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

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Trying to determine which wire goes to what is half the fun when working behind home theater gear.

I believe me going to pass on that fun , just too many wire to keep up with (many not shown).

[Show spoiler]

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by bhampton

It is not the latest and or greatest but it’s fully captivating and better than anything I ever had previously.

. IMHO, big sound (13 loudspeakers) demands big picture.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

I kinda hope they go with . . . .

Its not like this couldn't be a gradual rollout of deployments ending up as a reverse to what the USA normally does. You ever looked at how the various countries get new releases staggered as far as dates. If the USA is not ready thats their problem. But they could be making money overseas while getting their act together. The media would likely be delayed if there is a wide deviation of it playing over up to three months in theaters.

Once you release a movie anywhere, it will be pirated everywhere. A genie only stays in a corked bottle.

Release it to theaters abroad and people will be downloading it here in no time and selling hard copies on ebay.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by bhampton

I use a Sony VW285ES with a Draper 127” 2.40:1 screen. I love it. It is not the latest and or greatest but it’s fully captivating and better than anything I ever had previously.

I have 2 direct view TVs in the house. One for video games only and a Tv in the bedroom occasionally used.

OLEDs look nice and all but they cost a lot and have tiny screens and can get burn in.

I may move to a direct view set in the HT eventually but I don’t think now is the time yet. Maybe in a few more years or maybe this year in the fall.

Attached is a picture I took of a less than year old OLED that must have been in torch mode. The screen was supposed to be solid yellow like the set below it.

OLEDs are pretty to behold, but I don't trust them.

Perfect blacks, sure, but my FALD LED can get as bright as the sun, it even shipped with sun block, and I think that the blacks on it are quite good. Dark scenes are better on an OLED, but bright scenes are better on a LED.

Burn-in on an OLED is supposedly rarer than rare, but if so how come their manufacturer's won't warrant against it? I might believe their claims if they backed their OLED TVs with a warranty that covers burn-in. I am not reassured by their empty reassurances.

[gotmule]

Question for the Oppo owners as I now have a need to pursue a region free mod kit for my 203. I have poked around some on AVS forum, but curious if anyone here has any suggestions and/or recommendations.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by gotmule

Question for the Oppo owners as I now have a need to pursue a region free mod kit for my 203. I have poked around some on AVS forum, but curious if anyone here has any suggestions and/or recommendations.

Would you be oppo-sed to multiple players. You could just add a region 2 player or other region free player..... just a thought since the oppo is rare and valuable.

(Not an owner tho. A friend of mine had one but not the 203 either.)

Here’s another thought. Put the other region stuff on a server in full quality and use the oppo to play it via the network. I used to do this because we have cartoons from France. When I moved away from a region free player I just put the other region stuff on my plex server.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Ah, party pooper. Why can't we go play in your yard?

Because he hasn’t seen it.

[gotmule]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Would you be oppo-sed to multiple players. You could just add a region 2 player or other region free player..... just a thought since the oppo is rare and valuable.

(Not an owner tho. A friend of mine had one but not the 203 either.)

Here’s another thought. Put the other region stuff on a server in full quality and use the oppo to play it via the network. I used to do this because we have cartoons from France. When I moved away from a region free player I just put the other region stuff on my plex server.

I see what you did there.

Interesting options. I am not crazy about adding another component as my racks are full currently, but still something to consider. I am not a server kind of guy...yet.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by gotmule

Question for the Oppo owners as I now have a need to pursue a region free mod kit for my 203. I have poked around some on AVS forum, but curious if anyone here has any suggestions and/or recommendations.

I used this one because I wanted it mounted inside the case. Programmed macros in the MX-980 so switching regions is one button push.

Search this thread for other mod post.

[Lee A Stewart]

The US may get the latest Hollywood movies after other countries

For most of the history of Hollywood, the US would get to see new blockbuster movies first, while the rest of the world had to wait. The coronavirus pandemic could reverse that model.

