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

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by alchav21

You guys are some real Movie Buffs, no Football! There are some real good ones right now!

On Halloween night? Nah. I take it by footy you mean American football? Which of course is rugby for girls.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

On Halloween night? Nah. I take it by footy you mean American football? Which of course is rugby for girls.

Ha, ha, ha, my teams won the Rams and 49'ers....They stomped on those Ghouls! Our Community had the annual Halloween Party last night, and we danced to The Monster Mash!

Monster Mash - YouTube

[cheez avenger]

Was only able to watch Frankenstein on 4K disc. A buddy stopped by to booze and watched newest episode of Foundation on APTV+ and first two episodes of Invasion. Foundation rocks and Invasion is pretty stellar even though it's a slow burn. The production values on that one are epic.

[bhampton]

Looking at the deals page for 4K, it looks like some sort of early or maybe month long Black Friday type of sales with many UHD BD under $10.

I love Black Friday. For safety's sake I always hope no one gets hurt but there usually pallets of movies on sale and in recent years lots of UHD BD.

My local BB has tons of TVs arranged near the door.

"I would have saved more, but I ran out of money."

[gotmule]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Looking at the deals page for 4K, it looks like some sort of early or maybe month long Black Friday type of sales with many UHD BD under $10.

I love Black Friday. For safety's sake I always hope no one gets hurt but there usually pallets of movies on sale and in recent years lots of UHD BD.

My local BB has tons of TVs arranged near the door.

"I would have saved more, but I ran out of money."

Love this time of year! Strong deals already. Too bad I have all the titles I have interest in.

[bhampton]

Upgraded my Mulholland Drive and V for Vandetta... still resisting Space Jam and Scott Pilgrim.

I should watch my News of the World Blu Ray ($3 redbox copy) and decide if that one is tempting or not.



Wow, $8 for some seriously good stuff. Looks like BF is going to kick my butt this year but I'll die happy.

[gotmule]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Upgraded my Mulholland Drive and V for Vandetta... still resisting Space Jam and Scott Pilgrim.

I should watch my News of the World Blu Ray ($3 redbox copy) and decide if that one is tempting or not.



Wow, $8 for some seriously good stuff. Looks like BF is going to kick my butt this year but I'll die happy.

Funny that Scott Pilgrim is the only only one I am the fence about too. I have 22 of the titles that have BF kinda pricing so far. V For Vendetta is definitely worth owning. The title that seemed to sneak by a lot of people is The Courier. Even though it is not 4K, the Blu-ray was a solid presentation. I love a good period piece, and especially love a good spy story, let alone a true one. Benedict was outstanding in it and it took a turn I was not expecting. At $7.99, it is a steal.

[Ender14]

Originally Posted by cheez avenger

Been watching horror films all day today:

Nightmare on Elm St (BD)
John Carpenter's The Fog (4K disc)
Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin (Paramount+)

Taking a break before resuming this afternoon.

How was Paranormal Activity? I may try to watch it tonight.

On a separate note, I saw Dune in IMAX yesterday. What an amazing experience. Easily my favorite movie of the year so far.

[cheez avenger]

Originally Posted by Ender14

How was Paranormal Activity? I may try to watch it tonight.

On a separate note, I saw Dune in IMAX yesterday. What an amazing experience. Easily my favorite movie of the year so far.

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I commented in the main thread about it taking some cues from the REC films (I love REC & REC 2), so that elevated the material for me.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by Ender14

On a separate note, I saw Dune in IMAX yesterday. What an amazing experience. Easily my favorite movie of the year so far.

The immersive sound track alone makes that one a top favorite of ours for the year. Any Hans Zimmer fans should love it.

[Wendell R. Breland]

@ Vilya and other Android users.

A poster at AVS posted one could see diagnostics info while playing content via Amazon Prime by pressing Left, Right, Left, Right, Up, Down, Up, Down on your remote very quickly. Guess I was too slow because it did not work for me so I programmed the sequence into my MX-980 remote. It worked and the diagnostics page did display and I could use that same sequence to exit. When the page displayed it showed how to navigate at the bottom of the screen with cursor or colored buttons.

With that info I added Page Left, Page Right and Toggle DCF to the remote. Toggle DCF would toggle a QR code which I did not scan. One of the screens will show audio and video codes used, data rates, resolution being used and other info.

