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

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

If that doesn't satisfy your needs - maybe those needs should be looked at.

Don't be looking at my needs.

[cheez avenger]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

how is that even remotely true. I don't know about the US but here more or less from the beginning you could pay for basic cable and extra for the different specialty channels you want and just pay for the ones you want. Can I go to Disney (since it was the discussion at hand and say I only want access to Marvel films?

That's relatively new, maybe within the last 10-15 years that you were able to do that a la carte with cable companies. Back when I had cable it was a basic subscription with zero premium channels for almost $100 per month. Then if you wanted to add on premium channels those prices would vary. These were still the DVD days before BD came into the picture, so I cut the chord and rented DVDs exclusively.

Now you can subscribe to premium individual channels for, generally for cheap, and even pay a lower rate overall should one decide to pay for the whole year.

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by bhampton

If you are using the internet, someone is paying for it

The Internet bill is now like the electric or gas bill or the mobile phone bill. Everyone has it.

And you pay for it via the ads which is pollution for your brain.

I think Disney+ is the best streaming service. .. but that's not saying much when you consider it's competition.

How many of the existing SVODs have you tried?

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Buying content on disc is paying for what you want and only what you want. So ... it would be for the second time. These discs things still exist with plenty of new releases.

That's a Straw Man Argument - contrats!

There's so much on D+, for example, that I don't want so what you are saying makes no sense anyhow.

And how much are you paying? $8 a month

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

no. saying they will be profitable in 2024 is speculation (even if you pretend it is gospel)

If it was an independent company (and not part of a megcorp where 1B$ loss is chump change) that would have been enough for the SEC to intervene immediately, hiding terrible news that you know from share holders is kind of frowned upon.

Foward looking tatements from mega corporations are different from rampant speculation.

tell us exactly how. Assuming tomorrow Disney decides to get rid of it for some rreason how do they get their money back?

Get rid of it - like sell it? Duh

yeah they had all that before. I unsubscribed but got similar e-mails many years ago.

Today Disney has well over 120 million email addresses. Ignoring that doesn't do anything for your argument. In fact it works against it.

hugh?
A mainframe is archaic lingo for the main server, back in the day when the people used terminals (computers with minimal processing, basically used to access the mainframe that did all the work) and they were housed in data rooms, not data center. And a main fraims could have thousands of users ( at my University back in the day all users could access the mainframe to register for courses, see grades.....) and lastly tso that is not how it w0orks today you don't have 3000 user that access a single computer.

Don't know much about Mainframes do you? They were/are housed in large lights out data centers. The terminals are dumb. Without the mainframe - they don't work at all. Yes now many use PCs instead of the dumb terminal so at desk computing can be done.

Large banks and insurance companies all use Mainframes. That's IBM's core business. Always has been.

was it in Q2 2022? if yes what they paid would be an investment in Q2 2022 and could be used to explain their loss but if it was not 9and I am playing dumb here) then who cares. You need to show what investment happened in Q2 2022.

If . . . my grandmother had wheels - she would be a wagon!

----- look you talked about merchandising, that can help Disney justify losing 1B on streaming, Personally I think Control is a better justification

[Show spoiler] Many years ago Apple launched iTunes it became more or less the only place to buy digital music, Apple a company that was almost bankrupt a bit before that used their monopoly on digital music to squeeze labels and artists, build a cult following and turn things around into being the biggest company in the world at one point in time. many believe the same can happen ith films, but I don't buy it, music is mostly background noise (music while I drive, jog, work to make things a bit more interesting) while films/Tv is an activity, BW and capacity for music was easy and minimal (even in the day), it is not the same for films, music is cheap to produce so easier to squeeze films are not they cost many millions.....) but because of the bold part studios want to make sure what happened to music does not happen to film and having your own streaming service helps make sure the bold part does not happen.

either way I don't think it is going anywhere and don't want anyone to read that into my post but you ae the one acting as if someone saying that it will be profitable in 2024 that we need to take a wirld prediction as fact and turn a blind eye to reality

No - I said Disney+ will be profiteable next year - 2023. Get your reading comprehension in place. I have mentioned it a number of times.

The only reality is that Wall Street has been betting on sub growth every quarter. And if it faulters one quarter - they go nuts. They are ignoring the foundation financial facts, like in the case of Netflix - they have almost no long term debt. And in AT &Ts case their long term debt is crushing the company - but they ignore that because of their high yearly revenue stream. It hasn't reduced their debt - it just keeps covering their losses.

My experience comes from working with Fortune 500 companies for over 30 years. Where does yours come from?

[cheez avenger]

Watched Bohemian Rhapsody yesterday on 4K disc - holy crap - that was an epic presentation. I had rented the 4K disc at the local shop but quickly found a used copy of it on Amazon for $8+ shipped, so snagged it to add to the collection. I also rented the 4K of Happy Death Day and that was great, as well.