Theaters in many countries have gradually reopened in the last few months. Several European countries—including France, Italy, and Spain—allowed theaters to open their doors again (with precautions) in May and June. Japanese theaters have been open for three months. Nearly every theater in South Korea is currently open.

But not so in the United States. As Covid-19 cases surge in states across the country, the American film industry has been slow to reopen. Only about a quarter of US theaters are open for business, the Los Angeles Times reported. Theaters in the country’s two biggest markets—New York City and Los Angeles—remain shuttered. (California governor Gavin Newsom recently ordered theaters to close again this week after some were briefly allowed to reopen.)

Theater chains around the world are sustained by Hollywood’s movies; the longer Hollywood withholds its new releases, the graver the threat to their existence. And the studios are also in jeopardy, because they can’t afford to sit on unreleased big-budget films indefinitely. Hollywood is thus faced with three options: Wait until US theaters are open again before releasing their films-in-waiting, show them to the rest of the world first while America attempts to get its act together, or make them available on streaming services in some or all parts of the world in lieu of theaters.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/new...?ocid=msedgdhp

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Vilya

OLEDs are pretty to behold, but I don't trust them.

Perfect blacks, sure, but my FALD LED can get as bright as the sun, it even shipped with sun block, and I think that the blacks on it are quite good. Dark scenes are better on an OLED, but bright scenes are better on a LED.

Burn-in on an OLED is supposedly rarer than rare, but if so how come their manufacturer's won't warrant against it? I might believe their claims if they backed their OLED TVs with a warranty that covers burn-in. I am not reassured by their empty reassurances.

If you so free with your money why would you worry?

Robert has several OLEDs in his house, without burn-in. Long time owner and user. (Sony, LG). I have mine since 2016, no burn - in.

If you are going to disable the normal protection methods a OLED incorporates, oh sure you can be dumb and do that. But there are some that read something online to get a brighter output without even understand what they are disabling. That also goes for the dumb store people that operate a OLED in torch mode, the most famous example was the bad choice of using it to show airline arrivals/departures at a airport.

I have different types of displays in the rooms. For theater I prefer OLED over LCD FPGA LED.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by gotmule

Question for the Oppo owners as I now have a need to pursue a region free mod kit for my 203. I have poked around some on AVS forum, but curious if anyone here has any suggestions and/or recommendations.

Bluraychip.dk
JVB Digital

Do it yourself, save. You want one that just plugs in.

[Cevolution]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Unless Netflix have somehow managed to miraculously improve their 4K quality to match disc, I feel pretty qualified. I do own a Apple TV also and I have seen 4K content on that. Neither are a match for disc. I’m judging on that and I trust the opinions of my fellow disc lovers. My general comment still stands. Watching Blu-ray and UHD makes one alert to obvious flaws in streaming quality. I have an eye for flaws, what can I say?

You only have 43 4K discs according to your collection on here, that doesn't really amount to a high level of qualification...

Originally Posted by Steedeel

You can’t polish a turd. Regardless of screen quality.

You can say the same about plenty of discs too. Not all discs are created equal, there are plenty of versions of discs that are plagued with the same issues that you can get from streaming... There are streaming versions that certainly would trump some discs with regards to banding and other artifacts. Your collection is certainly not free of this... You have to spend a lot of money importing Blu-ray's released by different distributors from every country to try and avoid it.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Cevolution

You only have 43 4K discs according to your collection on here, that doesn't really amount to high level of qualification...



You can same the about plenty of discs too. Not all discs are created equal, there are plenty of versions of discs that are plagued with the same issues that you can get from streaming... There are streaming versions that certainly would trump some discs with regards to banding and other artifacts. Your collection is certainly not free of this... You have to spend a lot of money importing Blu-ray's released by different distributors from every country to try and avoid it.

Is this going to be a pissing contest? You have hundreds of 4K titles so you are better qualified?

[zarquon]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Once you release a movie anywhere, it will be pirated everywhere. A genie only stays in a corked bottle.

