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

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by t-mel

Why is something being free that attractive to you? I want the experience to be good. So you watch movies with a low quality stream with ads. If you like films wouldn't you want to see them under better circumstances? It's worth paying for.

I want to be entertained. My streams are in HD. That's fine for me. The ads don't bother me. Gives me a chance to go to the kitchen or the bathroom. If this doesn't suit you - we have different likes.

And stop using some average person's mentality. They don't care about films. They just watch whatever is given to them. But for someone on Blu Ray website you'd think you held the medium in a higher regard...

A Blu-Ray Forum that has more topics that have nothing to do with BD itself.

There are better films on Freevee it seems than Pluto TV (although US has a different library than UK) but I would rather watch Big Lebowski on the 4k disc I have...

Pluto TV is IMO, crap but it is popular. What about movies that you don't have on disc but are on Freevee?

[t-mel]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

I want to be entertained. My streams are in HD. That's fine for me. The ads don't bother me. Gives me a chance to go to the kitchen or the bathroom. If this doesn't suit you - we have different likes.

As we know not all HD is equal, depends largely on the bandwidth they give it. YouTube looks pretty bad most of the time. I can imagine for a free service like this high bitrates aren't going to be a priority.

At home I do pause sometimes, although I would argue an uninterrupted viewing is most effective and pausing and doing something doesn't help with the immersion. I try to limit it, in more ideal places like between scenes. I don't really need to go to the toilet more than say once per movie though. So it would all depend on how often these ads happen and how long they are. Any length ads every 10mins is unwatchable.

Considering how often YouTube has ads which is only increasing, I can only assume these services will pull the same trick. Start low and gradually increase. Cable and TV play book as well.

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

A Blu-Ray Forum that has more topics that have nothing to do with BD itself.

I didn't mean Blu Ray per se but presumably the people who buy Blu Rays like the medium more than the average person (I hope) and aren't just collecting for the sake of it. Would be an incredible waste of money.

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

Pluto TV is IMO, crap but it is popular. What about movies that you don't have on disc but are on Freevee?

Well that was an example but I've said above I use disc rental, disc purchases, and going to the cinema mostly. I do have Mad Men, Lost, X Files on Blu Ray though.

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by t-mel

As we know not all HD is equal, depends largely on the bandwidth they give it. YouTube looks pretty bad most of the time. I can imagine for a free service like this high bitrates aren't going to be a priority.

As I previously stated, I don't watch YouTube on my TV. Nor do I watch any content that is SD. Strictly HD and 4K. Threy look fine on my 65" 4K TV.

At home I do pause sometimes, although I would argue an uninterrupted viewing is most effective and pausing and doing something doesn't help with the immersion. I try to limit it, in more ideal places like between scenes. I don't really need to go to the toilet more than say once per movie though. So it would all depend on how often these ads happen and how long they are. Any length ads every 10mins is unwatchable.

My experience with Freevee and Tubi is 1 ad lasting 15 seconds, 2 ads lasting 30 seconds and sometimes 4 ads lasting 2 minutes.Usually come every 15 minutes are so. Less for movies than TV shows. It also depends on the time of day. Most of my viewing is done 11PM to 4AM.

Considering how often YouTube has ads which is only increasing, I can only assume these services will pull the same trick. Start low and gradually increase. Cable and TV play book as well.

They have the ability to see exactly how changes they make affects viewership literally right away. If they see more ads = less viewers, they will tone them down.

The FCC controls linear TV. Sets guidelines and rules. Break them - you get heavy fines - even loss of broadcasting license. CBL is un-regulated. They can do whatever they want. They have lost so many subs over the last 5 years, they aren't going to jeopardize losing more.

I didn't mean Blu Ray per se but presumably the people who buy Blu Rays like the medium more than the average person (I hope) and aren't just collecting for the sake of it. Would be an incredible waste of money.

That would be up to the individual.

Well that was an example but I've said above I use disc rental, disc purchases, and going to the cinema mostly. I do have Mad Men, Lost, X Files on Blu Ray though.

And how many times have you watched those in their entirety - all episodes?

[t-mel]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

And how many times have you watched those in their entirety - all episodes?

Well I watched before buying them. But since buying them I've only been through some of X Files. But I will go through them, and I bought them all used at a rate <£1/episode. Lost was a rate of 20p/hour. I don't really use streaming so I do get through these things. The rate being slow doesn't really bother me. If I build such a backlog that I have nothing else I can simply stop buying but will still have this to watch. If I ever want to sell these I will be able to in the future.

I can decide the pace I want. The subscribe and binge watch method would certainly not be a nice experience for me. Like wolfing down loads of food at a buffet. No thanks. Who knows how long these shows will remain on these platforms (Disney+ has Lost and X Files in the UK)? Plus I don't want to give my money to Amazon.

[crutzulee]

It's been kind of fun catching up with this thread... but my my... all the name calling and gatekeeping ...I guess that makes it no better or different than most of the other threads on this forum despite the average age being a little older...

As I'm not a car guy, and our vacations are modest, my only real expense in life is my entertainment budget and food...

As a family, we eat out quite often, and because we don't eat fast food, that can get quite pricey.. but I'm happy to pay for quality..

As far as entertainment is concerned, I pay for EVERYTHING... even the top package of cable.. I guess that makes me a Joe six pack zombie... shrug... guilty as charged.