Amazon Prime Diagnostics
Enter/Exit ● Left, Right, Left, Right, Up, Down, Up, Down
Close ● Left, Right, Up, Down, Up, Down
Page Left ● Down, Up, Left, Right
Page Right ● Right, Left, Up, Down
Toggle DCF or Code ● Up, Right, Left, Down

[Steedeel]

Has there been an argument in here? I posted a long review of my new Sky glass tv for Vilya but it’s been deleted.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Has there been an argument in here? I posted a long review of my new Sky glass tv for Vilya but it’s been deleted.

I haven't seen anything like that happen recently.

[Steedeel]

Vilya, managed to set up my Sky Glass tv in the bedroom.

The chunkiness isn’t a big deal as I have it wall mounted. The audio is the best you are going to get on a standalone tv. Punchy, plenty of depth etc..
Dialogue is crisp and the built in Atmos works a treat for a bedroom tv.

Picture quality with the QLED is average. At the best settings with a 4K stream, it was a little lifeless. It lacked the shine and polish of my OLED living room tv. It’s not bad, it’s not that good either. It’s fine for it’s purpose which is late sessions with Sky, Netflix, Disney+ etc.. certainly good enough for that. Black levels are decent and detail is fine, it’s the colours that lack pop. I think the brightness is at 600 nits which of course is less than ideal.

The service itself is different to the satellite based Sky Q. You basically can’t record anything as it doesn’t have a hard drive. It’s all cloud. Instead of record, you press the + button and it adds to your playlist. This runs the danger of a show or series not being available if/when it’s removed from a streaming service. Unlike record, where you have the show ready to watch as long as you have the service.

The interface and navigation is fast. Voice recognition is fast and responsive and having all the streaming services together works well. Sky play fairly and does not bombard the customer with their own content.

All in all, ideal for its purpose. Any serious film watching is done in the HT but as a lazy option for lesser quality content, it’s a thumbs up.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

@ Vilya and other Android users.

A poster at AVS posted one could see diagnostics info while playing content via Amazon Prime by pressing Left, Right, Left, Right, Up, Down, Up, Down on your remote very quickly. Guess I was too slow because it did not work for me so I programmed the sequence into my MX-980 remote. It worked and the diagnostics page did display and I could use that same sequence to exit. When the page displayed it showed how to navigate at the bottom of the screen with cursor or colored buttons.

[Show spoiler]With that info I added Page Left, Page Right and Toggle DCF to the remote. Toggle DCF would toggle a QR code which I did not scan. One of the screens will show audio and video codes used, data rates, resolution being used and other info.

Amazon Prime Diagnostics
Enter/Exit ● Left, Right, Left, Right, Up, Down, Up, Down
Close ● Left, Right, Up, Down, Up, Down
Page Left ● Down, Up, Left, Right
Page Right ● Right, Left, Up, Down
Toggle DCF or Code ● Up, Right, Left, Down

That's too much work just to quantify what I already know: Amazon Prime has the worst quality and is the least reliable streaming service that I have ever used. The issues that I routinely experience with Amazon Prime only occur with them; NONE of the several other streaming services that I use manifest such recurring problems.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Vilya, managed to set up my Sky Glass tv in the bedroom.

[Show spoiler]The chunkiness isn’t a big deal as I have it wall mounted. The audio is the best you are going to get on a standalone tv. Punchy, plenty of depth etc..
Dialogue is crisp and the built in Atmos works a treat for a bedroom tv.

Picture quality with the QLED is average. At the best settings with a 4K stream, it was a little lifeless. It lacked the shine and polish of my OLED living room tv. It’s not bad, it’s not that good either. It’s fine for it’s purpose which is late sessions with Sky, Netflix, Disney+ etc.. certainly good enough for that. Black levels are decent and detail is fine, it’s the colours that lack pop. I think the brightness is at 600 nits which of course is less than ideal.

The service itself is different to the satellite based Sky Q. You basically can’t record anything as it doesn’t have a hard drive. It’s all cloud. Instead of record, you press the + button and it adds to your playlist. This runs the danger of a show or series not being available if/when it’s removed from a streaming service. Unlike record, where you have the show ready to watch as long as you have the service.

The interface and navigation is fast. Voice recognition is fast and responsive and having all the streaming services together works well. Sky play fairly and does not bombard the customer with their own content.

All in all, ideal for its purpose. Any serious film watching is done in the HT but as a lazy option for lesser quality content, it’s a thumbs up.

