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

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Irrelevant what I want. Disney+ is expected to top 100 million customers in the next couple of years. That’s 5 BILLION per year. Enough to keep them in big tv productions wouldn't you say? Add to that, ads for them and Netflix?
You are imagining old fashioned cable ads, that’s not what we would see here. Modern audiences won’t tolerate it.

Peanuts!

Netflix will spend $17.3 billion on content in 2020, according to a new forecast by Dan Salmon, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets. The company spent a bit more than $15 billion in 2019. Salmon sees the tally rising past $26 billion by 2026.

[Vilya]

Time for pizza! And then I'm off to watch 5 hours of bonus features from the PBS documentary The Civil War. I'll spend some quality time with the late historian Shelby Foote!

I have a very long way to go in my American History documentary marathon.

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by alchav21

I feel the Home Theater is going to take on a new meaning and challenge. Cinemas will remain, but I think fewer with many amenities like Reclining Lounge Chairs, Dinners, and Cocktails.

I don't want nor need fancy reclining chairs, dinner and drink service with wait staff walking in front of the screen or a bar in my theater. If I want to go to a bar I will go to a bar. When I want dinner I go to a restaurant.

When I want to go to the movies just give a normal, comfortable seat and the best picture and sound quality available and you can have all my entertainment money (luckily I have AMC Stubs A-List so that equals $22 a month in movie-going dollars, if they remain solvent). I know I'm probably in the minority, but I HATE the reclining seats. Have we become so lazy and entitled in the U.S.that our movie-going experience has to mimic our living or bedroom environment?

No need to answer that last one. The answer is obvious.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

Peanuts!

That’s presuming they don’t raise the prices in the first 18 months That’s also presuming they don’t run ads. Given your scenario, they would do both. As would Netflix. (Or at least go with ads for Netflix). That’s forgetting Apple and their move into the arena. We all know their ammunition.

Ads and raising prices would be close to double that amount. Near to 10 billion plus Hulu and ESPN.

Oh, plus the theme parks and merchandise.

Oh bloody heck! They really are going to dominate aren’t they. Bloody virus!

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Irrelevant what I want. Disney+ is expected to top 100 million customers in the next couple of years. That’s 5 BILLION per year. Enough to keep them in big tv productions wouldn't you say? Add to that, ads for them and Netflix?
You are imagining old fashioned cable ads, that’s not what we would see here. Modern audiences won’t tolerate it.

Your math is wrong! 100M subs = $699M/mo. x 12 = $8.39B/year

Can you provide a link that shows either Disney or Netflix warming up to AVOD? That's ad supported SVOD. I know I can provide a bunch where Netflix says absolutely no ads.

BTW, last year Disney's total revenue was just under $70B. Don't bother with your standard reply of "what about the pandemic?" It's getting worn out.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Ender14

I don't want nor need fancy reclining chairs, dinner and drink service with wait staff walking in front of the screen or a bar in my theater. If I want to go to a bar I will go to a bar. When I want dinner I go to a restaurant.

The chains that offer that experience do usually place it with a grouping of restaurants. Its obviously not your thing but others do like to be entertained in that manner, compared to going to a game and spending a lot more on food.

see https://www.finedininglovers.com/art...t-bites-cinema


It kinda reminds me of the European style where people sit outside and someone plays a movie in the background for them to watch while they serve drinks and food.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

Your math is wrong! 100M subs = $699M/mo. x 12 = $8.39B/year

Can you provide a link that shows either Disney or Netflix warming up to AVOD? That's ad supported SVOD. I know I can provide a bunch where Netflix says absolutely no ads.

BTW, last year Disney's total revenue was just under $70B. Don't bother with your standard reply of "what about the pandemic?" It's getting worn out.

Well, it’s 6 billion pounds so yeah, I’m out a bit but I don’t work in dollars as I am English.