But I'm never short of something to entertain me when I want it....Slow day at work? I can open up PRIME or NETFLIX and watch a documentary... performing a mindless task or working out on treadmill? I can watch a stand up comedy special...
Sports? I can watch live or uninterrupted by commercials/intermission by DVR off of cable.... Want to watch a -recently in theatres - comedy with the family? The 4K DV/ATMOS streams are way better than most of you guys care to admit..at least in my modest HT... Probably the worst quality is SHUDDER which I pay extra for... but my horror loving daughter and I have seen many movies in better- than- decent quality that we've enjoyed, and would have hated to miss, because they will not make it to disc...

I still have access to all my physical media via my ZIDOO and continue to add "classic" titles as they become remastered in 4K with HDR and "ruined" with ghastly ATMOS offerings designed to offend the purists..LOL...

I don't quite follow what's happening with ZAPPITI, but I think they are trying to gouge one last dime out of their customers by having then pay for an app for library functions that every other box does for free by scraping info from TMDB...

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by crutzulee

I don't quite follow what's happening with ZAPPITI, but I think they are trying to gouge one last dime out of their customers by having then pay for an app for library functions that every other box does for free by scraping info from TMDB...

Zappiti has been in bankruptcy court for several months now. Zappiti as a corp. would not be supplying the new app, it will come from a third party and no one should expect them to do this for free.

BTW, I have Zappiti and Zidoo and IMHO, the Zappiti Video app >> ahead of the Zidoo.

[crutzulee]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

Zappiti has been in bankruptcy court for several months now. Zappiti as a corp. would not be supplying the new app, it will come from a third party and no one should expect them to do this for free.

BTW, I have Zappiti and Zidoo and IMHO, the Zappiti Video app >> ahead of the Zidoo.

Better in how it displays/organizes your library or A/V quality in title playback?

The former is of no concern to me... the latter being much more important..

[bhampton]

Edit Meta Data I think is the answer.

Go the long way, it gets there.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

What’s the difference between Freevee and Prime Video?



https://amazonadviser.com/2023/06/10...-video-amazon/

Not sure of the difference between U.K. and U.S but I’m wrong and I say I’m wrong.

[Steedeel]

New service on PS5/PS4 Sony Core, which is a rental/purchase store offering 4K and atmos streamed titles.

Choice is limited and only seems to offer Sony output (not surprisingly)

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by crutzulee

Better in how it displays/organizes your library or A/V quality in title playback?

The former is of no concern to me... the latter being much more important..

The UI for your library.

On test patterns they are about equal, both are not quite what the Oppo UDP-203 is.

[crutzulee]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

The UI for your library.

On test patterns they are about equal, both are not quite what the Oppo UDP-203 is.

I know it's not for everyone, but I could never go back to handling discs... By ripping and playing on the ZIDOO, I have the best of both worlds..

Speaking of which my son just texted me that my Scream Factory copy of BLOOD RAGE came today and he's doing it as I type this!

My daughter was a little dissapointed to hear that the new ELI ROTH film was coming out after THANKSGIVING so I'm glad we'll have this to watch this weekend... you know... on the REAL holiday... the original....

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by crutzulee

I know it's not for everyone, but I could never go back to handling discs... By ripping and playing on the ZIDOO, I have the best of both worlds..

I'm happy for you.

I still have my Z9X but I have found it's not for me. Looking at a disc to be sure it's clean and putting it in a player seems easy enough.

There's more than one way to feed a cat.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

New service on PS5/PS4 Sony Core, which is a rental/purchase store offering 4K and atmos streamed titles.

Choice is limited and only seems to offer Sony output (not surprisingly)

No chance I would ever use that for anything unless it was free.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by bhampton

No chance I would ever use that for anything unless it was free.

Same here. Just thought it was a news worthy development. Seems to be tied into PS+ membership, with premium members getting bonus features and offers.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by crutzulee

I know it's not for everyone, but I could never go back to handling discs... By ripping and playing on the ZIDOO, I have the best of both worlds..

IMO, it was a mistake the BDA made by not requiring disc load straight to the main menu. And how many times do we need to read FBI warnings that can’t be skipped.

I’ve been playing HD content* from HDD’s and a NAS for many years. Almost purchased:

• Roku Labs HD1000 Media Player - Did not purchase because the MIT’s had H.262 hardware decoders and worked well
• Popcorn Hour A-500 Pro - Did not purchase because still using MIT’s then Panasonic, LG, Sony and Oppo as media players

Then decided to go all in with Zappiti and Zidoo. If that should end then a Synology 8 bay and Dune will be procured.

*content recorded via satellite from PBS distribution feeds, OTA from CBS, ABC and NBC. I continue to this day with PBS.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Vilya seems to be MIA. Anyone know anything?

[dcx4610]

Heath from Cereal at Midnight is arguging with a guy on Twitter about Best Buy pulling out of physical media in stores and going online only. It started off with the guy saying you'll never be able to buy Prey on physical media.

I mean that's not shocking if it's true. Physical media is probably better suited for warehouse to customer distribution and even MOD. Media takes up a lot of space and like it or not, it is a niche format now. I do think you could get away with indie physical media shops. We have several in my city and they are always booming. But big box/mainstream stores, they aren't in that market anymore.

[Wendell R. Breland]

In stock at Amazon, Walmart and online at Target.

[Wendell R. Breland]

If Walmart really is doing 45% of the disc business, Amazon doing 15% of the disc business only leaves 40% between Best Buy, Target, Barnes & Noble, Deep Discount, DVD Empire, GRUV, HD Movie Source, Screen Archives, MVD and a few other B&M, online retailers. I fully expect the B&M’s, except Walmart, to move to online only for disc orders.