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

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Ender14

Once people can actually purchase one, which at this rate might be Christmas if we're lucky. I've been on a waiting list for one of the new graphics cards since September. EVGA setup a virtual queue at that time and as soon as cards become available they notify the next person in the queue who then has 8 hours to purchase the card or it goes to the next person. They still have not gotten to me which show how little stock they are actually getting.

Yeah, I decided to wait for the PS5. Plan on picking one up Q1 2022.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by cpr3584

You can't even get one of the new consoles right now if you tried, unless you want to pay $300+ from a scalper. It looks like they will not be available in-store until at least the end of this year. I want to upgrade to the new Xbox so I can watch 4k discs, but I'll have to wait until I can walk into a store or order one online like a regular person. Until then, I'm still buying 4K discs to future proof, but still enjoying my standard BDs. They look great upscaled.

There are supposed to be more stocks this month.

[Vilya]

And the PS5 doesn't even support Dolby Vision.

Sony mystifies me regarding all of their 4K disc players; how in the hell they thought that forcing people to manually select, and then deselect, Dolby Vision was a good idea escapes me entirely. No other manufacturer implements Dolby Vision in such a blatantly stupid manner. I can not recommend any of their 4K disc players to my family or friends for this reason alone. I know that none of them will bother going into the player's settings to manually turn this on and off each time that a 4K disc has, or lacks, Dolby Vision. It is an inexcusably dumb design and Sony refuses to do anything about it.

There are actually no 4K disc players under $500 that I can recommend. The LG models are widely reported to have disc playback problems while the Panasonic UB 420 has no support for Dolby Vision leaving no good choices in the $250 and under price range.

At the $500 price point, the only player that I can hesitantly recommend is the Panasonic UB 820, but as has been mentioned already the Panasonic 4K disc players are not very good with DVD playback and they are very poor for file playback among other limitations. No one among my family or friends are willing to spend $500 for a 4K disc player, so suggesting the Panasonic UB 820 to them is dead on arrival.

The other 4K disc players are $600, $1000, and up, and I would get laughed at if I were to recommend a 4K disc player in those price ranges.

We need capable 4K disc players that are affordable, around $250 or less, if the format is going to attract more people. If the price of admission for enjoying 4K discs is spending $500 and up for a decent player, then a whole lot of people will continue to say "no thanks."

[cpr3584]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

There are supposed to be more stocks this month.

and they will be gone in 3 minutes

[cpr3584]

Originally Posted by Vilya

And the PS5 doesn't even support Dolby Vision.

Sony mystifies me regarding all of their 4K disc players; how in the hell they thought that forcing people to manually select, and then deselect, Dolby Vision was a good idea escapes me entirely. No other manufacturer implements Dolby Vision in such a blatantly stupid manner. I can not recommend any of their 4K disc players to my family or friends for this reason alone. I know that none of them will bother going into the player's settings to manually turn this on and off each time that a 4K disc has, or lacks, Dolby Vision. It is an inexcusably dumb design and Sony refuses to do anything about it.

There are actually no 4K disc players under $500 that I can recommend. The LG models are widely reported to have disc playback problems while the Panasonic UB 420 has no support for Dolby Vision leaving no good choices in the $250 and under price range.

At the $500 price point, the only player that I can hesitantly recommend is the Panasonic UB 820, but as has been mentioned already the Panasonic 4K disc players are not very good with DVD playback and they are very poor for file playback among other limitations. No one among my family or friends are willing to spend $500 for a 4K disc player, so suggesting the Panasonic UB 820 to them is dead on arrival.

The other 4K disc players are $600, $1000, and up and I would get laughed at if I were to recommend a 4K disc player in those price ranges.

We need capable 4K disc players that are affordable, around $250 or less, if the format is going to attract more people. If the price of admission for enjoying 4K discs is spending $500 and up for a decent player, then a whole lot of people will continue to say "no thanks."

So...youre saying the best DV experience would be through...wait for it..streaming!? Considering there are several major titles available in DV EST but not disc (blade runner, lawrence of arabia, etc)

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by cpr3584

So...youre saying the best DV experience would be through...wait for it..streaming!? Considering there are several major titles available in DV EST but not disc (blade runner, lawrence of arabia, etc)

Best experience? No. Most practical experience? Probably.

The best experience would be to watch a Dolby Vision 4K disc, but as that is not going to happen for many people with the prices for decent 4K disc players being $500 and up, streaming is their only other option for Dolby Vision content. They will likely be quite happy with what they see as they have nothing to compare it with. Hell, they would probably be happy with Dolby Vision streaming even if they could make the comparison making those expensive 4K disc players an even harder sell. I very much doubt that the perceived quality difference between a Dolby Vision stream and a Dolby Vision disc is going to be great enough to motivate many people to spend $500+ on a Dolby Vision capable 4K disc player.

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by cpr3584

So...youre saying the best DV experience would be through...wait for it..streaming!? Considering there are several major titles available in DV EST but not disc (blade runner, lawrence of arabia, etc)

My Panasonic UB 820 handles Dolby Vision just fine. I've not done any scientific research but to my eyes a disc with Dolby Vision looks better than any of my streaming apps on the same TV. Not to say that the streaming looks bad, the colors are just more vibrant from disc.

[cpr3584]

Interesting- thanks. So, there we have it folks- the most practical 4K experience is through digital, not disc. You can't even buy a player with DV for a reasonable amount of money right now.
I love physical media...but the companies and studios are making it harder to keep this hobby going

[cpr3584]

Originally Posted by Ender14

My Panasonic UB 820 handles Dolby Vision just fine. I've not done any scientific research but to my eyes a disc with Dolby Vision looks better than any of my streaming apps on the same TV. Not to say that the streaming looks bad, the colors are just more vibrant from disc.