Ads are coming, it’s naive to think otherwise. Netflix and Disney+ can’t keep losing billions. If theatres do shut down (big if I know) a huge safety net is removed that will cause ripples for home video. These services (especially Netflix) will be backed into a corner. But yeah, you keep believing Hastings if you like?
Ads would bring in a estimated 1 billion, you think they can leave that on the table indefinitely? They could easily insert ads when people pause their show, it could be 10 second loops or even screensaver photos of a product, it doesn’t have be invasive. I think they may also just go with pre rolls and leave a show or film intact.

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

The chains that offer that experience do usually place it with a grouping of restaurants. Its obviously not your thing but others do like to be entertained in that manner, compared to going to a game and spending a lot more on food.

see https://www.finedininglovers.com/art...t-bites-cinema


It kinda reminds me of the European style where people sit outside and someone plays a movie in the background for them to watch while they serve drinks and food.

Wow, that picture in the link you sent looks like the absolute worst way to experience a movie. But I understand there are people who enjoy it. I just find the extraneous activity distracts from the viewing experience, which when I go to a movie is my primary concern.

I used to be a manager for AMC Theaters and actually worked at their first ever restaurant/theater here in Atlanta back in the late 90's, the Buckhead Backlot. It was insane and I ended up quitting the company for a short while as a result. They had no idea how to run the concept at the time and it was a lot of trial and error. Not to mention it was an old theater they converted and the equipment quality left something to be desired. But I never watched a movie there unless it was after hours with no customers.

The only really cool thing about it was they could show TV content on the big screen, such as the Oscars and the Super Bowl. That was the first theater I had seen with that capability. But the real bonus to the setup is I let my employees bring their Playstation in and we played video games on the big screen. Truly a unique experience.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Ender14

Wow, that picture in the link you sent looks like the absolute worst way to experience a movie. .

Agree,

But all those people on a Zoom meeting with a screen for each and one for the movie sounds like just a little bit worse. There must be a picture like that.

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Agree,

But all those people on a Zoom meeting with a screen for each and one for the movie sounds like just a little bit worse. There must be a picture like that.

Yes, that might actually be worse.

[bhampton]

Best example I found with a quick look..

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Best example I found with a quick look..

Yeah, I've been using Microsoft Teams while working from home and our teleconferences look like that. I would rather not watch a movie than watch one that way.

[bhampton]

Thanks for the AMC story.

I worked as an Usher for a 2 years at AMC7 in Miami in the late 80s.

[Show spoiler]
I enjoyed it. It was, I think my second real job first being a grocery store bagger.

I also cut lawns during the off days and my boss loved the fact we could duck out for 2 hours in a hot part of the day to see current movies. At the time I could go to competitor theater like Lowes if I had my manager call the theater ahead of time.

The theater was in a mall that replaced a bakery and was called Bakery Center. The mall too expensive for most people to shop at. I would sometimes walk around and got a I don't belong here vibe which is rare at Malls and probably not what you want. The mall itself was eventually nuke and paved and now a new mall there I think is doing great.

So,... our AMC theater sometimes ran foreign and artsy stuff and people liked it. When something big happened like U2 Rattle and Hum we had 3 or 4 theaters running that and everything else rotating in the smaller theaters near the back. George Micheal came to our theater once during the day and the manager told us ahead of time. I don't remember what movie he watched, I didn't take his ticket but I saw him buy popcorn. (I wasn't really a fan of Wham! at the time but I knew he was a successful musician)

It was the best job for a fun loving teenager.

-Brian

[thisis2]

..would anyone here have any opinions about the future of Blu-Ray UHD 4K players..it seems only Panasonic and Sony are manufacturing them and i'm not sure they have announced their 2020 line up yet...was considering buying a back-up future proof region free UHD 4K player just in case there will be a lack of player availability in the near future to watch one's region A and B blu-ray disc collection (which would be a nightmare scenario)...thanks for any insight into this..

[bhampton]

I have a Panasonic (UB420) and a Sony (X700). Maybe I should get an LG just to know how those are, who knows maybe I would like those best.

