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

[Cevolution]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

This is a bit more than a Blu-ray forum at this point. It may have started that way, but we're well past that. People talk about movies, games, LEGO, digital, football, basketball, etc... All on this site. Hell I can't think of the last time I actually posted in the Blu-ray section of the forum haha.

I'm sure your financial situation has a lot to do with that:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=284074

Would that be the case though if your priorities hadn't changed?

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by Cevolution

I'm sure your financial situation has a lot to do with that:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=284074

Would that be the case though if your priorities hadn't changed?

Probably not. For some reason I don't enjoy talking about Blu-rays much. I like to talk about the movies themselves which the movies subforum fits me better. So many threads in the Blu-ray side are talking about bitrate and audio codecs and such. I personally don't care much about all that mumbo jumbo. I'm simple....I just want it to look good haha.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

Probably not. For some reason I don't enjoy talking about Blu-rays much. I like to talk about the movies themselves which the movies subforum fits me better. So many threads in the Blu-ray side are talking about bitrate and audio codecs and such. I personally don't care much about all that mumbo jumbo. I'm simple....I just want it to look good haha.

Stick with disc in that case.

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Stick with disc in that case.

For the most part the digital movies are "good enough" for many cases. When I'm home sure I use the disc if I own it. However I rent digital absolutely (Blockbuster is gone and Redbox sucks). When I go to my friends or my parents I always use digital. Without a doubt it's easier than guessing what everyone wants to watch or bringing my entire disc collection with me. Both formats have benefits.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

It's the equivalent of joining a Playstation frorum then bleeting on about Xbox or Nintendo. This is a Blu-Ray forum.

Have I upgraded, no. I am close but I want to ensure I have all the necessary display tech so I am waiting until the standards get ironed out a little. I will 100% be upgrading. Not sure what you are trying to imply by that or are you just being a smart Alec?

Master Ghandi, apologies for this post. As someone who I respect on this forum, that last sentence was uncalled for.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

For the most part the digital movies are "good enough" for many cases. When I'm home sure I use the disc if I own it. However I rent digital absolutely (Blockbuster is gone and Redbox sucks). When I go to my friends or my parents I always use digital. Without a doubt it's easier than guessing what everyone wants to watch or bringing my entire disc collection with me. Both formats have benefits.

I'm a quality freak if you haven't already guessed.

[sleepydumbdude]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

How much is a 200TB of storage with appropriate redundant backup?

I had 120 TB NAS storage at home installed for about 10k last March or so. I'm sure the price probably has down since then. Mine can be upgraded to up to 200 I think, just cost as much as the storage to put in I am pretty sure after the initial build. I just paid someone to do it too. I think I am at like 69 TBs now and probably won't have to update anytime soon. I'm a digital hoarder.

That is with no backup but I can easily get that stuff back.

[PenguinMaster]

Originally Posted by sleepydumbdude

I had 120 TB NAS storage at home installed for about 10k last March or so. I'm sure the price probably has down since then. Mine can be upgraded to up to 200 I think, just cost as much as the storage to put in I am pretty sure after the initial build. I just paid someone to do it too. I think I am at like 69 TBs now and probably won't have to update anytime soon. I'm a digital hoarder.

That is with no backup but I can easily get that stuff back.

$10k? That's more than I paid for my entire Blu-ray collection.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by sleepydumbdude

I had 120 TB NAS storage at home installed for about 10k last March or so. I'm sure the price probably has down since then. Mine can be upgraded to up to 200 I think, just cost as much as the storage to put in I am pretty sure after the initial build. I just paid someone to do it too. I think I am at like 69 TBs now and probably won't have to update anytime soon. I'm a digital hoarder.

That is with no backup but I can easily get that stuff back.

Originally Posted by PenguinMaster

$10k? That's more than I paid for my entire Blu-ray collection.

Sounds a little high to me, unless it was K-Scape and they also loaded your Movies. Just for Storage and setting up the Server sounds pricy. Now if they did Cat5 Wiring, and setting up your Video Devices might also run up the cost.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by veritas

If digital gains to much popularity then it will devalue bds and fewer titles will make it to the format while simultaneously lowering the value of some peoples extensive collections. This is partly why dvd still sells better then blu ray if you have 1000 dvds and you accept that bd looks better then dvd then you would have an inferior collection that needs to be replaced. If you say you cant see a difference though then your collection is still just fine and you can ignore bd for your vested interests.

If physical wins out then digital distributors will go out of business and digital buyers will lose their entire collections due to the restrictive drm. The streaming market has been shown to be rather unstable as around one distributor has gone out of business each year.

I say it's all Digital, and the only difference is the Storage Device. I think we are headed to Storing Movies on Secure Servers. Physical Disc will be around for a while, but sales have been going down. Disc Lovers keep putting Digital HD down because of PQ & AQ, but the BitRate has been going up especially with Providers that have UHD. So if you have a connection of 50+Mbps your Video Quality should be negligible as compared with Disc.

[PenguinMaster]

Originally Posted by alchav21

I say it's all Digital, and the only difference is the Storage Device. I think we are headed to Storing Movies on Secure Servers.

Secure for who? Nothing the studios or digital providers have ever done has shown me that they want to make sure that everyone can always access their movies. I can't even imagine that being possible, every licensing agreement would have to give the studios distribution rights in perpetuity. It is not their responsibility to make sure movies remain available for decades... nor should it be.

Every previous storage device for home video (Blu-ray, HD DVD, DVD, LaserDisc, VHS, and Betamax) could be used and resold without any further involvement from the studios or distributors after the initial sale. To say that streaming and downloads are just a new storage device is ignoring the drastic change in ownership rights.