Wonder how a DV digital copy would compare to a HDR disc . I cant compare because my tv is only HDR

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by cpr3584

Wonder how a DV digital copy would compare to a HDR disc . I cant compare because my tv is only HDR

I've actually wondered that myself. I've been wanting to do some A/B comparisons between streaming/disc and between HD and 4K. I still plan on doing so if I can find the time and will let you know what I observe. With screenshots if I can swing it.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Vilya

It is always nice to see more 4K disc players, but both of these are expensive.

The UBR-X100 works out to $964.61 once you convert those Euros to dollars while the UBR-X200 costs $1930.12. Of those that own/want 4K disc players, I wonder what percentage of them are willing to pay such prices for a 4K disc player? Several of us here would, but we've always been "special" like that.

We need more affordable 4K disc players, not just premium models, if 4K disc players are to have much chance of getting into more homes.

Pricing might be different in other regions depending on where they are made, shipped to. I generally see players sold in UK/EU more expensive because of duties/taxes.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

Pricing might be different in other regions depending on where they are made, shipped to. I generally see players sold in UK/EU more expensive because of duties/taxes.

Differences in duties and taxes are not going to make these players even remotely affordable. They are premium models designed for those who already appreciate what 4K discs have to offer.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Difference in duties and taxes are not going to make these players even remotely affordable. They are premium models designed for those who already appreciate what 4K discs have to offer.

Personally they are over priced. I think premium players can be sold for a lot less. Pioneer was a bad example of what they could get away with. If you only make only a few thousand costs are higher, but start mass selling them then their pricing is excessive.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

Personally they are over priced. I think premium players can be sold for a lot less. Pioneer was a bad example of what they could get away with.

I agree; overpriced 4K disc players do very little to help this format. As soon as I mention the price of these new Reavon 4K disc players, the people that I know outside of these forums stop listening on the spot and they start laughing instead. There is nothing that I can tell them that makes spending nearly $1000 on a 4K disc player sound sane.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I agree; overpriced 4K disc players do very little to help this format. As soon as I mention the price of these new Reavon 4K disc players, the people that I know outside of these forums stop listening on the spot and they start laughing instead. There is nothing that I can tell them that makes spending nearly $1000 on a 4K disc player sound sane.

But they aren’t the people who are going to be interested in 4K to begin with.

Also, getting back to the consoles, people wouldn’t be going out to spend that money on disc players, they would just happen to have them at home because a family member is a keen gamer or maybe mam or dad are. In that case, 4K playback isn’t a expense at all, it’s just a huge plus.

[cpr3584]

It looks like Sony just announced they will no longer sell movies and tv shows through the Playstation store.
Not sure about already "purchased" content
Another one bites the dust

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

But they aren’t the people who are going to be interested in 4K to begin with.

Also, getting back to the consoles, people wouldn’t be going out to spend that money on disc players, they would just happen to have them at home because a family member is a keen gamer or maybe mam or dad are. In that case, 4K playback isn’t a expense at all, it’s just a huge plus.

The people that I am referring to are interested enough to own blu-ray players and to buy blu-ray discs; some of them own larger collections than you do, but they are not willing to spend $500+ to get a decent 4K disc player. They acknowledge the increased quality of 4K discs, but they do not feel that this increase is worth the price of admission. If the prices for a good 4K disc player were reasonable, they would consider buying one, but $500+ is simply out of the question.

I know that you place a great deal of faith in these new, and largely unobtainable, gaming consoles, but as I pointed out earlier the PS5 is not a very good 4K disc player; it lacks Dolby Vision and it even lacks 3D blu-ray support.

The Xbox X lacks Dolby Vision, too, for 4K disc playback making both of these consoles no different than some of the cheapest 4K disc players on the market in that regard. Neither of these consoles are desirable as a 4K disc player due to the lack of Dolby Vision support alone.

Lastly, people are buying these consoles to play video games at higher frame rates. The gimped 4K disc playback capability of these two machines is unlikely to help the 4K disc format as much as we had hoped. They are all-around unimpressive as 4K disc players.

[VikingHead2000]

I just picked up the Panasonic 820 (region free) from Bombay Electronics for $500, and it’s phenomenal. As far as DVD playback, I haven’t watched a DVD in years, so I’m fine with that.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by VikingHead2000

I just picked up the Panasonic 820 (region free) from Bombay Electronics for $500, and it’s phenomenal. As far as DVD playback, I haven’t watched a DVD in years, so I’m fine with that.

A regular region locked Panasonic UB 820 sells for $500 at most retailers; getting one that has been modified to be region free for that price is a very good deal.

They currently show the price as $799.00 for a region free Panasonic UB 820:

https://www.bombayelectronics.com/co...sonic-dp-ub820

You must have caught one at a hell of a sale price; congrats!

[PUsokrJosh305]

Originally Posted by Vilya

A regular region locked Panasonic UB 820 sells for $500 at most retailers; getting one that has been modified to be region free for that price is a very good deal.

They currently show the price as $799.00 for a region free Panasonic UB 820:

https://www.bombayelectronics.com/co...sonic-dp-ub820

You must have caught one at a hell of a sale price; congrats!

Every once in a while though the 820 goes on sale. I have seen it as low as $350, which is a steal with what you get with the player!