Would it make sense to put any region free concerns in a separate Blu basket? .. I imagine region free Blu Ray players are more abundant. Do any cheap Blu players have a remote key sequence to change the region an unlimited number of times.

Region free used to be important for me when I had more Region 2 content on DVD but that was long ago. I should rip all my region 2 stuff to a USB hard drive. That eventually became me way of dealing with it. Most of my Region 2 stuff was French cartoons.... I'm not in a hurry to revisit, but it could still be fun to digitize them.

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by bhampton

I have a Panasonic (UB420) and a Sony (X700). Maybe I should get an LG just to know how those are, who knows maybe I would like those best.

Would it make sense to put any region free concerns in a separate Blu basket? .. I imagine region free Blu Ray players are more abundant.

Region free used to be important for me when I had more Region 2 content on DVD but that was long ago.

How is the X700? I currently have the X800-M1 but want Dolby Vision capabilities since my TV supports it. The X800-M2 is about $70 more but would like to put that extra money towards getting a region-free X700 if the play back quality is the same.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Ender14

How is the X700? I currently have the X800-M1 but want Dolby Vision capabilities since my TV supports it. The X800-M2 is about $70 more but would like to put that extra money towards getting a region-free X700 if the play back quality is the same.

Well the short answer is it's retired.

[Show spoiler]

The first time I bought the X700 it was very unreliable. It locked up. I returned it and sold my small UHD BD collection.

The second time I bought the X700 I did the FW update and it worked well. I started buying and enjoying UHD BD. Eventually though I had a few lock ups. It was much less often but it did happen when I had people over to watch a movie and we had to switch over to the ATV4K just to finish the movie.

Then I bought the Panasonic UB420 and the Sony is retired. I opened it up there's a tiny little mother board and the heatsink on the CPU didn't seem to get warm when I used it. Also there is no fan. I think it may need to be re-seated to the CPU and the problem would go away. A fan on the heatsink may also be useful. I prefer the interface of the Sony and I don't believe the X800v2 has better PQ, just better build Quality. The Panny offers tone mapping which I now find essential. It has a preset for projectors that seems to work well with my native 4K Projector's HDR10 settings.

If and when I have DV I may try to reseat the CPU heatsink of the X700 and give it another chance. You could certainly try one overall I do recommend it.

-Brian

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Agree,

But all those people on a Zoom meeting with a screen for each and one for the movie sounds like just a little bit worse. There must be a picture like that.

No doubt that will be a huge selling point for those future foldable laptops with one screen for the movie and the other screen housing the zoom profiles.

I hate the thought personally, but most of you know that already!

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Ender14

How is the X700? I currently have the X800-M1 but want Dolby Vision capabilities since my TV supports it. The X800-M2 is about $70 more but would like to put that extra money towards getting a region-free X700 if the play back quality is the same.

I do not know what your budget is, but 220 Electronics offers the region free Sony X800M2 for $399 with an additional 5% off making it about $379.

https://www.220-electronics.com/sony...ti-region.html

They also offer the region free Sony X1100ES, but it costs $699; $664 after 5% discount.

https://www.220-electronics.com/sony...ay-player.html

They do offer a region free Sony X700 for $309; or $294 after discount.

https://www.220-electronics.com/sony...ay-player.html

They offer other brands and models, too. The only thing I dislike about the Sony's is that Dolby Vision has to be manually selected and de-selected each time- such a stupid design.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by thisis2

..would anyone here have any opinions about the future of Blu-Ray UHD 4K players..it seems only Panasonic and Sony are manufacturing them and i'm not sure they have announced their 2020 line up yet...was considering buying a back-up future proof region free UHD 4K player just in case there will be a lack of player availability in the near future to watch one's region A and B blu-ray disc collection (which would be a nightmare scenario)...thanks for any insight into this..

Pioneer makes a high end player, LG and others makes low end players. Then you have the XBox and later this year PlayStation. Expect to pay a premium for a region free player.