the energy needs of consumers.

There are a lot of things to worry about in this world. The lights going out when the wind stops blowing isn't even on my list.

Is it a fact that battery storage large enough to support down time and fluctuations with solar farms and turbine power currently doesn’t exist?

Is it a fact that moving wholesale to renewables requires a national grid that can handle intermittent sources and have a reliable base that can control demand by storing energy in all conditions and months of the year?

Is it a fact that the biggest source of renewable energy (solar) is only useful when the sun is out?

Is it a fact that at the same time that this renewable push is happening, we are expected to cut our carbon emissions by 55% by 2030?

The answer to all is yes. Research it, a simple search will give you the answers.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Is it a fact that battery storage large enough to support down time and fluctuations with solar farms and turbine power currently doesn’t exist?

Is it a fact that moving wholesale to renewables requires a national grid that can handle intermittent sources and have a reliable base that can control demand by storing energy in all conditions and months of the year?

Is it a fact that the biggest source of renewable energy (solar) is only useful when the sun is out?

Is it a fact that at the same time that this renewable push is happening, we are expected to cut our carbon emissions by 55% by 2030?

The answer to all is yes. Research it, a simple search will give you the answers.

No. I will not.

You are the one basing all of your silly predictions on what you are calling facts. Your assertions and your predictions means your burden of proof. You provide the links to prove your claims as it is your argument and no one else's. It is not our job to waste our time and effort in a futile attempt to make your case for you.

Renewable energy has its challenges, but there is no reason that they can not be overcome and there is even less reason for any sane person to believe that massive forced night time power outages are our future and that therefore means the death of movies, TVs, and whatever else keeps you up at night.

Even if everything on your above list is a fact, and I very much doubt that they are, NONE of it lends any credence to your goofy conclusions.

[Vilya]

Now, I am off to face potentially infected grocery shoppers. That's something real to worry about, but I am taking all prudent precautions.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Is it a fact that battery storage large enough to support down time and fluctuations with solar farms and turbine power currently doesn’t exist?

Is it a fact that moving wholesale to renewables requires a national grid that can handle intermittent sources and have a reliable base that can control demand by storing energy in all conditions and months of the year?

Is it a fact that the biggest source of renewable energy (solar) is only useful when the sun is out?

Is it a fact that at the same time that this renewable push is happening, we are expected to cut our carbon emissions by 55% by 2030?

The answer to all is yes. Research it, a simple search will give you the answers.

If we were to completely eliminate fossil fuels tomorrow we'd be ****ed.

We are not completely eliminating fossil fuels tomorrow.

Whether current (ahahahahahaha, current...get it? current???) technologies are up to the task is irrelevant. The relevant question is whether future technologies will be up to the task and any talk about future technologies is going to be speculative.

You might be old enough to remember all those The Population Bomb books back in the 60s and 70s. I say books plural because new editions would come out every time the world stubbornly refused to starve to death by the deadline laid out in the edition before.

Now, were the people who bought into all the doom and gloom surrounding world food supplies and projected population growth just talking out their asses or just making up scary stories?

No, they made solid arguments for their projections but they failed to account for little things like innovation and technological changes. They assumed that things like the amount of farmable land or the amount of food we could squeeze out of farmable land wouldn't change. But they did.

Do I know for certain the same dynamics will play out here? No, of course not. Always changing, the future is.

But I'm pretty confident the world will figure out batteries in time.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

No. I will not.

You are the one basing all of your silly predictions on what you are calling facts. Your assertions and your predictions means your burden of proof. You provide the links to prove your claims as it is your argument and no one else's. It is not our job to waste our time and effort in a futile attempt to make your case for you.

Renewable energy has its challenges, but there is no reason that they can not be overcome and there is even less reason for any sane person to believe that massive forced night time power outages are our future and that therefore means the death of movies, TVs, and whatever else keeps you up at night.

Even if everything on your above list is a fact, and I very much doubt that they are, NONE of it lends any credence to your goofy conclusions.