Release it to theaters abroad and people will be downloading it here in no time and selling hard copies on ebay.

If released anywhere digitally, yes, they'd be pirated instantly. For a theatrical release, though, there would just be cam bootlegs, and those are of extremely poor quality, unwatchable as far as I'm concerned.

On the other hand, I suppose some people must find them adequate, or the pirates wouldn't bother...

[gotmule]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

I used this one because I wanted it mounted inside the case. Programmed macros in the MX-980 so switching regions is one button push.

Search this thread for other mod post.

Thanks Wendell. Good info there. Without a macro involved, it does seem to be some hoops to jump through to get it to switch regions.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by zarquon

If released anywhere digitally, yes, they'd be pirated instantly. For a theatrical release, though, there would just be cam bootlegs, and those are of extremely poor quality, unwatchable as far as I'm concerned.

On the other hand, I suppose some people must find them adequate, or the pirates wouldn't bother...

Just speculating, but as theaters download movies from satellite connections to their own local servers what is to prevent a dishonest employee from stealing a copy of that file and selling it or making bootlegs from it themselves? You only need one copy of that file to be stolen one time for it to be replicated endlessly.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

If you so free with your money why would you worry?

Robert has several OLEDs in his house, without burn-in. Long time owner and user. (Sony, LG). I have mine since 2016, no burn - in.

If you are going to disable the normal protection methods a OLED incorporates, oh sure you can be dumb and do that. But there are some that read something online to get a brighter output without even understand what they are disabling. That also goes for the dumb store people that operate a OLED in torch mode, the most famous example was the bad choice of using it to show airline arrivals/departures at a airport.

I have different types of displays in the rooms. For theater I prefer OLED over LCD FPGA LED.

I wouldn't say that I was "free" with my money and, regardless, no one likes to lose the money that they spend.

You do not need to sell me on the quality of an OLED display. I have seen several and they are beautiful. I wish I could afford one in the 85" size range, but the only one is an 88" LG 8K model that costs $29,999. I ain't that loose with my wallet.

I will keep saying it no matter how many "it has not happened to me " anecdotes that I hear: if burn-in is so extremely rare on an OLED TV why won't the manufacturer's warrant against it? Back up this claim with something meaningful.

Disabling protective features should be a dead giveaway allowing for the exclusion of any such risk takers and I suspect that these must be few in number. A lot of new TV owners of all TV types seem afraid to even touch their TV's settings for fear that they will screw something up.

[zarquon]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Just speculating, but as theaters download movies from satellite connections to their own local servers what is to prevent a dishonest employee from stealing a copy of that file and selling it or making bootlegs from it themselves? You only need one copy of that file to be stolen one time for it to be replicated endlessly.

Anything is possible, but it seems like that would be exceedingly difficult, plus I think they're usually delivered on special hard drives, and not transferred electronically.

https://thedcpmaster.com/dcp-digital-cinema-print/

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by gotmule

Thanks Wendell. Good info there. Without a macro involved, it does seem to be some hoops to jump through to get it to switch regions.

I own an external mod for my Oppo and I elected to put it on my Oppo 93 and just leave it set to Region B most of the time. I used the well known software solution, the Oppo Superdisk as it is called, to make it permanently region free for DVDs.

I only have to select different regions when playing blu-rays; with DVD it is now automatic. The command is simply to press "Dimmer, Dimmer, Dimmer, Mute then either 1 for region A, 2 for region B, or 3 for region C. These buttons must be pressed within 20 seconds of beginning the sequence. Turn the player off, wait 10 seconds, and then restart. The region just selected will now be in effect.

With my mod kit, it is recommended to disable the "Auto resume" feature in the player's settings. It is also interesting to note that all "models" of this mod kit work with all Oppos from 93/95 thru 203/205. On ebay the ones specifically listed as working with the 203/205 cost more, but they are in fact identical. Mine claims to be for the Oppo 103/105, yet I use it on my Oppo 93 and other members in the Oppo 203 thread reported that it also worked fine on their 203s.