I just started The Terminal List on PRIME. It's in HDR/5.1 and pretty good. I'm now on episode 2. A binge is more than likely.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by cheez avenger

Watched Bohemian Rhapsody yesterday on 4K disc - holy crap - that was an epic presentation. I had rented the 4K disc at the local shop but quickly found a used copy of it on Amazon for $8+ shipped, so snagged it to add to the collection. I also rented the 4K of Happy Death Day and that was great, as well.

I just started The Terminal List on PRIME. It's in HDR/5.1 and pretty good. I'm now on episode 2. A binge is more than likely.

I have Rhapsody 4K disc sitting ready to watch. Picking up Ambulance 4K some time this week.

[gotmule]

Originally Posted by cheez avenger

Watched Bohemian Rhapsody yesterday on 4K disc - holy crap - that was an epic presentation. I had rented the 4K disc at the local shop but quickly found a used copy of it on Amazon for $8+ shipped, so snagged it to add to the collection. I also rented the 4K of Happy Death Day and that was great, as well.

I just started The Terminal List on PRIME. It's in HDR/5.1 and pretty good. I'm now on episode 2. A binge is more than likely.

I really enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody as well, especially the Live Aid performance and all the effort to make that as accurate as possible. I loved Happy Death Day and will pick that up as a double dip at some point along with the second one.

I am slowly working through my backlog of movies, with my favorites so far being A Quiet Place II, The Cursed, and Last Night in Soho. I still have over 50 to go with a lot of the big titles left.

A Quiet Place II is a demo worthy Atmos mix for sure.

[cheez avenger]

The full live aid performance in the special features on the 4K disc is also presented in HDR10/Atmos, as well.

[unberechenbar]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

I have Rhapsody 4K disc sitting ready to watch. Picking up Ambulance 4K some time this week.

Ambulance looks gorgeous on disc. The movie was intense; felt like I never had a chance to catch my breath.

[kfbkfb]

https://www.engadget.com/hbo-max-hal...130226456.html
^^^
...ceasing our original programming efforts for HBO Max in the Nordics and Central Europe.


Which streaming services do you think will be around in 5 years?
(HBOmax is free for me w/AT&T Fiber)


Kirk Bayne

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by kfbkfb

https://www.engadget.com/hbo-max-hal...130226456.html
^^^
...ceasing our original programming efforts for HBO Max in the Nordics and Central Europe.


Which streaming services do you think will be around in 5 years?
(HBOmax is free for me w/AT&T Fiber)


Kirk Bayne

That’s not looking good.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by unberechenbar

Ambulance looks gorgeous on disc. The movie was intense; felt like I never had a chance to catch my breath.

Glad to hear. Another one to look forward too.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by kfbkfb

https://www.engadget.com/hbo-max-hal...130226456.html
^^^
...ceasing our original programming efforts for HBO Max in the Nordics and Central Europe.


Which streaming services do you think will be around in 5 years?
(HBOmax is free for me w/AT&T Fiber)

Kirk Bayne

I thought that article was spinning smoke with that link to some Netflix layoffs that weren't even related to this article topic.

More ominously, "similar decision-making for HBO Max is currently taking place in all territories where the streamer operates, which spans the U.S., Latin America and parts of Europe," it added. Along with layoffs recently announced by Netflix, it's the first sign of dark clouds during the era of peak TV.

This is just an example of HBO Max previously run by AT&T trying to claim rapid growth of their streaming service but shafting WB of millions of dollars by offering a free month of multiple box office titles in the USA. Then they spin the service off to Discovery and now have to shut down all these economy productions in Europe to balance their messed up budgets. The fact that they give you free HBO Max as a AT&T fiber customer illustrates money doesn't appear at the end of rainbows.

Will HBO Max be around in 5 years, good question?

[JohnAV]

Stranger Things 4’ Crosses Billion-Hour Viewing Mark, Netflix Says - Hollywood Reporter

The series is the first English-language show, and only the second after 'Squid Game,' to rack up that much watch time.

Season four of Stranger Things has joined an exclusive club at Netflix.

Following the release of the last two episodes of the season on July 1, the show passed the billion-hour mark in viewing worldwide, according to the streamer’s internal measurement. It’s the first English language series, and just the second in any language, to rack up more than a billion hours of viewing time.

Stranger Things 4 now has 1.15 billion hours of viewing time over its first 28 days of release, encompassing both parts of the season. The first seven episodes scored 930.32 million hours over their first 28 days, and episodes eight and nine accounted for just under 221 million hours of the 301.28 million hours worldwide for the week of June 27-July 3. (In the case of split seasons like Stranger Things and Ozark earlier this year, Netflix adds viewing time of the second batch of episodes only to the 28-day total.)

Among all Netflix originals in their first 28 days, only Squid Game (1.65 billion hours) has a bigger viewing time. With three-plus weeks left to rack up more viewing for the final two episodes, Stranger Things will likely get close to or even pass the Korean hit.