Surely it shouldn’t be just be down to me to highlight road blocks and potential bad news for this hobby of ours? Surely we all need to be aware of such things, no?

It is undoubtably a issue. The world wants to move to renewables, we have a major, major problem with said technology in relation to our access to electricity. That’s a pretty big deal.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by octagon

If we were to completely eliminate fossil fuels tomorrow we'd be ****ed.

We are not completely eliminating fossil fuels tomorrow.

Whether current (ahahahahahaha, current...get it? current???) technologies are up to the task is irrelevant. The relevant question is whether future technologies will be up to the task and any talk about future technologies is going to be speculative.

You might be old enough to remember all those The Population Bomb books back in the 60s and 70s. I say books plural because new editions would come out every time the world stubbornly refused to starve to death by the deadline laid out in the edition before.

Now, were the people who bought into all the doom and gloom surrounding world food supplies and projected population growth just talking out their asses or just making up scary stories?

No, they made solid arguments for their projections but they failed to account for little things like innovation and technological changes. They assumed that things like the amount of farmable land or the amount of food we could squeeze out of farmable land wouldn't change. But they did.

Do I know for certain the same dynamics will play out here? No, of course not. Always changing, the future is.

But I'm pretty confident the world will figure out batteries in time.

They have ten years, let’s hope so.

[Steedeel]

On a different note, I have noticed only two of my last twenty Bluray purchases have come with a digital code. It looks like the digital copy is coming to a end in U.K. (and probably most of Europe).

The options now is pick a team and hope for the best.

Options are:

Sky Store
iTunes
Amazon
Google Play/Youtube
Sony PlayStation
Microsoft (Don't know what it’s called)

The most used in order are Sky Store, ITunes and Amazon.

Google Play might have had a chance of getting higher as code redeems are with them, but that advantage seems to have vanished.

So, UK have no digital lockers and therefore, no protection from closures.

[bhampton]

I would like to make a solar powered home theater ... just sounds like a fun thing to do. Certainly guilt free watching since I can't say I have a lack of time these days. I made a DIY solar pool heater and it works great and is in use.

No Atmos, No Big Screen, not the best experience... But I bet I could make it happen today.



Get a solar charger for my phone... it already has movies DL-ed on it and I have wired headphones. My Oculus Go may be even better. It has enough room for a lhigher quality movie in on board memory and provides a better experience than a movie on a phone.

I bet it's easy. Maybe afterwords I'll try to get some batteries and scale it up a bit.

Where I live the water is self contained... all I need is electricity and I have fresh water... So I guess I could be ahead of the game when it comes to the next level of world ending non sense the media wants to throw at me.

I have to admit sometimes I feel a little bad about using my Home Theater to watch alone with it's 5.2.2. speaker set and 127" 2.40:1 screen and the whole nine years... Usually it's not a bad feeling though... I usually love it. If I watch more with my iPhone or Vr I'll appreciate what I have even more.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by bhampton

I would like to make a solar powered home theater ... just sounds like a fun thing to do. Certainly guilt free watching since I can't say I have a lack of time these days.

No Atmos, No Big Screen, not the best experience... But I bet I could make it happen today.

Get a solar charger for my phone... it already has movies DL-ed on it and I have wired headphones. My Oculus Go may be even better. It has enough room for a lhigher quality movie in on board memory and provides a better experience than a movie on a phone.

I bet it's easy. Maybe afterwords I'll try to get some batteries and scale it up a bit.

Where I live the water is self contained... all I need is electricity and I have fresh water... So I guess I could be ahead of the game when it comes to the next level of world ending non sense the media wants to throw at me.

Oculus Quest seems to be where all the action is these days. I’m hoping the next gen PSVR has a higher resolution (it’s virtually guaranteed, no pun intended) that would allow Bluray quality playback plus PSVR can playback 3D Blu-ray. I. Hoping for the version after that to be self contained.

