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

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

People can think what they want of Lee A Stewart (there are things he says that I vastly disagree with), but I can at least give him credit for his arguments being based on things like the convenience, ease, and accessibility of streaming.... and that the general population will take that and settle for "good enough." At no point is he arguing that a 4K stream is of higher quality than the same movie on a 4K disc. He flat out admits that isn't the case. He admits that 4K disc IS superior to a 4K stream (and likewise with a Blu-Ray vs HD stream) because it is FACTUALLY TRUE. His whole argument is based around the average joe just not caring enough to opt for disc over the convenience of streaming.

[Boccaccio]

Anyone here familiar with Bravia Core ? Just bought a new Sony 4K tv (Sony A95K) and it comes with 10 credits for Bravia Core which is a kind of service for Sony tv's.
I got curious and decided to redeem 1 credit and watched Gran Turismo.
While the picture looked ok there was something weird going on.
Throughout the whole movie there were vertical lines over the whole picture.
They came and went but it lasted the whole movie. Very distracting.
The Dolby Atmos track sounded muffled and low volume but when I switched to the other audio track it sounded great.
There's not much info or settings on this Bravia Core thing.
Just wondering if anyone else has used this before.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Do you consider yourself an Elitist Disc Person?

There's no such person.

I prefer the discs for the many advantages on offer including reliability and quality.


Reminds me of the three little pigs fable. The first pig says "I will just see what's on", the second pig says "I'll pay first and then take whatever they give me", the third pig knows what he wants to watch and buys or rents it in the best quality available.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Boccaccio

Anyone here familiar with Bravia Core ? Just bought a new Sony 4K tv (Sony A95K) and it comes with 10 credits for Bravia Core which is a kind of service for Sony tv's.
I got curious and decided to redeem 1 credit and watched Gran Turismo.
While the picture looked ok there was something weird going on.
Throughout the whole movie there were vertical lines over the whole picture.
They came and went but it lasted the whole movie. Very distracting.
The Dolby Atmos track sounded muffled and low volume but when I switched to the other audio track it sounded great.
There's not much info or settings on this Bravia Core thing.
Just wondering if anyone else has used this before.

It showed up on my PS5 home screen a few weeks back. Tempted just to try a rental for curiosity (don’t worry, I’m not going to the dark side)

[stonesfan129]

Not sure if I am a disc "elitist." But I have kept on with buying Blu-ray. I usually just browse the "deals" section of this site. But I got a Sony STR-DH590 and have it hooked up to a little 3.1 system. And I think the sound on streaming sounds like crud. HBO Max was especially terrible. Vudu didn't seem a whole lot better. I still think the AppleTV app gives the best picture and audio quality out of any "app" for streaming TV and movies.

I have not kept on with buying 4KBD just because I've run into many quality control issues with them and they're often significantly more expensive vs used BDs. Most manufacturers also cannot seem to make a player for under $300 that can play all of these 4KBDs consistently without skipping or freezing.

I really 'hope' things don't go to a streaming-only future. That would really suck, especially when services keep raising prices but removing content. I don't see why they can't just do both (continue streaming along with disc sales).

One of the issues I have right now with streaming is that a lot of content becomes "unavailable." For example, I wanted to watch "Raise The Red Lantern." It was on Freevee for awhile and I have just been working so much I didn't have time to watch it. This week when I went to watch it, it's unavailable anywhere except for Plex. And I hate Plex because the streams are potato quality. You can't really get the Blu-ray anywhere.

Another example of this is a movie called "LBJ: The Early Years." I wanted to watch this recently with some friends as some of us are kind of JFK/history enthusiasts. It's an older movie from the '80s with Randy Quaid. Guess what? Can't find it anywhere. Not on any streaming, not on disc, nowhere... I swear I saw it available a few years ago somewhere, but it seems to have been memory holed.

I do think what would get more to stream, and what would get the revenues up, is going back to "Netflix." What I am referring to is a time when one or two services controlled the entire streaming industry. Everything was available there and the prices were reasonable. People are giving up on it and it's losing money because content is broken up across 5 or 6 different services and they all keep asking for more money and keep removing things.

They should follow the model of the music industry. Big catalog releases always available on disc. Stuff comes out on disc upon release. Boutiques can license stuff out on disc. Offer digital downloads, without DRM, for people that want to legitimately own a copy of the movie. Offer stuff on streaming for people that just want to pay the monthly rate and watch things.

[Boccaccio]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

It showed up on my PS5 home screen a few weeks back. Tempted just to try a rental for curiosity (don’t worry, I’m not going to the dark side)

Don't worry, you won't find a lot there. It's only movies from Sony Pictures.

I doubt I'll even be able to redeem all 10 codes. Not a lot of interesting stuff.

Codes are valid for 2 years though, so I've got time.

If you rent Gran Turismo, let me know what you think of it.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

Offer digital downloads, without DRM, for people that want to legitimately own a copy of the movie.