[BlakkMajik3000]

Originally Posted by BMox81

I just can't understand why there has to be sides in all this?

There doesn't, but where's the fun in that?

I'm definitely on both sides of the fence on this topic. While I strongly prefer digital, some of the unknowns of the future ensure I keep my favorites on disc. The only way I'd switch completely to digital is: 1.) All EST retailers supported both UV and DMA, 2.) 100% of all movies are either UV or DMA enabled, and 3.) All providers and studios agree to both never pull a title from being available for purchase and never pull a title from a user's collection.

The physical media supporters, such as Penguin, make a good point. Physical is the only way to ensure users themselves have control over content. Let's face it, if you have a movie on disc, no studio/provider can ever control what you do with it. The same just isn't true with digital.

Quality is way more subjective. Technically speaking, digital can only be the same as disc if the digital stream is the same bitrate as the disc. However, this is only technical, and what's acceptable quality varies on an individual basis. Of all the movies I own, I have never watched a film on BD, then watched the same film on VUDU or iTunes and said "wow, this is so much worse than the disc". Fact is, I can't tell the difference.

One thing that has soured me somewhat on digital, UV in particular, is that the CFF never became a thing. I was supposed to be able to buy a movie, download it, and play it on any UV player. I'm still quite miffed it didn't happen. That's one reason I started putting some stuff in iTunes, because it works like I expected the CFF would. And for bonus points, I can augment my iTunes purchases with blu-ray rips I do myself.

All that said, contrary to the title of the thread, I don't think there's an either/or scenario here. It's a very good thing that both physical and digital exist, as it gives the consumer the choice on how to buy/view content. I honestly wouldn't like it if either option was taken away.

[sleepydumbdude]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Sounds a little high to me, unless it was K-Scape and they also loaded your Movies. Just for Storage and setting up the Server sounds pricy. Now if they did Cat5 Wiring, and setting up your Video Devices might also run up the cost.

Yeah they ran the wiring and I keep it in the basement and its on a stand that is raised like 3 and a half feet of the floor. I was going to get a Kaleidescape but there isn't a dealer near me and they did that whole thing where they almost closed in August so decided to hold out.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by sleepydumbdude

I had 120 TB NAS storage at home installed for about 10k last March or so. I'm sure the price probably has down since then. Mine can be upgraded to up to 200 I think, just cost as much as the storage to put in I am pretty sure after the initial build. I just paid someone to do it too. I think I am at like 69 TBs now and probably won't have to update anytime soon. I'm a digital hoarder.

That is with no backup but I can easily get that stuff back.

Originally Posted by alchav21

Sounds a little high to me, unless it was K-Scape and they also loaded your Movies. Just for Storage and setting up the Server sounds pricy. Now if they did Cat5 Wiring, and setting up your Video Devices might also run up the cost.

Originally Posted by sleepydumbdude

Yeah they ran the wiring and I keep it in the basement and its on a stand that is raised like 3 and a half feet of the floor. I was going to get a Kaleidescape but there isn't a dealer near me and they did that whole thing where they almost closed in August so decided to hold out.

I keep telling these guys this will be the way of The Future, putting your Movies on Servers. K-Scape had their problems because they just charged too much, your set up is also costly but I think Streaming Providers can set up these Servers at a reasonable cost to their Customers. Your Server is on your Home Network, but I think they can be set up in your ISP or Community Intranet. With the proper Codec a 1:1 Video and Audio Quality could be achieved.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by alchav21

I keep telling these guys this will be the way of The Future, putting your Movies on Servers. K-Scape had their problems because they just charged too much, your set up is also costly but I think Streaming Providers can set up these Servers at a reasonable cost to their Customers. Your Server is on your Home Network, but I think they can be set up in your ISP or Community Intranet. With the proper Codec a 1:1 Video and Audio Quality could be achieved.

That's just not realistic.

[jess1581]

Maybe I'm just a dinosaur... or old fashioned, but I'll never go full on digital. Physical copies will always be at it's most optimal quality, they won't crash on me, lag or buffer. I have a nice library that continues to grow, and eventually will slow to a crawl.

[wolfpackTri]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

That's just not realistic.

It's totally realistic. All of my PC games are full digital from Steam. If I can download a 60 GB game, why can't I download a movie?

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by wolfpackTri

It's totally realistic. All of my PC games are full digital from Steam. If I can download a 60 GB game, why can't I download a movie?

At that point isnt it easier just to buy the disc? Once you lose the instant side of it what's the point? That's pretty much the only advantage Digital has.

[PenguinMaster]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

At that point isnt it easier just to buy the disc? Once you lose the instant side of it what's the point? That's pretty much the only advantage Digital has.

Exactly. With that scenario there would be three options:

A) Spend thousands of dollars on hard drives to store your collection.
B) Select each movie hours before you want to watch it so it has time to download.
C) Spend thousands of dollars per year on a fast internet connection.

So you either spend way more time waiting for downloads than it would take to insert a disc or you spend way more money than it would take to buy a disc. How are those options superior to disc?

[PCFan]

Originally Posted by wolfpackTri

It's totally realistic. All of my PC games are full digital from Steam. If I can download a 60 GB game, why can't I download a movie?

You don't have a choice whether to go digital or physical for PC games these days. Most PC games require an account to play and an internet connection to install. If you are a hardcore PC gamer you will end up having multiple accounts for various PC games. Only a few physical PC games can be bought at a retail store but you still end up having them tied to an account during the installation process by entering a serial key that came packaged with the game. Once they are tied to your account, you can't resell them. With console games, you are not forced to buy digital. However, at least the graphics are better on PC games provided you have powerful enough hardware.