Despite only being available for three days, the final two episodes — which run nearly four hours combined — accounted for almost three quarters (73 percent) of Stranger Things’ season four viewing last week. The first three seasons also hung around in Netflix’s English language top 10, as they’ve done for the past month and a half.

Season four has broken several viewing records, including the biggest debut weekend for a Netflix series by the streamer’s own metrics and Nielsen’s highest weekly viewing tally in the United States since the company began its weekly streaming rankings.

[bhampton]

So many new releases I feel are must buy titles for me.




Sometimes, I go to looking cheap movies I never heard of and my local Big Lots seems to get a lot of Well Go titles. Two of these that I ended up really loving were The Villainess and First Love. If you don't mind John Wick/Hardcore Harry type of action try to catch these. First Love was also hilarious.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

I thought that article was spinning smoke with that link to some Netflix layoffs that weren't even related to this article topic.



This is just an example of HBO Max previously run by AT&T trying to claim rapid growth of their streaming service but shafting WB of millions of dollars by offering a free month of multiple box office titles in the USA. Then they spin the service off to Discovery and now have to shut down all these economy productions in Europe to balance their messed up budgets. The fact that they give you free HBO Max as a AT&T fiber customer illustrates money doesn't appear at the end of rainbows.

Will HBO Max be around in 5 years, good question?

Not if they dilute their product with reality tv crap.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

The fact that they give you free HBO Max as a AT&T fiber customer illustrates money doesn't appear at the end of rainbows.

Will HBO Max be around in 5 years, good question?

I have AT&T fiber optic internet (at my second residence) ... Didn't know I qualify for HBO Max free ... Have to look into that (preferably sometime in the next 5 years).

I borrowed someone's HBO for Godzilla Vs Kong because I didn't want to have to try to dodge spoilers while waiting for the proper home video release. Not sure if HBO actually has anything I am currently interested in.

edit - Gruv is becoming my go to place for shopping with the great service and never ending 20% off coupon. Just ordered Ambulance, Apocalypse Now, Edge of Tomorrow, all in UHD BD.

[bhampton]

How do you do ? .... And by that, I'm wondering how folks consume content these days if they feel like sharing.

I have 3 sources.I would prefer one gizmo to rule them all but the fact is I don't know of any one thing that does everything I like to do.

ATV4K

All things streaming, I use it for ATV+, Apple Music, iTunes, Fitness+, Disney+, Neighbor's Hulu with live TV account, Kanopy, YouTube, Netflix and Vudu. If only it supported better audio it could be my one and only gizmo.

Zidoo Z9X

My Media Server device. I have most of my content backed up on my local network. The Zidoo performs like a Kaliedscape system and adds the ability to do 3D and multi channel high res audio.

Panasonic UB9000

My disc player. With dual HDMI outputs I can get HDR10+ which my AVR doesn't support. Capable of playing most of my content directly. Also used when others show up with movies they want to see at my place. It's offline and used only for disc playback.


I play video games but not in my home theater.

I don't have any Vinyl. I can appreciate it but it's too delicate for me.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by bhampton

How do you do ? .... And by that, I'm wondering how folks consume content these days if they feel like sharing.

I have 3 sources.I would prefer one gizmo to rule them all but the fact is I don't know of any one thing that does everything I like to do.

ATV4K

All things streaming, I use it for ATV+, Apple Music, iTunes, Fitness+, Disney+, Neighbor's Hulu with live TV account, Kanopy, YouTube, Netflix and Vudu. If only it supported better audio it could be my one and only gizmo.

Zidoo Z9X

My Media Server device. I have most of my content backed up on my local network. The Zidoo performs like a Kaliedscape system and adds the ability to do 3D and multi channel high res audio.

Panasonic UB9000

My disc player. With dual HDMI outputs I can get HDR10+ which my AVR doesn't support. Capable of playing most of my content directly. Also used when others show up with movies they want to see at my place. It's offline and used only for disc playback.


I play video games but not in my home theater.

I don't have any Vinyl. I can appreciate it but it's too delicate for me.

I have the same disc player as you. (Cost £900, is that what you paid?)

Panasonic DP-UB9000EB1 (4K, Blu-ray source.) HT
PS5 (reserve) used with Sony Bravia XR75
PS4 also connected to Sony Bravia

Streaming via built in tv apps, PS5 apps, PS4 apps and Apple TV 4K.

Paid services Apple, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Paramount+ and Sky TV including HBO content.

Free services
Pluto, BBC IPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, C5 and Freevee.

Old 4K OLED is now my bedroom tv after a failed experiment with sky tv built television.

Went from OLED to LED with living room tv but not bothered, it’s a really good tv.

My Panasonic is used exclusively in HT and I only watch 4K and Blu-Ray films in there. Atmos set up in HT, no surround at all in living room, just sound bar.

My old Pioneer disc player gave up the ghost. First ever Pioneer product that has ever died on me!

I game exclusively on living room Sony tv. Play around 1 hour per day but not weekends.

I have no media player, just a vast library of films in a spare room.