Depending on your age, the renewable energy issue may not concern you. I’m 45 so it will certainly affect me unless I kick the bucket early (waits for a Vilya one liner! )

Oh, and don’t be putting the word smartphone in the same sentence as HT, it triggers me!

[bhampton]

The Quest is the Go with game controllers and I"m not a gamer any more.
I'm happy with the Go and like you I don't care what is more popular or where the action is.
(I also have the PSVR but there's roughly a thousand wires involved so I haven't used it for a long time.)

I'm also not the first person to think it's fun to try a solar theater.



http://www.thesolcinema.org

This one seats 8. (assuming everyone has the proper antibodies)

No need to do this (or much of anything) out of fear. There's still time to do this for fun.


I think this tangent may actually be getting back to the thead topic... Weird.

-Brian

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by bhampton

The Quest is the Go with game controllers and I"m not a gamer any more.
I'm happy with the Go and like you I don't care what is more popular or where the action is.

I'm also not the first person to think it's fun to try a solar theater.



This one seats 8.

No need to do this (or much of anything) out of fear. There's still time to do this for fun.

-Brian

The Quest has a better screen and software that gives you skins to replicate a cinema, complete with seats etc.. Not sure if the Go does that?

Nice picture by the way, very Cosy!

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

The Quest has a better screen and software that gives you skins to replicate a cinema, complete with seats etc.. Not sure if the Go does that?

Nice picture by the way, very Cosy!

The Go can replicate a theater... I tend to prefer no CGI environment but the option is there.
I"m sure newer is better for VR and maybe the next thing or the one after that will become popular. In the mean time I love the Oculus Go. It's very fun.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by bhampton

The Go can replicate a theater... I tend to prefer no CGI environment but the option is there.
I"m sure newer is better for VR and maybe the next thing or the one after that will become popular. In the mean time I love the Oculus Go. It's very fun.

The Quest has been successful which is a boost for all VR of course. The PSVR is still the best seller though at this point. Estimates put it at 6 million units sold come December. The Quest will (imo) become the biggest seller over time but competition is great. No doubt the new Half Life played a part as well as the likes of Beat Sabre. I would recommend you give VR gaming a try, it’s really fantastic.

[bhampton]

I have tried VR Gaming. I love Resident Evil 7 and a few other games. My daughter loves TrackMania via PSVR and the VR Game Room game. I think my gaming days are over but who knows I still have plenty of great games yet unplayed. For now I'm into other stuff.

I am excited about Apple's upcoming VR/AR device.

Reading about the Quest, It's not an upgrade I would turn down but I still think this type of thing will get better and cheaper in short order and I'm glad to have something that works now.

I sometimes think the future is more energy efficiency so I like to keep a bit in touch with VR. We may be headed to a self serve world of isolation... it's sad for younger people.

[Ender14]

As Steedeel knows I recently purchased an Oculus Rift S. I build my own gaming computers so I wanted something that could take advantage of my graphics card without breaking the bank.

I purchased a PSVR a couple of years ago specifically to watch 3D movies in VR (with gaming on the side of course) but I returned it because the screen door effect ruined the experience for me. I haven't tried the theater mode on the Rift S yet but I know with gaming there is pretty much zero screen door effect.

I still need to purchase an optical drive to rip my discs before I can try out movies on the Rift S. But I will say Half-Life: Alyx is one of the most amazing gaming experiences I've ever had. Building a game from the ground up for VR makes all the difference.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by bhampton

I have tried VR Gaming. I love Resident Evil 7 and a few other games. My daughter loves TrackMania via PSVR and the VR Game Room game. I think my gaming days are over but who knows I still have plenty of great games yet unplayed. For now I'm into other stuff.

I am excited about Apple's upcoming VR/AR device.

Reading about the Quest, It's not an upgrade I would turn down but I still think this type of thing will get better and cheaper in short order and I'm glad to have something that works now.