By now you should know that will not happen. Try to buy a UHD Blu-ray drive, you will find that it is not near as easy as 5 years ago in the US. The powers that be put a halt to Zappiti (now R_volution) selling a NAS in the US that could copy disc.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Boccaccio

Anyone here familiar with Bravia Core ? Just bought a new Sony 4K tv (Sony A95K) and it comes with 10 credits for Bravia Core which is a kind of service for Sony tv's.

Like you said it's a service for New Sony UHD TV's. They offer Movies with up to 80Mbps, so you need a good ISP that will provide 100Mbps. I want to upgrade my Sony UHD TV, and my ISP is FTTP at 100\100Mbps with Ethernet it should provide a Solid Stream!

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Like you said it's a service for New Sony UHD TV's. They offer Movies with up to 80Mbps, so you need a good ISP that will provide 100Mbps. I want to upgrade my Sony UHD TV, and my ISP is FTTP at 100\100Mbps with Ethernet it should provide a Solid Stream!

External servers streaming buffering/transcoding/max session load issues is totally independent of anyones ISP connection. While fiber latency is usually quite good, you just can't have anything great with internet weather going to hell.


Happy Thanksgiving.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by kfbkfb

https://www.theverge.com/23965708/bl...u-cyber-monday

(not sure if this is the right place to post this, just found out about it, it's kinda like the streaming services want to take over the World)

I signed up for Hulu.


Kirk Bayne

see Disney to buy out Hulu from Comcast for about $8.61 billion

Disney sounds prepared to pay nearly $9 billion for Hulu, if not more, but there's reasonable debate over how much the streaming service is worth. Hulu's minimum valuation was set in 2019 when the streaming landscape looked very different.

But the streaming industry's challenges can't be overlooked. Streaming services are struggling with a lack of growth and growing competition, turning to practices like password crackdowns, ad-tiers, and price hikes to drive revenue.

Disney on Nov 8th said that it will soon combine Disney+ and Hulu into one streaming service, with a unified app to be available in a beta capacity next month.

[cheez avenger]

I could not wait for Maltese Falcon 4K disc to drop to $9.99, so snagged it for $11.49 from Amazon.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

External servers streaming buffering/transcoding/max session load issues is totally independent of anyones ISP connection. While fiber latency is usually quite good, you just can't have anything great with internet weather going to hell.


Happy Thanksgiving.

I don't see any of that with my ISP, get Solid Streaming from all of my Providers. IMO I get Disc Like Quality!

Yes Happy Thanksgiving.

[cheez avenger]

Finished the The Hobbit EE trilogy on 4K disc and it was great. I resumed watching Foundation S2 on ATV+ -- I had left off on E4, because a buddy want it to watch it, but that cat took off to Thailand yesterday, so I will binge them for myself now. Funny I just watched Lee Pace as Thranduil in The Hobbit and now I'm watching him in Foundation as Empire.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by alchav21

I don't see any of that with my ISP, get Solid Streaming from all of my Providers. IMO I get Disc Like Quality!

Yes Happy Thanksgiving.

You only think you get disc like quality. It’s all in your head.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by cheez avenger

Finished the The Hobbit EE trilogy on 4K disc and it was great. I resumed watching Foundation S2 on ATV+ -- I had left off on E4, because a buddy want it to watch it, but that cat took off to Thailand yesterday, so I will binge them for myself now. Funny I just watched Lee Pace as Thranduil in The Hobbit and now I'm watching him in Foundation as Empire.

I ended up just getting the Blu-ray boxset because it included the 3D versions. Will watch at some point next year.

[t-mel]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

You have lost any credibility you had left and any claims you make about sticking to the facts is laughable.

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by t-mel

You have lost any credibility you had left and any claims you make about sticking to the facts is laughable.

I always knew you had no sense of humor. Thank you for proving me right.

[bhampton]

Not finding much for Black Friday this year but I did get some new Blu






It was fun to shop at Best buy for what is most likely the last time ever. I remember the day when the location near me opened and I am curious to know what will be in that location next.

[veritas]

I got 4 wb titles 4 universal titles 2 lions gate, 1 Sony and 1 paramount. The main deals that seem to be missing are for Disney and Sony this year.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

External servers streaming buffering/transcoding/max session load issues is totally independent of anyones ISP connection. While fiber latency is usually quite good, you just can't have anything great with internet weather going to hell.

Originally Posted by Steedeel

You only think you get disc like quality. It’s all in your head.

IMO the reason I get such good Streaming is the way I'm setup with my ISP to my Sony UHD TV. My ISP gives me Symmetrical 100\100Mbps Fiber to a Switch then Ethernet straight to the Sony UHD TV. The Sony has the Fast X1 Processor and use Google Android Apps to access all my Providers. No drops, no Buffering, just a Solid Streaming Connection. Now my TCL that is also connected with Ethernet with Google Android Apps, but with a Low End Processor has Poor Streaming Quality, and can't keep that Solid Connection!