I am glad that you are mostly happy with it. While your review lacks enthusiasm ("It’s not bad, it’s not that good either.") you seem satisfied with its role as just a bedroom TV.

[Vilya]

My Sony 85" TV, the X900F, has recently developed issues displaying Dolby Vision content from at least two streaming services: HBO Max and Netflix when using the TV's built-in apps. The color timing and brightness change randomly within the same scene. It is as if some one is cycling through different color filters while also dimming the brightness. It's maddening.

It is a known issue:

https://us.community.sony.com/s/ques...language=en_US

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/son...awful.3170877/

https://www.avforums.com/threads/son...d-out.2251090/

...and one that Sony won't address, apparently. In that first link, a Sony moderator keeps telling people to make a settings adjustment for "Dolby Vision Bright Room" and our model of TV has no such setting, but he keeps repeating the idiotic suggestion, anyway.

This issue apparently only affects Dolby Vision streams and not 4K Dolby Vision discs. Performing a restart of the TV temporarily solves the problem, but it returns eventually.

I wonder if using a dedicated streaming device would solve the problem? It is pretty clear that Sony won't do a damn thing to help. Anyway, it has really soured me on Sony TVs to say the least and mostly because of their "we don't give a damn" attitude.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I wonder if using a dedicated streaming device would solve the problem? It is pretty clear that Sony won't do a damn thing to help. Anyway, it has really soured me on Sony TVs to say the least and mostly because of their "we don't give a damn" attitude.

I'm sure I don't know but they are cheap in my opinion and worth a try.

From what you're saying it could be the built in apps. I have seen others say they long for a Dumb TV now that the onboard apps have malfunctioned.

I adore my ATV4K but I don't have a display with built in apps.

There are some inexpensive options... I personally don't see the ATV4K as expensive but it is when a lot of alternatives are in the $40 range.


My own experience with Sony is they would be working on it but they may try to pass the blame anyway. My projector used to re-negotiate the HDMI after 4 or 5 minutes with every HDR content from ATV4K .... Sony said dump the ATV4K and Apple as I recall blamed Sony and no one EVER claimed responsibility but eventually a FW update came from Sony that fully solved the problem.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Vilya

My Sony 85" TV, the X900F, has recently developed issues displaying Dolby Vision content from at least two streaming services: HBO Max and Netflix when using the TV's built-in apps. The color timing and brightness change randomly within the same scene. It is as if some one is cycling through different color filters while also dimming the brightness. It's maddening.

It is a known issue:

https://us.community.sony.com/s/ques...language=en_US

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/son...awful.3170877/

https://www.avforums.com/threads/son...d-out.2251090/

...and one that Sony won't address, apparently. In that first link, a Sony moderator keeps telling people to make a settings adjustment for "Dolby Vision Bright Room" and our model of TV has no such setting, but he keeps repeating the idiotic suggestion, anyway.

This issue apparently only affects Dolby Vision streams and not 4K Dolby Vision discs. Performing a restart of the TV temporarily solves the problem, but it returns eventually.

I wonder if using a dedicated streaming device would solve the problem? It is pretty clear that Sony won't do a damn thing to help. Anyway, it has really soured me on Sony TVs to say the least and mostly because of their "we don't give a damn" attitude.

That sucks. That sounds like a reason to return the tv. It’s not fit for purpose.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by bhampton

[Show spoiler]I'm sure I don't know but they are cheap in my opinion and worth a try.

From what you're saying it could be the built in apps. I have seen others say they long for a Dumb TV now that the onboard apps have malfunctioned.

I adore my ATV4K but I don't have a display with built in apps.

There are some inexpensive options... I personally don't see the ATV4K as expensive but it is when a lot of alternatives are in the $40 range.


My own experience with Sony is they would be working on it but they may try to pass the blame anyway. My projector used to re-negotiate the HDMI after 4 or 5 minutes with every HDR content from ATV4K ....

Sony said dump the ATV4K and Apple as I recall blamed Sony and no one EVER claimed responsibility but eventually a FW update came from Sony that fully solved the problem.

Exactly. Each company involved blames the other. No one ever takes responsibility. I hope that someone fixes the problem, but I am not holding my breath that anyone will do the right thing here.

Originally Posted by Steedeel

That sucks. That sounds like a reason to return the tv. It’s not fit for purpose.

I have had the TV for over two years now. It's out of warranty and that means that Sony could not give a rat's arse and the dealer even less so.