I sometimes think the future is more energy efficiency so I like to keep a bit in touch with VR. We may be headed to a self serve world of isolation... it's sad for younger people.

I don’t think so. Humans are mostly social Creatures (not me) , meeting people is a vital part of growing up. I don’t see a pandemic ending that, it’s just a bump in the road.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Ender14

As Steedeel knows I recently purchased an Oculus Rift S. I build my own gaming computers so I wanted something that could take advantage of my graphics card without breaking the bank.

I purchased a PSVR a couple of years ago specifically to watch 3D movies in VR (with gaming on the side of course) but I returned it because the screen door effect ruined the experience for me. I haven't tried the theater mode on the Rift S yet but I know with gaming there is pretty much zero screen door effect.

I still need to purchase an optical drive to rip my discs before I can try out movies on the Rift S. But I will say Half-Life: Alyx is one of the most amazing gaming experiences I've ever had. Building a game from the ground up for VR makes all the difference.

Building from the ground up gives us experiences that can’t be replicated elsewhere. That’s what VR is all about to me.

I don't know what to make of Apple. On one hand they seem focussed on a discrete pair of Augmented Reality glasses, while on the other hand they are buying up VR tech and start ups like Next VR. Maybe they are planning a future mixed reality headset but it doesn’t seem like their style.
It has me very intrigued regardless. The tide seems to be turning with VR, it’s becoming more mainstream with fitness and dance apps like Beat Sabre and Pistol Whipped, while big hitters include Iron Man, The Walking Dead and of course Half Life.
Very exciting.

[JohnAV]

Best Buy Ups Q1 Home Entertainment Revenue 9.5% - Media Play News - 5/21/20

Benefitting from a homebound consumer base due to the coronavirus pandemic, Best Buy May 21 reported a 9.5% increase in domestic entertainment revenue to $554 million for the first quarter ended May 2. That compared to a 12.7% decline in the previous-year period.

The entertainment segment includes DVD/Blu-ray Disc movies, video game hardware and software, books, music CDs and computer software.

International entertainment sales skyrocketed 58% to $58.2 million compared to a 14% decline last year. The largest comparable domestic sales growth drivers were computing and gaming. These growth drivers were more offset by declines in home theater, mobile phones, digital imaging and services.

Domestic online revenue of $3.34 billion increased 155.4% on a comparable basis due to increased traffic. As a percentage of total domestic revenue, online revenue increased 42.2% versus 15.4% last year.

“In the middle of Q1, we shifted all our stores to a curbside-only operating model and were able to retain approximately 81% of last year’s sales during the last six weeks of the quarter, even though not a single customer set foot in our stores,” CEO Corie Barry said in a statement. “The strong sales retention is a testament to the strength of our multi-channel capabilities and the strategic investments we have been making over the past several years.”

That’s very good.

[JohnAV]

Interest in Digital Home Entertainment Spread in Pandemic, DEG Speakers Say - Media Play News -5/21/20

Staying at home during the pandemic increased digital home entertainment interest across the board — for free VOD, SVOD and TVOD — according to speakers at a virtual DEG Expo May 21.

“We’re seeing in this moment really strong momentum for content consumption, discovery, engagement across our whole ecosystem,” said Google’s Jonathan Zepp. “That’s especially true in our user-facing, consumer businesses. For example, since stay-at-home has been in place, our home entertainment transactional business has seen tremendous growth in consumption, and it’s driven not only by new release, home premiere titles, but also catalog titles that have been wonderful and enjoyed by families together.”

Consumers were also searching for older shows. As consumers began to shelter in place, search queries for “The Sopranos” grew 67%, “Game of Thrones” 36% and “Mad Men” 31%, noted Google’s David Wang.

“If you take even some of these older titles that are evergreen, we’re seeing significant increases in search volume for these titles over the past several months, and they all roughly correlate with the timing of stay-at-home orders,” he said.

Consumers also increased searches for “Marvel movies in order” and — perhaps coming as no surprise — “virus movies.”